THE “Acts of the Apostles” serves as a supplement to the Gospels, and a necessary introduction to the epistles; it thus bridges the times of our Lord from His ascension till the establishment of Christianity and the formation of the Christian assembly on earth. The “Acts” is also indispensable in unfolding the historical basis on which the assemblies were founded, and to which apostolic epistles were addressed, besides furnishing many personal and interesting reminiscences of the early heralds of the cross. Where, save in the “Acts of the Apostles,” could we learn that the Thessalonian Assembly was the fruit of a three weeks ministry in the Jewish synagogue (Acts 17:1-41Now when they had passed through Amphipolis and Apollonia, they came to Thessalonica, where was a synagogue of the Jews: 2And Paul, as his manner was, went in unto them, and three sabbath days reasoned with them out of the scriptures, 3Opening and alleging, that Christ must needs have suffered, and risen again from the dead; and that this Jesus, whom I preach unto you, is Christ. 4And some of them believed, and consorted with Paul and Silas; and of the devout Greeks a great multitude, and of the chief women not a few. (Acts 17:1‑4))? Where, too, save in the Acts could we learn that the first city in Europe which Paul evangelized was Philippi, that his congregation were a few pious women assembled for prayer on the banks of the river Gaggitas, outside the city gates? The nucleus of the large, warm hearted, hospitable assembly was gathered from the river’s bank, and in the innermost dungeons of its gloomy prison. What an immense, loss the Christian student would have sustained in the study of the Corinthian Epistles had he not the 18th chapter of “Acts”! Would there not have been a manifest blank in the historical history of that assembly bad we not known the length of time Paul labored there―18 months―and the manual labor of the apostle―tent-making―with other circumstances which tend to throw considerable light on the apostle’s written instructions to the wealthy, luxurious, and voluptuous Corinthians. How helpful, therefore, in the understanding, especially, of the Pauline Epistles is the “Acts of the Apostles”!
If the reader will turn to his atlas, and consult the map of Greece, he will not be surprised at the former commercial greatness of Corinth. The city occupied the narrow isthmus or neck of land having the Ionian Sea on its western border and the Ægean Sea on its eastern side, with the convenient seaports of Lechacum and Cenchrea, west and east, while the city was protected by its huge citadel, termed the Acrocorinthus, rising 2000 feet above the level of the sea. Thus, too, Corinth became an important center in the military struggles of the ancient world, and its famous Isthmus, where were celebrated the games of ancient Greece, and which Paul turns repeatedly to the spiritual profit of the saints (1 Cor. 19, &c.), with its huge, and frowning fortress overlooking the city, and throwing its dark shadow half way across the Isthmus, was again and again the scene of some of the most sanguinary conflicts witnessed on the soil of Greece. Thus the city, from its advantageous situation, commanded to a large extent the inland traffic of northern and southern Greece, besides forming an important center and outlet for the produce of the western and eastern, hemispheres. Corinth rapidly rose to be one of the wealthiest of cities. Athens, the former capital of Greece, was still in the apostle’s time famous for its learning, but as remarkable for its idolatry. So numerous were its idols that it has been termed “the altar of Greece;” and in case any deity had been emitted they had actually erected an altar TO THE UNKNOWN GOD (Acts 17:2323For as I passed by, and beheld your devotions, I found an altar with this inscription, TO THE UNKNOWN GOD. Whom therefore ye ignorantly worship, him declare I unto you. (Acts 17:23)); but was Corinth, the then commercial and political capital of the country, one whit behind her riven Nay, save in this respect that in the former city “mind” was deified, while in the latter “flesh” as surely reigned. From its wealth, large, and varied population, and public patronage given to lust, Corinth became one of the most debased of cities. Female virtue was rare in that rich and voluptuous city, so that the very name “Corinthian” was proverbial for all that was morally debased and indecent. This, then, was the city from whence Paul wrote his first epistles (those to the Thessalonians), when he labored in company with Aquilla and Priscilla at tent-making, where for a year and a-half he preached, wrote, and journeyed incessantly, visiting the various churches in the province of Achaia―Cenchrea, the nearest, being only eight miles distant.
