1 Corinthians 3:1-23

1. It is spiritual, not material work, of which the assertion is made. All are builders, not only of their own character and. destiny, but of the character and destiny of some associates. There is an awful solemnity attaching to this responsible work in which men are bound to engage.

2. Every man's work is in question, especially that of every professedly Christian laborer who aims to build in the temple of the living God. The learned and the illiterate, the sober and the enthusiast, the sanguine and the desponding,—all are teaching Christian doctrine, and are more or less exercising influence over human souls.

3. Work of every kind is included—genuine and. pretentious, hasty and gradually progressive, sound and superficial.

II. THE FIRE. This must be something universally applicable, since it is not represented as an accident befalling here and there one, but as an incident of every man's labour of every kind to pass through this fire. We shall not be wrong in terming it the fire of judgment, fire being the discriminating and decisive element. The fire may purify, and it may consume. It is possible that this fire may burn here and now; it is certain that it will burn hereafter, when God "shall try every man's work of what sort it is."

III. THE TEST. There are circumstances and times which have no virtue of probation. There is weather in which the soundly built house, the well found ship, cannot be distinguished from the most ill planned and faultily constructed house, the most unseaworthy craft. But the storm tries both. And the fire of judgment puts to the proof the workmanship of the spiritual labourer. "Judge nothing before the time." "The day will declare it, for it shall be revealed in fire." None can evade this trial or deceive him who shall then cast all work into the furnace of his probation.

IV. THE RESULT. It shall be unmistakable and decisive.

1. To the work which is sound and workmanlike glory shall accrue, and credit to the faithful and diligent labourer. The precious metals and the costly marbles shall be none the worse but rather the better for the test; their qualities shall shine out the more resplendent.

2. To the work which is bad destruction shall come; for the wood, hay, and stubble of false doctrine and of worthless profession shall be consumed and shall disappear. The builder may escape, though only as through the burning embers and the falling sparks. "If the righteous scarcely be saved, where shall the ungodly and the sinner appear?"—T.

1 Corinthians 3:16, 1 Corinthians 3:17

"The temple of God."

The temple at Jerusalem was holy, being constructed according to Divine directions, inhabited by the Divine glory, and con-secreted by divinely appointed services and sacrifices. But that temple was local, temporary, and for a purpose. It was, in accordance with the Lord's prediction, destroyed and abolished before the generation which rejected him passed away. And it was not intended that it should be replaced by any material edifice. The spiritual temple was destined to supersede the material and to abide forever. It is of this spiritual structure that the apostle here speaks.

I. THE MATERIALS OF WHICH THIS TEMPLE IS COMPOSED. "Ye," says the apostle, "are the temple." Not that the Corinthians were more than other Christians entitled to this honourable distinction; for this language was addressed to all Christians. All Christ's people were and are living stones, each in its proper place, and all alike upon the one Foundation. How noble a conception! how worthy of Christ himself, to whom the material was ever of secondary interest, and in whose view the spiritual was of supreme significance and value!

II. THE PRESENCE BY WHICH THIS TEMPLE IS CONSECRATED. The first temple had been hallowed by the Shechinah glory which hovered over the ark of the covenant. The second temple—the body of the Lord—had been consecrated as the dwelling place of the mind of the Holy One. This third temple is the residence and the shrine of the Spirit of God. In his transforming, quickening, purifying power, the eternal Spirit penetrates his separated and consecrated society, and makes it growingly his own. His light and glory glow within it, so that its spiritual lustre excels that of the holy house at Jerusalem.

III. THE WORSHIP WHICH IS IN THIS TEMPLE OFFERED. Here is the living oracle; here is the consecrated priesthood; here are the spiritual sacrifices. The offerings are those of willing obedience and grateful praise; the incense is the incessant worship which floats in fragrance from the spirits of the just; the music that fills these courts is the anthem of adoration, the harmony of imperishable love. Worship is here not occasional, not frequent, but unceasing; there is no moment when this spiritual temple is not telling the praises of the Lord.

