1 Corinthians 3:23

And ye are Christ’s, and Christ is God’s.

Ye are Christ’s, and Christ is God’s

I. “Christ is God’s.” To understand this high saying we must remember that Christ is God. But Christ is man also. As Man, Christ is God’s great Agent for man in every respect.

1. He is God’s Messenger, God’s Witness, to reveal the mind and heart of God towards fallen men. His whole life is an index by which you may read the secret spring of love divine; in Him “God is love.”

2. He is God’s Servant--obedient in life, “obedient unto death.”

3. He is God’s Priest--the One only “Mediator between God and men,” who “ever liveth to make intercession for them.”

4. He is God’s King, reigning now invisibly in truth, and to reign in due time visibly in righteousness over the whole earth.

II. “ye are christ’s.”

1. By creation, in common with all things. “All things were made by Him,” &c.

2. By purchase, in common with all mankind. He “tasted death for every man.”

3. By ordinance, in common with all Christendom.

4. By gift from God the Father.

5. By the secret power of the eternal Spirit working in due season, according to the purpose and plan of God.

6. In the enjoyment of a friendship and fellowship such as no other friendship can equal. (H. McNeile, D. D.)

That a godly man in all that he is, or can do, is wholly Christ’s

Where we may observe the apostle in a climax rising higher, “All things are yours, you are Christ’s, and Christ is God’s.” So that the highest round in this ladder teacheth to heaven as Jacob’s did, and the lowest one is in the earth. “All things are yours,” there is your privilege; but “you are Christ’s,” there is your duty; even to see that whatever you are, or can do, it be in reverence to Him. So all things are for the godly, and the godly is for Christ.

I. Let us consider in what respects the godly man is Christ’s.

1. He is bought and purchased by His blood, so that he oweth all his being, comforts, and privileges to Christ (1 Corinthians 6:19). So then, well may the godly man be said to be Christ’s, for he cometh to be His at a dear rate. Never did king get subject, or master a servant, at so dear a price as Christ obtained thee.

2. The godly they are Christ’s because by His Spirit they are made new creatures. They have a new being. For it cannot be theft any should be Christ’s who live in the flesh and are carnally minded.

3. They are Christ’s because He is the Alpha and Omega, the first and the last, the beginning and the end. He is the Alpha; He is the Author and Fountain of all the spiritual good we have; and the apostle calls Him “the Author and Finisher of our faith” (Hebrews 12:2). It is He that giveth life and motion and all spiritual strength to us. Now every effect is more the cause’s than it is its own. Seeing, therefore, thou hast no good but what thou hast received from Christ, thou art wholly to depend on Him, as the stream is on the fountain, as the light is on the sun--for take them away and these immediately perish. We are not to live to ourselves, but to Him (Galatians 3:20). All our graces are to carry us out of ourselves to Christ, our faith in Christ, our love and affections to be pitched on Christ.

4. We are Christ’s in that all our Christian completeness is in Him (Colossians 1:19). It pleased the Father that in Him should all fulness dwell. The privileges of justification, and adoption, and sanctification, that we have by Him, are to be more than meat or drink unto us.

5. We are Christ’s because we are wholly to be disposed by Him in all conditions, in all exercises and temptations. For Christ being made a Lord and King over us, He orders us in all things.

II. Now in the next place let us consider some characters or properties of such as are Christ’s.

1. They desire more knowledge of Him, more acquaintance with Him; they prize Him above all worldly things (Philippians 3:8).

2. Those that are Christ’s abhor and have no communion with any sin or wickedness, because that only Christ hateth.

3. Those that are Christ’s, they live not to themselves but to Him. They please not themselves or others in a sinful way. Exhortation to those who are Christ’s to be self-denying, to take up Christ’s cross, to love Him more than all they have; for Christ is not for thee, but thou for Christ. (A. Burgess.)

Christ is God’s

Now the doctrine speaks of Christ both in respect of His human nature, and as He is a Mediator--not as God. Let us see, then, how Christ as a man and as a Mediator is God’s.

