1 Corinthians 15:32

“If it is as man that I have fought with beasts at Ephesus, what advantageth it me? If the dead rise not, let us eat and drink; for to-morrow we die.”

The meaning of the expression κατὰ ἄνθρωπον, according to man, must be determined by the context. It might be applied to human strength, which was not that with which the apostle laboured; or he might mean that in his work he had a higher end in view than that which the natural man sets before him in labouring. I am inclined to believe in a third meaning: With a view to what man can give by way of recompense. The θηριομαχεῖν, to fight with wild beasts, is taken by almost all modern commentators, down to Meyer, Reuss, Heinrici (Holsten excepted), in the figurative sense: to struggle with a furious multitude excited against him. It is in the same sense that Ignatius (Ad Rom. c. 5) speaks of the ten leopards (his keepers) with whom he has to fight day and night during his journey (θηριομαχῶ δέκα λεοπάρδοις). In favour of this sense we could not quote the tumult raised by the goldsmith Demetrius; for this event did not take place till after the composition of our letter, and Paul did nothing on that occasion which could justify the term fight. But some similar scene might have passed at Ephesus in the first period of Paul's sojourn. I cannot, however, adhere to this explanation of the word θηριομαχεῖν. Similar conflicts were too frequent in the apostle's life to admit of his mentioning this one in so exceptional a way. Unless we are to ascribe to Paul an exaggeration very alien to his character, it will be every way more natural to apply this expression to the punishment of the bestiarii, in the strict sense of the word. This meaning agrees better also with the feeling of free-will which breathes in the words: If I have fought. To this is objected the right of Roman citizenship which Paul possessed, and which secured him from such treatment. But if the thing passed in a popular rising, the apostle's protestations might not have been listened to. It is also said that he could not have escaped death, and that in any case such a fact could not fail to be mentioned in the Acts. But how many facts of this kind are mentioned in the list 2 Corinthians 11, of which we have not a hint in the narrative of the Acts! And as to deliverance, it may have been due to some providential circumstance or other which we cannot divine. The fact is that this ἐθηριομάχησα designates in the apostle's view the apogee of the: “I die daily,” and this gradation admits only of the literal sense. As Holsten says: “If there were nothing extraordinary and particular in this fight, Paul would not have so mentioned it in the context.”

When he says: What doth it profit me? the apostle's thought is that only the expectation of a life to come can explain such conduct. Moral duty in itself would not account for it, for there is no natural obligation which requires a man to sacrifice himself in the service of Jesus Christ. Besides, when he speaks of profit, Paul is thinking, not of a reward due to acquired merit, but of God's response to the holy aspirations with which He has Himself endowed the human soul.

The proposition: If the dead rise not, would be awkward, if connected with what precedes; it suits better as an introduction to what follows: “Say then also, in this case, like the despisers of the Divine judgment in Isaiah (Isaiah 22:13): Let us eat...” Paul does expressly say that such language is used at Corinth; but he declares that it is the natural consequence of what is said there about the resurrection. There is, I believe, less of bravado than of despondency in the saying quoted: “Since we have nothing better to look for, let us at least enjoy the present.” This forms the transition to the word of warning and exhortation which closes the first part of the chapter.