1 Corinthians 1:30

1Co_1:30

But of Him are ye in Christ Jesus, who of God is made unto us wisdom, and righteousness, and sanctification, and redemption

The life of the Christian from Christ

In using these words the apostle seems to have in mind the principal phases of Christs being.

I. Wisdom, by His life and teaching.

II. Righteousness, by His death and resurrection.

III. Sanctification, by His elevation to glory.

IV. Redemption, by His future return. (Prof. Godet.)

The union of the genuine disciple with his Master

This union is--

I. Most vital. In Christ, not merely in His school, dispensation, character, but in Himself, as branches are in the vine. He is their life.

II. Divinely formed. Of Him--Whom? God. It is the Eternal Spirit that brings the soul into vital connection with Christ. My Father is the Husbandman.

III. Blessedly productive.

1. Wisdom.

2. Righteousness.

3. Sanctification.

4. Redemption, come out of this union. What transcendent blessings are these!

IV. Exultingly adoring (1Co_1:31). It inspires the highest worship. It causes the soul to triumph to God Himself. (D. Thomas, D. D.)

The connection of Christ with Christians

I. A most intimate connection exists between Christ and Christians. In Christ. The connection is--

1. Real. Ye are in Christ Jesus. Not imaginary; not theoretical; not prospective.

2. Vital. Not that of a sapless branch with a decayed root; not that of a pulseless arm with a lifeless head.

3. Essential to the continuance of spiritual life. Not merely a life like Christs, but a life that is a part of Christs life. The temperament of Christ pervades the whole body.

II. This connection has been formed by God. Of Him. Our Lord referred to Divine operation as well as supervision when He said, My Father is the Husbandman (Comp. Rom_11:17-24). Union with Christ is--

1. Not natural. Our natural condition is one of separation and alienation.

2. Not affected by human agency; neither our own, nor anothers.

3. Effected by Divine agency--

(1) Incomprehensible in the mode of operation.

(2) Inexplicable in the selection of its subjects.

III. This connection has been productive of most advantageous results to Christians. These, as well as the connection, are of Divine ordination.

1. Observe the progression of thought.

(1) There is the truth by which the mind is arrested, instructed, convinced, strengthened, and elevated.

(2) There is the work without us by virtue of which we are accepted and treated as righteous; conjoined with--

(3) The work within us by virtue of which we are purified and made actually righteous.

(4) There is the final deliverance from all evil; when with the redemption of the body the soul will be delivered from the bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of the children of God; when salvation will be consummated in the glorification of all.

2. Christ is--

(1) Our wisdom. He said I am the truth. He is the light of the world. He is that by which we are enlightened. The condition of the non-Christian is described in Eph_4:18, and Rom_10:3. Ignorant of our real spiritual state, Christ enlightens us respecting it. Ignorant of our relation to God, Christ reveals our alienation from Him, and invites us to be reconciled. Ignorant of what is to be done, Christ tells us what is essential. Ignorant of the way of salvation, Christ says, I am the way, &c.

(2) Our righteousness. The revelation of truth is not all we want. Christ was not only the Revealer but the Doer, not only the Teacher but the Mediator. The condition of the non-Christian is represented as one of condemnation, guilt, and rebellion. Out of this we are brought by Christ. He is our Representative; in nature and character perfect; possessing immaculate righteousness; therefore competent to appear and act for us. His life and death of obedience are accepted on our behalf, and we are accepted through Him. The rebel is pardoned; alienation is displaced by friendship; as virtually righteous he is received into Gods family, a joint heir with Christ.

(3) Our sanctification. The condition of the non-Christian is one of corruption and defilement. Christ will have all His followers conformed to His image. The process of sanctification is--

(a) Effected by direct and indirect agency. Direct. The influence of Spirit upon spirit. The Spirit dwelleth in you, &c. Indirect. Christian ordinances and privileges, providential circumstances, social influences; every temptation resisted, trial endured, difficulty overcome, passion quelled, habit corrected; triumph over self, steadfast opposition to evil, loss suffered for the cause of Christ; manful exhibition of godliness, true-hearted adherence to principle.

(b) Invisible and indescribable. More mystery respecting the internal work of the Spirit than the external work of Christ. Facts perceived by the senses are more easily described than those perceived by consciousness.

(c) Sometimes prolonged. If immediacy may be regarded as a characteristic of justification, progressiveness is characteristic of sanctification. It is the work of our lifetime.

(d) Generally apparently incomplete. But we cannot unveil the spiritual world. What constitutes completeness? Enough for us to aim at her lofty attainment. Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father, &c.

(4) Our redemption. Reference to the final release from the bondage, dangers, and trials of humanity. The condition of the non-Christian is one of bondage to sin (2Pe_2:19). Christ makes His people free. The liberty of the sons of God includes not only release from the condemnation of law and from the power of sin, but also from the laws and limitations of human nature; from the habits which bind us, and dispositions which enslave us; from the annoyances of earthly life; from associations with evil; from injurious influences, human and satanic.

IV. This connection and its results are designed to promote the glory of God (verses 29, 31). Not to glorify ourselves, but to live, in time and in eternity, to the glory of His grace, who hath made us accepted in the Beloved. (T. T. Waterman, B. A.)

The relation of Christ to His people

He is set forth as made unto us--

I. Wisdom. A controversy has been carried on as to the character of real wisdom from the days of Job (Job_28:20). But his definition is the only correct one (verse 18).

1. What is wisdom unconnected with Christ? It can elevate mans mind by leading it up the pathway of science, it can help to the study of men and manners, it may solve some of the higher problems of morality. But its best efforts are only as the light of the taper compared with the sun. It cannot bestow peace or joy in the moment of trial, or in the day of death.

2. What is wisdom connected with Christ (Jam_3:17)?

II. Righteousness (Jer_23:6; Rom_8:33).

III. Sanctification.

1. It is necessary to distinguish between justification and sanctification. They differ essentially--

(1) In their nature; the one being an alteration of his state in the sight of God, the other a change in his character before man and his conscience.

(2) In their causes; the former is imputed through Christs obedience, the latter is communicated by the Holy Spirits influence.

2. Sanctification is a difficult work, so far as we are concerned in it.

(1) Our nature is opposed to it.

(2) The world generally is opposed to it.

(3) Satan with all his varied instruments are opposed to it.

3. But yet it is possible and easy; for Christ is made such unto us. How is this? It is simply to have Christ enter the lists with sin in us (Php_4:13; 1Th_5:23).

IV. Redemption. Our present redemption is only partial. We have a privilege to come into Gods presence, &c. Nevertheless the glorious liberty of the sons of God yet remains to be enjoyed. Then every fetter shall be knocked off. The mind no longer shall be hindered in its investigations; the heart shall be deceitful no more; the body itself shall no more be weary. (G. F. Galaher, M. A.)

What is Christ to us

I. Our prophet to impart wisdom.

1. Anointing us with His Spirit.

2. Revealing Himself in us.

3. Giving us understanding to know Him as the only way to the Father.

II. Our high priest to impart righteousness.

1. Making atonement for us.

2. Pronouncing our absolution.

3. Constantly interceding for us at the right hand of God.

III. Our King to communicate holiness.

1. Pouring out His Spirit.

2. Ruling in our hearts.

3. Giving us dominion over sin.

IV. Our final deliverer from all evil. (E. Fraser.)

Gods device for the salvation of sinners

I. The whole of mans salvation is from Christ. God has made or constituted Him the fountain of all salvation, from whom it must be conveyed to all that shall partake of it (Psa_89:24).

1. Man is ignorant naturally of the way to true happiness; he has lost God, and knows not how to find Him again. For remedy of this Christ is made wisdom (Col_2:3), and He is constituted the grand Teacher of all that seek for eternal happiness.

2. Man is unrighteous, and cannot stand before a righteous God. Now, the natural man, for remedy of this, goes about to work out a righteousness of his own. But when it appears in the light of the holy law, it is nothing but as a moth-eaten garment, that cannot cover the soul before the Lord (Isa_64:7). For remedy of this Christ is made righteousness. He, by His obedience to the laws commands, and suffering the wrath it threatened, hath brought in everlasting righteousness, which is a large garment, able to cover all that betake themselves to it.

3. Man is unholy, unfit for communion with a holy God here or hereafter. The natural man, to help himself in this point, calls together his natural powers, and endeavours to turn the stream of his life into the channel of the law. Some prevail this way to the reformation of their outward conversation; but there is as much difference betwixt true holiness and their attainment as between a living body and an embalmed corpse. Others find all their endeavours to no purpose, and so they come to despair of sanctification, and therefore even lay the reins on the necks of their lusts (Jer_2:25). But for remedy in this, Christ is made sanctification. There is a fulness of the Spirit of holiness lodged in Him, to be communicated to the unholy; and to Him God sends the unholy sinner, that out of His fulness he may receive, and grace for grace.

4. Man by the fall is become liable to many bodily infirmities and miseries, and at length must go to the grave. Nature could find no remedy for this. But mans salvation cannot be complete without a remedy; therefore Christ is made redemption, who will give in due time deliverance to His people from misery and death (Rom_8:23). And in this sense He calls Himself the resurrection and the life.

II. All who are saved must be saved by virtue of union with Christ. As the stock is stay, strength, and sap, to the branches, so is Christ wisdom, &c., to those who are united to Him. The sap of the stock is not conveyed to branches that are not in it; neither is Christ wisdom, &c., to any but those who are in Him. He is the Saviour of His body; and we must be partakers of His salvation as members of His body. (T. Boston, D. D.)

Adaptedness of Christianity to mans spiritual necessities

This is a very strong evidence of its Divine character.

1. An individual is taken suddenly ill in the street. Persons gather round him, administering many things for his relief; but all is in vain. A stranger draws near, examines his symptoms, and from his case administers a medicine. Immediately he is relieved, and they all cry out, He is a doctor! His ability to make a correct diagnosis and to prescribe the proper medicine demonstrates his professional character.

2. We are all of us sinful, and suffering, and dying. Can any one provide a relief? Men have been experimenting ever since the days of Cain; the wisest and best have utterly failed. It follows, then, that if there be a provision by which we can be saved from sin, such provision must come from God.

3. We claim that in the gospel God has made such a provision, which is very comprehensively stated in our text. God is its author, Christ is its medium or agent, and wisdom, &c., are its benefits. Christ is made unto us--

I. Wisdom.

1. What is the first great need of mankind? Light; knowledge of God, of His law, of Christ, of the way of salvation, of duty and interest.

2. We have evidence of this in the general practice of Christian parents in seeking the spiritual welfare of their children, which is to impart instruction. And when our missionaries go to heathen countries, their first work is the same. And is it not a constant effort of the Church, both at home and abroad, to spread religious knowledge through the Sabbath school, the pulpit, and the religious press?

3. The gospel provides this light. Hence Jesus Christ is made unto us wisdom, by furnishing to us--

(1) The Bible. But for His mediation we should never have received it. These Scriptures are able to make us wise unto salvation.

(2) The institutions of the Church.

(3) The lives, activities, and instrumentalities, of Christian believers, who are the light of the world.

(4) The teachings of the Holy Spirit; His Divine illumination, His assistance enabling us to apprehend and understand the written Word.

II. Righteousness.

1. Light, in its first revealings, does not always bring comfort and hope. When we see our moral condition we discover ourselves to be lost sinners; as absolutely helpless as was a poor man once upon the rock just above the falls of Niagara. Certainly he saw and felt that if he ever regained the shore and the home of his love, it must be through some agency other than his own. And when we discover our sinfulness and helplessness, how anxiously do we inquire where help may be found!

2. Righteousness is a conformity to law. If we observe the laws of the State there is no unrighteousness in us in relation to those laws. And if we could observe the law of God, there would be no unrighteousness in us in respect to His law. It is because we have transgressed that law that we are unrighteous.

3. Being thus under condemnation, Christ rendered a perfect obedience to that law, and having thus honoured it, He submitted to its penalties in our stead. Thus Christ has wrought out a righteousness for us; He has made it possible for us to obtain the remission of our sins.

4. But if this were the extent; of the atonement, it would leave us still unrighteous in character, unconformed to the law in our motives and spirit. It was, therefore, necessary that there should be the washing of regeneration and the renewing of the Holy Ghost; so that; Jesus Christ might work a real righteousness within us.

5. If the provision were to stop here it would still fail of meeting the whole case, because we are accountable to God, and our conduct subsequent to this great exercise of mercy toward us must be in conformity with the principles and spirit of His law. We consequently need the constant help of our Lord and of the Divine Spirit.

6. And even with these helps we are not able so fully to meet tile claims of this law that we do not need constantly to depend upon the atonement.

III. Sanctification. But the regenerate have still further spiritual needs.

1. The converted man hates sin; and when he finds it in his heart he is afflicted. To him there is nothing so lovely, so precious, as holiness. How he hungers and thirsts after it! He cannot be satisfied until he realises it, any more than a famishing man can be satisfied without; food and drink. His heart, his soul, cries out for the nature and image of God!

2. Can we realise this full salvation? Yes, for He is able to do exceeding abundantly, &c. The blood of Jesus Christ His son cleanseth us from all sin. When we are thus brought to bear the image of the heavenly--

IV. Is there still anything further needed? Yes, we still need Christ as our redemption. To redeem is to deliver from some obligation, or embarrassment, or danger, or necessity, from which a person is unable to deliver himself.

1. We are subject to affliction, and we need the presence, and power, and comfort, of Christ to enable us to stand.

2. We have many duties to perform. Who of himself is competent to work the works of our Divine Master? None of us; but, through Christ strengthening us, we can do all things, meet all our obligations to our own souls, to our fellow-men, and to God.

3. And how about the dying hour? With the Captain of our salvation with us, we can meet death with joy, accounting it a gain. (Bp. Janes.)

Christ Jesus the believers wisdom, and righteousness, and sanctification, and redemption

Let us--

I. Explain the words. Christ is made unto us--

1. Wisdom.

(1) As in knowing Him we know everything that is essential, and especially God, whom to know is life eternal. God in nature is God above us; God in providence is God beyond us; God in law is God against us; but God in Christ is God with us and for us.

(2) As He is the Author of our wisdom. He opens the eyes of our understandings, and, by His Spirit, leads us into all the truth. And the knowledge, which He imparts, is always distinguished by its influences and effects. Wisdom is a defence, and money is a defence, but the excellency of this wisdom is that it giveth life to them that have it.

2. Righteousness. Christ is the end of the law of righteousness, to every one that believeth.

3. Sanctification.

(1) The former is a relative thing, this is a personal. The former is the change of our state, this the change of our nature; the former is a work complete at once, but the latter is gradual, and carried on through the whole of life. But then, though these are distinguishable, they are never separate.

(2) But what is this sanctification. It must be something more than mere reformation or morality. A man cannot be sanctified indeed, unless he be moral; but he may be moral, without being sanctified. Sanctification is a transformation by the renewing of the mind; the implantation of new principles; a separation from the Spirit and course of the world, and a deliverance from the dominion and the love of sin, and a dedication of ourselves to the service and glory of God.

4. Redemption. The resurrection is called so--

(1) Because it is the effect of the Saviours purchase; for He ransomed the bodies of His people, as well as their souls.

(2) Because of the grandeur that awaits us.

II. Apply the words. If we be made of God unto us wisdom.

1. We see the state we are all in by nature. We see that we are destitute of all these things, and that, if ever we have them, we must obtain them from another.

2. We see the value and importance of the Lord Jesus.

3. We need not wonder that He should be the subject of the whole of revelation.

4. He ought to be the theme of every minister.

5. We see the wretched and dreadful state of unbelievers. He that hath the Son hath life; and he that hath not the Son of God hath not life, hath not wisdom, &c.

6. What can be so worthy of our pursuit as to seek after union and communion with Him. This was the apostles conviction--That I may win Christ, and be found in Him.