1. His incarnation and coming into the world, it was not for Himself but for God.

2. That Christ is God’s appeareth, in that He acknowledgeth His doctrine and truth not to be His, but His Father’s, taking all off from Himself, and making Himself only a minister or ambassador in His Father’s Name, and revealing His will (John 8:26; John 8:28; John 7:16).

3. That Christ is wholly God’s appeareth in that as the doctrine He preached was the Father’s, so He sought not His own glory, did not exalt Himself but the Father (John 8:29; John 17:4).

4. That Christ is wholly God’s appeareth in that obediential resignation of Himself to do God’s will (John 17:4). (A. Burgess.)

Ye are Christ’s

means that we are dependent on Him and belong to Him. Note--

I. Christ’s proprietorship.

1. In this is involved the denial--

(1) That we are our own. We do not belong to ourselves in the sense that our own advantage can be the legitimate end of our pursuit, or that our will can be the legitimate rule of our conduct.

(2) That we belong to the world, parents, friends, country, mankind in either of the above senses; that their good or their will can be the legitimate end or rule.

(3) That we belong to the Church. It is a fatal error to live for and be governed by the Church, and know no higher end or rule or duty.

2. Positively the declaration includes that we are Christ’s in such a sense that His glory is the end and His will the rule of our life. He, and He alone, has the right to us. To Him, and to Him alone, is devotion and submission due.

II. Its basis.

1. Not specially creation, for as creatures we belong to the Triune God.

2. But--

(1) Gift. From countless orders of creatures the people of Christ were given Him, in the counsels of eternity, as a peculium, a speciality, in which He was to have exclusive right. God as Sovereign of the universe can give what He pleases, and His will is the only real and stable ground of property or possession.

(2) Purchase.

(a) This gives the right of property as founded on justice.

(b) The purchase involving redemption from infinite evil gives the higher and tenderer obligation of gratitude.

(c) The price paid being His own precious blood it gives the highest of all obligations, that of love.

(3) Conquest. We were the captives of Satan. Christ has destroyed his power and delivered us who were led captive at his will.

III. Its various forms. We are--

1. The servants of Christ, which expresses the relation as founded in justice. We are bound as His δούλοι to live for Him and obey Him.

2. His bride. This includes the ideas of--

(1) Exclusive possession.

(2) Preference and peculiar love.

(3) Perfect community of interest.

3. His friends, bound to Him by mutual love and confidence.

4. His body. Nothing is so intimately a man’s own as his body. It has a common life and consciousness with him. The pains and pleasures of the body are our own pains and pleasures. It has a common interest and destiny with us. So are we bound to Christ in all these ways. This is the nearest relationship of all.

IV. The blessedness resulting from it.

1. Security. If we belong to Christ as His servants, &c., we are secure for time and eternity.

2. Participation in Christ’s excellence, both as to soul and body--in His happiness, glory, and dominion.

V. Duties.

1. That we should act worthy of this relation. Remember that we belong neither to ourselves nor the world, but only to Christ.

2. Contentment. We may well be satisfied if we are Christ’s, for all things are ours.

3. Joyful anticipation of Christ’s coming. (C. Hodge, D. D.)

Ye are Christ’s

You are His--

I. By donation; for the Father gave you to the Son.

II. By purchase; for He counted down the price for your redemption.

III. By dedication; for you have consecrated yourself to Him.

IV. By relation; for you are named by His name, and made one of His brethren and joint heirs. Application--Labour practically to show the world that you are--

(1) The servant.

(2) The friend.

(3) The bride of Jesus. (C. H. Spurgeon.)

The possession

A gentleman one day took an acquaintance to the top of his house to show him the extent of his possessions. Waving his hand about, “There,” said he, “that is my estate.” Then pointing to a great distance on one side, “Do you see that farm?” “Yes.” “Well, that is mine.” Pointing again to the other side, “Do you see that house?” “Yes.” “That also belongs to me.” “Then,” said his friend, “do you see that little village out yonder?” “Yes.” “Well, there lives a poor woman in that village who can say more than all this.” “Ay! what can she say?” “Why, she can say, ‘Christ is mine.’” He looked confounded, and said no more.