Unto me, who am less than the least of all saints, is this grace given, that I should preach among the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ.
Unsearchable riches offered to the Gentiles
It is evident from Scripture that God never intended that the privileges of adoption into His family and kingdom should be permanently confined to any particular nation. It is evident that the promise was originally given to Abraham, as the father of all them that believe, and not as a promise to be restricted to those who should be his posterity according to the flesh. And, although our Saviour’s personal ministry was limited almost entirely to “the lost sheep of the house of Israel,” He Himself expressly asserted that He had “other sheep” who were “not of that fold”--that “them also He must bring” within the sacred enclosure--and that, after a time, there would thus be but “one fold and one Shepherd.”
I. How humble He was. He considered himself “less than the least of all saints.” There was no affectation of humility here; the apostle felt as he wrote. Once he made his boast of the law, and relied on his own righteousness; now he felt that the law condemned him, and that the righteousness of Christ must be his only plea. Brethren, have you never persecuted Jesus in the persons of His saints? Have you never sneered at what the world calls the over strictness of His true disciples? Have you never treated individuals among them with scorn and derision? Have you never espoused the cause and followed the example of Christ’s enemies?
II. How catholic he was. “Unto me is this grace given, that I should preach among the Gentiles.” He rejoiced that God had given him this grace, conferred upon him this favour, distinguished him by this honour. He was, par excellence, the apostle of the Gentiles, and he gloried in the distinction. His Jewish prejudices had melted away like wreaths of night mist at the rising of the sun. His Christian sympathies now embraced the whole family of man; he was now as catholic as he had formerly been bigoted. Whether among the philosophers of Athens, or the sensualists of Corinth whether among the worshippers of Diana at Ephesus, or the worshippers of Jupiter at Lystra--whether among Jews in their synagogues, or among Gentiles in their market places--Paul preached a free and full gospel, declaring that it was the power of God unto salvation to everyone that believed, and that now God called on all men everywhere to repent. One effect of the Holy Spirit’s teaching was, to enable him to contemplate mankind from a higher point of view, and with a wider range of vision, as all the offspring of one heavenly Father, against whom they had rebelled, and to whom now they might be reconciled. Brethren, let us beware against cherishing in the Christian Church a spirit of Jewish exclusiveness. It is begotten of ignorance and pride, and kept alive by a spurious zeal “not according to knowledge.”
III. How he valued the gospel. He calls it “the unsearchable riches of Christ.” If men believed that the gospel could lead to “unsearchable riches,” how anxious they would be to inquire into it, and to appropriate its benefits! See how St. Paul valued the gospel. He valued it because he had experienced the blessedness of being at peace with God through Christ; he valued it because it gave him a foretaste of heaven here, and the sure prospect of heaven hereafter; he valued it because he had found in it what a sinner ought to prize more than ten thousand worlds--“the unsearchable riches of Christ,” a treasury of wisdom, a bank of merit, a storehouse of rewards, from which the soul may continue to draw throughout eternity, without exhausting, or even diminishing the supply; for in Christ there is infinite “fulness,” in Him “dwelleth all the fulness of the Godhead. (J. Mackay, B. D.)
Paul’s humility and zeal a pattern for Christians
I. Let us observe what he says of himself. “I am less than the least of all saints.” However high religion may rise in the superstructure, it always lays the foundation very low, in the deepest self-abasement. And those of you who have passed through the process, well know that the day of conviction is a day of self-annihilation. I believe, that if there be one word that will comprehend more than another the substance of genuine religion, it will be found to be “humility.” For which reason, we presume, our great reformer, Luther, when he was asked, “What is the first step in religion?” replied, “Humility.” “What is the second?” he replied, “Humility.” “What is the third?” he replied, “Humility.” And does not the language of the Apostle Peter correspond with this, when he says, “Be ye clothed with humility; for God resisteth the proud, but giveth grace to the humble.” Abraham said, “I am but dust and ashes”; Jacob--“I am not worthy of the least of all thy mercies”; Job--“Behold I am vile, what shall I answer thee?” Isaiah--“Woe is me, for I am undone; for I am a man of unclean lips”; Peter--“Depart from me, for I am a sinful man, O Lord”; John, the forerunner of the Saviour--“Whose shoe’s latchet I am not worthy to stoop down and unloose.” A few words, however, will be here necessary, by way of elucidation, or rather qualification.
1. I hope you will not consider this character of Paul, as the offspring of falsehood and affectation. Christians have often been ridiculed for depreciating themselves. The case is this: where show is a substitute for reality it is always excessive. Actors always surpass the original characters. Some people angle for praise with the bait of humility; I hope you will never be caught by it. Adams, in his “Private Thoughts,” with that searchingness of spirit so peculiar to him, says, “O Lord, I want more humility. And why do I want it? To be noticed and admired for it. Ah, my God, I see that my humility is very little better than pride.” Baxter observes that he had always considered Judge Hale defective with regard to experimental religion; “But,” says he, “the cause was, he had witnessed so much pretence and hypocrisy during the Commonwealth, that he rushed into the opposite extreme.” Remember that Paul here speaks from his real views and feelings, when he says, “I am less than the least of all saints?” And you will observe also on what he fixes his eye in this comparative depreciation of himself. “I am less,” says he, “than the least of all saints.” “Saints” means “holy ones”; it is therefore of holiness of which he speaks; not of his condition, not of his natural talents, not of his learning, not of his knowledge, but of holiness. “Let each esteem other better than himself.” The maxim will not apply universally; to use it in some cases would be folly. It would be absurdity, not humility, for a strong and healthy man to esteem a weak, sick one, as more able to do many things than himself; or for a wealthy man to suppose that a poor man is richer than himself; or a scholar to suppose that an illiterate man is wiser than himself. But it is otherwise with regard to holiness: there you never should presume in your own favour; never suppose that another exercises less self-denial or conscientiousness than yourselves. He may have imperfections, but those imperfections may have extenuations which may not attach to your deficiencies. In a word, you only see the actions of another; whereas you may feed upon your own motives and principles.
