THE WAY TO SETTLE DISPUTES IN THE CHRISTIAN CHURCH The principle is here laid down which is to guide Christians in their lawsuits. Disputes about property are treated by the Apostle as matters of the most trifling import. To call in the unbelievers to settle the disputes of Christian brethren was an... [ Continue Reading ]
ΤΟΛΜΑ͂Ι. The word is a strong one, expressive of what St Paul felt to be the grave evil of a contentious spirit in Christian men. ΤΙΣ. Some particular person or persons are in St Paul’s mind. It is not an imaginary case. See 1 Corinthians 6:6. But we may observe how carefully St Paul avoids _naming... [ Continue Reading ]
Ἤ. This word (which is not in the rec. text) gives a life to the sentence. ‘Dare you, in spite of your Christian profession, carry your complaints before heathen tribunals? Or is it that you are ignorant &c.’ It occurs again in 1 Corinthians 6:9; 1 Corinthians 6:16; 1 Corinthians 6:19, in each case... [ Continue Reading ]
ἈΓΓΈΛΟΥΣ ΚΡΙΝΟΥ͂ΜΕΝ. Cf. 2 Peter 2:4, and Jude 1:6. Some have thought that _good_ angels are here meant. But it is difficult to see how (1) men could pronounce sentence upon their conduct openly, or (2) acquit or censure them by the silent sentence of a consistent life. For in the first case there w... [ Continue Reading ]
ΜῈΝ ΟΥ̓͂Ν. Stronger than the simple οὖν, and making βιωτικά still more emphatic. ΚΡΙΤΉΡΙΑ. Here at first sight the A.V. _causes_ would seem to give the best sense once more. But the translation ‘if then ye should possess tribunals relating to matters of this life,’ is equally admissible. ΤΟΎΤΟΥΣ ΚΑ... [ Continue Reading ]
ἜΝΙ אBC, rec. ἔστιν with DEFG. ΟΥ̓ΔΕῚΣ ΣΟΦΌΣ אBC, σοφὸς οὐδείς FG, rec. σοφὸς οὐδὲ εἷς. Vulg. has _sapiens quisquam_. 5. ΠΡῸΣ ἘΝΤΡΟΠῊΝ ὙΜΙ͂Ν ΛΈΓΩ. ‘You are not to take my words literally. I only say this to shame you for the undue value you set on the things of this life. Such matters might fitly... [ Continue Reading ]
ἈΛΛᾺ�. ‘It is not a question between ecclesiastical and civil courts, but between Law and Equity, Litigation and Arbitration.… The remedy is not more elaborate law, nor cheaper law, nor greater facility of law, but more Christianity.’ Robertson. Cf. note on 1 Corinthians 6:1. ἘΠῚ�. BEFORE UNBELIEVE... [ Continue Reading ]
ΚΡΊΜΑΤΑ. Here, clearly, _suits at law_. The word is not used in this sense in classical Greek. ἈΔΙΚΕΙ͂ΣΘΕ … ἈΠΟΣΤΕΡΕΙ͂ΣΘΕ. Middle, ‘permit yourselves to be wronged, defrauded.’ See Winer, _Gr. Gram._ § 38. For the sentiment cf. Matthew 5:38-42; 1 Peter 2:23.... [ Continue Reading ]
ἈΛΛᾺ ὙΜΕΙ͂Σ�. Not only are you not willing to suffer injury, but you inflict it, and you inflict it upon those with whom you are conjoined in relations as affectionate as the ties of blood. ‘One is your Master upon earth and all ye are brethren.’ And this was not to be a convention or a sentiment, b... [ Continue Reading ]
Ἢ ΟΥ̓Κ ΟἼΔΑΤΕ. The Apostle in this verse sums up what he has been saying in this chapter and the last. First generally, the unjust, wrong-doers, shall not inherit the kingdom of God, that is, His final kingdom in the ‘restitution of all things,’ for which we daily pray. He then proceeds to particula... [ Continue Reading ]
ΠΛΕΟΝΈΚΤΑΙ. See note on ch. 1 Corinthians 5:10. ΜΈΘΥΣΟΙ, ΛΟΊΔΟΡΟΙ. Here, as in ch. 1 Corinthians 5:11, where the latter word is translated _railer_ in A.V., we have the inevitable conjunction between drunkenness and strife. μέθυσος was applied only to women until Menander’s time.... [ Continue Reading ]