7. We learn the happiness of all those who belong to Him--or rather to whom He belongs. (W. Jay.)

Wisdom, righteousness, sanctification, and redemption derived from Christ

This is one of the most comprehensive texts in the Bible. It is a short but full inventory of the invaluable blessings of the gospel; enough to make a poor sinner rich, and a miserable sinner happy.

I. Wisdom

1. Wisdom chooses the best objects, and then pursues the best means of obtaining them.

2. All wisdom is from God; but there is a peculiar and superior kind of wisdom, viz., religion (Pro_28:28); and this St. Paul terms being wise unto salvation, and James, the wisdom that is from above.

3. Christ is the original fountain of wisdom. He is wisdom itself (Pro_8:1-36.; Col_2:3); so that whatever true wisdom is found in the world is derived from Him, even as the natural sun is the source of all the light of this world. Accordingly, we find Him, by His personal ministry, diffusing wonderful light, and when He ascended into heaven He committed this work to the Holy Spirit. The natural man knoweth not the things of the Spirit of God; but, by His gracious help, they are spiritually discerned, and believers learn the mind of Christ.

4. Other kinds of wisdom have their value; yet what do they avail? I have spent my life, said a great scholar on his dying bed, I have spent my life in laborious trifling! Compared with heavenly wisdom, all literary attainments will be as a grain of sand to a mountain, or a drop of water to the ocean.

II. Righteousness, i.e., perfect conformity to the will of God. The word signifies that which is full weight or measure, the standard being Gods holy law. And is there any man thus righteous? No; there is not a just man upon earth; that is, one that doeth good, and sinneth not. Yet, without a perfect righteousness, no man can be justified. But must we, then, despair? Yes; of making ourselves righteous; but not of becoming righteous by other means, for Christ is made unto us righteousness (Rom_4:24). But do any suppose that we may therefore become careless about good works? Let them attend to the declaration that Christ is made unto us--

III. Sanctification.

1. By this we mean the renewing of our nature in the image of God, by the power of the Holy Spirit, and through the mediation of Christ.

2. Sanctification differs from justification. Justification respects the state of man; sanctification respects His nature, disposition, conduct. A man may be tried for his life, and he may be acquitted; but if he have, at the same time, a mortal disease upon him, he will die. The province of a judge and a physician are very different. Justification is the act of God as a Judge; sanctification is the work of God the Spirit as the great Physician of souls; and we find both these works united in Psa_103:3. It is also to be observed that our title to heaven is founded only on the righteousness of Christ, by which we are justified; but in sanctification consists our meetness for heaven.

3. Christ is made unto us sanctification.

(1) Because He first relieves us by His atoning sacrifice from the guilt and defilement of sin.

(2) By His intercession (Joh_17:15; Joh_17:17).

(3) By His Word--its doctrines, precepts, examples, promises, and threatenings.

(4) By union to Him.

(5) By His example.

(6) By His love, which is, of all motives to holiness, the strongest and most effectual.

IV. Redemption. If Christ be made unto us wisdom, we are delivered from the powers of darkness; if righteousness, we are redeemed from the curse of the law; if sanctification, we are delivered from the dominion of sin. In these things consists the redemption of the soul. But the redemption of the body seems to be intended; and this agrees with Rom_8:21. (G. Burder.)

Christ the believers wisdom, righteousness, sanctification, and redemption

I. I would point out to you the fountain from which all those blessings flow, that the elect of God partake of in Jesus, who of God is made unto us, the Father, He it is who is spoken of here. Not as though Jesus Christ was not God also; but God the Father is the fountain of the Deity.

II. I come to show what these blessings are which are here, through Christ, made over to the elect.

1. Christ is made to them wisdom; but wherein does true wisdom consist? Were I to ask some of you, perhaps you would say in indulging the lust of the flesh; but this is only the wisdom of brutes. Others would tell me true wisdom consisted in adding house to house; but this cannot be true wisdom, for riches often take to themselves wings, and fly away. But perhaps you despise riches and pleasure, and therefore place wisdom in the knowledge of books; but it is possible for you to tell the numbers of the stars, and call them all by their names, and yet be mere fools; learned men are not always wise. Know thyself, was a saying of one of the wise men of Greece; this is certainly true wisdom, and this is that wisdom spoken of in the text, and which Jesus Christ is made to all elect sinners. They see the necessity of closing with a Saviour, and behold the wisdom of God in appointing Him to be a Saviour; they are also made willing to accept of salvation upon our Lords own terms: thus Christ is made to them wisdom.

2. Righteousness. Christs whole personal righteousness is made over to, and accounted theirs.

3. Christ is not only made to them righteousness, but sanctification; by sanctification I do not mean a bare hypocritical attendance on outward ordinances, nor do I mean a bare outward reformation, and a few transient convictions, or a little legal sorrow; for all this an unsanctified man may have; but by sanctification I mean a total renovation of the whole man. Their understandings, which were before dark, now become light in the Lord; and their wills, before contrary to, now become one with the will of God; their affections are now set on things above; their memory is now filled with Divine things; their natural consciences are now enlightened; their members, which were before instruments of uncleanness, and of iniquity unto iniquity, are now instruments of righteousness and true holiness. But, before we enter upon the explanation and contemplation of this privilege

(1) Learn hence the great mistake of those writers and clergy who, notwithstanding they talk of sanctification and inward holiness, yet they generally make it the cause, whereas they should consider it as the effect, of our justification. For Christs righteousness, or that which Christ has done in our stead without us, is the sole cause of our acceptance in the sight of God, and of all holiness wrought in us: to this, and not to the light within, or anything wrought within, should poor sinners seek for justification in the sight of God.

(2) From hence also the Antinomians and formal hypocrites may be confuted, who talk of Christ without, but know nothing, experimentally, of a work of sanctification wrought within them.

4. Let us now go on, and take a view of the other link, or rather the end, of the believers golden chain of privileges, Redemption. But we must look very high; for the top of it, like Jacobs ladder, reaches heaven, where all believers will ascend, and be placed at the right hand of God. By the word redemption we are to understand, not only a complete deliverance from all evil, but also a full enjoyment of all good both in body and soul. (G. Whitfield, M. A.)

The fourfold treasure

I. Our spiritual existence.

1. Its origin, Of Him, i.e., as some think, through Him. Are you this day united to Christ--a stone in that building of which He is both foundation and topstone--a limb of that mystical body of which He is the head? Then you did not get there of yourself. By the grace of God I am what I am. He hath begotten us again unto a lively hope.

2. Its dignity. Being in Christ you are of God. Gods husbandry, people, children, beloved. Some have thought it a great thing to be of a princes household; but you are of the Divine family.

3. Its essence. We have no life except as we are in Christ Jesus. Out of Christ we abide in death.

II. Our spiritual wealth. Here are four things, and in the original the second and third have a peculiar connecting link. The wisdom stands alone, and the redemption, but the righteousness and sanctification have a special link, as though we should be taught that they always go together. Christ is made unto us--

1. Wisdom. The apostle had been speaking of some other wisdom which set itself up in opposition to the Cross. Now, instead of pointing to his own brain, or to the statue of Socrates or Solon, he says Christ is made of God unto us wisdom. There are those who will have it that the gospel such as was preached by Banyan, Whitefield, and Wesley, was very well for the dark times in which they lived; but that there is wanted in this intensely luminous century a more progressive theology. We are afraid that instead of bringing greater light, the advanced thinkers have made darkness worse. Christ makes us wise--

(1) By His teaching. All you want to know of God, of sin, of life, of death, of eternity, &c., Christ has either personally, or by His Spirit in the Word of God, taught you. Anything that you find out for yourself over and above revelation, is folly.

(2) By His example. You shall never be a fool if you follow Christ, except in the estimation of fools.

(3) By His presence. Let none of us ever be so foolish as to suppose that when we have received Jesus we have occasion to blush when we are in the company of the very wisest. Carry a bold face when you confront the brazen-faced philosophy which insults your Lord.

2. Righteousness. The doctrine of imputed righteousness is firmly established in the Word of God; yet it is possible to put too much stress upon imputed, and scarcely enough upon righteousness. Not only is Christs righteousness imputed to me, but it is mine actually, for Christ is mine.

3. Sanctification.

(1) Because we are in Christ we have the basis of sanctification, which consists in being set apart.

(2) The power by which we are sanctified comes to us by virtue of our union with Christ. The Holy Spirit who sanctifies us through the truth works in us by virtue of our union with Jesus.

(3) Let Jesus always be the motive for your sanctification. Is it not a strange thing that some professors should look to Christ alone for pardon and justification, and run away to Moses when they desire sanctification? The love of Christ constraineth us; not fear of hell.

4. Redemption. Somebody says: That ought to have come first; because redemption is the first blessing that we enjoy. Ay, but it is the last as well. You are not yet redeemed altogether. By price you are--but you are not yet redeemed by power. In a measure you are set free by Divine power, but there are links of the old chains yet to be snapped from off, and there is a bondage still about you from which you are ere long to be delivered. You are waiting for the adoption, to wit the redemption of the body. Conclusion: If all this be the case, then let all our glory be unto Him. What insanity it is to boast in any but in our Lord Jesus! How foolish are they who are proud of their wisdom, of their wealth, &c. (C. H. Spurgeon.)

Christ the wisdom of believers

I. Because of those new and illustrious revelations which he has given to us of God. Christ is the great Teacher of God.

1. By declaration. In the course of His ministrations He did not reason concerning God. No man hath seen God at any time. Man, therefore, must darkly reason, and doubtfully infer. The only-begotten Son, who lay in the bosom of the Father, neither acquired nor made known this knowledge in that way. He hath declared Him. An instance of this declaratory mode of teaching we have in His conversation with the Samaritan woman (Joh_4:21-24). What instruction is here! What a contrast to the teachings of men!

2. By action. In His life, He was the visible image of Gods purity; in His works, of Gods power; in His condescending compassion, of Gods yearning goodness; in the freeness of His gifts, of Gods abundant grace and liberality; in His intercourse with His disciples, of Gods regard for pious humble souls; in His denunciations of judgment, of Gods justice; and in His death, the brightest and most awful demonstration was given of His holiness, justice, and love united.

II. By the views which He has given us of the moral condition of man. The sinfulness, helplessness, and danger of mankind have all been acknowledged and felt; but in what new and awful views are they placed by Christ! Sin is not a trifle. See the proof of this in the sufferings of thy Saviour. It is not in man to make atonement for sin. Behold, the Victim which God appointed was both God and man. The punishment of sin is not light. If the Substitute so suffered, what must the principal suffer, should he reject his Saviour? By those sufferings justice was satisfied, and God reconciled to man; and this light is thrown upon our condition, that, sinful, helpless, and endangered as it is, we are all invited to obtain mercy.

III. In the discoveries he has made of the nature, extent, and possibility of holiness. The foulest blot in creation is an unholy spirit. The brightest, the loveliest idea that can enter the human mind is that of moral order, and the purity of the heart. The nature of real holiness is explained to us by Christ. It is not a ceremonial holiness--the mistake of superstition. It is not merely a regulation of the heart and conduct--the mistake of philosophers. It is not a sentimental approval of what is fair and good--the mistake of men of imagination. It is the conversion of the heart to God; the renewal of the primitive image of God in man. The possibility of this is explained by Christ. Without hope there could be no effort. The agency exhibited by Christ in the accomplishment of our sanctification is equal to the effect. His Spirit is the sanctifier; and the whole process of our consecration to God is the mighty working of the Holy Ghost, with the means which He has appointed in order to that end. (R. Watson.)

Wisdom in Christ

Having Christ, believers have a key which unlocks the mysteries of Gods eternal purpose of mercy and of the present life; and knowing this eternal purpose and the eternal realities, they are able to choose their steps in life. (Prof. Beet.)

Union with Christ the only way to sanctification

Consider Rom_7:4; Joh_15:5; Gal_2:20.

I. The holiness derived from Christ. It is that disposition of heart and course of life which is conformable to Gods holy law, and pleases Him.

1. True holiness is universal in respect of the commands of God (Psa_119:6). A profane life is a sure evidence of a profane heart (Gal_5:19, &c.).

2. True holiness is not only in external duties, but necessarily includes internal obedience of the soul to the will of God (Psa_24:3).

3. In true holiness there is a bent, inclination, and propensity of heart to obedience. By Adams fall the hearts of men got a wrong set (Rom_8:7; Hos_11:7). Now, in sanctification it is bent the other way, towards God and godliness (2Th_3:5), that as the needle in the compass, touched with a good loadstone, turns towards the north, so the heart, touched by sanctifying grace, inclines Godward and Christward.

4. As the love of God is the great comprehensive duty of holiness, love is the fulfilling of the law; so love runs through all the duties of religion, to give them the tincture of holiness (Heb_6:10).

5. True holiness is influenced by the command of God. The will of God is not only the rule, but the reason of a holy life (Joh_5:30).

6. True holiness has for its chief end the glory of God (1Co_10:31). He that is the first cause of all goodness must needs be the last end of it.

7. Lastly, true holiness is universal as regards man.

(1) Mortification is universal (Gal_5:24). It is no true mortification where one lust is spared.

(2) Vivification is universal (2Co_5:17). As when the body of Christ was raised there was life put into every member; so when the soul is raised to live the life of holiness, the image of God is repaired in all its parts, and the soul embraces the whole yoke of Christ, so far as it knows the same. So that sanctification sets a man on every known duty.

II. This holiness is derived from Christ, according to the grand device of infinite wisdom for the sanctifying of an unholy world.

1. God made the first Adam holy, and all mankind was so in Him (Ecc_7:29).

2. Adam, sinning, lost the image of God, so that all mankind are naturally dead in sin.

3. Mans sanctification by himself thus being hopeless, it pleased God to constitute a Mediator, to be the head of sanctifying influences to all that should partake of them.

4. Though by the death and resurrection of Christ the sanctification of His people is infallibly insured, as the corruption of all mankind was by the fall of Adam; yet we cannot actually partake of Christs holiness till we have a spiritual being in Him, even as we partake not of Adams corruption till we have a natural being from him.

5. As Christ is the prime receptacle of the Spirit of holiness, as the head of all the saints; so the continual supplies of that Spirit are to be derived from Him for the saints progress in holiness, till they come to perfection. And faith is the great mean of communication betwixt Christ and us (Act_15:9).

III. Uses.

1. Of information. This lets us see--

(1) The absolute necessity of holiness.

(2) In vain do men attempt sanctification without coming to Christ for it.

(3) Unholiness ought not to stop a sinner from coming to Christ, more than a disease ought to hinder a man to take the physicians help, or cold from taking the benefit of the fire.

(4) True faith is the souls coming to Christ for sanctification as well as justification. For faith must receive Christ as God offers Him, and He offers Him with all His salvation. Now He is made sanctification. Wherefore the soul, being willing to take Christ with all His salvation, to be sanctified, comes to Him for it.

2. Of exhortation. Come then to Christ for sanctification, and note the following motives.

(1) If ye be not holy ye will never see heaven (Heb_12:14).

(2) Ye will never attain holiness if ye come not to Christ for it.

(a) While ye are out of Christ ye are under the curse; and is it possible for the cursed tree to bring forth the fruit of holiness?

(b) Can ye be holy without sanctifying influences, or can ye expect that these shall be conveyed to you otherwise than through a Mediator, by His Spirit?

(c) Ye have nothing wherewith to produce holiness. The most skilful musician cannot play unless his instrument be in tune. The lame man, if he were ever so willing, cannot run till he be cured. Ye are under an utter impotency, by reason of the corruption of your nature.

(d) If ye will come to Christ ye shall be made holy. There is a fulness of merit and spirit in Him for sanctification. Come then to the fountain of holiness. The worst of sinners may be sanctified this way (1Co_6:11). (T. Boston, D. D.)

