1 Cor. I. 29-31. — That no flesh should glory in his presence. But of him are ye in Christ Jesus, who of God is made unto us wisdom and righteousness, and sanctification, and redemption: that according as it is written, He that gloried, let him glory in the Lord.
Those Christians to whom the apostle directed this epistle dwelt in a part of the world where human wisdom was in great repute; as the apostle observes in the 22d verse of this chapter, “The Greeks seek after wisdom.” Corinth was not far from Athens, which had been for many years the most famous seat of philosophy and learning in the world.
The apostle, therefore, observes to them how that God, by the gospel, destroyed and brought to naught their human wisdom. The learned Grecians and their great philosophers by all their wisdom did not know God: they were not able to find out the truth in divine things. But after they had done their utmost to no effect, it pleased God at length to reveal himself by the gospel, which they accounted foolishness. He “chose the foolish things of the world to confound the wise, and the weak things of the world to confound the things which are mighty, and the base things of the world, and things that are despised, yea, and things which are not, to bring to naught the things that are.” And the apostle informs them why he thus did, in the verse of the text: That no flesh should glory in his presence, &c.
In which words may be observed,
1. What God aims at in the disposition of things in the
affair of redemption, viz., that man should not glory in himself, but alone in
God: That no flesh should glory in his presence,—that, according as it is
written, He that gloried, let him glory in the Lord.
First, All the good that they have is in and through Christ; he is made unto us wisdom, righteousness, sanctification, and redemption. All the good of the fallen and redeemed creature is concerned in these four things and cannot be better distributed than into them, but Christ is each of them to us, and we have none of them any otherwise than in him. He is made of God unto us wisdom: in him are all the proper good and true excellency of the understanding. Wisdom was a thing that the Greeks admired, but Christ is the true light of the world, it is through him alone that true wisdom is imparted to the mind. ’Tis in and by Christ that we have righteousness: it is by being in him that we are justified, have our sins pardoned, and are received as righteous into God’s favor. ’Tis by Christ that we have sanctification: we have in him true excellency of heart as well as of understanding; and he is made unto us inherent, as well as imputed righteousness. ’Tis by Christ that we have redemption, or actual deliverance from all misery, and the bestowment of all happiness and glory. Thus, we have all our good by Christ, who is God.
Secondly, another instance wherein our dependence on God for all our good appears, is this, that it is God that has given us Christ, that we might have these benefits through him; he of God is made unto us wisdom, righteousness, &c.
Thirdly, ’Tis of him that we are in Christ Jesus, and come to have an interest in him, and so do receive those blessings which he is made unto us. It is God that gives us faith whereby we close with Christ.
So that in this verse is shown our dependence on each person
in the Trinity for all our good. We are dependent on Christ the Son of God, as
he is our wisdom, righteousness, sanctification, and redemption. We are
dependent on the Father, who has given us Christ and made him be these
things to us. We are dependent on the Holy Ghost, for ’tis of him that we are
in Christ Jesus; ’tis the Spirit of God that gives faith in him, whereby we
receive him and close with him.
