§ 31. THE BACKSLIDING OF ANCIENT ISRAEL. The Apostle has just confessed, in warning others, his own fear of reprobation. That this is no idle fear the history of the O.T. Church plainly proves. All the Israelite fathers were rescued from Egypt, and sealed with the ancient sacraments, and virtually p... [ Continue Reading ]
The phrase οὐ θέλω ὑμᾶς ἀγνοεῖν (see parls.) calls attention to something not altogether within the range of the reader's knowledge (contrast οὐκ οἴδατε; 1 Corinthians 9:24, etc.); γὰρ attaches the paragraph, by way of enforcement, to the foregoing ἀδόκιμος. “Our fathers” is not written inadvertentl... [ Continue Reading ]
After deliverance came the question of _sustenance_. This was effected in the desert by means no less miraculous and symbolic: “and they all ate the same spiritual food, and all drank the same spiritual drink” the manna of Exodus 16:13 ff., etc., and the stream drawn from the rocks of Rephidim (Exod... [ Continue Reading ]
“But not with the greater part (of them)” a “tragic _litotes_ : only Joshua and Caleb reached the Promised Land” (Numbers 14:30 : Mr [1419]). The result negatives what one expects from the antecedents; hence the strong adversative ἀλλʼ οὐκ. τοῖς πλείοσιν “the majority” of the πάντες so highly favour... [ Continue Reading ]
ταῦτα τύποι ἡμῶν ἐγενήθησαν may mean (_a_) “These things have been made our examples,” _typi nobis_ (Cv [1424]) _sc_. exx. for our use; (_b_) “In these things (acc [1425] of _specification_) they proved types of us” _figurœ nostri_ (Vg [1426], Bz [1427], Mr [1428], Bt [1429], R.V. marg.); or (_c_) “... [ Continue Reading ]
§ 32. THE MORAL CONTAGION OF IDOLATRY. The fall of the Israel of the Exodus was due to the very temptations now surrounding the Cor [1423] Church to the allurements of idolatry and its attendant impurity (1 Corinthians 10:6 ff.), and to the cherishing of discontent and presumption (1 Corinthians 10:... [ Continue Reading ]
μηδὲ εἰδωλολάτραι γίνεσθε, “And do not become idolaters”: in apposition to the εἰς τὸ μὴ clause of 1 Corinthians 10:6, the dependent sentence of purpose passing into a direct impv [1436]; for the like conversational freedom, _cf._ 1 Corinthians 1:31 1 Corinthians 4:16, 1 Corinthians 7:37; 1 Corinthi... [ Continue Reading ]
μηδὲ πορνεύωμεν : here P. comes closer to his readers, adopting the communicative 1st pl [1438] For the prevalence of this vice at Cor [1439] and its connexion with Cor [1440] idolatry, see 1 Corinthians 7:2; 1 Corinthians 6:11, and _Introd_., p. 734 (_cf._ Numbers 25:1 f. also Revelation 2:14); for... [ Continue Reading ]
The sins condemned in 1 Corinthians 10:7-8 are sins of _sensuality_; these, of _unbelief_ (Ed [1445]) which takes two forms: of _presumption_, daring God's judgments; or of _despair_, doubting His goodness. The whole wilderness history, with its crucial events of Massah and Meribah, is represented a... [ Continue Reading ]
“Now these things befel them by way of example” “(τυπικῶς) or “typically,” “prefiguratively,” if the other rendering of τύποι in 1 Corinthians 10:6 be preferred (“in figura contingebant illis,” Vg [1454]); the adv [1455] became current in the latter sense in eccl [1456] Gr [1457] The judgments quote... [ Continue Reading ]
The “examples” just set forth are full of warning (_a_), but with an aspect of (_b_) encouragement besides. (_a_) “So then” ὥστε with impv [1463], as in 1 Corinthians 3:21 (see note) “he that thinks (ὁ δοκῶν : see note, 1 Corinthians 3:18) that he stands, let him take heed (βλεπέτω) lest he fall!” F... [ Continue Reading ]
gives the final point to all that has been urged, from 1 Corinthians 10:1 onwards: the sad fate of the Israelite fathers, the correspondence between their trials and those of the Cor [1484] readers, the possibility of effectual resistance, and the certain relief to which the Divine fidelity is pledg... [ Continue Reading ]
§ 33. THE COMMUNION OF THE LORD, AND OF DEMONS. A further warning the Ap. will give against dalliance with idolatry, based on Christian practice as the former was based on Israelite history. He points to _the table of the Lord's Supper_, and asks the Cor [1485] to judge as men of sense whether it is... [ Continue Reading ]
