presently adds a diminutive term, which darkens all their glory: he styles them the princes of this world, utterly unacquainted with the wisdom of the other world. Observe farther, What a clear and full proof the apostle gives of their ignorance of this divine wisdom which the gospel reveals: had they known it, that is, practically known it, so as to believe it, to be influenced and persuaded by it, they would not have crucified the Lord of Glory. Note here, 1. A royal title given to Christ, The Lord of glory. There belongs to him, (1.) An essential glory as God, which is unspeakable, yea, inconceivable, Phil. ii. 6. He thought it no robbery to be equal with God, that is, to have a peerage or equality with his Father in glory. (2.) A mediato rial glory as head of the church, which consists in that fulness of grace which is inherent in him, and in that dignity and authority which is put upon him. (3.) A passive glory, (as some divines call it,) of a glory which shall to all eternity be given to him by his redeemed ones, by saints and angels, upon the account of his mediatorial work: Rev. v. 12. Worthy is the Lamb to receive glory, and honour, and worship, for he hath redeemed us, &c. Note, 2. The indignity offered to this glorious person: They crucified him, they nailed him to an ignominious cross, and put him to death, as the vilest criminal, as the greatest malefactor. Note, 3. The cause of this indignity, and that was, ignorance; had they known, they would not have crucified, that is, had the princes of this world known, either who Christ was, or the work which he came about, they would not have crucified him, but adored him. But was their ignorance of Christ a sufficient excuse for crucifying him? In no wise, because it was not an invincible, but a wilful ignorance: they had sufficient means of instruction, by which they might have come to the knowledge of him, and of their duty to him; but they closed their eyes, and would not see. 9 But, as it is written, Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man, the things which God hath prepared for them that love him. 10 But God hath revealed them unto us by his Spirit: for the Spirit searcheth all things, yea, the deep things of God. 11 For what man know eth the things of a man, save the spirit of man which is in him? even so the things of God knoweth no man, but the Spirit of God. These words, Eye hath not seen, &c. do not immediately respect the happiness of heaven and a future state, though very often they are so applied; but they are primarily spoken of the gospel state, and of the blessings to be enjoyed by them that love God here: from whence a good argument may be drawn to prove the inconceivable happiness of the saints hereafter. Though they have felt and tasted joys unspeakable and full of glory, in the actings of their faith and love upon God at present; yet all that they have seen and heard, all that they have tasted and felt, in the way to heaven, falls infinitely short of the perfection and blessedness of that place and state. Lord! how will thy immediate presence, when we come into it, he a great surprise to those of us that have now the greatest acquaintance with it! Observe farther, The care and kindness of God towards his servants, in revealing to them by his Spirit those great and good things prepared for them, which surpass man's understanding: though" eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, nor heart conceived, the things which God' hath prepared for thein that love him, yet God hath revealed them to us by his Spirit." There is a two-fold revelation of the happiness of a future state: Revelatio fidei, et revelatio visionis, a revelation of faith, and a revelation by vision and sight; the former, believers have by the help of the Holy Spirit in this life, as viatores; the latter they shall ere long enjoy in heaven, as comprehensores, where they shall see as they are seen, and know as they are known. Observe, lastly, That the Holy Spirit, which thus revealeth hidden counsels to man, and searcheth the deep things of God, is omniscient, and really God. Mark 1. He searcheth deep things; he is not only acquainted with and privy to the surface and outside of things, but searcheth things to the bottom. And, 2. He searchcth not only the deep things of man, as of kings and princes, whose hearts are a great deep, but the deep things of God: therefore the Spirit is God; for as the apostle argues, ver. 11. No man knoweth the things of a man, save the spirit of man that is in him; even so, the things of God knoweth no man, but the Spirit of God, or he that is with God, in God, yea, God himself, as intimately with him as the soul is in the body. If the spirit that is in man were not man, it could never know the deep things of man; and if the Spirit of God were not God, he could never search and know the deep things of God. 12 Now we have received, not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit which is of God; that we might know the things that are freely given to us of God. 13 Which things also we speak, not in the words which man's wisdom teacheth, but which the Holy Ghost teacheth; comparing spiritual things with spiritual. Observe here, 1. The apostle declares what spirit they had not received, namely, the spirit of the world: We have not received the spirit of the world; that is, the spirit which suggests worldly wisdom, and savours only of worldly things: which acts and influences only worldly men. In the whole generation of worldly men