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God’s Wisdom in the Cross has become our
Wisdom (1 Cor 1-4) (Part II)
3:1 – (Grk. hos, “as”)—I would like to deal with you Corinthians as spiritual people, but I cannot says Paul. I have to deal with you as fleshly, as babes. Paul states this even though they were in Christ! Our message: there is one cross and one wisdom of God, but there are different reactions to God’s message. We have one message; Christ and Him crucified. Our whole lives are to be built upon this one message. The response to God’s wisdom in the cross will vary—even within churches— the Corinthian believers are proof of this varied response.
A Scripture-based, cross-centered ministry is what is called for; if the brethren do not accept this one expression of love—God’s will for them in the Word of His grace from the heart, then they must be dealt with in another expression of love—discipline by the church and/or by God.
3:3-6 --The Corinthian error is what happens when believers imbibe the world’s wisdom and make it the basis for values, relations, identity, church polity, programs, decisions, measurement of ministry effectiveness, etc. The result is strife and jealousy (3:3).
3:6-7 – When you are planting and watering you often can’t see anything happening, but God is behind the scenes causing, giving the yet to be seen increase. The focus is to be on God; not to be on man; not upon dynamic leaders, “So neither the one who plants nor the one who waters is anything, but God was causing the growth” (v. 7).
3:9 – The emphasis is altogether on God (Grk. emphatic genitive, “of God”). “We are fellow workers of God.” In the possessive sense it is God’s church—it belongs to Him. He holds all of the individuals; He owns them all. We hold them lightly. All individuals: kids, friends, family, relations —they all belong to God. Bonhoeffer makes a fascinating comment about the fact that our relationships with one another are to be mediated by Christ:
Human love is directed to the other person for his own sake, spiritual love loves him for Christ’s sake. Human love seeks direct contact with the other person; it loves him not as a free person but as one whom it binds to itself. It wants to gain, to capture by every means; it uses force. It desires to be irresistible, to rule. Human love has little regard for truth. It makes the truth relative, since nothing, not even the truth, must come between it and the beloved person. Spiritual love comes from Jesus Christ; it serves Him alone; it knows that it has no immediate access to other persons. Jesus Christ stands between the lover and others he loves. (Dietrich Bonhoeffer, Life Together, pp. 33-37).
What is our responsibility in the Body? We are to find our place of giftedness—and then be fulfilled in that place of giftedness. Our delight (for Christ’s sake) is to see God’s people in the place of their God-intended giftedness. This is the whole of Paul’s theme in 1 Corinthians chapter 12.
“Be careful how you build” is Paul’s command in 1 Corinthians 3:10-15. The evaluation of our work is based upon how it is built, and with what materials. The issue is what lasts and what doesn’t. The FOUNDATION for our building is God’s wisdom in the cross; Christ and Him crucified. Christ and His cross is the cornerstone which sets the pattern for the rest of the building.
Christ and Him crucified is the foundation plan which dictates the nature, shape, and content of the structure. It shapes and dictates the quality and kind of work. Paul laid the foundation of Christ for all that the church does. This is ought to be our non-negotiable ecclesiology (our doctrine of the church). Without it we will be stuck in religious forms that cannot fulfill the biblical function of the church (J. P. Moreland, Love your God with all your Mind, Navpress, Colorado Springs, CO, pp. 191-192).
Be careful how you build! To most professing Christians, the church is not a holy entity, it is a Christianized YMCA, not a holy of holies. They think they can do whatever they want to churches. To so many people, the church is a Christianized social group or country club. (It can be frustrating to preach this section of 1 Corinthians because the above sentiment is so prevalent.)
Men who employ the world’s wisdom attempt to run the church as “Evangelical deists,” that is as if God started the Church, then left it to man to run the church in absentia. This attitude is expressed as follows: “Since Christ has departed and is in glory, we may engineer things as we see fit.”
Because people are security-driven, they want structure and tradition and they want a mortal figurehead instead of the liberating principles of Scripture and the rule of Christ. This tendency is in tension with the Word of God—the carnal pull of the flesh (even the ‘religious flesh’) is toward man-centered methods and pragmatism.
3:11 – “Be careful how you build.” There is no true foundation but Christ. The evaluation of our work is how it is built, and with what materials. The issue is what lasts and what doesn’t. The foundation for our building is God’s wisdom in the cross—Christ and Him crucified. We are to be ever vigilant in examining the foundation upon which we are building. This is the cornerstone which sets the pattern for the rest of the building. All of the contours and angles and forms take their shape and direction from the foundation. Thus the foundation dictates the nature, shape, content of the structure. It shapes and dictates both the quality and the kind of work. Christ and Him crucified—Paul laid the foundation of Christ for ALL that the church does—this must be our non-negotiable ecclesiology.
