Ver. 17.-Clirist and his people are one. It was the wont of the apostle to associate the commonest duties of life with the highest motives drawn lrom spiritual realities and relations. In dissuading from the sin of impurity, he might have adduced consi- derations drawn from physical laws or from social conditions; but it is more in harmony with his convictions and habits to appeal to the loftiest principles of the Christian religion. I. THE BOND WHICH UNITES CHRISTIANS TO THEIR Loan. It is a personal relation which is here asserted, and evidently not one of mere external association, but of vital and spiritual union. 1. It is a bond of faith. "Whom not having seen," etc. Christians receive with cordiality the gospel concerning Christ; they receive Christ himself to dwell in their hearts by faith. 2. It is a bond of love. They are joined to him as the bride to the bridegroom, in a spiritual affection, in lo\'e "stronger than death."' 3. It is a bond of affinity. Drawn to Jesus as sinners to the Saviour, they remain with him as friends congenial in character, in di~position, and in aims. II. THE CONSEQUENT UNITY BETWEEN CHRISTIANS AND THEIR LORD. They are er one spirit." 1. They are in a spirit of subjection to tho Father, whose will and law arc authoritative and supreme. 2. They are one in the love of all that is holy and morally admirable. The sympathy that exists is sympathy with regard to matters of the .highest moment, with regard to the principles that animate and the aims that dignify the moral life. 3. They are one in the bonds of an immortal fellowship. Christ's prayer for his people was," That they may be with me where I am "-a prayer which the Father is graciously and constantly answering. III. THE PRACTICAL PROOFS OF THIS UNITY. 1. A repugnance on the part o.f Christians to all u·hich is repugnant to their Lord; as e.g. those vices to which allusion is made in the context, practised by the heathen, but hateful to those who namu the Name of Christ. 2. A cultivation of the spirit of brotherly love. The" one spirit" must needs be a spirit of true love, linking together the members of the mysticnl body of Christ, and disposing them to a sympathetic and harmonious action.-'!'. Yers. 19, 20.-.A. purchased possession. Every noble character and life is based upon self-renunciation. A man, in order to make his mark upon the world, must loso himself iu some great cause, that e.g. of his country, of science, of art, of humanity. Is there an all-absorbing aim in which men generally may justly lose themselves? If there be, it must bo the highest, all-comprehending, perfectly and lastingly satis- factory. Christians have found this secret: they live to God in Christ. They are not their own, for they are bought, they are owned by the Son of God. I. THE STATE OF D0NDAGE FROM WHICH CHRISTIANS ARE RANSOMED. 1. There was a time, a state, in which they thought themselves" their own." They followed their uwn <lesires and went their own way. 2. But in reality they were in bondage-to the L:i.w and its sentence of condemnation ; to sin an<l its cruel fetters; to Satan and hi~ wretched service. 3. The power of evil then fostered the <lelusion of liberty, fla~teretl prido and fostered selfishness, all the while drawing lighter and tighter tho chains of ~piritual bondage. 206 THE FIRST EPISTLE TO THE CORINTHIANS. [cm. VI. 1-20.
II. THE LrnEnATOR TO WHOM CHRISTIAKS ARE IKDEDTED Fon TIIEm REDEMPTION. The~• were ransomed: 1. Dy One whose laws and service had been forsaken and despised. 2. By One without whose help bondage would have been eternal. 3. By One upon whom we sinful m~n had no claim based upon right and justice. 4. By One whoso heart was mo'l'ed with pity by the sad spectacle of our slavery. 5. By One who gra- ciously resoh·cd to do and to suffer all that might be involved in the work of our deliverance. III. Trm COST AT WHICH CHRISTIANS WERE RANSOMED FROM SLAVERY AND PURCHASED AS THE FREE DOKDMEN OF Goo. 1. It was a price which no mere man could by any possibility have paid. 2. It was a price which could not be reckone<l and estimated in .any earthly or human equivalent. 3. It was a price in order to pay which it was nccess.'1.ry that the Son of God should become incarnate, and empty himself of his -glorv. 4. It ,ms a price which consisted in" the precious blood of Christ." IV. THE OllLIGATIONS WHICH THIS PURCHASE AND REDEMPTION LAY UPON CHRISTIANS. "These may be regarded in two aspects. 1. Negatively. "Ye are not your own." Your heart is not your own, but Christ's; your thoughts are not your own but his who liveth in you; your time is not your own, but is redeemed for the R;deemer; your abilities and influence are not your own, but are to be consecrated to him to whom you o,Ye both them and the bias which has been 11:iven them; your property is not your own, but his who claims your all. 2. Positively. "Glorify God therefore." The praise is due to him who in bis own mind conceived the purpose of redemption. The service is dne to him whom to love is of necessity to serve. All the faculties of our nature and all the opportunities of our life may well be laid, as a consecrated offering, upon the altar of God, whose we are, not only by right of creation, but by right of grace and redemption, whose we are by every tie, and whom we are bound to serve as the best expression of our gratitude and the best exercise of our liberty.-'l'.