HOMILETICS. Vers. 1--4.-Inviting men to Ohrist the supreme ob;'ect of preacl1ing. "WoulJ to Gotl ye could bear with me a little," etc. The purpose and spirit of this chapter are the same es the preceding one. The apostle proceeds against the charges which they had brought against him, and the same breeze of irony breathes through all. These verses seem to be his defence against the ch~ge of his foolish boasting," Would to God," or rather would that ye could "bear with me a little in my folly," or better, in a little foolishness. What I have said already yon say is foolish boasting; be it so, bear with me whilst I proceed in the same strain of self-vindication; tolerate me a little further. It has been observed that no less than five times in this chapter does the expression "bearing with," or" burden,'' occnr, and the word" folly" eight times; and the inference is that the expressions refer to something which he had heard of some of their remarks concerning him. Paul here seems to claim their continued attention on two grounds. L THE GREATNESS OF THE WORK BE HAD ACCOMPLISHED AMONGST THEM. " For I am jealous over you with godly jealousy: for I have espoused you to one husband, that I may present you as a chaste virgin to Christ." He had "espoused," or united them, to Christ, as the bride to the Bridegroom-a relationship the most sacred, close, tender, and lasting. To unite men in supreme affection and supreme purpose is the grand work ot the Christian minister, and what work on earth is so sublimely beneficent and glorious as to make men one with Christ? It is impossible to make men one with a creed or a Church, and were it possible it would be to the last degree undesirable. But to make men one with Christ is at once most practical, and urgent-practical because God has established an infallible method, and urgent because souls disconnected from Christ are in a guilty and ruined condition. 11. THE DREAD WHICH HE HAD LEST THAT WORK SHOULD BE UNDONE, "But I fear, lest by any means, as the serpent beguiled Eve through his subtlety [craftiness], so your minds should be corrupted from the simplicity that is in Christ." It would seem from this that the union of souls to Christ is not absolutely indissoluble, that a separa- tion is possible; and, in truth, were it not so, man would with the union lose hie freedom of action, and would become a mere instrument. Angels fell from their primitive holiness, our first parents from innocence, and Peter for a. time from connection with Christ. The holiest creature in the universe is conscious of a. power by which he could break away from his orbit of purity and obedience; otherwise he would have no sense of personal virtuousness. The apostle here seems to ascribe the possible dissolution of the 'TTUilrriage of souls to Christ to Satan, whom he here represents as the "serpent," implying hie belief at once in the personality, moral maliciousness, and mighty spiritual influence of th.is superhuman intelligence. See how he does this. 1. By insidiously corrupting the mind. "I fear, lest by any meaos, as the serpent beguiled Eve through his subtlety, so your minds should be corrupted from the simplicity tha.t is in Christ." There can be no union between a. soul morally corrupt and impure, and Christ. The moment those who a.re united to Christ become corrupted, the union is at an end; the rotten branch falls from the trunk. So Satan's work is to" corrupt," and thus undo the grandeet of all works. This he does insidiously, or craftily, just as he dealt with Eve ( G"n. iii.). How craftily this huge enemy of souls pursuea his soul-:corrupting work I " Beware of his devices.'' 2. By the agency of false teachers. " For 1f he that cometh preacheth another Jesus, whom we have not preached, or if ye receive another spirit, which ye have not received, or another gospel, which ye have not accepted, ye might well lJ(,ar wiLh him." There is but one absolute Christ, but as many subjective ones u.s CJI. XI. 1-33.] THE SECOND EPISTLE ·ro THE CORINTHIANS. 26!)
call themselves Christiane, and not a few or the subjective ones a.re pernicious caricature~ of tbe true Jesus of Nazareth. These are preached, and the preaching of them corrupt~ souls and fulfils the purpose of the devil. There is as much difference between the Christ of the Gospels and the Christ of the creeds, as there is between the cedar growin~ in Lebanon and that cedar reduced to its primitive elements in the laboratory of the chemist; in the ono form beautifully attractive, in the other hideously repulsive. Such Christa wero preached in Corinth. Paul, perhaps, specially refers to some one who ,vas preaching" another Jesus," and ironically he intimates that such preachers they toleratcrl. "Ye might well bear with him." As if he had said," Such men who are doing the work of the devil ye would tolerate,"