But of him are ye in Christ Jesus
These words, as they direct to the proper object of glorying,
Christ, so they show the high honour the called ones are brought
to in and through Christ, and are opposed to their outward
meanness, folly, weakness, poverty, and contempt. They are first
of God the Father, of his own rich free grace and goodness,
without any regard to any motive, merit, or desert of theirs, put
into Christ by electing grace, in whom they are preserved and
blessed; and which is their original secret being in him; and is
made manifest by regenerating grace, by their being made new
creatures; which also is not owing to their blood, or to the will
of the flesh, or to the will of man, but to God and his free
favour in Christ: and in consequence of their being in Christ, as
their head and representative, he becomes all to them, which is
here expressed;
who of God is made unto us wisdom.
Though they are foolish creatures in their own and the world's
esteem, yet Christ is their wisdom; he is so "efficiently", the
author and cause of all that spiritual wisdom and understanding
in divine things they are possessed of; he is so "objectively",
their highest wisdom lying in the knowledge of his person, blood,
and righteousness, of interest in him, and salvation by him; with
which knowledge eternal life is connected: and he is so
"representatively"; he is their head, in whom all their wisdom
lies; he acts for them as their wisdom to God, he is their
Counsellor, their Advocate, who pleads and intercedes for them,
and as their wisdom to men, and gives them a mouth and wisdom
which their adversaries are not able to gainsay; and having the
tongue of the learned, he speaks a word in season to themselves,
when weary, distressed, and disconsolate, and for them in the
court of heaven; he is their wisdom, to direct their paths, to
guide them with his counsel, in the way they should go, safe to
his kingdom and glory:
and righteousness.
He is the "author" of righteousness; he has wrought out and
brought in one for them, which is well pleasing to God,
satisfying to his justice, by which his law is magnified and made
honourable; which justifies from all sin, and discharges from all
condemnation, is everlasting, and will answer for them in a time
to come; this he has brought in by the holiness of his nature,
the obedience of his life, and by his sufferings and death: and
which is "subjectively" in him, not in themselves; nor does it
lie in any thing wrought in them, or done by them; but in him as
their head and representative, who by "imputation" is made
righteousness to them; and they the same way are made the
righteousness of God in him; or in other words, this
righteousness, by an act of the Father's grace, is imputed,
reckoned, and accounted to them as their justifying
righteousness:
and sanctification;
Christ is the sanctification of his people, through the
constitution of God, the imputation of the holiness of his
nature, the merits of his blood, and the efficacy of his grace,
he is so "federally" and "representatively"; he is their covenant
head, and has all covenant grace in his hands for them, and so
the whole stock and fund of holiness, which is communicated to
them in all ages, until the perfection of it in every saint: this
is sanctification in Christ, which differs from sanctification in
them in these things; in him it is as the cause, in them as the
effect; in him as its fountain, in them as the stream; in him it
is complete, in them it is imperfect for the present: and they
have it by virtue of union to him; sanctification in Christ can
be of no avail to any, unless it is derived from him to them; so
that this sanctification in Christ does not render the
sanctification of the Spirit unnecessary, but includes it, and
secures it: likewise Christ is the sanctification of his people
"by imputation", as the holiness of his human nature is, together
with his obedience and sufferings, imputed to them for their
justification; Christ assumed an holy human nature, the holiness
of it was not merely a qualification for his office as a Saviour,
or what made his actions and sufferings in that nature
significant and useful, or is exemplary to men; but is a branch
of the saints justification before God: the law required an holy
nature, theirs is not holy; Christ has assumed one not for,
himself, but for them, and so is the end of the law in all
respects: and this may be greatly designed in the whole of this
passage; "wisdom" may stand in general for the wise scheme of
justification, as it is laid in Christ; "sanctification" may
intend the holiness of his nature; "righteousness" the obedience
of his life; and "redemption" his sufferings and death, by which
it is obtained: but then justification and sanctification are not
to be confounded; they are two distinct things, and have their
proper uses and effects; sanctification in the saints does not
justify, or justification sanctify; the one respects the power
and being of sin, the other the guilt of it. Moreover, Christ is
the sanctification of his people "meritoriously"; through the
shedding of his blood, whereby he has sanctified them, that is,
expiated their sins, and made full atonement for them; see (
Hebrews
10:10 Hebrews
10:14 ) ( 13:12 ) .
Once more, he is their sanctification "efficiently"; by his
Spirit, as the author, and by his word, as the means; he is the
source of all holiness, it all comes from him, and is wrought by
his Spirit in the heart; which lies in filling the understanding
with spiritual light and knowledge; the mind with a sense of sin,
and a detestation of it; the heart with the fear of God; the
affections with love to divine objects and things; the will with
submission and resignation to the will of God in all respects;
and is exercised in living a life of faith on Christ, and in
living soberly, righteously, and godly, before God and man: and
this, though imperfect now, will be perfected from and by Christ,
without which it is impossible to see the Lord:
and redemption;
which he is by the appointment of his Father, being foreordained
to it before the foundation of the world; and this sense of the
word made will agree with every clause in the text; and he is so
efficiently, having obtained eternal redemption from sin, Satan,
the law, and this present evil world, for his people; and
"subjectively", it being in him, and every other blessing which
is either a part of it, and comes through it, or is dependent on
it, as justification, adoption, and remission of sins. Moreover,
this may have respect not only to redemption past, which is
obtained by Christ; but to that which draws near, the saints are
waiting for, and to which they are sealed up by the Spirit of
God; even their redemption and deliverance from very being of
sin, from all sorrow and sufferings, from death and the grave,
and everything that is afflicting and distressing.