RANSLATED AND EDITED BY W. F. COBB, D.D. EDINBURGH: JOHN GRANT 31 George IV. Bridge 1908 SAINT PAUL'S FIRST EPISTLE TO THE CORINTHIANS EDITORS PREFACE In translating the Comments of Cornelius à Lapide on the First Epistle to the Corinthians, the Translator has endeavoured, next to accuracy,... [ Continue Reading ]
_Sosthenes._ He was chief ruler of the synagogue at Corinth; having been converted to Christ by Paul, he was severely beaten for his faith before Gallio, the Proconsul (Act 18:17), and after his death was placed among the Saints. November 28th. _Unto the church of God which is at Corinth, to them t... [ Continue Reading ]
_I thank my God always on your behalf, for the grace of God which is given you by Jesus Christ._ "For the grace," in Greek, _ε̉πὶ τὴ χάριτι_, that is, on account of the grace of God, _which is given you in Christ, i.e._, through Christ. See Can. 25. "The source," says S. Bernard (_Serm._ 13 _in So... [ Continue Reading ]
_That in everything ye are enriched by Him_ (by Christ), _in all utterances_ (of the preaching of the Gospel), _and in all knowledge_, that is, in spiritual understanding of Him. In other words, I give thanks to God, because by me and Apollos He put before you, richly, the preaching and doctrine of... [ Continue Reading ]
_Even as the testimony of Christ was confirmed in you i.e._, by which, as by two testimonies, the Christian faith was founded and established in you. For the Greeks interpret the Greek _καθώς_, _i.e., even as_, by enallage, _δι ών_, _through which_, that is, the word and knowledge. Others interpret,... [ Continue Reading ]
_Waiting for the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ_, in His second Advent, when you will receive from Christ an abundant supply of all graces, and your consummation in heavenly glory.... [ Continue Reading ]
_Who shall also confirm you_, so far as His part is; _i.e._, shall give grace which can confirm you, and shall confirm you indeed, if you are willing to receive it, to use it, and to confirm yourselves in the faith and love of Christ: shall confirm you, I say, for this, that ye may be, and may perse... [ Continue Reading ]
_God is faithful, by whom ye were called into the of His Son Jesus Christ our Lord._ Note, _faithful_ with S. Paul is the same as constant, truthful, as I shall show on 1 Tim i. 15; not, according to Calvin, as though God saves those only who have been effectually called by Him, and all of them; and... [ Continue Reading ]
_I beseech you, brethren, by the name of our Lord Jesus Christ_, into whose one and the same fellowship, family, house, and Church we are all called, as many as are faithful and Christians, _that ye all speak the same thing_ that is to say, that, like brothers, ye agree in words and in speech, and t... [ Continue Reading ]
_For it hath been declared unto me by them of Chloë._ Some think that Chloë is the name of a place, but this place is nowhere else mentioned; nor does the Greek well allow Chloë to be a place. Whence more truly Chrysostom and the Syriac suppose it to be the name of a family or of a woman, and then t... [ Continue Reading ]
_That every one of you; i.e._, Whoever of you contend with one another, and foment any part of schism. (For there were among the Corinthians many others well-disposed and peaceful, unconnected with schism, and consequently with the following words): _says_, in turn, alternately or respectively; for... [ Continue Reading ]
_Were ye baptized in the name of Paul?_ Christ is one, and in His name all were alike baptized. In vain then, he says, do ye contend for us, which of us is to be the greatest, when we are but the ministers of baptism. Hence, theologians teach that the validity of Baptism and the other Sacraments dep... [ Continue Reading ]
_And I baptized also the house of Stephanas._ Stephanas, says Theophylact, was a well known inhabitant of Corinth, whose faith and charity are praised by S. Paul ch. 1Co 16:17).... [ Continue Reading ]
_For Christ sent me not to baptize, but to preach the Gospel._ Preaching and the administration of the Sacraments are the two duties of Pastors, but especially the former. And therefore the chief work of Bishops, Archbishops, and Primates is to preach the Gospel: and this they are bound to do themse... [ Continue Reading ]
_For the preaching of the Cross is to them that perish foolishness_. Any declaration about the salvation bestowed by the Cross, or about our redemption by the Cross and Passion of Christ, seems foolishness to men who are sceptical and perverse, and therefore ready to perish. Isaiah, too, says this i... [ Continue Reading ]
_For it is written._ This is from Isaiah 29:14, where, following the Hebrew, the verbs are transitive, but the sense is the same. Note that Paul refers to the whole circle of worldly wisdom what the Prophet said of the wisdom of the Jews alone, which was Pharisaic. For both are alike in this connect... [ Continue Reading ]
_Where is the wise?_ The Gentile philosopher. _Where is the scribe?_ The Jewish doctor. S. Paul is quoting Isaiah 33:18. Note, as the Greeks called their wise men philosophers, and the Chaldeans theirs magi, so the Jews called theirs _sopharim_, "scribes." "Scribes" is from the same root as "Scrip... [ Continue Reading ]
_For after that in the wisdom of God the world by wisdom knew not God, it pleased God by the foolishness of preaching to save them that believe._ Mark the phrase, "in the wisdom of God," God shows His wisdom in the marvellous structure and government of the world, as S. Thomas says. In other words,... [ Continue Reading ]
_For the Jews require a sign... but we preach Christ crucified._ A Theban, when asked what he thought of the Romans, said that "the Romans boasted themselves in their spears, the Greeks on their eloquence, the Thebans in their virtues." But the Apostle says that he and other Christians boast themsel... [ Continue Reading ]
_Into the Jews a stumbling-block, and unto the Greeks foolishness._ Notice here, with S. Chrysostom (_Hom._ iv. moral _in loco_, and above on ver.17), that the power of the Cross shines forth not only in itself but also in its preaching: (1.) In the fact that the Apostles, few in number, simple fish... [ Continue Reading ]
_Because the foolishness of God is wiser than men, and the weakness of God is stronger than men._ That is, say Ambrose and Anselm, the foolishness and weakness of God, or what men think is the foolishness and weakness in God and in Christ incarnate and suffering, as _e.g_., His humanity, morality, P... [ Continue Reading ]
_For ye see your calling, brethren, how that not many wise men after the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble are called._ The _for_ gives the reason of what had gone before. This verse contains another proof of what was said in ver. 21, " _It pleased God by the foolishness of preaching to save th... [ Continue Reading ]
_But God hath chosen the foolish things of the world to confound the wise._ The words "foolish, weak, base," form a climax, and are used by S. Paul to describe the faithful who had been called to Christ, or rather the Apostles themselves, who had called them. He contrasts them as uncultivated, poor,... [ Continue Reading ]
_But of Him are ye in Christ Jesus._ By the gift of God Himself, by His grace, were ye called to believe in Christ. So Anselm. To be in Christ is to have been incorporated with Him in Baptism, or to be in the Church of Christ, and in Christianity. _Who of God is made unto us wisdom and righteousnes... [ Continue Reading ]
_That, according as it is written, He that glorieth, let him glory in the Lord._ He is quoting not the words but the sense of Jeremiah 9:23. So Ambrose, Theophylact, Anselm, St, Thomas. In Jeremiah the passage runs: "Thus saith the Lord, Let not the wise man glory in his wisdom, neither let the migh... [ Continue Reading ]