1 Corinthians 15:10

1Co_15:10

But by the grace of God I am what I am: and His grace was not in vain.

The grace of God

I. The grace bestowed.

1. Conversion.

2. Privilege.

3. Apostleship.

II. Its efficiency. It worked--

1. In him.

2. With him.

3. By him.

III. Its expression.

1. More abundant labours.

2. Profound humility. (J. Lyth, D.D.)

The grace of God

1. There are those who regard themselves as simply the effects of natural causes.

2. Others are wont to attribute their character to social and civil influences, the times and institutions in which they live.

3. There are men of great individuality and power of character who are apt to attribute to their own selves the whole skill and efficiency of their life.

4. The truly Christian man is wont to combine all these as composing a Divine providence; and led by the Spirit of God to see his life and character in its relations to Gods superintending power and grace, profoundly sympathises with the text. See it illustrated in--

I. Our personal history. No devout man can calmly consider many of the circumstances of his history without profoundly feeling that he has been guided by a wisdom greater than his own; that he is the creature of a God of goodness, who has led him in a way that he knew not.

1. The family is the grand starting place.

(1) To many of you family influences seem to be the very best and brightest gifts of God. Your parents were faithful, and their whole life was an engineering for yours. Even where men go wrong, there are golden threads which were wound around their hearts by a mothers hand, and which, unwind as they may, never break, and often become a clue by which they find their way back again to God.

(2) But there are many who had no such parental influences. And where a childs parents exert all their power upon him for evil, and he nevertheless grows up to honour and piety, I think he is a miracle. Such a man may truly say, By the grace of God I, of all men, am what I am.

2. Many of us have been powerfully influenced by others than parents.

(1) It may have been a brother, a sister, or an aunt who was more than father or mother to you. Or perhaps God raised up a labourer in your neighbourhood, a servant, some praying and holy nurse, some young associate, to do you a service which has stood connected with the safety of the whole of your after life.

(2) On the other hand, does there not rise up before every ones memory some malign influence of associate, schoolmate, shopmate, whose shadow darkened the prospect of the soul? We often say, I wonder that I was not ruined by such a one. And we should have been but for the grace of God.

3. Everybody can remember scenes in his early life which threatened his destruction, and many, when reflecting upon these things, are constrained to say, I never could understand why I was not crushed. They would have been had not the way in which they were going been obstructed by the grace of God. If I had not been taken out of Boston at one time, I do not see what would have prevented me from going to destruction. I look back upon moments of wilfulness, which would have led me to serious disaster, had not events in the providence of God transpired to check me in my course and change my career.

4. Men can often look back and see that the whore complexion of their life depended upon a single choice. Nor do they know why, out of a hundred choices, they should have taken the only one that seems to them to be connected with prosperity and integrity.

5. Many can recall painful crises of their life when everything depended on a single throw. Ninety-nine chances out of a hundred were against you, and God gave you that hundredth, and by His grace you are what you are. Life is like the experience of an Alpine climber. He is met by dangers at every step; and when the ascent is accomplished, he can count twenty places where he might have been dashed in pieces for one where he was absolutely safe.

II. Our inward nature and dispositions. I suppose there are but few who do not feel that there are laid up in them terrible powers, which, if set on fire of evil, would be desolation to their life. There are criminals of every description to-day whose early tendencies were as good as yours, and who had as favourable a chance as you had of making upright citizens. Now, why are they in their situation, and you in yours? There has been a grace of God which for mysterious reasons has led me in the way in which I have walked, and left them in the way in which they have walked.

III. The development of the Divine life in the soul. When a man looks back upon the beginning of his Christian life, and considers what his then state was, he wonders more and more at the way in which God leads him in his religious experience. At each stage, as we have gone on from one grace to another, from one victory to another, we are obliged to say, By the grace of God I am what I am Conclusion:

1. This is, in other words, the doctrine of mans dependence upon God. It may be so stated as to be offensive, but when it is rightfully stated it is as sweet as the doctrine of love between a child and a parent. It is natural for the weak to lean; but I think none want to lean so much as the strong. The practice of constantly depending upon God is not opposed to activity, but promotes it.

2. Out of this retrospect, and out of this sense of our dependence upon God in the past for all that we have been and all that we have had, there ought to spring a future. That same hand that has taken care of you; that same power that has taken the obstacles out of your way, or marvellously put them in your way; that same Providence that has conducted you thus far through life, yet exists, and rules over the affairs of men. By Thy grace, O God, in the past, I have been what I have been; and by Thy grace I desire, in the future, to be what Thou wilt have me to be. Glorify Thyself, and I shall be satisfied. ( H. W. Beecher.)

The grace of God and Paul

This account which Paul gives of himself implies--

1. That a great change had been wrought in him.

2. That he was thankfully conscious of it.

3. That God was the Author of it. By the grace of God--

I. Paul was not what he had been. He had been the chief of sinners; he was now a humble Christian. He was before a blasphemer, persecutor, injurious, but he obtained mercy. And such were some of us, but we are washed, etc. The grace of God softens the heart, cleanseth the soul, sweetens the temper, etc. By its power the lion becomes a lamb, the vulture a dove, etc.

II. Paul was what he did not deserve to be. In 1Co_15:9 he tells us he is not meet to be called an apostle, etc. If the grace of God were more fully believed in and better understood, and the necessity for it more deeply felt by men, their works of merit Would not be set up in the place of the Saviour, as is too often the case. All whose hearts are changed, whose sins are forgiven, whose souls are redeemed, who are children of God, are great debtors to grace.

III. Paul was what he never expected to be. He did not expect to, be converted to Christ on his way to Damascus; and so men who have come to scoff have remained to pray. He is found of some who seek Him not. Many who are now ministers, teachers, missionaries, were called, perhaps unexpectedly, to the work. Conclusion: What God by His grace did for Paul, He can do for us. In Pauls conversion Jesus Christ shows forth all longsuffering for a pattern to them which shall hereafter believe on Him to life everlasting. The grace of God prepared Paul for life or death--it can do this for us. (G. Type.)

The grace of God, its nature and effects

St. Paul does not say, By creative power, nor By providence; but. By the grace of God I am, etc., and adding, And the grace which, etc. Consider--

I. What the grace of God is. The free favour of God shown in enlightening, sanctifying, and comforting influence of the Holy Spirit (Heb_10:29; Heb_12:28; Heb_13:9; etc.).

II. How this grace is bestowed.

1. Through our Lord Jesus Christ (1Co_1:4).

2. Freely--implied in the word grace (Rom_11:5).

3. In use of means--sacraments, Scriptures, prayer.

4. So as not to be distinguishable from working of human mind.

5. Continuously, from moment to moment.

III. The effects of this grace.

1. Transition from state of sin and death into state of life and holiness.

2. Progressive sanctification.

3. Desire to promote spiritual welfare of others.

4. Confidence in God as loving Father.

5. Cheerful submission to will of God.

6. Joyful expectation of future glory.

IV. Practical use of text.

1. First clause suggests question, Can I say? etc.

(1) Every one of us may say, By the creative power of God I am, etc.

a man endowed with reason and human affections, capable not only of sensual, but also of intellectual and social enjoyment.

(2) And, By the providence of God I am etc.

(3) But can every one say, By the grace of God I am what I am--a Christian? Do my daily habits of life, objects of pursuit, etc., afford evidence of the work of the Holy Spirit upon my soul? Whosoever is absorbed with cares, etc., of world, or is addicted to uncleanness, Sabbath-breaking, or intemperance, cannot say, By the grace of God, etc.

2. To those who can say with the apostle, By the grace, etc., the second clause suggests another question: Has the grace bestowed produced its due effects? Exhortation to self-examination as to particulars, and to diligence lest we fail of, or fall from, the grace of God.

3. Do we habitually ascribe every good thought, word, and deed to the grace of God? Danger lest Satan turn good works into sin by causing us to take the merit of them. (Bp. Perry.)

The grace of God not received in vain

I. The wonderful grace which the apostle had received, and which changed him from what he had been to what he now was. These words stand in close connection with 1Co_15:9.

1. He had been an exceedingly great and atrocious sinner.

2. He became an eminent apostle of Christ.

3. Hence it was, as he here asserts, the free grace of God that caused the wonderful change (Rom_1:5).

II. The powerful effect which the grace paul had received had produced in him.

1. It was not ineffectual and fruitless--not in vain (Isa_55:11; Act_20:24; 2Co_6:1).

2. It produced more abundant labours in the cause of God. I laboured more abundantly than they all. He does not say this in a way of boasting, but merely to show the powerful effects of Divine grace, and to silence the objections of those who could not allow that he was an apostle at all, and who he elsewhere says, had compelled him to glory. The other apostles were all unspeakably indebted to the grace of Christ, but none so much as Saul the persecutor; and never in any man was that observation of our Lord more remarkably verified, To whom much is forgiven, the same loveth much (2Co_11:23, etc.). And he was none the less laborious as a private Christian in mortifying sin and in following after holiness (1Co_9:26-27; Php_3:13).

III. The care which the apostle takes to give all the glory of his extraordinary labours to God and His grace.

1. He renounces the thought that he was to be considered as the performer of these labours. I laboured; yet not I.

2. He ascribes them to the same grace of God by which he was made a Christian and an apostle. Not I, but the grace of God which was with me.

Conclusion: Learn--

1. That the wonderful grace shown to Saul the persecutor is well adapted to excite hope in the worst of sinners, and encourage them in supplicating Divine mercy. There is nothing too hard for the Lord.

