1 Corinthians 3

1 Corinthians 3:1-9

ves the carnality of the Corinthians, in contendn teachers, and urges many important consideram of so unbecoming a temper. 1 Cor. III. 1—9.

1 CORINTHIANS III. 1.

I HAVE been speaking of that great plainness with which I addressed myself to you when I came to preach the gospel among you at Corinth; and I hope, my brethren, you will not despise me for it: for truly, as it became my character as an apostle of Christ, so it suited yours, as being under the power of prejudices, which so far prevailed, that even when you were converted to the profession of Christianity, I could not speak unto you as unto spiritual persons, who had made any attainments in religion, proportionable to the illuminations and influences of the Spirit, which you had received: but was obliged in many instances to address you, as those who were still in too great a measure, carnal in your temper and views, and therefore were but as babes in Christ,ᵃ and beginners in the Divine life. I might have said sublimer things, and in a more elevated manner; but found so much pride and faction among you, that it was necessary to insist much upon the plain and fundamental doctrines of the cross, rather than on things, which, if they might have suited your inclinations better, would have suited your circumstances less. I was forced to preach to you, as to persons weak as infants; and so feed you with milk,ᵇ which I did as it were pour into your mouths with a tenderness, like that of a mother, or a nurse, when feeding her sucking child; and could not conveniently feed you with strong meat. I waved discoursing on some of those doctrines

ᵃ Babes in Christ.] By explaining this of beginners in the Divine life, or such as had made but little proficiency in it, we reconcile this with those passages which speak of the eminency of their gifts. 1 Cor. i. 5; 2 Cor. viii. 7.

ᵇ Feed you with milk.] The word erōnra,

exactly signifies, I give you to drink; but as that rendering would not suit the other word with which it is connected, strong meat, I thought it best to retain our version. Parallel instances to this manner of expression are produced by Mr. Blackwall, in his Sacred Classics, Vol. I. p. 72.

He tells them of their envying, and strive,

which left room for the curiosities of sublimer speculation, and admitted of the greatest ornaments of discourse, ᶜ because ye were not then able [to bear it;] nor indeed are ye yet able; as I perceive by the account which our brethren give of your present state. For it evidently appears, by what I hinted above, that ye are yet carnal, still under the influence of weak, and indeed sinful, prejudices. I appeal to your own consciences on this occasion for the proof of this: while [there is] emulation, and contention, and factions among you, are you not indeed carnal? and do ye not walk and conduct yourselves, as unregenerate men do? So that by this behaviour, a stranger would not know that you were Christians, or see any thing in you above uninstructed and unsanctified nature. For when you eagerly contend about the honours of this or that teacher, and set him up as the head of a distinguishing party; so that one says, I am for Paul, and another, I am for Apollos, ᵈ I admire the sublime sentiments of the one, and I the fine language and address of the other; are ye not carnal? and do ye not talk in the spirit of your heathen neighbours, who have their favourite philosophers and orators too? And is this language for Christians? Who then is Paul? and who [is] Apollos? For what reason do you regard either the one or the other? Is it for no consideration but that of talents, which they have in common with many who are strangers to the gospel? Or ought it not rather to be in a different view? even because they are the ministers of Christ, by whose means you have been instructed in his

ᶜ Ornaments of discourse.] If any think that the use of them might have been a proper condescension to their weakness, it is to be remembered, that the emulation of eloquence so ready to prevail among them, might have rendered such an indulgence dangerous.

ᵈ I for Apollos.] Mr. Locke fancies, (comparing chap. iv. 6.) that by Apollos, Paul means that Jewish teacher who was set up in opposition to him, and came among them, after he had preached the gospel to them; but it seems much more

probable to me, especially from the text just referred to, that he chose this name, that he might give no offence, and to shew that he should lament and condemn any division among them, though it were in favour of himself, or the dearest friend he had in the world. I cannot think St. Paul would have described the false apostle, if there were any one person who might be so called, as watering his plantation, which he rather wasted; or have spoken of himself, and that messenger of Satan, as one; as he does verse 8.

s and Apollos’ labours God gave the increase:

religion, and under whose teachings ye have believed and embraced it; and because they have humbly attempted to do their part for this great purpose, even as the Lord gave to every man both furniture and success. I have planted a Christian church among you; Apollos has since watered it by his affecting and useful addresses, (Acts xviii. 27,) but it was God who gave the increase, and caused the plantation thus watered to grow: no labourer can make his seed spring up without the influence of heaven, sunshine, and rain. When you come therefore to compare our part with that of God, it appeareth even as nothing, in the comparison. We freely own, that how highly soever you may think of us, he that planteth is nothing at all, and he that watereth; but God, who by his efficacious Spirit and grace giveth the increase, is all in all.

