1 Corinthians 12:1-11. SPIRITUAL GIFTS; THEIR ORIGIN AND CHARACTER ‘We have often to remind ourselves that this Epistle was addressed to a Church in a state of faction. One cause of rivalry was the merits of their respective teachers; another was the endowments of various kinds given to the members... [ Continue Reading ]
ΔΈ. Here the particle is equivalent to ‘and next.’ ΠΝΕΥΜΑΤΙΚΩ͂Ν. SPIRITUAL AGENCIES. Cf. ch. 1 Corinthians 14:1. This is obviously St Paul’s second point. See note on ch. 1 Corinthians 11:18. The χαρίσματα had also, as this whole chapter shews, been a source of jealousy.... [ Continue Reading ]
ὍΤΕ אABCDE Vulg. Omit FG Peshito. Origen reads ὅτε. Its omission after ὅτι is easily accounted for, especially as the omission improves the grammar. 2. ὍΤΙ ὍΤΕ … ἈΠΑΓΌΜΕΝΟΙ. The sentence ends in an anacolouthon, if we adopt the reading in the text—‘THAT WHEN YE WERE GENTILES BEING LED AWAY,’ &c. Ana... [ Continue Reading ]
ἸΗΣΟΥ͂Σ twice אABC Vulg. Peshito. Ἰησοῦν rec. with DEG Vetus Lat. F has Ἰησοῦ in the first place and Ἰησοῦν in the second. 3. ΔΙῸ ΓΝΩΡΊΖΩ ὙΜΙ͂Ν. Because in your unconverted state you were liable to such delusions, it is my duty to provide you with the means of forming a sound judgment on such matter... [ Continue Reading ]
ΔΙΑΙΡΈΣΕΙΣ. This word is variously translated in the A.V., according to the custom of the translators, _differences_ and _diversities_, in this passage. It signifies originally the _act of dividing_. But it comes to mean the results of such division. Thus in 1 Chronicles 26:1; 2 Chronicles 8:14; Ezr... [ Continue Reading ]
ΔΙΑΚΟΝΙΩ͂Ν. MINISTRIES, i.e. services rendered to Christ and His members by His disciples.... [ Continue Reading ]
ἘΝΕΡΓΗΜΆΤΩΝ. _Worchyngis_, Wiclif. Calvin renders by _facultas_, but explains this to mean _effectus_. The Apostle here is speaking of _active_ power (ἐνέργεια), not latent as in 1 Corinthians 1:18 (where see note). The influences to which he now refers are actually at work, and producing results, i... [ Continue Reading ]
ΦΑΝΈΡΩΣΙΣ. Properly, the _act of manifesting_. But here it means the manifestation itself. ΠΡῸΣ ΤῸ ΣΥΜΦΈΡΟΝ. God’s object is ever the well-being of man. If man is to become one spirit with God (ch. 1 Corinthians 6:17), his object must be the same. See notes on ch. 1 Corinthians 6:12; 1 Corinthians 8... [ Continue Reading ]
ΛΌΓΟΣ ΣΟΦΊΑΣ … ΓΝΏΣΕΩΣ. λόγος seems to be used here of the _capacity for speaking_ in a certain way. Thus λόγος σοφίας means discourse prompted by wisdom, λόγος γνώσεως discourse characterized by knowledge. Wisdom I venture to regard as the power of insight into principles, knowledge the result of a... [ Continue Reading ]
ἙΝΊ AB Vetus Lat. Vulg. αὐτῷ אDEFG. 9. ΠΊΣΤΙΣ. Not the rudimentary principle which was the essential condition of all Christian life, but that higher realization of things Divine which enables a man to remove mountains (Matthew 17:20; ch. 1 Corinthians 13:2). ἘΝ ΤΩ͂Ι ΑΥ̓ΤΩ͂Ι ΠΝΕΎΜΑΤΙ. The meaning... [ Continue Reading ]
