THE PARTIZANSHIP OF THE CORINTHIANS A HINDRANCE TO SPIRITUAL PROGRESS ΚἈΓΏ, ἈΔΕΛΦΟΊ, ΟΥ̓Κ ἨΔΥΝΉΘΗΝ ΛΑΛΗ͂ΣΑΙ ὙΜΙ͂Ν. The Apostle has said much of the superiority of the wisdom which is the result of spiritual illumination. He now warns the Corinthians that the majority of them do not possess it, or a... [ Continue Reading ]
ΣΑΡΚΊΝΟΙΣ. So אABCD. The internal evidence is about equally divided. For we may fairly set the probability that a writer seeing πνευματικοῖς before him would alter σαρκίνοις into σαρκικοῖς, against the probability that σάρκινος, being the word in ordinary use, would be substituted for σαρκικός, whic... [ Continue Reading ]
ἘΠΌΤΙΣΑ. This word is used in two senses by St Paul. Here it means to _give to drink_, in 1 Corinthians 3:6 to _water_. See ch. 1 Corinthians 12:13. Observe the instance of _zeugma_, whereby βρῶμα is construed with ἐπότισα. The A.V. _meat_ signified no more than _food_ when that version was made. Ἀ... [ Continue Reading ]
3. [καὶ διχοστασίαι] after ἜΡΙΣ, rec. אABC and Vulg. omit these Words. But in favour of their retention there is the fact that the present Greek text of Irenaeus and the early Latin translation contain them, as well as the Vetus Lat. and Peshito. They may, however, have been introduced from Galatian... [ Continue Reading ]
ἌΝΘΡΩΠΟΙ. So אABCDEFG, Vetus Lat. and Vulg. The Peshito supports the rec. σαρκικοί. 4. ἌΝΘΡΩΠΟΙ. See Critical Note. It is difficult to account for ἄνθρωποι having crept into the text, if it be not the true reading, whereas its correction by a transcriber into σαρκικοί would seem obvious and natural... [ Continue Reading ]
ΤΊ. So אAB Vetus Lat. Vulg. τίς CDEFG Peshito. [ἀλλ' ἤ]. The uncials, almost without exception, Vetus Lat. and Vulg. omit these words before διάκονοι. The Peshito retains them. It is clearly an addition for the sake of elegance and at the expense of force. 5. ΔΙΆΚΟΝΟΙ. SERVANTS, those whose duty i... [ Continue Reading ]
CHRISTIAN MINISTERS ONLY LABOURERS OF MORE OR LESS EFFICIENCY, THE SUBSTANTIAL WORK BEING GOD’S... [ Continue Reading ]
ἘΓῺ ἘΦΎΤΕΥΣΑ, ἈΠΟΛΛῺΣ ἘΠΌΤΙΣΕΝ, ἈΛΛᾺ Ὁ ΘΕῸΣ ΗΥ̓́ΞΑΝΕΝ. I PLANTED, APOLLOS WATERED, BUT GOD GAVE THE INCREASE. The Apostle would lead his converts from the thought of those who had ministered the Gospel to them, to the thought of Him Whom they ministered. Man does but obey the Divine command in his m... [ Continue Reading ]
Ὁ ΦΥΤΕΎΩΝ ΔῈ ΚΑῚ Ὁ ΠΟΤΊΖΩΝ ἝΝ ΕἸΣΙΝ. As though to make his depreciation of man as emphatic as possible, the Apostle uses the neuter gender here. The instruments are _one thing_, parts of a vast piece of machinery which God has put in motion for the salvation of the world. As channels of Divine grace... [ Continue Reading ]
ΘΕΟΥ͂ ΓΆΡ ἘΣΜΕΝ ΣΥΝΕΡΓΟΊ. FOR WE ARE GOD’S FELLOW-LABOURERS. The A.V. rather obscures the Apostle’s meaning here. His point is (see last verse and 1 Corinthians 3:23) that we all, though our individuality is not lost, are one in Christ. All are God’s, whether the labourers, the. field (γεώργιον) or... [ Continue Reading ]
ἜΘΗΚΑ אABC, for the rec. τέθεικα. 10. ΤῊΝ ΔΟΘΕΙ͂ΣΆΝ ΜΟΙ. WHICH WAS GIVEN TO ME, i. e. when I laid the foundation. ὩΣ ΣΟΦῸΣ�. St Paul now desires to identify himself with the teachers of the Corinthian Church, so far as they were really carrying on the work which he had begun. His object is to comb... [ Continue Reading ]
ΠΑΡΆ. BESIDE. Cf. Plat. _Phaed._ 107 A οὔκουν ἔγωγε ἔχω παρὰ ταῦτα ἄλλο τι λέγειν. ΤῸΝ ΚΕΊΜΕΝΟΝ. ‘He does not say τεθέντα, _laid_, but κείμενον, _lying_, of His own accord.’ Bp Wordsworth. There is a reference here to the prophecy in Isaiah 28:16, which is quoted and applied to Christ in 1 Peter 2:6... [ Continue Reading ]