there is the same worldly spirit, and this spirit of the world is an earthly spirit, it is a low, a little, and a narrow spirit: earthly things which are present and visible, such a soul gapes after, and grasps hard; but future and invisible things, which are far off and out of sight, are neither believed nor sought after. Observe, 2. The apostle declares what spirit they had received, namely, the spirit which is of God, and of what use that Holy Spirit is unto them: it teaches them to know the things which are freely given them of God; that is, the Holy Spirit showeth us both what God is, and what the things of God are; we are enlightened with the knowledge of that grace and goodness of God which is discovered to us in the gospel, we know both divine mysteries and divine mercies, both what God hath done for us, and what he hath wrought in us, which are the things that are freely given us of God. Observe, 3. The apostle declares how he preached these spiritual things after a spiritual manner, not in the words which man's wisdom teacheth, but which the Holy Ghost teacheth; that is, not in the words and after the manner now counted by the Gentile philosophers to be learned and wise, but in the very words, and after the very manner, which the Spirit of God teacheth 14 But the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God : for they are foolishness unto him: neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned. Observe here, 1. The subject spoken of, the natural man; not caprikos, the sensual, but KiKoç, the animal man, who acts only by the principles of human reason and worldly wisdom; who, though well furnished with intellectual and moral improvements, is yet destitute of the enlightening Spirit and renewing grace of God. Observe, 2. What is here affirmed of the natural man, with reference to spiritual things-That he receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God; and that he cannot know them. Where note, That it is not said, that he knoweth not the things of God, but the things of the Spirit of God; for there are some things of God, which a natural man may know, but the things of the Spirit of God, as truths purely evangelical, these he receiveth not, neither in his understanding, nor in his will. Note further, It is not barely said that he doth not, but that he cannot know them. Natural reason alone, by what helps soever assisted and improved, is altogether insufficient, without spiritual illumination, to apprehend supernatural and evangelical truth: not but that the Spirit of God in the work of illumination and conversion makes use of our reason; that flower of the soul is not blasted, but more opened, by the blowing of the blessed Spirit. Christianity doth not command us to throw away our reason, but to subjugate it; not to deny or disown our reason, but to captivate it to the obedience of faith; but the sense of the apostle is, that a person of the most exquisite natural accomplishments, and one that has improved his reason to the highest pitch, cannot behold evangelical mysteries in their proper light, or embrace them in their verity and beauty, without the superadded aids and assistances of the Holy Spirit. Observe, 3. The reasons declared why the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit; because they are foolishness unto him; that is, he accounts them foolishness when propounded to him, because he doth not see them proved from principles of natural reason, and by philosophical deductions, which is the only wisdom that he seeks after. The reason also is added why he cannot know them, because they are spiritually discerned; that is, the natural man cannot know divine things by that wisdom which he alone will be conducted by, and spiritual things must be spiritually discerned; for, being mysteries, they are not knowable by human reason, but by spiritual revelation. And if the wisdom of the world, that is, the learned and the wisest men in the world, were thus unable by the sharpest light of reason to discover evangelical mysteries, Lord! how endearing are our obligations for the benefit of supernatural revelation, whereby the hidden wisdom of God is made known to us. 15 But he that is spiritual judgeth all things, yet he himself is judged of no man. As if the apostle had said, " Although the natural man, who acteth only by principles of human reason, receiveth not the things of the Spirit, nor can know them by any study of his own, because they are spiritually discerned; yet he that is spiritual, that is, who hath the revelation and illumination of the Spirit of God, judgeth, or discerneth and trieth all things, that is, all spiritual matters; yet he himself is judged of no man, that is discerned by none who hath no higher principle than that of nature to discern things by." Learn hence, That such christians as are enlightened and renewed with, guided and conducted by, the Holy Spirit of God, are the only proper judges of spiritual matters, able to understand their duty, and to discern between good and evil: He that is spiritual judgeth all things. 