Expositor's Greek Testament (Nicoll)

1 Corinthians 6:15-17

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 I then take away the limbs of Christ and make them a harlot's limbs? Far be it!” Αἴρω is to remove, carry off, as in 1 Corinthians 5:2 (see parls.), Vg [974] tollens, implying “a voluntary and determined act” (Ed [975]); for the introductory aor [976] ptp [977], see Bn [978], §§ 132, 138. ποιήσω, either (deliberative) aor [979] sbj [980] or fut [981] ind [982] “Am I to make, etc.?” or, “Am I going to make?” The former idiom suits an act of choice; this question the tempted Cor [983] Christian must put to himself: cf. the interrog. form of Romans 6:1; Romans 6:15 (- ωμεν).

[974] Latin Vulgate Translation.

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

[976] aorist tense.

[977] participle

[978] E. Burton's Syntax of the Moods and Tenses in the N.T. (1894).

[979] aorist tense.

[980] subjunctive mood.

[981] future tense.

[982] indicative mood.

[983] Corinth, Corinthian or Corinthians.

What is true of Christian men individually, that they are μέλη Χριστοῦ and parts of the σῶμα Χριστοῦ, is true specifically of the physical frame of each; similarly in 1 Corinthians 6:19 f. Paul applies to the Christian man's body the glorious truth stated respecting the Christian society in 1 Corinthians 3:16 f. In the Hellenic view, the body was the perishing envelope of the man; in the Scriptural view, it is the abiding vehicle of his spirit. To devote the body to a harlot, one must first withdraw it from Christ's possession: to do that, and for such a purpose the bare statement shows the infamy of the proposal. The Biblical formula of deprecation, μὴ γένοιτο, is frequent also in Epictetus; cf. Odyssey, vii., 316, μὴ τοῦτο φίλον Διῒ πατρὶ γένοιτο.

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Expositor's Greek Testament (Nicoll)

1 Corinthians 6:15-17

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