The epistle was written nearly at the close of Paul’s three years’ residence in Ephesus (Acts 20:3131Therefore watch, and remember, that by the space of three years I ceased not to warn every one night and day with tears. (Acts 20:31); 1 Cor. 16:5-85Now I will come unto you, when I shall pass through Macedonia: for I do pass through Macedonia. 6And it may be that I will abide, yea, and winter with you, that ye may bring me on my journey whithersoever I go. 7For I will not see you now by the way; but I trust to tarry a while with you, if the Lord permit. 8But I will tarry at Ephesus until Pentecost. (1 Corinthians 16:5‑8)). Having been informed by some members of the house of Chloe (1 Cor. 1:1111For it hath been declared unto me of you, my brethren, by them which are of the house of Chloe, that there are contentions among you. (1 Corinthians 1:11)) of the lax conduct and grievous departure from grace of his Corinthian children, he had purposed visiting them, so that personally he might have corrected their condition and further helped them in the faith (2 Cor. 1:15-1615And in this confidence I was minded to come unto you before, that ye might have a second benefit; 16And to pass by you into Macedonia, and to come again out of Macedonia unto you, and of you to be brought on my way toward Judea. (2 Corinthians 1:15‑16)); but instead he changed his purpose not one lightly formed (2 Cor. 1:17-1817When I therefore was thus minded, did I use lightness? or the things that I purpose, do I purpose according to the flesh, that with me there should be yea yea, and nay nay? 18But as God is true, our word toward you was not yea and nay. (2 Corinthians 1:17‑18)) and wrote to them this inspired communication of the mind of God. What a blessing to the Church that God, in His wisdom, provided for His people a written corrective of the evils, both in doctrine and practice, which in our day have developed themselves into systems of ecclesiastical and moral evil.
Throughout the epistle we fail to track the footprints of official elders, bishops, or deacons. In the correction of abuses, in the observance of the Lord’s Supper, in the ministry of the saints when gathered in public assembly, the saints, as a whole, are held responsible immediately and directly to God―no intermediate links are recognized. This is all the more remarkable, for if in any place official authority was requisite, surely it was in Corinth. What then is the undoubted teaching in the marked omission of official ministers amongst the Corinthians? Is it not that the Church has the authority in the written Word to act for God, and as a witness to the grace, holiness, and truth of Christ in the world, and further, that she has the power so to act, as being the dwelling-place of the Holy Ghost? Nor must we confine the instructions here apostolically imparted to the Corinthian assembly merely; these instructions possess a breadth and completeness which embrace the whole Church of God in all ages; nay, they go, further, and insist upon the application of the truths contained in these epistles wherever Christ is named or owned as Lord―to the whole scene of Christian profession, as the apostle is careful to couple with the assembly at Corinth, “all that in every place call upon the name of Jesus Christ our Lord, both theirs and ours” (chap. 1:2). Every Christian assembly is therefore contemplated in these divine instructions (chap. 11:16; 4:17; 7:17, etc.).
What a sorrowful picture of departure from the Lord is presented in the practical state of these Corinthians! As you run your eye over each feature of their condition, as detailed in the several chapters of the epistle, may we not ask ourselves, in the Lord’s own presence: Have our hearts drank so deeply into the boundless grace and unchanging love of our God, that, spite of such an appalling state of things, we would neither unchristianize nor unchurch such saints, but in fullest confidence turn, it may be broken hearted, yet in deep, tender, yearning love to God about them! Well did Paul drink in the spirit of his Master.
The subjects and sections of the Epistle are as follows:
1. The Introduction (chap. 1:1-9).
The apostle presents two most touching considerations to the hearts of his children in the faith motives powerfully fitted to arrest the growing declension and recall the wandering, affections of the saints; namely, the grace of God terse 4), which had so richly endowed them with gifts, and the faithfulness of God (verse 9), which would yet triumph in the end.
