With the conception of this speedy coming of Christ in their minds, the apostles regard the proper attitude of the Christian and the Church as bein" one of "waitincr." Such waiting becomes a virtual "preparing;" it involves a care ~ have and hold ';,11 things ready, and this is a good sign of the faithful and diligent servant. "The attitude of expectation is thought of as the highest that can be attained here by the Christian. It implies a patient, humble spirit, one that is waiting for, one that is looking forward to, something nobler and better." The moral influence of a hi"h and noble expectation may be pointed out. "Where your treasure is, there will your heart be also;" and it is certain that to fitness for it your life and conduct will be moulded. In these verses we find a double thought associated with the Lord's second coming. I. PAUL'S THOUGHT OF CHRIST'S COMING TO REWARD. As be bas been writing of "gifts" and their use in the Church, he must ha,e in mind Christ's gracious reward of his faithful ones. Reward is proper from one occupying the position of Master. Rewards may be given for work that is far short of perfection. Rewards may be bestowed when no absolute claims can be made for them. Divine rewards can only be gifts of grace. The moral ends to be served by granting rewards are such as God may seek by such means. So it is rational and right that we should still watch, work, and use our gifts, in the full expectation of gracious recognition and reward in due season. Qualify, however, the expectation, by showing that the New Testament strives to impress on us that Divine and future rewards must be spiritual, not material; we are to have crowns, but they are crowns of life, righteousness, and glory. II. PAUL'S THOUGHT OF CHRIST'S PRESENCE TO CONFIRM. Too much attention to Christ's coming would lighten the conviction of his real, though spiritual, presence now with the individual and with the Church. That presence Paul conceives as the confirmation, the inspiration, and the security of Christ's servants. In it they have their only, but their all-sufficient, gurirantee that, amid frailties, temptations, and perils, they shall hold out unto the end, attaining unto the coming of the Lord. Either of these thoughts of Christ may prove misleadini if it stands alrme. Each tempers and qualifies the other. Both together keep us wisely looking down on our work, b~ide us at our htlper, and on to our reward. 'l'he thought of '.'reward" makes us wonder how the Divine One will ever be able to testify to our "blamelessness and unreprov- ableness." Illustrate by David's appeal to his "integrity." We may be genuine and sincere. A standard of consistency may be pressed on us as Church members; but nothing less than the standard of absolute purity must be pressed on us as one day to stand in the presence of the glorified Christ.-R. T.
Vers. 11, 12.-The spirit of faction. Introduce by showing the various elements of which the Church at Corinth was composed. There are signs that some members were wealthy and learned, many were certainly poor, and probably many were slaves. Those who suddenly become wealthy are always in peril of showing masterfulness, and claiming undue authority and influence. Party feeling ran high in Corinth, and this, with the mixed character of the population, tended to break society into sects and schools. This affected the Church, and Paul received reports of the disposition tu make parties within it, and so destroy the unity of the Church in Christ; such reports greatly distressed him, and they are in part the immediate occasion of his writing thi~ Epistle. The subject of the verses before us we may take to be Church unity-how it may be preserved and lost. Our Lord and his apostles manifest a peculiar anxiety for the conservation of the unity of the Church, and appear to regard that unity as essential to the Church's stability and growth and witness. I. CHURCH UNITY PRESERVED BY MAKING EVERYTHING OF CHRIST. He is the One living Head, the only Master and Lord. The common life of the Church is the life in Christ. The Church is a whole vine, made up of many branches, but Christ is the uniting and quickening Life in them all. The direct and immediate dependence of <mch individual upon the same Lord Jesus Christ is the one secret of maintaining the unity. We have "one Lord, one faith, one baptism." Then it follows that a man keeps in the unity as he keeps up his dependence on Christ, and the unity of the Church is realized only in the completeness of the loyalty of its members to Cl,ri.,t. And tho one thing that mars the unity is the one thing that separntc1; from Christ, 5G 'l'HE FIRST EPISTLE TO THE CORINTHIANS. [cu. 1. 1-31.