Christ our righteousness

One day, as I was passing into the field, and that too with some dashes on my conscience, fearing lest all was not right, suddenly this sentence fell upon my soul, Thy righteousness is in heaven; and methought withal I saw with the eyes of my soul Jesus Christ at Gods right hand. There, I say, was my righteousness, so that wherever I was, or whatever I was doing, God could not say of me, He wants a righteousness, for that was just before Him. I also saw, moreover, that it was not my good frame that made my righteousness better, nor my bad frame that made my righteousness worse; for my righteousness was Jesus Christ Himself, The same yesterday, to-day, and for ever. Now did my chains fall off my legs indeed. I was loosed from my afflictions and my irons; my temptations also fled away, so that from that time those dreadful Scriptures of God left off to trouble me. (John Bunyan.)

Christ is our sanctification

I. What is sanctification?

1. It is to be changed (2Co_3:18). Sanctification makes a great change; the judgment is changed, the disposition, the way, the company.

2. It is to be cured. Sin is the sickness of the soul. The only physician is our Lord Jesus Christ, raised up of God for that purpose; no hand but His can heal us.

3. It is to be cleansed. Sin is the pollution of the soul; and it is pollution in grain, such as nothing can wash us from but the fountain opened, and that fountain is Christ (Zec_13:1).

4. It is to be clothed. A sinful condition is a naked condition (Rev_3:17). And what must poor naked souls do, but come to Christ, to His shop, and here buy of Him white raiment (Rev_3:18; Zec_3:3-4). I clothed thee also with broidered work, &c. (Eze_16:10-14). Grace is rich raiment, princely, priestly, comely clothing, that waxeth not old.

5. It is to be consecrated. Sanctifying is the same with consecrating, that is, setting apart from common and profane to holy and spiritual uses, as persons, places, vessels, times, were under the Old Testament.

II. How is Jesus Christ made all this to us?

1. Principally by the working of His Spirit and grace. The Spirit of Christ is the Sanctifier. When He comes into the heart to dwell there, He renews, and He regenerates, and He raises, and He reconciles. It is through Jesus Christ. If He had not satisfied and died, to make God friends with us, He would never have sent the Spirit, to make us friends with Him.

2. Instrumentally by the Word, Sanctify them through Thy truth (Joh_17:17). Error never sanctifies. Truth only doth that (Jam_1:17; Tit_1:1). The Word of truth begins, and the same carries on this good work.

III. The practical improvement.

1. Shall I propound one needful question to you? Are ye sanctified? is Jesus Christ made of God sanctification to you? It is a thing that may be known. There are three marks:

(1) Where Christ is made to us sanctification, it is become natural to us to walk in all holy obedience to the will of God. I say natural, not to the old, but to the new, nature. Then, says one, I fear I am not sanctified. I reply, The trial is not to be made by any one single action at any one time, but by our course and way. How is it ordinarily with us? There is no man but doth something that beasts do; but is he therefore a beast? There is no beast but doth something that a man doth; but is he therefore a man?

(2) Where Christ is made to us sanctification, holiness is highly prized and dearly loved, and more and more of it earnestly desired. I believe it is never otherwise among the truly sanctified.

(3) Where Christ is made to us sanctification, He is owned and acknowledged as our all in all. The crown is set upon His head. To us to live is Christ.

2. I shall suppose you now propounding to me another needful question. What may I do that Christ may be made to me sanctification?

(1) We must be inwardly and thoroughly convinced that there is an absolute necessity He should be so. If we mean to please God in this world. None but the sanctified are accepted of Him, He hath no pleasure but where His image is. Our sacrifices are an abomination, our prayers an abomination, otherwise. Till the tree is good the fruit cannot be good. And also, if we mean to enjoy God in the other world. Without holiness no man shall see the Lord (Heb_12:14).

(2) We must apply ourselves to the Lord Jesus by faith and prayer.

(3) We must attend upon the ordinances. These are the conduit pipes through which the grace of sanctification is conveyed to poor souls.

3. What must they do to whom Christ is already made sanctification?

(1) They have cause to bless God for it every day, all their days (Psa_103:1-3).

(2) They must press after further degrees of sanctification, more and more. Dying to sin. Living to righteousness. (Philip Henry.)

Christ is our redemption

That Jesus Christ is made of God unto all men that are in Him redemption.

I. What does this mean--made redemption? He is made of God redemption to us; that is, God hath ordained and appointed Him from all eternity, and in the fulness of time raised Him up, and sent Him, to be the author and procurer of redemption for us; or, which is all one, to be a redeemer to us (Luk_1:68). Now to redeem is, in general, to recover those that are in bondage out of bondage, as the Jews were released by Cyrus out of their captivity in Babylon. Redemption, viz.

1. By power; when those who kept us in bondage are conquered and overcome.

2. By exchange; when one prisoner is let go for another.

3. By price; when a sum of money is paid to buy off a prisoner, more or less, according as the quality of the prisoner is. Now this last is properly redemption, and this last is the way in which Jesus Christ hath made us free. To this purpose we are told of a covenant of redemption which was transacted from all eternity between the Father and the Son, the terms whereof were--That if the Son would come and be man and die, that dying of His should be accepted as the price or ransom of all the elect, how many soever there were. The Son accepted of this motion, did what was to be done, suffered what was to be suffered, and so became our redemption. See some footsteps of this covenant transaction in two Scriptures (Psa_40:6-8 : Isa_49:2; Isa_49:6; Isa_49:9). But--

II. What find of redemption is this?

1. Needed redemption. It is the redemption that we needed. He came to supply all our needs. Now among other needs, being in bondage, we needed one to redeem us; not only one to clothe us, being naked; to feed us, being hungry; to wash us, being filthy; to heal us, being wounded; to cure us, being sick;--but to redeem us. If He had done all this for us in our bondage, and left us still in bondage, we had been miserable notwithstanding.

2. It is a nonsuch redemption, when compared with other redemption. Whether personal, as Joseph out of prison, or Peter (Act_12:1-25.), or Daniel out of the lions den. Whether public, as from Egypt, from Babylon. It surpasses them all in number, way, and consequences.

3. Distinguishing redemption. It is denied to the angels that sinned. The commons are ransomed, the nobles left behind. He paid no price to redeem them.

4. It is divers, manifold redemption according to the manifold evils that we lay under. They are of three sorts--temporal, spiritual, eternal.

(1) He is redemption to us from temporal evils. Such as concern the body, and the life that now is; such as sickness, death, poverty. Not that they shall not befall us, but that they shall not hurt us. The sting of them is taken out (Psa_91:10).

(2) Which is better, it is redemption to us from spiritual evils. These are worse evils than the former, because they affect the better part of us. The guilt of sin; whereby we are bound over to punishment, the fear whereof causes bondage (Heb_2:14). To redeem us from this, He is made righteousness to us for our justification. The filth and power of sin; whereby sin hath dominion over us, and we are perfect slaves to it, the vilest of slaves (Joh_8:34). To redeem us from this He is made sanctification to us.

(3) There is another sort of evils yet, and those are eternal evils; and by redemption here we are especially to understand our deliverance from those. Because it is mentioned after righteousness and sanctification as a thing different from them; and because of what we find in other Scriptures, where redemption is applied to something in the other world: Waiting for the redemption of the body (Rom_8:23), that is, the resurrection and glorification of our bodies: compare Luk_21:28 with Eph_4:30, the day of redemption.

1. What those eternal evils are which redemption frees us from.

(1) It frees us for ever, not only from the guilt, and filth, and power of sin, but from the very being of it also.

(2) It frees us from Satan ever having any more to do with us, either as a tempter or as a tormentor. He is busy now with the saved (1Pe_5:8), and he will be more busy hereafter with those that perish (Mat_18:34). But where the redeemed are he comes not (Rom_16:20).

(3) It frees us from all sorrow and suffering, of what kind soever, in mind or body (Rev_21:4).

(4) It frees us from all society with wicked and ungodly men, and that for ever. They are blended here, and it pleases neither (Psa_120:5-6). But there is a redemption coming (Mat_25:33).

2. What there is that is positive in this redemption.

(1) As soon as the redeemed die their souls immediately go to God, to the vision and fruition of Him in glory (Luk_23:43; Php_1:23).

(2) At the resurrection, at the last day, the same soul and the same body shall come together again. Though we are not redeemed from death, we are to be from the grave (Isa_26:19; Hos_13:14).

(3) To all eternity there shall be a fulness of uninterrupted joy and felicity; a remaining rest; a Sabbath without a week of working days after it, perpetual, eternal.

3. I shall show how Jesus Christ is made this to us, this future redemption. He is the purchaser of it; it was bought with His blood, bought back. We had mortgaged it for an apple, and must never have retrieved it, had not He died (Eph_1:14). He is our forerunner in it (Heb_6:20). He went thither as our attorney or proxy, to take possession of the purchase in our name and stead (Joh_14:1-2). It is He that Himself actually puts us into possession of it. At the resurrection it is His voice and trumpet that raises the dead; He is the resurrection. It is He Himself alone that is the sole object of all our future happiness; to be with Him, to see and enjoy Him, is our future redemption (Rev_21:23).

III. The improvement.

1. Then it concerns us all, by all means, to give all diligence to make sure to ourselves our interest in this redemption.

2. If Jesus Christ be made of God this redemption to you, then, in Gods name, take the comfort of it. Lift up the head and hands that hang down; Rejoice in the Lord always, and again, I say, rejoice.

3. Then live as the redeemed of the Lord. (Philip Henry.)

Christ our sanctification

I remember a short time ago, when I was conducting a service at Oxford, a working man came into the meeting. He was the first penitent that night, and he has frequently told me since that he had been most honestly and sincerely trying for twenty years to be a true Christian, but he had failed every day and almost given up in despair when he came by accident and heard this truth--that his failure was due to the fact that he had been trying to be a Christian in his own strength. He then went into the inquiry-room, trusted in Christ, and was united with Christ, shared the life of Christ, and from that day to this he has done what he could not do for twenty years before, although he was really trying, because he was strong in the life which he shared with Christ. Are not some of us in danger of supposing that we can make ourselves better Christians, more Christlike Christians, by our own resolution, and efforts, and rules, and discipline? (Hugh Price Hughes, M. A.)

The Biblical Illustrator, edited by Joseph S. Exell (c. 1880s–1900s) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

1Co 1:30-31. But of him — Of his free mercy and grace; are ye in Christ Jesus — Ingrafted into him, and therefore possessed of an interest in him, and union with him; who of God — The original source of our salvation in all its parts, and of all the gifts and graces we possess; is made unto us who now believe — But were formerly ignorant and foolish; wisdom — Teaching us by his word and Spirit, and making us wise unto salvation; righteousness — The procuring cause of justification through his obedience unto death, to us who were before under guilt, condemnation, and wrath; sanctification — The principle and example, source and author of universal holiness to us, whereas before we were altogether polluted and dead in sin; and redemption — Complete deliverance from all the consequences of sin, and especially from death, the punishment of it, by a glorious resurrection, (termed the redemption of our body, Rom 8:23,) and eternal bliss both of soul and body. That, as it is written, (see on Jer 9:23-24,) He that glorieth, let him glory in the Lord — Not in himself, not in the flesh, not in the world, not in any creature, nor in any endowment or qualification, mental or bodily.

Joseph Benson's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1811–1818) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

1:30 When people are united . . . with Christ Jesus, God makes them righteous, holy, and free (see 6:11; Rom 3:21-26; 5:17-21). This work of Christ is an expression of God’s wisdom.

Tyndale Open Study Notes — © Tyndale Open Resources, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

1Co 1:30. Ἐξ αὐτοῦ, of Him) Ye are of God, not now any longer of the world, Rom 11:36; Eph 2:8.—ὑμεῖς, ye) An antithesis to many, 1Co 1:26. Those persons themselves, whom the apostle addresses, ye, were not the many wise men according to the flesh, etc.—ἐστὲ ἐν Χριστῷ Ἰησοῦ, ye are in Christ Jesus) ye are Christians, etc. The antithesis is between, things which are not [1Co 1:28], and, ye are [1Co 1:30]; likewise flesh [1Co 1:26; 1Co 1:29], and Christ [1Co 1:30].—ἐγενήθη ἡμῖν, is made to us) More is implied in these words, than if he had said; we have become wise, etc., He is made to us wisdom, etc., in respect of our knowledge, and, before that was attained, by Himself in His cross, death, resurrection. To us the dative of advantage.—σοφία, wisdom) whereas we were formerly fools. The variety of the Divine goodness in Christ presupposes that our misery is from ourselves.—δικαιοσύνη, righteousness) Whereas we were formerly weak (without strength) [Rom 5:6], comp. Isa 45:24. Jehovah, our righteousness, Jer 23:6, where (comp. 1Co 1:5) he is speaking of the Son: for the Father is not called our righteousness.—ἁγιασμὸς, sanctification) whereas we were formerly base.—ἁπολύτρωσις) redemption, even to the utmost; whereas we were formerly despised, ἐξουθενημένοι [1Co 1:28].

Bengel's Gnomon of the New Testament — English translation (T&T Clark, Edinburgh, 1860) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

1Co_1:30 f. In contrast (δέ) to the ὅπως μὴ καυχ. π. σ. ἐνώπιον τ. Θεοῦ, we have now the true relation to God and the true and right καυχᾶσθαι arising out of it: But truly it is Gods work, that ye are Christians and so partakers of the greatest divine blessings, that none of you should in any way boast himself save only in God. Comp Eph_2:8 f.

ἘΞ ΑὐΤΟῦ] has the principal emphasis: From no other than God is derived the fact that you are in Christ (as the element of your life). Ἐξ denotes the causal origination. Comp Eph_2:8 : ΟὐΚ ἘΞ ὙΜῶΝ, ΘΕΟῦ ΤῸ ΔῶΡΟΝ, also in profane writers: ἘΚ ΘΕῶΝ, ἘΚ ΔΙΌς (Valckenaer, a[283] Herod. ii. 13); and generally, Winer, p. 345 [E. T. 460]. While Hofmann here, too, as in 1Co_1:28, introduces into ΕἾΝΑΙ the notion of the true existence, which they have from God in virtue of their being included in Christ, others again, following Chrysostom, Theodoret, and Theophylact, take ἐξ αὐτοῦ δὲ ὑμεῖς ἐστε by itself in such a way as to make it express sonship with God (comp Ellendt, Lex. Soph. I. p. 553), and regard ἐν as conveying the more precise definition of the mode whereby this sonship is attained: ΠΑῖΔΕς ΑὐΤΟῦ ἘΣΤΕ, ΔΙᾺ ΤΟῦ ΧΡΙΣΤΟῦ ΤΟῦΤΟ ΓΕΝΌΜΕΝΟΙ, Chrysostom; comp Calvin, Beza, Grotius, Flatt, Billroth, Rückert, Ewald, and others. But wrongly; or the conception ἘΚ ΘΕΟῦ ΕἾΝΑΙ in the supposed sense is Johannine, but is not in accordance with the Pauline mode of expression (not even in Gal_4:4); and ΕἾΝΑΙ ἘΝ ΧΡΙΣΤῷ was a conception so habitually in use (Rom_16:7; Rom_16:11; 2Co_5:17; Gal_1:22, al[286]), that it must have occurred of itself here also to the reader; besides, the ἈΠῸ ΘΕΟῦ which follows answers to the ἘΞ ΑὐΤΟῦ. This applies, too, against Osiander, who, after ἘΞ ΑὐΤΟῦ, mentally supplies ΓΕΓΕΝΗΜΈΝΟΙ: being born of God, ye are members of Christ.

ὙΜΕῖς] with emphasis: ye for your part, ye the chosen out of the world.