2. Wherever grace is bestowed, it effects a happy and a holy change.

3. That the doctrine of being saved by grace, instead of leading us to indulge in sin or sloth, forms the strongest argument why we should be holy and diligent. (Essex Congregational, Remembrancer.)

Grace, all through

Two or three years before the death of the Rev. John Newton, an aged brother in the ministry called on him to breakfast. Family prayer followed; and the portion of Scripture for the day was read to him. In it occurred the verse, By the grace of Goal I am what I am. After the reading of this text, he uttered this affecting soliloquy: I am not what I ought to be--ah! how imperfect and deficient! I am not what I wish to be. I abhor what is evil, and I would cleave to what is good. I am not what I hope to be. Soon, soon, shall I put off mortality, and, with mortality, all sin and imperfection. Yet though I am not what I ought to be, nor what I wish to be, nor what I hope to be, I can truly say I am not what I once was--a slave to sin and Satan; and I can heartily join with the apostle, and acknowledge, By the grace of God I am what I am.

Grace, daily, reception of

We must ever keep in mind that we are only channels for grace, we are not even pools and reservoirs, we must have a continual supply of Divine gifts. We must have an abiding union with the Fountain of all good, or we should soon run dry, and only as fresh streams flow into us are we kept from becoming mere dry beds of sand and mire, but we know that He will never fail us. This spring is high up in heaven near the eternal throne, and it ripples down through the means of grace from the God of all grace, and we receive daily of His fulness grace for grace. Joyful truth for us, that because He lives we must live also. Till Jesus bows His head in death, we, the living members of His mystic body, can never droop nor fail. His might is our strength, His resources our never-failing supply. (C. H. Spurgeon.)

Grace, dying and living

How is it, said a pious but anxiously worrying lady, that I never can feel willing to die? I know I ought; I trust Christ fully, I believe in Him, and yet I dont feel willing to die. And it troubled her for years. She went to her pastor about it, and went to many friends and counsellors, but all to no purpose. No one could help her. At last an old coloured auntie heard her lamentations, and broke out upon her with, Why, it isnt dying grace ye want, child; its living grace ye want. Go ahead and do your work, and let the dying take its own time and its own grace. The lady was comforted, and thenceforth was content to grow and go step by step. When she was dying she found abundant supply of dying grace. (Christian Age.)

Grace in mens changes

I. The spiritual experience of a believer is not his own work, but the operation of Divine grace.

1. From the bias of our fallen nature and the fallen inclinations of the flesh, we are indisposed towards spiritual things. All Scripture and experience tend to negative the idea that man has in himself any predisposition for the things of God. If he had, man might have rendered the offices of the Spirit of grace unnecessary. But as Paul saith, so may every man, In me--that is, in my flesh--dwelleth no good thing. Yet was he, therefore, incapable of grace? No. Without Me ye can do nothing, said the Lord; but lest we should be discouraged at the conviction of our utter weakness, the apostle tells us, I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me.

2. Perhaps some of us have lost sight of this doctrine. We may have been labouring in our own strength to conform to the image of Christ, and yet our repeated failures in the attempt have not humbled us to the confession, This thing is too high for me. If so, then let us believe it, and accept the Word of God, No man cometh unto the Father but by Me; and on the other hand, No man can come unto Me, except the Father, who hath sent Me, draw him. There is the mutual co-operation between the Father and Son. The Son attracts the penitent soul to the Father, and the Father gives the pardoned soul to the Son.

II. Divine grace begets in the genuine subject of it an actual and felt change of views and practices: By the grace of God I am what I am.

1. This proposition maybe proved, as well as illustrated, by some individual instances from Scripture. Cf. Nicodemus, the Philippian gaoler, the sorcerers (Act_19:1), and Paul. Thus, in these instances, we behold the miracles of mercy and omnipotence of grace to change and transform the hardest heart, and that the reality of such change in the inner man was demonstrated by an unmistakable change of the whole outer man. If any man be in Christ Jesus, he is (not only) a new creature, but old things are passed away, and all things are become new.

2. But here I must point out an error, namely, the habit of satisfying ourselves with the reduction of some lusts, while we indemnify the deceitful heart by the indulgence of others; and thus the whole labour is rendered in vain. A soul can be slain by one sin as fatally as by a thousand. One stone could slay a Goliath as surely as a thousand spears. The body of sin must be destroyed, that henceforth we should not serve sin.

Conclusion: The subject suggests an application to--

1. The man of the world who sometimes excuses his frailties, saying, I did not make myself. Blame not me that I am what I am. How could I be otherwise? Now it is freely granted that if God had proposed no remedy for the radical defect in our moral structure, we might say, Lord, I knew Thee that Thou art a hard Man, reaping where Thou hast not sown, etc. But when, on the contrary, a scheme of salvation is offered, what a wickedness to say that God has done nothing for us, and therefore we are at liberty to retaliate and do nothing for God!

2. To that man who thinks he is rich, and increased in goods, and in need of nothing, the terms of the text cannot apply. He has no right to say, By the grace of God I am what I am; but by the corruption of nature, by the deceitfulness of the flesh, by the subtilty of Satan, by the vanity and iniquity of my own heart, and by the temptations of the world, but not by the grace of God, I am what I am.

3. The man of God is justified in the profession, By the grace of God I am what I am. From first to last it was throughout the work of His grace that made you what you are. See that you receive not the grace of God in vain. (J. B. Owen, M.A.)

Divine grace

I. The reasons why Divine grace is indispensably requisite to our spiritual welfare. The progress of real religion is not only promoted by the discoveries of the understanding, but by the state of the affections. The passions of love, hope, and fear are the springs of universal obedience; and these, when directed to proper objects, regulate and amend the conduct. But the carnal mind is enmity with God. This fallen and depraved state of human nature is one of the principal reasons why Divine grace is indispensably requisite to our spiritual welfare. Without the efficacious operations of the Holy Spirit our prayers will be languid and formal, our devotions careless and insipid, and our lives irregular and unholy. What would be the state of the mind in spiritual concerns, unaided by the powerful operations of Divine grace? Would not the world, with all its fascinating charms, intervene between us and purer communion with God? Are we not, with every warning around us of the vanity of life, too much attached to present objects? Where shall we find that holy zeal which is requisite to our perseverance in a Christian course without the continual aids of Divine grace? As genuine piety is implanted in the heart by the Spirit of God, so it requires the constant aids of the same Divine power to cherish the growth of pure and undefiled religion.

II. The manner in which the grace of God operates on the mind. It usually begins by alarming the conscience and bringing us to a proper view of our danger. The value and worth of the immortal soul is then correctly understood, and the mind is alive to its chief and most important interests (Psa_4:6). Divine grace not only operates on the mind by causing us to think seriously, when we were before careless and indifferent; but it enlightens the understanding and corrects the errors of a mistaken judgment. The efficacious aids of this Divine power are also manifest, not only in enlarging the faculties of reason, and adding a luminous distinction to the acuter determinations of the judgment, but also in directing our choice to proper objects and fixing the affections on heavenly pursuits. The grace of God operates on the mind by inclining it to the love of holiness; by cherishing every mild, peaceable, charitable, and contented disposition which flows from the real dictates of pure and undefiled religion. Divine grace does not operate on the mind by lessening our pleasures, but by regulating them. It teaches us to distinguish between those joys which are lasting, and those which only flatter to destroy. This principle, when really implanted in the heart, will uniformly influence and amend the life. Though it will not in this militant state constitute us perfect, yet it will habitually render us altered men in our character, conduct, and pursuits.

III. The benefits which have uniformly arisen from the Divine assistance, and the duties incumbent on all who happily enjoy it. First, the mind is prepared by the influence of Divine grace for the performance of works acceptable and pleasing to God. Further, from the powerful operations of Divine grace, we shall derive not only the lively exercise of faith, genuine repentance, but the continued improvement in every Christian virtue. Our minds will be hereby elevated to the blissful enjoyment of communion with God. Let us now, then, consider the duties which are incumbent on all who happily enjoy this Divine aid. It is our duty to be diligent in the use of those means which are connected with the end. It is not in the busy crowd, or amidst the trifling and the gay, that we can have the sublimer joys of religion; but it is by a willing obedience to the commands of God, a course of habitual piety, and having our minds with our whole affections the temple of the Holy Ghost. It is our duty to avoid every pursuit which may divide us from God or lessen our love of practical holiness. Let us watch against the beginnings of vice, and more especially those temptations to which either our calling in life or our natural inclination peculiarly expose us. (J. Grose, A.M.)

On the Divine influence in the conversion of sinners

The conversion of Paul is not to be made the test of conversion in general. His case was peculiar. Deeply prejudiced against the name and religion of Christ, as well as by the mode of his education, as by the example of his connections and associates, more than ordinary means were necessary to reconcile him to the doctrines of the Cross. But we who have lived under the light of the gospel, and been encouraged from our infancy to revere its doctrines and laws, have no more warrant to look for any immediate and palpable manifestation of Divine power to convert us from sin to holiness, than to expect the gifts of prophecy or of tongues.

I. We are bound gratefully to acknowledge the influence of Divine grace, both in directing our attention to the things which belong to our peace, and in aiding our exertions of obedience to the will of God. Generally speaking, those who are transformed by the renewing of their minds, perceive nothing which they can distinguish as a special impulse from above; but in the exercise of their rational faculties and in the use of appointed means are eventually brought to choose that good part which cannot be taken from them. It can hardly be otherwise, at least, with such as are virtuously educated. Without any assignable human cause, preparatory to such an effect, a deep conviction of guilt and danger, accompanied with anxious desires and endeavours to obtain forgiveness and salvation, suddenly succeed a course of heedless inattention, neglect, and rebellion.

