William Burkitt Notes and Observations - 1 Corinthians 2:4 - 2:4

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William Burkitt Notes and Observations - 1 Corinthians 2:4 - 2:4


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Here our apostle goes on, declaring after what manner he did, and did not, preach the gospel of Christ to the Corinthians.

Note, 1. How he did not preach unto them: he tells us, that his preaching was not with enticing words of man's wisdom; that is, his preaching was not garnished with human eloquence, did not consist in rhetorical tropes, was not accompanied with the witty insinuations of artificial learning, which pleases the ear, but affects not the heart: therefore the apostles did not, like rhetoricians and orators, polish their discourses with an affected curiosity and exactness of language: but although they came in plainness, yet not in rudeness of speech; our apostle's preaching at Corinth was great and serious, pious and ardent, plain and profitable. With what brevity, without darkness; with what gravity, without affectation; with what natural eloquence, without meretricious ornament, were St. Paul's discourses! A minister's words ought not to be instantia, but inflammantia; not high-swelling, but heart-in-flaming words.

Note, 2. How the apostle did preach unto the Corinthians; namely, in the demonstration of the Spirit, and of power; that is, the doctrine he preached was accompanied with, and confirmed by, the miraculous gifts of the Holy Ghost, to convince them that Jesus was risen from the dead, and was made Lord of all, whom therefore they ought to believe and obey; he did not go about to bewitch men with eloquence, nor to entangle their minds by subtle reasonings, but he offered to men a sensible proof and demonstration of the truth of what he delivered, in those strange and miraculous operations to which he was enabled by the Holy Ghost.

This demonstration of the Spirit accompanying the preaching of the word, we are not now to expect; but the ministry of the word is still attended with a divine power of the Spirit, enlightening the understanding, and persuading the conscience; which may be called a demonstration of the Spirit, because the evidence of truth is no longer disputed or contradicted, but the ministry of the word is still attended with a divine power of the Spirit, enlightening the understanding, and persuading the conscience; which may be called a demonstration of the Spirit, because the evidence of truth is no longer desputed or contradicted, but the understanding assents to the word as true, and the will embraces it as good.

Note, 3. The reason assigned by the apostle why he preached the gospel in and after this plain and in artificial manner, namely, That their faith should not stand in the wisdom of men, but in the power of God; that is, that your faith or belief of the gospel should not seem to be obtained by human wisdom and eloquence, but be ascribed to a divine power, influencing such weak means as my plain preaching was amongst you; it is the praise of omnipotency to work by improbabilities: God delights to do great things by weak and unlikely means, knowing that the weakness of the instrument redounds to the greater honour of himself, the principal agent.

Human faith is an assent to any thing credible, as credible upon the infallible testimony of God, and is grounded on, and resolved into, the evidence of divine revelation. Upon this foot stood the Corinthians' faith, not in the wisdom of men, but in the power of God.