But as for this opposition which you make between us, and this zeal with which you contend for one against another, it is altogether unreasonable and absurd: for he that planteth, and he that watereth, are one; we are united in interest, and united in design and affection; so that instead of being pleased, we are rather displeased and grieved, with these invidious comparisons in favour of either. Our great concern is, to please our great Lord, to whom we are shortly to give up our account, and from whom we shall receive, every one, his own proper reward according to his own labour, and not according to the prejudices of our fellow servants either for, or against us. For we are not lords and proprietors of the church, nor persons that have independent schemes of our own to carry on; but we are the fellow labourers of God, the great Master of the family. Ye are

e Are one.] This is, (as Mr. Cradock well observes, in his Apost. Hist. p. 156,) another cogent argument against divisions; that, though their labours were different, and their rewards proportionable, yet they had all in the general one office, and were employed as workers together by God, to plant the seeds of grace and holiness in the souls of men, and to bring them on to perfection. He here introduces an excellent discourse, of the happy consequences of faithfulness in the ministerial work,

and the awful account of it to be given up to God. A subject familiar to his own mind; and so proper for their teachers, that if it render the epistle something less regular, it balances the account by rendering it much more useful.

f The fellow labourers of God.] This is the exact import of every one, which our version renders, labourers together with God; an improper rendering on every account.

VOL. 4.

Reflections on our attachment to human names and parties.

the husbandry of God, which we are to cultivate, God’s husbandry, ye v. that ye may bring forth fruit for him. [Ye are] are God’s building. 1 Cor. the building of God, which we are to endeavour iii. 9 to advance; that he may dwell in you, as in his holy temple, and glorify his name among you.

IMPROVEMENT.

Who that wishes the welfare of the church of Christ, must 1 not lament those sad remainders of carnality, which are often to be found among them who have the greatest advantage for becoming spiritual; while the same contentious principles, fermented, no doubt, by the same malignant enemy of the whole body, breathe in so many of its members, and diffuse a kind of 3 poison, which at once swells and torments it? What envyings, and strife, and factions, among those who ought to join as brethren, and to know but one interest! What a desire, in many instances, to increase the burdens of each other, instead of bearing them with friendly sympathy! 4 May Christians be cured of this dishonourable and fatal attachment to distinguished parties, and human names! May ministers feel more of that generous and noble spirit which this great apostle expresses! His reasoning hath the same force still. Ministers are still intended to be only the instruments of producing and establishing faith in their hearers, and still depend, 5, 6, 7 as entirely as ever, upon the blessing of God to give the increase to their labours. To that may they daily look; and be sensible that they are nothing without it; and that with it, their part is so small, that they hardly deserve to be mentioned. May their hands and hearts be more united; and retaining a due sense of 9 the honour which God doth them, in employing them in his vineyard, and in his building, may they faithfully labour, not as for themselves, but for the great Proprietor, and till the day 8 come, when he will remember them in full proportion to their fidelity and diligence.

The apostle Paul had laid the foundation;

1 Corinthians 3:10

As a useful lesson both to teachers and private Christians, in the present state of the Corinthian church, the apostle reminds them of that great trial which every man’s work was to undergo, the great guilt of defiling God’s temple, the vanity of human wisdom in the sight of God, and the great happiness of the true believer in that universal grant which God had made him of every thing necessary to his welfare. 1 Cor. III. 10, to the end.

Cor. III. 10.

CORINTHIANS III. 10.