II. Observe what he says of his office. “Unto me, who am less than the least of all saints, is this grace given, that I should preach.” Augustine calls Paul “the herald of grace.” He well deserves the name; he is always magnifying it; never loses sight of it for a moment. He connects it, you see, with everything. He connects it with his conversion, “The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ was exceeding abundant to me-ward.” He connects it with his conversation in the world, “Not by fleshly wisdom, but by the grace of God we have our conversation in the world.” He connects it with his unparalleled exertions: “I laboured more abundantly than they all; yet not I, but the grace of God which was with me.” He connects it with his functions: “Unto me, who am less than the least; of all saints, is this grace given.” What grace is there here? What do princes when they want ministers, or masters when they want servants? They will be sure to take those who seem the most meritorious, and who already possess the qualities and excellences they require in them. Why? Because if they have them not, they cannot impart them. God can; and therefore, in calling His servants He also qualifies them; and therefore frequently takes the most unsuitable and the most inadequate, in order to show that the excellency of the power is of God, and not of man. When the apostle says, “Unto me, who am less than the least of all saints, is this grace given,” he shows the estimation in which he held the work in which he was engaged. And, my brethren, though the ministry has been degraded and rendered despicable by many who have been attached to it; yet; in itself the work is honourable and glorious; and they who properly discharge it, as the apostle says, ought to be “highly esteemed in love, for their works’ sake.”
III. Let us observe what he says of his audience. “Unto me, who am less than the least of all saints, is this grace given, that I should preach among the Gentiles”; not exclusively, but immediately, extensively, and peculiarly. And there is something remarkable and worthy of notice in this. And here you see in the apostle’s case the nature of the Christian dispensation. You will observe that the Christian dispensation did not properly commence till the death of Christ. Accordingly during His abode on earth He was the Minister of the circumcision only. And when He sent forth the apostles and the seventy, He said, “Go not into the way of the Gentiles, and into any city of the Samaritans enter ye not, but go rather to the lost sheep of the house of Israel.” But upon His resurrection from the dead, when this glorious economy had actually commenced, His language and His commission was conformable to it; then said He to them, “Go into all the world, and teach the gospel to every creature.” There is nothing, therefore, in the Christian dispensation like that of Judaism. Judaism was of Divine origin: but then it was exclusive; it was confined, and it was necessarily confined, to a particular nation. In the nature of the case it never could have become a universal religion. How could all the males in all the countries of the earth have repaired three times a your to Jerusalem, to appear before the Lord and to worship there? Christianity has no localities; our Saviour said to the woman, “The hour cometh, yea, now is, when neither in this mountain, nor yet at Jerusalem (exclusively) shall men worship the Father; but all shall worship Him in spirit and in truth.” The gospel therefore overlooks everything that is external and adventitious in men’s condition, and regards them as men only.
IV. Observe what he says of his subject. “Unto me, who am less than the least of all saints, is this grace given, that I should preach among the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ;” the model after which all ministers should be conformed; all of us should be able to make use of the same language with them. They could say, “We preach not heathen virtues, not Jewish economies, not moral systems, not worldly politics, not Church discipline, not the difference in forms and modes of worship; we have a noble theme. We leave nature to the philosophers; our philosophy is to know ‘God manifest in the flesh.’ We leave the planets to astronomers; our astronomy is to teach people to adore ‘the bright and morning Star,’ to adore ‘the Sun of Righteousness,’ rising with healing under His wings. We leave geometry to the mathematicians; our geometry is to teach people ‘to comprehend with all saints, what is the height, and depth, and length, and breadth, and to know the love of Christ, which passeth knowledge’; our arithmetics to teach men ‘so to number their days, as to apply their hearts unto wisdom.’ We leave criticism and language to the rhetoricians, concerned only to be skilled in the language of Canaan, and to speak according to the living oracles of God. ‘We preach not ourselves, but Christ Jesus the Lord’; ‘We preach Christ crucified, to the Jews a stumbling block, and to the Greeks foolishness; but to them which are called both Jew and Greek, Christ, the power of God and the wisdom of God.’“ The world has its riches, but they are easily comprehended; and Solomon summed them all up when he said, “Vanity of vanities; vanity of vanities, saith the preacher; all is vanity.” All the wealth of the world, all the world calls good and great, is infinitely inferior to mind. I say to mind. The riches of the Saviour are for the soul, and for eternity; they are therefore invisible as to the senses; and they are boundless too, so that no creature in heaven or earth can ever fully explore them. (W. Jay.)
The ministry of the Apostle Paul
I. Let us cursorily glance at the character of St. Paul as here described. “Me, who am less than the least of all saints.”
1. The description which the apostle here gives us of his character must not, on any account, encourage the idea that personal piety can be dispensed with in a Christian minister.
2. The description which St. Paul here gives us of his character may teach us that, even where an individual is a decided and distinguished saint, the level which he occupies as a religious man may be, in some sense, comparatively low. The circumstance which may be regarded as having mainly contributed to lower the apostle’s place in the catalogue of the saints was this, that he spent so large and important a portion of his life in pursuits that were not only alien from the gospel of Christ, but fiercely opposed to His kingdom and His cause. But there is also another principle which determines the comparative place which a particular believer occupies in the scale of Christian saintship, namely, the amount of his actual attainments. And oh, to whatever extent St. Paul may have able to abide this searching test, what a humiliating view might it give, if fairly applied, of a multitude of saints! How many of those who obtain the character, and with sufficient reason, of enlightened and devoted Christians, are, if contemplated in the light of their religious advantages, but faint and feeble after all!
3. The description which St. Paul here gives of himself, as “less than the least of all saints,” may serve as a model of humility.
II. Let us glance at the functions which St. Paul was called to execute. “That I should preach among the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ, and make all men see what is the fellowship of the mystery which from the beginning of the world hath been hid in God.”
1. St. Paul was called to “preach.” The original word here rendered “preach,” means to be the messenger of good tidings. It is a verb corresponding to the substantive translated “gospel.” The apostle, then, was to announce the gospel--a message to which the name of good tidings may be attached, both because of its essential character as a record of God’s pardoning and saving mercy, and because of its relative character as “the power of God unto salvation to everyone that believeth.” O blessed and delightful view of the apostle’s ministry! He had a gospel to declare.
