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it foolishness to expect eternal life from use and the foolishness of God is wiser him that was put to death, and that he than men not that there is either foolishshould bring them to the highest glory, ness or weakness in God, but that which who suffered himself in the lowest weak- men account foolishness and weakness, and Thus was the preaching of Christ deride as such, doth yet overcome all their crucified to the generality of the Jews a admired wisdom and strength and if the stumbling-block, and to the Greeks fool- wisdom of man cannot match the foolishishness. But observc, 3. It was not thus ness of God, how shall it vie and contend unto all; there was a number of both con- with the wisdom of God? No wisdom or verted and saved by the doctrine of the power of man can stand before the foolcross, unto whom Christ was the power of ishness and weakness, much less before the God, and the wisdom of God. Here note, wisdom and power, of God: The foolish1. That Christ was the power of God: ness of God is wiser than men, and the Isaiah styles him the mighty God, chap. weakness of God is stronger than men. ix. 6. Works of mighty power were performed by him; as the work of creation, Coloss. i. 16. By him were all things created in heaven and in earth. The work of providence, Heb. i. 3. He upholdeth all things by the word of his power. The work of redemption, Gal. iii. 13. Christ hath redeemed us from the curse of the law, being made a curse for

us.

The curse and wrath of God was a

burden that would have broke the back of angels; none could stand under it but Christ, and not he neither as mere man, but as supported by the infinite power of his Godhead. 2. Christ is the wisdom of God: his divine nature had a fulness of infinite and uncreated wisdom found with it; also his human nature had a fulness of infused and

created wisdom found in it; and the redemption of man by Jesus Christ was a design of admirable wisdom. He that turns his back upon Christ, rejects the wisdom of God, and renders his ruin both dreadful and certain; they must perish eternally by the hand of strict justice, who will not be saved according to the methods of divine wisdom, which are to save us from hell by saving us from our sins. Observe, 4. The reason assigned, why the preaching of Christ crucified became the power of God unto salvation because the weakness of God is stronger than men; that is, the ordinances and institutions of God, though they seem weak and foolish in the eye of the world, yet are more efficacious and powerful than all the wisdom of worldly men. Learn hence, that the ordinances and institutions of God, and particularly the preaching of the gospel, though despised by the men of the world, yet by the power of God have glorious operations, and produce wonderful effects. The weakness of God is stronger than men, that is, the weakest instruments which God uses, are stronger in their effects than the strongest which men can

26 For ye see your calling, brethren, how that not many wise men after the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble, are called: 27 But God hath chosen the foolish things of the world, to confound the wise; and God hath chosen the weak things of the world, to confound the things which are mighty ; 18 And base things of the world, and things which are despised, hath God chosen, yea, and things which are not, to bring to nought things that are; 19 That no flesh should glory in his presence.

Observe here, 1. The singular favour which our apostle calls upon the Corinthians to cye and view, namely, their effectual vocation and calling out of heathenism to the profession of christianity: You see your calling, brethren. Such as are exalted by God in any kind, ought to call to mind their former meanness; but those that are persuasively called by God out of a state of nature, ought frequently to observe and consider the worth and weight of that mercy, and the freeness of that divine favour: Brethren, see, and take notice of your calling. Observe, 2. That God has in all ages called some of all ranks and degrees of men, of the wise and great, the rich and noble, to the knowledge of himself and his Son. Not many wise, not many mighty, not many noble, are called; he doth not say, not any, but not many, lest the world should think that christians were deceived through their simplicity and weakness; one rich Joseph of Arimathea, one honourable Nicodemus, one Crispus, a ruler of the sy nagogue, but not many men of might and power. Men of strong reason and sharp

ness of wit, are too proud and stout to stoop to the simplicity of the gospel, and the hum bling, self-denying terms of it; yet some of the wise and mighty are called, lest any thing in man should seem too hard for the grace of God; but not many, lest worth and worthiness in us should be thought the motive that rules God. Men of greatest fame and renown in the world, have been the fiercest enemies against Christ and christianity. Galen, the chief physician, Porphyry, a chief philosopher, Lucian, a chief orator, with many others, were all professed enemies of the christian religion. Wherefore observe, 3. That although God called some of the wise, rich, and noble, amongst the Jews and Gentiles, to espouse christianity, yet the far greater number of those which hear his voice, and obey his call, are poor and mean, and in the world's esteem weak and foolish, base and despicable: God hath chosen foolish things to confound the wise, and weak things to confound the mighty. This was verified in the choice which God made of the apostles, who first planted christianity in the world, and, though illiterate fishermen, confuted and confounded the wisest among philosophers; and also in the choice God made of the primitive christians, who first entertained the gospel, who were a poor, despised company, James ii.

