The Acts of the Apostles (1911) — PDF Scan 323

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A HIGHER STANDABD 317 that would seem to sanction idolatry, or offend the scruples of those who might be weak in the faith. ^'Whether therefore ye eat, or drink, or whatsoever ye do, do all to the glory of God. Give none otfense, neither to the Jews, nor to the Gentiles, nor to the church of God." The apostle's words of warning to the Corinthian church are applicable to all time, and are especially adapted to our day. By idolatry he meant not only the worship of idols, but self-serving, love of ease, the gratification of appetite and passion. A mere profession of faith in Christ, a boastful knowledge of the truth, does not make a man a Christian. A religion that seeks only to gratify the eye, the ear, and the taste, or that sanctions self-indulgence, is not the religion of Christ. By a comparison of the church with the human body, .the apostle aptly illustrated the close and harmonious relationship that should exist among all members of the church of Christ. '^By one Spirit," he wrote, ''are we all baptized into one body, whether we be Jews or Gentiles, whether we be bond or free ; and have been all made to drink into one Spirit. For the body is not one member, but many. If the foot shall say. Because I am not the hand, I am not of the body; is it therefore not of the body? And if the ear shall say, Because I am not the eye, I am not of the body; is it therefore not of the body? If the whole body were an eye, where were the hearing! If the whole were hearing, where were the smelling? But now hath God set the members every one of them in the body, as it hath pleased Him. And if they were all one member, where were the