2. St. Paul was called to “preach the unsearchable riches of Christ.” The expression, “riches of Christ,” comprehensively denotes the personal excellence and mediatorial sufficiency of Jesus. There are seven constituent elements more especially in “the unsearchable riches of Christ,” which, in the name and by the authority of God, the apostle preached.
(1) He preached the Divine supremacy of Christ.
(2) St. Paul preached the prophetic excellence of Christ--disclosing the depths of celestial wisdom which, in person, and by his commissioned messengers, that infallible instructor taught, and making manifest that, in teaching thus, the Redeemer spake the words of God.
(3) He preached the perfection of the Lord’s humanity, announcing him for the vindication of the Father’s righteousness, and the satisfaction of the sinner’s soul, as the spotless Lamb of sacrifice.
(4) He preached Christ’s atoning sacrifice. But
(5) it the apostle preached Christ as the Saviour on the cross, he also preached Him as the Saviour on the throne.
(6) From heaven he descended, as it were, along with Him, to earth amidst the thunders of the day of doom. But
(7) the Apostle Paul set forth not only the personal qualifications which Christ possesses, but also the benefits which He has purchased and procured for men.
3. St. Paul was called to preach these riches “among the Gentiles.”
4. The apostle was commissioned “to make all men see what was the fellowship of the mystery which from the beginning of the world had been hid in God.”
III. Let us very briefly notice the source to which St. Paul attributes his possession of the ministerial office. “Unto me is this grace given.”
1. To his God and Saviour the apostle attributes his possession of the ministerial office; and well might he do so. From them he received his commission to preach the gospel (Act_9:15; Act_13:2).
2. The apostle’s words suggest that to hold the office of the ministry is a privilege. (A. S. Patterson.)
The apostle and his ministry
I.consider what an humble opinion the apostle had of himself. True religion in the heart will produce self-abasing thoughts.
II. The apostle expresses his admiring apprehensions of God’s grace in calling him to the ministry.
III. The apostle’s elevated sentiments concerning the gospel which he preached.
1. The blessings of the gospel, being purchased by the blood of Christ, are called “riches.”
2. They have called “riches” on account of their excellency, fulness, and variety.
3. They are called “unsearchable riches,” because undiscoverable by human wisdom, and made known only by revelation.
IV. Consider what grand and enlarged conceptions the apostle entertained of the design and importance of his ministry. Concluding reflections.
1. This subject may serve to enlarge our views of the Divine government.
2. This subject suggests to us, that heaven is a place of improvement.
3. We see the humility of angels. (J. Lathrop, D. D.)
The ministry and message of St. Paul
I. The man. His humility! The bird that sings sweetest, and soars highest, builds upon the ground. The flower of richest fragrance is the lowly violet. So humility is the fairest of Christian graces. Notice St. Paul’s growth in this. He calls himself successively--
1. The least of the apostles (1Co_15:9).
2. Less than the least of all saints (Eph_3:8).
3. The chief of sinners (1Ti_1:15).
II. The ministry he had received. Its excellence in contrast with his own conscious unworthiness. The treasure on the one hand--the earthen vessel on the other,
1. This ministry a grace given to him. All work for Christ should be so regarded. Accepted as a privilege it ceases to be a task.
2. The grace given. St. Paul’s special work as the apostle of the Gentiles. The gathering in of the Jews the difficulty in many minds now; the gathering in of the Gentiles the difficulty then. Duty of the Church as regards missions.
III. The message. Good tidings.
1. Christ: the substance and life of all true preaching.
2. The riches of Christ. Favourite expression of the apostle. Riches of Christ’s grace (Eph_1:7). Riches of Christ’s glory (Eph_3:16).
3. Unsearchable riches. Not traced out (Greek); but now revealed. (F. Dobbin, M. A.)
St. Paul’s lowly estimate of himself
I am sure Paul was never guilty of mock modesty, and never pretended to be humbler than he really was. At suitable times he could vindicate himself, and claim his position among his fellow men. (C. H. Spurgeon.)
Self-knowledge humiliates
Was Paul really less than the least of all saints? Was not this too low an estimate of himself? Brethren, I suppose he meant that he felt this to be the case when he looked at himself from certain aspects. He was one of the late converts, many of his comrades were in Christ before him, and he yielded precedence to the older ones. He had been aforetime a persecutor and injurious, and, though God had forgiven him, he had never forgiven himself; and when he recollected his share in the sufferings and martyrdom of the saints, he felt that, though now numbered among them, he could only dare to sit in the lowliest place. Besides, any devout man, however eminent he may be in most respects, will find that there are certain other points in which he falls short; and the apostle, instead of looking at the points in which he excelled, singled out with modest eye those qualities in which he felt he failed, and in those respects he put himself down as “less than the least of all saints.” This strikes us as being a very different mode of speech from that which is adopted by certain brethren. One friend asserts that he has ceased from known sin for some months; and then another brother, to go a little further, asserts that the very being of sin in him has been destroyed, root and branch; of which I believe in both cases not one single word. If those brethren had said that they were sixteen feet high, that their eyes were solid diamonds, and that their hair was Prussian blue, I should feel towards them very much as I do now. They simply do not know themselves, and the best article of furniture they could have in their houses would be a looking glass which would let them see their own selves; if they had once had such a sight, I warrant you they would sing another tune, pitched to a far lower key. Many who now shine in the highest places of self-estimation, will one day be glad enough to sit at the feet of the poorest of the saints, unless I am greatly mistaken; for everyone that exalteth himself shall be abased. (C. H. Spurgeon.)
The humility of St. Paul
I. In what did the humility of St. Paul consist? How did it manifest itself? The slightest acquaintance with his character leaves us no room to suspect that it consisted in words only. There is such an appearance of simplicity and honesty in his writings, that they give us at once a full conviction that the humility which appears in his language, was to be found also in his heart and life.
1. We cannot take even the most hasty glance at these, without at once noticing the entire submission of his mind to the gospel of Christ, the simple and full reception which he gave to every Divine truth.
2. The writings of St. Paul prove the greatness of his humility by showing us also, that the highest spiritual attainments could not make him forget his meanness and guilt.
