For we are glad, when we are weak, and ye are strong:.
. even your perfection.
Christian perfection
I. The object desired. Perfection.
1. As individual believers. No such thing as aggregate holiness can exist, without the sanctification of its units. A church cannot be perfect except as its members are so, any more than the body can be healthy unless its organs are sound. In what he considered this to consist we may gather from his writings:--“In understanding be men,” literally “perfect”; “that I might perfect that which is lacking in your faith”; “perfect and complete in all the will of God”; “that the man of God may be perfect, thoroughly furnished to every, good work”; “perfect in Christ Jesus.” He would have Christians--
(1) Of vigorous understanding, not feeble minded, not intellectual dwarfs, not liable to be carried about with every wind of doctrine in consequence of their slight comprehension or grasp of the truth.
(2) Of strong faith, not sceptical, doubting, hesitating, but, like Abraham, strong in faith, giving glory to God; living by it, walking by it, taking it as their principle and guide; and by it giving the future ascendency over the present, the spiritual over the material.
(3) Perfect in all God’s will; not correct in creed and defective in practice; not strong in faith and deficient in love, but showing faith by works; being all that Christianity requires and Christ was.
(4) “Careful to maintain good works”; active, diligent, zealous, devout.
(5) And all this “in Christ Jesus”; not from a spirit of legality, self-righteousness, or self dependence, but by grace derived from Christ, by the indwelling spirit of Christ, actuated by the love of Christ, and doing all to His glory. This is an object at which we may all aim. The highest kind of excellence is presented to the view of each. You cannot perhaps be great, you may be good--wealth may be denied you, worth is not. And this is what we want. If each one will consecrate themselves by a more personal surrender to Christ, and will resolve in God’s strength to be more what the Word of God requires, a new era will dawn upon this fellowship.
2. As a Church.
(1) And here we are at once reminded that there is much which a Christian Church may possess which does not constitute Christian perfection. Like the capital to which the city gave its name and which is the composite of many other forms of beauty, the Corinthian Church had great excellence, but it was not perfect, It had wealth, gifts, numbers probably--yet it was not perfect. The perfection of a Christian Church does not consist in outward things. Not that they are to be despised. They may be valuable adjuncts. But we are in danger of putting, e.g., beautiful architecture in the place of a spiritual house; melodious music in the place of harmonious feeling; of mistaking eloquence for gracious words; of idolising intellect instead of yielding to truth; but in proportion as we do this we content ourselves with the shell instead of the kernel, we grasp a shadow, but we miss the substance. “The kingdom of God is not in word but in power.”
(2) In thinking of what constitutes Church perfection, I place too in a very subordinate position mere outward organisation. Not that I despise it; but I regard it as a means.
(3) If I am asked what then constitutes the perfection of a Church, I point you to the Pentecostal Church (Act_2:1-47.).
(4) As we would obtain this perfection, let us try and avoid whatever would impair or destroy it. In this letter the apostle had animadverted on many points of reprehension. There was party-spirit, forbearance of needful discipline, undue conformity to the world, defects in the mode of conducting worship and in dispensing ordinances, an undue regard to ostentatious display of gifts, a lack of such liberality as was exhibited by other and poorer churches, unkind depreciation of him as their teacher and apostle. These and similar evils led him to say (2Co_12:20), “I fear, lest when I come I shall not find you such as I would,” and no wonder that he so earnestly desired greater perfection.
II. The wish expressed. Here observe--
1. The lofty aim of the Christian ministry.
(1) Look at it in itself, and how spiritual, vast, important--the fullest development of individual and collective character. And then recollect this was desired in order to something beyond--the world’s salvation and the glory of God. The Christian ministry seeks the Church’s perfection, and this in order to higher aims still.
(2) I go a step farther: it not only seeks it but it is greatly instrumental in promoting it. God has many means by which He works, as He can dispense with all; but of all the means He has blessed to this end, none have been more hopeful than an earnest, evangelical ministry. This we wish as ministers--your perfection.
2. The deep emotions by which earnest minds are characterised. The term wish but faintly intimates the apostle’s obvious feeling. We might illustrate it by some other of his expressions:--“My little children of whom I travail in birth again till Christ be formed within you.” “God is my record how greatly I long after you all in the bowels of Jesus Christ.” “I will very gladly spend and be spent for you.” Be in earnest, and let the earnest emotion of others on your behalf urge you to concern for yourself.
3. The conscious dependence of the apostle upon an agency superior to his own to secure the object desired. We wish! but some one else must grant. Perfection will never be secured by mere wishing. This indeed will never secure anything.