16 For who hath known the mind of the Lord, that he may instruct him? But we have the mind of Christ. That is, "What man, without divine revelation and spiritual illumination, ever knew or understood the mind of God so well as to be able to instruct, direct, and inform the spiritual man about it? But we who are spiritual have the mind of Christ, and so are able to discern and direct, to guide and instruct, others about it." Learn hence, That none are fit and sufficient to interpret the mind of God unto others, who are not acquainted with it themselves. We have the mind of Christ, saith the apostle of himself, and his fellowlabourers in the gospel: his meaning is not only this, that they had the mind of Christ written in a book, but that they had a clear understanding of it, and so were fitted to interpret it to others. There is no such knowledge as the knowledge of experience, no teaching like unto experimental teaching. CHAP. III. Our apostle having in the first chapter of this epistle reproved the Corinthians for their contentions and divisions, for the factions and parties which were found amongst them; in this chapter he returns to his former argument, and shows what a scandal their dissensions were to religion, and a reproach unto themselves. AND I, brethren, could not speak unto you, as unto spiritual, but as unto carnal, even as unto babes in Christ. As if the apostle had said, "My brethren, although I speak the highest wisdom not I speak to you as unto spiritual persons, amongst them that are perfect, yet could but as unto carnal; because the works of the flesh are found with you, and at the hence, That even amongst those who are best you are but babes in Christ." Learn the true and real members of the visible church, some are spiritual, some are carnal; the doth not call them absolutely carnal, as if some are men, some are babes. The aposthey were wholly given up to the works of the flesh; but comparatively so, having too much carnality and corruption in them, and savouring too much of the flesh, though for the main truly pious: and therefore he uses the word as for mitigation sake; I could not speak unto you, but as unto carnal. 2 I have fed you with milk, and not with meat: for hitherto ye were not able to bear it, neither yet now are ye able. With milk, that is, with easy and common truths; not with the mysterious parts of gospel knowledge; with the first principles of the doctrine of Christ, and not with the higher doctrines of christianity, which neither then nor now are ye able to bear. Learn hence, That it is great prudence and wisdom in the ministers of Christ to instruct people in the first principles of religion, in order to their regularly advancing higher in christianity. Ministers are spiritual nurses; they first must feed with milk, then with meat, otherwise they will not nourish, but destroy. 3 For ye are yet carnal for whereas there is among you envying, and strife, and divisions, are ye not carnal, and walk as men ? That is, "Ye are in a great measure carnal; for your envy, strife, and divisions prove you to be so, and that you live according to the corrupt nature of man." They had the seed and root of grace abiding, and yet the relics of corruption remaining the in them. There is a vast difference between weak grace and no grace, between presence of sin and the power of sin. But how could the apostle here call the Corinthians carnal, and babes in Christ, when in chap. i. ver. 5, he affirmed that they were enriched with all knowledge and utterance? Ans. That might be true as to some particular persons amongst them, who had those extraordinary gifts of tongues and miracles given them for the confirmation of the gospel; and yet what is here said be true, as to the generality of them, that they had too much carnality and unmollified corruption remaining in them: Ye are yet carnal. Observe next, What proof he gives of it, namely, ocular demonstration; for, says he, there are among you enoying, strife, and divisions. Envy, as the root, bears strife, and strife breeds divisions and factions. Envy is a pestilent lust, yea, a devilish lust; it makes another's good our grief. The devil envies God and man their happiness; he rejoices at the destruction of sinners, though he has no advantage by it; nay, though it increaseth his torment, because they were tempted by, him to sin. There is nothing so like the devil as an envious man, with his cloven foot, to make division wherever he comes. Learn hence, 1. That envy is the cause and companion of strife. Learn, 2. That strife and contention, differences and divisions, are often found in the churches of Christ, and among particular christians. Learn, 3. That so far as these prevail in and among any, it evidences that they are carnal, and walk as men. Paul; and another, I am of Apollos; are ye not carnal? That is, one saith, in opposition to another, I am the disciple of Paul; and another, I follow Apollos: and thus, probably, they call themselves after the names of their admired preachers, factiously crying up one minister above another. Hence learn, That although it be a people's duty ninisters of Christ, yet must not their reto have a great and high esteem of the spect degenerate into a sinful admiration of their persons; for their factious affecting of one minister above another, is both sinful and dangerous. When the gifts and abilities of one minister are cried up, to the contempt of others, it occasions enmity and dissension amongst ministers themselves, and their people also. Are ye not carnal, when one saith, I am of Paul; and another, I am of Apollos; It is added, chap. i. 12. And I of Christ; That is, they factiously said they were of, or for Christ, in opposition to his ministers. They pretended to the immediate teachings of Christ, and had no need of the ministry either of Paul or Apollos. Learn hence, That although Christ only is to be relied upon as head of his church, yet it is not his will we should despise his ministry, or contemn his ministers, under that pretence. 