3. The sense which the apostle had of his own sinfulness, did not however prevent him from seeing and acknowledging what Divine grace had done for his soul, and what it had enabled him to do for God. He sometimes mentions these things, but he never mentions them without affording us another proof of his lowliness of heart--a marked anxiety to give all the glory of all his labours and attainments to God.
4. His humility was manifested also in the low opinion which he had of himself, when compared with his Christian brethren. He speaks not, in the text, the unmeaning language of compliment, but the language of godly sincerity.
5. The humility of St. Paul consisted, lastly, in his simple dependence on Christ.
II. By what means that spirit of self-abasement which reigned in his heart may be habitually maintained in our own. Now let us never forget that we have no power in ourselves to do anything as of ourselves. We are not able to plant a single grace within us; and when any spiritual seed has been planted there, we have no power to keep it alive, and cause it to bring forth fruit. But though we are thus impotent in ourselves, the Holy Spirit generally works His purposes of grace by the use of means, and through these means He allows, yea, He commands, us to seek His grace.
1. One of these means must immediately occur to us; it is this--a frequent remembrance of our former iniquities, and an abiding sense of our present corruptions. Remember, Christian brethren, what you once were.
2. If we would habitually maintain an humble frame of mind, we must have a lively sense of the freeness and fulness of Divine mercy. Think of its beginning in the councils of eternity. Think of its freeness, its greatness, its unchangeableness. Think of that depth of misery from which it has raised you, and of that height of blessedness to which it is gradually lifting you. If such thoughts as these never humble you, write bitter things against yourselves, and deem yourselves strangers to the grace of Christ.
3. The Christian will also find his humility increased by frequently meditating on the infinite purity and majesty of the living God (see Isa_6:5; Job_42:6; Job_42:6).
4. A due sense of the great importance of an humble spirit will also have a tendency to keep us low in our own eyes. The grace of humility is not a merely ornamental grace, a something which it is desirable, but not absolutely necessary, to possess. It lies at the very root of all true religion. It is the source from which almost every spiritual grace must spring. Where this is wanting, everything is wanting.
5. If we would become more lowly in heart, we must, finally, look more to Christ than we have hitherto looked to Him. We must look to Him for humility. “We must regard Him as our only Sanctifier, as well as our only Saviour. We must apply to Him to subdue the pride of our hearts, as well as to blot out their sins. (C. Bradley, M. A.)
The subject and spirit of the Christian ministry
This passage is an humble, grateful, and exulting recognition of the sovereign, distinguishing grace of God, which had called, commissioned, and qualified him for the ministry of the gospel, for the defence of which he was now set, and on account of which he was then in bonds; and it presents a statement of the wondrous theme, the grand design, and the appropriate character of the Christian ministry.
I. The distinguishing and comprehensive theme of the Christian ministry--“the unsearchable riches of Christ.” The phraseology is singularly expressive and affluent. The sentiment is in perfect accord with every avowal of the apostle, and with other statements of the Word of God. The Lord Jesus Christ in His person and work--His attributes and offices--His sufferings and glory--His cross and crown--what He is in Himself and what He is to us, and to the whole universe of God, is the one all-absorbing and exhaustless topic of Divine revelation and apostolic discourse. The expression “riches of Christ” is a peculiar Pauline phrase, indicating the most exuberant and exhaustless profusion. It denotes whatever is grand and abundant, substantial and permanent, admirable and desirable; and may be applied either to the personal glories pertaining to Christ, or to official blessings bestowed by Him. All spiritual riches are His, and ours only in Him. They flow from Him as their source, and through Him as their channel. Purchased by His blood, obtained by His intercession, supplied by His Spirit, they become ours only as we are united to Him by a living faith.
II. The high character and humble spirit of the Christian ministry. In view of the momentous mysterious truths, the grand comprehensive design, and the wonderful inconceivable results of the gospel of Christ, we are constrained to ask who is worthy to open the book and break the seal of such a Divine mystery. Not one of the shining seraphs before the throne would dare self-impelled to say, “Let me fly”; yet it has pleased the God of all wisdom and grace to entrust the Divine mission to human agency, to put the treasure into earthen vessels. It is through the sanctified agency of human sympathy, and the earnestness of human conviction, “testifying of the gospel of the grace of God,” and proclaiming in simplicity and sincerity “the unsearchable riches of Christ,” that the world is to be enlightened and saved. The Christian minister must be saved and sent.
1. Saved. The first and indispensable qualification of a minister of the gospel is, that he be personally a subject of its saving power, a saint, though in his own estimation one of the least.
2. Sent--grace given; made a minister. The manner of the apostle’s call was as strikingly supernatural as his work was distinctively peculiar; and no minister can expect such a personal commission, or such a Divine revelation. Yet to all, as to him, the commission and necessity to preach comes from the Lord--the authority and ability are both imparted. The man who feels he has a message from God to deliver, full of meaning as it is full of power, is fearless as a prophet, and brave as an apostle. He has comfort in his work, is confident of its success, and assured of its triumph. (W. Ormiston, D. D.)
Humility of greatness
On his way to Sweden the celebrated Grotius was overtaken by mortal sickness; and when the clergyman, Quinstorp, reminded him of his sins on the one hand, and on the other, not of his services and worldwide reputation, but the grace of God in Christ Jesus, with a reference to the publican--“I am that publican,” replied Grotius, and then expired. Hooker, the author of the “Ecclesiastical Polity,” one of the noblest books in the language, after he had been made preacher at the Temple Church, besought Archbishop Whitgift, who had given him that position, to remove him to a lowlier sphere of labour.
