1 CORINTHIANS 3 1 CORINTHIANS 3:1,2 Paul showeth that he could not instruct the Corinthians in the higher doctrines of Christianity because of their carnal mind, 1 CORINTHIANS 3:3,4 which temper discovered itself in their factions. 1 CORINTHIANS 3:5 The most eminent preachers of the gospel are but i... [ Continue Reading ]
MILK signifies what the apostle to the Hebrews calls _the first principles of the oracles of God, _ and so is opposed to sublime spiritual doctrines, here set out under the notion of _meat; _ called _strong meat,_ HEBREWS 5:14, fit for those of _full age:_ as young children's stomachs will not endur... [ Continue Reading ]
FOR YE ARE YET CARNAL; not wholly carnal, but in a great measure so, not having your lusts and corrupt affections entirely subdued to the will of God, nor yet so much subdued as some other Christians have, and you ought to have. As an evidence of this he mindeth them of the ENVYING, STRIFES, AND DIV... [ Continue Reading ]
Not that Christians so large a city as Corinth might not put themselves under several pastors, or, as to themselves, prefer one before another, either in respect of the more eminent gifts of God bestowed upon one, (as doubtless Paul was preferable to Apollos), or in respect of the more suitableness... [ Continue Reading ]
Neither Paul, nor yet Apollos, are authors of faith to you, but only instruments; it is the Lord that giveth to every man a power to believe; or else that latter phrase, AS THE LORD GAVE TO EVERY MAN, may be understood of ministers, whose abilities to the work of the ministry, and success in it, bot... [ Continue Reading ]
God honoured me first to preach the gospel amongst you, ACTS 18:1 &c., and blessed my preaching to convert you unto Christ; then I left you: Apollos stayed behind, and he WATERED what I had PLANTED, daily preaching amongst you; see ACTS 18:24; he was a further means to build you up in faith and holi... [ Continue Reading ]
So that, look as it is in earthly plantations, God hath the greatest influence upon the growth and fruitfulness of the plant, and the husbandman or gardener is nothing in comparison with God, who hath given to the plant planted its life and nature, by which it shooteth up, buddeth, and bringeth fort... [ Continue Reading ]
The ministers of Christ, though one be used in planting and another in watering, one in laying the foundation and another in building thereupon, yet _are one; _ one in their office and work, one in their ministry, being all servants to Christ, who is one; all serving one and the same Lord, all doing... [ Continue Reading ]
Though compared with God we are nothing, yet our station is no mean station; God works as the principal efficient Cause, we work with God as his instruments; God worketh one way, by his secret influence upon the heart, we another way, by publication of the gospel in people's ears, but the scope and... [ Continue Reading ]
OLBGrk; ACCORDING TO THE GRACE OF GOD WHICH IS GIVEN UNTO ME: carin here signifies either the ability which God hath given Paul to preach the gospel, or the apostolical office, to which God had called him; he maketh both to proceed from God, and to be the effects of his free love and favour to him.... [ Continue Reading ]
CAN in this text doth not signify a mere natural power, but a rightful power: No man by any just right or authority can lay any other foundation, can preach any other doctrine of salvation, than that which I have already preached, which is the doctrine of salvation by Jesus Christ. _Neither is there... [ Continue Reading ]
The apostle is discoursing metaphorically, he had compared the church of Corinth to a building, 1 CORINTHIANS 3:9, and called them there _God's building; _ they were built upon the doctrine of the gospel, the doctrine of the apostles and prophets, who had preached Christ to them, this was the founda... [ Continue Reading ]
Now, saith he, there will come a time when EVERY MAN S, that is, every teacher s, WORK, or doctrine, SHALL BE MADE MANIFEST. As the metal is brought to the touchstone to be tried, whether it be gold or silver, or some baser metal; so there will come a time, when all doctrines shall be tried and made... [ Continue Reading ]
If any preacher keeps the foundation, and the doctrine which he hath built upon the true foundation prove consonant to the will of Christ, God will reward him for his labour: he shall hear the voice saying: _Well done, good and faithful servant, enter thou into the joy of thy Lord._... [ Continue Reading ]
But if his work do not abide, if it shall appear upon the more clear and bright shining out of the truth of the gospel, that though he hath held the foundation right, yet he hath built upon it wood, hay, and stubble, mixed fables, and idle stories, and corrupt doctrine with the doctrine of the gospe... [ Continue Reading ]
The apostle, 1 CORINTHIANS 3:9, had called the church of Corinth, and the particular members of it, _God's building; _ after this he had enlarged in a discourse concerning the builders, and the foundation and superstructure upon that foundation; now he returns again to speak of the whole church, who... [ Continue Reading ]
IF ANY MAN DEFILE THE TEMPLE OF GOD, HIM SHALL GOD DESTROY; the word which we translate _defile_ and _destroy_ (for the Greek word is the same for both) signifieth to violate, _corrupt, _ or destroy. Our translators generally render it corrupt, 1 CORINTHIANS 15:33 2 CORINTHIANS 7:2 1 CORINTHIANS 11:... [ Continue Reading ]
LET NOT MAN DECEIVE HIMSELF: there are some that, with their eloquence and flourishes of words, or with their philosophical notions and reasonings, _\which, COLOSSIANS 2:8, the apostle calls vain deceit_\ or with their traditions _after the rudiments of the world, _ (as the apostle addeth in that pl... [ Continue Reading ]
FOR THE WISDOM OF THIS WORLD IS FOOLISHNESS WITH GOD; God accounteth that folly which the world calleth wisdom, and indeed it is so (for God cannot err, nor be mistaken in his judgment): the philosophers and wise men of the world propose the happiness of man as their end, which indeed is the true en... [ Continue Reading ]
And again, it was said by the psalmist, PSALMS 94:11, that: THE LORD KNOWETH THE THOUGHTS OF MAN, THAT THEY ARE VANITY: man's counsels, imaginations, reasonings, they are all vanity; they propose to themselves ends which they cannot attain, and pursue them by means that are inefficacious with refere... [ Continue Reading ]
Seeing, therefore, that Christ is but one, his ministers but one, and no more than _ministers by whom ye believed,_ 1 CORINTHIANS 3:5; and the principal efficiency of any saving work begun, or carried on in your souls to any degree of perfection, is from God, and the minister's work in that effect n... [ Continue Reading ]
Ver. 22,23. Here are in these two verses three things asserted: 1. The believer's title to ALL THINGS. 2. The specialty of their title. 3. The force of the apostle's argument from hence, why they should not _glory in men._ He had said before: _All things are yours, _ which he repeats again, in 1 C... [ Continue Reading ]
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