CALLED _to be_ AN APOSTLE, apparently when first called to discipleship (comp. Acts 26:16-18 with 1 Corinthians 9:1; 1 Corinthians 15:18), though it was not till events put it beyond all doubt that his apostolic calling was publicly recognised. Some prefer to translate ‘a called apostle;' but in the... [ Continue Reading ]
_Title._ The most ancient Manuscripts of the New Testament place the Pauline Epistles by themselves, under the general title of ‘Epistles of Paul,' [ΕΠΙΣΤΟΛΑΙ ΠΑΥΛΟΥ], each Epistle being headed simply by the name of the party addressed. Thus: ‘To the Corinthians First; To the Corinthians Second'[ΠΡΟ... [ Continue Reading ]
1 Corinthians 1:2. SANCTIFIED IN CHRIST JESUS; through living union with the Fountain of Holiness in His Person. CALLED TO BE SAINTS; not in the mere external sense of Matthew 20:16, but (_as the word is always used in the Pauline Epistles)_ in that inward, efficacious, saving sense which invariab... [ Continue Reading ]
1 Corinthians 1:3. GRACE ONTO YOU AND PEACE. What in the Old Testament is called ‘mercy,' is in the New Testament expressed by the richer and more comprehensive term ‘grace,' that Divine affection whence flows all salvation to Adam's fallen family (Ephesians 2:10). The first result of this, when it... [ Continue Reading ]
1 Corinthians 1:4. I THANK MY GOD ALWAYS...FOR THE GRACE... GIVEN YOU IN JESUS CHRIST (cf. 1 Corinthians 1:2, “Sanctified in Christ Jesus”). But lest it should seem strange that a Church so rich in ‘grace' should be so severely blamed as in the sequel of this Epistle, the apostle is careful to speci... [ Continue Reading ]
1 Corinthians 1:5. THAT IN EVERYTHING YE ARE ENRICHED... IN ALL UTTERANCE _(Gr._ ‘word'), or aptitude to give utterance to divine truth. AND ALL KNOWLEDGE, or apprehension of the truth (see 2 Corinthians 8:7; 2 Corinthians 11:6).... [ Continue Reading ]
1 Corinthians 1:6. EVEN AS THE TESTIMONY OF CHRIST WAS CONFIRMED IN YOU, by its marvellous transformation of one of the un likeliest communities (2 Corinthians 3:1-3).... [ Continue Reading ]
1 Corinthians 1:7. SO THAT YE COME BEHIND IN NO GIFT; WAITING FOR THE REVELATION OF OUR LORD JESUS CHRIST. The _faith_ of His first coming, to put away sin by the sacrifice of Himself, and the _hope_ of His second appearing without sin unto salvation to them that look for Him these were the two win... [ Continue Reading ]
1 Corinthians 1:8. WHO SHALL ALSO CONFIRM YOU UNTO THE END... UNREPROVEABLE IN THE DAY OF OUR LORD JESUS CHRIST, the decisive day of His second coming (Romans 2:16; 2 Corinthians 5:10).... [ Continue Reading ]
1 Corinthians 1:9. GOD IS FAITHFUL, to do this (Rom 8:30; 1 Thessalonians 5:23-24; Philippians 1:6). BY WHOM YE WERE CALLED INTO THE FELLOWSHIP OF HIS SON JESUS CHRIST. Not into fellowship _with_ Him, but into the _participation of_ Him, in all His fulness (see Gr. of Romans 15:6; 2 Corinthians 9:... [ Continue Reading ]
_The evil done by undue exaltation of preachers_ 10-17. 1 Corinthians 1:10. I BESEECH YOU... BY THE NAME OF OUR LORD JESUS CHRIST a touching appeal at the outset' to that Name which is above every name, not to let any other name eclipse it, by making it a rallying point around which to gather. TH... [ Continue Reading ]
SUMMARY. ‘I beseech you, study unity. Instead of this, I hear ye are ranging yourselves into schools and parties, each contending for its favourite preacher as if your salvation hung upon him. Thus is the glory of Christ obscured the attention which ought to be directed to Him being drawn away to th... [ Continue Reading ]
_The injury done to the Cross by human wisdom,_ 17-31. 1 Corinthians 1:17. NOT IN WISDOM OF WORDS, LEST THE CROSS OF CHRIST SHOULD BE MADE VOID. Thus easily, in the middle of a verse, does the apostle here slide into the great theme of this and the three following Chapter s, namely, the place which... [ Continue Reading ]