2. Party Spirit amongst the Saints (chap. is 10-16).
Christ, His cross and name are introduced by the apostle as the blessed and all-sufficient corrective of divisions and party spirit amongst the saints. Eloquence had Apollos as its representative; zeal was expressed in Cephas; learning had its fitting headship in Paul; while a spurious spirituality as truly characterized, those who ranged themselves under Christ using His blessed name as a party one. The true answer to this deplorable condition, which in our days has assumed gigantic proportions, is the cross of Christ. Ah! here we have an antidote to the pride and wisdom of man. That wondrous cross has stained the glory of man, has withered up the pride and boastings of nature, and written the sentence of death upon man in his best as upon man in his worst estate.
3. The Wisdom of Man contrasted with the Wisdom of God (chaps. 1:17, 2:1-16).
What was the result of all the philosophy and wisdom of the ancient world? Did the keenest intellects of Greece ever fathom God? Nay, for the brightest minds which ever moralized were sunk in grossest idolatry and ignorance of God (chap. 1:24). How foolish, then, in those Corinthians to yearn after the philosophy of the heathen, as if “Christ and Him crucified,” their boast and glory, were not enough. It is an eternal decree that no flesh should glory in God’s presence (chap. 1:29), hence the Spirit recalls to their minds that in the sovereign choice of God the world’s grandees were, as a class, not embraced in the effectual life-giving call of God. Christ on the cross closes forever the boasting lips of man; Christ on the throne opens forever the rejoicing lips of the Christian.
Then in chap. 2 is introduced, the wisdom of God and the Spirit of God. But the wisdom of God could only be spoken amongst the perfect, that is, the spiritual or Christians in a healthy state, the carnal or babes could not have this solid food; much less could the natural man or unconverted understand the deep things of God. The Spirit of God is then presented as alone competent to reveal what even prophets and seers of old desired to know (Isa. 64:44For since the beginning of the world men have not heard, nor perceived by the ear, neither hath the eye seen, O God, beside thee, what he hath prepared for him that waiteth for him. (Isaiah 64:4)), but had been hidden from their ken. Now the hidden treasures of Divine wisdom have been revealed to the apostles, taught in words chosen by the Holy Ghost, and then divinely communicated to us by the same power. The Revelation (verse 10), Inspiration (verse 13), and Reception (verse 14) of the things of God are here attributed to the Holy Ghost. What a deathblow to all the educational appliances of man when deemed sufficient to unlock the boundless treasures of Divine wisdom and knowledge!
4. Divisions. The Temple of God. The Spirit of God. Ministerial Service (Chaps. 3-4). The apostle, when he visited Corinth, reined in his great intellectual powers. He could have entered the arena of strife with the ablest disputants of Greece. He could have grappled with the subtle questions of the school men. He stood on Mars Hill surrounded by the philosophers and men of Athens, and quoted from the Grecian poet (Acts 17:2828For in him we live, and move, and have our being; as certain also of your own poets have said, For we are also his offspring. (Acts 17:28)) Aratus, and at another time cited from Menander (1 Cor. 15:3333Be not deceived: evil communications corrupt good manners. (1 Corinthians 15:33)), another of their celebrated poets. O it is beautiful to see the mighty champion of the cross and of Christianity curbing his natural powers and entering Corinth “determined not to know anything among you, save Jesus Christ and Him crucified”; amongst the polished Greek believers in weakness, fear, and much trembling, eschewing the subtle argument of the philosopher and the eloquence of the rhetorician, that the faith of the Corinthians should be alone grounded in the power of God (chap. 2:1-5). But his children in the faith were glorying in man. They were but babes in growth, and he plainly tells them so. The world’s philosophy, as with the Corinthians, or the world’s religion, with the Hebrews, were surely destructive of Christianity. Religion and philosophy are not Christ, and these evils have reduced the saints to the lowest condition possible, so that the elementary truths of revelation, instead of the elevated range and character of the verities connected with Christ in glory, have to be presented to the carnal Christians of this day. What is presented as the proof of this low condition amongst the saints? envyings, strifes, divisions (verse 3). These divisions in the Church have ripened into innumerable sects and parties. Surely the existence of about 1300 sects in Christendom, named after man (verse 4), is overwhelming evidence of the carnal condition of the Church so, called. Need we wonder that the majority of the children of God are living at “the foot of the Cross,” instead of traveling on in the apprehension of the heights and depths revealed to the “spiritual” in Christ exalted and glorified. To whom did the saints belong? “Ye are God’s husbandry, ye are God’s building,” and the various leaders under whom the saints were ranging themselves, were but servants and fellow-laborers with God. Sects are formed by the saints as here; also by the servants (Acts 20:3030Also of your own selves shall men arise, speaking perverse things, to draw away disciples after them. (Acts 20:30)); and sometimes by both in conjunction, What were the saints collectively? “the temple of God.” Wondrous blessing indeed God had built them together; they were His people and His temple, fitted in the power and efficacy of redemption to be God’s dwelling. O! it was a fit answer to the blood of Jesus, to the worth of the Saviour’s agony and cross that the Holy, Ghost should come down from the ascended man in glory, and dwell amongst the redeemed. Why then divide into parties when collectively they were the habitation of God by the Spirit, as individually their bodies were His temple also (chap. 6).