3:16 – The foundation of Christ and Him crucified produces an incredible tension here. “You are a temple of God” (v. 16). You are in quality and by quality a temple, the dwelling place of God. You must see yourself and the local body in this way as the abode of God in Christ. The Church is Christ’s abode. This alludes to a huge ecclesiological tension—pertinent to this is, “whose idea will rule the church?” At the outset, the beginning—everyone must park their baggage at the door and abide in Christ (including the pastor). Without gospel saturation keeping us focused upon Christ our only foundation; our default mode will be to defer to the ideas and policies of the most influential human personalities in the church.
3:17 – “If any man destroys the temple of God, God will destroy him, for the temple of God is holy, and that is what you are.” (Grk. oitineis – “What you are,” holiness is the referent here, not the temple.) “Temple of God” is not a reference to the universal church; but to local churches. If anyone destroys a local church by heretical teaching or by grievous divisions, God will deal firmly with that person (note Rev 2-3 and the local churches that disappeared) (Norman Hillyer, “1 & 2 Corinthians, The New Bible Commentary Revised, D. Guthrie Ed, et al, Intervarsity, Leicester: England, 1970, p. 1056).
3:18-22 – “Let no man deceive himself. If any man among you thinks that he is wise in this age, let him become foolish that he may become wise.” The Corinthians were quarreling under their leaders under the guise of wisdom. Paul again erects the narrow gate of God’s wisdom. He goes back to the theme of God’s wisdom. Like a security check point, he wants his readers to walk through it like a metal detector that they might drop the world’s wisdom like contraband.
When speaking of the “foolishness” of God’s wisdom—Paul’s intent is to show the saints their inheritance. The future is no cause for panic—it’s already theirs. This is another way of saying, “release the world’s values and wisdom, everything is already yours in Christ” (3:21-23). This reality of being co-heirs with Christ must hit us between the eyes like a thunderbolt. We must realize this to the core of our being if we are to release our hidden demands for control and self-exaltation: “So then let no one boast in men. For all things belong to you, whether Paul or Apollos or Cephas or the world or life or death or things present or things to come; all things belong to you, and you belong to Christ; and Christ belongs to God” (3:21-23).
4:1-2 -- The truth is, according to Paul, we (as Christian leaders) are nothing but stewards. In the institutional, or ‘business model’ of the church, leaders are frequently elevated and praised as their managerial skills are put on display. What a contrast this is with the biblical model in which Christ’s servants (undershepherds) are nothing but stewards of the mysteries of God (1 Cor 4:1). The apostles are not rival party leaders; but are Christ’s servants (Grk. hyperetai, ‘under-rowers’ of the oars on the bottom deck of a large ship). By stating that the apostles are stewards with oversight responsibilities, Paul is not suggesting that the apostles should be ecclesiastical administrators. Instead he is emphasizing the need to be absolutely trustworthy; for that is the responsibility of a steward (4:2).
By “mysteries of God” the apostle is primarily referring to the truth of the gospel—the apostles are responsible to proclaim with utter clarity the unblemished facts of the gospel (Hillyer, p. 1057). By emphasizing that the apostles are but servants of Christ and stewards of the ‘mysteries of God’ Paul is reiterating his premise that the wisdom of the world cannot be developed into the wisdom of God. As stewards we carry out Christ’s rules in a trustworthy manner; we don’t make the rules.
4:3 – It is so liberating to live under the eye of Christ. Paul reveals how he was set free from the fear of man, “Your estimation of me and my life doesn’t really carry much weight compared to the Judge who is the Lord.” It’s not that we don’t care what others say—it is the weight of the Lord’s evaluation that counts. As Spurgeon said, “Compared to what Christ thinks of me, the opinions of others are like so many chirping sparrows.” If we had the above central truth straight, we wouldn’t be so prone to strife and jealousy. Strife and jealousy are symptoms of living under the eye of man. (Grk. anakrino – the examination process. Krino – “I judge” deals more with guilt or innocence.)
