2 Cor. xi. 2, 3. I am jealous over you tvith godly jealousy : for I have espoused you to one husbafid, that I may 2^resent you as a chaste virgin to Christ. But I fear, lest by any means, as the serpeiit beguiled Eve through his subtilty, so your minds should be corrupted from the simplicity that is in Christ.
TO boast of ourselves is a mark of a weak and foolish mind. Yet there are occasions whereon it may be necessary, particularly where the welfare of the Church of God is concerned. It would have ill become the Apostle to sit down in silence under all the calumnies that were cast upon him as a designing and deceitful man, who sought only his own glory, whilst he was assuming a character which did not properly belong to him. In vindication of himself, he appeals to the plain, visible, acknowledged testi- monies which God had given in his favour ; which far exceeded any which his opponents could produce, and equalled any which had ever been given to " the very chiefest Apostles." At the same time he entreats the Corinthians to '*bear with his folly" in mention- ing these things, since it was not for his own sake, but for theirs, that he adverted to them.
Now the jealousy which he felt for the saints at Corinth is precisely such as every minister should feel for his people, exposed as they are to temptations on every side : and that it may be seen how neces- sary such a jealousy is, we shall shew, I. In what near relation believers stand to Christ —
They are espoused to Christ —
[Christ is the Head and Husband of his Church. Under this character he is described by the Prophet Isaiah*: it is also given him in the Gospel '': and the Apostle Paul largely and repeatedly assigns it to him'^. In the book of Revelation also the Church is expressly represented as " the Wife of the Lamb"^."
a Isai. liv. 5, '' John iii. 29.
c Rom. vii. 4. Eph. v. 32. «• Rev. xix. 7.