II. Without personal exertions of obedience to the will of God, none can obtain the character and rewards of the faithful. Lessons:

1. We are led to remark the necessity of Divine assistance in the conversion and sanctification of sinful men.

2. We are taught that no trust is to be reposed in any impressions, however serious, or in any resolutions, however sincere, at the moment, which do not issue in a life of uniform virtue and godliness.

3. We are furnished with a test by which to ascertain and determine our spiritual state.

4. We may infer the paramount obligations imposed upon us to exercise charity toward all who exemplify an undissembled attachment to the cause of Christ--though they presume not confidently to describe the manner nor even to assert the reality of their deliverance from darkness to light, etc. (John Foster, D.D.)

A good mans estimate of himself

By the grace of God I am--and he is going to say what he is, but he bethinks himself, as if he had reflected. No! I will leave other people to say what that is! By the grace of God I am--what I am: whatever that be. And all that I have to say is that God made me, and that I helped Him. For the grace of God which was bestowed upon me was not in vain. You Corinthians may judge what the product is. I tell you how it has come about.

I. As to the one power that makes men. By the grace of God I am what I am. Now that word grace has got to be worn threadbare, and to mean next to nothing in the minds of many. But Paul had a very definite idea of what he meant by it; and what he meant by it was a very large thing, as being the only thing which will transform character and produce fruit that a man need not be ashamed of. The grace of God, in Pauls use of the words, implies these two things which are connected as root and product--the active love of God in exercise towards us sinful creatures, and the gifts with which that love comes full charged to men. What is it that men need most for noble and pure living? These two things precisely: motive and power to carry out the dictates of conscience. Every man in the world knows enough of duty and of right to be a far nobler man than any man in the world is. And it is not for want of clear convictions of duty, it is not for want of recognised patterns of life, that men go wrong; but it is because there are these two things lacking, motives for nobler service, and power to do and be what they know they ought to be. And precisely here Pauls gospel comes in, By the grace of God I am what I am. That grace, considered in its two sides of love and of giving, supplies all that we want.. It supplies motives. There is nothing that will bend a mans will like the recognition of Divine love which it is blessedness to come in contact with, and to obey. You may try to sway him by motives of advantage and self-interest, and there is no adequate response. You cannot soften a heart by the hammers of the law. You cannot force a man to do right by brandishing before him the whip that punishes doing wrong. You cannot sway the will by anything but the heart; and when you can touch that deepest spring it moves the whole mass. The other aspect of this same great word is, in like manner, that which we need. What men want is, first of all, the will to be noble and good; and, second, the power to carry out the will. It is God that worketh in us both the willing and the doing. I venture to affirm that there is no power known, either to thinkers, or philanthropists, or doctrinaires, or strivers after excellence in the world, which will lift a life to such heights of beauty and self-sacrificing nobility as will the power that comes to us by communication of the grace that is in Jesus Christ. And now, if that be true, what follows? Surely this, that for all you have, in any measure, caught a glimpse of what you ought to be, and have been more or less vainly trying to realise your ideal, there is a better way than the way of self-centred and self-dependent effort. All noble life is a building up by slow degrees from the foundation. And can you and I complete the task with our own limited resources and our own feeble strengths? Will not all that pass by begin to mock us and say, this man began to build and was not able to finish? I need not, I suppose, linger to remind you what important and large lessons these thoughts carry, not only for men who are trying to work at the task of mending and making their own characters, but on the larger scale, for all who seek to benefit and elevate their fellows. Nothing will truly re-form humanity, society, the nation, the city, except that which re-creates the individual; the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ entering into their midst.

II. Notice the lesson we get here as to how we should think of our own attainments. Well, then, it is not necessary for a man to be ignorant, or to pretend that he is ignorant, of what he can do. We hear a great deal about the unconsciousness of genius. There is a partial truth in it; and possibly the highest examples of power and success, in any department of mental or intellectual effort, are unaware of their achievements and stature. But if a man can do a certain kind of service, there is no harm whatever in his recognising the fact that he can do it. But the less we think about ourselves, in any way, the better. The more entire our recognition of the influx of grace on which we depend for keeping our reservoir full, the less likelihood there will be of touchy self-assertion, the less likelihood of the misuse of the powers that we have. If we are to do much for God, if we are to keep what we have already attained, we must make a conscious effort to copy these two things, which marked the apostles estimate of himself--a distinct recognition that we are only reservoirs and nothing more--What hast thou that thou hast not received? Why then dost thou glory as if thou hadst not received it?--and a humble waiving aside of the attempt to determine what it is that we are.

III. Lastly, one word about the responsibility for our co-operation with the grace, in order to the accomplishment of its results. The grace which was bestowed upon me was not in vain, says Paul. Not I, but the grace of God which was with me, and so I laboured more abundantly than they all. That is to say, God in His giving love, Christ with His ever out-flowing Spirit, play round our hearts and desire to enter. But the grace, the love, the gifts of the love may all be put away by our unfaithfulness, by our non-receptivity, by our misuse, and by our negligence. Paul yielded himself to the grace that was brought to work upon him. Paul said, By the grace of God I am what I am. This man, because he knew that he had submitted himself to the often painful searching, crucifying, self-restraining, and stimulating influences of the gospel and Spirit of Christ, could say, Gods grace has made me what I am, and I helped Him to make me. And can you say anything like that? Take your life. In how many of its deeds has there been present the consciousness of God and His love? Is it the grace of God, or nature and self and the world and the flesh that have made you what you are? Oh, let us cultivate the sense of our need of this Divine help, for it does not come where men do not know how weak they are, and how much they want it. The mountain tops are high. Yes, and they are dry; there is no water there. The rivers run in the green valleys deep down. God resisteth the proud, and giveth grace to the humble. Let us see that we open our hearts to the reception of these quickening and cleansing influences, for it is possible for us to cover ourselves over with such an impenetrable covering that that grace cannot pass through it. Let us see to it that we keep ourselves in close contact with the foundation of all this grace. (A. Maclaren, D.D.)

Grace, power of

Grace infuseth a spirit of activity into a person; grace doth not lie dormant in the soul; it is not a sleepy habit, but it makes a Christian like a seraphim, swift-winged in his heavenly motions. Grace is like fire, it makes one burn in love to God. (T. Watson.)

Wonders of grace

I recollect the story of a traveller who at night shouted to the keeper of a toll-bridge to let the gate rise that he might pass through. There was a terrific storm raging, the night was deluged in darkness, and the man could scarcely be prevailed upon, in his tremor, to come out. When he did come out, he found the traveller on the bridge side of the gate, and said to him, In the name of God, where did you come from? The traveller replied, I crossed the bridge. The man kept him that night, and the next morning took him back and showed him the bridge which he had crossed. The planks had all been taken up, so that nothing remained except the string-pieces, which were stretched from one side to the other of the chasm. The story has it that his faithful steed took the centre one of these beams, a hundred feet, beneath which was rushing a swollen flood, and, dark as the night was, carried him safely across. The man at the time did not know but that he was crossing a regular bridge; and in the morning, when he saw how near be came to being dashed to pieces, he fainted. Are there not many, men that can look back and see that the providence of God has carried them across the bridge over the pit of destruction on a single beam? (H. W. Beecher.)

The conversion of St. Paul

I. Some aspects of the apostles life and character in relation to which he would be likely to use such language. By the grace of God--

1. He was a pardoned and recovered sinner.

(1) It could not be other than a matter of grateful reflection to this apostle that he was no longer, as he once was, a persecutor, blasphemer, etc. Who or what opened my eyes? Did the wisdom of Gamaliel do it? Did my own strong powers of reasoning do it? Did the light of nature or of conscience do it? No, it was light from heaven--fresh, direct, undesired, unsought. It was convincing light, for I was made to perceive it was the Lord which spake to me out of the fire. It was melting and subduing light, for, in a moment, all my iron enmities of soul were broken. Tell me, ye that think lightly of the grace of God, what hand had Saul of Tarsus in all this?

(2) And to the same Divine influence would the apostle refer the change of mind and spirit and temper which followed upon his conversion. His original temperament was not one to fall in easily with the meekness and gentleness of the gospel character. He was proud, he was hasty, he was self-confident, he was impatient of contradiction or control. Not without much struggle and effort, we may be sure, was a spirit like this brought into subjection (Rom_7:1-25). The grace which makes strong in Christ Jesus comes to the rescue, and to the agonising and bewildered cry, Who shall deliver me from the body of this death? his own soul makes answer, I thank God through Jesus Christ our Lord. His grace is sufficient for me.

2. He changed his former views as a Pharisee, and embraced those which he now held as to what would constitute acceptance before God. His own account of himself is in Php_3:4-6. Yet how does he estimate these privileges on becoming a Christian? Why, as worthless, and something more (Php_3:7-9).

3. He became a chosen vessel unto Christ to preach and teach in His name. Certainly nothing could be more unlikely than the choice of such a man to such a work. The feeling wrought upon him powerfully to the end of his days. Necessity was laid upon me, etc.

