2 Corinthians 9:15

2 Corinthians 9:15

In order to arrive at the full meaning of the words "His unspeakable gift" we should inquire what it is, of all the blessings of redemption by Christ, that most perfectly answers to this description, that is so full, so inexhaustible, as best to satisfy this epithet "unspeakable," far beyond our words to describe and our powers to grasp by their conceptions, that is most entirely and properly God's gift His one great bestowal over and above all others. And I hesitate not to say at once, it is God's gift of the Holy Spirit. Consider how the Spirit is properly and finally the gift of God.

I. A guardian angel might dwell with the believer and such, we hold, do dwell with us, and minister around us but a guardian angel can never dwell in the believer, can never be to him an indweller and enlightener, an inseparable friend and comforter, a mighty advocate and unfailing champion. Go then even to the throne of the Godhead, and ask who shall do this. The Father dwelleth in light inaccessible; Him no man hath seen, nor can see; He ruleth all things after the counsel of His own will. The Son is gone up from us, and is waiting in our manhood at the right hand of the Father, till all things be put under His feet. Where then shall we find this ever-present help in God? where but in the Holy Spirit, whose especial glory it is that He works and energises in creation, in the material and the immaterial ranks of being, who first brought light out of darkness, who is the Source and Upholder of all life and joy?

II. Very various and very wonderful are the ways in which God's Spirit originates and carries on the new life in men. One man speaks with the Spirit in the lofty cathedral, resonant with studied praise; and another comes from his week-long toil to the mean and crowded conventicle, and in the illiterate accents of his brother-mechanic the same blessed Spirit speaks to his heart, in his heart's own way, and he too hears and follows. Thanks be to God for His unspeakable gift. For wherever He is found, however He works, He is this one crowning gift of our God, without which no man can live unto Him, with whom we have Christ in all His fulness, and the Father in all His love.

H. Alford, Quebec Chapel Sermons,vol. iv., p. 274.

References: 2 Corinthians 9:15. Spurgeon, Sermons,vol. xxvi., No. 1550. 2 Corinthians 10:1. H. Wonnacott, Christian World Pulpit,vol. xiv., p. 138; A. Rowland, Ibid.,\\\.xxxvi., p. 282; H. W. Beecher, Sermons,1870, p. 54. 2 Corinthians 10:3. Homilist,3rd series, vol. vi., p. 216; R. Whittington, Church Sermons,vol. i., p. 203. 2 Corinthians 10:4. Homiletic Quarterly,vol. ii., p. 132; H. W. Beecher, Christian World Pulpit,vol. x., p. 381. 2 Corinthians 10:4; 2 Corinthians 10:5. Homilist,vol. iv., p. 32; W. J. Woods, Christian World Pulpit,vol. xvii., p. 282; G. Brooks, Five Hundred Outlines,p. 378.