Great saints are lowly
When Mr. Morrison, the Missionary to China, needed an assistant, Mr. Milne, afterwards the celebrated Dr. Milne, offered himself. As soon as the examiners had talked with him, they saw that his heart was right enough, but he had a clownish look, and a dullness of expression; when the youth was gone out of the room, one of the examiners said, “He is scarcely a proper person to send, we need a man of greater intellect.” At last they agreed that they had better send him as a servant, the servant of the mission, to do the work of the household, clean Dr. Morrison’s boots, and such like things, I suppose. So Dr. Phillip was requested to communicate this to him, and he told him that the committee did not feel he was qualified to go as a missionary, would he mind going as a servant? The youth’s eye sparkled, and he said, “It is too much honour for me even if I am but a hewer of wood and a drawer of water for the Lord my God.” And thus he went forth, and afterwards, as you know, became one of the most useful of missionaries. How many a man would have said, “Gentle, men, I did not come for that; this is treating me with a want of respect. Surely you do not know who I am, or else you would not suppose for a moment that I would be willing to be a mere drudge and menial servant!” They know not the Lord who only desire His service for the honour which it brings; but they have their hearts right before Him who want no honour for themselves, but only desire that His name may be extolled above the hills, that He may be made famous. (C. H. Spurgeon.)
The missionary calling
Few men are so great as St. Paul. Few know even the names of other men of his time. Emperors and great men, their kingdoms and languages, are all perished. But his name and his power is as fresh as ever. The science of today lowers all human power, but raises the intellect and the spirit. It raises the kings of the spirit rather than the body, and amongst these St. Paul. The more a man can grasp, the more important becomes his fate. Not the body, so small. Not the earthly life, so short. But the being which can see further than the eye, and look on, and back, and before, and beyond even the earth itself. Wisdom for this life is a goad thing, and well rewarded. Wisdom that sees through nature is a great thing, and we are proud of those who have it. There is a wisdom beyond either. Of what use is it to grow rich and die? to know all things, and be the victim of remorse, or of evil passions that will not let the soul rest? Our perfections are the reflections of God’s perfections. He is Almighty and Omniscient, and the strong and knowing are good. He is all Good and all Merciful, and the reflection of these attributes is better than knowledge or strength. He is a benefactor to mankind who makes grass grow where it never grew before. He was, who made the first almanac. But he is much more so who first declared “the unsearchable riches” of God.
I. The highest calling is that of a missionary. St. Paul is the great pattern missionary, and, therefore, the greatest figure in history. It is necessary thus to raise our thoughts, in order to think rightly of missionary work. I do not ask your charity to give a trifle to a poor missionary or to a poor heathen. But I ask you to consider what is the greatest and noblest work in the world, and in charity to yourselves to take a part in it. It was the greatest glory of St. Paul that he was called to take a part in it. He did not condescend to it, but it to him. We know how hopelessly it tangles a work to begin at the wrong end. So it is, if we look upon missions as what we benefit, and not as what benefit us.
II. Duties come to us in many shapes and with many sanctions.
1. This comes to us as a “grace.” St. Paul accepted the duty as a grace, a gift, and using it as such is great. So accepting our duties we turn them to our profit.
2. And this grace comes to us as Christians. Christ has given Himself to us, that we should share His character and His work.
3. It comes to us peculiarly as Englishmen. The nation whose rule is so wide, that other nations come to evangelize our possessions, and reap a part of our reward. The question before us is, how is the highest work of man to be done? It is God’s work, and in His own time will be done. But, by us? or, by whom?
III. Here are both honour and profit that are our own.
1. The honour to work God’s own work, who is the true fountain of honour.
2. The profit, which transcends the profit that fills men’s minds, as heaven does earth, and eternity does a man’s life. What is there more noble than to give one’s whole power and life to pure benevolence? And what reward greater than the eternal company of those who owe these blessings to us? To us all is this grace given. Take your part--if you cannot in body, at least in heart; if not your life, at least offer of your gains for this greatest and holiest of callings. (Bishop E. Steere.)
The grace given to Paul
Theenthusiasm with which the apostle speaks of preaching the gospel to the heathen is contagious. His words burn on the page, and our hearts take fire as we read them. What was the secret of this exultation in the gospel and in his commission to make the gospel known to all mankind?
1. Paul had a vivid intellectual interest in the Christian gospel. To him it was a real revelation of the most wonderful and surprising truths concerning God and the relations of God to the human race. It urged his intellectual posers to their most strenuous activity. It never lost its freshness. It was never exhausted. Its boundaries were always advancing. In all the great movements of religious reform that have permanently elevated the religious life of Christendom, there has been a renewal of intellectual interest in the Christian revelation. Some forgotten aspects of the gospel have been recovered; the theological definitions which had for a generation or two been a sufficient expression of the results at which human speculation had arrived concerning the great facts of revelation have been challenged and discredited, and the mind of the Church has been brought into immediate contact with the facts themselves; the methods which had determined the construction of theological systems have become obsolete, and the work of reconstruction has tasked the genius and the learning of the leaders of Christian thought; the central principles of the gospel have received new applications to individual conduct and to the organization of social life; in all these ways a fresh and keen intellectual interest has been excited in Christian truth, and the intellectual interest has deepened moral and spiritual earnestness.
2. The heart and imagination of Paul were filled with the infinite and eternal blessings which were the inheritance of the human race in Christ. For human sin there was the Divine forgiveness. For human weakness in its baffled attempts to emancipate itself from the tyranny of evil habits and evil passions there was Divine redemption. For human uncertainty and doubt in the presence of the great problems of life and death there was the illumination of the Spirit and free access to God. For restless discontent at the limitations of human virtue there was the possibility of a transcendent righteousness through union with the life of the eternal Son of God. Paul believed in “the unsearchable riches of Christ.” We shall never recover his enthusiasm as long as we dwell chiefly on the external and incidental benefits which follow the acceptance of the Christian gospel. As a Christian minister at home I decline to have the value of my work estimated by the extent to which it lightens the work of the police, and diminishes the cost to the ratepayers and the nation of maintaining workhouses and jails. As an advocate of Christian missions to the heathen, I decline to have the value of missionary faith and heroism measured by the annual value of the new markets in Africa and the Pacific for English hardware and cotton goods. Give to every cluster of miserable huts in Central Africa and in the islands of the South Pacific, the material wealth and splendour of the foremost cities of Europe; transform their savage chiefs into cultivated statesmen; let their people be trained to discuss the philosophy of Plato and to admire the majesty of the genius of AEschylus; let them become famous for their brilliant discoveries in science, let them create a literature with an original grace, beauty, and dignity; and all this would be as nothing compared with what you have done for them, in bringing them home to God, in assuring them of the tenderness and strength of the love of the Father whom they had forgotten, in opening to them the fountains of eternal life and eternal righteousness, in making them the heirs of eternal glory. This was Paul’s faith, and this faith was, in fact, the source of his invincible energy and his passionate enthusiasm. (R. W. Dale, LL. D.)
