1 Corinthians 6

1 Corinthians 6:1

The apostle reproves the Corinthians for prosecuti in heathen courts; and solemnly warns them c quences which would attend the indulgence of t positions and practices in which Christianity from which it was intended to deliver them. 1

1 CORINTHIANS VI. 1.

I HAVE already mentioned one very great irregularity among you; and now I am under an unhappy necessity of animadverting upon another; which is, that you enter into suits of law with each other in heathen courts. And is this possible? Dare any of you indeed act so shameful a part? Can you really be so imprudent, having any matter of [complaint] against another, as to refer it to the decision of men, who lie under so many temptations to be unjust, and not of the saints,² of your Christian brethren, from whose sanctity of character and profession you might reasonably expect the most equitable usage, and the utmost tenderness in accommodating differences, upon the easiest terms that justice will allow. Do you not yet indeed know, have you never been told it by me, or by any other, that the saints shall in the great day judge the world? that they shall be assessors with Christ in that solemn judgment when he shall condemn all the ungodly? (Compare Matt. xix. 28.) And if the world is shortly to be judged by you, are ye unworthy of determining the most inconsiderable matters which daily occur in your secular affairs?

I repeat it again; and you will find it a striking argument, if you will allow yourselves to reflect upon it; know you not, that we shall

² Unjust—saints.] The heathen judges, as Paul seems here to insinuate, or rather in effect to declare, were generally unjust; Christians were generally good, righteous, and holy men. There might be exceptions on each side, but the apostle’s argument turns on what might commonly be suposed. The saints, who are to judge an-

gels, are not merely professing Christians To suppose, that the case of the incestu ous Corinthian had been carried before heathen judge, as Mr. Locke supposes, seems entirely groundless. A thousand other disputes might have occasioned th remonstrance before us.

be judged by persons not esteemed in the church :

Judge even the falling angels, themselves, who, notwithstanding all their malignity and pride, shall be brought to that tribunal at which you, having gloriously passed your own trial, shall be seated with Christ, your victorious Lord, when by his righteous sentence he shall send these rebellious spirits to that flaming prison which Divine justice hath prepared for them. And [are ye] not then much more apparently [worthy to judge] the little trifling affairs which relate to this mortal life ? If therefore ye, who have such great honours and dignities in view, have, in the mean time, any little controversies with each other, relating to the affairs of this life, do ye set those to determine them, who are of no esteem at all in the church, but whom ye know to be idolaters, despisers of the gospel, and enemies to your great Master, and his cause, as your heathen neighbours undoubtedly are ? I speak [this] to your shame; and hope you blush while you read it. Are things indeed come to such a pass in your church, celebrated as it is, and boasting so much of its wisdom, that this should be necessary ? What, is there

ᵇ Shall judge angels.] Had the apostle, as Dr. Whitby supposed, referred to the power which many Christians had of driving out demons from those who were possessed by them, he would not have spoke of this as a future thing, nor can we suppose it to have been common to all Christians, nor would it have afforded an argument equally forcible with that which the paraphrase suggests. Mr. Reynolds extends the interpretation yet farther, and seems to infer from it, that the holy angels are still in a state of probation, and shall be rewarded at the last day, according to the degree of their fidelity and activity in the services assigned to them by Christ, as the head of angels, who shall take his redeemed from among men, to be assessors with him in that final sentence. Reym. of Ang. p. 183. But the angelic legions are represented in quite another view, namely, as ministering to Christ, adding pomp to his appearance, and executing his sentence : which, I think, sufficiently proves that this is an ungrounded interpretation, and that if any such judgment is to pass, with regard to them, it must

be at some other time, and in some other place. But there seems a peculiar dignity and propriety in the determination of the great God, that when the devils, who are expressly said to be reserved in chains of darkness to the judgment of the great day, shall be condemned, the saints, being raised to the seats of glory which these wicked spirits have forfeited and lost, should assist in that sentence which shall display the victory of Christ over them in these his servants, once their captives, and will, no doubt, render the sentence itself yet more intolerable, to creatures of such malignity and pride.