4:5 -- It’s remarkable just how eschatologically-driven Paul is. “Therefore do not go on passing judgment before the time, but wait until the Lord comes who will both bring to light the things hidden in darkness and will disclose the motives of men’s hearts; and then each man’s praise will come to him from God.” The Apostle lived between the cross and the resurrection. Both defined his life; and both determined his kingdom values. By contrast, the Corinthians’ triumphalism (that we should ‘reign’ now and be exalted now; have our praise now; not suffer now) was an overly realized eschatology that produced irresponsible behavior. Triumphal life will have to wait until the final triumph of Christ and the messianic age. The path now is after Christ’s earthly life—it is the path of the cross, self denial, and death to self. We are to be radically identified with Christ in His servanthood, love, humiliation, and reproach (Heb 13:12-14).
How different from the humility of Paul was the perspective of the Corinthians—they thought they had arrived. They lived a “power life” as above others (Grk. “power” -- dunamis). “You are already filled, you have already become rich, you have become kings without us . . .” They lived a relational life of upsmanship, not servanthood through radical identification with Christ (4:8). The Corinthians saw their relationships in an over-under ‘pecking order’ fashion; clearly this was evidence that they were NOT abiding at the base of the cross; for the cross is the great leveler of men —the great eliminator of manmade distinctions and self-exaltation.
Author Frederick Dale Bruner provides excellent insights into this facet of the Corinthian problem. He notes that the “over-under” theology of the Corinthians exhibited an ego-based sense of spiritual power. Paul’s answer from the cross is that everything must be made low and brought under obedience to Christ (Grk. Hupo, as in ‘over or above’). Says Bruner, “All the exalted sense of spiritual power and fullness must become a deep sense of spiritual need. Christian spirituality is placing oneself under Christ; it is not going beyond Him” (Frederick Dale Bruner, A Theology of the Holy Spirit, Eerdmans, 1974, pp. 285-319 – “Huper: The Relevant Spiritual Problems in Corinth.”)
Says Bruner, the Corinthians possessed a ‘higher life’ theology. “Teachers, being higher, saw their students as being lower. If one feels himself spiritually higher than others, then from this altitude, it must be difficult . . . to look anywhere but down. [T]he Corinthians found a certain fascination in their strong, masterful leaders . . . who bore [a] superior manner. . . Paul must confess, “to my shame, I must say, we were too weak for that!” (11:21) (Ibid., p 310).
“In a word, Paul wants to turn the eyes of the Corinthians from the spirit of huper (over others) which BOASTS, to the spirit of agape which; BUILDS from being impressed with one’s own spiritual relevance and power, to being concerned with finding a lowly and patient relevance of quite a different kind to the weaknesses of the church” (Ibid., p. 318). Apart from a steady diet of the gospel it is far too easy to divide the church into those we imagine have arrived and achieved; and those who have not.
“The Corinthian letters are a sustained attempt to formulate what Luther later called a theologia crucis, a theology of the cross. God’s way of working in the world—to men an inefficient way, and thus a proof of its divinity—is the way of weakness.” “[Regarding the message of the cross,] men are saved by believing this content and serve by assuming this form in this sphere [of the church].” “But hidden in the cross and weakness (corporate and individual) and revealed in the church to faith—is resurrection power. “When . . .weak, then . . .strong” (2 Cor 12:10)” (Ibid., p. 319).
4:6 -- The foundation for our entire ecclesiology is: “Do not go on beyond what stands written” (1 Cor 4:6). Application: Programs established by people committed to biblical principles are far more effective. 95% of splits in churches are the result of power struggles, not doctrine, though doctrine may be attached and hide the real cause. One pastor offered the following observation, “If elders are not doing what God wants, then they most commonly, are running the church like a business.” Building upon the foundation of Christ and Him crucified means that our achievements must take a back seat and Christ must be exalted and be our focus in all we do.
4:7 – Are you boasting in your distinctions? God alone is the distinction-Maker! “Why do you boast as if you had not received it?” Sin is not only lawlessness; it is self-justification, the desire to seek intrinsic differentiation from others. We tend to divide the human race up between those who are achieving a standard and those who are not, and then drawing from that distinction our differentiation from others (Paul F. M. Zahl, A Short Systematic Theology, pp. 54-55).
The grace of God demands that we see ourselves from the divine perspective. Because of the gospel, all true differentiation; all individual identity is a gift by grace which frees us from self (i.e. ‘self-justification’). The redeemed have freedom and identity by a different ‘measure’ than the one applied by mankind—the child of God has status, favor, sonship, identity, acceptance, and standing ALL by divine grace. “Who made you to differ (God alone), why are you boasting as if you did not receive it from someone (from Christ)?” (1 Cor 4:6-7).