5 Who then is Paul, and who is Apollos, but ministers by whom ye believed, even as the Lord gave to every man ? As if the apostle had said, "Neither Paul but only ministerial helpers of it, as God nor Apollos were the authors of your faith, is pleased to furnish them with gifts, and to give a blessing to their ministerial endeavours." Your ministers give out to you as God gives in to them; and therefore you ought not factiously to boast of their gifts, Learn hence, 1. That the ministry of the nor to make parties upon that account. word is the instituted mean and instrumental cause which God hath appointed for working faith in the hearts of men. 2. That of gifts and abilities; all which he makes God has furnished his ministers with variety use of in order to that end. 3. That there fore the ministers of Christ ought neither to be deified nor nullified, neither to be cried up nor trodden down; we are not efficient causes, but only instrumental means of faith. Render therefore unto God the glory 4 For while one saith, I am of of the author, and unto ministers the honour of the instrument. Who is Paul, and who that watereth are one and every is Apollos, but ministers ? 6 I have planted, Apollos watered; but God gave the increase. I planted: That is, I first preached the gospel among you, and first instructed you in the principles of Christ. I converted you to Christ: after me came Apollos, and watered the seed which I had sown but God it was, and God alone, that caused the seed (which I sowed, and Apollos watered) to fructify and increase. Learn, 1. That it is an act of discriminating grace and favour in God, to send out his ministers to plant the gospel amongst a people that never before heard it. 2. That it is an act of farther favour and grace in God, to follow a people with a succession of ministers in order to the watering of the seed formerly sown amongst them. Learn, 3. That all that ministers can do, is but to plant and water; they cannot give increase, nor procure the success of their ministerial endeavours. Blessed be God that he doth not require the success of our labours at our hands. Woe unto us, should he say, "Either reconcile my people to me, or I will never be reconciled unto you." Diligence and endeavour is ours, the blessing and success is God's: he will never blame us for not doing his work. 7 So then neither is he that planteth any thing, neither he that watereth; but God that giveth the increase. The sense is," Neither he that planteth is to be esteemed as any thing, nor he that watereth as any thing, but the glory of all must be ascribed to God that giveth the increase:" yet must we understand the apostle speaking thus not absolutely, but comparatively; "They are not any thing, that is, not any thing of themselves alone, without the concurrence of the Spirit; what excellent gifts soever they have, they can not of themselves make the word they preach effectual." Lord! how many souls do find both ministry and ministers to be nothing as to them; If they be any thing to purpose to any soul, 'tis God, and not his ministers, that makes it so. The best and ablest ministry is nothing to any saving purpose, without God's power giving the increase. man shall receive his own reward, according to his own labour. He that planteth and he that watereth are one; that is, in their design and scope, in the aim and end of their ministry: therefore they should not be factiously divided, either among themselves or by their hearers. Although there is a variety and diversity in the gifts of Christ's ministers, yet the intent and design of their ministry being one, they all ought to agree as one. They should be one in doctrine, and one in affection; aiming at one and the same mark, namely, the glory of God, and men's salvation, as they are one in their office, institution, and end. It follows, Every man shall receive his own reward, according to his own labour. Thence learn, That every man, especially every minister, is sure to receive a proportionable reward hereafter, according to his labour and working for God here. Learn, 2. The approbation and distinction of this reward: He shall receive his own reward; implying, that there are degrees of reward and glory in heaven, according as men have laboured more or less for God here on earth: according to this gradual diversity, shall be gradual degrees of glory. Learn, 3. The measure and rule of this reward: according to his labour, not according to his success; according to his industry, not according to faithfully, God will reward him proportionthe fruit of his ministry. If he labours ably, though few or none have believed his report. 9 For we are labourers together with God: ye are God's husbandry: ye are God's building. Observe here, 1. The honourable title put upon the ministers of God, they are labourers or workers together with God. But in what sense are they so? Ans. Not so by any power of their own to produce any spiritual effect, as if they without God could work faith and repentance in the hearts of sinners; but they work only by an external application of the ministry of the word, and the means of grace to the souls of men. They are under-labourers to God, and God honours them by working by them, and working with them, for the conversion of men. Observe, 2. The honourable relation in which the church stands to God: the church and people of 8 Now he that planteth and he God are his husbandry, and his building: |