And I, brethren, could not speak unto you as unto spiritual, but as unto carnal, _even_ as unto babes in Christ. Ver. 1. _Could not speak unto you_] Unless I would beat the air, and lose my sweet words: _q.d._ You quarrel me for a shallow trivial teacher, when yourselves are in fault, as not yet ca... [ Continue Reading ]
I have fed you with milk, and not with meat: for hitherto ye were not able _to bear it_, neither yet now are ye able. Ver. 2. _I have fed you with milk_] Ministers must condescend to their hearers' capacities, though they be slighted for so doing, as Paul was; or jeered, as Isaiah, Isaiah 28:9,10,... [ Continue Reading ]
For ye are yet carnal: for whereas _there is_ among you envying, and strife, and divisions, are ye not carnal, and walk as men? Ver. 3. _For ye are yet carnal_] It is a shame for Christians to be like other men, as Samson was after he had lost his hair. It ill becomes those excellent ones of the ea... [ Continue Reading ]
For while one saith, I am of Paul; and another, I _am_ of Apollos; are ye not carnal? Ver. 4. _For when one saith, &c._] So those that will needs be called Lutherans, _Iurantque in verba magistri._ They swear in the words of a teacher. Did not Luther play the man, when he and other Dutch divines ad... [ Continue Reading ]
Who then is Paul, and who _is_ Apollos, but ministers by whom ye believed, even as the Lord gave to every man? Ver. 5. _But ministers_] Not masters, as _Magistri nostri Parisienses._ (Praefat. in 1 Sentent.) So the Sorbonists will needs be called, contrary to James 3:1. Bacon the Carmelite was call... [ Continue Reading ]
I have planted, Apollos watered; but God gave the increase. Ver. 6. _But God gave the increase_] The harp yields no sound till it be touched by the hand of the musician. The heart is never made good till the heavens answer the earth, Hosea 2:21, till God strikes the stroke. Holy Melancthon, being n... [ Continue Reading ]
So then neither is he that planteth any thing, neither he that watereth; but God that giveth the increase. Ver. 7. _So then neither is he, &c._] This made Cyril to conclude his preface to his catechism, with _Meum est docere, vestrum auscultare, Dei perficere:_ I may teach, and you hear, but God mu... [ Continue Reading ]
Now he that planteth and he that watereth are one: and every man shall receive his own reward according to his own labour. Ver. 8. _And he that watereth are one_] Why then are not you at one? Should ye not follow your leaders, press their footsteps? Surely you would, did you not more mind party tha... [ Continue Reading ]
For we are labourers together with God: ye are God's husbandry, _ye are_ God's building. Ver. 9. _For we are labourers, &c._] Let ministers hence learn their, 1. Dignity; 2. Duty. _Fructus honos oneris, Fructus honoris onus._ Who would not work hard with such sweet company?... [ Continue Reading ]
According to the grace of God which is given unto me, as a wise masterbuilder, I have laid the foundation, and another buildeth thereon. But let every man take heed how he buildeth thereupon. Ver. 10. _As a wise master builder_] Artificers also have their wisdom, as Aristotle yieldeth. "For his God... [ Continue Reading ]
For other foundation can no man lay than that is laid, which is Jesus Christ. Ver. 11. _Which is Jesus Christ_] The doctrine of his person and offices is the foundation of Christian religion, and must therefore be kept pure and entire by all means possible. Arius's ομοιουσιος, would not be yielded;... [ Continue Reading ]
Now if any man build upon this foundation gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, stubble; Ver. 12. _Wood, hay, stubble_] Rhetorical strains, philosophical fancies, that tend not to edification. There are those who together with the gold, silver, and ivory of sound and savoury truths, have, as So... [ Continue Reading ]
Every man's work shall be made manifest: for the day shall declare it, because it shall be revealed by fire; and the fire shall try every man's work of what sort it is. Ver. 13. _For the day shall declare it_] That is, the light of the truth, or time, the father of truth, or the day of death, when... [ Continue Reading ]
If any man's work abide which he hath built thereupon, he shall receive a reward. Ver. 14. _If any man's work abide_] Error as glass is bright, but brittle, and cannot endure the hammer or fire, as gold can, which, though rubbed or melted, remains firm and orient.... [ Continue Reading ]
If any man's work shall be burned, he shall suffer loss: but he himself shall be saved; yet so as by fire. Ver. 15. _He shall suffer loss_] Of his work (his laborious loss of time) and of some part of his wages. _ Yet so as by fire_] Not of purgatory (a Popish fiction), but of the Holy Ghost. Or ... [ Continue Reading ]
Know ye not that ye are the temple of God, and _that_ the Spirit of God dwelleth in you? Ver. 16. _Ye are the temple of God_] Not God's building only, as1 Corinthians 3:9, but his temple. A mud wall may be made up of anything, not so the walls of a temple or palace, that must have other materials.... [ Continue Reading ]
If any man defile the temple of God, him shall God destroy; for the temple of God is holy, which _temple_ ye are. Ver. 17. _Which temple ye are_] Man is God's temple; God man's altar. Demosthenes (contra Aristog.) could say, that man's heart was God's best and most stately temple, _Iustitia, verecu... [ Continue Reading ]
Let no man deceive himself. If any man among you seemeth to be wise in this world, let him become a fool, that he may be wise. Ver. 18. _Let no man deceive himself_] _Bis desipit, qui sibi sapit. Consilii satis est in me mihi, _ said she in the poet. (Arachne up. Ovid, Metam.) Nothing so easy as to... [ Continue Reading ]
For the wisdom of this world is foolishness with God. For it is written, He taketh the wise in their own craftiness. Ver. 19. _He taketh the wise_] ο δρασσομενος, those natural brute beasts, made to be taken and destroyed,2 Peter 2:12; God takes them and makes fools of them. _ In their own craftin... [ Continue Reading ]
And again, The Lord knoweth the thoughts of the wise, that they are vain. Ver. 20. _Of the wise_] Such as excel in natural gifts, that are the choicest and most picked men. The Psalmist saith only of men, Psalms 94:12 .... [ Continue Reading ]
Therefore let no man glory in men. For all things are yours; Ver. 21. _Let no man glory in men_] That is, that they are such a one's scholars or followers, seeing the Church is not made for them, but they for the Church. _ For all things are yours, &c._] _Haec est magnae nostrae Chartulae Epitome,... [ Continue Reading ]
Whether Paul, or Apollos, or Cephas, or the world, or life, or death, or things present, or things to come; all are yours; Ver. 22. _All are yours_] Though not in possession, yet in use, or by way of reduction, as we say, the worst things are God's children, and in reversion those best things above... [ Continue Reading ]
And ye are Christ's; and Christ _is_ God's. Ver. 23. _And ye are Christ's_] We hold all we have _in capite_ tenure in Christ. From Christ therefore let us take our denomination. The name of Jesuits savoureth of blasphemous arrogance.... [ Continue Reading ]