or, 'Do all things in such a way that God may be glorified.' There is little difference between these modes of explanation. God cannot be glorified by our conduct unless it be our ob- ject to act for his glory. The latter interpretation is favoured by a comparison with 1 Peter 4, 11, "That God in all things may be glorified." See Col. 3, 1 7. All the special directions given in the preceding discussion are here summed up. ' Let self be forgotten. Let your eye be fixed on God. Let the promotion of his glory be your object in all you do. Strive in every thing to act in such a way that men may praise that God whom you profess to serve.' The sins of the people of God are always spoken of as bringing reproach on God him- self Rom. 2, 24. Ezek. 36, 20. 23. It is by thus having the desire to promote the glory of God as the governing motive of our lives, that order and harmony are introduced into aU our actions. The sun is then the centre of the system. Men of the world have themselves for the end of their actions. Philosophers tell us to make the good of others the end ; and thus destroy the sentiment of religion, by merging it into phi- lanthropy or benevolence. The Bible tells us to make the glory of God the end. This secures the other ends by making them subordinate, while at the same time it exalts the soul by placing before it an infinite personal object. There is aU the difference between making the glory of God (the personal Jehovah) the end of our actions, and the good of the universe, or of being in general, that there is between the love of Christ and the love of an abstract idea. The one is religion, the other is morality.
32. Give none offence, neither to the Jews, nor to the Gentiles, nor to the church of God :
Give none offence^ i. e. give no occasion to sin. An offence is something over which men stumble. The exhortation is to avoid being the cause of sin to others, 8, 9. Rom, 14, 13. 21, They were to be thus careful with respect to all classes of men. Christians and non-Christians. The latter are divided into the two great classes, the Jews and Gentiles. The church of God^ i. e. his people. Those whom God has called out of the world to be his peculiar possession. They are therefore distinguished as the Kkryroi^ the called^ or, collectively consid- ered, the iKKX-qaia^ the church. The first great principle of Chris- tian conduct is to promote the glory of God ; the second is