ἘΝΕΡΓΉΜΑΤΑ ΔΥΝΆΜΕΩΝ. Literally, RESULTS PRODUCED BY THE ACTIVE EXERCISE OF SUPERNATURAL POWERS, as in Acts 5:1-11; Acts 9:40; Acts 13:11; Acts 16:18. For δύναμις in the sense of _miracle_, i.e. mighty work, see Matthew 7:22; Matthew 11:20. ΠΡΟΦΗΤΕΊΑ. See note on ch. 1 Corinthians 14:1. ΔΙΑΚΡΊΣΕΙΣ.... [ Continue Reading ]
ΠΆΝΤΑ ΔῈ ΤΑΥ͂ΤΑ ἘΝΕΡΓΕΙ͂. This consideration absolutely excludes all boasting, all possibility of setting up one gift as essentially superior to another. It is worthy of remark that what is predicated of God in 1 Corinthians 12:6, is here predicated of His Spirit. The word translated _worketh_ is th... [ Continue Reading ]
12. [τοῦ ἑνός] after σώματος, rec. with DE. Text אABCFG Vulg. Peshito. 12. ΚΑΘΆΠΕΡ ΓᾺΡ ΤῸ ΣΩ͂ΜΑ ἝΝ ἘΣΤΙΝ. This simile is a very common one. It is used on several occasions by the Apostle. See Romans 12:4-5; Ephesians 4:16; Ephesians 5:30; Colossians 2:19. It was even familiar to Gentile minds from t... [ Continue Reading ]
COMPARISON OF THE UNITY OF THE BODY AND THE UNITY OF THE CHRISTIAN CHURCH... [ Continue Reading ]
13. [εἰς] before ἛΝ ΠΝΕΥ͂ΜΑ, rec. with E and Vulg. (auth.). Omit א(A)BCDFG Vetus Lat. Peshito, and some copies of Vulg. Some later MSS. have πόμα for πνεῦμα. 13. ἘΝ ἙΝῚ ΠΝΕΎΜΑΤΙ. Literally, IN ONE SPIRIT, i.e. in virtue of His operation. ΕἸΣ ἛΝ ΣΩ͂ΜΑ. ‘Does baptism teach of a difference between Ch... [ Continue Reading ]
ΟΥ̓Κ ἜΣΤΙΝ ἝΝ ΜΈΛΟΣ. The same leading idea is kept in view—the diversity of functions, offices, gifts, but the unity of the body. No more complete or apposite illustration could be given. The body is _one thing_, animated by _one soul_, belonging _to one being_, yet with an infinity of various parts... [ Continue Reading ]
ἘΚ ΤΟΥ͂ ΣΏΜΑΤΟΣ. ἐκ has either here (1) the ordinary meaning of _proceeding from_, or (2) it has the more unusual sense of _belonging to_. See Winer, _Gr. Gram._ § 47. Donaldson, _Gr. Gram._ p. 507, cites in favour of (2) Soph. _Trach._ 734 ἐκ τριῶν ἕν ἂν εἱλόμην (where ἐκ has the sense of _a part o... [ Continue Reading ]
ΕἸ ὍΛΟΝ ΤῸ ΣΩ͂ΜΑ ὈΦΘΑΛΜΌΣ. ‘Observe here the difference between the Christian doctrine of unity and equality, and the world’s idea of levelling all to one standard. The intention of God with respect to the body is not that the rude hand should have the delicacy of the eye, or the foot have the power... [ Continue Reading ]
ΝΥΝῚ ΔῈ Ὁ ΘΕῸΣ ἜΘΕΤΟ. BUT NOW (that is, _as the case stands_) GOD PLACED, i.e. at creation. Ἓ ἝΚΑΣΤΟΝ ΑΥ̓ΤΩ͂Ν. _Every one of them_, A.V. Rather, EACH ONE OF THEM. In later English _every one_ has become an equivalent for _all_. ΚΑΘῺΣ ἨΘΈΛΗΣΕΝ. AS HE WILLED. St Paul would have us draw the inference... [ Continue Reading ]
