§ 17. LAW-SUITS IN HEATHEN COURTS. Beside the πόρνος, amongst those to be excommunicated at Cor [887], stood the πλεονέκτης (1 Corinthians 5:11); fraud and robbery were only less rife than licentiousness; and this element of corruption, along with the other, had reappeared within the Church (1 Corin... [ Continue Reading ]
Τολμᾷ τις ὑμῶν κ. τ. λ.; “Does any one of you dare?”etc. “notatur læsa majestas Christianorum” (Bg [889]): τολμᾶν, _sustinere, non erubescere_. This also was matter of common knowledge, like the crime of 1 Corinthians 5:1. The abrupt interrog. marks the outburst of indignant feeling. You treat the C... [ Continue Reading ]
ἢ οὐκ οἴδατε κ. τ. λ.; “Or (is it that) you do not know?” etc. If the appeal to non-Christian tribunals is not made in _insolence_ (τολμᾷ) towards the Church, it must be made in _ignorance_ of its matchless prerogative. That “the saints will judge the world” is involved in the conception of the Mess... [ Continue Reading ]
The question of 1 Corinthians 6:2 urged to its climax: “Know you not that we shall judge _angels?_ ” Paul already does this, hypothetically, in Galatians 1:8. _Instructed_ through the Church (Ephesians 3:10), the heavenly powers will be subject to final _correction_ from the same quarter. The angels... [ Continue Reading ]
1 Corinthians 6:4-5 _a_. 1 Corinthians 6:4 is rendered in three diff [912] ways, as (_a_) τ. ἐξουθενημένους ἐν τ. ἐκκλησίᾳ is taken to mean _the heathen iudges_, the ἄδικοι of 1 Corinthians 6:1 whom the Church could not respect (ἐν, _in the eyes of; cf._ 1 Corinthians 14:11); then τούτους καθίζετε b... [ Continue Reading ]
“Nay, but brother goes to law with brother this too before unbelievers!” This is an _answer_ to the question of 1 Corinthians 6:5, not a continuation of it. The litigation shows that there is no man in the Church wise enough to settle such matters privately; or he would surely have been called in. T... [ Continue Reading ]
Ἤδη μὲν οὖν, “Indeed then, to begin with”: on ἤδη (_already, i.e. before litigation_), see note to 1 Corinthians 4:8. μὲν here, otherwise than in 1 Corinthians 6:4. suggests a suppressed δέ : “but ye aggravate matters by going before the heathen” (Lt [941]). ὅλως (see 1 Corinthians 5:1) ἥττημα (cl ... [ Continue Reading ]
§ 18. WARNING TO IMMORAL CHRISTIANS. Behind the scandal of the law-suits there lay a deeper mischief in their _cause_. They were immediately due to unchristian resentment on the part of the aggrieved; but the chief guilt lay with the aggressors. The defrauders of their brethren, and all doers of wro... [ Continue Reading ]
ἀλλὰ ὑμεῖς κ. τ. λ.: “Nay, but _you_ commit wrong and robbery this too (_cf._ 6) upon your brothers!” Mr [951] reads this, like the parl [952] ἀλλὰ clause of 1 Corinthians 6:6, as a further question; it is the answer to the question of 1 Corinthians 6:7 the sad _fact_ contrasted with the duty of the... [ Continue Reading ]
On ἤ οὐκ οἴδατε; see note to 1 Corinthians 6:2. The wrongers of their brethren are surely unaware of the fact that “wrong-doers (ἄδικοι) will not inherit God's kingdom” (which nevertheless they profess to seek, 1 Corinthians 1:7 ff.) an axiom of revelation, indeed of conscience, but the over-clever... [ Continue Reading ]
καὶ ταῦτά τινες ἦτε : “And these things you were, some (of you)”. The neuter ταῦτα is contemptuous “such abominations!” τινὲς softens the aspersion; the majority of Cor [956] Christians had not been guilty of extreme vice. The stress lies on the tense of ἦτε; “you _were_ ” a thing of the past, _cf._... [ Continue Reading ]
Πάντα μοι ἔξεστιν stands twice here, and twice in 1 Corinthians 10:23; P. harps on the saying in a way to indicate that it was a watchword with some Cor [965] party perhaps amongst both Paulinists and Apollonians; his μοι endorses the declaration (_cf._ 1 Corinthians 8:8 f., 1 Corinthians 10:23 ff.,... [ Continue Reading ]
§ 19. THE SANCTITY OF THE BODY, The laxity of morals distinguishing the Cor [964] Church was in some instances defended, or half-excused, by appealing to the principle of _Christian liberty_, which P. had himself enunciated in asserting the freedom of Gentile Christians from the Mosaic ceremonial re... [ Continue Reading ]
The maxim “All things are lawful to me” has been guarded within its province; now it must be _limited to its province_ : “Foods (are) for the belly, and the belly for its foods”. τὰ βρώματα, _the different kinds of food_ about which Jewish law, ascetic practice (Romans 14:1 ff.), and the supposed de... [ Continue Reading ]
is parl [971] to 1 Corinthians 6:13 _b_ (“God” the agent in both), as 1 Corinthians 6:13 _c_ to 1 Corinthians 6:13 _a_ : the previous δὲ contrasted the several _natures_ of βρώματα and σῶμα; this the opp [972] _issues_, καταργήσει and ἐξεγερεῖ. ὁ Κύριος is the determining factor of both contrasts. “... [ Continue Reading ]
1 Corinthians 6:15-17 unfold in its repulsiveness, by vivid concrete presentment, the opposition between the two claimants for bodily service already contrasted: the rival of Christ is ἡ πόρνη! “Or (if what I have said is not sufficient) do you not know that your bodies are _Christ's limbs?_ Should... [ Continue Reading ]
justifies the strong expression πόρνης μέλη (1 Corinthians 6:15), implying that the alliance is a kind of incorporation: “Or (if you object to my putting it in this way), do you not know that he who cleaves to the harlot is one body (with her)?” ὁ κολλώμενος (see parls.), _qui agglutinatur scorto_ ... [ Continue Reading ]
ὁ δὲ κολλώμενος τῳ Κυρίῳ κ. τ. λ.: “But he who cleaves to the Lord is one spirit (with Him)”. Adhesion by the act of faith (1 Corinthians 1:21, etc.) to Christ (as _Lord, cf._ 1 Corinthians 12:3, etc.) establishes a spiritual communion of the man with Him as real and close as the other, bodily commu... [ Continue Reading ]
With vehement abruptness P. turns from exposition to exhortation. “ _Flee_ fornication” other sins may be combated; this must be _fled_, as by Joseph in Potiphar's house. φεύγετε the opposite of κολλᾶσθαι (1 Corinthians 6:16). The parl [987] φεύγετε ἀπὸ τ. εἰδωλολατρείας of 1 Corinthians 10:14 shows... [ Continue Reading ]
What a _deadly_ sin, an act of high treason, this is for the Christian, Paul's final appeal shows: “Or (if you do not yet realise the heinousness of fornication), do you not know that your _body_ is the temple of the Holy Spirit within you, which you have (οὗ ἔχετε, gen [990] by _attraction_ to Πνεύ... [ Continue Reading ]