The Pulpit Commentary — 2 Corinthians — Section 147

purity. And upon onr Lord's jndgment of 118 onr foture, our eternal location and work, must depend. 'rested in this life, he will know what we can do ; and it may be tha~ he will give us trust of higher things, "authority over ten cities,"-,.R. T. Vel'll. 14, 15.-The power <I the Christian moti11e. The life of an Intelligent being must be under the sway of some ohosen and cherished motive, High degrees of intelligence find their expression in the careful selection of the motive. Where the intel- ligenoo is low and untrained, we find men blindly obeying motives which the accid~ of the hour may have raised up, or to which the bodily passions may excite. We can look into the face of no fellow-man and say, " That man is living without a motive." The considera~ion of the motives that actually rule men's lives give us very sad thoughts of our humanity. They range all the dista.nce between the animal and th11 Divine, b.ut they belong for the most part to the lower levels, The entire aspect and character of a man's life may be changed by a change of his motives. A new and nobler motive will soon make a man a better man. No man ever did rise to do noble things while his motive concerned only self and self-interests. All noble lives have been spent in service to others. All the best lives in private spheres have been self-denying lives. .All the heroic lives in public spheres have been the lives of patriots, the lives of. the generous, the pitying, and the belpful. St. Paul was in every way a remarkable man, full of energy, consecration, self-denial, and the" enthusiasm of humanity~" and in the passage now before us he tells us what was the 6Upporting motive, ~e secrot strength, of it all " The love of Christ consLraineth us." ' I. TEE SOURCE OF THE CBRISTI.A.N IIOTIVE, II Because we thus. judge, that if on~ died for all, then all died in him." Apparently that life of the apostle was the life of an enthusiast. But if you used that word in any bad sense he would iudignanUy deny such an accusation. It was indeed a life to which be was con~trained, )leld fast, impelled, coerced, and that by the intense love of bis soul for ancither-a. love passing the love of women. But St. Paul would most earnestly urge tha~ this love of hiB .was no mere passion, no mere impulse, no blind force taking sudden lllllStery of his heart, and crushing down and silencing thought and judgment and will.. • ~e dec1ar~s. it to be a love based on jud,,"lllent, and strengthened by maturer judgm~tit. If tba.tlove was first won by the gracious vision granted to him when be was nearingiDamascus, it wa'.s more truly a love confirmed and established by the serious inedi~tions ancl calm decisions of his time of blindness, and by the Scripture studies of his lop,ely days in the desert. That sober consideration took up: 1. The sadness of man's condition. " Then were :ill dead;" or, as otherwise read. " then all died." ~ St. Paul's jrid,,,ament decided that it was quite true about Je.rus Christ-he bad intervened to save Dien by his.own swierings and death. " He died for all" Paul-or ,Saul, as be was· then called-was nearing the fulness of manhood when he heard of the appearance of a new prophet- teacher in the land of his fathers. But all bis prejudices arrayed themse.lves against the acceptance of him. and against belief in bis specW collimissfon •aiid autliority, It appeared from the reports that he was a poor man; that be came from the dospised Galilean Nazareth, about which Old Testament Scriptures prophesied no such great thing ; that he made him.self the "friend of publicans and sinners;" that be was a:n unsparing foe of Paul's own sect, the Pharisees; but that at last he bad been stopped in biB mischievous career, and made a public example of by an ignominious and sham.e- ful death. And then one day prejudice was overthrown, Prejudice waf! made tq see the living glory of him whom it had tried to believe was disgraced Sf-d dead, Prejudjee beard the authoritative voice of the supposed impostor speaking out of the heavenly place.s. Prejudice was conquered; the reason, the jud.gment, and the heart wete enthroned, and set to '.form a judgment concerning Christ. And what a different thing the career of the Lord Jesus became when it was soberly, thoughtfully judged I Poor was be? It was the worthy outer garb of the unspeakable humiliation. of the Divine Lord to the weakness of men. It WIil! the fit outward s~uiing for" Immanuel," God with us, Out of Nazareth did he come? That WIil! only ob.e 9f the thousandfold proofs that be was indeed the Messiah promised to the fathers, now in dimmer and now in clearer outlines. Friend of publicans and sinners was he? No wonder; for he well knew that the real want of men is, not the removal of diseases, or the extensions of ceremonial worship, or eve~ t!i~ unfoldin~ of n~w truths, but the {'Ardon Qf siu,. thQ CH. v. 1---21.J THE SECOND EPISTLE 'l'O rHE CORINTHIANS, 143