I HAVE spoken of you as God’s building; and in that view, have the pleasure to say, that in my first preaching amongst you, when you were entire strangers to the first principles of the gospel, according to the measure of the grace of God given to me; to which I desire to refer the honour of all that I am, and of all that I do, in this excellent work; I have been enabled to act in the character of a skilful architect, or master builder: for with all due care and application, have I laid the great foundation, which hath strength sufficient to bear all the stress even of our eternal hopes. And one, and another, whom God calls to labour among you, buildeth thereon, for the further edification of your church, and of the souls of its particular members: but let every one carefully see to it, how he buildeth thereon, and what superstructure he raises. This is all indeed that remains to be done: for other solid foundation no one is able to lay, beside what is already laid, which is Jesus Christ, the great foundation stone, which God hath laid in Zion, elect and precious; and I take it for granted, no one who calls himself a Christian will attempt to lay any other. If any man build, I say, upon this foundation, let him look to the materials and nature of his work; whether he raise a stately and magnificent temple upon it, adorned as it were, like the house of God at Jerusalem, with gold and silver, [and] large, beautiful, and costly stones; [or] a mean hovel, consisting of nothing better than planks of wood, roughly put together, and thatched with hay [and] stubble; that is, let him look to it, whether

Christ.] L’Enfant Christ; but I think the sense given this, that esus is the text much nobler.

and it became others to take heed how they but he teach the substantial vital truths which do indeed belong to Christianity, and which it was intended to support and illustrate; or set himself to propagate vain subtleties and conceits on the one hand, or legal rites and Jewish traditions on the other; which, though they do not absolutely destroy the foundation, disgrace it, as a mean edifice would do a grand and expensive foundation, laid with great pomp and solemnity. But to prevent this, let me seriously admonish you, that whatever any man’s work may be, and however it may be covered, and as it were hid behind the scaffolding, every one’s work shall ere long be made manifest. For the great day, which is approaching, shall lay it open, because it shall then be as it were discovered by fire; yea, the fire of that great day of general conflagration, when the heavens shall pass away with a great noise, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat, shall prove every man’s work, of what kind it is. It shall stand a severe examination, which will as soon expose the vanity of many things, which some admired preachers value themselves upon, and for which they are extolled by their hearers, as the flame of some mighty burning shews the difference between the stability of a straw roof and a marble wall. And then if any man’s superstructure abide the test, and be approved, he will not only have the comfort of it in his own mind, which is an immediate and permanent satisfaction; but he shall also, receive a glorious reward from Christ, the great Head of the church, and Proprietor of the building, in comparison of which the applauses of men, or any thing they can bestow, deserve not to be mentioned by the name of a reward. But if any man’s work be then burnt up; if on that trial it be found like the combustible and mean materials which I represented by the wood, the hay, and the stubble; the consequence is, that he will sustain a proportionable loss. He

b The day shall prove every man’s work.] It is so very unnatural, with Dr. Whitby, to interpret this of the time of the destruction of Jerusalem, or of any approaching ersecutions of the Christian church, that he cannot but wonder, that critics of charer should have adopted such a sense. c Sustain a proportionable loss.] I cannot but fear, that an application to such niceties of unprofitable learning, as those, in which some, who have the charge of souls, spend almost the whole of their time, to the neglect of the vitals of Christianity, will be found in this day, lost labour.

Christians are the temple of God:

will find he has been spending his time and strength to little purpose, and has lost a great deal of that reward which he might, through Divine grace, have secured, had he applied himself with vigour and zeal to the proper labours of a gospel minister. Yet, if he be upon the whole a good man, who hath built upon Christ as the foundation, and, on the terms of the gospel, committed his soul to him, he shall himself be saved, and find mercy of the Lord; though in comparison with that more abundant entrance into his kingdom which others will have, it may be said, that he is saved with extreme difficulty, and as a man whose house is in flames while he is in it, and who is therefore forced with great terror to escape through the fire, sustaining the loss of every thing but his life.