5.

Hath not God chosen the poor of this world, rich in faith and heirs of the kingdom? This choice Christ thanks his Father for, Matt. xi. 25, and the wisdom of God therein deserves our highest admiration; because thereby, 1. God plainly showed, that christianity needed no worldly props to support it. As it was first planted and propagated by weak and contemptible means and instruments, so it is still upheld and supported without human policy or riches: God can outwit wise men by fools, and overpower mighty men by those that are weak; witness the apostles and primitive christians. 2. God by this choice of the weak and foolish, of the base and despised, does pour contempt upon those things which are most admired among men, namely, the internal endowments of the mind, strong reason, and sharpness of wit; and the external gifts of providence, nobility of birth, riches, and honours. Lord! what shame and confusion of face will cover the noble and honourable, the great and mighty, the rich and wealthy, in the coming world, when they shall see those poor christians, whom they despised

for their poverty, scorned for their meanness of parts, as unworthy to come into their presence, highly exalted in the favour of God, and proclaimed the heirs of his kingdom! For as here God has more rent, and better paid him (as the great Landlord of the world) from many smoky cottages, than from divers great palaces, where persons wallow in plenty, and forget God; so will God own his faithful, though de spised servants, at the great day, and make it evident to angels and men, that he accepteth not the person of princes, nor regardeth the rich more than the poor; but every one that here feared him, and wrought righteousness, shall be accepted of him, and rewarded by him.

30 But of him are ye in Christ Jesus, who of God is made unto us wisdom, and righteousness, and sanctification, and redemption : That, according as it is written, He that glorieth, let him glory in the Lord.

31

Our apostle had in the foregoing verses acquainted the Corinthians how low and despicable their outward condition was in this world: he tells them the world looked upon them as weak and foolish, and, as such, despised and disdained them, but as a superabundant recompence for the despicable meanness of their outward condition, he tells them what they are in Christ Jesus, how rich they are as christians; that Christ is made unto them wisdom, righteousness, sanctification, and redemption. Observe here, 1. An enumeration of the believing christian's privileges, received by virtue of his interest in Christ, and union with him; and they are wisdom, righteousness, sanctification, and redemption: to relieve us against our ignorance and blindness, he is our wisdom, the fountain of divine illumination, enabling us to see both our sin and danger; to discharge us from the burden of our guilt and obnoxiousness to divine wrath, he is our righteousness, the author of justification, procuring for us remission of sin, and acceptance with God; to free us from the pollution and power of sin, he is our sanctification; purging us by his Spirit, as well as pardoning by his blood, coming both by water and blood into our souls: and to set us at liberty from captivity and thraldom to sin and Satan, and the law, he is made our redemption, that is, the blessed author of a beloved redemption, not from Egyptian bondage or Baby

lonish captivity, but from the dominion of sin and servitude to Satan, from the wrath of God, from the curse of the law, from the danger and dread of death. Learn hence, That God hath stored up in Christ all that we want, a suitable and full supply for every nced, and made it communicable to us: he is our wisdom, our righteousness, our sanctification, and redemption, our all in all, our all in the want of all. Observe, 2. The method, way, and manner, by and after which believers come to be invested with, and made partakers of, these glorious privileges: Christ of God is made unto us; this denotes, (1.) That Christ with all his benefits becomes ours by a special and effectual application: he is made unto us. (2.) That this application of Christ is the work of God, and not of man; of God he is made unto us. Learn hence, That the Lord Jesus Christ, with all the precious fruits and invaluable benefits of his death, became ours by God's special and effectual application. Observe, 3. The reason here assigned why the whole economy of grace is put into the hand of Christ, why all is communicated by him, and derived from him, namely, that all the saints' glorying may be in him, and not in themselves: That no flesh should glory in his presence, but as it is written, Let him that glorieth, glory in the Lord, ver. 29, 31. Infinite wisdom and sovereign pleasure has centred all grace in Christ; it hath pleased the Father that in him should all fulness dwell; and the fulness that is in him is a ministerial fulness, it dwells in him on purpose to dispense to us, according as our exigences do require, and our faith deserve; for of him are we in Christ Jesus, who of God is made unto us wisdom, righteousness, sanctification, and redemption; that, according as it is written, He that glorieth, let him glory in the Lord.

CHAP. II.