ᶜ Do ye set them, &c ] Our translation renders it, set them to judge, who are least esteemed in the church, as if the apostle had said, “take the meanest Christian, rather than any heathen.” But I follow that preferred by Beza and Whitby. Limborch would understand κρίσμα, as equivalent to διαχωμα, and render it as a piece of advice, “constitute to yourselves courts of judicature, relating to civil affairs.” Elmer shews, that κεβιζω, signifies to place persons on judicial seats. Observ. Vol. II. p. 93.

he apostle therefore reproves their contests in the

not one wise intelligent person among you all, who may be able to determine the cause of a Christian brother? But though the civil constitution allows you to decide these things among yourselves, one brother hath a suit against another, and this before infidels, who cannot but be greatly scandalized at this, and take occasion from your mutual quarrels and accusations, to brand the whole body of you as injurious and avaricious; who, while you pretend to be so far superior to secular views, are yet so strongly attached to them, that with all your professions of universal benevolence and brotherly love, you cannot forbear wronging one another? Therefore, whoever may have the right on his side, on this or that particular question, even this is altogether a fault among you, that you bring it under the cognizance of heathens, on whatever occasion it be, that ye have such lawsuits and contests with each other. Why do ye not rather endure wrong patiently, and sit down by the loss? Why do ye not rather suffer yourselves to be defrauded, than seek such a remedy as this? But indeed, to speak plainly, you do wrong, and you defraud even [your] brethren. By such proceedings as these, you do much greater injury to the church of Christ, and the common cause of religion, than you can sustain from any particular brother against whom you advance a complaint. Nor is this the only thing wherein you are to blame, nor the only instance in which you injure each other.

And permit me to expostulate with you a little on this head. What! can you contentedly sacrifice this great and glorious hope which the gospel gives you? With all your boasted knowledge, do ye not indeed know, that the unjust shall not inherit the kingdom of God? Be not deceived

d One brother hath a suit against another, &c.] Josephus observes, that the Romans, (who were now masters of Corinth,) permitted the Jews in foreign countries, to decide private affairs, where nothing capital was in question, among themselves; and from hence Dr. Lardner argues the justice of this rebuke of St. Paul, as there is no room to doubt but Christians might

have had the same privilege, as they were looked upon as a Jewish sect Credibility, Vol I.p. 165. But separate from that, the might certainly by mutual consent have chosen their brethren as referees.

e Even this is altogether a fault among you] That s.d., should be rendered even, Raphelius hath well observed, and prove Annot. ex Herod. in loc.

ian converts were once of the worst character. 245

by a vain imagination, that the Christian name sect. and privileges will secure you in the practice of your vices: for I now solemnly assure you, as I have often done, that neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor effeminate persons, who give themselves up to a soft, indolent way of living, and can endure no hardships in the way of duty and honour; nor Sodomites, those infamous degraders of human nature, Nor thieves, nor those who are insatiably covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor rapacious persons, who by extortion, or any other kind of violence, invade the property of their neighbours; shall inherit that pure and peaceful region, the kingdom of God, where holiness and love must for ever reign, under the auspicious government of his Son.

And while I write this, excuse me, that I think it my duty solemnly, though tenderly, to call you, my dear brethren, to recollect, that such detested creatures as these, were some of you in your unconverted state! as many of your neighbours know, and as you yourselves, with deep humility and agony of soul confessed. But ye are washed, not merely by the baptism of water; but ye are sanctified, but ye are justified; Divine grace has made a happy change in your state and temper; and ye are purified and renewed, as well as discharged, from the condemnation to which ye were justly obnoxious, in the name of the Lord Jesus, and by the Spirit of him whom we are now taught, through that common Saviour, to call with complacency our God. You ought therefore ever to maintain the most grateful sense of this important blessing, to stand at the remotest distance from sin, and to be tender of the peace and honour of a society which God hath founded by his extraordinary interposition, and into which he hath been pleased in so wonderful a manner to bring even you, who were once in the most infamous and deplorable state.

IMPROVEMENT.

ALAS! How great a reproach do we bring on our Christian profession, by so immoderate an attachment to our secular interests! How much does the famil of our common Father suffer,

Reflections on Divine grace, which saves the vilest sinners.

while brother goes to law with brother! What are these little interests of mortal life, that the heirs of salvation, by whom angels are to be judged, should wrangle about them, and for the sake of them do wrong, and that even to their brethren!

Men had need, where such a temper prevails, to examine themselves, and take heed that they be not deceived; for though good men may fall into some degrees of this evil, through negligence or mistake, yet certainly it looks too much like the character of such of whom the apostle testifies, that they shall not inherit the kingdom of God. Let us observe, that in this catalogue are contained, not only the most infamous and enormous offenders, but some, who perhaps may be tempted, because of their freedom from flagitious crimes, to think much better of themselves than they ought. We find here the effeminate, and covetous, and revilers, and extortioners, ranked with adulterers, and fornicators, with thieves and drunkards, with idolaters and Sodomites. We can never be secure from danger of falling into the greatest sins, till we learn to guard against the least; or rather, till we think no evil small; viewing every sin in its contradiction to the nature of God, and in the sad aspect it bears with regard to an eternal state.

