The Pulpit Commentary — 1 Corinthians — Section 161

Vers. 18-20.-Speech and power. These are by no means always associated to<1ether. !n the sam~ man. Oftcntimes they seen:i quite unable to dwell together. Speech is in mverse rat10 to po1rnr. The free talker 1s seldom a vigorous thinker· and the boaster can never gain any real power by his extravagances. It seems that,'at Corinth, there were some loud talkers, who depreciated St. Paul's authority, and endeavoured to- destroy his influence. They made out that his "bodily presence was weak, and his speech contemptible;" and they mockingly said, "No doubt he writes very vio-orous and terrible letters, but he is afraid to come himself." "These persons per:uaded themselves that they had so undermined his reputation that he would not dare to come again to _Corinth, _an~ they grew more. self-asserting in consequence." Paley notices an undes1gned comc1dence between this passage and 2 Cor. i. 15-17; ii. 1. There e1-idently had been some uncertainty about his visit, of which his opponents took undue advantage. I. SPEECH WITHOUT POWER. .A mere gift of fluent talk is granted to some men, It is seldom associated with vigorous mental power, and is a perilous gift because it can. be so readily misused. Such speech may be pleasant to listen to, as is the murmur of a flowing stream. It may be popular; it may be exciting to mere sentiment; it may be boastful. Its influence is small and temporary. It bears very little relation to the- correction of moral evils, or the culture of the godly life. II. SPEECH WITH POWER. Speech which is (l) the utterance of thought; (2) which bears the" accent of conviction;" (3) which is carefully set in adaptation to the hearer~ and ( 4) which is uttered in dependence on Divine leadings and inspirations. Here the word is used by St. Paul especially to mean "the power that is derived from Christ, which he himself possesses to influence the heart of man. It includes, no doubt, the power of working miracles, for, with one or two exceptions, the miracles of the gospel were manifestations of Christ's power to deliver humanity from the dominion of evil and its consequences." Speech with power is that kind of speech which directly influences the heart and the conscience, and leads to the fuller apprehension of truth, the conviction of sin, or the discovery of neglected duty. It may comfort, :nstruct, counsel, or warn. Dr. Horace Bushnell says, "Three distinct elements must: be included in preaching which has the genuine power, (1) .A. descent to human nature in its lower plane of self-love and interested motive, and a beginning made with the conscience, the fears, and the boding expectation of guiltiness. (2) The due exhibition of the Christian facts. In the .Apostles' Creed nothing is included but the simple· facts of Christ's life. Too little by a thousandfold is made of these facts, How much easier to preach the decoction (doctrine), and let the dried herbs of the story go! It might be so if they were really dry; but since they are all alive, fresh and fragrant as a bank of roses, how much better to go and breathe among them, and catch the quickening odours! (3) The right conception of the gospel, and the fit presentation of it, under the altar-forms provided for it." And Canon Liddon, in his 'Bampton Lectures,' pp. 168, 169, has the following passage:-" Picture to yourselves a teacher wbo is not merely under the official obligation to say something, but who is morally convinced that he has something to say. Imagine one who believes alike in the truth of his message, and in the reality of his mission to deliver it. Let his m~ssage comb)ne· those moral contrasts which give permanency and true force to a doctrme, and which. tl,e gospel only has combined in their perfection. Let this taacher be tender, yet searchincr; let him win the hearts of men by his kindly hurnanitv, while he probes,. ,iy, to the quick, their moral sores. Let him be uniformly calm, yet m~nifestly moved by the fire of repressed passion. Let him be stern yet not uhlovmg, and resolute without sacrificino- the elasticity of his sympathy, and genial without con- descending to be the we;kly accomplice of moral mischief. Let hi~ purs1;1e and expose the latent evil of the human heart, through all the mazes of 1b unnvalled deceitfulness, without sullying his own purity, and without forfeiting his strong belief <JH. v. 1-13.J THE FIRST EPISTLE TO THE CORINTHIANS. 165