1 Corinthians 3:11 Consider how Christ is the True foundation. I. The nature of Christ. It was Godhead divested of its circumstance. His great power, the secret of His wonderful, unparalleled career, was not His Godhead, but the immeasurableness of the Holy Spirit which was in Him, which, never be... [ Continue Reading ]
1 Corinthians 3:11 Life as a Structure. I. There is a foundation laid. The idea couched in this figure is the radical idea, which runs through the whole of Scripture, that something must be done out of and apart from the man, to enable him even to begin his proper life before God. Jesus Christ is t... [ Continue Reading ]
1 Corinthians 3:12 This is an awful passage; one whose import no man to whom has been committed the care of souls can realise without trembling. But it has a lesson for all laity as well as clergy on whom God has laid responsibility of any kind. St. Paul was much troubled by an account which had re... [ Continue Reading ]
1 Corinthians 3:14 Two Builders on One Foundation. I. Consider, first, the two builders and their work. The original application of these words is distinctly to Christian teachers. The wood, hay, and stubble are clearly not heresies, for the builder who uses them is on the foundation; and if Paul... [ Continue Reading ]
1 Corinthians 3:16 Consider the Offices of the Holy Ghost. I. It is the office of the Holy Ghost to effect such a change that the sinner may be described as born again and made a new man in Christ Jesus. The decayed frame of the soul is rebuilded, its lost powers restored, blind prejudice is remove... [ Continue Reading ]
1 Corinthians 3:16 I. When the fall of man broke down the altar within him and scattered the fire, and his vision of God became dim, it did not follow that the Holy Spirit withdrew from the world because the aberration of man's will was allowed to banish Him from the human heart. Whatever belonged... [ Continue Reading ]
1 Corinthians 3:17 I. The human soul God's truest temple. This truth expresses one of the great changes introduced by Christianity. The question to be answered, in order to illustrate its meaning, is this: Why has Christianity abolished the one local house, broken down the holy place, and consecrate... [ Continue Reading ]
1 Corinthians 3:18 The Self-wise Inquirer. Let us inquire what is the vain wisdom of the world, and then we shall the better see how it leads men astray. I. Now, when it is said that to trust our own notions is a wrong thing and a vain wisdom, of course this is not meant of all our notions whateve... [ Continue Reading ]
1 Corinthians 3:21 Consider: I. How Christ's servants are men's lords. "All things are yours: Paul, Apollos, Cephas." These three teachers were all lights kindled at the central light, and therefore shining. Each was but a part of the mighty whole, a little segment of the circle. In the measure in... [ Continue Reading ]