The ministers had much to do with the practical condition of the saints. Their responsibility was very great. How did they build?
And with what materials? The foundation was not to be re-laid (verse 11) which is Jesus Christ. God will sit in judgment upon every man’s work; the saint will not come into judgment (John 5:2121For as the Father raiseth up the dead, and quickeneth them; even so the Son quickeneth whom he will. (John 5:21)), but his work will, and rewards dispensed or loss suffered accordingly. Besides their predilection for certain servants, to the rejection or slighting of others, was to their own loss, “for all things are yours”; the very ministers in whom they boasted, and to whom they attached themselves, belonged to the saints. They were part of the Church’s wealthy heritage; and to whom did the saints belong? Certainly not to the servants―they were church property but to Christ. “Ye are Christ’s, and Christ is God’s.”
Then the responsibility which the apostle had so solemnly pressed upon the builders in Chapter 3 he applies to himself in Chapter 4. He walked and served in light of the judgment seat of Christ. They had anticipated the millennial reign. He and his fellow-laborers were treated as the earth’s off scorings, while they indulged themselves in a life of ease. The Corinthian reproach that the apostle toiled at manual labor, and that he was the object of persecution and reproach, should never have been advanced by these saints above all others; for what had they lone for his temporal support? Individuals had supplied the apostle’s temporal needs―more shame to the assembly which had reaped so largely from the apostle spiritually, while they withheld all temporal support. The world is then regarded as a vast amphitheater, where games and spectacles are daily performed. The last act in the drama is the introduction of the apostles into the arena―the sport of a persecuting world and Christless Church (verse 9).
5. Impurity (chap. 5).
Here the morality of the Church is actually beneath that of the heathen around them (verse 1); yet they were in principle, and as to standing, God’s Assembly, but they had falsified their true character by retaining gross sin in their, midst, and glorying in it too. Apostolic authority might have been exercised in dealing with so flagrant an evil, but that, would have left the conscience of the assembly unexercised. Their bounden duty was to put away from among themselves the wicked person to purge out the old leaven, that they might practically answer to their standing on high as sitting in Christ in heavenly places. The chapter is also important as defining the Church from the world the former where the Holy Ghost acted, the latter where Satan ruled. Within amongst the saints, without amongst the wicked. Neither the Lord’s Table nor social fellowship were to be the enjoyed portion of those noted in verse 11.
6. Wrongs and Differences among Brethren (chap. 6:1-11).
Two truths are urged upon the saints in these verses. First: they should quietly and patiently suffer wrong. Second: differences amongst them should be submitted to the judgment of the brethren the least esteemed were competent for this work. What a lowering of their true dignity to drag their matters before the tribunals of the world, and court their adjudication! Were they forgetful of the pre-eminent dignity assigned; them? The world, and the angels are to stand before the tribunal of Christ, and the saints in association with Him.