ὃς ἐγενήθη … ἀπολύτρωσις] brings home to the heart the high value of that God-derived ΕἾΝΑΙ ἘΝ ΧΡΙΣΤῷ: who has become to us from God wisdom, righteousness and holiness, and redemption. Ἐγενήθη is simply a later (Doric) form for ἐγένετο (Thom. Mag. p. 189; Lobeck, a[287] Phryn. p. 108 f.), not, as Rückert makes it (comp Luther: gemacht ist), a true passive in sense; comp Act_4:4; Col_4:11; 1Th_2:14 (Eph_3:7, Lachm.). Christ became to us wisdom, etc., inasmuch as His manifestation and His whole saving work have procured for believers these blessings; namely, first of all,what was of primary importance in the connection of 1Co_1:19 ff.,wisdom, for to believers is revealed the counsel of God, in whom are all treasures of wisdom and knowledge (see 1Co_2:7 ff.; Col_2:3); righteousness, for by means of faith we are through the Lords atoning death constituted righteous before God (Rom_3:24 f., al[290]; see on Rom_1:17); holiness (see on Rom_6:19; Rom_6:22), for in those who are justified by faith Christ works continually by His Spirit the new holy life (Rom_8:1-11); redemption, for Christ has delivered believers, through His blood paid as their ransom (Rom_3:24; Rom_6:20; Rom_7:23), from the wrath of God, to which they were subject before the entrance of faith (see on Eph_1:7; Eph_2:3). The order in which these predicates stand is not illogical; for after the first intellectual benefit (σοφία) which we have received in Christ, marked out too from the rest by the position of the word, Paul brings forward the ethical blessedness of the Christian, and that in the first place positively as δικαιοσύνη and ἉΓΙΑΣΜΌς, but then alsoas though in triumph that there was now nothing more to fear from Godnegatively as ἀπολύτρωσις, in which is quenched all the wrath of God against former sin (instead of which with the Christian there are now righteousness and holiness). Hence in explaining ἀπολύτρ. we should not (with Chrysostom) abide by the general ἈΠΉΛΛΑΞΕΝ ἩΜᾶς ἈΠῸ ΠΆΝΤΩΝ ΤῶΝ ΚΑΚῶΝ, which is already contained in what goes before; nor again should we, with Grotius, Calovius, Rückert, Osiander, Neander, and others (comp also Schmid, bibl. Theol. II. p. 325; and Lipsius, Paulin. Rechtfertigungslehre, p. 8), make it the final redemption from death and all evils, such as is the object of ἐλπίς, the redemption perfecting itself beyond our earthly-life (Hofmann), or the definitive acquittal at the last judgment (Weiss, bibl. Theol. p. 327). In the passages alleged to support the interpretation in question, this sense is given solely by the accessory defining phrasesnamely, in Eph_1:14 by τῆς περιποιήσεως, in Eph_4:30 by ἩΜΈΡΑΝ, and in Rom_8:23 by ΤΟῦ ΣΏΜΑΤΟς. Rückert (comp Neander) is further of opinion that ΔΙΚΑΙΟΣΎΝΗ Κ.Τ.Λ[293] is merely explanatory of how far Christ is to us σοφία, namely, as δικαιοσύνη, ἁγιασμός, and ἀπολύτρ., and that these three refer to the three essential things in the Christian life, faith, love, and hope: the τέ binding together the last three words and separating them from the first. But (1) the τέ links closely together only δικαιοσ. and ἁγιασμ., and does not include ἀπολ.; much less does it separate the three last predicates from σοφία;[294] on the contrary, τε καί embraces δικ. and ἁγ., as it were, in one, so that then ἀπολύτρωσις comes to be added with the adjunctive καί as a separate element, and consequently there results the following division: (a) wisdom, (b) righteousness and holiness, and (c) redemption. See as to this use of τε καί … καί, Hartung, Partikell. I. p. 102; Ellendt, Lex. Soph. I. p. 878 f.; Baeumlein, Partik. p. 224 f. (2) Paul would, on this theory, have left his readers without the slightest hint of the subordinate relation of the three last predicates to the first, although he could so easily have indicated it by ὡς or a participle. (3) According to the correct interpretation, ἀπολύτρ. is not something yet future, but something which has already taken place in the death of Christ. Bos (Obs. Misc. p. 1 ff.), Alethius, Clericus, Nösselt (Opusc. II. p. 127 ff.), Valckenaer, and Krause interpret in a still more involved way, holding that only the words from ὅς to Θεοῦ apply to Christ, and these are to be put in a parenthesis; while δικαιοσύνη κ.τ.λ[295] are abstracta pro concretis (2Co_5:21), and belong to ὑμεῖς ἘΣΤΕ: Ejus beneficio vos estis in Christo Jesu ΔΙΚΑΙΟΣΥΝΗ Κ.Τ.Λ[296], Valckenaer. How ambiguous and unsuitable would such a statement as ὃς ἐγεν. σοφία κ.τ.λ[297] be for a mere parenthetical notice!

ἈΠῸ ΘΕΟῦ] on Gods part, by God as the author of the fact. Comp Herod. vi. 125: ἈΠῸ ΔῈ ἈΛΚΜΑΊΩΝΟς … ἘΓΈΝΟΝΤΟ ΚΑῚ ΚΆΡΤΑ ΛΑΜΠΡΟΊ. See generally, Ellendt, Lex. Soph. I. p. 194; Winer, p. 348 [E. T. 464]; Buttmann, neut. Gr. p. 280 [E. T. 325]. That it belongs to ἐγενήθη, and not to ΣΟΦΊΑ, is proved by the ἩΜῖΝ which stands between. The latter, however, is not to be understood, with Rückert, as though it ran Ἡ ἩΜΕΤΈΡΑ ΣΟΦΊΑ (what to the Hellene his ΣΟΦΊΑ is, or is merely assumed to be, namely, the ground of confidence,that Christ is to us), else Paul must have written: ὃς ἡμῖν ἐγενήθη ἡ σοφία with the article, and have placed ἩΜῖΝ first with the emphasis of contrast.

Observe further, that Paul has said ὙΜΕῖς with his eye still, as in 1Co_1:26, upon the church to which his readers belonged; but now, in adducing the blessings found in Christ, he extends the range of his view to all Christians; and hence, instead of the individualizing ὙΜΕῖς, we have the ἩΜῖΝ including himself and others.

[283] d refers to the note of the commentator or editor named on the particular passage.

[286] l. and others; and other passages; and other editions.

[287] d refers to the note of the commentator or editor named on the particular passage.

[290] l. and others; and other passages; and other editions.

[293] .τ.λ. καὶ τὰ λοιπά.

[294] With σοφία the τέ has nothing whatever to do. Hofmann makes it serve as a link of connection to σοφία. In that case, Paul must have written: σοφία τε καὶ δικαιοσ. κ. ἁγ. κ. ἀπολ.

[295] .τ.λ. καὶ τὰ λοιπά.

[296] .τ.λ. καὶ τὰ λοιπά.

[297] .τ.λ. καὶ τὰ λοιπά.

Meyer — Critical and Exegetical Commentary on the New Testament — English translation by Peter Christie, edited by Frederick Crombie (T&T Clark, 1880) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

1Co 1:30 . ἐξ αὐτοῦ δὲ ὑμεῖς ἐστε ἐν Χριστῷ Ἰησοῦ : is ἐν Χ . Ἰησοῦ or ἐξ αὐτοῦ ( sc. τοῦ Θεοῦ ) the predicate to ἐστέ ? Does P. mean, “It comes of Him (God) that you are in Christ Jesus” i.e. , “Your Christian status is due to God” (so Mr [256] , Hn [257] , Bt [258] , Ed [259] , Gd [260] , El [261] )? or, “It is in Christ Jesus that you are of Him” “Your new life derived from God is grounded in Christ” (Gr [262] Ff [263] , Cv [264] , Bz [265] , Rückert, Hf [266] , Lt [267] )? The latter interpretation suits the order of words and the trend of thought (see Lt [268] ): “ You , whom the world counts as nothing (1Co 1:26 ff.: note the contrastive δέ ), are of Him before whom all human glory vanishes (1Co 1:29 ); in Christ this Divine standing is yours”. Thus Paul exalts those whom he had abased. The conception of the Christian estate as “of God,” if Johannine, is Pauline too ( cf. 1Co 8:6 , 1Co 10:12 , 1Co 12:6 , 2Co 4:6 ; 2Co 5:18 , etc.), and lies in Paul’s fundamental appropriation, after Jesus, of God as πατὴρ ἡμῶν (1Co 1:4 , and passim ), and in the correlative doctrine of the υἱοθεσία ; the whole passage (1Co 1:18-29 ) is dominated by the thought of the Divine initiative in salvation. This derivation from God is not further defined, as in Gal 3:26 ; enough to state the grand fact, and to ground it “in Christ Jesus” (see note, 1Co 1:4 ).

[256] Meyer’s Critical and Exegetical Commentary (Eng. Trans.).

[257] C. F. G. Heinrici’s Erklärung der Korintherbriefe (1880), or 1 Korinther in Meyer’s krit.-exegetisches Kommentar (1896).

[258] J. A. Beet’s St. Paul’s Epp. to the Corinthians (1882).

[259] T. C. Edwards’ Commentary on the First Ep. to the Corinthians . 2

[260] F. Godet’s Commentaire sur la prem. Ép. aux Corinthiens (Eng. Trans.).

[261] C. J. Ellicott’s St. Paul’s First Epistle to the Corinthians .

[262] Greek, or Grotius’ Annotationes in N.T.

[263] Fathers.

[264] Calvin’s In Nov. Testamentum Commentarii .

[265] Beza’s Nov. Testamentum: Interpretatio et Annotationes (Cantab., 1642).

[266] J. C. K. von Hofmann’s Die heilige Schrift N.T. untersucht , ii. 2 (2te Auflage, 1874).

[267] J. B. Lightfoot’s (posthumous) Notes on Epp. of St. Paul (1895).

[268] J. B. Lightfoot’s (posthumous) Notes on Epp. of St. Paul (1895).

The relative clause, “who was made wisdom,” etc., unfolds the content of the life communicated “to us from God” in Christ. Of the four defining complements to ἐγενήθη ἡμῖν , σοφία stands by itself, with the other three attached by way of definition “wisdom from God, viz. , both righteousness, etc.”; Mr [269] , Al [270] , Gd [271] , however, read the four as coordinate. On σοφία the whole debate, from 1Co 1:17 onwards, hinges: we have seen how God turned the world’s wisdom to folly (1Co 1:20-25 ); now He did this not for the pleasure of it, but for our salvation to establish His own wisdom (1Co 1:24 ), and to bestow it upon us in Christ (“us” means Christians collectively cf. 1Co 1:17 while “you” meant the despised Cor [272] Christians, 1Co 1:26 ). This wisdom (how diff [273] from the other! See 1Co 1:191Co 1:19 ; Jas 3:15 ff.) comes as sent “from God” ( ἀπὸ of ultimate source: ἐξ of direct derivation). It is a vitalising moral force δύναμις καὶ σοφία (1Co 1:24 ) taking the shape of δικαιοσύνη τε καὶ ἁγιασμός , and signally contrasted in its spiritual reality and regenerating energy with the σοφία λόγου and σοφία τ . κόσμου , after which the Cor [274] hankered. Righteousness and Sanctification are allied “by their theological affinity” (El [275] ): cf. note on 1Co 6:11 , and Rom 6 passim hence the double copula τε … καί ; καὶ ἀπολύτρωσις follows at a little distance (so Lt [276] , Hn [277] , Ed [278] ; who adduce numerous cl [279] parls. to this use of the Gr [280] conjunctions): “who was made wisdom to us from God viz. , both righteousness and sanctification, and redemption”. δικαιοσύνη carries with it, implicitly, the Pauline doctrine of Justification by faith in the dying, risen Christ (see 1Co 6:11 , and other parls.; esp., for Paul’s teaching at Cor [281] , 2Co 5:21 ). With the righteousness of the believer justified in Christ sanctification (or consecration ) is concomitant (see note on the kindred terms in 2); the connexion of chh. 5 and 6 in Rom. expounds this τε … καί ; all δικαιοσύνη ἐν Χριστῷ is εἰς ἁγιασμόν . (Vbl. nouns in - μός denote primarily a process, then the resulting state.) Ἀπολύτρωσις (based on the λύτρον of Mat 20:28 , 1Ti 2:6 , with ἀπὸ of separation, release ), deliverance by ransom , is the widest term of the three “primum Christi donum quod inchoatur in nobis, et ultimum quod perficitur” (Cv [282] ); it looks backward to the cross (1Co 1:18 ), by whose blood we “were bought” for God (1Co 6:19 ), so furnishing the ground both of justification (Rom 3:24 ) and sanctification (Heb 10:10 ), and forward to the resurrection and glorification of the saints, whereby Christ secures His full purchased rights in them (Rom 8:23 ; Eph 1:14 ; Eph 4:30 ); thus Redemption covers the entire work of salvation, indicating the essential and just means of its accomplishment (see Cr [283] on λύτρον and derivatives).

[269] Meyer’s Critical and Exegetical Commentary (Eng. Trans.).

[270] Alford’s Greek Testament .

[271] F. Godet’s Commentaire sur la prem. Ép. aux Corinthiens (Eng. Trans.).

[272] Corinth, Corinthian or Corinthians.

[273] difference, different, differently.

[274] Corinth, Corinthian or Corinthians.

[275] C. J. Ellicott’s St. Paul’s First Epistle to the Corinthians .

[276] J. B. Lightfoot’s (posthumous) Notes on Epp. of St. Paul (1895).

[277] C. F. G. Heinrici’s Erklärung der Korintherbriefe (1880), or 1 Korinther in Meyer’s krit.-exegetisches Kommentar (1896).

[278] T. C. Edwards’ Commentary on the First Ep. to the Corinthians .

[279] classical.

[280] Greek, or Grotius’ Annotationes in N.T.

[281] Corinth, Corinthian or Corinthians.

[282] Calvin’s In Nov. Testamentum Commentarii .

[283] Cremer’s Biblico-Theological Lexicon of N.T. Greek (Eng. Trans.).

The Expositor's Greek Testament, edited by W. Robertson Nicoll (1897–1910) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Vv. 30, 31. “But of Him are ye in Christ Jesus, who, on the part of God, has been made unto us wisdom, as also righteousness and sanctification and redemption; 31. that, according as it is written, He that glorieth, let him glory in the Lord.”

Rückert, with his usual precision, asks whether the thought expressed in these two verses is logically connected with the passage as a whole; he answers in the negative, and sees in those two verses only an appendix. We think, as we have just pointed out, that they are on the contrary the indispensable complement of the passage. 1Co 1:26-29 : “See what your calling is not, and understand why!” 1Co 1:30-31 : “See what it is, and again understand why!” The δέ is therefore adversative to the vain boasting of the things that are wise, etc., henceforth reduced to silence; there is opposed the cry of triumph and praise on the side of the things foolish and weak; for 1Co 1:31 evidently forms the counterpart of 1Co 1:29.—᾿Εξ αὐτοῦ, of Him (God), expresses the essential idea of this conclusion: If things that were not have now become something, it is due to God alone; ἐκ therefore indicates the origin of this spiritual creation; comp. Eph 2:9. ῾Υμεῖς, ye: the things formerly weak, powerless, despised. This pronoun resumes the address of 1Co 1:26. — Calvin, Rückert, Hofmann see in the word ἐστέ, ye are, a contrast to the preceding expression: things which are not. “It is of God that your transition from nothingness to being proceeds.” The words, in Christ, would thus express, secondarily, the means whereby God has accomplished this miracle. Others strictly connect ἐξ αὐτοῦ with ἐστέ in the sense of the Johannine phrase: to be of God, to be born of God. But these two explanations have the awkwardness of separating the words ἐν Χριστῷ ᾿Ιησοῦ from ἐστέ; whereas we know well how frequently Paul uses the form εἶναι ἐν Χριστῷ. It is better therefore, as it seems to me, to translate thus: “It is of Him that ye are in Christ;” that is to say: “It is to God alone that you owe the privilege of having been called to the communion of Christ, and of having thereby become the wise and mighty and noble of the new era which is now opening on the world.” The following proposition will explain, by what Christ Himself was, these glorious effects of communion with Him. — The phrase εἶναι ἐν, to be in, denotes two moral facts: first, the act of faith whereby man lays hold of Christ; second, the community of life with Him contracted by means of this act of faith. In this relation the believer can appropriate all that Christ was, and thus become what he was not and what he could not become of himself.