(1) There must be effort. What a man sows that shall he also reap. If he sows only wishes, wishes light as thistle down will be his only harvest. If he sows real effort, diligent persevering exertion, a daily advance to perfection will be his glorious reward. Are we putting forth this? Say not it is discouraging to be constantly failing. Remember the effort braces the moral nature, and is thus its own reward. Let conscious failure only quicken to further exertion.
(2) Likewise pray--so did the apostle; well did he know that only the Perfect One could give perfection. (J. Vincy.)
Christian perfection
I. The nature of the apostle’s wish.
1. It was very serious and solemn, and of the nature of a fervent and affectionate prayer (Rom_10:1).
2. It was benevolent. The apostle had reason to be offended with the Corinthians, yet he manifested towards them the greatest kindness, and was at all times their advocate at the throne of grace.
3. It was seasonable and suitable. It implies that some things had taken place amongst the Corinthians which he lamented, and desired to see removed.
4. It was full and comprehensive, including both their present and eternal welfare. The greatest thing that is said of glorified saints above is, that they are made perfect. The greatest thing that can be said of God Himself is, that He is perfect.
5. It was highly apostolic, being in unison with his character and office.
II. Its object “perfection.” This is what he laboured himself to attain (Php_3:12). For the Corinthians he entertained the same holy desire (2Co_13:7). Corrupt principles and evil habits had crept in among them, and he wished to see these corrected and laid aside. Not content with negative purity he adds: “This also we wish, even your perfection.”
1. Christian perfection is--
(1) Legal. In the eye of the lawgiver, all the saints are complete in Christ, who is their head and representative (Col_2:10-11).
(2) Moral, which is either full, or partial. Man was originally free from moral defect, being created in righteousness and true holiness. Christ was also holy and sinless. Both were perfect, being in every respect what righteousness could require. The only perfection to be found amongst fallen creatures is partial; a perfection begun but not consummated; entire in all the integral parts, but not in degrees, as a child is perfect in possessing all that is requisite to constitute a complete and entire human being, though not grown up to the fulness of the stature of a man. So where patience has its perfect work, in connection with all the other graces, the believer is said to be perfect and entire, wanting nothing (Jam_1:4).
(3) Comparative (1Co_2:6).
(4) Synonymous with sincerity and uprightness (Gen_6:9; Gen_17:1; Job_1:8; Psa_37:37; Psa_101:2; Joh_1:47).
2. The perfection which Paul desired on behalf of the Corinthians would include
(1) A maturity of understanding in the great mysteries of the gospel. The entrance of God’s Word giveth light (Col_1:13); but all true religion is progressive.
(2) A pure heart and an unspotted conversation.
(3) A high degree of spirituality.
(4) Tenderness of conscience.
(5) An aptitude for spiritual and edifying conversation.
(6) Joining in Christian fellowship, and attending on gospel ordinances. Conclusion:
1. The sincere Christian, though he has not attained perfection, earnestly breathes after it, and cannot be satisfied without it.
2. What the apostle wished for others, let us anxiously seek for ourselves.
3. As the most eminent and perfect part of the Christian character consists in making Christ all and in all, so let this be the life and substance of our religion. (B. Beddome,M. A.)
Christian perfection
The objection to this is probably the loudest of all objections ever urged against Christianity. It is said to be clear fanaticism, false in fact, and ridiculous in appearance. And yet it is likely that a very slight examination will show that the common creed of all men has not a more clear or prominent feature or section in it than this very doctrine. And here we inquire, is it a new and strange doctrine peculiar to Christianity? Ask the orator how high he has fixed his standard of perfection in the powers of oratory, beyond which point he does not aim? His young manhood makes war upon all who have preceded him. His pride disdains the achievements of mortals; and he would, if he could, hold his audience nerveless and breathless--subject only to the flash of his eye and the move of his finger. His motto is perfection. Ask the painter--if he would not, were he able, make the canvas whisper! The sculptor, if he could, would chisel the marble, that you could see the very life blood coursing in its veins! To excel is the desire of every man who is not a drone or a sluggard. What means achievement? Is it a word without a meaning? “Go on to perfection” is the only motto worthy a God-created, heaven-aspiring mind. It is the first thing the child learns, and the last thing the sage grasps after. And would you deny this heavenly doctrine to the Christian? Must he, and he alone, be deprived of its cheering influence? May not his heart, too, be fired with its vital flames? Must he, and he alone, be fettered and chained down to the mere experience of the common herd? Or may he not rise above the earth likewise, and go on to perfection too? Let him go! Let him rise! Let him fix his aspiring gaze higher, yea upon the very spot where the Saviour sits at the right hand of God. (Homilist.)
