1 Corinthians 15:31-32

1 Corinthians 15:31-32 a. In no slight jeopardy do P. and his comrades stand; for his part he declares, “Daily I am dying; my life at Ephesus has been that of a combatant with wild beasts in the arena for what end, if there is no resurrection?” With καθʼ ἠμέραν ἀποθνήσκω cf. 2 Corinthians 4:10; 2 Corinthians 11:23; Romans 8:36; referring to his present “affliction in Asia,” P. writes in 2 Corinthians 1:8 f., “We have had the sentence of death in ourselves”. Ed [2436] softens the expression into “self-denial, dying to self and the world”: better Cv [2437], “obsideor assiduis mortibus quotidie”; and Gd [2438], “Not a day, nor an hour of the day, when they might not expect to be seized and led out to execution”. [2439]. had not been in this extreme peril at Cor [2440] (see Acts 18:9 f.), and his readers might think the description overdrawn; so he exclaims, νὴ τ. ὑμετέραν καύχησιν κ. τ. λ.: “Yea, by the glorying over you, brothers, which I have in Christ Jesus our Lord!” cf. the protests of 2 Cor. 2:18, 23; 2 Corinthians 11:10 f., 2 Corinthians 11:31; Romans 9:1. He protests by this καύχησις as by that which is dearest to him: cf. 1 Corinthians 1:4 ff., 1 Corinthians 4:14 2 Corinthians 7:3; 2 Corinthians 7:14 ff.; similarly in 1 Thessalonians 2:19 f., 2 Thessalonians 1:4; Philippians 4:1, etc. For this rare use of the pron [2441], cf. 1 Corinthians 11:24, τ. ἐμὴν ἀνάμνησιν (and note), 2 Corinthians 9:3. νή (= ναί) with acc [2442] of adjuration, a cl [2443] idiom. Paul's “glorying” he “holds in Christ Jesus our Lord” (cf. 1 Corinthians 1:7); it is laid up with Christ as a καύχημα εἰς ἡμέραν Χ. (Philippians 2:16; cf. Philippians 3:8; Philippians 4:3 ff. above, 1 Thessalonians 2:19; Colossians 1:4, etc.). “If in the manner of men I have fought with wild beasts in Ephesus, what is the profit?” κατὰ ἄνθρωπον bears the stress, “humanitus spe vitæ præsentis duntaxat” (Bg [2444] : cf. iii., 3 f.); seeking the rewards applause, money, etc. for which men risk their lives. Instead of these, P. earns poverty and infamy (1 Corinthians 4:9 ff., Philippians 3:7 f.); if there is no “day of Christ” when his “glorying” will be realised, he has been befooled (cf. 1 Corinthians 15:19 and note, Philippians 3:14, 2 Timothy 4:8; Matthew 19:27 ff., Luke 14:14; Luke 22:28 ff.). ὄφελος (from ὀφέλλω, to increase; nearly syn [2445] with μισθός, 1 Corinthians 3:8, etc.; or κέρδος, Philippians 1:21) signifies the consequent advantage accruing to P. from his fight; that it brings present moral benefit is obvious, but this is not the point (cf. 1 Corinthians 9:24-27; see Ed [2446] ad loc [2447], touching the diff [2448] of pagan and Christian morality). ἐθηριομάχησα is probably figurative, though Gd [2449], Weizsäcker (Apost. Zeitalter, pp. 325 f.), McGiffert (Christianity in the Apost. Age, pp. 280 f.), with some older expositors, take it that P. had been actually a θηριομάχος in the Ephesian amphitheatre, despite his Roman citizenship. But no such experience is recorded in the list of his woes in 2 Corinthians 11; moreover it appears from Acts 19:31-40 that P. had friends in high quarters at Eph., who would have prevented this outrage if attempted. Ignatius (ad Rom., v.; cf. ad Smyrn., iv.) applies the figure to his guards, borrowing it probably from this place. The metaphor is in the strain of 1 Corinthians 4:9 (see note); cf. also Psalms 22:12; Psalms 22:16, etc., and the use of θηρίον in the Rev. In view of this last parl [2450] and of 2 Timothy 4:17, Krenkel in his Beiträge, V., finds the “wild beast” of Paul's struggle in the Imperial Power, which [2451]. thinks was already so designated “in the secret language of Christians” (cf. 2 Thessalonians 2:5 f.). But nothing in Acts 19 indicates conflict on P.'s part with the magistrates of Eph. (and Lk. habitually traces with care his relations with Roman authorities); it was the city-mob, instigated by the shrine-makers, which attacked him; before the riot he had been probably in danger of assassination from this quarter, as well as from “the Asian Jews,” who set upon him afterwards in Jerusalem (Acts 21:27 ff.). Bt [2452] observes the climax: κινδυνεύω, ἀποθνήσκω, θηριομαχῶ.

