Dare any of you, having a matter against his neighbor, go to law before the unrighteous, and not before the saints? [1. Division, 2. Incest, 3. Litigation: such is the order of Paul's rebukes. With reckless audacity the Corinthians, by indulging in litigation and submitting their causes to pagan tri... [ Continue Reading ]
Or know ye not that the saints shall judge the world? and if the world is judged by you, are ye unworthy to judge the smallest matters?... [ Continue Reading ]
Know ye not that we shall judge angels? how much more, things that pertain to this life? [They were permitting themselves to be judged by those whom they were appointed to judge. To prove that the saints will participate with Christ in the final judgment, the following passages are often cited (Psal... [ Continue Reading ]
If then ye have to judge things pertaining to this life, do ye set them to judge who are of no account in the church?... [ Continue Reading ]
I say this to move you to shame. [If called on as a church to judge any matter, would you choose its simpletons and numbskulls as judges? I ask this to make you ashamed, for ye do even more foolishly when you submit your cases to worldlings, who are even less competent judges.] _What, cannot there b... [ Continue Reading ]
but brother goeth to law with brother, and that before unbelievers? [This question is a crushing rebuke to their vaunted pride as learned sages. The rebuke is intensified by the phrase "know ye not," which is used six times in this chapter, four times in the rest of his writing to the Corinthians, a... [ Continue Reading ]
Nay, already [before ye even begin civil action] _it is altogether a defect in you, that ye have lawsuits_ [more correctly, matter worthy of litigation] _one with another_. [Here Paul emphasizes the ripened state of their criminality by condemning even its germinal stage as a defect.] _Why not rathe... [ Continue Reading ]
Nay, but ye yourselves do wrong, and defraud, and that your brethren. [Far from enduring wrong and obeying Christ (Matthew 5:40; 1 Peter 2:22; comp. Proverbs 20:22), they were actually perpetrating wrong upon their brethren. In view of this flagrant wickedness Paul proceeds to warn them of the resul... [ Continue Reading ]
Or know ye not that the unrighteous shall not inherit the kingdom of God? [That glorious celestial kingdom of which the church is the earthly type.] _Be not deceived_ [so as to think sin will not result in punishment-- Gal 6:7]: _neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor effeminate_ [c... [ Continue Reading ]
nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners, shall inherit the kingdom of God. [Paul here accords with James that faith without works is dead (James 2:17). Our highest privileges may be abrogated by sin.]... [ Continue Reading ]
And such were some of you [they had been true Corinthians]: _but ye were washed_ [Acts 22:16; Ephesians 5:26; Titus 3:5 Hebrews 10:22], _but ye were sanctified_ [set apart to God's uses], _but ye were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ_ [counted righteous after the remission of your sins... [ Continue Reading ]
All things are lawful for me; but not all things are expedient. [The abruptness here suggests that, in palliation of their undue laxity and toleration, they had in their letter (1 Corinthians 7:1) urged this rule; which they had doubtless learned from Paul (1 Corinthians 10:23; Galatians 5:23). Henc... [ Continue Reading ]
Meats for the belly, and the belly for meats: but God shall bring to nought both it and them. But the body is not for fornication, but for the Lord; and the Lord for the body :... [ Continue Reading ]
and God both raised the Lord, and will raise up us through his power.... [ Continue Reading ]
Know ye not that your bodies are members of Christ? [parts of his body (1 Corinthians 12:27; Ephesians 5:30); branches of the Vine-- John 15:5] _shall I then take away the members of Christ, and make them members of a harlot? God forbid_. [Literally, let it never be; a phrase often used by Paul when... [ Continue Reading ]
Or know ye not that he that is joined to a harlot is one body? [as if in Satanic marriage] _for, The twain, saith he_ [Genesis 2:24; Matthew 19:5; Ephesians 5:31], _shall become one flesh_.... [ Continue Reading ]
But he that is joined unto the Lord is one spirit. [Having closest spiritual union with Christ-- Galatians 2:20; Galatians 3:27; Colossians 3:17]... [ Continue Reading ]
Flee fornication. [As Joseph did-- Genesis 39:12] _Every sin that a man doeth is without the body; but he that committeth fornication sinneth against his own body_. [Paul notes the mutual adaptation or correlation between the belly and food, but asserts that this correlation is transient, and will b... [ Continue Reading ]
Or know ye not that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit which is in you, which ye have from God? [as the whole church is a temple (1 Corinthians 3:16; Romans 14:8), so also the body of each individual Christian is likewise a temple]_ and ye are not your own_;... [ Continue Reading ]
for ye were bought with a price [sold to sin (1 Kings 21:20; Romans 7:14), we have been redeemed by the blood of Christ-- Acts 20:28; Romans 6:16-22; Hebrews 9:12; 1 Peter 1:18-19; Revelation 5:9]: _glorify God therefore in your body_. [Since our bodies belong to God, they should be used to glorify... [ Continue Reading ]