II. Practical lessons.

1. It is a law of all worlds that, in the way of anything good in His creatures, God alone maketh us to differ. I might go through the ranks of the Seraphim, and single out one who stood nearest to the throne, and were I to say to him, What raised thee thus high? he would make answer, By the grace of God I am what I am. I might thread my way through the mansions of the just, but if I should be betrayed into the exclamation, What a recompense for good works is here! in an instant ten thousand voices would testify aloud, By the grace of God I am what I am. Or I might go to one who, through fourscore years of temptation and trail, had ever walked with God; or to one whose unselfish Christianity had prompted him to spend and be spent in his Masters service; or to one laid low by suffering; yet if I should say, There must be a claim to moral worthiness here, again the response would be, By the grace of God I am what I am.

2. All true conversion must have its origin in a Divine influence. If I am very far gone from original righteousness, nothing but an influence from on high can bring me back; if dead in trespasses and sins, nothing short of a regenerating process can give me life.

3. True conversion extends to the whole character. Look at the proof of this in Paul. See it--

(1) In the illumination of his mind. He had studied under Gamaliel, yet after his conversion he counts all foolishness.

(2) In his ambitions, and aims, and preferences. Things which had been once a gain to him are now counted as loss.

(3) In the change in his moral temperament, in the casting off of a bitter, furious hate for a spirit of religious gentleness. And in like manner should we look for the evidence of the spiritual change in improved moral character. Conversion implies not only something turned from, but something turned to--from the world to Christ, from sin to holiness, etc.

4. The grace which has made you what you are alone can make you what you desire to be--

(1) Established in holiness.

(2) Prepared for death.

(3) meet for your appearing before the great white throne. He who begins must finish. (D. Moore, M.A.)

I laboured more abundantly than they all: yet not I, but the grace of God that was with me.--

Individuality in the Christian life

(text, and Gal_2:20):--I, yet not I is characteristic of Paul. He knew himself. He did not ignore self. In his life, as a man and an apostle, he took the proportions of his own personality, and at the same time confessed that all the operative grace came from God. The I within him was regenerated.

I. Every man must recognise his own individuality. Some say that this is an intuition, and others say that it is a conviction which comes with experience. But to us the constituent elements in self are more important. Though there is a generic likeness among men, yet each person has his own individuality. One is calm, another explosive; one logical, another intuitional; one prosaic, another poetic. Hence we have a Shakespeare and Milton, a Bacon and a Butler.

II. Regeneration does not destroy this individuality. If Christ be in you, you are a new creature. Your features are the same, though sweetened or calmed, perhaps, by the peace of God; your intellect is the same, though quickened by the new life of faith and hope. If cheerful, you are still cheerful; and if born with tendencies to melancholy, you will still contend with the temptation to despondency. Peter was Peter to the last. The same vehemency that Paul the persecutor exhibited was shown in Paul the apostle. In the annual regeneration of the visible creation, in the plumage and song of the bird, and in the renewing verdure of field and garden, we see pictured the unity yet beautiful variety which prevails in the world which God has made.

III. The spirit of God in his work in a man uses this individuality. It colours and qualifies the whole activity of a person.

1. See how it appears in the writing of the Scriptures. They are Divinely inspired, and yet the human and Divine elements are mingled. David well says, His word was in my tongue. Moses was wise in the wisdom of Egypt, and shows it in his writings. The lyrics of David differ from the proverbs of Solomon. The grandeur of Isaiah contrasts with the homely verse of the rude herdsman Amos. The pungency of James and the weird magnificence of Revelation again show the I and yet not I.

2. So in character. Peter was fitted to minister to the circumcision and Paul to the Gentiles. Augustine, Luther, Wesley, Whitfield, ,etc., reveal the same principle. In the Church to-day one is fitted for Sunday-school teaching and another for mission work. As in an orchestra each instrument has its place, and its absence cannot be filled by a different instrument, so there is a place and work for each in the Church. We must give full play to the inspiring and directing Spirit of God within us.

3. We must trace the actual results to the operation of the Spirit in us and through us. Give glory to Him who uses us. In a factory the machinery does variety of work, but derives all its motive power from the engine. Is there anything too hard for God?

Conclusion:

1. Respect your individuality, and at the same time give God the glory of what you are and do. Live your own life, and do not fancy that your experience is to be like your neighbours. David was powerless wearing the armour of Saul.

2. Be sure that Christ is in you and in your work. He is an inner fountain, and He will evoke your life as a productive and perennial stream.

3. Let your humble and hearty utterance ever be, Not unto us, not unto us, etc. (W. M. Taylor, D.D.)

Individuality and self-negation

I. The text is expressive of the highest type of character.

1. The more self and the less self there is in any man the nobler he is. This sounds paradoxical, but man himself is a paradox. He lives, moves, and has his being in Another, and yet is distinct from that Other. This distinctive personality God seeks to fill out of His own fulness with a rich and noble life.

2. Our ordinary language bears witness to this truth. Self-will, self-seeking, self-indulgence we regard as the essence of vice, and self-sacrifice as the climax of virtue; yet we commend self-reliance. We admire self-possession, but laugh at self-complacency; and, whilst disgusted by self-righteousness, we honour self-respect. We say of a man that he quite lost himself--quite forgot himself. We may be uttering either the highest praise or the severest censure. And although we commonly speak of self-consciousness as a fault, yet we feel that a certain consciousness of self is inseparable from all true greatness.

3. In our estimates of men we pronounce that character defective which lacks either individuality or self-negation.

(1) Here, e.g., is a man whose individuality is clearly enough marked; he thinks for himself, but he may pride himself on his position or his attainments instead of recognising his stewardship and using his gifts for the benefit of his brethren. He can say I, but he has yet to learn to say Not I. Here, again, is a man who is always deferring to the opinions of others; but then he has no decided opinions of his own. He is often giving up his own will, but he has but little will to give up. He is modest, but sometimes he is too modest even to do his duty. In such a man there may be much to love, but he would he a nobler man if, whilst still able to say Not I, he could also say I. Humility is most divine when it is the lowliness of a great soul. And self-sacrifice is lofty in proportion to the greatness and worth of that self which is sacrificed.

4. The text is well illustrated by the character of the apostle. We scarcely know which is the more striking--Pauls individuality or his self-negation. He says that he is the least of all the apostles, and then that he is not a whit behind the very chiefest apostles. He is conscious of his own unworthiness, and also of the high honour which God has put upon him. His letters are full of dignified self-assertion and noble independence, and yet he speaks as if he had no separate life at all. I live, yet not I, but Christ liveth in me.

5. We see the positive and negative poles of the same attractive nobleness in Christ Himself. My doctrine is not Mine, but His that sent Me. In one view Christs ministry was a self-proclamation. I am the Light of the world, etc. In another view it was a self-negation. I can of Mine own self do nothing.

II. Notice how the Divine education of man is designed and fitted to produce this type of character.

1. The human creature is at first thrown entirely upon the care of others, and yet from the first also he has a body distinctively his own. The processes of isolation and association go on together. His needs, desires, pleasures, pains, and, alas! sins, all lead him to say I; his dependence on his mothers love, etc., leads him to feel Not I.

2. This education God carries on throughout our whole life.

(1) He brings us into circumstances when we must think and act for ourselves, but He likewise so binds us together that we are often impelled to yield up our own will to the will of others. Love and duty call upon us to sacrifice self for the good of our brethren, and yet they sometimes call us to stand upon our rights.

(2) God has also brought man into such relations with the material world as to give him a feeling at once of greatness and of nothingness. Look at the capacities of the body in health and its impotence in disease. You listen to the poet, philosopher, or man of science, and you see the height to which the mind may rise; you walk through the wards of the asylum, and see the depth to which it may fall! How insignificant, too--and yet how mighty--is man in presence of the powers of nature! And in front of those forces the very condition of our being able to stand up and say I is that we learn to say Not I.

(3) God carries on this same process of education through the medium of His providence. His gentleness makes us great--evoking our powers, whilst the awfulness of His mysterious visitations humbles us to the dust.

(4) The gospel of Christ is fitted to develop this same composite character. Its word is, Believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved. And every Christian is taught by the gospel to recognise his individual responsibility and privileges, and thus he may well feel and say I. On the other hand the gospel also cultivates the spirit which leads a man to say Not I. Its very first call addresses him as a sinner, and summons him to repentance. The faith which justifies excludes boasting. He is also perpetually reminded that he is not his own, and that he is bound to present his whole nature as a living sacrifice to God. And the gospel leads him into Christian fellowship, and summons him to the help of the brethren.

3. And this same process of education God carries on even unto the end. To die--it is to feel how insignificant I am--how the great world will move on all the same without me! and yet it is to feel the preciousness of my own being as I never felt it before. Alone I must pass through this valley of the shadow, and yet this lonely road is the great highway which all the generations of men have trod before me.

4. This same feeling--I, yet not I--will abide with each of the redeemed in heaven. Heaven is not selfish enjoyment. The faithful servant enters into the joy of his Lord. Yet heaven is not absorption into the Divine essence. There is no destruction of personality in the Fathers house. Each child has a place prepared for him. (T. C. Finlayson, D.D.)

The privilege of working

No one ever had--

1. A more vivid sense of the grandeur of the work which God was carrying on in the earth than the Apostle Paul.

2. More of esprit de corps. He knew well who was working with him, and understood perfectly the grandeur of the campaign on which he had entered.

3. So grand and magnificent a sense of the final outcome of Gods moral government over this world as he. Learn--

(1) This subject may comfort those who are weary of work, or, rather, rebuke and convert them.

(2) It is our duty to work as long as there is work, and we have strength to do it. (H. W. Beecher.)

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

1 Corinthians

PAUL’S ESTIMATE OF HIMSELF

1Co 15:10.