IV. THE ATTRIBUTE BY WHICH THIS TEMPLE IS CHARACTERIZED. "The temple of God is holy." This expression does not import simply a ceremonial and nominal holiness, but such a character as was both exhibited and required by the Lord Jesus himself. Holiness, not only of word and deed, but of purpose and desire, is required by him who searches the heart and tries the reins of the children of men—holiness such as the Holy Spirit alone can create.

V. THE REGARD AND TREATMENT WHICH THIS TEMPLE SHOULD RECEIVE.

1. It deserves to be regarded with reverence. Men treat with respect the palaces of kings. Of how much deeper a reverence is that true palace of God, that temple of the Holy Ghost, that home of Christ, deserving!

2. It should not be defiled or destroyed. Every member of Christ's Church is called upon to purify himself, lest his impurity should dishonour the sacred edifice. "Holiness becometh thy house, O Lord, forever!"—T.

1 Corinthians 3:21-23

"All things are yours."

These are great words; but if they were not so great they would here be out of place. Men are given to boast of their possessions; but the Christian's boast is in this respect larger and grander than any man's beside. Men are wont to glory in belonging to some select society, some great nation, some illustrious king; but the Christian glories in belonging to a greater than the greatest who owes his honour to this world. "All things" are his; and he is "Christ's."

I. OUR PROPERTY IN ALL THINGS. To Christians it may be said—it was said by the inspired apostle:

1. All ministries are yours; the dead and the living, the speaking and the writing, the official and the unrecognized.

2. All circumstances are yours.

3. All times are yours.

II. CHRIST'S PROPERTY IN US. To Christians it may be said, "Ye are Christ's:"

1. By the purchase of his blood. For, "Ye are not your own; ye are bought with a price."

2. By his choice and ours. "I," says he, "have chosen you." And, "We love him because he first loved us."

3. By the inhabiting of his Spirit, whose gracious presence makes us his. It is not a case of mere property, but of spiritual affinity: "The Lord knoweth them that are his."

4. By our grateful and affectionate service. That Christians are his, it is their daily aim to prove, by their delight in his Word, their devotion to his cause, their obedience to his commands.—T.

1 Corinthians 3:1

Carnal Christians.

I. MANY SUCH ARE FOUND IS THE CHURCH. Christians in whom Christianity is not dominant. They have a portion of the Spirit, but a very large portion of the flesh. They allow Satan to hinder them. The world has still much power over them and much attraction for them. They love Christ, but not enough to lead them to live very near to him. They are conspicuous chiefly for fault and failure. They reach the verge of Christianity and stay there. They desire "to be saved," and beyond this they have few spiritual longings. They are no credit to Christianity, but make it questionable in the eyes of the world. Spiritual dwarfs, who have not even the advantage of stimulating curiosity, seeing they are so numerous.

II. THEIR RELATION TO THE FAITH. They are babes; but note—babes in Christ. It is better to be a babe in Christ than a full grown man apart from him. Still, these are babes in Christ when they ought to be men in Christ. As babes, they are:

1. Of no practical use in the Church. They cannot be relied upon for service; they are not fitted for real work. In spiritual things they are weaklings. They draw upon the resources of the Church rather than add to them. They are encumbrances—sources of weakness rather than of strength. They require much looking after. The Church has to nurse them when she should be converting the world. Yet withal they often have a very high opinion of their own powers, and sometimes are exceedingly anxious to take up a great work—as anxious as they soon become to put it down again. Childish instability of purpose, as well as lack of spiritual power, prevents them from being useful. And work that is done is done after so carnal a manner that often it had better have been left undone. It is child's work, having in it more marring than making.

2. Not a source of joy. A babe in Christ delights the hearts of all true Christians—when it ought to be a babe; but continuous babyhood is monstrous and revolting. Carnal Christians are babes without promise; often it seems as though they would never get out of their spiritual long clothes. They sadden the heart of their spiritual parent. They are disappointments. Hope deferred concerning them has made the heart sick. Neither to Christ, nor to man, nor to themselves, are they satisfactory. The Church which has many of them will have its share of spiritual depression. Carnal Christians are kill joys.

