Tuesday April 30, 2024

1 Corinthians 1:30-31
And because of him you are in Christ Jesus, who became to us wisdom from God,
righteousness and sanctification and redemption, so that, as it is written,
“Let the one who boasts, boast in the Lord.”

Different translators have read this passage in various ways; ‘of him’ they think should properly be ‘through him’: through God are we in Christ Jesus. Are you this day united to Christ, a stone in that building of which he is both foundation and top stone, a limb of that mystical body of which he is the head? Then you did not get there of yourself. No stone in that wall leaped into its place; no member of that body was its own creator. You came to be in union with Christ through God the Father. You were ordained unto this grace by his own purpose, the purpose of the infinite Jehovah, who chose you before the world was. ‘Ye have not chosen me, but I have chosen you’. The first cause of your union with Christ lies in the purpose of God who gave you grace in Christ Jesus from before the foundation of the world. And as to the purpose, so to the power of God is your union with Christ to be attributed. He brought you into Christ. You were a stranger; he brought you near. You were an enemy; he reconciled you. You would never have come to Christ to seek for mercy if first of all the Spirit of God had not appeared to you to show you your need and to lead you to cry for the mercy that you needed. Through God’s operation as well as through God’s decree you are this day in Christ Jesus. It will do your souls good, my brethren, to think of this very commonplace truth. Many days have passed since your conversion, it may be, but do not forget what a high day the day of your new birth was; and do not cease to give glory to that mighty power which brought you ‘out of darkness into his marvelous light’. You did not convert yourself; if you did, you still need to be converted again. Your regeneration was not of the will of man, nor of blood, nor of birth; if it were so, let me tell you the sooner you are rid of it the better. The only true regeneration is of the will of God and by the operation of the Holy Spirit; ‘by the grace of God I am what I am’.

C. H. Spurgeon and Terence Peter Crosby, 365 Days with Spurgeon (Volume 1) (Day One Publications, 1998)
Scripture for opening text taken from The Holy Bible, English Standard Version®, ESV © 2016 by Crossway Bibles.
Used by permission. All rights reserved.