AND I, brethren, when I came to you, came not with excellency of speech or of wisdom, declaring unto you the testimony of God:

Our apostle had in the foregoing chapter declared how Christ had sent him to preach the gospel in the plainness and simplicity of it, not with the wisdom of words, ver. 17. that is, not in a pompous and flourishing way and manner of preaching, mingling the simplicity of the gospel with human wisdom accordingly in this verse he tells them, that when, pursuant to his commis

sion, he came and preached to them at Corinth, he came not with excellency of speech; that is, he studied not to gratify their curiosity with rhetorical strains or philosophical niceties, to please their wanton wits, but solidly to inform their judgments with the great and necessary duties of the gospel, and to furnish them with the strongest arguments and motives for a good life. This is preaching: but had he come with human wisdom, this would have detracted, 1. From the excellency of the gospel, which, like the sun, shines best with its own beams; scripture eloquence is most piercing and demonstrative, and convinceth a man by its own evidence; human wisdom charms the ear, but this strikes the conscience. 2. It would have detracted from the glory of God, which is more honoured by the plainness and simplicity of the gospel, than by the luxuriances of wit, or the most admired oratory in the world; all human wisdom must be denied when it comes in competition with, or stands in opposition to, the doctrine of the gospel. Observe farther, The title given to the gos pel, which he preached amongst them in so much plainness and simplicity: he styles it the testimony of God. Where note, That the testimony of the apostles concerning Christ's death, resurrection, and ascension, is called the testimony of God, because God testified and bare witness to the truth of these doctrines by signs and wonders, and divers miracles and gifts of the Holy Ghost.

2 For I determined not to know any thing among you, save Jesus Christ, and him crucified.

to you, or display before you, the eloquence and wisdom of the Greeks, or to give you any other knowledge but that of a crucified Saviour, which, alas! is to them foolishness." Yet must not these

That is, "I determined not to discover

words be understood absolutely, but comparatively; not as if the apostles did absoand knowledge, much less vilify true philutely despise or contemn all other study losophy, logic, or oratory; for all knowledge is useful to him that knows how to refer it to right ends, and God has made nothing knowable in vain; but that all other knowledge, without the knowledge of Jesus Christ, is insignificant and ineffectual. Note here, 1. The subject-matter of St. Paul's study and preaching, it was Jesus Christ: not Jewish traditions, not the Gentiles' philosophy, but him in whom

are hid all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge. Note, 2. The special relation in which our apostle chose to study and preach Jesus Christ; and that was as crucified; Christ above all other subjects, and Christ crucified above all other considera. tions, because Christ crucified was to the Jews a stumbling-block, and to the Greeks foolishness human wisdom despised the sufferings of Jesus Christ, but the apostle made them the subject of his study, and the scope of his preaching. Learn hence, 1. That as all of Christ, so more especially his death in all the mysteries of it, ought to be the principal subject of a christian's study and knowledge. Learn, 2. That as there is no doctrine more excellent in itself, so none more necessary to be preached, than the doctrine of Jesus Christ, and him crucified. Oh! let ministers then preach, and by preaching prepare their people to receive the knowledge of Jesus Christ, and bim crucified. And let both ministers and people count all things but dross in comparison of that excellency which is in the knowledge of Christ Jesus our Lord.

3 And I was with you in weakness, and in fear, and in much trembling. Observe here, 1. How the apostle declares that his person was suitable to his preaching, both plain, neither pompous. 2 Cor. x. 10. He tells us, That his bodily presence was weak and mean, and his speech contemptible. Tradition tells us, that Paul (according as his name signifies) was a man of a very little stature, his voice small, and wanting that presence which some others had. Observe, 2. Some pain that the apostle was in, fearing lest the infirmity of his flesh should render him as a minister despicable in the eyes of any, or the course of the gospel be hindered and obstructed by his bodily infirmities; for this was he with them in fear and much trembling. Nothing doth so much affect and afflict the ministers of Christ, as an apprehension and fear lest any thing in or from themselves should obstruct or hinder the success of the gospel which they teach. It is sad when our people take occasion, either from our poverty or mean appearance, to despise our message, or from any natural imperfections found with us; but much sadder, when such moral blemishes are found with us, as to render us the occasion of our own contempt, and the cause of our ministry's unsuccessfulness.

4 And my speech and my preach

ing was not with enticing words of man's wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power: 5 That your faith should not stand in the wisdom of men, but in the power of God.

Here our apostle goes on, declaring after what manner he did, and did not, preach the gospel of Christ to the Corinthians. Note, 1. How he did not preach unto them: he tells us, that his preaching was not with enticing words of man's wisdom; that is, his preaching was not garnished with human eloquence, did not consist in rhetorical tropes, was not accompanied with the witty insinuations of artificial learning, which pleases the ear, but affects not the heart; therefore the apostles did not, like rhetoricians and orators, polish their discourses with an affected curiosity and exactness of language: but although they came in plainness, yet not in rudeness of speech; our apostle's preaching at Corinth was great and serious, pious and ardent, plain and profitable. With what brevity, without darkness; with what gravity, without affectation; with what natural eloquence, without meretricious ornament, were St. Paul's discourses! A minister's words ought not to be instantia, but heart-inflaming words. Note, 2. How the inflammantia: not high-swelling, but apostle did preach unto the Corinthians; namely, in the demonstration of the Spirit, and of power; that is, the doctrine which he preached was accompanied with, and confirmed by, the miraculous gifts of the Holy Ghost, to convince them that Jesus was risen from the dead, and was made Lord of all, whom therefore they ought to believe and obey; he did not go about to bewitch men with eloquence, nor to entangle their minds by subtle reasonings, but he offered to men a sensible proof and deered, in those strange and miraculous opemonstration of the truth of what he delivrations to which he was enabled by the