In the proposition which follows, the apostle substitutes for ὑμεῖς, ye, the pronoun ἡμῖν, to us; and this because the matter in question now is, what Christ is objectively to men, and not the subjective appropriation of Him by believers.

The aor. Passive, ἐγενήθη, is generally regarded (Meyer, Edwards) as equivalent in meaning to the aor. Middle, ἐγένετο, was, became. It is, indeed, a form springing up from the dialects, and which was only introduced latterly into Attic Greek. But that does not, we think, prevent there being a difference in the use of the two forms. The passive form occurs in the New Testament only some fifty times, compared with about 550 times that the aor. Middle is used; and it is easy in each of those instances to see the meaning of being made, which is naturally that of the Passive. I think, therefore, that we must translate, not, “has been” or “has become,” but, has been made. This is confirmed by the adjunct ἀπὸ θεοῦ, on the part of God. Yet it should be remarked that the apostle has not written ὑπὸ θεοῦ, “by God.” The ἀπό, on the part of, weakens the passivity contained in the ἐγενήθη, and leaves space for the free action of Christ. In using the words ὃς ἐγενήθη, who has been made (historically), the apostle seems to have in mind the principal phases of Christ’s being: wisdom, by His life and teaching; righteousness, by His death and resurrection; sanctification, by His elevation to glory; redemption, by His future return.

The received text places the pronoun ἡμῖν, to us, before σοφία, wisdom. This reading would have the effect of bringing this substantive into proximity with the three following, from which it would only be separated by the adjunct ἀπὸ θεοῦ; and this adjunct again can be made to depend, not on the verb ἐγενήθη, but on the substantive σοφία itself: “wisdom coming from God.” In this case there would be nothing to separate it from the three following substantives. But the authority of the mss. speaks strongly in favour of the position of ἡμῖν after σοφία; and the adjunct ἀπὸ θεοῦ depends more naturally on the verb ἐγενήθη; it serves to bring out the idea of the ἐξ αὐτοῦ at the beginning of the verse. It must thus be held that the apostle’s intention was clearly to separate the first substantive from the other three, and this has led him to interpose between σοφία and the other substantives the two adjuncts: ἡμῖν and ἀπὸ θεοῦ.

If it is so, it is impossible to maintain the relation which Meyer establishes between the four substantives, according to which they express three co-ordinate notions: 1, that of knowledge of the Divine plan revealed in Christ (wisdom); 2, that of salvation, regarded on the positive side, of the blessings which it brings (righteousness and holiness); 3, that of salvation from the negative view-point, deliverance from condemnation and sin (redemption). Meyer rests his view on the fact that the particle τε καί binds the second and third terms closely together, isolating them at the same time from the first and fourth. But regard to philological exactness may have misled this excellent critic here, as in so many instances. Why, in that case, interpose the two adjuncts between the first term and the second? And is it not obvious at a glance that the three last terms are in the closest relation to one another, so that it is impossible to separate them into two distinct groups, co-ordinate with the first? This is what has led a large number of commentators (Rückert, Neander, Heinrici, Edwards, etc.) to see in the three last terms the explanation and development of the first: Christ has become our wisdom, and that inasmuch as He has brought us the most necessary of blessings, salvation, consisting of righteousness, sanctification, and redemption. It is easy in this case to understand why the first term, which states the general notion, has been separated from the other three which are subordinate to it. Only this explanation is not in harmony with the special sense of religious knowledge, in which the word wisdom is taken in the passage. Wisdom, as a plan of salvation, is contrasted, 1Co 1:24, with salvation itself as a Divine act (δύναμις, power). How does it come to be identified here with salvation itself? The word, therefore, cannot denote anything else here than the understanding of the Divine plan communicated to man by Jesus Christ. The parallel 1Co 1:24 leads us, I think, to the true explanation which Osiander has developed. According to him, the last three terms are the unfolding of the notion of δύναμις, power, as the counterpart to that of wisdom. In Christ there has been given first the knowledge of the Divine plan, whereby the believer is rendered wise; then to the revelation there has been added the carrying out of this salvation, by the acquisition of which we become strong. This effective salvation includes the three gifts: righteousness, holiness, redemption. The only objection to this view is that the τε καί would require to be placed so as to connect together σοφία on the one hand, and the following three terms on the other, whereas by its position this copula rather connects δικαιοσύνη and ἁγιασμός (righteousness and holiness), as the second καί connects the third substantive with the fourth. But the omission of a copula fitted to connect the first substantive with the other three may have been occasioned by two circumstances: 1, the two adjuncts which separate the word wisdom from the following three; 2, the difficulty of adding to the copula τε καί, which joins the word righteousness with the following, a new copula intended to connect it with the preceding (see Osiander). Then, if it is remembered that the salvation described in the last three substantives is only the realization of the Divine plan designated by the first (wisdom), it will be seen that these may be placed there as a sort of grammatical apposition to the first.

The idea of δικαιοσύνη, righteousness, is that developed by Paul in the first part of the Epistle to the Romans, chaps. 1-5. It is the act of grace whereby God removes the condemnation pronounced on the sinner, and places him relatively to Himself, as a believer, in the position of a righteous man. The possibility of such a Divine act is due to the death and resurrection of Christ.

The term ἁγιασμός, holiness or sanctification, is the Divine act which succeeds the preceding, and whereby there is created in the believer a state in harmony with his position as righteous. It is the destruction of sin by the gift of a will which the Holy Spirit has consecrated to God. This act is that described by the apostle in the succeeding passage of the Epistle to the Romans, Rom 6:1 to Rom 8:17. I have sought to show in my Commentary on that Epistle, at Rom 6:19, that the term ἁγιασμός denotes sanctification, not in the sense in which we usually take the word, as a progressive human work, but as the state of holiness divinely wrought in believers. Justification is generally regarded as a gift of God; but sanctification as the work by which man ought to respond to the gift of righteousness. St. Paul, on the contrary, sees in holiness a Divine work no less than in righteousness: Christ Himself is the holiness of the believer as well as his righteousness. This new work is due to His exaltation to glory, whence He sends the Holy Spirit; and by Him He communicates His own life to the justified believer (Joh 7:39; Joh 16:14). If, then, our righteousness is Christ for us, our sanctification is Christ in us, Christ is our holiness as well as our righteousness. — He is finally our redemption, our complete and final deliverance. Such is the meaning of the word ἀπολύτρωσις. The development of this third idea is found, Rom 8:18-30. This deliverance, which consists of entrance into glory, is the consummation of the two preceding acts of grace. It is by His glorious advent that Jesus will thus emancipate justified and sanctified believers from all the miseries of their present state, and give them an external condition corresponding to their spiritual state. Meyer asserts that this meaning of ἀπολύτρωσις would demand the complement τοῦ σώματος, of the body, as in Rom 8:23. But the term redemption embraces much more than the simple fact of the resurrection of the body. It has the wide sense in which we find it, Luk 21:28; Eph 1:14; Eph 4:30; Heb 11:35. As to the view of Meyer, who sees in this word only the negative side of moral redemption, deliverance from guilt and sin, it is certainly too weak, and besides this blessing was already implied in the two foregoing terms.

If we so obviously find in the Epistle to the Romans the development of the three last terms, in which the notion of salvation is summed up, we cannot forget that the development of the first, σοφία, occurs immediately afterwards in the same Epistle, in chaps. 9-11, which so admirably expound the whole plan of God.

Calvin rightly observes that it would be hard to find in the whole of Scripture a saying which more clearly expresses the different phases of Christ’s work.

Frédéric Louis Godet — Commentaries on Luke, John, Romans, and 1 Corinthians — English translation (T&T Clark, Edinburgh, 1870s–1890s) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

1Co_1:30

But of him are ye in Christ Jesus, who of God is made unto us wisdom, and righteousness, and sanctification and redemption.

To be in Christ Jesus is to be united to him,

1. Representatively, as we were in Adam, Rom_5:12-21; 1Co_15:22.

2. Vitally, as a branch is in the vine, or a member in the body, Joh_15:1-7.

3. Consciously and voluntarily by faith, Rom_8:1, et passim.

Of this union with Christ, the apostle teaches us here, first, its origin, and secondly, its effects. As to its origin, it is of God. Of him ye are in Christ Jesus. It is (ἐξ αὐτοῦ) of him as the efficient cause. It is to be referred to him alone that ye are in Christ. Your conversion or saving union with Christ is not due to yourselves; it is not because you are wiser, or better, or more diligent than others that you are thus distinguished. This which is the turning point in theology, and therefore in religion, is here most explicitly asserted. And it is not only asserted, but it is declared to be the purpose of God to make it apparent, and to force all men to acknowledge it. He so dispenses his grace as to make men see with regard to others, and to acknowledge with regard to themselves, that the fact that they are in Christ, or true Christians, is due to him and not to themselves. The effects of this union, as here stated, are, that Christ is of God (ἀπὸ Θεοῦ), as the author, made unto us,

1. Wisdom. Christ is the true wisdom. He is the Logos, the Revealer, in whom dwells all the fullness of the Godhead, and all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge. No man knoweth the Father but the Son, and he to whom the Son shall reveal him, Joh_1:18. Union with him, therefore, makes the believer truly wise. It secures the knowledge of God, whose glory is revealed in the face of Christ, and whom to know is eternal life. All true religious knowledge is derived from Christ, and it is only those who submit to his teaching who are wise unto salvation.

2. The second effect of union with Christ, is righteousness and sanctification (δικαιοσύνη τε καὶ ἁγιασμὸς); these are intimately united (τε καί) as different aspects of the same thing. Righteousness is that which satisfies the demands of the law as a rule of justification; sanctification, or holiness, is that which satisfies the law as a rule of duty. Christ is both to us. He is our righteousness, because by his obedience and death he has fully satisfied the demands of justice, so that we are the righteousness of God in him, 2Co_5:21. When we stand before the judgment-seat of God, Christ is our righteousness. He answers for us; he presents his own infinite merit as the all-sufficient reason for our justification. Rom_3:21, Rom_3:22; Rom_5:19; Phi_3:9. He is also our sanctification. His Spirit dwells in all his people as the Spirit of holiness, so that they are transformed into his likeness from glory to glory. Wherever the Spirit dwells there are the fruits of the Spirit. Act_26:18. Rom_8:9, Rom_8:10. Gal_5:22. Eph_2:5, Eph_2:10.

3. The third effect is redemption, i.e. deliverance from evil. This term sometimes includes all the benefits received from Christ. When he is called our Redeemer he is presented as our deliverer from guilt, from hell, from sin, from the power of Satan, from the grave. But when redemption is distinguished from justification and sanctification, it refers to the final deliverance from evil. The day of redemption is the day when the work of Christ shall be consummated in the perfect salvation of his people as to soul and body. Rom_8:23. Eph_1:14, Eph_4:30. Heb_9:12.

Those, then, who are in Christ have divine wisdom or the saving knowledge of God and of divine things; they have a righteousness which secures their justification. There is no condemnation to those that are in Christ Jesus, Rom_8:1. They are renewed after the image of God, and shall finally be presented without spot or blemish before the presence his glory. And they are partakers of eternal redemption or full deliverance from all the evils of sin, and are introduced into the glorious liberty of the children of God. These infinite blessings can be obtained only through Christ. Union with him is the necessary, and the only necessary, condition of our participation of these blessings. And our union with Christ is of God. It is not of ourselves, by our own wisdom, goodness, or strength, but solely by his grace; and therefore must be sought as an unmerited favor.

Charles Hodge — Commentary on Romans (1835), First Corinthians (1857), and Ephesians (1856) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

He teacheth that especially and above all things, the Gospel ought not to be contemned, seeing it containeth the chiefst things that are to be desired, to wit, true wisdom, the true way to obtain righteousness, the true way to live honestly and godly, the true deliverance from all miseries and calamities.

Whom he cast down before, now he lifteth up, yea, higher then all men: yet so, that he showeth them all their worthiness is without themselves, that is, standeth in Christ, and that of God.

Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain. Text via Bolls.life.

But . . . ye--in contrast to them that "glory" in worldly wisdom and greatness.

of him are--not of yourselves (Eph 2:8), but of Him (Rom 11:36). From Him ye are (that is, have spiritual life, who once were spiritually among the "things which are not." Co1 1:28).

in Christ--by living union with Him. Not "in the flesh" (Co1 1:26, Co1 1:29).

of God--from God; emanating from Him and sent by Him.

is made unto us--has been made to us, to our eternal gain.

wisdom--unattainable by the worldly mode of seeking it (Co1 1:19-20; contrast Col 2:3; Pro. 8:1-36; Isa 9:6). By it we become "wise unto salvation," owing to His wisdom in originating and executing the plan, whereas once we were "fools."

righteousness--the ground of our justification (Jer 23:5-6; Rom 4:25; Co2 5:21); whereas once we were "weak" (Rom 5:6). Isa 42:21; Isa 45:24.

sanctification--by His Spirit; whereas formerly we were "base." Hereafter our righteousness and sanctification alike shall be both perfect and inherent. Now the righteousness wherewith we are justified is perfect, but not inherent; that wherewith we are sanctified is inherent, but not perfect [HOOKER]. Now sanctification is perfect in principle, but not in attainment. These two are joined in the Greek as forming essentially but one thing, as distinguished from the "wisdom" in devising and executing the plan for us ("abounded toward us in all wisdom," Eph 1:8), and "redemption," the final completion of the scheme in the deliverance of the body (the position of "redemption" last shows that this limited sense is the one intended here). Luk 21:28; Rom 8:23; Eph 1:14; Eph 4:30.

redemption--whereas once we were "despised."

Jamieson, Fausset & Brown — Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

Verse 30. But of him are ye in Christ Jesus] Even the good which you possess is granted by God, for it is by and through him that Christ Jesus comes, and all the blessings of the Gospel dispensation.

Who of God is made unto us wisdom] As being the author of that evangelical wisdom which far excels the wisdom of the philosopher and the scribe, and even that legal constitution which is called the wisdom of the Jews, De 4:6.

And righteousness] δικαιοσυνη, Justification, as procuring for us that remission of sins which the law could not give, Ga 2:21; Ga 3:21.

And sanctification] As procuring for and working in us, not only an external and relative holiness, as was that of the Jews, but οσιοτητα της αληθειας, true and eternal holiness, Eph 4:24, wrought in us by the Holy Spirit.

And redemption] He is the author of redemption, not from the Egyptian bondage, or Babylonish captivity, but from the servitude of Satan, the dominion of sin and death, and from the bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of the sons of God, or the redemption of the body, Ro 8:21; Ro 8:23. See Whitby.

The object of the apostle is to show that man of himself possesses no good, that whatever he has comes from God, and from God only through Christ. For the different acceptations of the word righteousness the reader may consult the note on Ro 1:17, where the subject is considered in every point of view.

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

30. Of him are ye. Lest they should think that any of those things that he had said were inapplicable to them, he now shows the application of those things to them, inasmuch as they are not otherwise than of God For the words ye are are emphatic, as though he had said — “You have your beginning from God, who calleth those things which are not,” (Romans 4:17,) passing by those things that appear to be; and your subsistence is founded upon Christ, and thus you have no occasion to be proud. Nor is it of creation merely that he speaks, but of that spiritual existence, into which we are born again by the grace of God.

