Bible Heaven/Bible Heaven.iso/online/mhcc03/v05650

Text File | 1994-03-01 | 11KB | 202 lines

05651
 #19-24 Christianity by no means destroys civility. Religion
 should promote a courteous and obliging temper towards all.
 Those give a false idea of religion, and reproach it, who would
 take encouragement from it to be sour and morose. And Christian
 salutations are not mere empty compliments; but are real
 expressions of good-will to others, and commend them to the
 Divine grace and blessing. Every Christian family should be as a
 Christian church. Wherever two or three are gathered together in
 the name of Christ, and he is among them, there is a church.
 Here is a solemn warning. Many who have Christ's name much in
 their mouths, have no true love to him in their hearts. None
 love him in truth, who do not love his laws, and keep his
 commandments. Many are Christians in name, who do not love
 Christ Jesus the Lord in sincerity. Such are separated from the
 people of God, and the favour of God. Those who love not the
 Lord Jesus Christ, must perish without remedy. Let us not rest
 in any religious profession where there is not the love of
 Christ, earnest desires for his salvation, gratitude for his
 mercies, and obedience to his commandments. The grace of our
 Lord Jesus Christ has in it all that is good, for time and for
 eternity. To wish that our friends may have this grace with
 them, is wishing them the utmost good. And this we should wish
 all our friends and brethren in Christ. We can wish them nothing
 greater, and we should wish them nothing less. True Christianity
 makes us wish those whom we love, the blessings of both worlds;
 this is meant in wishing the grace of Christ to be with them.
 The apostle had dealt plainly with the Corinthians, and told
 them of their faults with just severity; but he parts in love,
 and with a solemn profession of his love to them for Christ's
 sake. May our love be with all who are in Christ Jesus. Let us
 try whether all things appear worthless to us, when compared
 with Christ and his righteousness. Do we allow ourselves in any
 known sin, or in the neglect of any known duty? By such
 inquiries, faithfully made, we may judge of the state of our
 souls.
05657
 ** The second epistle to the Corinthians probably was written
 about a year after the first. Its contents are closely connected
 with those of the former epistle. The manner in which the letter
 St. Paul formerly wrote had been received, is particularly
 noticed; this was such as to fill his heart with gratitude to
 God, who enabled him fully to discharge his duty towards them.
 Many had shown marks of repentance, and amended their conduct,
 but others still followed their false teachers; and as the
 apostle delayed his visit, from his unwillingness to treat them
 with severity, they charged him with levity and change of
 conduct. Also, with pride, vain-glory, and severity, and they
 spake of him with contempt. In this epistle we find the same
 ardent affection towards the disciples at Corinth, as in the
 former, the same zeal for the honour of the gospel, and the same
 boldness in giving Christian reproof. The first six chapters are
 chiefly practical: the rest have more reference to the state of
 the Corinthian church, but they contain many rules of general
 application.

 * The apostle blesses God for comfort in, and deliverance out of
 troubles. (1-11) He professes his own and his fellow-labourers'
 integrity. (12-14) Gives reasons for his not coming to them.
 (15-24)

 #1-11 We are encouraged to come boldly to the throne of grace,
 that we may obtain mercy, and find grace to help in time of
 need. The Lord is able to give peace to the troubled conscience,
 and to calm the raging passions of the soul. These blessings are
 given by him, as the Father of his redeemed family. It is our
 Saviour who says, Let not your heart be troubled. All comforts
 come from God, and our sweetest comforts are in him. He speaks
 peace to souls by granting the free remission of sins; and he
 comforts them by the enlivening influences of the Holy Spirit,
 and by the rich mercies of his grace. He is able to bind up the
 broken-hearted, to heal the most painful wounds, and also to
 give hope and joy under the heaviest sorrows. The favours God
 bestows on us, are not only to make us cheerful, but also that
 we may be useful to others. He sends comforts enough to support
 such as simply trust in and serve him. If we should be brought
 so low as to despair even of life, yet we may then trust God,
 who can bring back even from death. Their hope and trust were
 not in vain; nor shall any be ashamed who trust in the Lord.
 Past experiences encourage faith and hope, and lay us under
 obligation to trust in God for time to come. And it is our duty,
 not only to help one another with prayer, but in praise and
 thanksgiving, and thereby to make suitable returns for benefits
 received. Thus both trials and mercies will end in good to
 ourselves and others.

05668
 #12-14 Though, as a sinner, the apostle could only rejoice and
 glory in Christ Jesus, yet, as a believer, he might rejoice and
 glory in being really what he professed. Conscience witnesses
 concerning the steady course and tenor of the life. Thereby we
 may judge ourselves, and not by this or by that single act. Our
 conversation will be well ordered, when we live and act under
 such a gracious principle in the heart. Having this, we may
 leave our characters in the Lord's hands, but using proper means
 to clear them, when the credit of the gospel, or our usefulness,
 calls for it.

