The Pulpit Commentary — 1 Corinthians — Section 422

1Lttainable, is a sin. Ignorance of Christ in a land of churches and Bibles, is a sin, and that of no ordinary heinousness. It is a culumity to the heathen ; it is a crime to us. IV. There iM a partial knowledge that is BENEFICENT. Our ignorance of our future is a blessing. Were the whole of our future to be spread out before us, with all its trials and sorrows, and all the circumstances connected with our deo.th, life would become intolerable; it is mercy that has woven the veil that hides the future. CoNCLUBION, Our partial knowledge should make us humble, studious, undogmatic, dwout. Ver. 11.-.A cliild in time, a man in eternity. ",vhcn I was a child, I spake as a child, I understood as a child, I thought as a child : but when I became a man, I put away childish things." From all the writings of Paul you cannot select an extract more beautiful, significant, and valuable than this chapter. It touches that which is the root of the universe, the heart of God, and the fountain of all virtue and blessed- ness-love. The subject of the words under our notice is the Christian a child in time, ,i man in eternity. I. 'l'his is the case in relation to SPEECH. "When I was a child, I .~pake as a child." Though the word "child" here properly denotes a babe, the apostle evidently uses it with no such limitation, for an infant neither speaks, thinks, nor understands. He denotes by it the human being in the first stages of intelligence and voluntary action. The speech of <t. child is often marked by incoherence and unintelligibility. It is irrelevant, disconnected, and broken. So is the speech of the sagest and most eloquent Christian here as compared with his language in eternity. The Christian's speech in eternity will be characterized: 1. J3y clearness. Our speech here, like that of children,. is often unintelligible, mere jargon. The reason is that our conceptions are cloudy, half formed, and ill defined. Obscurity of language, either oral or written, is the result 0f confusion in thought. Clear speech requires a clear head. lu heaven thoughts are clear and complete as balls of radiant crystal. 2. By reality. Our speech here, like- that of children, is frequentl_v nothing more than the vehicle of mental fantasies and conjecture. Words only embody and reveal the unsubstantial dreams of the mind. But speech in eternity is the organ of reality. Words there arc things. They are truths made vocal. 3. By comprehensiveness. How meagre the vocabulary of a child! Our speech here, like that of children, is limited to a very small range of things. ,vhen it conveys truth, the truths are but very few; and they relate to a mere speck in the great universe of intelligence. Not so in heaven. 'l'he soul will range over the whole domain of facts, receive true impressions of all, and speak them out. 4. By s-ublimity. Our speech here, like that of children, is not of the most exalted and soul- inspiring character. 'l'he best only talk of the rudiments of truths which have \Secome more or less theological platitudes. In heaven speech will be the vehicle of the most soul-inspiring and soul-uplifting realities. Every word will be electric, every sentence radiant and quickening as the sunbeam. II. This is the case in relation to UNDERSTANDING. "I understood as a child." Th~ Christian's understanding here is like that ofa child in several respects. 1. In feebleness. 'l'he child's intellect, like his body, gets strength by nutriment and exercise. In the first stages it is very feeble. It is incapable of any great eITort. It is thus with the Christian here. ,ve say of such a man," He has a great intellect." But in reality the greatest is very weak. How little the effort that the greatest intellect can make in search of knowledge! What a small amount of truth can the most vigorous hold within his grasp! In heaven the understanding will be strong, unencumbered by matter, unchecked by dlsease, unclouded by sin. It will grow young with ago and strong with exercise. 2. In sensuousness. A child's understanding is under the control of the senses. It judges by appearances; it is tr,ken up with the forms of things. Is it not so with the Christian? Ho is prone to "mind earthly things," "to judge after the flesh." 'l'he theology and the ritualism even of the most spiritual are coloured by sensuousness. The hell and heaven of Christendom arc sensuous worlds. 3. In relative- ness. The child judges of all things by their rnlation to himself. His father may be an auth-Or thrilling the intellect of his age, or a statesman directing the destinies of,~ nation, but the child knows nothing of him in those relations. As a father only he knows him. So with the understanding of a Christian, His conceptions of God arc 4:10 THE FIRST EPISTLE TO THE CORINTHIANS. [cu. xm. 1-13.