Who of God is made unto us As there are many to be found who, while not avowedly inclined to draw back from God, do nevertheless seek something apart from Christ, as if he alone did not contain all things in himself, he reckons up in passing what and how great are the treasures with which Christ is furnished, and in such a way as to intimate at the same time what is the manner of subsistence in Christ. For when he calls Christ our righteousness, a corresponding idea must be understood — that in us there is nothing but sin; and so as to the other terms. Now he ascribes here to Christ four commendatory titles, that include his entire excellence, and every benefit that we receive from him.

In the first place, he says that he is made unto us wisdom, by which he means, that we obtain in him an absolute perfection of wisdom, inasmuch as the Father has fully revealed himself to us in him, that we may not desire to know any thing besides him. There is a similar passage in Colossians 2:3 —

In whom are hid all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge.

Of this we shall have occasion to speak afterwards when we come to the next chapter.

Secondly, he says that he is made unto us righteousness, by which he means that we are on his account acceptable to God, inasmuch as he expiated our sins by his death, and his obedience is imputed to us for righteousness. For as the righteousness of faith consists in remission of sins and a gracious acceptance, we obtain both through Christ.

Thirdly, he calls him our sanctification, by which he means, that we who are otherwise unholy by nature, are by his Spirit renewed unto holiness, that we may serve God. From this, also, we infer, that we cannot be justified freely through faith alone without at the same time living holily. For these fruits of grace are connected together, as it were, by an indissoluble tie, so that he who attempts to sever them does in a manner tear Christ in pieces. Let therefore the man who seeks to be justified through Christ, by God’s unmerited goodness, consider that this cannot be attained without his taking him at the same time for sanctification, or, in other words, being renewed to innocence and purity of life. Those, however, that slander us, as if by preaching a free justification through faith we called men off from good works, are amply refuted from this passage, which intimates that faith apprehends in Christ regeneration equally with forgiveness of sins.

Observe, on the other hand, that these two offices of Christ are conjoined in such a manner as to be, notwithstanding, distinguished from each other. What, therefore, Paul here expressly distinguishes, it is not allowable mistakenly to confound.

Fourthly, he teaches us that he is given to us for redemption, by which he means, that through his goodness we are delivered at once from all bondage to sin, and from all the misery that flows from it. Thus redemption is the first gift of Christ that is begun in us, and the last that is completed. For the commencement of salvation consists in our being drawn out of the labyrinth of sin and death; yet in the meantime, until the final day of the resurrection, we groan with desire for redemption, (as we read in Romans 8:23.) If it is asked in what way Christ is given to us for redemption, I answer — “Because he made himself a ransom.”

In fine, of all the blessings that are here enumerated we must seek in Christ not the half, or merely a part, but the entire completion. For Paul does not say that he has been given to us by way of filling up, or eking out righteousness, holiness, wisdom, and redemption, but assigns to him exclusively the entire accomplishment of the whole. Now as you will scarcely meet with another passage of Scripture that more distinctly marks out all the offices of Christ, you may also understand from it very clearly the nature and efficacy of faith. For as Christ is the proper object of faith, every one that knows what are the benefits that Christ confers upon us is at the same time taught to understand what faith is.

John Calvin's Commentaries (1540-1563) — public domain. Text from the Calvin Translation Society English edition (1840s-50s) via the Christian Classics Ethereal Library (ccel.org). Calvin's coverage is partial (roughly two-thirds of the Bible); uncommented books and verses are honest gaps, never fabricated. The 19th-century editor's footnotes and remarks are omitted so the notes are faithfully Calvin's own voice.

(30) But.—So far from boasting in His presence, we all owe all to Him. He is the author of the spiritual life of us who are in union with Christ, “who was (not “is”) made wisdom unto us from God.” The past tense here refers us back to the fact of the Incarnation; in it Christ became to us God’s revelation of Himself, thus giving us a wisdom from the source of all wisdom, which surpasses utterly any wisdom we could have derived from nature or from man. Not only is Christ the source of whatever true wisdom we have, but also (so adds the Apostle) of whatever “righteousness” and “holiness” we have—spiritual gifts, as well as gifts of knowledge, come all from Him—and beyond all that, He is also our redemption, the “ransom” paid for us, by which we are redeemed from the bondage and slavery of sin. (See Joh_8:34; Rom_6:18; Rom_6:20; Rom_8:21; Rom_8:23; 1Pe_1:18-19.)

A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

30. of him are ye in Christ Jesus] Humanity is nothing in the sight of God, except it be created anew in Christ Jesus. By virtue of His Incarnation it becomes wisdom, not by means of human research but by Divine Revelation; righteousness, not by works done in obedience to law, but by the infusion of the Spirit of righteousness into the soul by Christ; sanctification, (i.e. the setting apart to the working of a principle of holiness), not by human merit, but by a Divine law of growth; redemption, (i.e. the paying the price of our deliverance from the captivity in which we were held by sin), because we were lost but for the Atonement made by Christ for our sins.

The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

30 But of him are ye in Christ Jesus, who of God is made unto us wisdom, and righteousness, and sanctification, and redemption:

Ver. 30. But of him are ye] q.d. Albeit ye have nothing of your own, yet in Christ you have all; for in him is all fulness both repletive and diffusive, both of abundance and of redundance too, both of plenty and of bounty.

Is made unto us wisdom] This notes out Christ’s prophetic office.

Righteousness and sanctification] By his priestly office.

Redemption] By his kingly office, having fully delivered his from sin, death, and hell; all which is not fully done till after death. And that is the reason why redemption is here set last. See Rom 8:23; Luk 21:28.

John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

But of him - That is, by his agency and power. It is not by philosophy; not from ourselves; but by his mercy. The apostle keeps it prominently in view, that it was not of their philosophy, wealth, or rank that they had been raised to these privileges, but of God as the author.

Are ye - Ye are what you are by the mercy of God. 1Co 15:10. You owe your hopes to him. The emphasis in this verse is to he placed on this expression, “are ye.” You are Christians, not by the agency of man, but by the agency of God.

(See the supplementary note at Rom 8:10.)

In Christ Jesus - See the note at 1Co 1:4. By the medium, or through the work of Christ, this mercy has been conferred on you.

Who of God - From God ἀπὸ θεοῦ apo theou. Christ is given to us by God, or appointed by him to be our wisdom, etc. God originated the scheme, and God gave him for this end.

Wisdom - That is, he is to us the source of wisdom; it is by him that we are made wise. This cannot mean that his wisdom becomes strictly and properly ours; that it is set over to us, and reckoned as our own, for that is not true. But it must mean simply, that Christians have become “truly wise” by the agency, the teaching, and the work of Christ. Philosophers had attempted to become wise by their own investigations and inquiries. But Christians had become wise by the work of Christ; that is, it had been by his instructions that they had been made acquainted with the true character of God; with his law; with their own condition; and with the great truth that there was a glorious immortality beyond the grave. None of these truths had been obtained by the investigations of philosophers, but by the instructions of Christ. In like manner it was that through him they had been made practically wise unto salvation. Compare Col 2:3, “In whom are hid all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge.” He is the great agent by whom we become truly wise. Christ is often represented as eminently wise, and as the source of all true wisdom to his people. Isa 11:1; Mat 13:54; Luk 2:40, Luk 2:52; 1Co 1:24; 1Co 3:10. “Ye are wise in Christ.” Many commentators have supposed that the beautiful description of wisdom, in Prov. 8 is applicable to the Messiah. Christ may be said to be made wisdom to us, or to communicate wisdom:

(1) Because he has in his own ministry instructed us in the true knowledge of God, and of those great truths which pertain to our salvation.

(2) Because he has by his word and spirit led us to see our true situation, and made us “wise unto salvation.” He has turned us from the ways of folly, and inclined us to walk in the path of true wisdom.

(3) Because he is to his people now the source of wisdom. He enlightens their mind in the time of perplexity; guides them in the way of truth; and leads them in the path of real knowledge. It often happens that obscure and ignorant people, who have been taught in the school of Christ, have more true and real knowledge of that which concerns their welfare, and evince more real practical wisdom, than can be learned in all the schools of philosophy and learning on the earth. It is wise for a sinful and dying creature to prepare for eternity. But none but those who are instructed by the Son of God, become thus wise.

And righteousness - By whom we become righteous in the sight of God. This declaration simply affirms that we become righteous through him, as it is affirmed that we become wise, sanctified, and redeemed through him. But neither of the expressions determine anything as to the mode by which it is done. The leading idea of the apostle, which should never be lost sight of, is that the Greeks by their philosophy did not become truly wise, righteous, sanctified, and redeemed; but that this was accomplished through Jesus Christ. But “in what way” this was done, or by what process or mode, is not here stated; and it should be no more assumed from this text that we became righteous by the imputation of Christ’s righteousness, than it should be that we became wise by the imputation of his wisdom, and sanctified by the imputation of his holiness. If this passage would prove one of these points, it would prove all. But as it is absurd to say that we became wise by the imputation of the personal wisdom of Christ, so this passage should not be brought to prove that we became righteous by the imputation of his righteousness. Whatever may be the truth of that doctrine, this passage does not prove it.

By turning to other parts of the New Testament to learn in what way we are made righteous through Christ, or in what way he is made unto us righteousness; we learn that it is in two modes:

(1) Because it is by his merits alone that our sins are pardoned, and we are justified, and treated as righteous (see the note at Rom 3:26-27); and,

(2) Because by his influence, and work, and Spirit, and truth, we are made personally holy in the sight of God.

The former is doubtless the thing intended here, as sanctification is specified after. The apostle here refers simply to the fact, without specifying the mode in which it is done. That is to be learned from other parts of the New Testament. Compare the note at Rom 4:25. The doctrine of justification is, that God regards and treats those as righteous who believe on his Son, and who are pardoned on account of what he has done and suffered. The several steps in the process may be thus stated:

(1) The sinner is by nature exposed to the wrath of God. He is lost and ruined. He has no merit of his own. He has violated a holy law, and that law condemns him, and he has no power to make an atonement or reparation. He can never be pronounced a “just” man on his own merits. He can never vindicate his conduct, as a man can do in a court of justice where he is unjustly accused, and so be pronounced just.

(2) Jesus Christ has taken the sinner’s place, and died in his stead. He has honored a broken law; he has rendered it consistent for God to pardon. By his dreadful sufferings, endured in the sinner’s place, God has shown his hatred of sin, and his willingness to forgive. His truth will be vindicated, and his law honored, and his government secured, if now he shall pardon the offender when penitent. As he endured these sorrows for others, and not for himself, they can be so reckoned, and are so judged by God. All the “benefits” or “results” of that atonement, therefore, as it was made for others, can be applied to them, and all the advantage of such substitution in their place, can be made over to them, as really as when a man pays a note of hand for a friend; or when he pays for another a ransom. The price is reckoned as paid for them, and the “benefits” flow to the debtor and the captive. It is not reckoned that they paid it, for that is not true; but that it was done for them, and the benefit may be theirs, which is true.

(3) God has been pleased to promise that these benefits may be conferred on him who believes in the Saviour. The sinner is “united” by faith to the Lord Jesus, and is so adjudged, or reckoned. God “esteems” or judges him to be a believer according to the promise. And so believing, and so repenting, he deems it consistent to pardon and justify him who is so united to his Son by faith. He is justified, not by the ACT of faith; not by any merits of his own, but by the merits of Christ. He has no other ground, and no other hope. Thus, he is in fact a pardoned and justified man; and God so reckons and judges. God’s law is honored, and the sinner is pardoned and saved; and it is now as consistent for God to treat him as a righteous man, as it would be if he had never sinned - since there is as high honor shown to the law of God, as there would have been had he been personally obedient, or had he personally suffered its penalty. And as, through the death of Christ, the same “results” are secured in upholding God’s moral government as would be by his condemnation, it is consistent and proper for God to forgive him and treat him as a righteous man; and to do so accords with the infinite benevolence of his heart.

And sanctification - By him we are sanctified or made holy. This does not mean, evidently, that his personal holiness is reckoned to us, but that by his work applied to our hearts, we become personally sanctified or holy. Compare Eph 4:24. This is done by the agency of his Spirit applying truth to the mind Joh 17:19, by the aid which he furnishes in trials, temptations, and conflicts, and by the influence of hope in sustaining, elevating and purifying the soul. All the truth that is employed to sanctify, was taught primarily by him; and all the means that may be used are the purchase of his death, and are under his direction; and the Spirit by whose agency Christians are sanctified, was sent into the world by him, and in answer to his prayers. Joh 14:16; Joh 15:26.

And redemption - ἀπολύτρωσις apolutrōsis. For the meaning of this word, see the note at Rom 3:24. Here it is evidently used in a larger sense than it is commonly in the New Testament. The things which are specified above, “justification and sanctification,” are a part of the work of redemption. Probably the word is used here in a wide sense, as denoting the whole “group,” or class of influences by which we are brought at last to heaven; so that the apostle refers not only to his atonement, but to the work by which we are in fact redeemed from death, and made happy in heaven. Thus, in Rom 8:23, the word is applied to the resurrection, “the ‘redemption’ of the body.” The sense is, “it is by Christ that we are redeemed; by him that an atonement is made; by him that we are pardoned; by him that we are delivered from the dominion of sin, and the power of our enemies; and by him that we shall be rescued from the grave, and raised up to everlasting life.” Thus, the whole work depends on him; and no part of it is to be ascribed to the philosophy, the talent, or the wisdom of human beings. He does not merely aid us; he does not complete that which is imperfect; he does not come in to do a part of the work, or to supply our defects; but it is all to be traced to him. Col 2:10, “and ye are complete in him.”

Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

But of him are ye in Christ Jesus; of his grace ye are implanted into Christ, and believe in him. You are of him, not by creation only, as all creatures are, but by redemption and regeneration, which is in Christ Jesus, who of God is made unto us wisdom; the principal means by which we come to the knowledge of God, and an acquaintance with his will; for he is the image of the invisible God, Col 1:15. The brightness of his Father’s glory, and the express image of his person, Heb 1:3. God hath shined in our hearts, to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ, 2Co 4:6. So that he who hath seen him, hath seen the Father, Joh 14:9. All the treasures of wisdom and knowledge are hid in him, Col 2:3. And no man knoweth the Father, save the Son, and he to whomsoever the Son will reveal him, Mat 11:27. Thus, though God destroyed the wisdom of the wise, yet the Corinthians were not without wisdom; for God had made Christ to them wisdom, both causally, being the author of wisdom to them; and objectively, their wisdom lay in their knowledge of him, and in a fellowship and conmmnion with him. And whereas they wanted a righteousness in which they might stand before God justified and accepted, God had also made Christ to them righteousness: Sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, and for sin, condemned sin in the flesh; that the righteousness of the law might be fulfilled in us, Rom 8:3,4.

And sanctification also, believers being renewed and sanctified by his Spirit.

And he is also made redemption: where by redemption is meant the redemption of the body, mentioned Rom 8:23; so as redemption here signifies the same with resurrection of the body. Christ is the resurrection, and the life, Joh 11:25.

Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

30. Of him—Paul now shows how the Corinthian Christians are identified with the real and the permanent. The true reading, rightly translated, is, From him ye are in Christ Jesus. Being incorporated into Christ, they are sharers in his being and triumph. Who has become unto us wisdom— Christ is our sophia; our substitute for the Greek philosophy. On 1Co_2:6-16 our apostle will fully explain the nature of this Christian sophia. Righteousness, and sanctification—These two words are, in the Greek, closely conjoined as two parts of the same work; justification as the negative, and sanctification as the positive, side. Redemption embraces Christ’s whole work of rescue from sin, even to glorification. The whole verse shows how in Christ the believer is triumphant over this world’s wisdom and greatness.

Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

But of him are ye in Christ Jesus. Ye do not belong to the wise and noble. Your strength will consist in acknowledged weakness; for it is solely derived from your fellowship with God by your unity with Christ. Who was made unto us, etc. These words rather mean, "Who was made unto us wisdom from God both righteousness and sanctification and redemption." The text is a singularly full statement of the whole result of the work of Christ. as the source of "all spiritual blessings in things heavenly", (Eph_1:3) in whom we are complete. (Col_2:10) Righteousness (see. 2Co_5:21) "Jehovah-tsidkenu the Lord our Righteousness". Jer_23:5) This is the theme of Rom_3:7. Sanctification. (see especially 1Co_6:11 and Eph_5:25, Eph_5:26) Redemption. One of the four main metaphors by which the atonement is described is this of ransom (lutron ajpolutrwsiv). The meaning and nature of the act, as regards God, lie in regions above our comprehension; so that all speculations as to the person to whom the ransom was paid, and the reason why it was indispensable, have only led to centuries of mistaken theology. But the meaning and nature of it, as regards man, is our deliverance from bondage, and the payment of the debt which we had incurred (Tit_2:14; 1 Peter Mat_20:28; Rom_8:21-23) In all these cases, as Stanley well observes, the words have a double meaning both of an inward act and of an outward result.

From this subject we may infer:

Vers. 30, 31.

The union of the genuine disciple with his Master.

of him are ye in Christ Jesus, who of God is made unto us wisdom, and righteousness, and sanctification, and redemption: that, according as it is written, He that glorieth, let him glory in the Lord." Concerning this union

I It is MOST VITAL. "In Christ," not merely in his dispensation, in his school, in his character, but in himself, as the branches are in the vine, He is their life,

II It is DIVINELY FORMED. "Of him are ye in Christ." Whom? Of God. It is the eternal Spirit that brings the soul into vital connection with Christ. "My Father is the Husbandman.

III It is BLESSEDLY PRODUCTIVE. "Wisdom," "righteousness," "sanctification," and "redemption" come out of this union. What transcendent blessings are these!

IV It is EXULTINGLY ADORING. "He that glorieth, let him glory in the Lord." It inspires the highest worship, it causes the soul to triumph in God himself.

What Christ is to the believer.

What is Christ to us? This is a great, an all important question. The answer to it is an answer to all vital questions respecting our present and future. To God, Christ is much; to the angels, much; to many men, nothing a mere "root out of a dry ground". (Isa_53:2) What to us? To the believer Christ is

I WISDOM. This is the supply of a great want, for though in the world there is much talk of wisdom, there is but little possession. Every philosopher has come with the promise of wisdom, but how few with the fulfilment! The great questions of life have found no satisfactory answers in even the profoundest human systems. But Christ is made to us the truest wisdom. From him we learn what to choose, reject, pursue, enjoy, in daily life. He teaches how to live. He is the Revealer of God. We have glimmerings of the Divine Being, but we know him not until we know him through Christ. "Neither knoweth any man the Father, save the Son, and he to whomsoever the Son will reveal him". (Mat_11:27) He makes us wise in a true knowledge of God. Through him we are made wise unto salvation. He discloses to us the future, and at the same time he instructs us in the fitting preparation for it. The closer our union with Christ, the wiser shall we become; the more of Christ we have, the more of wisdom we have. When the union is complete, we shall know even as we are known. This is a wisdom which will not come to nought. (1Co_2:6)

II RIGHTEOUSNESS. Our natural state is sinful; our righteousnesses as "filthy rags," that is, complete unrighteousness. But when we receive Christ, his righteousness is imputed to us; as our Representative, the second Adam, he was righteous for us in his obedience to the Divine Law, and satisfied the claims of Divine justice in his death. So we cry, "The Lord our Righteousness." He took our sins and gave us his righteousness. This righteousness is

(1) perfect,

(2) accepted by God, and thus

(3) of justifying efficacy.

III SANCTIFICATION. We need not only righteousness imputed, but righteousness realized; not only justification, but purification, regeneration; not only a vital alteration in our relation to God, but a vital alteration in ourselves. "Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God". (Joh_3:3) Through Christ we receive the Divine Spirit, who renews us and conforms us to Christ. He transforms us into the likeness of Christ, and when our sanctification is complete, we shall be "like him." "If any man be in Christ, he is a new creature. (2Co_5:17)

IV REDEMPTION. Christ redeems us from the curse of sin, but here reference is to the final redemption from corruption, pain, peril, sorrow, death, the fruits of sin, which we shall experience at last if we are Christ"s. This redemption includes the redemption of the body. How bright is the believer"s prospect! Well may he "glory in the Lord." Note:

1. Christ is wisdom, righteousness, sanctification, and redemption, only to those who are in him. To be in Christ is to believe in him, to love him, to serve him, to follow him.

2. It is through God, of Divine grace alone, that we can be in Christ: "Of him are ye in Christ Jesus." God gave Christ; God calls us to find salvation and all blessing in Christ; and faith itself is the gift of God. (Eph_2:8) As no man cometh unto the Father but by the Son, (Joh_14:6) so no man cometh unto the Son but by the Father. (Joh_6:44) All the praise of our salvation must be rendered to God: "According as it is written, He that glorieth, let him glory in the Lord. H.

Vers. 30, 31.

All sufficiency in Christ.

of him are ye," etc. Here is central truth well compacted. And plain sermons on such texts ought to be frequently given, in order to feed the Church of God, which grows lean on mere fine phrases, sounding periods, controversial janglings, and vapid exhortations.

I THE WAY OF BLESSING. It is obtained from the grace of God, and by a twofold action of his grace.

1. "Of God are ye in Christ Jesus." This union to Christ, engrafting into Christ, enclosure in Christ, is the root secret of all spiritual blessing. And while we take action in fleeing to Christ, clinging to him, and making him our Refuge, this very action on our part is ultimately due to the drawing of the Father and the inward operation of the Holy Spirit. Therefore "of God" we are in Christ Jesus.

2. "Of God, Christ is made unto you" who believe, all sufficient. It is according to God"s good pleasure that the merits, riches, and perfections of Christ are made available to you. It is at all events conceivable that one might be saved in and through Christ, and yet receive only in part and scantily out of his fulness. But such is not the will of God concerning us. It is his purpose that we should be, not merely rescued from destruction, but enriched with heavenly blessings in Christ Jesus.

II THE SUBSTANCE OF BLESSING. What Christ is to his own, who are in him: Wisdom, for they are foolish; Righteousness, for they are unrighteous; Sanctification, for they are unholy; Redemption, for they are lost as other men.

1. Wisdom. The early Christians were made wise, not after the type of Jewish rabbis or Greek sages, but as cast into a higher mould the mind of Christ. And so also now. It must be confessed that some who profess and call themselves Christians speak and act foolishly; but the more Christian at heart one becomes, the more does he gain of a wisdom far beyond the keenest penetration of worldly minds, for he makes his estimates in the light of God, and learns to look on earthly things as from "heavenly places." Christ in us is Wisdom from above.

2. Righteousness. "There is non righteous, no, not one." The world can show men of strength, skill, valour, shrewdness, eloquence, erudition, enterprise; but where is the righteous man? Alas! there is not one. Nay; but there is One righteous. Jesus Christ was and is that "Just One." And as the wisdom ascribed to him is "the wisdom of God," so also the righteousness attributed to him is "righteousness of God." This righteous One died for us, the just One for the unjust many. And in his restoration from the dead and return as the righteous One to the Father, there is the basis of acceptance for all who are " of God in him." So righteousness is imputed without works. Christ is made to us Righteousness.

3. Sanctification. "Holiness to the Lord" is not known, or even possible, without Christ. Yet "without holiness, no man shall se the Lord." Now, the apostle does not say that Christ is made to us Holiness; for this might seem to favour a doctrine of imputed holiness, which is full of peril. But he is made to us Consecration; so that in him we are constituted saints, separated from evil to the services of the holy God, and from him we derive purifying and sustaining grace for that newness of life to which we are called and pledged.

4. Redemption. There is no need to say "complete redemption," or "final redemption," as some menders of Scripture have been wont to do, because the thing in view is not "the redemption of the purchased possession," or the redemption of the body at the resurrection of the just; but the redemption which is now obtained by reason of the precious blood of Christ, because he gave himself a ransom for us. So we have decisive and conclusive quittance, both from guilt and from "the house of bondage." And here also Christ is all.

III THE AIM AND ISSUE OF BLESSING SO CONFERRED. (Ver. 31) That the saved may have confidence in the Lord, and ascribe to him all the praise and glory of their salvation. It is a good test of doctrine, whether it refers all sufficiency and renders all praise to God in Christ Jesus. It is a test of the heart, whether it delights to have it so. We mean not merely glory and thanks to God for sending the Savior into the world for so much is common to all types of Christian doctrine; but also glory and praise to God for bringing men into union with the Savior, and so into personal possession of the blessings of salvation. It is reckoned a mark of a base spirit among men that it assumes credit to which it is not entitled, and ignores its obligations to others. But noble minds are the first to say that, for whatever they have accomplished, they were not sufficient of themselves, but had help of Divine providence, help of favouring circumstances, and help of their fellow men. When grace is received from Heaven, how base and unthankful would it be to boast as if one had not received it! Some cannot give glory to the Lord, because they really are not in Christ; and some because, though perhaps in him, they do not trust in him with steady faith. Some too are always trying to be saved. They spend their lives in the channel of the Red sea, sore afraid of the Egyptians. They never come up on the shore where the delivered sing to the Lord who has triumphed gloriously. F.

Vers. 30, 31.

What Christ is to the heart that welcomes him.

The Revised New Testament makes a slight but important difference in the renderings. It reads," Who was made unto us wisdom from God, and righteousness and sanctification, and redemption." This alteration suggests that the wisdom spoken of embraces and. includes the three latter terms; some, however, prefer to regard wisdom as a fourth term, to be joined with the others. As the word may certainly be used to describe a part of Christ"s gracious work in us, we may observe Christ"s saving work in

I THE MIND SPHERE. His revelation enlarges knowledge. His teachings give practical guidance. His Spirit leads into all truth. He is the only safe Thought Leader.

II THE RELATIONAL SPHERE. The word "righteousness" here seems to be equivalent to "justification," and to refer to our "standing as before God." Christ is our Righteousness, as our Representative, in whom God sees us, and whose infinite acceptability stands for us.

III THE CHARACTER SPHERE. Christ"s righteousness we are under pledge to win and make our own. But over the winning Christ presides. And this his operation in the sphere of character we call sanctification. Here the idea of "making personally holy" is prominent, rather than that of "consecration" or "separation.

IV THE CIRCUMSTANTIAL SPHERE. Conceived as surrounded with an environment of evil influences and temptations, the Church is in the hands of Christ for a daily deliverance and redemption. The full purpose of the Redeemer is not accomplished until we are wholly rescued from self and from sin. This is practically the present work of Christ in every heart and life that is opened and kept open to his gracious operations. R.T.

The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Of him - Out of his free grace and mercy. Are ye Engrafted into Christ Jesus, who is made unto us that believe wisdom, who were before utterly foolish and ignorant. Righteousness - The sole ground of our justification, who were before under the wrath and curse of God. Sanctification - A principle of universal holiness, whereas before we were altogether dead in sin. And redemption - That is, complete deliverance from all evil, and eternal bliss both of soul and body.

John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.

wisdom from God, or, wisdom from God, even righteousness and sanctification, and redemption.

righteousness (See Scofield "Rom 3:21").

redemption (See Scofield "Rom 3:24").

The Scofield Reference Bible (1917 edition), notes by C. I. Scofield — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Our apostle had in the foregoing verses acquainted the Corinthins how low and despicable their outward condition was in this world; he tells them the world looked upon them as weak and foolish, and, as such, despised and disdained them, but as a superabundant recompence for the despicable meanness of their outward condition, he tells them what they are in Christ Jesus, how rich they are as Christians; that Christ is made unto them wisdom, righteousness, sanctification, and redemption.

Observe here 1. An enumeration of the believing Christian’s privileges, received by virtue of his interest in Christ, and union with him; and they are wisdom, righteousness, sanctification, and redemption; to relieve us against our ignorance and blindness, he is our wisdom, the fountain of divine illumination, enabling us to see both our sin and danger; to discharge us from the burden of our guilt and obnoxiousness to divine wrath, he is our righteousness, the author of justification, procuring for us remission of sin, and acceptance with God; to free us from the pollution and power of sin, he is our sanctification; purging us by his Spirit, as well as pardoning by his blood, coming both by water and blood into our souls: and to set us at liberty from captivity and thraldom to sin and Satan, and the law, he is made our redemption, that is, the blessed author of a beloved redemption, not from Egyptian bondage or Babylonish captivity, but from the dominion of sin and servitude to Satan, from the wrath of God, from the curse of the law, from the danger and dread of death.

Learn hence, That God hath stored up in Christ all that we want, a suitable and full supply for every need, and made it communicable to us: he is our wisdom, our righteousness, our sanctification, and redemption, our all in all, our all in the want of all.

Observe, 2. The method, way, and manner, by and after which believers come to be invested with, and made partakers of, these glorious privileges: Christ of God is made unto us; this denotes,

(1.) That Christ with all his benefits becomes ours by a special and effectual application: he is made unto us.

(2.) That this application of Christ is the work of God, and not of man; of God he is made unto us.

Learn hence, That the Lord Jesus Christ, with all the precious fruits and invaluable benefits of his death, became ours by God’s special and effectual application.

Observe, 3. The reason here assigned why the whole economy of grace is put into the hand of Christ, why all is communicated by him, and derived from him, namely, that all the saints’ glorying may be in him, and not in themselves: That no flesh should glory in his presence, but as it is written, Let him that glorieth, glory in the Lord, ver. 29, 31.

Infinite wisdom and sovereign pleasure has centered all grace in Christ; it hath pleased the Father that in him should all fullness dwell; and the fullness that is in him is a ministerial fullness, it dwells in him on purpose to dispense to us, according as our exigencies do require, and our faith deserve; for of him are we in Christ Jesus, who of God is made unto us wisdom, righteousness, sanctification, and redemption; that, according as it is written, He that glorieth, let him glory in the Lord.

