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These words are a pathetical exhortation to a most important duty.
In which observe, 1. The duty itself directed and exhorted to; and that is, unity and unanimity amongst Christians: this is three-fold, the unity of the head, of the heart, and of the tongue: the unity of the head, and that is an unity in judgment and opinion; the unity of the heart, is an unity in love and affection; and the unity of the tongue, in an unity in language and expression, when we speak all the same things, and with one mouth, as well as with one mind, glorify God.
Observe, 2. The powerful arguments here enforcing this duty: the first is an apostolical observation, I beseech you; he that had authority to command, has the meekness to entreat, and in a supplicatory way to beseech.
The second is, the nearness of the relation, I beseech you brethren; an endearing expression, and full of affection: they were brethren by place and nation, and brethren by faith and profession, owning the same God, professing the same religion, animated by the same Spirit, encouraged by the same promises, partakers of the same hope, and heirs of the same glory.
The third argument is, the name he beseeches in, and that is Christ's: I beseech you by the name of our Lord Jesus Christ; that is, "I adjure you for his sake, and his authority, by all that he had done, suffered, and purchased for you. If you have any reverence for his authority as a sovereign, if you have any regard for his undertaking as a Saviour, look that there by no divisions amongst you, but that ye be perfectly joined together in the same mind, and in the same judgment."
Observe, 3. That so exceedingly was the apostle's heart set upon this duty, that in both his epistles to the Corinthians he presses them very earnestly to the love and practice of it; here, in his first epistle and first chapter; and in his second epistle and last chapter: Be of one mind, live in peace, &c.
From whence note, That the apostle makes this exhortation to unity among Christians the alpha of his first epistle, and the omega of his last; 'tis the first duty which he commends to their consideration in the former epistle, and the last which he recommends to their care and practice in the latter epistle; intimating thereby unto us, that this unity in judgment and affection is the first and last thing to be respected among Christians, as being both the beginning and perfection of Christianity.