III.] IN THE FIRST EPISTLE TO CORINTH.

ἐβαπτί

relation to the Crucified; and so also the Eucharist. Taupen, And this throws light on the confession to the Thes- σoŋte. salonians, of Jesus Whom God had raised from the dead,' Who is united with those whom He has de- 1 Thess. i, livered from the wrath to come.'

10.

occasions

teaching.

References, then, to Baptism and the Eucharist seem prominent in these Corinthian Epistles, just as the owning of the One True God, and the holy obedience to Him in Christ, stand out in the addresses to the Thessalonians. But there is no real Moral difference; for the Apostle's attention here to of this these 'Sacraments,' as we call them, arose from his anxiety to secure Holiness among Christians. And thus, speaking generally, the teaching is in both cases the same. He appealed also to what they knew' from him already; and therefore he gave no fresh explanations or definitions; so much so that, had there been no need of moral rebuke, it seems as if Baptism and the Lord's Supper might not have been openly referred to in the Corinthian letters, any 1 Cor. xi. more than in those to the Thessalonians.

There were, as we have intimated e, certain subjects brought definitely to the Apostle in connexion with Corinth for his decision; before however we consider them, we should complete a general view of these Epistles, illustrating as they do the growth of Christianity notwithstanding all defects, in the face of both heathenism and Judaism, a growth of a very significant kind.

The living society of Christians, at Corinth and

e p. 75.

17.

78

Tone of
S. Paul at

the time of

his writing

to Corinth.

INCREASING STRENGTH OF THE GOSPEL, [LECT.

elsewhere, had been in contact with the living society around it, Jewish and Gentile, for six years, as we have said. It seems impossible to overlook the tone of increased confidence of S. Paul towards the once formidable and still irritated synagogue, as well as with the philosophers. Much had passed since he had left Corinth to show the Apostle how the Gospel was striking its roots in Asia Minor, his former sphere, as well as in Europe, in a way scarcely to be accounted for on ordinary principles of probability and experience, and surely attesting its own divinity.

The truth had been preached to people of widely different degrees and kinds of civilization, so that, humanly speaking, the task of keeping up the teaching, even when a good beginning had been made, would have been one of well-nigh insuperable difficulty. The supernatural gifts which accompanied the first missions would seem to be, again, a plain, perhaps the only, explanation of success. With the active powerful life of the world going on all around the new Churches, could anything but the Divine life sustain them?

Intercommunion of such Churches would give but little help, and would often be impossible. In Cappadocia and Paphlagonia, in Lycaonia and Syria, and even Phrygia, the local tongues were still spoken by the common people. From Lydia, Caria, and parts of Galatia, they had disappeared, and given way to an imperfect Greek. In places of renown, Pergamos 'the famous' with its grand library, Sardis 'the celebrated,' Smyrna 'the most fair,' all within reach of

Philosophy

of the Chris

tian move

ment;

Ephesus where S. Paul had been living, the me- Silence of tropolis, 'the eye of Asia,'-what various and special in presence obstacles would be presented to the spread of the Gospel. The extremes of luxury and of coarseness, of superstition and of philosophy, had to be Divinely met. Most observable it is however that no effort was made all this time by philosophers seriously to understand, or oppose, the Gospel and its growing societies. Literally in the spirit of the brother of Seneca, then at the head of the Achæan province, they cared for none of these things.'

demning

It seems impossible to avoid the remark, as we 4 self-conproceed, that when philosophy passes by the con- fact. sideration of Religion it always condemns itself. It proclaims its own incompetency to deal with facts, since it fears to enter a whole province of human life. From Tarsus to Ephesus indeed, from Athens to Thessalonica, the philosophies were but effete remains of once-energetic schools. The calm Apostle saw that they were fit for nothing but to die out. And they surely died. And after these six years' knowledge of the best and worst that philosophy could do among 'wise or unwise, barbarian, Scythian, bond or free,' the Apostle was able at the outset of his address to Corinth to throw down his challenge; 'where is the wise? where the disputer? hath not God made foolish the wisdom of this world?'

Judaism

As to Judaism, the tone of S. Paul is not less Failure of confident and clear. Again and again he visited before the Jerusalem, but only to find the distance increasing between the advancing Gospel and his failing country

Church.

Rom. ix.

1-3.

II.

'Powers of the world to come' felt in the Church: (yet not

all used aright).

men. Between the decree of S. James at Jerusalem and the times preceding the letter of S. Paul to the Galatians, what feelings had been rent asunder ! what ground had been gone over! Reluctantly did the Apostle himself accept the result, as if weeping for 'his kinsmen' in the spirit of his Lord, O Jerusalem, Jerusalem!' But he had no hesitation. Where is the scribe?' he enquires with no reserve; though there is affection mingled with his confidence as he says, 'even to this day when Moses is read, the veil is on their hearts!'

II. Turning from this general view, we now direct our thoughts to special aspects of the moral and spiritual life, which the state of Christianity in Corinth had called to S. Paul's attention. And happy it is for the Church of all ages that so much has here been recorded as to the renewal of our manhood in Christ, both in principle and in detail.

And first, in principle.-It appears that the gifts of the Divine Spirit so abundantly bestowed, as we have said, for that renewal of the inner nature, the formation of the 'new man which is from heaven,' (gifts, which were so truly powers of the world to come,') were but ill-regulated and misused in Corinth after the Apostle's departure. Strong himself in the grace of Christ, the Apostle therefore enquired at once 1 Cor. iii. 9. of the Corinthians, to what purpose had he led them to turn to the true God, unless they were now conforming to His will, and regaining His moral image? As surely as God made man at first in

m.]

POWER OF THE NEW LIFE:

81

His own likeness, so the new man in Christ must also be God's workmanship, in holiness and righteousness before Him: He alone has a true knowledge of God who loves God; the gifts of His 1 Cor. viii. Spirit must be used, or they will be the condemnation of the possessors: they are the sacred Powers of the regenerate.'-Such is his remonstrance.

3.

powers are

our nature.

The Powers of the new life, the forces i.e. of our Such new nature, the 'new man which is from heaven,' are, the need of as S. Paul sees them, the mighty means of a present probation for God; (our talents,' our 'pounds,' in one sense, our life-springs in another.) Had not new powers been emphatically the need of demoralized human naturee? Its old intermittent perceptions of virtue, its longings at times for good, its philosophies, doctrines, theories, all had availed nothing. And man had now really received this needed fresh life. But sacred powers unused or misused are not Religion. This was the principle to be urged. 'Your highest gifts and new endowments (says the Apostle to the 1 Cor. vii. Corinthians), must be subject to your wills, and morally controlled for God's glory, and the highest ends of goodness.' It was possible for Christians to be 'exalted But they above measure through the very abundance of the used, Revelations,' and then a 'messenger of Satan might 2 Cor. xii. be allowed to buffet them.' It was possible to be 'dis- 7 obedient to a heavenly vision.' True, the Corinthian 19. believers were gifted from heaven; but if so, they must now show that their gifts raised them to be 'new men.' The new man from heaven' was

e See Lect. I. pp. 10-30, and Lect. II. pp. 66, 67.

G

37; xiv. 32.

must be

morally.

Acts xxvi.