7. The Human Body (chap. 6:12-20). Heathenism degraded the body―made it merely the instrument of gratifying the lusts and passions of the soul, but whatever Christianity touches, it exalts and ennobles, and hence the relation of the body to Christ and to the Holy Ghost, is opened up and developed in terms singularly strong and deeply significant. (1). The body is for the Lord (verse 13); (2) will be raised up by divine power (verse 14); (3) a member of Christ (verse 15); (4) the temple of the Holy Ghost (verse 19). Being joined to the Lord we are not one “flesh” but “one spirit.” It is a spiritual oneness. We are also bought with a price: O, what a price! even the precious blood of Christ. Hence the solemn motives why the body should be preserved from all impurity, and be a vessel for the display of God’s glory now and hereafter.
8. Marriage and Servantship or Slavery (chap. 7).
The apostle here gives an answer to certain questions addressed to him by the Corinthians. He presents a path to the saints outside this relationship (marriage); one in which they could walk, in the power of the Spirit, above the claims and calls of nature a path which he himself had chosen. But he is most careful to insist upon the highly honorable institution of marriage, designed for man and for the earth, irrespective of Judaism or Christianity; only the single were more entirely free to serve the blessed God.
As to the position in life in which the Christian might be called, let him abide, if he could, to the glory of God. If the position was a sinful one, forsake it at once a principle important for all times and circumstances.
As to slaves, let them remember that they are the Lord’s freemen; and as for those who are free, they are the Lord’s slaves. If the Christian slaves of Pagan masters could lawfully procure their freedom let them do so. These impotent instructions have the light of the coming of the Lord and the shortness of time thrown upon them, which imparts a peculiarly solemn character to all the Christian occupies himself with. So it is in this chapter, where the apostle gives both the commandment of the Lord and his own matured spiritual judgment, which he expressly says was not the commandment of the Lord. Still he was inspired to give his judgment as such. Thus the whole chapter is inspired, one part of it just as much as another.
9. Christian Liberty (chap. 8).
Many of the saints better instructed than their brethren boasted in their superior knowledge, and used their liberty without the slightest regard or consideration for their weaker brethren. True Christian liberty ever regards with tenderness the weak and ill instructed. The Christian, standing in the liberty of grace, and who has not the slightest conscience about idol temples, or meats or drinks, can well afford to deny himself in things which tend to defile the conscience of the weak. The point in the chapter is to firmly maintain true Christian liberty with the fullest regard to the conscience of brethren beloved of the Lord most surely, but weak in the faith.
10. Ministerial Service and its Temporal Maintenance by the Saints (chap 9).
The apostle rebuts certain charges brought against his ministry. He had been charged with usurping the functions of an apostle and for using his ministry for purposes of gain. He appealed to themselves as proof and seal of his apostleship in the Lord, further, he had personally seen the Lord (verses 1, 2) after the descent of the Holy Ghost the only apostle so signalized. Did they question his single life He asserts his liberty to lead about a sister, his wife. The apostles and brethren of the Lord did so; Cephas is specially named. This would be to the ruin of the celibacy system so much insisted upon by the Bishop of Rome. Paul could have claimed temporal support, and his claim would have been maintained even under the law, but these rights he voluntarily surrendered. Thus love triumphed in the apostle over the selfishness of the saints; he refused temporal aid from the assembly so as to cut off every occasion of stumbling, while he as willingly accepted from godly persons in their midst (chap. 16). It is positively beautiful thus to witness the large-hearted apostle pleading, and that right earnestly, for the rights of servants while in love he forbore to use those rights himself.
The Professing Church Warned (chap. 10:1-15).
At the close of the preceding chapter servants are solemnly charged to maintain faith and al good conscience. Here the warning voice of the apostle addresses the professing Church from circumstances drawn from Israel’s wilderness history. What is the lesson? Do not rest on ordinances, but on Christ. Do not rest on the responsibility of the first man, but on the grace of the Second Man (verse 12).
Christian Association and Christian Liberty (chap. 10:16-33).
