Expositor's Greek Testament (Nicoll)

1 Corinthians 15:33,34

1 Corinthians 15:33-34 deliver Paul's judgment upon the situation: the disbelief in the Resurrection declared in the Cor [2458] Church is of a piece with its low ethics (1 Corinthians 3:1 ff., 1 Corinthians 4:18 to 1 Corinthians 5:2) and its heathen intimacies (1 Corinthians 8:10; 1 Corinthians 10:14-22; 2 Corinthians 5:14 to 2 Corinthians 7:1); it springs from ἀγνωσία Θεοῦ, from a feeble religious consciousness. μὴ πλανᾶσθε (see parls.), “Be not misled (seduced)”: the seduction lay in the specious philosophy under which sceptical tenets were advanced, concealing their demoralising tendency. The line the Ap. quotes (an ordinary senarius of the dialogue in the Attic drama: χρηστά, so written in the best copies, was probably read f1χρήσθʼ, Wr [2459], Hn [2460]) is attributed to Menander (322 B.C.), of the New Comedy and an Epicurean, by Tert [2461] and Hier., followed by most others. But this was a proverbial gnomé, and probably current long before Menander. ὁμιλίαι bears the narrower sense of conversations (A.V.; colloquia, Vg [2462]), or the wider sense, more fitting here, of intercourse, companionships (R.V.). ἐκνήψατε δικαίως κ. τ. λ. (cf. 1 Corinthians 15:32 b, 1 Corinthians 11:21; and parls. for ἐκνήφω): “Rouse up to soberness in righteous fashion, and cease to sin” (the first impv [2463] is aor [2464], of a single action; the second pr., of a course of action) a startling call, to men fallen as if into a drunken sleep under the seductions of sensualism and heathen society and the fumes of intellectual pride. δικαίως signifies the manner of the awaking; it is right the Cor [2465] should rouse themselves from self-delusion; P. assails their conscience. ἀγνωσίαν γὰρ Θεοῦ τινες (cf. 12) ἔχουσιν, “For some have (maintain) an ignorance of God” (cf. the use of ἔχω in 31, 1 Corinthians 8:1; Romans 4:2; Romans 5:1, respecting states of mind); this asserts, beyond τὸν Θεὸν ἀγνοοῦσιν, a characteristic, a persistent condition, in which the Cor [2466] τινὲς share with the heathen (1 Corinthians 12:2; Romans 1:19 ff., etc.). πρὸς ἐντροπὴν ὑμῖν λαλῶ, “I say (it) for a shame to you,” otherwise than in 1 Corinthians 4:14. “Ignorance of God” is a deeper evil than the ingratitude toward the Ap. which he censured earlier; this can only be remedied by a thorough inward reaction “ad pudorem vobis incutiendum dico” (Cv [2467]). That these wise Cor [2468] should be taxed with “ignorance,” and “ of God ” on the knowledge of whom they flattered themselves above all (1 Corinthians 8:1; 1 Corinthians 8:4), was humiliating indeed.

[2458] Corinth, Corinthian or Corinthians.

[2459] Winer-Moulton's Grammar of N.T. Greek (8th ed., 1877).

[2460] C. F. G. Heinrici's Erklärung der Korintherbriefe (1880), or 1 Korinther in Meyer's krit.-exegetisches Kommentar (1896).

[2461]ert. Tertullian.

[2462] Latin Vulgate Translation.

[2463] imperative mood.

[2464] aorist tense.

[2465] Corinth, Corinthian or Corinthians.

[2466] Corinth, Corinthian or Corinthians.

[2467] Calvin's In Nov. Testamentum Commentarii.

[2468] Corinth, Corinthian or Corinthians.

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Expositor's Greek Testament (Nicoll)

1 Corinthians 15:33,34

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