2. 1 will turn the reproof into a fund of rich encouragement —
[Must it be said even to an Apostle, " Who made thee to differ ? and what hast thou which thou hast not received ? " It may with equal truth be said to the most insignificant of men. What shall you not receive, if you are willing to accept it at God's hands, and to give him the glory of it ? Verily, you need not envy any, if only you will cry unto your God. From your present selves, and from the ungodly that are around you, you shall differ: nor shall any thing be wanting unto you, if only you will wait on God in the exercise of prayer and faith. But take care that you pride not yourselves in any of his gifts ; for as sure as ever you are " lifted up with pride, you will fall into the condemnation of the devil." The more God magnifies his grace upon you, the more must you abase yourselves before him, and give him the glory due unto his name.]
i Phil. ii. 13.
Paul's meekness.
1 Cor. iv. 12, 13. Being reviled, we bless ; being persecuted, ive suffer it : being defamed, we entreat : we are made as the filth of the earth, and are the offscouring of all things unto this day.
AS there is a wide difference between the characters of the wicked and the righteous, so there are strong
marks of discrimination between those who are truly pious, and those who have taken up a profession of religion without having felt its transforming efficacy. In too many there remains a proud, contentious spirit, amidst all their pretensions to piety : but in the up- right Christian there is a meek, patient, and bene- volent disposition, which will shew itself in the most trying circumstances, and afford a decisive evidence of his sincerity. Of the former description were those teachers, who, in order to gain over to them- selves a party in the Corinthian Church, introduced among them contentions and divisions. But to these the Apostle's conduct forms a striking contrast : and though he doubtless was peculiarly eminent in his attainments, we may see in him what every Christian, according to the measure of his grace, will surely practise.
We shall take occasion from his words to shew,
I. The treatment which every Christian meets with from an ungodly world — The people of God have in every age been despised by the world —
[It was the common complaint of all the Prophets % and Apostles ''j and of Christ himself*', that they were objects of hatred and contempt to all around them. We also are taught to expect the very same treatment at the hands of ungodly men^. We shall be " defamed" behind our backs, and "reviled" to our face : nor will our enemies be satisfied with injuring us merely by their words ; they will also " persecute " us by acts of open hostility^ : yea, they will account us as the very scum of the earth, and as execrable wretches that are fit only to be sacrificed to devils, to appease their wrath in a time of public calamity ^]
Strange as this may seem, it may be easily accounted for —
3 David, Ps. xxv. 19. and Ivi. 5, 6. Jeremiah, Jer. xviii. 18. and Lam. iii, 62. In reference to all of them, see Acts vii. 52.
•> 1 Cor. iv. 9. <= John vii. 7. and xv. 24, 25.
'• Matt. X. 22, 24, 25. « Matt. v. 11. and 2 Tim. iii. 12.
' This is the precise idea suggested in the text ; and it refers to a custom which obtained in some heathen countries, and was probably well known at Corinth. See Doddridge on the place.
1954.3 Paul's meekness. loo
[Christians are not thus detested because they are worse than others (for they are '* the excellent of the earth," " more excellent than any of their neighbours^,") but because they exhibit a light which forces men to see their own wickedness''. To this we must ascribe Cain's murder of his brother', and the universal opposition which the seed of the serpent make to the seed of the woman '^. If we were of the world, the world would love its own : but because we are chosen out of the world, and walk contrary to its sinful customs, it does, and will, hate us even unto deaths]