3. Often fretful and peevish. Carnal Christians are often quarrelsome Christians. They are fault finders, and if they cannot find faults they can always make them. Into the Church they bring ill temper, which is contagious, and thus they become the cause of not a little mischief. They have considerable destructive power. They have only enough Christianity to make them miserable. They are fractious and self willed, and always want to have their way, whether it is a good way or an ill.

4. Fond of toys. They must have their playthings, even in Church. Things pleasing to the senses are the things pleasing to them. Ornate ritual, pretty pictures, gaudy decorations, elaborate but unsuitable music, have been brought into the Churches by those babes in Christ, carnal Christians. Where they have their way the sanctuary resembles nothing so much as a toyshop or an opera house.

5. Not very open to reasonable appeal. They are wilful. Having very little knowledge, they believe that they possess all. They are hard mouthed, and the bit of reason controls them but little. To argue with a babe is not promising, but it is quite as hopeful as to reason spiritually with a carnal Christian.

III. CONSPICUOUS SIGNS OF THE CARNAL STATE.

1. Jealousy. Partisan spirit, rivalry, pride; in opposition to "in honour preferring one another." Leading to:

2. Strife. Active opposition instead of hearty co-operation. Creation of causes of strife; evident fondness for it. The carnal Christian is seldom at peace except when he is at war. Love of fighting other Christians rather than love of fighting Satan. The disciples at the table had a strife for pre-eminence, and thus showed their carnality.

Leading to:

3. Division. Estrangement, separation, hatred; instead of unity, peace, love. The carnal Christian's progress is very different to the true pilgrim's progress.

4. Men followers rather than Christ followers. The carnal Corinthians showed their carnality conspicuously in this respect.

5. Arrest or retardation of development. "Not even now are ye able" (1 Corinthians 3:2). If the carnal Christian does not go back, he tends to stand still.

6. Weak spiritual digestion. (1 Corinthians 3:2.) Poor spiritual appetite. Little power of assimilation. Spiritual food does not seem to feed the carnal believer. He is lean. There are many religious dyspeptics.

IV. HOW TO BE DEALT WITH.

1. To be fed. (1 Corinthians 3:2.) Not to be neglected as of no account or cast out as evil. Whilst some of these babes may have little appetite, others of them may be noisy because they are hungry. To be fed; if the rod is not to be spared, still less are the spoon and cup. Carnal Christians are in the care of the Church, and must be dealt with kindly and helpfully, in the hope that, by the Spirit's working, manhood may be attained at last.

2. With milk. Food suited to their condition. With milk—good food; unadulterated, for they need the best—the "sincere milk of the Word." Sweet milk; for babes like sweetness, and sour milk can only injure them. With milk, which may nourish and strengthen; not with the vinegar of scolding condemnation, which some seem to favour. Not too much physic; abundance of milk.

3. Not with meat. This would choke them. Babes may cry for strong meat, but they must not have it. The Corinthians found much fault with the simplicity of Paul's teaching; but Paul knew what they needed, though they clamoured for something else. Not with the deeper things of God, which can be appreciated only by the matured (1 Corinthians 2:6); but with the more elementary truths put in elementary forms. The carnal Christian can appreciate only the exterior parts of gospel truths; these must come first; the surface must be passed before the internal can be reached. So, though Paul did not conceal any doctrines from the carnal Corinthians, he could only carry them with him in his teaching as far as they were prepared to go. Milk is the simple religious view; meat, the profounder. The same doctrine can be presented as milk and meat; the carnal Christian only goes so far in comprehending it, the spiritual searches into its depths. The doctrine of Romish reserve is not sanctioned by Paul.—H.

1 Corinthians 3:6

Man's work and God's.

I. MAN'S WORK. It is:

1. Varied. Paul speaks of planting and watering; may extend to the multiform operations of agriculture. We cannot all do the same work. Let us seek to do that for which we are fitted. There is some spiritual work suited to each of us. In agriculture all find employment, from the boy with his clapper scaring away the birds, to the presiding mind which controls all operations. If Christians do nothing it is because they want to do nothing.

2. Important. As in husbandry, unless we sow and water we may not look for a harvest, so as a rule in things spiritual, Never think that what you can do is unimportant. You may think too little of your work as well as too much. You will think too little if you think that your work may safely be left undone.