But how astonishing is it to reflect, that when the apostle is speaking of persons of such infamous characters, he should be able to add, in his address to his Christian brethren at Corinth, And such were some of you! Who must not adore the riches and sovereignty of Divine grace? were such as these the best of the heathen world? were such as these prepared by their distinguished virtues to receive farther assistance? let us rather pay our homage to that grace, which went, as it were, into the suburbs of hell, to gather from thence citizens of heaven. And let the worst of men learn, not to despair of salvation, when made sincerely desirous of being washed and sanctified, as well as justified, in the name of our Lord Jesus, and by the Spirit of our God. It is that name, it is that Spirit alone, which accomplishes works like these. And, blessed be God, all the wonders of this kind were not exhausted in those early ages, but some have been reserved for us, on whom the end of the world is come: the gospel hath exerted its triumphs in our own days, and they shall be renewed in those of our children. Only let none from hence presume to turn the grace of God into wantonness; lest, instead of being among the few, who are made the trophies of the Divine mercy, they should perish with the multitude of the ungodly world, who die in their pollutions, and go down to final and irreversible condemnation.

ld not be under the power even of law ul things.

1 Corinthians 6:12

ng the newly converted Corinthians, might not sensible of the enormity of the sin of fornication, her some useful reflections on things really indifres himself strongly on that head, and pleads those to Christianity, which especially illustrate the it. 1 Cor. VI. 12, to the end.

1 CORINTHIANS VI. 12.

I KNOW, some of you at Corinth, allow s yourselves to philosophize with great liberty, and find many excuses for doing things which others conscientiously scruple : but as matters at present stand, I think it necessary to give you some cautions upon this head. Suppose the things in question to be as indifferent in their own nature, as many of you would fain persuade yourselves and others, they are : I will, for argument sake, grant, that all these things are lawful for me ; but at the same time you must acknowledge, if you reflect ever so little, that all such things are not convenient : circumstances may make it improper for me to do that which is not absolutely and universally criminal. And though it be allowed, that all things in question are lawful for me, nevertheless, I will not be brought under the power of any such thing. But am solicitous to maintain such a superiority to appetite and passion, as becomes a man and a Christian in these cases. This maxim may be particularly applied to the supposed difference between one kind of food and another. All meats, capable of ministering to our nourishments [are] indifferently made for the use of the belly, and the belly is made for receiving and digesting meats. It is true ; but then it ought to be remembered, that the time will quickly come, when God will destroy both it and them ; meats, and the organs by which they have been received, and this animal frame, which has been nourished by them, shall be mixed together in the grave, and moulder into dust. Since therefore they refer only to this mortal body, so soon to be reduced to its first mean rinci les, it is certainly be-

Much less would he allow fornication.

eath the dignity of the Christian character, to be a slave to this or that kind of meats; or in any instances, to indulge this perishing flesh, so as to injure the souls of others, or hazard our own.

But if any man extend the maxim I have mentioned above, to patronize any kind of lewdness, it would be a groundless and most unjustifiable inference: for it is most certain, that the body is not made for so infamous a purpose as fornication, nor can the commission of it be ever necessary or expedient; but it was, on the contrary, formed for the service of the Lord, that, while we continue in it, we might devote all our animal, as well as rational powers, to our great Creator and Redeemer; and the Lord is in an important sense for the body, he is the great Saviour of the body, as well as of the soul, and will make it at last appear, that he hath not forgotten the meaner part of our nature, in the gracious scheme he hath formed for our felicity: And this scheme shall surely be effectual; for God the Father hath both raised up the Lord Jesus Christ, from the dead to an immortal life, and will also raise us up, in like manner, by his Divine and almighty power, and transform these bodies of ours, into a resemblance of the glorified body of our Lord; which should certainly raise us above all impure affections and desires, and engage us to live in the body, in some conformity to so divine and glorious a hope.

Enter, I beseech you, into the thought; and let me expostulate freely with those who are ready to forget it. Know ye not indeed, that, as your bodies make an essential part of yourselves, they are to be considered as members of Christ, belonging, as it were, to his body, and in that view under his care, as to their final and everlasting happiness with him. Shall I then take these which I am taught to look upon as in an important sense the members of Christ, and prostitute them to so infamous a purpose, as to make them the members of an harlot by unlawful embraces? God forbid! It is a thing not to be thought of, without the utmost abhorrence and indignation. What, know ye not, that he who is thus joined to an harlot is one

or our bodies are the members of Christ.

