The Pulpit Commentary — 1 Corinthians — Section 447

I am known." .Better read, "I was known," i.e. known or apprehended of Christ. St. Paul's thought appears to be that soul-culture brings the true, full knowledcre and 0 :power. A man knows on'iy in the mea.~ure of the progress of the work of Divine grace in him; and what we may call perfect knowledge can only come when we are our- selves morally perfected, wholly sanctified, through the grace that is in Christ Jesus. Two points claim consideration. I. THE NATURE AND T,IMITATIONS OF MAN'S PRESENT KNOWLEDGE. It is dependent on our senses. Show that this means that our knowledge is limited to the spheres with which our senses stand related. Even transcendent and so-called supernatural things cannot be conceived until set under sensible forms and figures. We can only transcend nature by the help oi nature. The senses limit even the imagination. It may be shown that God's world is set ready for just the creatures he has put in it; and if any other than the sensible world is to be opened to us, we must be changed, renewed, regenerated, and so new sensibilities and capacities must be given and developed. Illustrate that the world of science is the proper sphere for men who have only senses and intellect. It is a vast sphere, a wonderful sphere, but only a limited sphere; and since researches or observations within it are dependent on the frailty of the instruments used, no absolute truth of science can ever be obtained. Illustrate from the observa- tions of astronomers. No conclusion can be affirmed with absolute certainty because the disturbing conditions of the atmosphere can never be perfectly estimated in con- nection with any experiment. Then add to this frailty of the senses the influence of sin on man when his attention is directed to moral questions. No man can hope, of himself, to attain the perfect moral truth. Illustrate from the sadly mixed systems of all the great classical or mog.ern moralists, and plead that the key to ali truth is the vision of God which comes with the soul's conversion and regeneration. Here on earth a man knows nothing aright until he knows God, as manifested in the persoi: of his Son. II. THE NATURE AND LIMITATIONS OF MAN'S FUTURE KNOWLEDGE. It will not be imprisoned in sense forms or figures. It will come by soul-faculties, of which our bodily senses are but suggestive types. It will come out of new spheres and new relations. It will take new thought-forms. It will replace observation by insight, so it will need no verification. It will bear relation to moral character, and not to intellectual endowments. It will be the apprehension men may gain, wheu the blinding influence of sin and self-love are wholly passed away, and spiritual insight has no clouds or veils to pierce through. But man's future knowledge, however wonderful it may be, must still be limited, for ever it can but be the knowledge of a created being. He can never know God, never know more than God may be pleased to reveal of himself and of his ways.-R. 'l'. Ver. 13.-The immortality of all graces. "Now abideth faith, hope, charity, these three." The word "abideth" is significant, as applied to each of the three great grnces. While so much must" pass away," why may faith, hope, and charity ho said to abide? Because they are the dress of soul~, not of bodies. 'l'hey aro things belonging to character, not merely to conduct. Souls pass through into new spheres of existence, • taking with them all that is peculiar to them. We shall step into the eternal world with just the clothing of character-the garments of faith, love, and hope-which we had put on our spirit in our mortal sphere. More or less distinctly wo all have an idea that faith and hope are powers peculiar to our present mortal and earthly condition. 1,Ve think we shall no longer need them when we have reached to heaven. 'Ne think that only love, charity, will go with us there. Yet can it ho that wo shall ever get past "faith"? Is "sight" anything more than another and a higher form of" faith"? Shall we ever lose "hope "? As long as we remain creatures, not creators, we shall surely have to believe and hope and love. I. 'I'BE IMMORTALITY OF LOVE. We may infer this from the abiding character of love in this life. All kinds of love tend to abide; they even strive to increase and grow. Life may greatly chanf(e with us, multiplied sorrows may come to us, hut there arc some who love us, whose love keeps on, and can neither change nor pass. True mother-love abideth. True wifely love abideth. True friendship-love ahidcth. \V c go out into tho eternal world with such love folded like holy robes about our spirits. 436 THE FIRST EPISTLE '1'0 'l'HE CORINTHIANS. [oH. xiv. 1-40.