The Apostle was, all his life, under the hateful necessity of vindicating his character and Apostleship. Thus here, though his main purpose in the context is simply to declare the Gospel which he preached, he is obliged to turn aside in order to assert, and to back up his assertion, that there was no sort of difference between him and the other recognised teachers of Christian truth. He was forced to do this by persistent endeavours in the Corinthian Church to deny his Apostleship, and the faithfulness of his representation of the Christian verities. The way in which he does it is eminently beautiful and remarkable. He fires up in vindication of himself; and then he checks himself. ‘By the grace of God I am’-and he is going to say what he is, but he bethinks himself, as if he had reflected; ‘No! I will leave other people to say what that is. By the grace of God I am-what I am, whatever that be. And all that I have to say is that God made me, and that I helped Him. For the grace of God which was bestowed upon me was not in vain. You Corinthians may judge what the product is. I tell you how it has come about.’ So there are thoughts here, I think, well worth our pondering and taking into our hearts and lives.

I. First, as to the one power that makes men.

‘By the grace of God I am what I am.’ Now that word ‘grace’ has got to be worn threadbare, and to mean next door to nothing, in the ears and minds of a great many continual hearers of the Gospel. But Paul had a very definite idea of what he meant by it; and what he meant by it was a very large thing, which we may well ponder for a moment as being the only thing which will transform and ennoble character and will produce fruit that a man need not be ashamed of. The grace of God, in Paul’s use of the words, which is the scriptural use of them generally, implies these two things which are connected as root and product-the active love of God, in exercise towards us low and sinful creatures, and the gifts with which that love comes full charged to men. These two things, which at bottom are one, love and its gifts, are all, in the Apostle’s judgment, gathered up and stored, as in a great storehouse, in Jesus Christ Himself, and through Him are made accessible to us, and brought to bear upon us for the ennobling of our natures, and the investing of us with graces and beauties of character, all strange to us apart from these.

Now it seems to me that these two things, which come from one root, are the precise things which you and I need in order to make us nobler and purer and more Godlike men than otherwise we could ever become. For what is it that men need most for noble and pure living? These two things precisely-motive and power to carry out the dictates of conscience.

Every man in the world knows enough of duty and of right to be a far nobler man than any man in the world is. And it is not for want of clear convictions of duty, it is not for want of recognised models and patterns of life, that men go wrong; but it is because there are these two things lacking, motives for nobler service, and power to do and be what they know they ought to be. And precisely here Paul’s gospel comes in, ‘By the grace of God I am what I am.’ That grace, considered in its two sides of love and of giving, supplies all that we want.

It supplies motives. There is nothing that will bend a man’s will like the recognition of divine love which it is blessedness to come in contact with, and to obey. You may try to sway him by motives of advantage and self-interest, and to thunder into his ears the pealing words of duty and right and ‘ought,’ and there is no adequate response. You cannot soften a heart by the hammers of the law. You cannot force a man to do right by brandishing before him the whip that punishes doing wrong. You cannot sway the will by anything but the heart; and when you can touch the deepest spring it moves the whole mass.

You have seen some ponderous piece of machinery, which resists all attempts of a puny hand laid upon it to make it revolve. But down in one corner is a little hidden spring. Touch that and with majestic slowness and certainty the mighty mass turns. You know those rocking-stones down in the south of England; tons of weight poised upon a pin point, and so exquisitely balanced that a child’s finger rightly applied may move the mass. So the whole man is made mobile only by the touch of love; and the grace that comes to us, and says, ‘If ye love Me, keep My commandments’-is, as I believe, the sole motive which will continuously and adequately sway the rebellious, self-centred wills of men, to obedience resulting in nobility of life.

The other aspect of this same great word is, in like manner, that which we need. What men want is, first of all, the will to be noble and good; and, second, the power to carry out the will. It is God that worketh in us both the willing and the doing. I venture to affirm that there is no power known, either to thinkers, or philanthropists, or doctrinaires, or strivers after excellence in the world-no power known and available which will lift a life to such heights of beauty and self-sacrificing nobility, as will the power that comes to us by communication of the grace that is in Jesus Christ.

I am perpetually trying to insist, dear brethren, upon this one thought, that the communication of actual new life is the central gift of the Gospel; and this new life it is, this nature endowed with new desires, hopes, aims, capacities, which alone will lift the whole man into unwonted heights of beauty and serenity. It is the grace of God, the gift of His Divine Spirit who will dwell with all of us, if we will, which alone can be trusted to make men good.

And now, if that be true, what follows? Surely this, that for all you who have, in any measure, caught a glimpse of what you ought to be, and have been more or less vainly trying to realise your ideal, and reach your goal, there is a better way than the way of self-centred and self-derived and self-dependent effort. There is the way of opening your hearts and spirits to the entrance and access of that great power, the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, which will do in us and for us all that we know we ought to do, and yet feel hampered and hindered in performing.

Oh, dear friends! there are many of you, I believe, who have more or less spasmodically and interruptedly, but with a continual recurrence to the effort, sought to plant your feet firmly in the paths of righteousness, and have more or less failed. Listen to this Gospel, and accept it, and put it to the proof. The love of God which is in Christ Jesus, and the life which that love brings in its hands, for all of us who will trust it, will dwell in you if you will, and mould you into His own likeness, and the law of the spirit of life which was in Christ Jesus will make us free from the law of sin and death.

All noble living is a battle. Can you and I, with our ten thousand, meet him that cometh against us with his twenty, the temptations of the world and of its Prince? Send for the reinforcements, and Jesus Christ will come and teach your hands to war and your fingers to fight. All noble life is self-denial, coercion, restraint; and can my poor, feeble hands apply muscular force enough to the brake to keep the wheels clogged, and prevent them from whirling me downhill into ruin? Let Him come and put His great gentle hand on the top of yours, and that will enable you to scotch the wheels, and make self-denial possible. All noble life is a building up by slow degrees from the foundation. And can you and I complete the task with our own limited resources, and our own feeble strengths? Will not ‘all that pass by begin to mock’ us and say, ‘This man began to build and was not able to finish’ ? That is the epitaph written over all moralities and over all lives which, catching some glimpse of the good and the true and the noble, have tried, apart from Christ, to reproduce them in themselves. Frightful gaps, and an unfinished, however fair structure end them all. Go to Him. ‘His hand hath laid the foundation of the house, His hand shall also finish it.’ He who is Himself the foundation-stone is also the headstone of the corner, which is brought forth with shouting of ‘Grace! Grace unto it!’

I need not, I suppose, linger to remind you what important and large lessons these thoughts carry, not only for men who are trying to work at the task of mending and making their own characters, but on the larger scale, for all who seek to benefit and elevate their fellows. Brethren, it is not for me to depreciate any workers who, in any department, and by any methods, seek, and partially effect, the elevation of humanity. But I should be untrue to my own deepest convictions, and unfaithful to the message which God’s providence has given it to me as my life’s task to proclaim, if I did not declare that nothing will truly re-form humanity, society, the nation, the city, except that which re-creates the individual: ‘the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ’ entering into their midst.

II. And so, secondly, and very briefly, notice the lesson we get here as to how we should think of our own attainments.

I have already pointed out that there are two beautiful touches in my text. The Apostle traces everything that he is, in his character and in his Christian standing and in his Apostolic work and success, to that grace that has come down upon him, and clothed his nakedness with so glorious a garment. And then, in addition to that, he modestly, and with a fine sense of dignity, refrains from parading his attainments or his achievements, and says, ‘It is not for me to estimate what I am; it is for you to do it.’ True, indeed, in the next verse he does set forth, in very lofty language, his claims to be in nothing behind the very chiefest of the Apostles, and ‘to have laboured more abundantly than they all.’ But still the spirit of that humble and yet dignified silence runs through the whole context. ‘By the grace of God I am-what I am.’

Well, then, it is not necessary for a man to be ignorant, or to pretend that he is ignorant, of what he can do. We hear a great deal about the unconsciousness of genius. There is a partial truth in it; and possibly the highest examples of power and success, in any department of mental or intellectual effort, are unaware of their achievements and stature. But if a man can do a certain kind of service there is no harm whatever in his recognising the fact that he can do it. The only harm is in his thinking that because he can, he is a very fine fellow, and that the work itself is a great work; and so setting himself up above his brethren. There is a vast deal of hypocrisy in what is called unconsciousness of power. Most men who have been chosen and empowered to do a great work for God or for men, in any department, have been aware that they could do it. But the less we think about ourselves, in any way, the better. The more entire our recognition of the influx of grace on which we depend for keeping our reservoir full, the less likelihood there will be of touchy self-assertion, the less likelihood of the misuse of the powers that we have. If we are to do much for God, if we are to keep what we have already attained, if we are to make our own lives sweet and beautiful, if we are to be invested with any increase of capacity, or led to any higher heights of nobleness and Christlikeness, we must copy, and make a conscious effort to copy, these two things, which marked the Apostle’s estimate of himself-a distinct recognition that we are only reservoirs and nothing more-’What hast thou that thou hast not received? Why then dost thou glory as if thou hadst not received it?’-and a humble waiving aside of the attempt to determine what it is that we are. For however clearly a man may know his own powers and achievements, it is hard for him to estimate the relations of these to his whole character.

