the Messiah ; and further that he is Lord in that sense in which every tongue in heaven, and on earth, and under the earth shall confess that he is Lord. The great end of Paul's preaching, therefore, was to bring men to receive and ac- knowledge Jesus of Nazareth as the Messiah and as the su- preme Lord, the maker of heaven and earth. This is the only proper end of preaching. It is the only way by which men can be made either virtuous or religious. It is the only way in which either the true interests of society or the salva- tion of souls can be secured. To make the end of preaching the inculcation of virtue, to render men honest, sober, benevo- lent and faithful, is part and j^arcel of that wisdom of the world that is foolishness with God. It is attempting to raise fruit without trees. When a man is brought to recognize Jesus Christ as Lord, and to love and worship him as such, then he becomes like Christ. What more can the morahst want ? Paul cared little for the clamour of the Greeks that he should preach wisdom and virtue. He knew that by preach- ing Christ he was adopting the only means by which men can be made wise and virtuous here and blessed hereafter.
And ourselves your servajits (slaves) for Jesus'* sake. Paul presented Christ as Lord; himself as a servant. A servant is one who labours, not for himself, but for another. Paul did not labour for himself, but for the Corinthians. For Jesus'* sake. The motive which influenced him to devote him- self to the service of the Corinthians was the love of Christ. Here again the wisdom of the world would say the proper motive would be a desire for their good. Paul always puts God before man. A regard for the glory of Christ is a far higher motive than regard for the good of men ; and the for- mer is the only true source of the latter. The ideal of a Christian minister, as presented in this pregnant passage, is, that he is a preacher of Christ, and a servant of the church, governed and animated by the love of Jesus.
G. For God, who commanded the light to shine out of darkness, hath shined in our hearts, to (give) the hght of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.
There are two different views taken of the meaning of this verse. First, it may be understood to assign the reason why