3. Honourable. Christian work itself,—what can compare with it for an instant? Further, in it we are "God's fellow workers" (1 Corinthians 3:9). The Christian worker is one of God's nobility.

4. Limited. We can only do so much. We may sow and water, but not give the increase. It belongs to us to preach and teach, not to convince; to invite and warn, not to convert. We cannot produce spiritual results. We are not responsible for them.

5. Not independent. We cannot do our own work apart from God; it is "as the Lord gave to every man" (1 Corinthians 3:5). The seed that we plant is God's; the soil and water are God's; our powers employed are not "ours" but "God's."

6. To be rewarded. Upon just principles; according to the "labour" (1 Corinthians 3:8); according to faithfulness in the labour (Matthew 25:14-30). Not according to success. We cannot command this, though success usually follows faithful labour, and lack of success often means lack of diligence, or lack of something which should not have been lacking. Many Christians have an unhappy facility in accounting for failure.

II. GOD'S WORK.

1. Wonderful. Deeply mysterious. How marvellous the development of the seed after it is planted! Before this expansion and multiplication of life science stands dumb and confounded. So with the seed of the Word in the human heart. What inexplicable working and result! Well may we bow in adoring awe before this mystery of Divine might.

2. All important. The great need: without this, all nothing. If the increase comes not, of what service is it to plant and irrigate? If the Divine blessing rests not on our preaching and teaching, of what possible service can it be? Alas! how often we forget this! No harvest because God ignored.

3. Independent. God is not in any way dependent upon us or others for the increase; neither is he for the sowing and watering. The storm wind can be his seed sower, the rains and the dews are his servants.

III. REFLECTIONS.

1. God's work and man's are usually conjoined. God works generally by means. Let us, therefore, see that our part is done.

2. As our part is important, let us do it with the utmost possible efficiency.

3. Let us ever remember that we are working in God's field, and near to him, under his observation, etc.

4. Let us never attempt to do God's part or take any of the glory when it is done.

5. Let us ever bear in mind the relative importance of God's work and ours. Our work is nothing in comparison with his; we are nothing in comparison with him (1 Corinthians 3:7).

6. When we have done our part, let us look in faith to God to accomplish his.

7. Let us think little of man, much of God.

8. Let us never expect God's work from man.

9. As we work with and for the same God, let us cultivate unity.—H.

1 Corinthians 3:10, 1 Corinthians 3:11

The great Foundation.

I. WHAT IT IS. It is Christ (1 Corinthians 3:11). He is the Foundation of:

1. Christianity. Its basis is conveyed in its name. It rests upon Christ. If he be removed, it falls to the ground in ruins; if he be diminished (as in the denial of his divinity, for example), Christianity becomes weak and tottering. As Christianity is of Christ, so is it strong, abiding, glorious.

2. The Christian Church. Its doctrines and practice. How many other foundations have been laid for it from time to time! how often there has been an attempted union of other foundations with the one Foundation, Jesus Christ! To tamper with this Foundation is perilous indeed; to add to it is to deteriorate and to threaten the whole superstructure. The Christian Church should look to her Foundation, and clear away all that is not of Christ. No hurricane or storm will move her if she is on the Rock; but if her dependence be upon the shifting sands of wealth, position, world power, human learning, or other things of man, woe betide her!

3. Religious work. How Paul made Christ the Foundation of his work amongst the Corinthians when he determined to know nothing but Christ and him crucified (1 Corinthians 2:2)! When we teach we should teach Christ, when we preach we should preach Christ. Our work amongst men is not to be based upon our fancies or upon human theories, but upon Christ and his great redemptive work. We may amuse men with the fireworks of rhetoric or startling supposition, but the blaze will soon be over, and the old darkness will seem more intense than ever. If we want to bring abiding light to men, we must not divert them with pyrotechnic displays, but we must bring them to the Sun—the Sun of Righteousness. Much "religious work" is like a house built upon nothing. The marvel is, not that it should last so short a time, but that it should last at all.

