_I determined not to know any thing among you, save JESUS CHRIST,
and him crucified._
THE persons to whom these words were written, were the members of the
church of _Corinth_; who, as appears by the foregoing chapter, were not
only divided into different sects, by one saying, “I am of _Paul_, and
another, I am of _Apollos_;” but also had many amongst them, who were
so full of the wisdom of this world, and so wise in their own eyes,
that they set at nought the simplicity of the gospel, and accounted the
Apostle’s preaching foolishness.
Never had the Apostle more need of the wisdom of the serpent, mingled
with the innocency of the dove, than now. What is the sum of all his
wisdom? he tells them, in the words of the text, “I determined not to
know any thing amongst you, save JESUS CHRIST, and him crucified.”
A resolution this, worthy of the great St. _Paul_; and no less worthy,
no less necessary for every minister, and every disciple of CHRIST, to
make always, even unto the end of the world.
In the following discourse, I shall,
_First_, Explain what is meant by “not knowing any thing, save
JESUS CHRIST, and him crucified.”
_Secondly_, Give some reasons why every christian should
determine not to know any thing else. And
_Thirdly_, Conclude with a general exhortation to put this
determination into practice.
_First_, I am to explain what is meant by “not knowing any thing, save
JESUS CHRIST, and him crucified.”
By JESUS CHRIST, we are to understand the eternal Son of GOD. He is
called JESUS, a Saviour, because he was to save us from the guilt
and power of our sins; and, like _Joshua_, by whom he was remarkably
typified, to lead GOD’s spiritual _Israel_ through the wilderness of
this world, to the heavenly _Canaan_, the promised inheritance of the
children of GOD.
He is called _Christ_, which signifies anointed, because he was
anointed by the Holy Ghost at his baptism, to be a prophet to instruct,
a priest to make an atonement for, and a king to govern and protect
his church. And he was crucified, or hung (O stupendous love!) till he
was dead upon the cross, that he might become a curse for us: for it is
written, “Cursed is every man that hangeth upon a tree.”
The foundation or first cause of his suffering, was our fall in _Adam_;
in whom, as the living oracles of GOD declare, “We all died;” his sin
was imputed to us all. It pleased GOD, after he had spoken the world
into being, to create man after his own divine image, to breathe into
him the breath of life, and to place him as our representative in the
garden of _Eden_.
But he being left to his own free will, did eat of the forbidden fruit,
notwithstanding GOD had told him, “The day in which he eat thereof, he
should surely die;” and thereby he, with his whole posterity, in whose
name he acted, became liable to the wrath of GOD, and sunk into a
spiritual death.
But behold the goodness, as well as the severity of GOD! For no sooner
had man been convicted as a sinner, but lo! a Saviour is revealed to
him, under the character of the _seed of the woman_: the merits of
whose sacrifice were then immediately to take place, and who should,
in the fulness of time, by suffering death, satisfy for the guilt we
had contracted; by obeying the whole moral law, work out for us an
everlasting righteousness; and by becoming a principle of new life in
us, destroy the power of the devil, and thereby restore us to a better
state than that in which we were at first created.
This is the plain scriptural account of that mystery of godliness, GOD
manifested in the flesh; and to this our own hearts, unless blinded by
the god of this world, cannot but yield an immediate assent.
For, let us but search our own hearts, and ask ourselves, if we could
create our own children, whether or not we would not create them with
a less mixture of good and evil, than we find in ourselves? Supposing
GOD then only to have our goodness, he could not, at first, make us
so sinful, so polluted as we are. But supposing him to be as he is,
infinitely good, or goodness itself, then it is absolutely impossible
that he should create any thing but what is like himself, perfect,
entire, lacking nothing. Man then could not come out of the hands of
his Maker, so miserably blind and naked, with such a mixture of the
beast and devil, as he finds now in himself, but must have fallen from
what he was; and as it does not suit with the goodness and justness of
GOD, to punish the whole race of mankind with these disorders merely
for nothing; and since men bring these disorders into the world with
them; it follows, that as they could not sin themselves, being yet
unborn, some other man’s sin must have been imputed to them; from
whence, as from a fountain, all these evils flow.
I know this doctrine of our _original sin_, or fall in _Adam_, is
esteemed foolishness by the wise disputer of this world, who will
reply, How does it suit the goodness of GOD, to impute one man’s sin to
an innocent posterity? But has it not been proved to a demonstration,
that it is so? And therefore, supposing we cannot reconcile it to our
shallow comprehensions, that is no argument at all: for if it appears
that GOD has done a thing, we may be sure it is right, whether we can
see the reasons for it or not.