[2436] T. C. Edwards' Commentary on the First Ep. to the Corinthians. 2

[2437] Calvin's In Nov. Testamentum Commentarii.

[2438] F. Godet's Commentaire sur la prem. Ép. aux Corinthiens (Eng. Trans.).

[2439] Codex Porphyrianus (sæc. ix.), at St. Petersburg, collated by Tischendorf. Its text is deficient for chap. 1 Corinthians 2:13-16.

[2440] Corinth, Corinthian or Corinthians.

[2441]ron. pronoun.

[2442] accusative case.

[2443] classical.

[2444] Bengel's Gnomon Novi Testamenti.

[2445] synonym, synonymous.

[2446] T. C. Edwards' Commentary on the First Ep. to the Corinthians. 2

[2447] ad locum, on this passage.

[2448] difference, different, differently.

[2449] F. Godet's Commentaire sur la prem. Ép. aux Corinthiens (Eng. Trans.).

[2450] parallel.

[2451] Codex Mosquensis (sæc. ix.), edited by Matthæi in 1782.

[2452] J. A. Beet's St. Paul's Epp. to the Corinthians (1882).

1 Corinthians 15:32 b states in words of Scripture the desperation that ensues upon loss of faith in a future life: “If (the) dead are not raised (the Sadducean dogma repeated a sixth time), ‘Let us eat and drink, for to-morrow we die!' ” εἰ νεκροὶ κ. τ. λ. is rightly attached by the early Gr [2453] and most modern commentt. to the following clause. Paul is not drawing his own conclusion in these words, nor suggesting that the resurrection supplies the only motive against a sensual life; but he points out (cf. 33 f.) the patent fruit of the unbelief in question. This is just what men were saying on all sides; the words quoted voice the moral recklessness bred by loss of hope beyond death. Gr [2454] and Rom. literature teem with examples of this spirit (see Wis 2:6; Herod., ii., 78, Thuc., ii., 53, and other reff. furnished by Ed [2455] ad loc [2456]); indeed Paul's O.T. citation might have served for the axiom of popular Epicureanism. Hn [2457] describes ancient drinking-cups, recently discovered, ornamented with skeleton figures wreathed in roses and named after famous philosophers, poets, and gourmands, with mottoes attached such as these: τὸ τέλος ἡδονή, τέρπε ζῶν σεαυτόν, σκηνὴ βίος, τοῦτʼ ἄνθρωπος (written over a skeleton holding a skull), ζῶν μετάλαβε τὸ γὰρ αὔριον ἄδηλόν ἐστιν. cf. our own miserable adage, “A short life and a merry one!”

[2453] Greek, or Grotius' Annotationes in N.T.

[2454] Greek, or Grotius' Annotationes in N.T.

[2455] T. C. Edwards' Commentary on the First Ep. to the Corinthians. 2

[2456] ad locum, on this passage.

[2457] C. F. G. Heinrici's Erklärung der Korintherbriefe (1880), or 1 Korinther in Meyer's krit.-exegetisches Kommentar (1896).