So, dear brethren, although it is a very homely piece of advice, and may seem to be beneath the so-called dignity of the pulpit, let me venture just to remind you that self-conceit is no disease peculiar to the ten-talented people, but is quite as rife, if not a good deal rifer, among those with one talent. They are very humble when it comes to work, and are quite contented to wrap the one talent up in a napkin then; but when it comes to self-assertion, or what they expect to receive of recognition from others, they need to be reminded quite as much as their betters in endowment-’By the grace of God I am what I am.’

III. And so, lastly, one word about the responsibility for our co-operation with the grace, in order to the accomplishment of its results.

‘The grace which was bestowed upon me was not in vain,’ says Paul. ‘Not I, but the grace of God which was with me, and so I laboured more abundantly than they all.’ That is to say, God in His giving love; Christ with His ever out-flowing Spirit, move round our hearts, and desire to enter. But the grace, the love, the gifts of the love may all be put away by our unfaithfulness, by our non-receptivity, by our misuse, and by our negligence. Paul yielded himself to the grace that was brought to work upon him. Have you yielded yourselves?

Paul said, ‘By the grace of God I am what I am.’ He could not have said that, could he, if he had known that the most part of what he was was dead against God’s will and purpose? Has God anything to do with making you what you are, or has it been the devil that has had the greater share in it? This man, because he knew that he had submitted himself to the often painful, searching, crucifying, self-restraining and stimulating influences of the Gospel and Spirit of Christ, could say, ‘God’s grace has made me what I am, and I helped Him to make me.’ And can you say anything like that?

Take your life. In how many of its deeds has there been present the consciousness of God and His love? Take your character. How much of it has been shot through and through, so to speak, by the fiery darts of that cleansing, warming, consuming grace of God? Are you daily being baptized in that Spirit, searched by that Spirit, condemned by that grace? Is it the grace of God, or nature and self and the world and the flesh that have made you what you are?

Oh, brethren I let us cultivate the sense of our need of this divine help, for it does not come where men do not know how weak they are, and how much they want it. The mountain tops are high,-yes! and they are dry; there is no water there. The rivers run in the green valleys deep down. ‘God resisteth the proud, and giveth grace to the humble.’ Let us see that we open our hearts to the reception of these quickening and cleansing influences, for it is possible for us to cover ourselves over with such an impenetrable covering that that grace cannot pass through it. Let us see to it that we keep ourselves in close contact with the foundation of all this grace, even Jesus Christ Himself, by desire, by faith, by love, by communion, by meditation, by approximation, by sympathy, by service. And let us see that we use the grace that we possess. ‘For to him that hath shall be given, and from him that hath not’-not possessing in any real sense because not utilising for its appointed purpose-’shall be taken away even that he hath.’ Wherefore, brethren, I ‘beseech you that ye receive not the grace of God in vain.’

Alexander MacLaren, Expositions of Holy Scripture (1904–1910) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

15:10 Paul’s awareness of God’s extraordinary special favor (literally grace) to him resulted in an extraordinary response on his part. But even that must be understood as an expression of God . . . working through me by his grace (see 2 Cor 4:7; Gal 2:20; Col 1:27).

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

1Co 15:10. Χάριτι, by grace) alone.—ὅ εἰμι, what I am) i.e. an apostle, who saw Chrits.—οὐ κενὴ, not vain) Paul proves the authority of the gospel and of his testimony to it by its effects.—ἀυτῶν, than they) They word is referred to 1Co 15:7.—πάντων, all) individually.—σὺν ἐμοὶ, with me) The particle with is suitable because he says, I laboured: comp. Mar 16:20.

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

1Co_15:10. The other side of this humility, looking to God. Yet has Gods grace made me what I am. Comp. Gal_1:15.

χάριτι] has the principal emphasis, hence again ἡ χάρις αὐτοῦ

ὅ εἰμι] In this is comprehended the whole sum of his present being and character, so different from his pre-Christian conditio.

ἡ εἰς ἐμέ] Comp. 1Pe_1:10 : towards me. Plato, Pol. v. p. 729 D.

οὐ κενή] not void of result. Comp. 1Co_15:58; Php_2:16; 1Th_3:5.

ἐγεν.] not: has been, but: has practically become.

ἀλλά] introduces the great contrast to οὐ κενὴ ἐγεν., valued highly by Paul, even in the depth of his humility, as against the impugners of his apostolic position; and introduces it with logical correctness, for περισσότερον … ἐκοπίασα is the result of the grace.

περισσ.] accusative neuter. It is the plus of the result. Regarding ἐκοπ. of apostolic labour, comp. Php_2:16; Gal_4:11, al.

αὐτῶν πάντων] than they all, which may either mean: than any of them, or: than they all put together. Since the latter corresponds to the τοῖς ἀποστ. πᾶσιν, 1Co_15:7, and suits best the design of bringing out the fruitful efficacy of the divine grace, and also agrees with history so far as known to us, it is accordingly to be preferred (Osiander and van Hengel) in opposition to the former interpretation, which is the common on.

οὐκ ἐγὼ δὲ, ἀλλʼ κ.τ.λ.] Correction regarding the subject of ἐκοπίασα, not I however, but. Chrysostom says well: τῇ συνήθει κεχρημένος ταπεινοφροσύνῃ καὶ τοῦτο (that he laboured more, etc.) ταχέως παρέδραμε, καὶ τὸ πᾶν ἀνέθηκε τῷ θεῷ. Paul is conscious in himself that the relation of the efficacy of Gods grace to his own personal agency is of such a kind, that what has just been stated belongs not to the latter, but to the former.[35]

Ἡ ΧΆΡΙς Τ. ΘΕΟῦ ΣῪΝ ἘΜΟΊ] sc. ἐκοπίασε περισσ. αὐτ. πάντ. Not I have laboured more, but the grace of God has done it with me (in efficient fellowship with me, comp. Mar_16:20). It is to be observed that the article before σὺν ἐμοί is not genuine (see the critical remarks), and so Paul does not disclaim for himself his own self-active share in bringing about the result, but knows that the intervention of the divine grace so outweighs his own activity, that to the alternative, whether he or grace has wrought such great things, he can only answer, as he has done: not I, but the grace of God with me. Were the article before σὺν ἐμοί genuine, the thought would not be: the grace has wrought it with me, but: the grace, which is with me,[36] has wrought it. But Bezas remark holds true for the case also of the article being omitted: Paulum ita se ipsum facere gratiae administrum, ut illi omnia tribuat. There is no ground for thinking even remotely of a not alone, but also, or the like (see Grotius, Flatt, and others).

[35] Augustine, De Grat. et lib. arb. 3, says: Non ego autem, i.e. non solus, sed gratia Dei mecum; ac per hoc nec gratia Dei sola, nec ipse solus, sed gratia Dei cum illo. Therewith, however, the relation of the grace to the individuality, as Paul has expressed it by οὐκ ἐγὼ, ἀλλά, is entirely overlooked.

[36] That is, which stands in helping fellowship with me. See Kühner, II. p. 276.

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 15:10 . “God’s grace,” which makes Paul what he is (see 1Co 9:1 f.: the double εἰμὶ is firmly assertive “I am what I verily am”), is the favour , utterly undeserved, that summoned Saul of Tarsus from the foremost rank of the persecutors to the foremost rank amongst the servants of the Lord Jesus: cf. 1Ti 1:14 , Eph 3:8 ; Eph 2:7 , Gal 1:13 ff. The grace of Apostleship implies the antecedent grace of forgiveness and adoption. καὶ ἡ χάρις αὐτοῦ ἡ εἰς ἐμὲ κ . τ . λ ., “and His grace that was extended ( or went out) unto me, has not proved vain”: cf. the emphatic ἐμοὶ of Eph 3:8 ; the repeated art [2295] marks me as the signal object of this grace; for χάρις εἰς , cf 1Pe 1:10 . κενή ( cf. 1Pe 1:14 ) means not void of result (that is ματαία , 1Pe 1:17 ), but void of reality : Paul’s Apostleship was no titular office, no mere benevolence towards an unworthy man; the favour brought with it a labour quite as extraordinary “nay, but ( ἀλλʼ ) more abundantly than they all did I labour”. κοπιάω connotes exertion, painful or exhausting toil ; see note on κόπος , 1Co 15:8 . So that, if last and least at the outset, and conspicuously unfit for Apostleship, in execution P. took the premier place: see 2Co 10:13-18 ; 2Co 11:23 ; 2Co 12:2 ff., Rom 15:15-21 . αὐτῶν πάντων , presumably, more than all the rest together : by his single labours P. had extended the kingdom of Christ over a region wider than all the Twelve had traversed up to this date. From the depth of Paul’s self-abasement a new pride is ready to spring, which is corrected instantly by the words, οὐκ ἐγὼ δέ , ἀλλʼ ἡ χάρις τοῦ Θεοῦ σὺν ἐμοί : “not I , however, but the grace of God (working) with me” this really wrought the work; I was its instrument. See 1Co 3:7 ff., 1Co 12:6 , Phi 2:12 f., Eph 3:20 , Col 1:29 ; and for the turn of expression, Gal 2:20 .

[2295] grammatical article.

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

1Co_15:10

But by the grace of God I am what I am: and his grace which (was bestowed) upon me was not in vain; but I labored more abundantly than they all: yet not I, but the grace of God which was with me.

