The Apostle treats of the spiritual gifts; xxii. hearts a reverential love to Christ, yet have hitherto refrained from SECT. attending this feast of love, be engaged to come; to come with due preparation, and self examination, as to their repentance and Ver. faith, their love and obedience; then may they, with the most 28 hearty welcome from the great Lord of the feast, eat of this bread, 24 and drink of this cup; receiving it as the memorial of Christ's body broken, and of his blood shed for the remission of our sins. Through that blood alone, let us seek this invaluable blessing, without which indeed, nothing can be a solid and lasting blessing to us: and let us, on every occasion, treat our brethren with a tenderness and respect becoming those who have considered ourselves and them, as redeemed by that precious blood, and indebted to it for the hopes of everlasting salvation. In a word, let us never rest in the external rites or exercises of 17 worship, how decently and regularly soever performed; but look to our inward temper, and to the conduct of our minds, if we desire to maintain their peace, and that our coming together should be for the better, and not for the worse. SECT. XXIII. The Apostle comes to treat on spiritual gifts; and introduces what he had farther to say concerning them, by observing, that various as they are, they all proceed from the same sacred Agent, and are intended for the edification of the same body, in which all Christians are united. 1 Cor. XII. 1-13. I COR. XII. 1. NOWconcerning spi I CORINTHIANS XII. I. ritual gifts, bre- IT is now time I should proceed to speak some thren, I would not have you ignorant. SECT. 59 1 Cor. XII. 1. thing concerning those spiritual gifts] with xxiii. which God hath been pleased so abundantly to bless you, my Corinthian brethren; and as to the right use and improvement of which, I would not by any means have you ignorant. 2 Ye know that ye Upon this head you in the general know, that 2 ried away unto these during your natural state, before the cheering dumb rays of the gospel broke in upon you, ye were were Gentiles, car VOL. IX. heathens, without any knowledge of the true were 60 And says, that none by the Spirit calls Jesus accursed. SECT. were blindly enslaved to the worship of such dumb idols, even as ye stupid forms, degrading as it evidently is to the were led, xxiii. 1 Cor. rational nature of man; [just] as you were led XII. 2. by the artifice of your priests, who found their 3 account in your delusions. And I hope there- 3 Wherefore, I give you to understand, that and that no man can And therefore I hope you will not allow yourselves to despise any of your brethren, on no man speaking by account of their deficiency in them: since there the Spirit of God, callis an important sense in which they may all be eth Jesus accursed : said to have been enriched by Divine and super- say that Jesus is the natural influences. For I give you to know, and Lord, but by the Holy desire you to admit and retain it, as a principle Ghost. equally certain and weighty; that, as no one, speaking by the Spirit of God, calleth Jesus accursed; and consequently all pretences made to the Divine Spirit by the Jews are notoriously false and detestable; so, on the other hand, no one can sincerely say, [that] Jesus [is the] Lord: none can embrace his religion, and support the profession of it in truth, but by the powerful operation of the Holy Ghost on his heart; and therefore, as you are all in a sense spiritual, it a Therefore.] The force of this particle do, seems to be this; I am careful to give you the following bints concerning spiritual gifts, because in proportion to the degree in which God hath magnified his grace in calling you from idolatry to such extraordinary privileges and endowments, I am solicitous you may be preserved from abusing them, and engaged to improve them in the wisest and most faithful manner. b Calleth Jesus accursed.] Mr. Nathaniel Taylor, (on Deism, p. 60, 61,) thinks this refers in general to the test put on Christians, by their persecutors, that they should not only deny, but blaspheme Christ. This the Gentiles indeed required, (see Plin. Epist. x. 97. Euseb. Eccles. Hist. iv. 15.) But I rather think this refers to the Jews, who while they uttered blasphemies against Christ themselves, (1 Tim. i. 13,) and extorted them, if possible, from those they apprehended to be his disciples, (Acts xxvi. 11,) pretended to the gifts of the Spirit, by which they undertook to cast out devils; and perhaps they might imitate some of the exorcisms which Christians under the operation of the Spirit perform would ed. Such a caution might therefore be very useful. (Compare John iv. 1-3, which seems nearly parallel to this passage.) Dr. Owen pertinently observes, that the Jews sometimes call Jesus, instead of "; concealing their blasphemy under the three initial letters of the words, 1711 1', which signify, let his name and memory be blotted out; which is equi valent to Anathema, or let him be accursed. Owen on the Spir. p. 3. c Sincerely say, [that] Jesus [is the] Lord.] Chrysostoin well observes, this phrase of saying, that Jesus is the Messiah, must be supposed to proceed from true faith in him; and the expression is used to import a man's being a true Christian, because such strong temptations lay against professing Christ under this character, that they who maintained this doctrine were in heart real believers; though there might be a few excepted instances. This seems as plain a proof as could be desired, that true faith is the work of the Spirit of God upon the heart. See The third Letter to the Author of Christianity not founded on Argument, p. 34-36. & Diversities But among Christians there are diversities of gifts 4 Now there are diversities of gifts, but the same Spirit. 5 And there are differences of administra tions, but the same Lord. 6 And there are diversities of operations, which worketh all in but it is the same God all. 7 But the manifesta given to every man to profit withal. xxiii. 