Self-justification is the action of defending our intrinsic worth. This defense of our intrinsic worth has manifestations (flesh fruits, Gal 5:19-21), which are all traceable to original sin. BUT, through the wonder of ‘guilt transfer,’ Christ has brought believing sinners to God (1 Pet 3:18). Self under judgment cannot possibly experience close proximity to God (Job 3:25). We require a substitute, or we will forever be banished from God’s presence, favor, life, love, light, and blessedness (Ibid, pp. 56-57).
The good news of the gospel is about the divine action to accomplish such a work of guilt transfer by substitution. God alone is free to affect that moral transfer (Jn 1:29; 10:18; Rom 6:23). Christ died for me—this is a one to one substitution (Gal 3:13; 2 Cor 5:21; Rom 7:25. We have life by His blood (Lev 17:11; Rev 7:13-14). Christ voluntarily assumed our moral liabilities; our guilt and our condemnation. He became of no reputation. He was sold under sin and thus paid the price of that sin as our substitute (Rom 7:14).
The gospel is ONLY incredibly good news if we realize that the human condition was a kind of dead end—like a cul de sac. There is no escape; no exit except by guilt transfer—without that guilt transfer, all of our hopes, dreams, and meaningful relations will turn to ashes once we enter our death bed. The wonder of redemption is that we are dealing with “the atoned and the atoning God.” God has plucked out His own heart in the bruising of His Son for us. He has “split” Himself so to speak in order to accomplish this guilt transfer. His requirement of perfection in the human being necessitated a guilt transfer in order for us to be restored to Him (Ibid, pp. 68, 70, 76-77).
Now the dynamics of our blood-bought life in Christ free us to radical honesty in our biblical self-confrontation. The gospel has set us free from self-justification (from attempting to prop up self by enforcing distinctions).
Therefore, because our status in Christ is immutable, we can afford to face the worst things about ourselves without fear of being diminished. This is the dynamic: the believer’s life is “life as it is” and “life as God imputes to us through Christ.” This is a formula for radical heroism in dealing with sin. It is a formula for humility; for service; for true community—for intimacy through Christ— for trust and closeness—for freedom from paralyzing self-consciousness (Ibid).
4:10-11ff. – “Let me tell you how we are living now!!” Paul contrasts his cross-centered life with the Corinthians erroneous triumphalism: “We are fools for Christ’s sake, but you are prudent in Christ; we are weak, but you are strong; you are distinguished, but we are without honor” (v. 10). Note that the Apostles were suffering circumstances characterized by indignities; just the opposite of the grandiose state of the Corinthians. Paul continually imbues his readers with the fact that the wisdom of the world cannot be developed into the wisdom of God. God’s wisdom in the cross of Christ and the world’s wisdom are mutually exclusive. A sharp antithesis exists between them. When the Corinthians eschewed the way of the cross; they fell into huper theology by which they attempted to live a power life above others. In so doing, they demonstrated that they were yet infatuated with human wisdom.
Humility only comes when we exalt Christ. Humility is a byproduct of being truly occupied with Christ and in beholding His glory in the mirror of the Word (A. W. Pink, Exposition of the Gospel of John, Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1975, p. 149). Meekness is a byproduct of the wisdom of the cross. As Christ is displayed in our teaching, preaching, and mutual edification, the desire to know Him, worship Him, and emulate Him increases.
How God rules His Church—this is God’s Church. He rules it. He rules His Church by God’s inspired Word; He rules His Church by His God-gifted people; He rules His Church by God-ordained circumstances. We seek to ascertain what God wants to do by His Word and by the giftedness of the people. We function by the giftedness of, and in the Body. God builds His Church; He sovereignly places gifted people in the Body where He wishes. God, through gifted people, directs the Church through the very people He has gifted.
Application: When the church builds around programs instead of people and the gifted person moves on, how do we fill their spot and keep the program going? So often the Church attempts to lead by programs, instead of equipping and releasing the gifted members. REMEMBER, the profile of the gifted shapes the profile of a ministry more than a program on the book.
The central role of giftedness: “Stop forbidding prophesying” (1 Thess 5:20)—do not quench or stifle the Spirit. If you stifle God-given giftedness, you quench the Spirit. Don’t quench the Spirit This same thought positively expressed is as follows: “Release people to giftedness in ministry.” There is effort required to do this and obey God at this juncture. We must come along side in order to confront. Affirmation, interview, release; all call for vulnerability. We’d rather control than confront. We are uncomfortable with 1 Cor 14 because we are not in control. We prefer to structure because we are security driven and thus more comfortable with control. The issue is about releasing gifted people.