Christian humility does not consist in denying what there is of good in us; but in an abiding sense of ill-desert, and in the consciousness that what we have of good is due to the grace of God. The grace of God, in this connection, is not the love of God, but the influence of the Holy Spirit considered as an unmerited favor. This is not only the theological and popular, but also the scriptural sense of the word grace in many passages. By the grace of God I am what I am. That is, divine grace has made me what I am. Had I been left to myself, I should have continued a blasphemer, a persecutor, and injurious. It is owing to his grace that I am now an apostle, preaching the faith which I once destroyed. The grace of which he was made the subject, he says, was not in vain, i.e. without effect. But, on the contrary, I labored more abundantly than they all. This may mean either, more than any one of the apostles, or more than all of them together. The latter is more in keeping with the tone of the passage. It serves more to exalt the grace of God, to which Paul attributes every thing good; and it is historically true, if the New Testament record is to be our guide. Yet not I, i.e. the fact that I labored so abundantly is not to be referred to me; I was not the laborer but the grace which was with me. By some editors the article is omitted in the last clause, ἡ σὺν ἐμοί. The sense would then be with me, instead of, which was with me. In the one case grace is represented as co-operating with the apostle; in the other, the apostle loses sight of himself entirely, and ascribes every thing to grace. It was not I, but the grace of God. Theologically, there is no difference in these different modes of statement. The common text is preferred by most editors on critical grounds; and the sense, according to the common reading, is more in accordance with the spirit of the passage, and with Pauls manner; comp. Rom_7:17. True, he did co-operate with the grace of God, but this co-operation was due to grace so that with the strictest propriety he could say, Not I, but the grace of God.

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

by . . . grace . . . and his grace--The repetition implies the prominence which God's grace had in his mind, as the sole cause of his marvellous conversion and subsequent labors. Though "not meet to be called an apostle," grace has given him, in Christ, the meetness needed for the office. Translate as the Greek, "His grace which was (showed) towards me."

what I am--occupying the honorable office of an apostle. Contrast with this the self-sufficient prayer of another Pharisee (Luk 18:11).

but I laboured--by God's grace (Phi 2:16).

than they all--than any of the apostles (Co1 15:7).

grace of God . . . with me--Compare "the Lord working with them" (Mar 16:20). The oldest manuscripts omit "which was." The "not I, but grace," implies, that though the human will concurred with God when brought by His Spirit into conformity with His will, yet "grace" so preponderated in the work, that his own co-operation is regarded as nothing, and grace as virtually the sole agent. (Compare Co1 3:9; Mat 10:20; Co2 6:1; Phi 2:12-13).

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 10. But, by the grace of God I am what I am] God, by his mere grace and good will, has called me to be an apostle, and has denominated me such.

And his grace, c.] Nor have I been unfaithful to the Divine call I used the grace which he gave me; and when my labours, travels, and sufferings are considered, it will be evident that I have laboured more abundantly than the whole twelve. This was most literally true.

Yet not I, but the grace of God] It was not through my own power or wisdom that I performed these things, but through the Divine influence which accompanied me.

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

(10) But by the grace of God I am what I am.—This whole verse is full of that maintenance of official dignity as an Apostle and a labourer, and of personal humility, which were characteristic of St. Paul.

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

10. But by the grace of God I am what I am] St Paul is willing to admit his personal inferiority to the other Apostles, but such willingness does not lead him to make a similar admission regarding his work. For that was God’s doing, not his, or only his so far as God’s grace or favour enabled him to perform it. See ch. 1Co_1:30, 1Co_3:6; 1Co_3:9, and cf. St Mat_10:20; 2Co_3:5; Eph_3:7; Php_2:12-13.

I laboured more abundantly than they all] St Paul does not hesitate to place his labours for the Gospel’s sake on a par with, or even above, those of the twelve. The work of an Apostle of the Gentiles must necessarily have been more arduous than that of an Apostle of the Jews

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.

But by the grace of God I am what I am,.... As he was what he was by the grace of God in a private capacity, upon a level with other Christians, being a chosen vessel of salvation, not by works, nor on account of faith, or any holiness of his, but by grace; being regenerated, called, sanctified, justified, pardoned, and adopted by it; being a believer in Christ through faith, as a gift of God's grace, and having a good hope of eternal glory the same way; so he was what he was, as a minister of the Gospel, as an apostle, as in that high office purely by the grace of God: he was not made one by men, nor by his education, learning, and industry, nor through any merits of his own, but by the free favour and sovereign will of God, bestowing on him gifts and grace, by which he was qualified for apostleship, and to preach the unsearchable riches of Christ:

and his grace which was bestowed on me was not in vain; by "grace", in the former clause, is meant the good will and free favour of God, from whence all the blessings of goodness arise; here the gifts of grace, particularly such as qualify for the ministry. For what qualifies men for the preaching of the Gospel is not human learning, nor natural parts, nor internal grace, neither separately nor altogether: but peculiar gifts, which lie in an understanding of the Scriptures, and the doctrines of the Gospel, and in an aptitude to explain and teach them to the edification of others: and these gifts are not of nature, nor acquired by art and industry, but are of grace; are gifts freely bestowed by God, and are not in vain, at least should not be; they are not to be wrapped up in a napkin, and hid in the earth; they are not to be neglected, but to be stirred up and improved by prayer, meditation, reading, constant study, and frequent use, as they were by the apostle; and by a divine blessing were not without their use, to the good of souls, and the glory of God. Hence as what he was, so what he had, was by the grace of God, and likewise what he did, as follows:

but I laboured more abundantly than they all; meaning, not the false apostles, who were loiterers, and not labourers, but the true apostles of Christ; not than them all put together, but than anyone of them singly considered; he laboured in the Lord's vineyard, in the word and doctrine, preaching in season and out of season; he travelled over a greater part of the world, preached oftener, and wrote more than any of the rest; was the instrument of converting more souls, and he planted more churches, endured more hardships and sufferings than any of the other apostles;

Yet not I, but the grace of God which was with me; he attributes all to the grace of God, and nothing to himself; it was the grace of God that made him an apostle of Christ, and preacher of the Gospel; it was that which being bestowed on him qualified him for it; it was that which enabled him to labour and toil, to do and suffer all he did, and which gave success to all his ministrations. He is exceedingly careful to magnify the free favour of God, and the gifts of his grace; and means not the grace that was in him, but the grace that was without him, though with him.

John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

10 But by the grace of God I am what I am: and his grace which was bestowed upon me was not in vain; but I laboured more abundantly than they all: yet not I, but the grace of God which was with me.

Ver. 10. I laboured more abundantly] See 2Co 11:23; Rom 15:19. George Eagles, martyr in Queen Mary’s days, for his great pains in travelling from place to place to confirm the brethren, was surnamed, Trudge over the world. Might not St Paul have been fitly so surnamed?

Not I, but the grace of God] So those good servants, Luk 19:16, Not we, but thy talents have gained other five, and other two, &c. Let God have the entire praise of all our good. We should boast and glory of nothing, because nothing is ours, saith holy Austin, who (being wholly of St Paul’s spirit) was a great advancer of the grace of God, and abaser of man against ‘all those patrons of nature with their vitreum acumen, bright but brittle sharpness of wit, as he styleth it.

Which was with me] Present with me, not which did work with me, as the Synergists would have it.

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 by the grace of God I am what I am - By the “favor” or mercy of God. What I have is to be traced to him, and not to any native tendency to goodness, or any native inclination to his service, or to any merit of my own. All my hopes of heaven; all my zeal; all my success; all my piety; all my apostolic endowments, are to be traced to him. Nothing is more common in the writings of Paul, than a disposition to trace all that he had to the mere mercy and grace of God. And nothing is a more certain indication of true piety than such a disposition. The reason why Paul here introduces the subject seems to be this. He had incidentally, and undesignedly, introduced a comparison in one respect between himself and the other apostles. He had not had the advantages which they had. Most of all, he was overwhelmed with the recollection that he had been a persecutor. He felt, therefore, that there was a special obligation resting on him to make up by diligence for the lack of their advantages of an early personal conversation with the Lord Jesus, and to express his gratitude that so great a sinner had been made an apostle. He, therefore, says, that he had not been idle. He had been enabled by the grace of God, to labor more than all the rest, and he had thus shown that he had not been insensible of his obligations.

But I laboured more abundantly ... - I was more diligent in preaching; I encountered more perils; I have exerted myself more. The records of his life, compared with the records of the other apostles, fully show this.

Yet not I - I do not attribute it to myself. I would not boast of it. The fact is plain, and undeniable, that I have so labored. But I would not attribute it to myself. I would not be proud or vain. I would remember my former state; would remember that I was a persecutor; would remember that all my disposition to labor, and all my ability, and all my success, are to be traced to the mere favor and mercy of God. So every man who has just views feels who has been favored with success in the ministry. If a man has been successful as a preacher; if he has been self-denying, laborious, and the instrument of good, he cannot be insensible to the fact, and it would be foolish affectation to pretend ignorance of it. But he may feel that it is all owing to the mere mercy of God; and the effect will be to produce humility and gratitude, not pride and self-complacency.

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

I have laboured more abundantly. He does not say better, or that he excelled them; and even as to his labours, he gives the honour to God: Not I, but the grace of God with me. (Witham)

George Leo Haydock (1774–1849), Haydock's Catholic Family Bible and Commentary, 1859 edition — public domain. Excludes Psalms (Douay-Rheims chapter numbering differs from Protestant) and Deuterocanonical books (Catholic canon only).