4. Godly life. There is no sure foundation but this. Christ is the way to holiness. A life's labour after true excellence will be thrown away unless Christ be the Starting point. We shall not reach God without Christ: "No man cometh unto the Father but by me" (John 14:6); "Without me ye can do nothing." From Christ we receive power to live aright. Many seek to be godly that they may come to Christ, instead of coming to Christ that they may be godly. We have heard of the man who resolved to rear the house first and put in the foundation afterwards, but he was not a successful builder.

5. National greatness. A nation is truly great only in so far as it is based upon Christ and the principles which he expounded. The nations have perished one after another; their greatness was spurious, and therefore they were ephemeral; they rested upon that which moved, not upon that which is immovable—" The same yesterday, today, and forever." When the nation arises which shall be founded upon Christ and his truth, its glory and greatness shall excel the palmiest days of Solomon, and it shall abide. Our duty as subjects is to remove from the national foundations all that is not of Christ. Sacrifice may be entailed, but never loss: it is never loss to cast away the bad.

II. HOW IT IS LAID.

1. By human instrumentality. At Corinth by Paul: "wise" (1 Corinthians 3:10) was he as a master builder to lay this foundation, as well as wise in his manner of laying it. Here is marvellous honour conferred upon human creatures, that of laying the great foundation. We may participate in this vast privilege; we may have the high joy of laying the Foundation, Jesus Christ, in some unsaved souls. If archangels could envy, assuredly they would envy us this sublime, all glorious work. How readily should we run to it! how gladly devote to it our every power! how unceasingly labour and pray until "Christ be formed in" those whose salvation we desire!

2. Under Divine direction and by Divine help. What wisdom is here required! and of ourselves we are but foolish; what power! and we are weaklings. "Our sufficiency is of God." Only are we "wise master builders" when we constantly look up for guidance and rely upon Omnipotence. If we do anything in this matter it can only be "according to the grace of God" (1 Corinthians 3:10). This grace must be sought. When received and made effective in our lives, all the glory of that which is accomplished must be ascribed to him from whom the grace has flowed.—H.

1 Corinthians 3:10-15

Christian work and its testing.

I. CHRISTIAN WORK:

1. Should be rightly based. Christ is the only Foundation for the spiritual building. This Foundation may have been already laid for us by others where we are called to labour: if so, we must see that we are building upon it; if it be not laid, by "the grace of God" (1 Corinthians 3:10) we must seek to lay it without delay. All our teaching must rest upon Christ. He is not only the Omega to be ended with, but the Alpha to be begun with. All our efforts will be fruitless unless identified with him. The well constructed house built upon the sand perishes; so the most earnest and devoted labour is thrown away where Christ is ignored. The Christian builder should look carefully to his foundation. Whilst others build upon all sorts of things, he should build only upon Christ.

2. Should be wisely ordered. It is not enough to work; we must work wisely and well. Some seem to think that if they engage in Christian service, it is no matter how they engage in it; if the work be but done, it is no matter how it is done. Some of the most slipshod slatternly work under God's sun is done in God's Name and in connection with his kingdom. In other departments of life, care, watchfulness, anxiety, assiduity, are demanded; but in the religious sphere the thing is to get the work done somehow or other, and if it be but done somehow, all is likely to be well! Such careless builders sadly need the apostolic blast of warning: "Let every man take heed how he buildeth" (1 Corinthians 3:10). Christian work should be conformed to Christ in every particular. The superstructure should correspond to the Foundation. Epithets may go for little with us; in our teaching we should be just as "narrow" as Christ and just as "broad" as Christ. Our building will be of right dimensions if it is neither wider nor less wide than the Rock foundation upon which it rests. As to being "old fashioned," we need not greatly dread this if thereby we are more fully identified with our Lord; or "new fangled," if thus we and our work are more truly after his mind. Christian work is planned work. As the architect has a plan for his work, so the great Architect has a plan for his work, and for that part of his work which he entrusts to us to perform. If we "take heed how we build," we shall take heed that we build only according to the Divine plan. Knowledge of this is to be sought in prayer and from the Divine Word. There is one way in which our life work should be done; that way has been conceived by the Divine mind; we should seek a revelation of it. The Christian must not be his own architect.

