ὙΠΕΡΟΧΉΝ. Excellence in the strict sense of the word—that which one man has above another. Here, however, it is applied to the high-flown style of eloquence admired at Corinth—Corinthia verba, as such language was proverbially called. ΤῸ ΜΑΡΤΎΡΙΟΝ ΤΟΥ͂ ΘΕΟΥ͂. St Paul’s testimony concerning God; the... [ Continue Reading ]
1 Corinthians 2:1-16. THE WISDOM OF THE GOSPEL DISCERNIBLE BY THE SPIRITUAL FACULTIES ALONE The Apostle now begins to justify his preaching. It was not that of one skilled in the fashionable argumentation of the day, and that for the reasons already set forth in the last chapter. Cf. ch. 1 Corinthi... [ Continue Reading ]
2. [τοῦ] ΕἸΔΈΝΑΙ ΤΙ. The rec. τοῦ is omitted by אAB and most recent editors. But it is possibly the true reading. See note below. B places τι before εἰδέναι. So Westcott and Hort. 2. ἜΚΡΙΝΑ. The word signifies the decision of the mind after due deliberation. See Acts 20:16; Acts 27:1; Titus 3:12. Th... [ Continue Reading ]
ΠΡῸΣ ὙΜΑ͂Σ has been taken by some commentators as equivalent to _arrived among you_. But as De Wette points out, 1 Corinthians 16:10 decides the point in favour of the rendering in A.V. There is in each case a kind of double construction involved, that of coming to and staying with the persons menti... [ Continue Reading ]
[ἀνθρωπίνης] before ΣΟΦΊΑΣ is found in AC, but not in אBDEFG. The authorized edition of the Vulgate retains it, but it is absent from the Vetus Lat. and from some older copies of the Vulgate. The Peshito omits it. It is obviously introduced from 1 Corinthians 2:13. The text is in considerable confus... [ Continue Reading ]
ΣΟΦΊΑΝ ΔῈ ΛΑΛΟΥ͂ΜΕΝ. Is there, then, no wisdom possible for a Christian? no sphere for the exercise of those faculties of the intellect which we received from God? the hearer may say. Certainly, says the Apostle (for to say otherwise would be to contradict the Jewish Scriptures, especially Proverbs... [ Continue Reading ]
ἘΝ ΜΥΣΤΗΡΊΩΙ. See ch. 1 Corinthians 4:1. ΤῊΝ�. Not only from men but also from angels and heavenly powers. See Romans 16:25; Ephesians 3:5; Ephesians 3:9-10; 1 Peter 1:12. ΠΡῸ ΤΩ͂Ν ΑἸΏΝΩΝ. Literally, BEFORE THE AGES. Cf. Acts 2:23; Acts 4:28; Ephesians 3:9;... [ Continue Reading ]
ἫΝ ΟΥ̓ΔΕῚΣ ΤΩ͂Ν�. These words seem to be written for the instruction of the class of persons who attach importance to the opinions of those high in position and influence—the princes, or rather _rulers_ of this world, its statesmen. Such persons, the Apostle points out, are apt, in spite of, or rath... [ Continue Reading ]
ἈΛΛᾺ ΚΑΘῺΣ ΓΈΓΡΑΠΤΑΙ. Translate as R.V. ‘Things which the eye saw not,’ &c. There has been much discussion whence these words are derived, but they are quite sufficiently near to the passage in Isaiah 64:4 to be regarded as a quotation from thence. It is unreasonable to require greater literal accur... [ Continue Reading ]
ἘΡΑΥΝΑ͂Ι. So אABC. Rec. (correcting to the more usual Classical form) ἐρευνᾷ, with DEFG. 10. ΔΙᾺ ΤΟΥ͂ ΠΝΕΎΜΑΤΟΣ. Though the αὐτοῦ of the rec. text is rejected by recent editors, the context here shews that the Spirit of God, and not the spirit of man, is meant. See next verse. ΤῸ ΓᾺΡ ΠΝΕΥ͂ΜΑ ΠΆΝΤΑ... [ Continue Reading ]
ἜΓΝΩΚΕΝ. So אABCDE. 11. ΤΊΣ ΓᾺΡ�. R.V., FOR WHO AMONG MEN? τὰ τοῦ�. R.V. _the things of the man_. So _the spirit of_ the _man_, not as A.V. _the spirit of man_. ἜΓΝΩΚΕΝ. There can be no doubt that οἶδεν here is a copyist’s slip. There is a distinction in the Apostle’s mind between οἶδα of intuiti... [ Continue Reading ]
ἘΛΆΒΟΜΕΝ. We cannot press the strict sense of the aorist here. See note on 1 Corinthians 2:16. The gift of the Spirit is not a single, but a continuous act. Yet it is not a _completed_ act, which would be denoted by the perfect. See an article by the General Editor in the _Expositor_, 1st Series, Vo... [ Continue Reading ]
[ἁγίου] after ΠΝΕΎΜΑΤΟΣ. Om. אABCD, Vetus Lat., Vulg. and Peshito. It has the look of a marginal gloss or an unauthorized addition, perhaps from habit. 13. Ἅ, i.e. the things freely given us by God, of which we speak as men taught by God, not as men trusting in the conclusions of unassisted reason.... [ Continue Reading ]
ΨΥΧΙΚῸΣ ΔΈ. Why, then, an objector may say, are these truths thus divinely given not universally accepted? Because, the Apostle explains, the natural man (_animalis_, Vulg.) is not in a position (this is the force of the present here) to receive them. The word ψυχικός only occurs in this Epistle, an... [ Continue Reading ]
[μὲν] before ΠΆΝΤΑ. Om. ACDFG Vetus Lat., Vulg., Peshito. B inserts it. The whole verse is omitted in א, no doubt from the repetition of ἀνακρίνεται at the end of this and the preceding verse. 15. Ὁ ΔῈ ΠΝΕΥΜΑΤΙΚῸΣ�. ἀνακρίνω, which is translated in A.V. _discerned_ in the last verse, in the text of... [ Continue Reading ]
ΤΊΣ ΓᾺΡ ἜΓΝΩ ΝΟΥ͂Ν ΚΥΡΊΟΥ. See note on 1 Corinthians 1:10. The Hebrew of Isaiah 40:13, here quoted (and also in Romans 11:34), has _spirit_, the Septuagint _mind_. St Paul here follows the Septuagint, which is nearer to the original than our version, ‘Who hath directed the Spirit of the Lord?’ The l... [ Continue Reading ]