ΧΡΥΣΊΟΝ, ἈΡΓΎΡΙΟΝ אB. ADE read χρυσίον, ἀργύριον. 12. ΕἸ ΔΈ ΤΙΣ ἘΠΟΙΚΟΔΟΜΕΙ͂ ἘΠῚ ΤῸΝ ΘΕΜΈΛΙΟΝ. It must be remembered that it is not the conduct of Christians, however applicable the principles here enunciated may be to it, but the doctrine of teachers which is spoken of here. The materials mentione... [ Continue Reading ]
ΑΥ̓ΤΌ ABC, and Peshito. אDE, Vetus Lat. and Vulg. omit. 13. Ἡ ἩΜΈΡΑ. The judgment day, otherwise called ‘the day of the Lord’ as in ch. 1 Corinthians 1:8; 1 Corinthians 5:5; 2 Peter 3:10, &c. ἘΝ ΠΥΡῚ�. IT IS REVEALED IN FIRE, as that in which the judgment day shall consist, i.e. the fire of God’s j... [ Continue Reading ]
ΜΈΝΕΙ. Tischendorf and Westcott and Hort read μενεῖ, with the Vetus Lat. and the Peshito. ἐποικοδόμησεν אABD. C only supports the rec. reading ἐπῳκοδόμησεν. Winer (Pt II. § 12) remarks that authority preponderates in favour of the augment in the tenses of the simple verb. But he omits to notice the... [ Continue Reading ]
ΚΑΤΑΚΑΉΣΕΤΑΙ. Shall be burned UP. ΟὝΤΩΣ ΔῈ ὩΣ ΔΙᾺ ΠΥΡΟΣ. The absolute equality of all in the world to come is no part of St Paul’s system. ‘One star differeth from another star in glory’ (ch. 1 Corinthians 15:41). But the history of the Apostle himself is a sufficient evidence that God will not puni... [ Continue Reading ]
ΟΥ̓Κ ΟἼΔΑΤΕ ὍΤΙ ΝΑῸΣ ΘΕΟΥ͂ ἘΣΤΈ; ‘Ναός, _sanctuary_, more sacred than ἱερόν; the Holy Place in which God dwells, ναίει.’ Wordsworth. Another view of the subject is now abruptly introduced. The figure in 1 Corinthians 3:10 is resumed, but is applied, not to the ministers, but to the people. As the te... [ Continue Reading ]
ΦΘΕΊΡΕΙ. The A.V. _defile_ is inadmissible here, inasmuch as the same word is used in both members of the sentence. Render, with R.V., DESTROY. He who persists in a wrong course of action brings destruction upon himself. ΟἽΤΙΝΈΣ ἘΣΤΕ ὙΜΕΙ͂Σ. And such (i. e. holy) ARE YE, or more freely ‘The temple... [ Continue Reading ]
ΑἸΩ͂ΝΙ. See note on 1 Corinthians 1:20. ΜΩΡῸΣ ΓΕΝΈΣΘΩ. Let him account himself a fool, put himself on a level with the ignorant and unintellectual, set no store by his worldly knowledge or intellectual powers, for they are of no account before God. A child-like willingness to be taught is the first... [ Continue Reading ]
ΓΈΓΡΑΠΤΑΙ. In Job 5:13. ΔΡΑΣΣΌΜΕΝΟΣ. Stronger than _take_, A.V. Rather seize. ἘΝ ΤΗ͂Ι ΠΑΝΟΥΡΓΊΑΙ ΑΥ̓ΤΩ͂Ν. Literally, in their SCHEMING. The word represents the numberless devices of the man who is wise in his own conceit.... [ Continue Reading ]
ΚΑῚ ΠΆΛΙΝ. In Psalms 94:11. It is curious that the first of these citations does not, and the second does, agree with the LXX. ΔΙΑΛΟΓΙΣΜΟΎΣ. The REASONINGS, literally.... [ Continue Reading ]
ὭΣΤΕ ΜΗΔΕῚΣ ΚΑΥΧΆΣΘΩ ἘΝ�. We are to regard men as nothing in themselves, but in reference to their fellow men solely as the instruments of a Divine purpose, like all other things God has suffered to exist (1 Corinthians 3:22), a purpose beginning and ending with God, Whose we are, and for Whom alone... [ Continue Reading ]
ΚΌΣΜΟΣ. The Divine order of things in the visible universe, though at present that order is thrown into confusion by man’s sin. Cf. 1 John 2:16; 1 John 5:19. ΖΩΉ. Life in its higher and diviner aspects, as ψυχή represents the life-principle at the root of our present existence, βίος our manner of l... [ Continue Reading ]
ΧΡΙΣΤῸΣ ΔῈ ΘΕΟΥ͂. Even Christ is not existing apart and for Himself (cf. John 5:19-30), but is for ever united and conjoined with His faithful ones in the God and Father of all. ‘I in them and Thou in Me, that they may be made perfect in one.’ John 17:23. Cf. also ch. 1 Corinthians 15:28.... [ Continue Reading ]