1 Corinthians 3:23

"And you are Christ's; and Christ is God's."

— 1 Corinthians 3:23

"Christ is God's." These are remarkable words, and need to be carefully and reverently opened up. The fullness of the mystery is beyond our grasp. Still, we may attempt to look at it in faith and godly fear. How, then, is Christ God's? First, he is God's SON--not a Son by covenant or by office; in other words, not a nominal, but a true and proper Son--a Son by nature, by his eternal mode of subsistence as a Person in the Godhead. "This is my beloved Son" was twice proclaimed by God the Father with an audible voice from heaven.

Second, but he is also God's SERVANT. "Behold my servant whom I uphold" (Isaiah 42:1). "It is a light thing that you should be my servant to raise up the tribes of Jacob" (Isaiah 49:6), and this he was as Messiah. But because he is by office God's servant, he is not less by nature God's Son.

Here, however, he is spoken of as the God-man MEDIATOR, the Son of the Father in truth and love, the great High Priest over the house of God; and especially what he is as viewed in union with the Church, the Bridegroom with the bride, the Vine with the branches, the Shepherd with the sheep, the living foundation with the living stones built into and upon it. Christ, therefore, in our text is said to be God's not only as the only-begotten Son of God, but as "the HEAD of the body, the Church" (Col. 1:18); for, says the Apostle, "We are members of his body, of his flesh, and of his bones" (Ephes. 5:30). Christ, then, is God's, with all those that belong to him--he as much as they, they as much as he. Look, then, at these glorious truths. "You are Christ's" because by donation, purchase, and possession you are members of his body. "Christ is God's" as Son, as Servant, as Mediator, as Head of the Church. Then you too are God's, because you are Christ's; for the members are one with their covenant Head.