Again, before I dismiss this topic of your being the building of God, let me lead you into some farther reflections, and ask you seriously, Know ye not that ye are the temple of God, that the whole body of Christian converts is dedicated to his peculiar service, and honoured by his most gracious presence, as the Spirit

Though such as employ themselves chiefly to inculcate in their preaching, doctrines, ceremonies, or forms of human invention, come nearer the case immediately referred to here. L’Enfant refers this loss to the reproach and shame which such shall suffer before the tribunal of Christ.

d Through the fire ] To be as a brand lucked out of the burning, is well known, as a proverbial expression, to signify a narrow escape from extreme danger. Compare Zech. iii. 2; Amos iv. 11; and especially Isa. xxxiii. 11, 12; to which some have thought the apostle here alludes. Δις πυρᾶς, (Jude 23,) is put for passing through the fire, as δις υδελᾶς, (1 Pet. iii. 20,) signifies to be saved from the water, by passing through it, as the ark did. The learned Elsner, who urges and illustrates these instances, shews, that the most approved heathen writers use the phrase in this sense. (Observ. Vol. II. p 78.) Many divines have well shewn how far this text is from giving any support to a popish purgatory. And though Mr. Fleming follows many of the ancient fathers, in explaining it of some terror, or pain, which Christians of very imperfect character may be exposed to, when the rise, (as he supposes they

will,) amidst the flames of the last conflagration, (Flem. First Resur. p 44,) the text will admit so fair a sense on the interpretation here given, that I cannot persuade myself from hence, without farther evidence, that numbers of holy souls, who have long been glorified in heaven, will be reunited to their bodies, which are to be raised in glory, to be in the first moments of that union terrified and tormented; though it should be but for ever so short a time. That the Pagans, as well as some of the fathers, had a notion of some such purgatory, Elsner has shewn in the passage cited above.

e You are the temple of God.] Elsner hath many passages here, from Philo, Plato, and other writers, in which they represent a virtuous mind as the temple of God, and in which heathens speak in the highest and strongest terms, of the obligations men are under to keep these his temples inviolate and unpolluted. And if, as Mr. Locke supposes, Paul’s chief opposer was a Jew, the vast veneration he would of course have for the temple at Jerusalem, would add great weight to this argument with respect to him and his followers.

*If any man destroy his temple, God will dest of God dwelleth in you, and you thereby appear to be consecrated to himself? Now if any one defile, or destroy the temple of God, it may well be apprehended, that God, ever jealous of his own honour, will destroy him. And you may assure yourselves from this view, that whatever preaching, or whatever conduct, tends to diminish its purity and glory, will be very severely resented by him; even much more than the violation of the place, (great as that impiety and provocation was,) where he so long caused his name to dwell upon Mount Zion. For the temple of God, considered as such, is undoubtedly holy, and awful. Much more then must that be so, which he hath erected by his grace in the breasts of intelligent creatures, and sanctified to himself, as the everlasting residence of his peculiar complacency. (Compare Isa. lvii. 15; chap. lxvi. 1, 2.) Now ye are this [temple;] each of you, if a true Christian, is such a sacred shrine, and the whole Christian church the complete and magnificent building. It therefore becomes every member of it, to be very careful how he behaves, and what he teaches among you; lest he should commit an evil, of the enormity of which he may not be immediately aware. I know there are those among you whose pride and selfconceit may lead them to despise this admonition, especially as coming from me; but let no man deceive himself with vain speculations of his own worth and abilities. If any one of you seem to be wise in this world, if he value himself upon what is commonly called wisdom among Jews or Gentiles, let him become a fool, that he may be wise indeed. Let him humbly acknowledge his own natural ignorance and folly, and embrace that gospel which the wisdom of the world proudly and vainly derides as foolishness, if he desire to approve himself really and substantially wise, and to reap at last the honours and rewards of those who are truly so in the sight of God. For all the boasted wisdom of this world is foolishness with God, who with one glance sees through all its vanity; as it is written, (Job v. 13.) He entangleth the wise in their own crafty artifice, often ruining them by those designs which they had formed with the utmost efforts of human