Here we have three great systems Judaism, Christianity, and Paganism each represented by its “Altar” or “Table.” We have the Lord’s Table in chap. 5 as the moral center from whence discipline proceeds and purity is maintained; here it is presented in the most solemn way as the most touching and powerful appeal to a Christian heart, and also as the expression of our part in the death of Jesus, and of our corporate place as one loaf―one body. In order that the appeal may sink into the soul the blood is named first (verse 16), thus reversing the institutional order (chap. 11:23-26). Now in eating and drinking of the symbols of Christ’s body and blood we express our identification with Him in death. As one body we eat and drink at the Lord’s Table, and it is on this ground that we dare not sit at the table of a “denomination” even were all Christians, for we do not break bread and drink wine as Christians (although Christians ought to do so), but as members of one body (verse 17) an important principle in these days of a divided and broken up state of things.
How then should the Corinthians be found at the Jewish altar partaking, of its sacrifices, or, at the table of demons eating of its offerings; to do so was to express their identification with these systems which the “altar” or “table” respectively set forth. They had been given a place at the Lord’s Table, and the one loaf which they together partook of symbolized their UNITY. It was a new association and a new fellowship; out of Paganism on the one hand and Judaism on the other they had been brought and builded together for an habitation of God, and constituted one body by the Holy Ghost; therefore, to go to the Jewish altar would be to become a Jew; or to the idolater’s table would be to become a Pagan, and deny besides the death of Christ, and their new place as one in Him.
The principle of true Christian liberty is stated in the closing verses. The whole resources of creation are at the disposal of the Christian, hence raise no question in buying or eating (verses 25, 28), but if another does, respect his conscience. Then the simple but weighty principle for all is stated in verse 31―a principle which in the commonest affairs of life would keep the conscience free and enable one to walk in tender consideration for others.
13. God’s Order in Creation (chap. 11:1-16).
We have already remarked that female degradation in the voluptuous city of Corinth was proverbial, and to some extent their want of modesty and masculine boldness had infected the assembly. The sisters had been allowed a place in the public meetings of the saints which the apostle here strongly condemns. Woman’s place in the Church and in the scale of creation is most certainly not a public one. The angels who are spectators of what is transpiring in the world (chap. 4:9), in The Christian assemblies (chap. 11: 10), and in the fruits of redemption (1 Peter 1:1212Unto whom it was revealed, that not unto themselves, but unto us they did minister the things, which are now reported unto you by them that have preached the gospel unto you with the Holy Ghost sent down from heaven; which things the angels desire to look into. (1 Peter 1:12)), call for godly conduct on the part of the saints. How strange to angelic intelligence to read the lesson of insubjection and disobedience in the uncovered head of the woman (verse 10). In all meetings of a public end representative character the woman is to be silent and learn with covered head sign of her subjection to the man. Prophesying, however, is not forbidden her, but it must be to her own sex, or privately, if to others, and even then she is to do so with covered head. The order of creation, therefore, is first, the woman, then the man, then Christ, and lastly God.
14. The Lord’s Supper (chap. 11:17-34).
The Lord’s Supper is the subject of special, revelation from the glory (verse 23). Here it is not regarded, as in chap. 5., the center of discipline, or the expression of our unity, as in chap. 10, but as a remembrancer of Christ in the night of His betrayal and death. We remember Him and shew or announce His death―two distinct though closely connected thoughts, and this we do till He come. Thus the ascended Lord bids us remember Himself till He come in His glory. But let the saints be watchful. It is a holy feast. To eat and drink unworthily was direct sin against the blessed Lord who had died, and it is so still; it is to be “guilty of the body and blood of the Lord” (verse 27). Hence the necessity of self-judgment; the Christian trying his ways, spirit and whole conduct, not at the table of the Lord, but in order to a worthy partaking of it, and before he comes and sits and eats. It is a thanksgiving feast, so we do not assemble around it to confess our sins or to get blessing; but because we are forgiven (Col. 2:1313And you, being dead in your sins and the uncircumcision of your flesh, hath he quickened together with him, having forgiven you all trespasses; (Colossians 2:13)) and are blessed as the fruit of His death (Eph. 1:33Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ: (Ephesians 1:3)). We are there to worship and adore the Lamb slain. Because of the unworthy manner in which many at Corinth partook of the Lord’s Supper, sickness and death reigned in their midst, and be it remembered that God is the same now as then. The Lord’s Supper is a place from whence, as a center, discipline by the assembly and from the Lord proceeds. In chap. 10 our corporate place is prominent; in chap. 11 our individual place is the main thought.
