The
First Epistle of Paul the Apostle to the Church at Corinth
Chapter
15:10-11
10
But by the grace of God I am that I am: and his grace which is in me,
was not in vain: but I labored more abundantly than they all: yet not
I, but the grace of God which is with me.
11
Wherefore, whether it were I, or they, so we preach, and so have ye
believed.
Related
Scripture:
Ephesians
3:7; Philippians 2:13
Brethren:
We are called unto His service by grace. Not through our own works, (although works are required), but only by the acceptance of Christ as Savior. We are then granted mercy and grace by the Father.
Henceforth,
let us labor in the fields for as is written the harvest is great.
Each of us, in our own way, are ministers of the Gospel.
“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.
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.
[Therefore],
we agree in our ministry to preach Christ, and him only, and with one
heart and mouth assert, that he died, was buried, and rose again the
third day and so ye believed these several truths relating to the
death, burial, and resurrection of Christ. Thus the apostle, after he
had made a digression upon his own character, as one of the witnesses
of Christ's resurrection, returns to the subject he set out upon in
the beginning of the chapter, in order to lead on to the doctrine of
the resurrection of the dead, which he proves by the resurrection of
Christ, in the following verses.” - John Gill
Postscript:
Think
upon and meditate on the following; that all the Apostles preached
one doctrine, and that is the belief of a risen Christ and of the
grace obtained by the confession of faith of that belief.
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