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One of the most common and powerful objections against Christianity is that many who profess it are by no means affected with it; that such professors cannot therefore believe it, or if they do, it must be destitute of moral power. But the badness of the copy is no proof of the badness of the original; the baseness of the counterfeit coin is no proof of the baseness of the genuine. Let the religion of Jesus be compared with its own standards; let it be tried by its own rules. With the crimes of religious professors we have nothing to do but to deplore and avoid them. What Corinth was, we know. To this focus of all that is horrible St. Paul went, and he did not preach in vain. What these Corinthians had been, St. Paul tells us in the context: but now they were washed, &c.

I. THE FEARFUL STATE OF UNCONVERTED MEN.

1. Nothing can be more clear than the doctrine of universal depravity; but this depravity exhibits itself under various aspects, and in various degrees. These Corinthians had been uncommonly vile. Nor they only. We know of the thief who was pardoned on the tree. This, indeed, is not uniformly the case. For in the characters of multitudes we see much that is pleasing, even the grace of God. There are many who are "not far from the kingdom," and who yet appear never to reach it.

2. We ought to regard the depravity of man with deep sorrow and compassion, but not with despair. The very glory of the gospel is that it is a message of pardon and mercy to the guilty, the bankrupt, and the undone. But perhaps some of you may despair, not of the conversion of others, but of your own. Such should remember these Corinthians, and the apostle who converted them.

II. THE RENEWED STATE OF THESE CORINTHIANS.

1. "Ye are washed." Since sanctification and justification are mentioned directly afterwards, perhaps this refers to baptism.

2. "Ye are sanctified," i.e., ye are more and more alienated from the world, and conformed to the image and the will of God.

3. "Ye are justified," i.e., your sins are pardoned, and you are accepted as righteous before God, through faith in Christ.

III. THE DIVINE METHOD OF SANCTIFICATION AND JUSTIFICATION HERE EXHIBITED. "In the name of the Lord Jesus" means —

1. Doing anything by the authority of Christ. "Master, we saw one casting out devils in Thy name."

2. Doing anything for the honour of Christ: thus St. Paul says — "Whatsoever ye do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus," &c.

3. Receiving anything from the Father, through His dear Son: thus our Lord says — "Whatsoever ye shall ask the Father in My name," on account of My merits, "He will give it you." The text, then, teaches us that the only method by which we can approach God, the only method by which God can display His grace and love to man, is through Christ.

(G. Weight, M. A.)

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KJV: And such were some of you: but ye are washed, but ye are sanctified, but ye are justified in the name of the Lord Jesus, and by the Spirit of our God.

WEB: Such were some of you, but you were washed. But you were sanctified. But you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus, and in the Spirit of our God.