Ministerial humility and zeal
How the apostle could say he was the least of all saints. Because for Christ a servant of all saints; also because of his base intreaty from men. Moreover, he saw more clearly his own corruption than that of others; and the true speech follows the true apprehension. Boughs most ]laden with fruit bow more than the empty.
1. The most excellent men must think submissively of themselves.
2. A great favour of God to be called to the ministry.
3. To abase ourselves is the way to extol God’s grace.
4. Ministers of the gospel bring good tidings to men.
(1) They are swinish who neglect the gospel.
(2) We must depend on the gospel.
5. Ministers must principally preach Christ Jesus.
6. None are able to come to the full knowledge of Christ. “Unsearchable riches.” The veins of this mine are never worked out. (Paul Bayne.)
Humility of a minister
Doctor Durham, of the Scottish Presbyterians, and a popular young minister, were walking together to their several places of worship, situated near to each other, into one of which multitudes crowded, while but few entered the other. “Brother,” said the Doctor to his young friend, “You will have a crowded church today.” The other replied, “They are to blame who leave you and come to us.” “Not so,” replied the Doctor, “for a minister can receive no such honour and success in his ministry, except it be given him from heaven. I rejoice that Christ is preached, and that His kingdom is gaining ground, though my estimation in people’s hearts should decrease; for I am content to be anything, so that Christ may be all in all.”
The unsearchable riches of Christ.
The unsearchable riches of Christ
The Apostle Paul felt it to be a great privilege to be allowed to preach the gospel. He did not look upon his calling as a drudgery, or a servitude, but he entered upon it with intense delight. If a herald were sent to a besieged city with the tidings that no terms of capitulation would be offered, but that every rebel without exception should be put to death, methinks he would go with lingering footsteps; but if instead thereof, he were commissioned to go to the gates with the white flag to proclaim a free pardon, a general act of amnesty and oblivion, surely he would run as though he had wings to his heels, with a joyful alacrity, to tell to his fellow citizens the good pleasure of their merciful king. Heralds of salvation, ye carry the most joyful of all messages to the sons of men.
I. The person mentioned--Jesus Christ. Do not many preachers make a great mistake by preaching doctrine instead of preaching the Saviour? Certainly the doctrines are to be preached, but they ought to be looked upon as the robes and vestments of the man Christ Jesus, and not as complete in themselves. The doctrines of the gospel are a golden throne upon which Jesus sits, as king. In the old romance, they tell us that at the gate of a certain noble hall there hung a horn, and none could blow that horn but the true heir to the castle and its wide domains. Many tried it. They could make sweet music on other instruments; they could wake the echoes by other bugles; but that horn was mute, let them blow as they might. At last, the true heir came, and when he set his lips to the horn, shrill was the sound and indisputable his claim. He who can preach Christ is the true minister. Brethren, the Christian minister should be like these golden spring flowers which we are so glad to see. Have you observed them when the sun is shining? How they open their golden cups, and each one whispers to the great sun, “Fill me with thy beams!” but when the sun is hidden behind a cloud, where are they? They close their cups and droop their heads. So should the Christian feel the sweet influences of Jesus; so especially should the Christian minister be subject to his Lord. Jesus must be his sun, and he must be the flower which yields itself to the Sun of Righteousness. Happy would it be for us if our hearts and our lips could become like Anacreon’s harp, which was wedded to one subject, and would learn no ether. He wished to sing of the sons of Atreus, and the mighty deeds of Hercules, but his harp resounded love alone; and when he would have sung of Cadmus, his harp refused it would sing of love alone. Oh! to speak of Christ alone--to be tied and bound to this one theme forever; to speak alone of Jesus, and of the amazing love of the glorious Son of God, who, “though He was rich, yet for our sakes became poor.” This is the subject which is both “seed for the sower, and bread for the eater.” This is the live coal for the lip of the preacher, and the master key to the heart of the hearer.
II. The unsearchable riches spoken of in the text. In what respects may we ascribe to our Lord Jesus the possession of unsearchable riches?
1. He has unsearchable riches of love for sinners as they are. Jesus so loved the souls of men that we can only use the “so,” but we cannot find the word to match with it. In the French Revolution, there was a young man condemned to the guillotine, and shut up in one of the prisons. He was greatly loved by many, but there was one who loved him more than all put together. How know we this? It was his own father; and the love he bore his son was proved in this way: when the lists were called, the father, whose name was exactly the same as his son’s, answered to the name, and the father rode in the gloomy tumbril out to the place of execution, and his head rolled beneath the axe instead of his son’s, a victim to mighty love. An image of the love of Christ to sinners; thus Jesus died for the ungodly, viewed as such.
2. Jesus has riches of pardon for those who repent of their sins. No guiltiness can possibly transcend the efficacy of His precious blood. The gospel of Christ is meant for the lowest of the low. There is no den where the Saviour cannot work; there is no loathsome haunt of sin too foul for Him to cleanse. The heathen fabled of their Hercules that he cleansed the Augean stables by turning a river through them, and so washing away the filth of ages; if your heart be such a stable, Christ is greater than the mightiest Hercules--He can cause the river of His cleansing blood to flow right through your heart, and your iniquities, though they are a heap of abominations, shall be put away forever. Riches of love to sinners as such, and riches of pardon to sinners who repent, are stored up in the Lord Jesus.
3. Christ has riches of comfort for all who mourn.
4. He has riches of wisdom. The desire to know has sent men roving over all the world, but he who finds Jesus may stay at home and be wise. If you sit at His feet, you shall know what Plato could not teach you, and what Socrates never learned. When the old schoolmen could not answer and defend a proposition, they were wont to say, “I will go to Aristotle: he shall help me out.” If you do but learn of Christ, He shall help you out of all difficulties; and that which is most useful for your soul to know, the knowledge, which will last you in eternity, Christ shall teach to you.