15. The Presence and Powers of the Holy Spirit in the Assembly (chap. 12-14).
The assembly has been loved, purchased and made clean by the blood of Christ. It is the fruit of God’s eternal purpose, of the redemption-work of the Lamb of God and of the Holy Spirit’s baptism. It is the signal triumph of Christ over Satan. It is the sphere where the Holy Ghost dwells and manifests His gracious presence and power; just as the world is the scene of Satanic display and energy. The spiritual manifestations with which the heathen were so familiar are here distinguished from those which issue from the Spirit of God. Wherever or whoever attached the curse resting on man or Israel to Jesus did so under the inspiration of Satan; while, on the other hand, wherever Jesus was truly exalted as Lord was the fruit of the Holy Ghost. Whatever would tend to dishonor Jesus was of Satan; whatever would exalt Jesus was of the Holy Ghost (verses 1-3). In the following verses we have the relation of gifts to the Spirit, of ministry to the Lord, and of operation to God. Next we have the Holy Ghost sovereign in the distribution of, the gifts and also in working them. He gives them and He works them. Dispensationally the sin against the Holy Ghost is in His place in the Assembly of God usurped by man (verses 8-11). It will be observed that the unity of the Spirit has, as well as His presence and powers been strongly insisted upon up to this point, now in the remaining verses of the chapter, he as strongly insists upon the practical unity of the Church—many members, yet one body. It is not the doctrine of the unity of the body of Christ, but the Church on earth as one whole, a vessel for the display of the presence, action and power of the one Holy Spirit―practically governed by Him who formed it.
Then in chapter 13 we have what is better than the best of gifts, love. In the previous chapter we have the principles of the Church of God; in chapter 14 we have the exercise of these principles, while in chapter 13 we have love binding up the principle and practice. We have gift in chapter 12; its spring in chapter 13 and its practice in chapter 14.
In this chapter (14) we have the assembly laid open for our inspection and profit. We find there a variety of gifts in exercise, not controlled and directed by ordained elders, much less the assembly governed by one man be he clergyman or bishop. The various gifts are not forbidden to be exercised when convened in assembly character, but are divinely regulated so as to secure good order and spiritual edification. The gifts are divided into two classes: those as tongues for a testimony to the world (verse 22), and those as prophesying for the edification of the saints (verse 22); the latter occupying a higher place morally in the mind of the Spirit. Another point as strongly insisted upon is, that the Holy Ghost as a rule acts upon the intelligence of the new man. Hence, whatever is done in worship or ministry in the assembly of God should be done in the Spirit and understanding, and have for its object the present edification of the saints. Alas! many like the Corinthians use the gifts to clothe themselves with self-importance in the eyes of the Church and the world.
16. The Resurrection (chap. 15),
The glorious truth of Resurrection is treated of in this truly wonderful chapter both negatively and positively. If, as some at Corinth said, there is no resurrection of the body, then there could be no gospel, no salvation, and no life beyond for us (verses 1-19). But Christ is raised, and the consequences are grand to Him and to us. A life victorious over death and the judgment of God, the kingdom reign, the universal subjection of all things, and a body of glory are a few of the precious and resulting consequences upon the resurrection of Christ from the dead (verses 20-58).
17. Ministry in General (chapter 16).
We have had gifts sovereignly distributed and sovereignly worked by the Holy Ghost (chapter 12); then the motive-spring love in chapter 13, and those gifts in lively exercise in chapter 14. Here, however, we have ministry in general. All may not have a special impartation of gift, but all can serve and minister. Many helped the apostle in various ways; some addicted themselves to serve the saints, while others used their temporal means; these, and various kinds of services too numerous to mention, needed no special gift. Love delights to serve, and it is ever more blessed to give than to receive.
May the Lord enable us to occupy this truly blessed place, to walk in the path of Jesus, who came not to be ministered unto but to minister, and to give His life a ransom for many!