ΧΡΙΣΤΟΥ͂ אBCDE Vetus Lat. Peshito. Vulg. Rec. omit with A. 11. ἈΛΛᾺ�. The past tense is employed in the original—‘ye _were_ washed, sanctified, justified.’ The allusion is to baptism, where by a solemn profession the disciple entered into covenant with—and so _put on_ (see Galatians 3:27) Christ. Th... [ Continue Reading ]
ΠΆΝΤΑ ΜΟΙ ἜΞΕΣΤΙΝ. ALL THINGS ARE POSSIBLE TO ME. See Soph. _Aj._ 346, προσβλέπειν ἔξεστί σοι τὰ τοῦδε πράγη, Marc. Aurel. _Medit._ IV. 17, ἕως ζῇς, ἕως ἔξεστιν, ἀγαθὸς γένου. So also Xen. _Oec._ II. 7 ἐξόν σοι ‘you are able’. The translation ‘all things are _lawful_’ encumbers the argument with a p... [ Continue Reading ]
THE GUILT OF THE FORNICATOR In this and the next two verses the main argument of the rest of the Epistle is sketched out, though not in the order afterwards followed by the Apostle. At present he takes them in the order of their importance. First he touches on the comparatively unimportant question... [ Continue Reading ]
ΤᾺ ΒΡΏΜΑΤΑ ΤΗ͂Ι ΚΟΙΛΊΑΙ ΚΑῚ Ἡ ΚΟΙΛΊΑ ΤΟΙ͂Σ ΒΡΏΜΑΣΙΝ. FOODS FOR the belly and the belly for foods. St Paul here points out that the view of these questions taken by himself is the very reverse of that taken by the Corinthians. To them fornication is a light matter, and the question of food offered to... [ Continue Reading ]
ΚΑῚ ἩΜΑ͂Σ ἘΞΕΓΕΡΕΙ͂. Christ’s Resurrection is the pledge of our own. See ch. 1 Corinthians 15:23. ΔΙᾺ ΤΗ͂Σ ΔΥΝΆΜΕΩΣ ΑΥ̓ΤΟΥ͂. It is impossible to say for certain whether the word αὐτοῦ refers to the Father or to Christ; but the analogy of John 5:21; John 5:25; John 5:28; John 11:25, and especially 2... [ Continue Reading ]
ΟΥ̓Κ ΟἼΔΑΤΕ. A fresh argument. Not only will our bodies be raised up hereafter, but they are the members of Christ now. This solemn truth, that by our calling as Christians we are so closely united to Christ as to be ‘members of His Body, of His Flesh and of His Bones’ (Ephesians 5:30 if the reading... [ Continue Reading ]
Ἢ ΟΥ̓Κ ΟἼΔΑΤΕ. Not _what_? as in A.V. Rather, ‘OR do ye not know,’ introducing a fresh consideration to that in the last verse. ΕἸΣ ΣΆΡΚΑ ΜΊΑΝ. No words could more plainly shew than these and the words of the last verse, what a monstrous perversion the sin here mentioned is of the mysterious union... [ Continue Reading ]
Ὁ ΚΟΛΛΏΜΕΝΟΣ ΤΩ͂Ι ΚΥΡΊΩΙ. Literally, CLEAVETH TO THE LORD. No words, save perhaps those in John 17, could more forcibly express the closeness of the union between Christ and His faithful disciple. The use, moreover, of the identical word in this verse with that which in the last verse is used of a v... [ Continue Reading ]
ΠΑ͂Ν ἉΜΆΡΤΗΜΑ. This word signifies some particular error, ἁμαρτία the general tendency to error. See Arist. _Nic. Eth._ 1 Corinthians 6:8, VI. 8. It is remarkable that ἁμάρτημα is common in classical, rare in Biblical Greek. Precisely the reverse is the case with ἁμαρτία. And this because both the L... [ Continue Reading ]
ΝΑῸΣ ΤΟΥ͂ ἘΝ ὙΜΙ͂Ν ἉΓΊΟΥ ΠΝΕΎΜΑΤΌΣ ἘΣΤΙΝ. See note on ch. 1 Corinthians 3:16. Observe also that God in Christ acts through the Spirit (cf. 1 Corinthians 6:11; 1 Corinthians 6:15 of this chapter), so that ‘we are the temple of God’ because ‘the Spirit of God dwelleth in us.’ Nothing can be more effec... [ Continue Reading ]
20. [ΚΑῚ ἘΝ ΠΝΕΎΜΑΤΙ ὙΜΩ͂Ν ἍΤΙΝΆ ἘΣΤΙΝ ΤΟΥ͂ ΘΕΟΥ͂, at end of verse.] Omit אABCDEFG Vetus Lat. and Vulg. Rec. inserts them with Peshito. The words are not found in the earlier Fathers. Thus Irenaeus in his work on heresies, Book 1 Corinthians 6:15, leaves out the words. Tertullian, _De Resurrectione... [ Continue Reading ]