5. My Master has riches of happiness to bestow upon you. After all, he is the rich man who wears heart’s ease in his button hole. The man who can say, “I have enough,” is richer than the peer of the realm who is discontented. Believe me, my Lord can make you to lie down in green pastures, and lead you beside still waters. There is no music like the music of His pipe, when He is the Shepherd and you are the sheep, and: you lie down at His feet. There is no love like His, neither earth nor heaven can match it.
6. The unsearchable riches of Christ will be best known in eternity.
III. Lastly, there must have been a royal intention in the heart of Christ in sending out Paul to preach of His unsearchable riches, because every man must have a motive for what he does, and beyond all question, Jesus Christ has a motive. Did you ever hear of a man who employed a number of persons to go about to proclaim his riches, and call hundreds of people together, and thousands, as on this occasion, simply to tell them that So-and-so was very rich? Why, the crowds would say, “What is that to us?” But if at the conclusion, the messenger could say, “But all these riches he presents to you, and whoever among you shall desire to be made rich, can be enriched now by him.” Ah! then you would say, “Now we see the sense of it. Now we perceive the gracious drift of it all.” Now, my Lord Jesus Christ is very strong, but all that strength is pledged to help a poor weak sinner to enter into heaven.
1. How rich must those be who have Christ for a friend! They who get Christ to be their own property are like the man who, having long eaten of fruit from a certain tree, was no longer satisfied with having the fruit, but he must needs take up the tree and plant it in his own garden. Happy those who have Christ planted as the tree of life in the soil of their hearts! You not only have His grace, and His love, and His merit, but you have Himself.
2. How transcendently foolish, on the other hand, must those be who will not have Christ when He is to be had for the asking! who prefer the baubles and the bubbles of this world, and let the solid gold of eternity go by!(C. H. Spurgeon.)
The true riches
I. One of the gifts which Christ bestows upon us out of the unsearchable riches of His grace and love, is the forgiveness of our sins.
II. Another gift which Christ bestows, is the gift of the Holy Spirit. “To be spiritually minded is life and peace.” “To be spiritually minded” means to have our thoughts and affections, our hearts and minds, changed by the Holy Spirit of God. Rich, then, is he with the truest riches, in whose heart God’s Holy Spirit dwells and is not driven away.
III. Nor are these all the gifts out of Christ’s unsearchable riches. He promises to His people enough to carry them through this world, where they are but strangers and travellers; and He plainly tells us, that if we seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, other things, as far as is good for us, shall be added.
IV. But Christ keeps his richest gifts to the last. It is after death that He bestows on them that love Him the full cup of salvation, the everlasting blessedness of heaven (1Jn_3:2). (E. Blencowe, M. A.)
The unsearchable riches of Christ
I. Paul preached “riches.” This word represents three things--value, abundance, and supply. Let us look briefly at these three things.
1. He exhibited to the Gentiles that which is truly and supremely valuable--valuable to a man’s whole nature--valuable for the life which now is, and for that which is to come--that which God by everything that He has said concerning it, and by all that He has done concerning it, recognizes as supremely valuable.
2. He preached also abundance--not something valuable, but much--not competency, but wealth--as much as a man needs--more than we could ask or think--such abundance as that it does not diminish with scattering--such abundance as that it does not perish with using--water, it is true, but not water in cisterns which may become leaky, or a short supply which will soon be exhausted; but water in fountains, even living water, everlasting water, outflowing water.
3. Now you may have value without abundance; you may have abundance without value; you may have value and abundance without supply: but here, brethren, is value, abundance, and supply. The value, the precious thing existing in abundance, is abundantly supplied. Paul preached therefore not only that which he knew to be supremely valuable and fully abundant, but that which was as freely given--subjective riches--that which is wealth to the man who hath it. I do not know much about earthly wealth, and I dare say some of you, when you hear me talking about it, say that I know very little about it; and therefore should perhaps scarcely speak of wealth, but so far as I can understand this matter, there does not seem to be such a thing as subjective riches to the men who are trying to get rich in this world’s goods. Let me just explain myself. A man is starting in business, and he says to himself, Well, I will try to make, if I can, £20,000 or £30,000, and when I have this in store I shall never need or wish to add to it a farthing. He aims after this £30,000, and he gets it; but when he has it does he feel rich? No such thing. In order to feel rich he must have £30,000 more; and he starts again for that goal. Now his aim is £60,000. He gets £60,000; but does he now feel rich? No, there is somebody else who has £120,000; and he starts for the third goal; and he reaches it. And now there is somebody else--some fellow merchant, or some neighbour--who has twice £120,000; and you find the man again striving after that twice £120,000. So that, as far as I understand it (and I admit that I know very little about it), rich men do not feel rich--they never have enough. You who have only your daily bread put upon your table think men rich when they have in store some ten thousands of pounds, and very rich if some hundreds of thousands of pounds; but the possessors do not feel rich. How often do we find them, even with these large resources, complaining of poverty; and how often do these rich men live in far more dread of dying in the workhouse than those of us have who receive from heaven day by day our daily bread! You see, therefore, that earthly riches are not in every case subjective wealth; for a man may have a very large amount of treasure upon earth, and yet not feel to be a rich man. But now, brethren, look at this. The man who has “the unsearchable riches of Christ” feels to be enriched by those unsearchable riches.
II. Unsearchable riches;that is, value not traced by inquiry and investigation. Who can set a price upon truth? Who can tell what a right idea about anything is worth? The thing is too good to have a price set upon it. You cannot tell what one right thought may be to you, or what one right thought might do for you. Now look at the thoughts that cluster around this word “riches” as representing value, abundance, and supply. Unsearchable riches--value not fixed, not traced out by investigation--abundance inexplorable by want and by desire--supply inexhaustible by enjoyment and by use--“the unsearchable riches of Christ;” that is, inconceivable value in Christ Himself. He is of inconceivable value as the manifestation of God. Then look at abundance in gifts which Christ has ready for men--pardon, acquittal, restoration to the position of children, regeneration, and the entire purification and spiritual elevation of our nature, the lost Paradise restored and regained--all these things in His hand, mark, ready, so that we have only to ask and to have. Marvellous is all this, but it is true. Then, mark also, Christ’s freedom of bestowal. Everyone that asketh receiveth. Everyone. There is not an exception. I know that men try to make exceptions; and I do not wonder at it. We are such niggardly, selfish, hard-hearted, close-fisted, stingy creatures ourselves, and so unwilling to make sacrifices, that we cannot believe that Christ gives so freely. A man’s faith is very much influenced by his own disposition. You see this continually. And our dispositions make us unbelievers in God’s loving words. (S. Martin, D. D.)
