Expositor's Greek Testament (Nicoll)

1 Corinthians 4:9

gives reason in Paul's sorrowful state for the wish that has escaped him. δοκῶ γὰρ ὁ Θεὸς κ. τ. λ. (ὅτι vanting after δοκῶ, as in 1 Corinthians 7:40; so in Eng.): “For, methinks, God has inhibited (spectandos proposuit, Bz [718]) us, the apostles, last” at the end of the show, in the meanest place (for the use of ἔσχατος, cf. Mark 9:35; for the sentiment, 1 Corinthians 15:19 below) “as (men) doomed to death”. One imagines a grand procession, on some day of public festival; in its rear march the criminals on their way to the arena, where the populace will be regaled with their sufferings. Paul's experience in Ephesus suggests the picture (cf. 1 Corinthians 15:32); that of 2 Corinthians 2:14 is not dissimilar. “The app.” (cf. 1Co 9:1, 1 Corinthians 15:5 ff.), not P. alone, are set in this disgrace: Acts 1-12. illustrates what is said; possibly recent (unrecorded) sufferings of prominent missionaries gave added point to the comparison. Ἀπο - δείκνυμι (to show off) takes its disparaging sense from the connexion, like δειγματίζω in Colossians 2:15. ἐπιθανατίους (later Gr [719]) = ἐπὶ τ. θάνατον ὄντας. ὅτι θέατρον ἐγενήθημεν τῷ κόσμῳ does not give the reason for the above ἀπόδειξις, but re-affirms the fact with a view to bring forward the spectators; this clause apposed to the foregoing, in which ὅτι was implicit: “Methinks God has set forth us the app. last, as sentenced to death, that we have been made a spectacle to the world,” etc. Hf [720] would read ὅ, τι θέατρον, “which spectacle,” etc. a tempting constr [721], suiting the lively style of the passage; but ὅστις occurs as adj [722] nowhere in the N.T. (unless, possibly, in Hebrews 9:9), and rarely at all in Gr [723] θέατρον “may mean the place, spectators, actors, or spectacle: the last meaning is the one used here, and the rarest” (Lt [724]). “To the world:” so Peter, e.g., at Jerus., Paul in the great Gentile capitals. “ Both to angels and men” extends the ring to include those invisible watchers “ καί singles them out for special attention” (Lt [725]) of whose presence the Ap. was aware (see 1 Corinthians 11:10, and other parts.); angels, as such, in contrast with men, not the good or bad angels specifically (cf. note on 1 Corinthians 6:3). Ephesians 3:10 f. intimates that the heavenly Intelligences learn while they watch.

[718] Beza's Nov. Testamentum: Interpretatio et Annotationes (Cantab., 1642).

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

[720] J. C. K. von Hofmann's Die heilige Schrift N.T. untersucht, ii. 2 (2te Auflage, 1874).

[721] construction.

[722] adjective.

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

[724] J. B. Lightfoot's (posthumous) Notes on Epp. of St. Paul (1895).

[725] J. B. Lightfoot's (posthumous) Notes on Epp. of St. Paul (1895).

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1 Corinthians 4:9

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