By the grace of God I am what I am; by the free love and goodness of God, I, that was before a blasphemer, and a persecutor, and injurious, have obtained mercy; and though it was impossible for me any more to requite and answer, than at first to merit, that love, yet his grace in me hath produced some fruit, and hath not been wholly in vain; for in the discharge of my ministry, as an apostle, I have abundantly laboured, though not more than all the rest of the apostles taken together, yet more than any one of them all, who were my fellow apostles: what these labours were, he told us, Rom 15:19; and more fully, 2Co 6:4-10. But lest he should be thought to arrogate any thing to himself, and the power or good use of his own will, he addeth,

yet not I, but the grace of God which was with me.

Grace seemeth, in the latter part of the verse, to be taken in something a different sense from what it was in the former part: here it signifies the free love and favour of God; though it may also there be understood of those gracious habits, which were the effects of that free love and mercy; here it plainly signifies those gracious habits which were infused into Paul, together with the gracious influences of the Holy Spirit, by which he was enabled to reduce those habits into acts. Paul had something in the acts he had done considered as a man, but yet so little, as in these spiritual acts he denieth his own efficiency, and attributeth all to Divine grace, either exciting him to his actions, or preventing, or working in and with him, and assisting him, and giving him all that success he had had.

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

10. Whatever I was as a persecutor, yet by the grace of God I am what I am—An apostle!

Not in vain—He was, he says, (Act_26:19,) “not disobedient unto the heavenly vision.”

More abundantly than they all— Than any one of them all.

Not I—Spoken comparatively. Yet while he would claim much in comparison with other apostles, he has no claim to make in competition with God’s grace.

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

By the grace of God I am. what I am. And therefore he was "in nothing behind the very chiefest apostles." However humbly he thought of himself, it would have been mere unfaithfulness to disparage his own. (2Co_3:5, 2Co_3:6) I laboured more abundantly than they all. Because God wrought effectually in him. (Gal_2:8) The word used for "labour" implies the extreme of toil (Mat_6:28:, Php_2:16) etc. But the grace of God. "It is God that worketh in Php_2:13; (Mat_10:20; Col_1:29)

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

I laboured more than they all - That is, more than any of them, from a deep sense of the peculiar love God had shown me. Yet, to speak more properly, it is not I, but the grace of God that is with me - This it is which at first qualified me for the work, and still excites me to zeal and diligence in it.

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

But by the grace of God I am what I am: and his grace which was bestowed upon me was not found vain; but I labored more abundantly than they all: yet not I, but the grace of God which was with me . [ Gal_2:8 ; Phi_2:13 ; Col_1:29 ]

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.

10. But by the grace of God I am what I am. Not by his own merit, which he considered so small, but by God's grace he had been enabled to do a more abundant work than any other apostle.

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.

the grace of God I am what I am

God's grace or kindness has made Paul as he is now.

his grace in me was not in vain

Paul is emphasizing through litotes that God worked through Paul. AT: "because he was kind to me, I was able to do much good work" (See: Litotes)

the grace of God that is with me

Paul speaks of the work he was able to do because God was kind to him as if that grace were actually doing the work. AT: Possible meanings are 1) this is literally true, and God actually did the work and kindly used Paul as a tool or 2) Paul is using a metaphor and saying that God was kind to let Paul do the work and to make Paul's work have good results. (See: Metaphor)

translationWords

grace

God

vain

preach

believe

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

10. σὺν ἐμοί אBDFG Vetus Lat. Vulg. ἡ σὺν ἐμοί rec. with AE.

10. χάριτι δὲ θεοῦ. St Paul is willing to admit his personal inferiority to the other Apostles, but such willingness does not lead him to make a similar admission regarding his work. For that was God’s doing, not his, or only his so far as God’s grace or favour enabled him to perform it. See ch. 1Co 1:30, 1Co 3:6; 1Co 3:9, and cf. Mat 10:20; 2Co 3:5; Eph 3:7; Php 2:12-13.

περισσότερον. St Paul does not hesitate to place his labours for the Gospel’s sake on a par with, or even above, those of the Twelve. The work of an Apostle of the Gentiles must necessarily have been more arduous than that of an Apostle of the Jews.

σὺν ἐμοί. If, with rec. we read ἡ σὺν ἐμοί, we must translate with A.V. the grace of God which was with me. If we omit the article the rendering will be the grace of God laboured with me.

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.

10.] Digressive, explanatory of ἐκτρώματι.

10. χάρ. δὲ θεοῦ] “With the humiliating conviction of his own unworthiness is united the consciousness of that higher Power which worked on and in him,—and this introduces his chastened self-consciousness of the extent and success of his apostolic labours.” De Wette. The position of χάριτι δὲ θεοῦ, and the repetition of ἡ χάρις αὐτοῦ afterwards, shew the emphatic prominence which he assigns to the divine Grace.

ὅ εἰμι] viz. in my office and its results. The church has admirably connected this passage, as Epistle for the 11th Sunday after Trinity, with that other speech of a Pharisee, Luk 18:11,—ὁ θεός, εὐχαριστῶ σοι ὅτι οὐκ εἰμὶ ὥσπερ οἱ λοιποὶ τῶν ἀνθρώπων: see note there.

ἡ εἰς ἐμέ] which was (manifested) towards me: see ref. and Rom 8:18.

ἀλλά opposed to κενὴ ἐγ.,—‘by means of God’s grace’ being understood after ἀλλά, as afterwards explained.

περισσότερον] adverbial, as in reff.: or perhaps neut. accus. governed by ἐκοπίασα.

αὐτῶν πάντων] either, ‘than any of them,’ or ‘than they all,’ scil. together. Meyer prefers the latter, on account of τοῖς ἀπ. πᾶσιν, ver. 7. But it seems hardly necessary, and introduces an element of apparent exaggeration.

ἐκοπίασα] Spoken of his apostolic work, in all its branches; see reff., especially Phil.

οὐκ ἐγὼ δέ] explanatory, to avoid misapprehension: it had been implied (see above) in the ἀλλά:—not I, however, but the Grace of God with me (see var. readd.): scil. ἐκοπίασεν κ.τ.λ. That is,—the Grace of God worked with him in so overwhelming a measure, compared to his own working, that it was no longer the work of himself but of divine Grace. Augustine, de Grat. et Lib. Arb. § 5 (12), vol. x. p. 889, hardly expresses this: “Non ego autem, i.e. non solus, sed gratia Dei mecum: ac per hoc nec gratia Dei sola, nec ipse solus, sed gratia Dei cum illo:”—for he overlooks the entire preponderance of Grace, which Paul asserts, even to the exclusion of his own action in the matter. The right view of this preponderance of Grace prevents the misunderstanding of the words which has led to the insertion of the article, ἡ σὺν ἐμοί, whereby Grace becomes absolutely the sole agent, which is contrary to fact. On the coagency of the human will with divine Grace, but in subordination, see Mat 10:20; 2Co 5:20; 2Co 6:1, and ch. 3:9, note.

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

10. χάριτι δὲ Θεοῦ εἰμι ὅ εἰμι. ‘But by God’s grace I am what I am’—an Apostle who has seen the Lord and laboured fruitfully for Him. In spite of his unfitness to bear the name, the grace of God has made him equal to it. The persecutor has been forgiven and the abortion adopted. On the eleventh Sunday after Trinity this humble boast of Paul the Pharisee is placed side by side with the arrogant boast of the typical Pharisee.

ἡ εἰς ἐμὲ οὐ κενὴ ἐγενήθη. ‘Which was manifested towards me’ (or, was extended to me), ‘did not prove empty,’ i.e. fruitless, without result; or perhaps, ‘did not turn out to be worthless.’ Comp. vv. 14, 58; εἰς κενόν, Php 2:16; 1Th 3:5; ματαία, v. 17.†

ἀλλά. ‘So far from that being the case, I laboured more abundantly than they all.’ This may mean either (1) ‘than all of them together,’ or (2) ‘than any one of them (14:18).’ Though (1) seems extravagant, it may be the meaning, seeing that God’s grace is the chief cause of it. Apart from that, his energy and toil would have been without fruit (Rom 15:19). In himself he is greatly inferior to the Twelve; in his work, which is God’s, greatly superior. His labour (κόπος) means his work as a whole, including his success; and his great success was evidence that he was an Apostle. See on 16:16. Thus his great work was evidence of the Resurrection, for it would never have been undertaken if the Risen Lord had not appeared to him, nor would it have had such results without His help.

ἀλλὰ ἡ χάρις τοῦ Θεοῦ σὺν ἐμοί. ‘So far from its being 1 (alone) who did all this, it was the grace of God with me.’ There were two who laboured, two co-operators, grace with himself (Act 14:27); but it was grace which made the labour effective (Gal 2:20). The Apostle’s satisfaction with his own labours “from a human point of view is as the joy of a child who gives his father a birthday present out of his father’s own money” (Weinel, p. 178). Dobschütz (Probleme, p. 58) shows how true this estimate of his labours is. The reading ἡ σὺν ἐμοί (see below), which Calvin characteristically adopts, makes grace the sole worker; ‘not I, but the grace of God which was with me, did the abundant and fruitful work.’ Atto more reasonably says; quibus verbis, ‘gratia Dei mecum,’ ostendit quia nec gratia sine libero arbitrio, nee liberum arbitrium sine gratia, hominis salutem operatur. So also Augustine; nec gratia Dei sola, nec ipse solus, sed gratia cum illo.

For οὐ κενὴ ἐγενήθη, D* has πτωχὴ οὐκ ἐγενήθη, while F G have πτωχὴ οὐ γέγονεν. A E K L P have ἡ σὺν ἐμοί, but א* B D* F G, Latt. Goth. omit ἡ.

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

Was not [ου εγενηθη] . Rev., better, was not found : did not turn out to be.

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