3. In Christian work right materials should be used. It is not enough that we teach; we must teach the truth, and we must teach the truth as it is in Jesus. Our doctrine must be of Christ, and it must be sound doctrine, the "sincere milk" of the Word; the revelation of God, unedited by man. What rubbish has been and is taught by not a few! how much "wood, hay, stubble," placed in the great spiritual building! No wonder that the Christian soldier is so often worsted when he fights with gingerbread weapons. Shame upon men that, when the right material for labour is provided, they go hunting about for the wrong. The Scriptures are the great quarry and mine in which costly stones and gold and silver abound, and no zealous spiritual builder need lack who will search these mines.

II. CHRISTIAN WORK WILL BE TESTED. A solemn thought. Our work will be tested! When Christian work is done, that is not the end of it. It will be tried. Well may we ask:

1. When? On "the day," says the apostle. Christian work is tested on many days. Much of it does not stand the test of these days. But on the day—the day of days—the judgment day—all shall be tested and finally tested. "Each man's work shall be made manifest;" its true character will then be seen. "The day shall declare it" as it is, not as it has been thought to be. Now it may look well; but then? A veil now rests upon Christian work, then the veil shall be taken away; now the scaffolding obscures the building, then it shall fall, and then shall be seen "of what sort" the building is. The final test cannot be escaped from.

2. How? By "fire." (Not by the fires of purgatory; the apostle speaks of fire applied to work, not to persons,—not remedial, but testing.) The test will be thorough, searching, perfectly efficient. The false work will stand this test when hay and wood and stubble can abide unchanged in the flame; but not till then. Our work may look well now, but how will it bear the fire test?

3. By whom? God. At the great day he will be Judge, and will try every man's work. He will apply the fire test. He loves truth and hates lies, which we call shams. On that day he will manifest the truth concerning work done in his Name. Whatever it has seemed before, it will then seem as it really is. The careless and the false may well tremble at the thought of this ordeal; but the sincere and faithful may have confidence; for as no work then will be made to appear better than it is, none will be made to appear worse.

III. THE ISSUES OF THE TESTING OF CHRISTIAN WORK.

1. As to the work tested. Some will stand. The pessimists will then be ashamed; railers and mockers will then be silenced There is some work (and who shall say that it is little?) which will approve itself to God, and stand the final and most searching trial. This, doubtless, will be the work done in Divine strength, and, whilst the doers of it will rejoice with exceeding joy, they will as assuredly cry, "Not unto us." Some work will not stand the test. As hay and wood and stubble are speedily consumed in the fire, so this work will perish in the last testing flames. To see a life work destroyed in a day! A life lived and no fruit. No "Well done" because all has been ill done. And perhaps all through carelessness, sluggishness, self reliance, inattention to the "mind of Christ." Sad, sad close of a "Christian course."

2. As to workers. Some shall "receive a reward;" their work has borne the test. Though they say truly that this reward is "unmerited," they shall have it. "Doth Job serve God for nought?" Certainly not; no man ever did or shall. We lose nothing by labouring for Christ; and note that we lose nothing by labouring thoroughly for him. We may lose by labouring half heartedly—we may lose our reward. It is best every way to do our best in Christ's service. Some receive no reward. Their work perishes and they "suffer loss," but they themselves are saved, "yet so as by fire," i.e. barely, with difficulty. The reference is to those who hold fundamental truths (for they are supposed to build on the one Foundation, verse 12), but who mingle with their teaching the wood, hay, and stubble of human notions. Strikingly are we here taught that salvation is not of works; for the works perish, but the salvation abides. Doubtless we must suppose that in such cases there is true Christian living and a real desire to do the Master's will; for these are necessary evidences of a saved, regenerate state; but the vital truth of salvation by faith is pointedly illustrated by the chief works of the life (upon which all would have been resting if salvation were of works)suffering ignominious rejection. Being saved "so as by fire" is in Striking contrast to "the abundant entrance." May we have the ecstatic joy of the latter, and the holy gladness which comes from seeing that we have not "lived in vain"!—H.

1 Corinthians 3:16, 1 Corinthians 3:17

God's temple.

Declared to be the Church of Christ. Each community of Christians is a temple of God. The old temple has perished; this is the new and the imperishable. The Christian Church has often been insignificant in numbers, wealth, position, earthly learning; men have despised her; judged by human standards she has appeared contemptible; but the Divine thought has been this—the temple of God!