Ὡς φρονίμοις λέγω · κρίνατε ὑμεῖς ὅ φημι : “As to men of sense I speak; be yourselves the judges of what I affirm.” With this prefatory appeal to the intelligence of the readers _cf._ the introductory phrases of Romans 6:19; Galatians 3:15; the ground of admonition in this § lies entirely within the... [ Continue Reading ]
κοινωνία is the key-word of this passage (see parls.); the Lord's Supper constitutes a “communion” centring in Christ, as the Jewish festal rites centred in “the altar” (1 Corinthians 10:18), and as “the demons,” the unseen objects of idolatrous worship, supply their basis of communion in idolatrous... [ Continue Reading ]
unfolds the assertion virtually contained in the question just asked: “Seeing that (ὅτι) there is one bread, we, the many, are one body”; so Vg [1511], “Quoniam unus panis, unum corpus multi sumus,” Cv [1512], Bz [1513], Bg [1514], Hf [1515], Bt [1516], Hn [1517], Gd [1518], El [1519], R.V. marg.; _... [ Continue Reading ]
“For look at Israel after the flesh: are not those that eat the sacrifice communicants of the altar?” _i.e._, participation in the sacrificial feast constitutes fellowship in the sacrifice. τὸν Ἰσραὴλ κατὰ σάρκα, in contrast with Ἰσρ. κατὰ πνεῦμα (Romans 2:28 f., Galatians 4:29; Galatians 6:16, etc.... [ Continue Reading ]
Paul's appeal to the meaning of the Lord's Supper is leading up to a prohibition of attendance at the idol-feasts. Against this veto the men of “knowledge” will argue that idolatry is illusion (1 Corinthians 8:4 ff.), its rites having no such ground in reality as belongs to Christian observances; th... [ Continue Reading ]
This lively apostrophe sets in the strongest light the inconsistency of Cor [1537] Christians who conform to idolatry, the untenability of their position. “You cannot drink the Lord's cup and the cup of _demons_ ” the two together! “You cannot partake of the Lord's table and the table of _demons_!”... [ Continue Reading ]
On πάντα ἔξεστιν κ. τ. λ., see notes to 1 Corinthians 6:12. The form of that ver. seems to be purposely repeated here (μοι only omitted), with the effect of bringing out the _altruistic_ as complementary to the _self-regarding_ side of Christian expediency. On Paul's dialectical use of the words of... [ Continue Reading ]
to 1 Corinthians 11:1. § 34. LIBERTY AND ITS LIMITS. The maxim “All things are lawful” was pleaded in defence of the use of the idolothyta, as of other Cor [1541] laxities; so the Ap. has to discuss it a second time (_cf._ 1 Corinthians 6:12). In ch. 6. he bade his readers guard the application of t... [ Continue Reading ]
With μηδεὶς τ. ἑαυτοῦ κ. τ. λ. _cf._ 1 Corinthians 13:5; Romans 14:7; Romans 15:2; Galatians 6:2; Philippians 2:1 ff. After ἀλλὰ understand ἕκαστος, from the previous μηδείς : _cf._ the ellipsis in 1 Corinthians 3:1; 1 Corinthians 3:7; 1 Corinthians 7:19 (Bm [154 [ Continue Reading ]
The above rule is now applied in the concrete, πὰν τὸ ἐν μακέλλῳ πωλούμενον κ. τ. λ., “Anything that is on sale in the meat-market eat, not asking any question of conscience”. μάκελλον is a term of late Gr [1547], borrowed from Latin (_macellum_): possibly a local word, introduced by the _colonia_;... [ Continue Reading ]
[1568] parallel. [1569] classical. [1570] Greek, or Grotius' _Annotationes in N.T._ [1571] idd. Liddell and Scott's _Greek-English Lexicon._ [1572] Grimm-Thayer's _Greek-English Lexicon of the N.T._ [1573] English Version. [1574] Bengel's _Gnomon Novi Testamenti._ [1575] C. J. Ellicott's _St.... [ Continue Reading ]
1 Corinthians 10:28-29 _a_. ἐὰν δὲ … εἴπῃ, “But if any one say to you” a probable contingency, as εἴ τις καλεῖ κ. τ. λ. (1 Corinthians 10:27) was an assumed fact; see Bn [1576] on the forms of the Condit. Sentence, §§ 242 ff. δὲ confronts this contingency with _both_ the situations described in 1 Co... [ Continue Reading ]
1 Corinthians 10:31-32 conclude the matter with two solemn, comprehensive rules, introduced by the collective οὖν (_cf._ Romans 5:9; Romans 11:22), relating to _God's glory_ and _to man's salvation_. The supreme maxim of duty, πάντα εἰς δόξαν Θεοῦ ποιεῖτε, applies to all that Christians “eat or drin... [ Continue Reading ]
1 Corinthians 10:33; 1 Corinthians 11:1. Paul's personal example played a large part in his argument (1 Corinthians 10:9); it is fitting he should refer to it in summing up. The negative ἀπρόσκοποι γίνεσθε, in 2nd person, now becomes the positive ἐγὼ πάντα πᾶσιν ἀρέσκω in the 1st: “As I also in all... [ Continue Reading ]