ΕἸ ΔῈ ἮΝ ΤᾺ ΠΆΝΤΑ ἛΝ ΜΈΛΟΣ. The Christian Church, as St Paul continually teaches, was a _body_; that is, an organism which contained a vast number and variety of parts, each one with its own special function. But if all had the same purpose and work, the body would cease to exist.... [ Continue Reading ]
ΤᾺ ΔΟΚΟΥ͂ΝΤΑ. Not those which _are_, as Chrysostom remarks, but those which _are thought to be_ so. This remark applies with still greater force to the next verse. ἈΣΘΕΝΈΣΤΕΡΑ. The more feeble parts of the body, those, that is, which are most delicate, least able to take care of themselves, are by... [ Continue Reading ]
ΤΙΜῊΝ ΠΕΡΙΣΣΟΤΈΡΑΝ ΠΕΡΙΤΊΘΕΜΕΝ. THESE WE SURROUND WITH MORE ABUNDANT HONOUR, i.e. (1) by our admission that they are necessary to us, and (2) by the care we take of them. ‘The meanest trades are those with which we can least dispense. A nation may exist without an astronomer or philosopher, but the... [ Continue Reading ]
ὙΣΤΕΡΟΥΜΈΝΩΙ אABC. ὑστεροῦντι DEFG. 24. ΣΥΝΕΚΈΡΑΣΕΝ. Literally, _mingled together_. ὙΣΤΕΡΟΥΜΈΝΩΙ, which COMES SHORT of any other.... [ Continue Reading ]
25. [ἓν] after ΔΟΞΆΖΕΤΑΙ, rec. with CDEFG Vetus Lat. Vulg. Peshito Origen. Text אAB. 25. ΣΧΊΣΜΑ, i.e. discordance of aims and interests. See notes on 1 Corinthians 1:10; 1 Corinthians 11:18. God had specially provided against this by giving to those who occupy the less honourable and ornamental posi... [ Continue Reading ]
ΚΑῚ ΕἼΤΕ ΠΆΣΧΕΙ ἝΝ ΜΈΛΟΣ. This is a matter of the most ordinary experience in the human body. A pain in any portion, even the most remote from the seats of life, affects the whole. A glance at history will shew us that it is the same with the body politic. Whatever is physically, morally, or spiritu... [ Continue Reading ]
ὙΜΕΙ͂Σ ΔΈ ἘΣΤΕ ΣΩ͂ΜΑ ΧΡΙΣΤΟΥ͂. We here return to the proposition of 1 Corinthians 12:12-13, rendered more definite and intelligible by what has since been said. The Apostle now says (1) that collectively, Christians are the body of Christ, individually they are His members; (2) that of these members... [ Continue Reading ]
ΟὝΣ ΜΈΝ. St Paul evidently (see Winer, _Gr. Gram._ § 63) meant οὕς δὲ to follow. But he breaks off the construction by πρῶτον, and, instead of the simple enumeration he had intended, he arranges the offices in order of rank. ἜΘΕΤΟ Ὁ ΘΕΌΣ. Literally, PLACED, i. e. when He founded the Church. See 1 C... [ Continue Reading ]
ΜῊ ΠΆΝΤΕΣ�; The common priesthood of every Christian (1 Peter 2:5; 1 Peter 2:9) no more precludes the existence of special offices of authority in the Christian Church than the common priesthood of the Jewish people (Exodus 19:6) precluded the existence of a special order of men appointed to ministe... [ Continue Reading ]
ΜΕΊΖΟΝΑ אABC. Rec. κρείττονα with DEFG, Vetus Lat. Vulg. 31. ΖΝΛΟΥ͂ΤΕ ΔΈ. BUT BE EMULOUS FOR, _aemulamini_, Vulg. ζηλόω (see note on ch. 1 Corinthians 3:3) signifies originally _to be eager, fervent_. Here it means to be (1) _emulous_ or (2) _envious_. We have instances both of the good and bad sens... [ Continue Reading ]