I. RESEMBLANCES.

1. Erected under Divine direction. The old and new temples are of God; they express his thought and purpose. Believers who constitute the new temple become believers through him; for faith is the gift of God. They are gathered into the Church as spiritual stones, by his servants, under his direction, and each has an appropriate place. God is the Author of the constitution of the Church.

2. Erected for the Divine glory. The supreme object. Everything in the Church to be made subservient to this. To glorify God should be the life object of the redeemed. And:

3. Erected for the welfare of men. The temple of old was for God and also for man. The Church has a great mission to the world. There is no conflict between the two objects. As the Church seeks to save the lost, she is most truly seeking to bring glory to God. Her worship is likely to be a mockery unless her work is faithfully performed.

4. Set apart for God. The Church should be separate, holy, peculiarly God's. "A peculiar people—a people for God's own possession" (1 Peter 2:9); "Ye are not your own."

5. An object of beauty. The beauty of holiness should clothe the Church. The world's admiration has often been commanded, in early days and since. And better still, God has approved.

6. Of great variety in its parts. Vast diversity in gift and condition, but one spiritual building. In the Christian Church there cannot, perhaps, be too much variety as there certainly cannot be too much oneness.

7. The dwelling place of God. Not only for God, but God's dwelling place. This was the glory of the Jewish temple—the Shechinah—the Divine presence. The Church's joy and glory are that "God is in the midst of her." He dwells not now in temples made with hands, though he does dwell in the temples made by the Divine hands. The ancient temple was unmeaning and useless without the presence of Jehovah. So is the Christian Church: "Ye also are builded together for a habitation of God through the Spirit" (Ephesians 2:22).

8. From it true worship should arise. Sanctuary worship, home worship, business worship, recreation worship, worship throughout all the life of those who constitute the temple.

9. In it should ever be the great sacrifice. Not the sacrifice of the Mass, but "Christ crucified" manifestly set forth. The temple of old would have been offensive to God without sacrifice, so we cannot be acceptable to him without the atonement. When the Church loses the cross she loses God. In every Christian community there must be a Calvary. And the true Jerusalem has not its Calvary "without the gate;" Christ crucified is central, chief, predominant.

II. PUNISHMENT FOR INJURY. Aaronic priests who violated the ancient temple were doomed to death; injurers of the Church of Christ will meet a terrible fate. In 1 Corinthians 3:17 the Greek verb, which means "to bring into a worse state," is repeated; what we do to the Church, God will do to us—if we injure it, he will injure us. At Corinth the dividers of the Church were likely to become destroyers, and so God will "destroy." These are far more serious offenders than those named in 1 Corinthians 3:12 and 1 Corinthians 3:15. God is jealous over his temple, and men may not do evil to it with impunity. Those who sin against it sin directly against him. Note: We may injure the temple of God in many ways. For example, by

III. HOW CAREFUL WE SHOULD BE IN ALL THAT CONCERNS THIS TEMPLE. In Church life and Church work. How serious are these! in them there is no room for trifling. Alas! how many are living in the Church, and even labouring in it, who seem to feel little or no responsibility! Let us realize what this Church is, and then assuredly with more care than the Aaronic priests shall we comport ourselves. To avoid offence and injury and failure, we shall need the wisdom that cometh down from above (1 Corinthians 3:18-20).—H.

1 Corinthians 3:21-23

The believer's possessions.

I. WHAT THESE ARE.

1. Ministers. The Corinthians had made a strange mistake; they had been regarding ministers as masters, and choosing which they preferred to serve. In a singular loss of dignity (singular because many of them were not a little afflicted with pride) they had become ambitious of belonging to ministers, forgetting that ministers, as such belonged to them. Ministers are the servants of the Church, and thus among the believer's possessions; instead of quarrelling over them, he should use and enjoy them. God has greatly enriched his people by sending to them many able and faithful ministers. Whilst these should be highly esteemed for their work's sake, their true relation to the Church should never be lost sight of. They should bear it in mind, and thus check any tendencies towards lordship.