I. THE DIVERSITY OF GIFTS ENTRUSTED TO CHRISTIAN TEACHERS, The work to which they are called is very various in its forms and demands. In the family there must be a variety of services, and ability for each; and in the state a variety of offices, and a fitness for each. So in the Christian Church. For its upbuilding there is needed the gift of architect, and carver, and mason, and labourer, and carpenter. The gift of the preacher differs from that of the teacher, and that again from the gift of the organizer. If we once fully admit that all gifts are of grace, and each an unspeakable honour and an overwhelming responsibility for him to whom it is entrusted, envy of each other would pass for ever away, and we should thankfully use each man for the service God has fitted him to render.
II. ALL DIVINE GIFTS ARE UNTO EDIFICATION. God never bestows anything on any man that he may get praise of men or worldly honour for it. All God's gifts are for use. All are entrusted to us for the sake of others. All bear upon the "fully furnishing of our fellow men unto all good works."
III. ALL, TOGETHER, WILL BE FOUND TO MAKE UP A COMPLETE CIRCLE OF THE MEANS OF GRACE. We fail in:
1. The effort to bring out the various gifts of men into use. The Church is everywhere rich with the gifted unknowns, and the gifted idler.
2. In the due recognition of the spiritual completeness which God, in his providential leadings, brings to our Churches.
3. In the consequent freeing of men from duties for which they are unfitted, that they may fully cultivate and use their special gift. Impress that the thankful recipiency and use of the Divine provisions for our spiritual needs should master all personal feeling towards individuals. We should honour the Master who arranges the gifts, and honour the servants only for his sake.—R.T.
1 Corinthians 4:8-12
Suffering for others a proof of interest in their welfare.
Recall Paley's argument from the sufferings of the early Christians as to the sincerity of their belief. Similarly, St. Paul urges here that the troubles and persecutions which he and the other teachers had endured in ministering to the Churches, ought to convince the people of his love and zeal for their highest welfare; and should also be felt to set him in such intimate and confidential relations with them that he might claim the right to reprove and correct. We all know that reproof cannot be easily or usefully accepted, save from those whom we know love us truly and sincerely seek our highest well being. From these verses two subjects may claim consideration—
I. GOD'S MISSION FOR APOSTLES, LOOKED AT, KINDLES ENTHUSIASM. "We are made a spectacle unto the world, and to angels, and to men." Watching such a devoted, self sacrificing, heroic life as that St. Paul lived ought to stir us up to enthusiastic efforts to follow so noble an example. Illustrate how the story of great martyrs and great missionaries has, in all ages, been used to inspire lesser men to noble things. "Lives of great men all remind us," etc.
II. GOD'S MISSION FOR APOSTLES, CARRIED OUT, AWAKENS SYMPATHY. (1 Corinthians 4:11, 1 Corinthians 4:12.) Fully detail the sufferings which St. Paul underwent, and the bodily frailty which made those sufferings so exceedingly trying (see 2 Corinthians 11:23-30). After our Lord in his closing sufferings, no man so awakens our tenderest sympathy as does the Apostle of the Gentiles. Illustrate how, in modern missions, the Pattesons and Livingstones have excited world wide sympathy. Illustrate also how their constant sufferings made Baxter's and Robert Hall's continued and devoted labours so affecting to us. Or refer to the power, on his little audience, of Adolphe Monod's talks from his bed of suffering and death. St. Paul shows what made his sufferings so interesting to us—they were borne as submissive obedience unto God; and as vicarious for us; and this ought to give him a persuasive power and a full right to advise, and reprove, and correct, and warn, and teach.—R.T.
1 Corinthians 4:16
Imitators of men.
The Revised Version of this passage reads, "I beseech you therefore, be ye imitators of me." It may, however, be disputed whether the word "followers" is not a better and more suitable one to express the apostle's idea. Mere imitating is the work of the unintelligent; it is represented by the mere reproduction of sounds and manners such as we have in the parrot or the monkey, or more fully in the child. For men, all mere imitations are either signs of mental and moral weakness, or they are the accidents attending on an intelligent acceptance of the principles which another man exhibits in conduct. We are not, in the limited sense of the word, even to imitate Christ; we are to "copy his example," and to "follow in his steps;" but when more fully and worthily apprehended, we find that what we really are to do is to "let that mind be in us which was also in Christ Jesus." In the passage now before us St. Paul has been speaking of his relationship to the Corinthian Christians. He was their father in Christ; "For in Christ Jesus I have begotten you through the gospel." And he is really pleading with them to preserve the family likeness which should accompany such a relation. But it may be said—Are we ever justified in following or imitating our fellow men? We reply—Yes, so far as men are Christ like, we may; so far as they are more Christ like than ourselves; so far as they have reached any Christly virtue or grace beyond us, we may. And since there is a sense in which Christ must ever seem to us out of reach; since of his virtue we must ever say, "It is high, I cannot attain unto it;"—it may often be really helpful to us to see his virtue reflected in a fellow man, and manifestly brought within the reach of human attainment. This may help us while we are weak, but when we more fully grasp the truth of our Lord's humanity, we shall realize that Divine virtues were shown by him in a human life precisely that we might feel the possibility, of attaining them, and so seek to be "changed into his image." After dwelling on the "imitative faculty," its uses and abuses, consider that—
I. GOOD MEN MAY BECOME MODELS FOR US. Observe:
1. That in every age some men have risen above their fellows in moral virtues; and some have been set in prominent positions so as to attract the attention of their fellows.