The unsearchable riches of Christ
1. Here, then, in the very outset, is unsearchable mercy; the immensity of the Divine Redeemer’s condescension and love! Who can search, who can understand it? “It is higher than heaven, what canst thou know” of it? Admire thou mayest, and adore and love; but it is beyond the stretch of thy created powers to conceive, beyond the capacity of any creature.
2. We may consider, in the next place, the preciousness, the value, the efficacy of the incarnation and sufferings of our Redeemer. All the attributes of the Godhead are perfect and infinite; His holiness and justice, as well as His mercy.
3. Intimately connected with this consideration is the recollection of God’s exceeding love towards us, in that “while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.” Every believing soul must be overpowered by the contemplation of such a mystery of Divine goodness; must be lost in wonder, love, and praise.
4. Nor can we learn the manner or degree in which our merciful Lord is at this moment bestowing blessings upon His Church, and upon every individual believer.
5. And what are the privileges of Christ’s redeemed people? What their present state, what their glorious inheritance? How unsearchable both the one and the other?(J. Slade, M. A.)
Unsearchable riches
I. What St. Paul says of himself. Humility is one leading mark of all the most eminent saints of God in every age. The more real grace men have in their hearts, the deeper is their sense of sin. The more light the Holy Ghost pours into their souls, the more do they discern their own infirmities, defilements, and darkness. The dead soul feels and sees nothing; with life comes clear vision, a tender conscience, and spiritual sensibility. Depend on it, the nearer men draw to heaven, the more humble do they become. In the hour of death, with one foot in the grave, with something of the light of heaven shining down upon them, hundreds of great saints and Church dignitaries--such men as Selden, Bishop Butler, Archbishop Longley--have left on record their confession, that never till that hour did they see their sins so clearly, and feel so deeply their debt to mercy and grace. Heaven alone, I suppose, will fully teach us how humble we ought to be. Then only, when we stand within the veil, and look back on all the way of life by which we were led, then only shall we completely understand the need and beauty of humility.
II. What St. Paul says of his ministerial office. The meaning of the sentence is plain: “To me is granted the privilege of being a messenger of good news. I have been commissioned to be a herald of glad tidings.” Of course we cannot doubt that St. Paul’s conception of the minister’s office included the administration of the sacraments, and the doing all other things needful for the edifying of the body of Christ.
1. The ministerial office is a ministerial institution.
2. A most wise and useful provision of God.
3. An honourable privilege.
It is an honour to bear the tidings of a victory such as Trafalgar and Waterloo: before the invention of telegraphs it was a highly coveted distinction. But how much greater honour is it to be the ambassador of the King of kings, and to proclaim the good news of the conquest achieved on Calvary!
III. What St. Paul says of the great subject of his preaching. That the converted man of Tarsus should preach “Christ,” is no more than we might expect from his antecedents. Having found peace through the blood of the Cross himself, we may be sure he would always tell the story of the Cross to others. That he should preach Christ among “the Gentiles,” again, is in keeping with all we know of his line of action in all places and among all people. Varying his mode of address according to his audience, as he wisely did, the pith and heart of his preaching was Christ crucified. But in the text before us, you will observe, he uses a peculiar expression, an expression which unquestionably stands alone in his writings, “the unsearchable riches of Christ.” It is the strong burning language of one who always remembered his debt to Christ’s mercy and grace, and loved to show how intensely he felt it by his words.
1. There are unsearchable riches in Christ’s person. That miraculous union of perfect man and perfect God in our Lord Jesus Christ is a great mystery, no doubt, which we have no line to fathom. It is a high thing; and we cannot attain to it. But, mysterious as that union may be, it is a mine of comfort and consolation to all who can rightly regard it. Infinite power and infinite sympathy are met together and combined in our Saviour.
2. There are unsearchable riches in the work which Christ accomplished for us, when He lived on earth, died, and rose again.
3. There are unsearchable riches in the offices which Christ at this moment fills, as He lives for us at the right hand of God. He is at once our Mediator, our Advocate, our Priest, our Intercessor, our Shepherd, our Bishop, our Physician, our Captain, our King, our Master, our Head, our Forerunner, our Elder Brother, the Bridegroom of our souls.
4. There are unsearchable riches in the names and titles which are applied to Christ in the Scriptures. Their number is very great, every careful Bible reader knows, and I cannot of course pretend to do more than select a few of them. Think for a moment of such titles as the Lamb of God, the Bread of Life, the Fountain of Living Waters, the Light of the World, the Door, the Way, the Vine, the Rock, the Cornerstone, the Christian’s Robe, the Christian’s Altar. Think of all these names, I say, and consider how much they contain.
5. There are unsearchable riches in the characteristic qualities, attributes, dispositions, and intentions of Christ’s mind towards man, as we find them revealed in the New Testament. In Him there are riches of mercy, love, and compassion for sinners; riches of power to cleanse, pardon, forgive, and to save to the uttermost; riches of willingness to receive all who come to Him repenting and believing; riches of ability to change by His Spirit the hardest hearts and worst characters; riches of tender patience to bear with the weakest believer; riches of strength to help His people to the end, notwithstanding every foe without and within; riches of sympathy for all who are cast down and bring their troubles to Him; and last, but not least, riches of glory to reward, when He comes again to raise the dead and gather His people to be with Him in His kingdom. Who can estimate these riches? The children of this world may regard them with indifference, or turn away from them with disdain; but those who feel the value of their souls know better. They will say with one voice, “There are no riches like those which are laid up in Christ for His people.” For, best o