1 Corinthians 1:18. FOR THE WORD OF THE CROSS IS TO THEM THAT ARE PERISHING that are pursuing a course ‘whose end is destruction' FOOLISHNESS. For if to bid them change their whole course of life would startle them, to expect them to do it by believing in one who died a malefactor's death would seem... [ Continue Reading ]
1 Corinthians 1:19. For it is written (Isaiah 29:14, nearly as in LXX.), I will destroy the wisdom of the wise, and the prudence of the prudent will I reject. The ‘wise' are those who pride themselves on their insight, their capacity to search into principles, their speculative attainments; the _‘_... [ Continue Reading ]
1 Corinthians 1:20. WHERE IS THE WISE? in general; but particularly, WHERE IS THE SCRIBE? to whom the _Jew_ looks up for wisdom; WHERE IS THE DISPUTER OF THIS WORLD? to whom the _Greek_ defers. HATH NOT GOD MADE FOOLISH THE WISDOM OF THE WORLD? [1] [1] The scholar will observe that two Greek words... [ Continue Reading ]
1 Corinthians 1:21. FOR SEEING THAT IN THE WISDOM OF GOD THE WORLD BY WISDOM KNEW NOT GOD. Full time and swing He gave it, to try what it could do for humanity, before disclosing His own sovereign remedy; and it was only when it failed to find any clear light, and get any solid footing on the most e... [ Continue Reading ]
1 Corinthians 1:22. SINCE THE JEWS ASK FOR SIGNS AND THE GREEKS SEEK AFTER WISDOM. [2] The Jews, when our Lord was on earth, clamoured for ‘signs' supernatural attestation of His claims; but the more they got of them, the less they were satisfied; contrariwise, the Greeks looked with philosophic ind... [ Continue Reading ]
1 Corinthians 1:23. BUT WE PREACH CHRIST CRUCIFIED, UNTO THE JEWS A STUMBLING-BLOCK, AND UNTO THE GENTILES FOOLISHNESS. 1 Corinthians 1:24. BUT UNTO THEM WHICH ARE (internally and efficaciously) CALLED, BOTH JEWS AND GREEKS, CHRIST THE POWER OF GOD, AND THE WISDOM OF GOD a power by Jews never dream... [ Continue Reading ]
1 Corinthians 1:25. BECAUSE THE FOOLISHNESS OF GOD (in the doctrine of the Cross) IS WISER THAN (the wisdom of) MEN; AND THE WEAKNESS OF GOD (in the Gospel) IS STRONGER THAN (the strength of) MEN. It is the ram's-horn which throws down the walls of Jericho, the jawbone of an ass which slays its thou... [ Continue Reading ]
1 Corinthians 1:26. FOR BEHOLD YOUR CALLING, BRETHREN, [1] HOW THAT NOT MANY WISE MEN AFTER THE FLESH, NOT MANY MIGHTY, NOT MANY NOBLE, ARE CALLED. [1] This _imperative_ rendering is preferable to the _indicative_ of our Authorised Version: ‘Ye see.' It is the peculiar usage of the New Testament, a... [ Continue Reading ]
1 Corinthians 1:27. BUT GOD CHOSE THE FOOLISH THINGS OF THE WORLD THAT HE MIGHT put TO SHAME THEM THAT ARE WISE. There is here a significant transition from the _neuter_ of the one class to the _masculine_ of the other, to express a passage from the contemptible to the esteemed. AND GOD CHOSE THE WE... [ Continue Reading ]
1 Corinthians 1:28. AND THE BASE THINGS OF THE WORLD, AND THE THINGS THAT ARE DESPISED, DID GOD CHOOSE, YES, AND THE THINGS THAT ARE NOT, OR AS WE MIGHT SAY, ‘THE NOTHINGS,' TO BRING TO NOUGHT THE THINGS THAT ARE. Five times in succession is the neuter gender purposely used here the foolish things,... [ Continue Reading ]
1 Corinthians 1:29. THAT NO FLESH SHOULD GLORY BEFORE GOD. This has been all along the design of God in the erection and growth of His kingdom of grace (Jeremiah 9:23; Romans 3:27; Ephesians 2:8-9); and in the first conquests of the Gospel He kept this end specially in view. No doubt, when once gain... [ Continue Reading ]
1 Corinthians 1:30. BUT OF HIM ARE YE IN CHRIST JESUS, WHO WAS MADE UNTO US WISDOM FROM GOD, [1] BOTH RIGHTEOUSNESS, AND SANCTIFICATION, AND REDEMPTION. [1] This is beyond doubt the correct order of the original words, and it is only when they are read in this order that the true sense comes clearl... [ Continue Reading ]
1 Corinthians 1:31. THAT ACCORDING AS IT IS WRITTEN (Jeremiah 9:23, abridged), HE THAT GLORIETH, LET HIM GLORY IN THE LORD. Well may we ask with the apostle elsewhere, Where is boasting, then? It is excluded. By what law on what principle? Why, on every principle, and at every avenue, by this method... [ Continue Reading ]