But this is entirely cleared up by what was said before, that no sooner
was the sin imputed, but a CHRIST was revealed; and this CHRIST, this
GOD incarnate, who was conceived by the Holy Ghost, that he might be
freed from the guilt of our original sin; who was born of the Virgin
_Mary_, that he might be the seed of the woman only; who suffered under
_Pontius Pilate_, a _Gentile_ governor, to fulfil these prophecies,
which signified what death he should die: This same JESUS, who was
crucified in weakness, but raised in power, is that divine person, that
_Emmanuel_, that GOD with us, whom we preach, in whom ye believe, and
whom alone the Apostle, in the text, was determined to know.
By which word _know_, we are not to understand a bare historical
knowledge; for to know that CHRIST was crucified by his enemies at
_Jerusalem_, in this manner only, will do us no more service, than to
know that _Cæsar_ was butchered by his friends at _Rome_; but the word
_know_, means to know, so as to approve of him; as when CHRIST says,
“Verily, I know you not;” I know you not, so as to approve of you. It
signifies to know him, so as to embrace him in all his offices; to take
him to be our prophet, priest, and king; so as to give up ourselves
wholly to be instructed, saved, and governed by him. It implies an
experimental knowledge of his crucifixion, so as to feel the power
of it, and to be crucified unto the world, as the Apostle explains
himself in the epistle to the _Philippians_, where he says, “I count
all things but dung and dross, that I might know him, and the power of
his resurrection.”
This knowledge the Apostle was so swallowed up in, that he was
determined not to know any thing else; he was resolved to make that
his only study, the governing principle of his life, the point and end
in which all his thoughts, words, and actions, should center.
_Secondly_, I pass on to give some reasons why every christian should,
with the Apostle, determine “not to know any thing, save JESUS CHRIST,
and him crucified.”
_First_, Without this, our persons will not be accepted in the sight of
GOD. “This (and consequently this only) is life eternal, to know thee,
the only true GOD, and JESUS CHRIST, whom thou hast sent.” As also St.
_Peter_ says, “There is now no other name given under heaven, whereby
we can be saved, but that of JESUS CHRIST.”
Some, indeed, may please themselves in knowing the world, others boast
themselves in the knowledge of a multitude of languages; but could we
speak with the tongue of men and angels, or did we know the number of
the stars, and could call them all by their names, yet, without this
experimental knowledge of JESUS CHRIST, and him crucified, it would
profit us nothing.
The former, indeed, may procure us a little honour, which cometh of man;
but the latter only can render us acceptable in the sight of GOD: for,
if we are ignorant of CHRIST, GOD will be to us a consuming fire.
CHRIST is the way, the truth, and the life; “No one cometh to the
Father, but through him;” “He is the Lamb slain from the foundation of
the world;” and none ever were, or ever will be received up into glory,
but by an experimental application of his merits to their hearts.
We might as well think to rebuild the tower of _Babel_, or reach heaven
with our hands, as to imagine we could enter therein by any other door,
than that of the knowledge of JESUS CHRIST. Other knowledge may make
you wise in your own eyes, and puff you up; but this alone edifieth,
and maketh wise unto salvation.
As the meanest christian, if he knows but this, though he know nothing
else, will be accepted; so the greatest master in _Israel_, the most
letter-learned teacher, without this, will be rejected. His philosophy
is mere nonsense, his wisdom mere foolishness in the sight of GOD.
The author of the words now before us, was a remarkable instance of
this; never, perhaps, was a greater scholar, in all what the world
calls fine learning, than he: for he was bred up at the feet of
_Gamaliel_, and profited in the knowledge of books, as well as in the
_Jewish_ religion, above many of his equals, as appears by the language,
rhetoric, and spirit of his writings; and yet, when he came to know
what it was to be a christian, “He accounted all things but loss, so
he might win CHRIST.” And, though he was now at _Corinth_, that seat of
polite learning, yet he was absolutely determined not to know any thing,
or to make nothing his study, but what taught him to know JESUS CHRIST,
and him crucified.
Hence then, appears the folly of those who spend their whole lives in
heaping up other knowledge; and, instead of searching the scriptures,
which testify of JESUS CHRIST, and are alone able to make them wise
unto salvation, disquiet themselves in a pursuit after the knowledge of
such things, as when known, concern them no more, than to know that a
bird dropped a feather upon one of the _Pyrenean_ mountains.
Hence it is, that so many, who profess themselves wise, because they
can dispute of the causes and effects, the moral fitness and unfitness
of things, appear mere fools in the things of GOD; so that when you
come to converse with them about the great work of redemption wrought
out for us by JESUS CHRIST, and of his being a propitiation for our
sins, a fulfiller of the covenant of works, and a principle of new life
to our souls, they are quite ignorant of the whole matter; and prove,
to a demonstration, that, with all their learning, they know nothing
yet, as they ought to know.
