December 8

Them that are sanctified in Christ Jesus.—1 Cor. 1. 2.

HERE the apostle addressed the church at Corinth as sanctified—that is, set apart, consecrated, to God, and purified, and made holy, by the renewing of the Holy Ghost. To be sanctified is to be reimpressed with the image of God. And this sanctification is said to be in Christ Jesus. By union with him as the branch is united to the vine, we become invigorated with the principle of holiness. And we enter into this union by unfeigned faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, who is the meritorious, efficient, and exemplary cause of inherent holiness, and the actions flowing from it.

1. The death of Christ was our ransom, not only to release us from the curse of the law, but the dominion of sin. These were inseparable in the design of our Redeemer; and also in the accomplishment of it; none are pardoned, but they are sanctified. If the reimpression of the image of God in us, had been only requisite for the restoring us to his favor, our Saviour's dying had been unnecessary; his instruction and example, with the sanctifying Spirit's operations, had been sufficient; but till our guilt was expiated, the fountain was sealed, no emanations of divine grace flowed forth. Christ gave himself for us, that he might redeem us from all iniquity, and purify us to himself a peculiar people, zealous of good works.

2. Christ is the efficient cause of our holiness. We receive from God, the author of nature, the natural life with all its faculties. But the supernatural life is conveyed to us from the Son of God the Mediator; of his fullness we receive grace for grace: our increase is from our Head, the Fountain of spiritual sense and action. The Holy Spirit, who inspires us with the divine life, confirms and improves it, was purchased by his sufferings, and is conferred in his exaltation. Now faith is the means by which we receive the emanations of grace from Christ. The apostle tells us, The life that I live in the flesh, is by faith in the Son of God. The first implanting of holiness, and the highest perfection of it attainable in the present life, is by faith that unites us to Christ. A sincere reliance on him for continual supplies of grace, gives virtue and efficacy to the means prescribed in the word. We are commanded to Grow in grace, and in the experimental knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ, the effectual means to attain it.

3. Contemplate our Saviour as the exemplary cause of our holiness. His pattern is not only a powerful one, but a means to bring us to perfection. We are directed to look to Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith, that we may run the race set before us, till we come to its period and perfection. In the gospel there is a divine representation of the obedience and sufferings of our Saviour, wherein every grace that adorns the children of God, is exactly represented, and all the afflictions and trials, wherewith God exercises them in order to their glory, were consecrated by his example. This is not a dead object proposed to our view, but has a vital efficacy to transform us into his likeness. The apostle tells us, that we all with open face, beholding as in a glass the glory of the Lord, are changed into the same image, from glory to glory, as by the Spirit of the Lord. The gospel is the glass, wherein there is a permanent image of Christ in his life and death, in a full manifestation of all his virtues; and this sight by the operation of the Spirit, changes us into his likeness, from glory to glory; that is, by several degrees of grace to a full conformity to him in glory. As a painter often fixes his eye upon the object, to form in his imagination the idea, that guides his hand in the designing and coloring the face, that the copy may resemble the truth of nature in the original: so we should consider the holiness and perfection of our Saviour's actions, and draw the first lines of resolution to imitate him, and every day endeavor to fill and complete them in actions, till Christ be formed in us. Let us often compare our lives with the life of Christ, that we may see our imperfections in his excellences, which will discover them, and how to correct them.