Holy Ghost. This demonstration of the word, we are not now to expect; but the Spirit accompanying the preaching of the ministry of the word is still attended with a divine power of the Spirit, enlightening the understanding, and persuading the conscience; which may be called a demonstration of the Spirit, because the evidence of truth is no longer disputed or contradicted, but the understanding assents to the word as truc, and the will embraces it as

good. Note, 3. The reason assigned by the apostle why he preached the gospel in and after this plain and inartificial manner, namely, That their faith should not stand in the wisdom of men, but in the power of God; that is, that your faith or belief of the gospel should not seem to be obtained by human wisdom and eloquence, but be ascribed to a divine power, influencing such weak means as my plain preaching was amongst you; it is the praise of omnipotency to work by improbabilities: God delights to do great things by weak and unlikely means, knowing that the weakness of the instrument redounds to the greater honour of himself, the principal agent. Human faith is an assent to any thing credible, as credible upon the fallible testimony of man; and is founded upon, and resolved into, the authority of the speaker; but divine faith is an assent to any thing credible, as credible upon the infallible testimony of God, and is grounded on, and resolved into, the evidence of divine revelation. Upon this foot stood the Corinthians' faith, not in the wisdom of men, but in the power of God.

6 Howbeit we speak wisdom among them that are perfect: yet not the wisdom of this world nor

of the princes of this world, that come to nought: 7 But we speak the wisdom of God in a mystery, even the hidden wisdom, which God ordained before the world unto our glory:

Our apostle here proceeds in discoursing to the Corinthians of the excellency of his ministry amongst them, to obviate the contempt which some might cast upon it for want of human eloquence, sublimity of learning, and accurateness of speech; as if the apostle had said, "Though the wise men of the world account me a fool, and my preaching foolishness, yet I speak the highest wisdom among them that are perfect, or fully instructed in the principles of the christian faith." Although the discourses of the ablest ministers of the gospel seem jejune and dry to carnal hearts, yet they have an excellency of wisdom and depth of judgment in them, which spiritual and judicious christians do own and acknowledge. Here observe, 1. The title which the apostle gives to the gospel of Christ, which he preached: he styles it the

wisdom of God, the wisdom of God in a mystery, the hidden wisdom which God ordained before the world was;-the wisdom of God, because it makes men truly wise, wise to salvation, directing us to use the best means in order to the best and highest end; and the hidden mysterious wisdom of God, because it lay hid in the secret counsels of God from all eternity, and afterwards lay hid under the Jewish types, but is now revealed by the ministry of Christ and his holy apostles; revealed in due time to our glory, that is, to be the means of our happiness and glory. The gracious purpose and design of God in the recovery of a lost world to happiness and glory, by the death and sufferings of his dear and only Son, was so mysterious and surprising, that it could never have entered the thoughts of men or angels, had not God himself discovered it by the revelation of the gospel. Observe, 2. The comparison which the apostle makes betwixt the wisdom of the gospel and the wisdom of this world: The wisdom of this world, and of the princes of this world, comes to nought. By the wisdom of the world, understand the wisdom of the heathen Gentile world, the learning of their admired philosophers, all which comes to nought; that is, it is of no significancy at all in order to the best and highest end, the salvation of the gospel, is the best knowledge of the the soul. Christianity or the knowledge of truest and highest wisdom; 'tis the best knowledge, because it contains the knowledge of God and our duty, which is the most excellent, the most necessary, and the most useful knowledge; and it is the truest wisdom, because it is to be wise for ourselves, and to be wise as to our chief interest; it propounds to us the noblest end, to wit, the glory of God, and our soul's salvation; and it directs us to use the best, the surest, and wisest means, for the certain obtaining of that end.

8 Which none of the princes of this world knew: for had they known it, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory.

That is, Which divine wisdom neither Caiaphas, nor Herod, nor Pontius Pilate, nor any of the Jewish or Gentile rulers, did understand. Where note, The apostle calls the learned rabbies, the admired philosophers among the heathen, the celebrated doctors among the Jews, princes; but

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