05671
 #15-24 The apostle clears himself from the charge of levity and
 inconstancy, in not coming to Corinth. Good men should be
 careful to keep the reputation of sincerity and constancy; they
 should not resolve, but on careful thought; and they will not
 change unless for weighty reasons. Nothing can render God's
 promises more certain: his giving them through Christ, assures
 us they are his promises; as the wonders God wrought in the
 life, resurrection, and ascension of his Son, confirm faith. The
 Holy Spirit makes Christians firm in the faith of the gospel:
 the quickening of the Spirit is an earnest of everlasting life;
 and the comforts of the Spirit are an earnest of everlasting
 joy. The apostle desired to spare the blame he feared would be
 unavoidable, if he had gone to Corinth before he learned what
 effect his former letter produced. Our strength and ability are
 owing to faith; and our comfort and joy must flow from faith.
 The holy tempers and gracious fruits which attend faith, secure
 from delusion in so important a matter.
05681
 * Reasons for the apostle not coming to Corinth. (1-4)
 Directions about restoring the repentant offender. (5-11) An
 account of his labours and success in spreading the gospel of
 Christ. (12-17)

 #1-4 The apostle desired to have a cheerful meeting with them;
 and he had written in confidence of their doing what was to
 their benefit and his comfort; and that therefore they would be
 glad to remove every cause of disquiet from him. We should
 always give pain unwillingly, even when duty requires that it
 must be given.

05685
 #5-11 The apostle desires them to receive the person who had
 done wrong, again into their communion; for he was aware of his
 fault, and much afflicted under his punishment. Even sorrow for
 sin should not unfit for other duties, and drive to despair. Not
 only was there danger last Satan should get advantage, by
 tempting the penitent to hard thoughts of God and religion, and
 so drive him to despair; but against the churches and the
 ministers of Christ, by bringing an evil report upon Christians
 as unforgiving; thus making divisions, and hindering the success
 of the ministry. In this, as in other things, wisdom is to be
 used, that the ministry may not be blamed for indulging sin on
 the one hand, or for too great severity towards sinners on the
 other hand. Satan has many plans to deceive, and knows how to
 make a bad use of our mistakes.

05692
 #12-17 A believer's triumphs are all in Christ. To him be the
 praise and glory of all, while the success of the gospel is a
 good reason for a Christian's joy and rejoicing. In ancient
 triumphs, abundance of perfumes and sweet odours were used; so
 the name and salvation of Jesus, as ointment poured out, was a
 sweet savour diffused in every place. Unto some, the gospel is a
 savour of death unto death. They reject it to their ruin. Unto
 others, the gospel is a savour of life unto life: as it
 quickened them at first when they were dead in trespasses and
 sins, so it makes them more lively, and will end in eternal
 life. Observe the awful impressions this matter made upon the
 apostle, and should also make upon us. The work is great, and of
 ourselves we have no strength at all; all our sufficiency is of
 God. But what we do in religion, unless it is done in sincerity,
 as in the sight of God, is not of God, does not come from him,
 and will not reach to him. May we carefully watch ourselves in
 this matter; and seek the testimony of our consciences, under
 the teaching of the Holy Spirit, that as of sincerity, so speak
 we in Christ and of Christ.
05698
 * The preference of the gospel to the law given by Moses. (1-11)
 The preaching of the apostle was suitable to the excellency and
 evidence of the gospel, through the power of the Holy Ghost.
 (12-18)

 #1-11 Even the appearance of self-praise and courting human
 applause, is painful to the humble and spiritual mind. Nothing
 is more delightful to faithful ministers, or more to their
 praise, than the success of their ministry, as shown in the
 spirits and lives of those among whom they labour. The law of
 Christ was written in their hearts, and the love of Christ shed
 abroad there. Nor was it written in tables of stone, as the law
 of God given to Moses, but on the fleshy (not fleshly, as
 fleshliness denotes sensuality) tables of the heart, #Eze
 36:26|. Their hearts were humbled and softened to receive this
 impression, by the new-creating power of the Holy Spirit. He
 ascribes all the glory to God. And remember, as our whole
 dependence is upon the Lord, so the whole glory belongs to him
 alone. The letter killeth: the letter of the law is the
 ministration of death; and if we rest only in the letter of the
 gospel, we shall not be the better for so doing: but the Holy
 Spirit gives life spiritual, and life eternal. The Old Testament
 dispensation was the ministration of death, but the New
 Testament of life. The law made known sin, and the wrath and
 curse of God; it showed us a God above us, and a God against us;
 but the gospel makes known grace, and Emmanuel, God with us.
 Therein the righteousness of God by faith is revealed; and this
 shows us that the just shall live by his faith; this makes known
 the grace and mercy of God through Jesus Christ, for obtaining
 the forgiveness of sins and eternal life. The gospel so much
 exceeds the law in glory, that it eclipses the glory of the
 legal dispensation. But even the New Testament will be a killing
 letter, if shown as a mere system or form, and without
 dependence on God the Holy Spirit, to give it a quickening
 power.