61 1 Cor. would be highly unreasonable, that the greatest ECT. agency. But to every one of his believing servants, who 7 tion of the Spirit is are thus honoured, is given, according to his wise and holy distribution, a manifestation of the Spirit: (for that our portion of gifts may properly be called:) and this in such a degree, as is most agreeable and profitable for the interest of the whole; that all may harmoniously carry on the great design of glorifying God, in the edification and happiness of the whole body. For to one, for instance, who is placed in the g highest rank of the Christian church, is given by the Spirit, the word of wisdom; a comprehensive view of that grand scheme in which the wisdom of God is so wonderfully displayed, that even angelic intelligences are continually admiring it to another, by the same Spirit, such lower degrees of it, as may be called the word of knowledge; whether respecting the meaning 8 For to one is given by the Spirit, the word the word of knowledge by the same Spirit; of wisdom: to another, d Diversities of administrations.] Calling them administrations, or services, (diaxo77,) was a gentle manner of reminding them of the great design of these gifts; and so of reproving those who perverted them to contrary purposes. e Word of wisdom-and of knowledge.] There are, perhaps, few texts in the New Testament more difficult than some in this chapter, and in the xivth of this epistle, relating to the extraordinary gifts then in the church; which were at that time so well known, as not to need expli cation; and it is a noble instance of the ge- assert, 62 One hath the gift of faith, another of healing, &c. SECT. meaning of the Old Testament, or other things xxiii. in the Christian plan, which may render them 1 Cor. Superior to most of their brethren; though inXII. 9. ferior to the class I mentioned above. To another 9 To another, faith, another, the gifts of is given such an extraordinary faith, by the by the same Spirit; to same Spirit, that he can commit himself to the healing, by the same Divine protection in the midst of the extremest Spirit; dangers; and is thereby qualified courageously to assert the truth of the gospel, in the very face of its most violent persecutors: to another, the gifts of healing, by the same Spirit, in consequence of which, while under its operation, he can by a word, or a touch, remove the most 10 inveterate diseases. To another, the working of 10 To another, the miracles of a different kind, such as tak- working of miracles; to another, prophecy; ing up serpents, drinking any deadly draught to another, discerning unhurt, and especially the ejection of demons: of spirits; to another, to another the gift of prophecy; whereby he shall be able exactly to foretel some contingent future event; to another, the discerning of spirits, so as authoritatively to determine by what impulse any one speaks, who pretends to inspiration; or to be capable of pronouncing on the sincerity of men's professions, or their fitness for any public work to be assigned to them; to another, the gift of speaking with various kinds of tongues, which he had never had the natural means of acquiring : and to another, the no less useful, though less splendid endowment, which we distinguish from the former, by calling it the inter assert, (Misc. Sacr. ibid. p. 42-45, and wise men. pretation divers f Faith.] Faith, as an extraordinary gift, in this connection, must in the general signify, "a firm persuasion of being called out by God, at any particular time, to perform some miracle, and accordingly going about it without any suspicion or fear, in confident dependence on correspondent Divine interposition. a xvi. 18; Acts v. 15. But I rather think, Yet all, as the members in a body, are one in Christ. to another, the interpretation of tongues. dividing to every man 63 xxiii. divers kinds of tongues; pretation of tongues"; in consequence of which SECT a person shall be able to understand, and render into a known language, that which is spoken by 1 Cor. a foreigner, in a tongue, with which neither XII. 10. he himself nor the other hearers have been ac11 But all these quainted. But the one and the same almighty 11 worketh that, one and Spirit worketh all these diversities of gifts, the self-same Spirit, dividing unto every one severally as he thinketh severally as he will. fit: his wisdom fixes the scheme, what this variety should be; and his sovereign pleasure determines, why they should be imparted to such and such particular persons, rather than to 12 For as the body others. The variety, I say, is wisely appoint-12 is one, and hath many ed; for as the body is one, and yet hath many members, but all the members of that one body, many as they are, constitute one body, united in one well regulated system; so also [is] Christ, that is, the whole society of which Christ is the Head; and for the whole of which he may, as it were, be put, being indeed all and in all. 15 For by one Spirit For by, and according to the operation of one are we all baptized in- Spirit, we Christians are all baptized into one to one body whether body, whether we be originally Jews or Greeks, we be Jews or Gentiles, whether slaves or freemen; the religion we befree; and have been fore professed, whether true or false, the rank all made to drink into which we now hold in life, whether high or low, one Spirit. members, and all the members of that one body, being many, are one body: so also is Christ. whether we be bond or makes no difference as to the grand point; our union with the body is the same; and the same happy consequences follow from that union. And this in particular, that we are all made to drink into one Spirit ; as we drink of the same sacramental cup, so we do by our communion with Christ, whose blood is represented by it, all imbibe the influences of the same Spirit, by which the Divine life was at first not one member, but produced, and is continually preserved. I say, we have all imbibed it; as the whole body may be said to imbibe the wine, which enters in at the mouth, and descends to the stomach; yet it is not intended for the benefit of those members alone, but of the whole; so in like manner, the body is not one member, but many; yet 14 For the body is many. h To another, the gifts of longues-to another, the interpretation of tongues ] For the farther illustration of these clauses, and the interpretation here given, see the notes on chap. xiv. 28. i As he thinketh fit.] Besla does not so much express arbitrary pleasure, as a determination founded on wise council. SO k Drink into one Spirit.] Mr. Locke thinks St. Paul refers to the sacramental cup, rather than the bread here, because the wine is more spirituous, and in a lively manner represents the animating effects of Christ's blood, and the Spirit communicated by it. 13 14 |