Application: Pastors and elders are to examine the use of gifts and equip the gifted people in light of God’s Word. Equip by example, by instruction, by nurture, by opportunity to use giftedness; we model the expression of giftedness. We help others begin; we open the door for other people to use their gifts. Build our ministries around the giftedness of the person—don’t fight it. Don’t shove the person into a job description. Because we are security driven, we cram people into a job description and fall back on pragmatism and the world’s methods. When we cram people into a job description, frustrated mediocrity is often the result. The divinely energized power flows through God-given authenticity. Ideally we as leaders should write the job description according the person’s uniqueness and gift mix. When ‘authentic’, you are operating by God’s power through your experience, giftedness, and vision.
God’s Word is on a collision course with hyper-structural institutional pragmatism. God seeks to impact and transform the lives of the church members by means of His Word. By a Spirit-energized confrontation and interface of the soul with the Word, ongoing repentance is the Spirit’s intent. Institutional pragmatism hangs like a sooty veil, blocking the Word’s interface with the soul. A focus upon marketing, hyper-structure, programs, and more professionals—each send the message that it is not God’s Church!
Defining the Church: ask the following: “Whose Church is it?” “How is the Church to function?” “What are the guidelines for its function?” We must establish that it is God’ Church; this is the bedrock for everything else. Pauline Ecclesiology (1 Cor 1-4) is intended to develop an exegetical mindset—to establish contextually driven principles. The foundation of our entire ecclesiology is entirely built upon the set foundation of the infallible Word of God. It is established on the solid exegesis of the Word of God. It is consistently exegetically driven: We seek an Exegetical Ministry Outreach; Exegetical Worship; Exegetical Counseling; Exegetical Preaching/teaching; Exegetical Church Leadership; and Exegetical Theology.
We must come to terms with the fact that it is God’s Church (1 Cor 1:2). “Guard the flock which God purchased with His own blood” (Acts 20:28). Once you come to terms with the fact that it is God’s Church, it will transform all that you are about and all the Church is about. WHY is this true, because today’s issue is about power and control? The problem is in building. Whose idea will govern the way we build the Church? Is our approach a species of provincialism in which the outcome comes with the assumption that what we have built is ours? “We built it, it belongs to us.” That approach is always contaminated with motives that exist to erect a monument to self. “Be careful how you build” can only be obediently fulfilled IF we are absolutely intent on building upon Christ alone as our foundation to the glory of God (3:10-11).
How to stay Christ-centered: if holiness slips from a central position, then the centrality of Christ is lost. One cannot enter the knowledge of the Holy as a consumer, ONLY as a sinner. Sin, grace, and faith are emptied of meaning apart from the holiness of God. It is all too common for the implications of God’s holiness to be missing in the Church. God’s authority and power are passé. Self is sovereign; authority now is only a private reference. God’s Word is our only safety from heresy and modernity. What is the solution? Our safety resides in our passion for His holiness and His truth (Ibid.).
To be confronted with Christ is to be confronted with your sin and your heart rebellion because Christ is the manifestation of God’s glorious holiness (David Wells, Above All Earthly Powers, p. 222). No wonder men have a preference for the church as an ‘institution’ rather than the church as Christ’s Body and Christ’s holy abode!
The gospel as the glory of Christ is the indispensable key to ongoing holiness. We must frequently meditate on the glory of Christ to be free from earthly cares and affections. But we all, with unveiled face beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, just as from the Lord, the Spirit (2 Cor 3:18).
Only the saved see and savor the glory of Christ. God’s glory in the face of Christ ought to be the aim of Gospel preaching. If we conceal the glory of Christ; we cripple the sanctifying work of the Spirit who wishes to exalt Christ and reveal His glory to the saints. Christ as revealed in the gospel is our worldview; we are to see all of life through Him—all of our purpose, direction, and hope emanates from Him (John Piper, God is the Gospel). Only a continual view of the glory of Christ will stir us up and encourage us to watch and continually fight against the deceitful workings of sin. To experience the things of Christ’s glory has the power to make us want to do the things that please Him.
