1 Corinthians 3:1-12 And I, brothers, could not speak to you as to spiritual, but as to carnal, even as to babes in Christ. I. THAT THE RELICS OF CORRUPTION, WHICH DO ABIDE IN THE GODLY, OUGHT TO BE A HEAVY BURDEN TO THEM, AGAINST WHICH THEY ARE DAILY TO STRIVE AND COMBAT. Though the tree be cut down, yet here is the stump and root in the godly. To open this, consider — 1. That even the most spiritual that are, the Christians of the first magnitude, even those that shine like suns in the world, have yet blemishes in them. But the best gold will have some dross; the best garden will have some weeds. 2. Yet there are other Christians who have sin more prevalent over them, and are easier overcome, and these deserve more to be called carnal than the former, their corruptions are more visible than their grace. Oh, take heed that thy life be not as the sluggard's field, all grown over with briers and thorns. 3. As corruption doth thus abide in all the godly, and worketh differently, so it doth sometimes flame out into open fire; so that it is no longer the lust and motions of sin within, but the gross operations without. In Peter you see what a leak there was ready to drown the whole ship. II. WHENCE IT IS THAT THE GODLY DO NOT FULLY CONQUER SIN. For if you respect Christ He is greater than the devil; and if you respect grace, that is more efficacious than sin. How, then, should any lusts, passions, or motions abide in us? Now the efficient grounds are these: and then the final grounds shall be mentioned afterwards. 1. The efficient, because original corruption, which is the fountain of those streams, is not wholly dried up. So that there cannot but be those sinful affections and corrupt desires stirring in thee; these noisome vapours cannot but exhale as long as that filthy lake or bog is within thee. 2. The Spirit of God by which we come to mortify these corruptions doth not put forth its full power. 3. Therefore doth corruption remain, because the instrument of sanctification and mortification, that also is imperfect and weak. Faith purifieth the heart (Romans 11). So that if our faith be weak, the effects of it also will be weak. Lastly, therefore doth corruption abide in us, because the Law of God is spiritual, pure, and exact.This is not an efficient ground, so much as occasional, to discover and manifest that this sour leaven still is in us. In the next place, observe the final grounds. 1. Because God intends in this life to glorify evangelical grace, and the righteousness of the gospel by faith, as the Epistles of Paul abundantly witness. Take the advantage to glorify the grace of the gospel; say thou needest Christ's robes all the day long for thy nakedness. 2. God suffers these relics in us, that there may be daily exercise for faith, patience, and other graces, so that these are left to increase the crown of glory, not to diminish it. Tempests and winds discover the skill of the mariner. Thou mayest turn these clods of earth into chains of pearl. 3. That we might not he puffed up in ourselves, nor others lift up by admiration. Lastly, These thorns are still in thy side, that heaven may be the sweeter. Lift up your heads, for your redemption draweth nigh. (A. Burgess.) Parallel Verses KJV: And I, brethren, could not speak unto you as unto spiritual, but as unto carnal, even as unto babes in Christ.WEB: Brothers, I couldn't speak to you as to spiritual, but as to fleshly, as to babies in Christ. |
    |