1 Corinthians 6:1-11. The way to settle disputes in the Christian Church 1. _Dare any of you, having a matter against another_ 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... [ Continue Reading ]
_the saints shall judge the world_ i.e. at Christ's second coming. See St Matthew 19:28, St Luke 22:30, and Daniel 7:22. _are ye unworthy to judge the smallest matters?_ The word here translated _matters_, and in 1 Corinthians 6:4 _judgments_, has the following significations: (1) tribunals; (2) cau... [ Continue Reading ]
_Know ye not that we shall judge angels?_ Cf. 2 Peter 2:4, and Judges 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 th... [ Continue Reading ]
_judgments domes_, Wiclif. See note on 1 Corinthians 6:2. The meaning (2) seems the only admissible one here, inasmuch as Christians were not likely as yet to possess secular tribunals or to hold secular _trials_in the technical sense of the word. Secular _causes_they had, and as we see, they carrie... [ Continue Reading ]
_I speak to your shame_ -You are not to suppose me in earnest. I only say this to shame you for the undue value you set on the things of this life. Such matters might fitly be left to the decision of the most insignificant member of your community. But there is no necessity for that. Surely there ar... [ Continue Reading ]
_But brother goeth to law_ "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. _a... [ Continue Reading ]
_Why do ye not rather take wrong?_ Cf. St Matthew 5:38-42.... [ Continue Reading ]
_Nay, you do wrong, and defraud, and that_(your) _brethren_ 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 thi... [ Continue Reading ]
_Know ye not that the unrighteous shall not inherit the kingdom of God?_ 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 thing... [ Continue Reading ]
_nor covetous_ See note on ch. 1 Corinthians 5:10. _nor drunkards, nor revilers_ Here, as in ch. 1 Corinthians 5:11, where the same word is translated _railer_, we have the inevitable conjunction between drunkenness and strife.... [ Continue Reading ]
_but ye are washed, but ye are sanctified, but ye are justified_ 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. The meani... [ Continue Reading ]
The guilt of the Fornicator 12. _All things are lawful unto me_ 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... [ Continue Reading ]
_Meats for the belly, and the belly for meats_ This is a matter of comparatively trifling importance. Meat is a necessity for our present undeveloped life; in the world where hunger and thirst will be no more it will no longer be so. And therefore both it, and the organs formed to digest it will be... [ Continue Reading ]
_and will also raise up us_ Unlike the belly, whose functions shall cease, the body, through its Lord, is destined to an enduring life. We are taught in Romans 8:11, in ch. 15, and by that much neglected article in the Creed, "The Resurrection of the Body," that Christ came to save, sanctify, and ra... [ Continue Reading ]
_Know ye not that your bodies are the members of Christ?_ 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) is employed here to remind us of the restrictions placed upon our Christian... [ Continue Reading ]
_for two, saith he, shall be one flesh_ No words could more plainly shew than these and the preceding, what a monstrous perversion the sin here mentioned is of the mysterious union between the sexes sanctified by God in Holy Matrimony. No words could more strongly imply than those which follow, that... [ Continue Reading ]
_he that is joined unto the Lord is one spirit_ Literally, CLEAVETH TO THE LORD. No words, save perhaps those in St John 17, could more forcibly express the closeness of the union between Christ and His faithful disciple.... [ Continue Reading ]
_Every sin that a man doeth is without the body_ That is, every other sinful act which affects the body approaches it from without and affects particular members. But this sin takes the body itself as a whole and makes it an instrument of sin. For it is a violation of the fundamental law impressed u... [ Continue Reading ]
_know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost_ See note on ch. 1 Corinthians 3:16, and cf. 2 Corinthians 6:16; Eph 2:21-22; 1 Timothy 3:15; 2 Timothy 2:20; Hebrews 3:3; 1 Peter 2:5. Observe also that God in Christ acts through the Spirit (cf. 1 Corinthians 6:11;... [ Continue Reading ]
_ye are_(lit. WERE) _bought with a price_ the "one sufficient Sacrifice, Oblation and Satisfaction made for the sins of the whole world" by the Death and Passion of our Saviour Christ. Cf. Acts 20:28; 1 Peter 1:19; 2 Peter 2:1; Revelation 5:9, &c. _and in your spirit, which are God's_ These words a... [ Continue Reading ]