[1] Possibly this expression means 'the kingdom of Him who is at once Christ and God.' [2] 2 Cor. vi. 14. [3] 1 Cor. i. 20, 21; iii. 18. [4] Rom. xvi. 19. [5] Ecclus. xvi. 21. [6] 1 Thess. iv. 6. {204} DIVISION II. Sec. 4. CHAPTER V. 15-21. _The Christian life a zealous and deliberate seizing of the opportunity afforded by surrounding moral evils._ [Sidenote: _Buying up the opportunity_] The Christian stands awake and in the light. He has a vantage-ground of spiritual knowledge, and the opportunity afforded by this vantage-ground he is to use. He is not to live at random but is to fashion his life with deliberate circumspection and prudence in order to make the best of the spiritual opportunity, just as the merchant cleverly seizes and uses to his own advantage a particular commercial situation. What gives the Christian his spiritual opportunity is the corruption which surrounds him. Of that corruption St. Paul has already said enough. The result of it was to leave whatever was good in man disconsolate and ill at ease. The exhibition of the Christian light amidst such surroundings could not but arrest men's attention and attract {205} their hearts. And if we want to be informed, in greater detail, how to buy up the opportunity, St. Paul's answer is threefold. First, there must be a positive apprehension of the divine will in particular cases such as qualifies for decisive action. 'Be not foolish, but understand what the will of the Lord is.' This is the sort of wisdom which enables a man to do what our Lord expects of spiritual leaders, to 'discern the time.' It is a rare quality but, according to the measure of the gift of Christ to each, it is attained by spiritual thoughtfulness, singlemindedness, and prayer. Secondly, there is to be a strong and sociable enthusiasm, expressing itself in uninterrupted joy, and based upon deep draughts of the divine Spirit. In St. Paul's day, as in our own, men would seek escape from the dullness of life and its sense of isolation in the excitement and fellowship which comes of intoxicating drink. Other forms of mental intoxication were provided at Ephesus by a sensual religious enthusiasm. St. Paul would have the Christians confront such lawless excitement not merely with the spectacle of discipline and self-restraint, but also with a counter-enthusiasm, purer but not less strong. Christians are to find an {206} excitement as strong as drunkenness, and a fellowship as warm as is to be found in any band of revellers, in deep draughts of the wine of the Holy Ghost. 'Be not drunken with wine wherein is riot, but be filled with the Spirit, speaking one to another in psalms[1] and hymns and spiritual songs (such as the one he has just quoted), singing and making melody with your hearts to the Lord.'