Seeing Christ’s glory is the only way to obtain holiness, comfort, and preparation for eternal life. The chief privilege in this life is to ‘see’ the glory of God in all His holiness displayed in Christ (Owen, The Glory of Christ). Our sin, guilt, lust, cravings, insecurities, and desire for happiness—all combine to make the soul restless. Christ has everything the sinner needs. In all things He is perfectly suited to all the needs and cravings of the immortal soul. “All my springs are in Thee” (A. A. Bonar, The Person of Christ).
To believingly ‘see’ God in our nature, dying and bleeding for us, eradicates our sinful fear and suspicion of God. Faith in the gospel opens up to the understanding Christ’s full sacrifice; for Christ is the essence of the gospel. “If I see Him who is the atonement to be God-man, then I see an offering so vast, and so extensive in its applications, that every crevice of the conscience must be reached” (Ibid.).
We have no life in ourselves. The saints are dependent upon God for continual communication of His goodness and power to them. Christ continues to supply spiritual life, grace, and strength to His redeemed people. The goodness, grace, life, light, mercy, and power which are the origin of the new creation all of God’s origin. It pleased the Father that the fullness of God’s divine nature should be in Christ as Head of the church (Col 1:17-19). These qualities in Christ are communicated from Him to His church—He makes them available to the church (John Owen).
The power of Christ’s love received has an effect upon our lives of enabling us to bear fruit for the glory of God. We must not be content to think of the love of Christ in a general way. Instead, we must dwell upon God’s wisdom, goodness, and grace shown in eternal acts of His divine nature and pity—all given to us in Christ (Owen).
The church cannot maintain its fervency apart from communion with Christ. When He comes and shows Himself amidst our meditation and communion with Him; He brings with Him peace, comfort, joy, and assurance. Christ’s intent is that we ‘feast’ with Him by means of these spiritual refreshments (Rev 3:20).
How are we to receive these things? Look on the glory of Christ by faith. Meditate on the glory of His unique nature—His humbling of Himself to come into the world—His present high position in heaven—His love and grace. Our hearts will be spiritually affected in some degree by His constraining love—which is the source of all our spiritual comforts and power. Christ knows perfectly the eternal blessedness which will be enjoyed by those who believe in Him (Jn 10:10) (Owen).
Institutionalism in the church has contributed to the problem. What is institutionalism in the church? It is man attempting to control religion; it is man attempting to control what cannot be controlled by mortals. Os Guinness touches on the root of the problem: “As sinful human beings we have an instinctual, compulsive bias toward forms of religion that we ourselves can create and control” (Guinness in David Wells, Above All Earthly Powers, Christ in a Postmodern Culture, p. 303).
The church cannot maintain its fervency apart from communion with Christ. Without the experience of these things (the spiritual comforts Christ brings), our Christianity is heartless, lifeless, and useless. We can say we believe the promises about the eternal glories of heaven; but where is the proof of our faith if we do not experience the enjoyment of these spiritual blessings here and now? (Rom 15:13; 1 Pet 1: 3-9). We must take a steady view of Christ’s glory—and seek Him with all our heart. In this way alone will the believers who collectively make up the church recovery from stagnancy. Christ’s glory alone will bring us back to joy—to love in our hearts; in our souls; and in our relationships (Owen).
Those who content themselves with solely an academic understanding of Christ stop short of His love quickening the heart. The result is weak views of Christ. In churches where the view of Christ’s glory is weak; there will be a tendency toward formalism and institutionalism. Satan wants believers to give up seeking the experience of the power, grace, and love of Christ’s gospel in our souls (Owen). How readily will Spirit-filled pastors testify that Owen’s observations are true. And, how much more do they ring true in our instant, push-button culture. Professing Christians barely stir themselves to labor after Christ. In their unbelief and spiritual sloth; they rob themselves of discovering the glories of Christ that they could know. Let us stir ourselves out of our default mode of spiritual stagnation and passive compliance with programmatic religious forms.
Only those who are committed to beholding the glory of Christ now are truly pressing on to that perfect view of the glory of Christ in heaven. Those who think of Christ’s glory merely as a magnificent Scriptural idea won’t be changed into His glory. Those who truly long for the glory of Christ will NOT be satisfied with merely a ‘generic’ or academic understanding of His glory.
Believers who are delighted to see the glory of Christ experience Christ’s transforming power. Those who make it their full purpose of heart to behold His glory will be changed into His image. When our trust in Christ is constantly exercised; virtue proceeds from Christ to purify our hearts, increase our holiness, strengthen our graces, and fill us with joy—at times joy inexpressible filled with glory (1 Pet 1:8). Christ’s glory beheld quickens the understanding at the same time as His love is communicated to the heart.