But, alas! how must it surprize a man, when the Most High is about to
take away his soul, to think that he has passed for a wise man, and
a learned disputer in this world, and yet is left destitute of that
knowledge which alone can make him appear with boldness before the
judgment-seat of JESUS CHRIST? How must it grieve him, in a future
state, to see others, whom he despised as illiterate men, because
they experimentally knew CHRIST, and him crucified, exalted to the
right-hand of GOD; and himself, with all his fine accomplishments,
because he knew every thing, perhaps, but CHRIST, thrust down into
hell?
Well might the Apostle, in a holy triumph, cry out, “Where is the wise?
Where is the scribe? Where is the disputer of this world?” For, GOD
will then make foolish the wisdom of this world, and bring to nought
the wisdom of those who were so knowing in their own eyes.
I have made this digression from the main point before us, not to
condemn or decry human literature, but to shew, that it ought to be
used only in subordination to divine; and that a christian, if the Holy
Spirit guided the pen of the Apostle, when he wrote this epistle, ought
to study no books, but such as lead him to a farther knowledge of JESUS
CHRIST, and him crucified.
And there is the more reason for this, because of the great mischief
the contrary practice has done to the church of GOD: for, what was
it but this learning, or rather this ignorance, that kept so many of
the Scribes and Pharisees from the saving knowledge of JESUS CHRIST?
And what is it, but this human wisdom, this science, falsely so
called, that blinds the understanding, and corrupts the hearts of so
many modern unbelievers, and makes them unwilling to submit to the
righteousness which is of GOD by faith in CHRIST JESUS? But,
_Secondly_, Without this knowledge our performances, as well as persons,
will not be acceptable in the sight of GOD.
“Through faith,” says the Apostle, that is, through a lively faith in
a Mediator to come, “_Abel_ offered a more acceptable sacrifice than
_Cain_.” And it is through a like faith, or an experimental knowledge
of the same divine Mediator, that our sacrifices of prayer, praise, and
thanksgivings, come up as an incense before the throne of grace.
Two persons may go up to the temple to pray; but he only will return
home justified, who, in the language of our collects, sincerely offers
up his prayers through JESUS CHRIST our LORD.
For it is this great atonement, this all-sufficient sacrifice, which
alone can give us boldness to approach with our prayers to the Holy of
Holies: and he that presumes to go without this, acts _Korah_’s crime
over again; offers unto GOD strange fire, and, consequently, will be
rejected by him.
Farther, as our devotions to GOD will not, so neither, without this
knowledge of JESUS CHRIST, will our acts of charity to men be accepted
by him. For did we give all our goods to feed the poor, and yet were
destitute of this knowledge, it would profit us nothing.
This our blessed LORD himself intimates in the xxvth of _Matthew_,
where he tells those who had been rich in good works, “That inasmuch
as they did it unto one of the least of his brethren, they did it unto
him.” From whence we may plainly infer, that it is seeing CHRIST in
his members, and doing good to them out of an experimental knowledge of
his love to us, that alone will render our alms-deeds rewardable at the
last day.
_Lastly_, As neither our acts of piety nor charity, so neither will our
civil nor moral actions be acceptable to GOD, without this experimental
knowledge of JESUS CHRIST.
Our modern pretenders to reason, indeed, set up another principle to
act from; they talk, I know not what, Of doing moral and civil duties
of life, from the moral fitness and unfitness of things. But such
men are blind, however they may pretend to see; and going thus about
to establish their own righteousness, are utterly ignorant of the
righteousness which is of GOD by faith in CHRIST JESUS.
For though we grant that morality is a substantial part of christianity,
and that CHRIST came not to destroy, or take off the moral law, as a
rule of action, but to explain, and so fulfil it; yet we affirm, that
our moral and civil actions are now no farther acceptable in the sight
of GOD the Father, than as they proceed from the principle of a new
nature, and an experimental knowledge of, or vital faith in his dear
Son.
The death of JESUS CHRIST has turned our whole lives into one continued
sacrifice; and whether we eat or drink, whether we pray to GOD, or do
any thing to man, it must all be done out of a love for, and knowledge
of him who died and rose again, to render all, even our most ordinary
deeds, acceptable in the sight of GOD.
If we live by this principle, if CHRIST be the Alpha and Omega of all
our actions, then our least are acceptable sacrifices; but if this
principle be wanting, our most pompous services avail nothing: we are
but spiritual idolaters; we sacrifice to our own net; we make an idol
of ourselves, by making ourselves, and not CHRIST, the end of our
actions: and, therefore, such actions are so far from being accepted
by GOD, that, according to the language of one of the Articles of our
Church, “We doubt not but they have the nature of sin, because they
spring not from an experimental faith in, and knowledge of JESUS
CHRIST.”
Were we not fallen creatures, we might then act, perhaps, from other
principles; but since we are fallen from GOD in _Adam_, and are
restored again only by the obedience and death of JESUS CHRIST, the
face of things is entirely changed, and all we think, speak, or do, is
only accepted in and through him.