William Burkitt's Expository Notes on the New Testament (1700–1703) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

30. “But of him are ye in Christ Jesus, who of God was made unto us wisdom and justification and sanctification and redemption.” This wonderful climacteric sentence would be condemned by an English critic as bad grammar. Why? Too many conjunctions. It is a figure of speech peculiar to the Greek language called polysyndeton, which means many conjunctions. Why does the Holy Ghost in this sentence use this polysyndeton? Rest assured He makes no mistakes. The Greek Testament abounds in what an English critic would call grammatical error, from the simple fact that the English language sacrifices precision for elegance, which is never done in the inspired Scriptures, where all other considerations succumb to the grand predominating interest of truth. In this beautiful, wonderful and comprehensive verse the Holy Ghost has effectually fortified His truth against some very fatal heresies, which are this day endeavoring to undermine it. This polysyndeton effectually and eternally annihilates the Zinzendorf heresy that you get it all in conversion, by separately and distinctly specifying the different works of grace, laying them down in their consecutive order. “Wisdom” is here used in its general sense, and means conviction, contrastively with the egregious folly exhibited by the wicked walking straight into Hell. The highest behest of true wisdom is to keep out of danger. We all commend George Washington for his long, frequent, and (in the estimation of his foolish critics) disgraceful retreats before the British army, till the arrival of General Lafayette, in command of the French army, when he fought heroically and achieved American independence, which in the finale was due more to his judicious retreats than chivalric courage. Conviction is superinduced by preaching the Sinai gospel till the wicked get their eyes open, see Hell coming to meet them, and the devil dragging them in, and actually feel a prelude of Hell torment (Psa 116:3). The reason why the churches are filled up with unsaved people is because they have never had a genuine gospel conviction, which is the foundation of every true work of grace, and without which conversion is impossible. The fact that we have a copulative conjunction here coming between wisdom and righteousness is demonstrative proof that they represent separate and distinct works of grace, i. e., conviction and justification, wrought by the Holy Ghost. Righteousness here, which is the true justification, is none other than the righteousness of God in Christ, which is imputed to the sinner when in the profound realization of his utterly ruined condition and his meekness for Hell fire he casts himself in utter desperation on the mercy of God in Christ. Then the loving Father, for Christ’s sake alone, counts him righteous, i. e., imputing to him the righteousness of Christ. Oh! what a wonderful Christ we have! He has three righteousnesses one peculiar to His Divinity, and essential to it, which He will ever retain and never impart to you or to me; another peculiar to His humanity, and essential to it, which He will ever retain and never impart to you or to me. Besides, He has a third righteousness arising from His perfect obedience to the Divine law, actively keeping it unbroken forever, and passively dying for it, thus perfectly by His expiatory atonement forever satisfying the violated law in our behalf. This third righteousness, which is neither essential to His Divinity nor humanity, He procured not for Himself, because He did not need it, but for us, who without it are eternally undone. This is the righteousness which the Father freely imputes to every truly penitent sinner who in utter desperation and self-abandonment, by simple faith, letting go every other hope, casts himself on the mercy of God in Christ, felicitously realizing his happy soul caught and safe in the arms of Jesus. While all sinners are full of sin, it is equally true that all Christians are sinful (i. e., having inward tendencies to sin) until they are sanctified wholly. This is admitted by all churches, Papist and Protestant, the only question of controversy being the time and condition of receiving this complete and final expurgation of sinful proclivities out of the heart, Popery locating it in purgatory, hyper- Calvinism in death, and the Word of God now, through faith. The copulative conjunction properly translated, and here intervening between righteousness, i. e., justification and sanctification, is unanswerable proof that they are separate and distinct works of grace; e. g., you say husband “and” wife, meaning two distinct persons; horse “and” buggy, meaning not the same but different things; water “and” fire produce steam, meaning two distinct elements, both indispensable in the manufacture of steam. Here the Holy Ghost says “righteousness and sanctification,” the copulative conjunction distinctly revealing two separate works of grace. How we grieve the Holy Ghost, who made this revelation, when we mix up conversion and sanctification in the same work of grace, which always ultimates in the eclipse of the latter. It is the testimony of Christendom that people having been truly born of God, and enjoying the true witness of the Spirit to their adoption, ever and anon realize an inward conflict, “the flesh warring against the Spirit and the Spirit against the flesh,” so that they may not do the things which they wish (Gal 6:17). It is a matter equally incontestably attested by myriads of witnesses, living and dead, that these sinward tendencies have been removed and perfect spiritual liberty enjoyed long before life’s end. About dinner time you speak to your chum, “Is it not time the bell would ring for dinner?” The tavern keeper overhearing you, responds, “Certainly; we always have dinner in this hotel, but do you not know that you ate your dinner along with your breakfast?” You settle with that tavern keeper and leave him at once, knowing that he has concocted a stratagem to cheat you out of your dinner. Equally inconsistent, thousands of preachers this day respond to the people, hungry for sanctification, sick of the inward conflict, and longing for full redemption, “Certainly, beloved; we believe and preach sanctification; that is all right, rest assured; but do you not know that you got sanctified when you were converted?” Good Lord, give you all a lot of the colored preacher’s “sanctifigumption” Then you will know that all this is a trick of the devil through the preacher (whom he has deceived) to cheat you out of your sanctification, which is to be convicted for, sought after, found, witnessed to, and enjoyed as a glorious work of grace, subsequent to and distinct from your conversion. This verse is really invaluable as a schedule of the different works of grace wrought by the Holy Ghost in the plan of salvation, severally and distinctly presented in their consecutive order, hence invaluable as a theological compendium. “Redemption” is also connected with the preceding link in this golden chain by the copulative conjunction “and.” Hence we see it is another separate and distinct work wrought by the Holy Ghost. This redemption means the glorification of humanity, soul, mind and body. There are two methods by which the body enters the glorified state, i. e., translation, which was evidently the Edenic economy, and will be the prerogative of all the members of the Bridehood in the Rapture, and I know again become prominent during the Millennial ages. The body also will be glorified in the resurrection. The mind enters the glorified state when the soul leaves the body in the physical death, or goes with the body the nigh way of translation. Much Scripture on perfection, ordinarily applied to the perfection of grace in this life, really appertains to the perfection of glory in the “age to come” (Heb 6:5). Justification saves us from guilt, sanctification from depravity, and glorification from infirmity. Multitudes of our unsanctified critics put sanctification where the Bible puts glorification, thus holding the professors of sanctification responsible for the standard of angelic or glorified perfection, which precludes all infirmities, and is not applicable to any person invested in mortal flesh, and which none of us will ever be competent to verify till this mortal puts on immortality. Wesley well says, “While in these bodies we can only think, speak and act through organs of clay.” Hence we are all full of infirmities, liable to a thousand mistakes, doing wrong, aiming to do right. We are constantly incident to mistakes through error of judgment, memory and failure of bodily organs generally. When our Savior was interviewed in reference to the woman who survived her seventh husband, “Whose wife shall she be in the resurrection?” He responded, “There will neither be marrying nor giving in marriage in that day, but all will be as the angels of God.” The Greek translated “as the angels,” is isoi aggelol. Isoi means “like,” or “equal.” Hence our Savior said that we shall be like the angels and equal to the angels in the resurrection. Hence we see that the glorified state confers angelic perfection, which is entirely different from Christian perfection. In the latter, infirmities abound in the former, they disappear altogether.

Absolute perfection belongs to God only; angelic perfection to the angels and glorified humanity in Heaven, while Christian perfection, free from sin, with Christ crowned in the heart and life, still abounds in infirmities which are not sin, but simply the effects of sin. The small-pox is cured so that your health is perfect; yet you are very ugly, because the scars disfigure you all over your body. The sanctified soul is glorified by the Holy Ghost simultaneously with the evacuation of the body. The countenances of departed saints lying in their coffins frequently shine with supernatural radiance, and reflect an unearthly beauty. It is the splendor of the glorified soul reflected back in the vacated tenement simultaneously with its triumphant exit; like the setting sun anon bespangling the Oriental skies with myriad tints and hues, exhibiting the variegated beauties of the rainbow reflected back while retreating through the golden gates of Hesperus.

William B. Godbey, Commentary on the New Testament (1896–1900) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

But of him are ye in Christ Jesus, who was made unto us wisdom from God, and righteousness and sanctification, and redemption :

J. W. McGarvey (with Philip Y. Pendleton), Commentaries on the New Testament (The Fourfold Gospel, 1914; Acts; and the epistles) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

30. Who of God is made unto us wisdom. “Christ, the power of God and the wisdom of God” (verse 24), is wisdom to us. And righteousness. In him we are made righteous, and obtain sanctification and redemption. Christ is all of these to us.

B. W. Johnson's The People's New Testament with Notes (1889–1891) — public domain. Electronic text from the Christian Classics Ethereal Library (CCEL) ThML edition.

Because of what God did

This refers to the work of Christ on the cross.

us ... our

These words refer to Paul, those with him, and the Corinthians. (See: Inclusive "We")

Christ Jesus, who became for us wisdom from God

Possible meanings are 1) "Christ Jesus, who has made clear to us how wise God is" or 2) "Christ Jesus, who has given us God's wisdom." (See: Metonymy)

Let the one who boasts, boast in the Lord

"If a person boasts, he should boast about how great the Lord is"

translationWords

in Christ

wise

righteous

holy

redeem

word of God

boast

unfoldingWord translationNotes — © Distant Shores Media and the Door43 World Missions Community, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Source: git.door43.org/Door43/en_tn.

30. ἐξ αὐτοῦ δὲ ὑμεῖς. From Him, i.e. as the source of your life. To the world you seem as nothing. Yet in truth, as being in Him, through His Son (ἐν Χριστῷ Ἰησοῦ), you are greater than all beside. For yours, as derived from Him, is the only true birth and being. Cf. Joh 1:13; Joh 1:16.

ὃς ἐγενήθη. Who was made, or became. It is not certain that the passive sense can be pressed here. See Ellicott’s note on 1Th 1:5. ‘Became’ suits the passage best.

ἀπὸ θεοῦ. In contradistinction to ἡ σοφἱα τοῦ κόσμου, 1Co 1:20.

δικαιοσύνη. Righteousness or justice. It is to be observed that in Greek, Latin and Hebrew there is no distinction between the ideas involved in these words, there being only one word to express them. Aristotle, Nic. Eth. 1Co 1:1, defines righteousness or justice as that which renders to every man what is fair and equal. This is what is implied in the English word justice. But while the Scripture use of righteousness as connected with the character of Christ has given a broader sense to the word, which with us signifies what is abstractedly right and good, we must not forget that in this idea what we call justice is included. The faculty of righteousness, we here learn, can be obtained from Christ alone.

ἁγιασμός. The result of consecration (see note on 1Co 1:2), the possession of actual holiness.

ἀπολύτρωσις. This word signifies not the result of redemption, but the ransoming process, with a special reference to its aspect of deliverance. All these things are ours by virtue of our union with Jesus Christ.

Cambridge Greek Testament for Schools and Colleges (Cambridge University Press, 1896; 21 vols, various authors incl. Carr, Maclear, Plummer, Farrar, Lumby, Moule, M. R. James, Simcox) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

30.] But (contrast to the boasting just spoken of) of Him are ye (from Him ye, who once were as οὐκ ὄντα,—ἐστέ.—He is the author of your spiritual life) in (in union with) Christ Jesus, Who was made (not ‘is made:’ see reff. On γενήθη see 1Th 1:5 note) to us from God wisdom (standing us in stead of all earthly wisdom and raising us above it by being ἀπὸ θεοῦ;—Wisdom—in His incarnation, in His life of obedience, in His teaching, in His death of atonement, in His glorification and sending of the Spirit: and not only Wisdom, but all that we can want to purify us from guilt, to give us righteousness before God, to sanctify us after His likeness, (and) both righteousness (the source of our justification before God), and sanctification (by His Spirit; observe the τε καί, implying that in these two, δικαιος. and ἁγιασμ., the Christian life is complete—that they are so joined as to form one whole—our righteousness as well as our sanctification. As Bisping well remarks, “δικ. and ἁγ. are closely joined by the τε (καί) and form but one idea, that of Christian justification: δικαιοσύνη the negative side, in Christ’s justifying work—ἁγιασμός the positive, sanctification, the imparting to us of sanctifying grace”), and redemption (by satisfaction made for our sin, reff.:—or perhaps deliverance, from all evil, and especially from eternal death, as Rom 8:23: but I prefer the other). The foregoing construction of the sentence is justified, (1) as regards ἀπὸ θεοῦ belonging to ἐγενήθη, and not to σοφία, by the position of ἡμῖν, which has been altered in rec. to connect σοφία with ἀπὸ θ., (2) as regards the whole four substantives being co-ordinate, and not the last three merely explicative of σοφία, by the usage of τε καί—καί, e.g. Herod. i. 23, διθύραμβον πρῶτον ἀνθρώπων τῶν ἡμεῖς ἴδμεν ποιήσαντά τε καὶ ὀνομάσαντα καὶ διδάξαντα, and Hom. Od. ο. 78, ἀμφότερον, κῦδός τε καὶ ἀγλαΐη καὶ ὄνειαρ,—so that (see Hartung, Partikellehre, i. 103; Donaldson, Gr. Gram. 551) the words coupled by τε καί (compare the exegesis above) rank as but one with regard to those coupled to them by καί, compare ἀμφότερον above. Hence these three cannot be under one category, as explicative of σοφία, but must be thus ranged: σοφία δικαιοσύνη τε καὶ ἁγιασμός, καὶ ἀπολύτρωσις.

Henry Alford, The Greek Testament (1849–1861) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

30. ἐξ αὐτοῦ δὲ ὐμεῖς ἐστέ. ‘But ye (in emphatic contrast) are His children’ (another contrast). This is their true dignity, and the δέ shows how different their case is from that of those just mentioned. The wise, the strong, the well-born, etc. may boast of what seems to distinguish them from others, but it is the Christian who really has solid ground for glorying. Some would translate ‘But it proceeds from Him that ye are in Christ Jesus,’ i.e. ‘your being Christians is His doing.’ But in that case ὐμεῖς ἐστε (note the accentuation) is hard to explain: the pronoun is superfluous: we should expect simply ἐν Χριστῷ Ἰησοῦ ἐστε. Moreover, the sense given to ἐξ αὐτοῦ is hard to justify. It is far more probable that we ought to read ὑμεῖς ἐστέ (WH., Lightfoot, Ellicott) and not ὐμεῖς ἐστε (T.R.). The meaning will then be, ‘But from Him ye have your being in Christ Jesus.’ The addition of ἐν Χρ. Ἰ. shows that more is meant than being His offspring in the sense of Act 17:28. ‘By adoption in Christ you are among things that really exist, although you may be counted as nonentities: in this there is room for glorying’ (4:7; Eph 2:8-9 f.). This is the interpretation of the Greek Fathers, probably from a sense of the idiom, and not from bias of any kind.*

ὃς ἐγενήθη. This shows what the previous words involve. Not ‘who is made’ (AV.), nor ‘who was made’ (RV.), but ‘who became’ by His coming into the world and by what He accomplished for us. He showed the highest that God could show to man (v. 18, 2:7), and opened the way to the knowledge of God through reconciliation with Him.

σοφία ἡμῖν. This is the central idea, in contrast with the false σοφία in the context, and it is expanded in the terms which follow. For the dative see vv. 18, 24.

ἀπὸ Θεοῦ. The words justify ἐξ αὐτοῦ and quality ἐγενήθη … ἡμῖν, not σοφία only. The ἀπό points to the source of ultimate derivation. See Lightfoot on 1Th 2:6.

δικαιοσύνη τε καὶ … ἀπολύτρωσις. The terms, linked into one group by the conjunctions, are in apposition to σοφία and define it (RV. marg.): the four terms are not co-ordinate (AV., RV.)†. Lightfoot suggests, on not very convincing grounds, that τε καί serve to connect specially δικαιοσύνη and ἁγιασμός, leaving ἀπολύτρωσις “rather by itself.” The close connexion between δικ. and ἁγ. is, of course, evident (Rom 6:19), δικ. being used by St Paul of the moral state founded upon and flowing from, faith in Christ (Rom 10:4, Rom 10:10, Rom 10:6:13; Gal 5:5; Php 3:9), and ἁγ. being used of the same state viewed as progress towards perfect holiness (v. 2; 1Th 4:3-7). By ‘righteousness’ he does not mean ‘justification’: that is presupposed and included. ‘Righteousness’ is the character of the justified man in its practical working. This good life of the pardoned sinner is to be distinguished from (a) God’s righteousness (Rom 3:26, by which we explain Rom 1:17), and from (b) Righteousness in the abstract sense of a right relation between persons (Act 10:35, Act 24:25).

καὶ ἀπολύτρωσις. Placed last for emphasis, as being the foundation of all else that we have in Christ (Rom 5:9, Rom 5:10, Rom 5:8:32; cf. 3:24). Others explain the order by reference to the thought of final or completed redemption (Luk 21:28; Eph 1:14, Eph 4:30). Redemption Primum Christi donum est quod inchoatur in nobis, et ultimum perficitur (Calv.). The former is better, but it does not exclude the latter.

International Critical Commentary — older volumes (1896–1929), various authors — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Wisdom and righteousness and sanctification and redemption.

The last three terms illustrate and exemplify the first - wisdom. The wisdom impersonated in Christ manifests itself as righteousness, sanctification, and redemption. 79 For dikaiosunh righteousness, see on Rom 1:17. For aJgiasmov sanctification, on Rom 6:19. For ajpolutrwsiv redemption, Rom 3:24.

Marvin R. Vincent, Word Studies in the New Testament (1887–1900) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.