2. From the Scripture models which are preserved to us, learn:
II. GOOD MEN'S MODELS ABE, AT THE BEST, BUT IMPERFECT. Sensible of this, David says in his prayer before God, "My goodness extendeth not to thee; but to the saints that are in the earth, and to the excellent." Even in the one thing in which they are strong, God can find weakness. When we most admire, we are compelled sadly to feel that the "trail of the serpent is over it all." So we must use men's examples as but incomplete copies of the Divine, and remember that our aim is to transcend any previous human attainments, and to be "perfect, even as our Father in heaven is perfect." Whatever there is in men that is imitable is but a reflection of Christ, and we may have shining on us what they have in measure caught, even the very light of Christ himself. We may "follow his example, who did no sin?
III. CHRIST IS OUR GREAT MODEL, AND MEN ARE MODELS ONLY SO FAR AS THEY BRING HIM NEAR AND GLORIFY HIM TO OUR THOUGHT. We must take this knowledge of them that they have been with Jesus, and have, in measure, caught his likeness. Impress that we may fully copy Christ's life, but only very seldom can we copy men's actions; we can only seek to be possessed and ruled by the same principles.—R.T.
1 Corinthians 4:18-20
Speech and power.
These are by no means always associated together in the same man. Oftentimes they seem quite unable to dwell together. Speech is in inverse ratio to power. The free talker is seldom a vigorous thinker; and the boaster can never gain any real power by his extravagances. It seems that, at Corinth, there were some loud talkers, who depreciated St. Paul's authority, and endeavoured to destroy his influence. They made out that his "bodily presence was weak, and his speech contemptible;" and they mockingly said, "No doubt he writes very vigorous and terrible letters, but he is afraid to come himself." "These persons persuaded themselves that they had so undermined his reputation that he would not dare to come again to Corinth, and they grew more self asserting in consequence." Paley notices an undesigned coincidence between this passage and 2 Corinthians 1:15-17; 2 Corinthians 2:1. There evidently had been some uncertainty about his visit, of which his opponents took undue advantage.
I. SPEECH WITHOUT POWER. A mere gift of fluent talk is granted to some men. It is seldom associated with vigorous mental power, and is a perilous gift because it can be so readily misused. Such speech may be pleasant to listen to, as is the murmur of a flowing stream. It may be popular; it may be exciting to mere sentiment; it may be boastful. Its influence is small and temporary. It bears very little relation to the correction of moral evils, or the culture of the godly life.
II. SPEECH WITH POWER. Speech which is
Here the word is used by St. Paul especially to mean "the power that is derived from Christ, which he himself possesses to influence the heart of man. It includes, no doubt, the power of working miracles, for, with one or two exceptions, the miracles of the gospel were manifestations of Christ's power to deliver humanity from the dominion of evil and its consequences." Speech with power is that kind of speech which directly influences the heart and the conscience, and leads to the fuller apprehension of truth, the conviction of sin, or the discovery of neglected duty. It may comfort, instruct, counsel, or warn. Dr. Horace Bushnell says, "Three distinct elements must be included in preaching which has the genuine power.
1 Corinthians 4:21
Adaptation the teacher's power.
Evidently St. Paul desired to be precisely adapted to those whom he would teach. The tone and the substance of his teachings would directly depend on their moral condition. As a faithful teacher, he tells them it must depend on them whether he came to them "with a rod, or in love, and in the spirit of meekness." A brief outline will sufficiently guide thought on this subject.
I. ADAPTATION INVOLVES KNOWLEDGE.
1. General knowledge of human nature.
2. Particular knowledge of those to whom we minister.
3. Sufficient knowledge of the measure of our authority and influence.
4. Practical knowledge of the corrective instruments which we may use.
II. ADAPTATION INVOLVES DISCERNMENT.
1. Discrimination of the precise condition in which those we influence are at the time.
2. Of the differences in which each one may stand related to the evil we reprove.
3. Of the limitations to which reproof may be wisely subject, and of the time when the tone may be changed to one of encouragement.
III. ADAPTATION MAY DEMAND SEVERITY. Which may be very trying to our feelings, and very difficult in view of our disposition; but must be made to characterize our relations, if we would be found faithful. The severity of gentle souls is the mightiest persuasive to goodness. It was quite out of St. Paul's way to be severe, but, for that very reason, we feel his severity the more.
IV. ADAPTATION PREFERS COMMENDATION. So St. Paul writes, urging the Corinthians to remove the evils before he comes, for he would so much rather have only kindly and encouraging things to say. Impress that, as we are to God, he must show himself to us. See Psalms 18:24-26. And in the same way, as we are in godly habits, in moral and spiritual condition, so—in precise adaptation—must our faithful teachers be.—R.T.
1 Corinthians
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