the Lord knoweth the thoughts of the wise, that they are vain. He sees, how they ensnare them- 1 elves in their own subtleties, and when they 2 think themselves most sagacious, are only mused with their own sophistry and deceit. Therefore, upon the whole, (that I may reurn to the point from whence I set out,) conidering all I have said, and especially considring in what view the great God regards these highs which we are so ready to value ourselves pon; let none glory in men, or divide themelves into parties, out of attachment to this or hat teacher. For all things are your’s, and we in particular, are to be regarded, not as your ords and commanders, that you should list under our banners; but rather as your servants. I except not myself, or the most honoured among my brethren; whether Paul, or Apollos, or Cephas, be in question, we are all equally your’s, to serve you to the utmost of our abilities, in the advancement of your best interests. Yea, I may go farther, and say, whether we speak of the world, God will give you so much of it as shall be for your real good; and indeed he supports its whole frame in a great measure for your sakes; or if we survey life in all its various conditions, or death, and all its solemn harbingers and attendants, God will make the one, or the other, in different views advantageous to you, and will adjust the circumstances of both with the kindest regard to your happiness. Things present, or future, the comforts and privileges of this life on the one hand, or its afflictions and troubles on the other, and at length, the boundless felicity of the eternal state, where affliction and trouble shall be no more known; all are, through the Divine grace, your’s. Remember this, and let the thought raise your minds above these little things which now occasion such contention between you; and be united in love, as God hath united you in privileges and hopes. And bear in your mind too, as the counterpart of this happy detail, that ye are Christ’s, his property, his subjects, his people; and let that engage you to

Reflections on the treasures and hopes of Christians,

attend to his royal law of charity, by which Christ’s; and Christ vi. you may be peculiarly known to be his. And as is God’s. 1 Cor. Christ [is] God’s, and refers all his services as a Mediator, to his Father’s glory, it will most effectually promote that great end of his appearance, that you should learn such a subjection of soul to him, and imbibe those candid and generous sentiments which I am labouring to produce and cherish in your minds.

IMPROVEMENT.

verse 21, 23 WITH what delight may the Christian survey this grand inventory, and conscious that he is Christ’s, call all things his own! With what pleasure survey the various gifts and graces of ministers, and consider them as given by God for his edification! With what complacency look round on things present, and forward on things to come, in this connection, and call the world his own; and count not only life, but death, amongst his treasures! Both in their different aspects, are subservient to the happy purpose of glorifying God: and surely, when by death we may do it more effectually, death should be more welcome than life. And welcome it must indeed be to every believer, as the appointed means of transmitting him to the sight and enjoyment of God, and the possession of better blessings, than Paul, or Apollos, could ever describe, or any thing present, or any thing to come in this world, could ever afford.

Let these sublime views elevate the Christian above those occasions of contention, which, for want of ascending to such noble contemplations, are often the source of innumerable evils. And let us add to them that other consideration, that we are the 16, 17 temples of the Holy Ghost; if Christians indeed, we are inhabited by God, even by his Spirit. Let this engage us to take the strictest care, neither to defile ourselves, nor to injure our brethren; lest, in either view, it should be resented and punished by the holy God, as a sacrilegious profanation.

Let us not overvalue the wisdom of this world, since it is little regarded by God; nor be greatly concerned, if fools account our wisdom, folly, and our life, madness. So censured they the prophets, and apostles, before us; nor did our Master himself escape the calumny and outrage. We shall be happy enough,

f Royal law of charity.] Nothing could which were common to them all, as it have a greater efficacy to put an end to would tend to sweeten their spirits, and the contentions, so prevalent among the inspire them with honourable and affec- Christians at Corinth, than the considera- tionate sentiments with respect to their tion of those high privileges and hopes brethren.

and their obligation to build so as to stand the trial.

if we approve our fidelity to him, and if we build a wise super- structure on Christ, as the great, the only Foundation.

Let his ministers especially, be solicitous, that they may not lose the labour of their lives, by choosing unhappily to employ them, in that which will turn to no account, in the great day of his appearing. Let them carefully examine their materials. Surely if they have senses spiritually exercised, it cannot be hard to distinguish between the substantial and undoubted doctrines of Christianity, which are as gold, and silver, and precious stones, and those fictitious, or at best, dubious and intricate points, which in comparison with the former, are but wood, and hay, and stubble. And if in urging these, they passionately inveigh against their brethren, and endeavour to bring them into contempt, or suspicion, what do they but cement these combustible materials with sulphur.

O ! let the frequent views of that last searching fire, that grand period of all, be much in our thoughts : that day, when not only the works of ministers, but every private person, must, as it were, pass through the flames. May we then be saved, not with difficulty, but with praise and honour ! May our works, of what kind soever they are, abide, so as to be found worthy of applause, and through Divine grace receive a distinguished reward.