But of him are ye in Christ Jesus, who of God is made unto us wisdom, and righteousness, and sanctification, and redemption (1 Cor. 1:30). The apostle had been, a few verses before this, observing the sovereign and wise manner in which God had dispensed his grace, with regard to the calling of sinful men, as verse 26, “Not many wise men after the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble, are called,” or are made the instruments of the calling of grace, “but God hath chosen the foolish things of the world to confound the wise.” The wise purpose and design is, as in verse 29, “that no flesh should glory in his presence,” as if his own endowments or the advantages of his condition had entitled him to divine grace. In the next following words, which are those of my text, the apostle shows what is the true matter of glorying to a Christian: “But of him are ye in Christ Jesus.”
Were the believer asked, What is the ground of your faith and hope? He would instantly reply, with David, “I hope in his Word,” but this general answer implies several distinct truths, as, first, that the Scriptures are the Word of God; and secondly, that this Word contains a warrant of hope. We may regard the Word as the immediate warrant of a hope which rests on God himself as its supreme object, or in other words, the proximate ground of hope is God’s testimony, while its ultimate ground is God’s character. Persuaded that the Scriptures are the Word of God, the believer hopes, because he finds a warrant for hope there; and this Word he deems a sufficient warrant, because it comes to him on the authority of One who can neither err nor deceive, whose faithfulness is pledged in every promise, and his honour concerned in every declaration which it contains.
For all seek their own, not the things which are Jesus Christ’s. (Phil. 2:21) We cannot suppose that the apostle intended by these words to characterize all his fellow Christians—the whole multitude of believers—many of whom were conspicuous for a spirit and temper the very reverse of that which the apostle here condemns. He speaks in the context of Timothy as one who, “as a son with a father,” served with him in the gospel (Phil. 2:22). And a little after, of Epaphroditus, his “brother and companion in labour,” who, “for the work of Christ, was nigh unto death, not regarding his life to supply their lack of service” towards him (Phil. 2:25, 30). And in the foregoing chapter, he tells us that “many of the brethren, waxing confident” by his bonds, “were much more bold to speak the word without fear” (Phil. 1:14).
There are very few people who would not agree with the apostle when he says that Christ is precious to believers. All who have been educated in a Christian land, however incorrect their views, and however dead their hearts, have a notion, at least, that but for Christ they could never get to heaven, and few or none would therefore contradict the assertion that he is a Saviour to be valued. But when one comes a little closer and asks professing people why he is precious to them, and in what degree, the answers to this question are indefinite and vague.
Before the Lord himself spoke to afflicted Job from the tempest, declaring his own righteousness and majesty, he sent a messenger to prepare the way for himself. This messenger was Elihu, and what he said stood fast. Elihu invited a reply from Job (Job 33:5), but none ever came. Importantly, the Lord had nothing to say by way of rebuking Elihu, as he did with Eliphaz and his two friends (Job 42:7). Rather, Elihu anticipated what the Lord himself was about to say, as may be seen by comparing chapters 37 and 38. Elihu then was a reliable witness who showed sound speech that cannot be condemned (Titus 2:7).
The place which these words occupy at the close of the revelation made by God to man, hardly less than the meaning of the words themselves, unquestionably gives to them a very marked and peculiar importance. With the exception of the Apostolic benediction which is contained in the last verse of the chapter, and of the awful threatening against adding to or taking from the words of the prophecy of this book, which occupies the verses immediately following our text, the language before us forms the latest audible utterance of God’s lips to this world.
The sixteenth Psalm is a strong ally to a freely-offered gospel for the vilest sinner, and for that reason it should be precious to us. But are there any other riches in the Psalm? Indeed, there are. The Psalm records not only the historical fact of Christ’s resurrection, but it also records the exercise of our Lord’s soul leading up to his suffering and death. In the Psalm, the Lord Jesus speaks in the first person: “I have set the Lord always before me … thou shalt not leave my soul in hell.” Through David, the Spirit beforehand gave words that Christ in the days of his flesh would take upon his own lips as the sincere expression of the exercise of his soul. The sixteenth Psalm shows us how the Father wonderfully supported, upheld, and communed with Christ, as that true man undertook the work of our redemption.
In the book of Psalms, we have the record of the experiences of the believer, and the utterance of his feelings in almost every variety of interesting circumstances, and upon subjects of all others the most important. There is not a systematic enunciation of doctrinal truth, or a regular and arranged collection of precepts of conduct, but we have in a much more interesting form the substance of Christian doctrine, and duty, and privilege, brought forward as suggested by the holy Spirit, according to the peculiarities of the situation and character of the sacred writer. Thus, in the verse before us, we have not the mere statement of the truth, that the man who puts his trust in the Lord is blessed; we have it confirmed by the personal experience of the Psalmist himself, and it is breathed forth with all the sympathetic power that can be given to it by a heart overflowing with gratitude to God, and with holy zeal for his glory in the filial affiance of the children of men.
The carefulness against which believers are admonished in our text is that spirit of excessive anxiety—that spirit of disquieting fear and oppressive sorrow, which temporal evils or the prospect of them is so apt to excite in the mind, and which is contrary to that patience, resignation, and hope which we are called to exercise towards God. The word in the original is still more expressive of this than in our common translation. The exhortation is to be understood in a qualified or modified sense. It relates obviously to temporal interests and objects.