body with her? For say [the Divine oracles,] speaking of that conjunction which whoredom prostitutes to the dishonour of matrimony, so wisely and graciously ordained by God, (Gen. ii. 24,) they two, that is, the man and his wife, shall be one flesh. But on the other hand, he that is joined to the Lord by a true faith, is one spirit, with him. And as the head and members of the natural body are one, as they are acted upon by the same spirit, so the same Divine and holy Spirit, which lives in Christ as the Head, is communicated to us from him; just as the vital spirits are communicated from the head to the limbs. Now what thought can be more monstrous than that any one should think of being, at the same time, one spirit with the Lord, and one flesh with an harlot? Let this therefore be instead of ten thousand arguments, to engage you to flee whoredom: concerning which, one may farther plead, that every [other] sin, which a man practises, is without the body; its effects fall not so directly upon the body, but often more immediately upon the mind. But he that committeth whoredom, or any kind of lewdness, sinneth particularly against his own body, not only polluting and debasing it, by making it one with so infamous a creature, but perhaps infecting and enfeebling, wasting and consuming it, which these vices, when grown habitual and frequent, have an apparent tendency to effect. (Compare Prov. v. 11; Job. xxxvi. 14.) There is also another view, in which the baseness of this crime must appear to you, Christians, in consequence of your relation to that blessed agent, the Spirit of God. Have you not all been baptized in his name, and

a Every [other] sin, &c.] It would be unreasonable to insist on the most rigorous interpretation of these words; but the general sense is plain and true, and I suppose, that on the whole, there is no other sin by which the body receives equal detriment, considering not only its nature, but how much it has prevailed.

b He that committeth whoredom, sinneth against his own body.] This is well illustrated by a fine passage of Xenophon, pro-

duced by Raphelius here, in which Socrates is represented as saying, “that intemperate men hurt themselves far more than others; whereas other sinners secure some profit to themselves, though they are injurious to others.” It is evident, that moprius, must here signify any unlawful commerce between persons of different sexes, since whoredom with married women is as directly contrary both to the honour and health of the body, as with single.

VOL. .

Reflections on our obligations to purity, &c.

instructed in your relation to him? What, know you not, that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost, which is in you, dedicated to him, and inhabited by him; even that spirit which you receive of God as his most valuable gift? And, on the whole, in whatever view you consider yourselves, it will appear, that ye are not by any means your own property, nor can be justly at your own disposal, to seek your present gratification without controul, or regard to the will of a superior.

For the contrary is most apparent; ye are bought with a price, and that infinitely beyond what you can pretend to be worth. Therefore, far from doing any thing to bring a dishonour on religion, you ought in every action, word, and sentiment, to own yourselves his property, and exert yourselves to the utmost, in a course of vigorous and constant obedience, to glorify God, both with your body and with your spirit, which are, by the justest title, God’s; as he hath not only created, preserved, and maintained you, but by the invaluable blood of his Son purchased and redeemed you to himself, and by his holy Spirit taken possession of you, and marked you for his own.

IMPROVEMENT.

How peculiar is the excellence of the Christian religion! With what incomparable advantages doth it enforce all the lessons of moral virtue, which it teaches! With what holy disdain should we look on the baits of sense, and the pollutions which are in the verse world through lust, if we seriously and often reflected on these 15 two things; That our bodies are the members of Christ, and that 19 they are the temples of the Holy Ghost! Let it be our care, that they may not only be nominally, but really so. That we may 17 by a living faith be united to the Lord, so as to become one spirit with him, animated by that Spirit which resides in him and dwells in all who are truly his.

Let us, as often as we are tempted to alienate ourselves from the service of God, reflect upon the price with which we are 20 bought. How great, how important a price, which we should never think of but with secret shame, as well as admiration and love! O Lord! hast thou paid such a ransom for me, and shall I act as if I thought even this not enough? as if thou hadst acquired only a partial and imperfect right to me, and I might divide myself between thee and strangers, between thee and thine

The apostle advises them not to marry at that season:

enemies? O may we be entirely thine! and make it the business sect. of the latest day and hour of our lives, to glorify God with our si. bodies and with our spirits, which are his!

Under the influence of this thought, may we effectually enter into the wise and pious suggestions of the apostle; and guard, verse not only against things absolutely and universally unlawful, but likewise against those, which, in present circumstances, may be inconvenient. May we be ever ready to exert a holy freedom of soul, and a superiority to whatever may ensnare and enslave us; which we shall more easily obtain, if we reflect on the transitory duration of the objects of appetite and sense: how soon the 13 things we enjoy, and those bodies by which we enjoy them, shall be reduced to the dust, out of which they were taken. God destroys all that is present and visible, that we may look more intensely for a kingdom that cannot be moved. He reduces our bodies to putrefaction, that we may learn to cultivate with greater care the interest of a never dying soul: which if we faithfully and diligently pursue, God, who hath raised up his Son as our 14 Surety and Saviour, will also raise us up by his own power, to enjoyments, sublime, incorruptible, and eternal. O Lord! we would wait for thy salvation, and in the mean time, would do thy commandments; and animated by so exalted a hope, would purify ourselves, even as thou art pure.