_AFTER HIS SALUTATION AND THANKSGIVING, HE EXHORTETH THEM TO UNITY, AND REPROVETH THEIR DISSENSIONS. GOD DESTROYETH THE WISDOM OF THE WISE, BY THE FOOLISHNESS OF PREACHING; AND CALLETH NOT THE WISE, MIGHTY, AND NOBLE, BUT THE FOOLISH, WEAK, AND MEN OF NO ACCOUNT._ _Anno Domini 57._ THE teacher who... [ Continue Reading ]
_1 CORINTHIANS 1:1_. Concerning the city of Corinth, see Acts 18:1.—a city no less famous for its luxury and vice, than for its wisdom and elegance: but notwithstanding the luxuryof the rich, and the profligacy of the poor, notwithstanding the pride of its wise men, and the prejudices of its priests... [ Continue Reading ]
PAUL, CALLED, &C.— _Paul, a called Apostle of Jesus Christ, by the will of God, and Sosthenes the brother,_ 1 Corinthians 1:2. _Unto,_ &c.—_to them that have been sanctified in Christ Jesus, called to be saints, with all that invoke the name of Jesus Christ our Lord, in every place both theirs and o... [ Continue Reading ]
TO THEM THAT ARE SANCTIFIED, &C.— Nothing could better suit the candid and catholic views whichSt. Paul was so much concerned to promote in this Epistle, than the declaration of his good wishes in this verse for every true Christian upon earth, whether Jew or Gentile, learned or unlearned, Greek or... [ Continue Reading ]
THAT IN EVERY THING YE ARE ENRICHED— These respectful congratulations and acknowledgments of the things in which they did really excel, had a most happy tendency to soften their minds, and to dispose them the better to receive the plain reproofs that he was going to give them, and which, in their ci... [ Continue Reading ]
CONFIRMED IN YOU— _Among you._ Doddridge. As they could not but know that they had received these gifts by the hand of St. Paul, this expression suggests a rational and tender argument to reduce them to their former affection to him, as their spiritual father.... [ Continue Reading ]
GOD IS FAITHFUL— That is, "If we continue obedient, God for his part will certainly perform his promise faithfully.... [ Continue Reading ]
_1 CORINTHIANS 1:10_.— There were great disorders in the church of Corinth, caused chiefly by a faction raised there against St. Paul; the partisans of the faction mightily cried up and gloried in their leader, and did all they could to disparage St. Paul, and to lessen him in the esteem of the Cori... [ Continue Reading ]
WHICH ARE OF THE HOUSE OF CHLOE— Grotius supposes _Fortunatus_ and _Achaicus_ mentioned ch. 1 Corinthians 16:17 to have been her sons. We may observe, that St. Paul uses twice, in the compass of this and the preceding verse, the word _brethren,_ as a term of union and friendship, in order to put an... [ Continue Reading ]
NOW THIS I SAY, &C.— _I mean that one or other of you says,_ &c. Chrysostom and Augustin place a full stop at _Cephas._—But the next clause may stand in opposition to all the others. "Some or other of you saith, _I am of Paul, I of Apollos,_ and _I of Cephas:_—but _I am of Christ;_ 1 Corinthians 1:1... [ Continue Reading ]
WAS PAUL CRUCIFIED FOR YOU?— As if he had said, "Are your obligations to me equal or comparable to those which you are under to our common Master? To him who died for us upon the cross?" He mentions himself, as it was least invidious to do so; though the application was equally just as to every othe... [ Continue Reading ]
LEST ANY SHOULD SAY, &C.— If any one should object that others might do it for him, it may be answered that St. Paul's attendants, who seem to have been Timothy and Silas, (Acts 18:5, 2 Corinthians 1:19.) were persons of an established character, so as to be above suspicion; and that the Apostle her... [ Continue Reading ]
BESIDES, I KNOW NOT, &C.— This expression of uncertainty as to such a fact, is by no means inconsistent with that inspiration wherewith the Apostles of our Lord were endued; which certainly was neither continual, nor reached to every accident and circumstance in life. The office of baptism was proba... [ Continue Reading ]
SHOULD BE MADE OF NONE EFFECT— If the doctrine of the crucifixion of the Son of God for the sins of men be indeed true, it is undoubtedly a truth of the highest importance; and it might reasonably be expected that a person who had been instructed in it by such extraordinary methods, should appear to... [ Continue Reading ]
FOR THE PREACHING OF THE CROSS, &C.— "The doctrine of the cross is a doctrine of such a nature as could not recommend itself by human eloquence to the imaginations of vicious and vain disputants, such as were most of the heathen philosophers; _but to those who are saved,_—to serious and well-dispose... [ Continue Reading ]
FOR IT IS WRITTEN, I WILL DESTROY, &C.— See Isaiah 29:11, &c. and Isaiah 33:17. By the words _wise, scribe, disputer,_ the Apostle probably meant persons most eminent for their learning and sagacity, whether among Jews or Gentiles. The _sages_ of the latter, and the _scribes_ of the former, are well... [ Continue Reading ]
FOR AFTER THAT, IN THE WISDOM OF GOD— There is some difficulty in ascertaining the precise meaning of these words. Some understand it to be, "That since the world, _in the wisdom of God,_ that is to say, by contemplating the works of the creation, had not _by wisdom,_ that is, by the exercise of the... [ Continue Reading ]
FOR THE JEWS, &C.— _Whereas the Jews require signs, and the Gentiles seek after wisdom;_ 1 Corinthians 1:23. _We, nevertheless, preach Christ crucified,—and unto the Gentiles foolishness:_ 1 Corinthians 1:24. _But unto them that are called, both Jews and Gentiles,_ &c. When we consider how many mira... [ Continue Reading ]
CHRIST, THE POWER OF GOD, AND THE WISDOM OF GOD— St. Paul in the 21st verse argues thus in general: "Since the world, by their natural parts and improvements, did not attain to a right and saving knowledge of God, God by the preaching of the Gospel, which seems _foolishness to the world,_ was please... [ Continue Reading ]
THE FOOLISHNESS OF GOD IS WISER THAN MEN— As it is absolutely impossible that there should be either _folly_ or _weakness_ in God, so it is certain that the world did not in general believe there was; and consequently these strong phrases must be used in a very peculiar sense, and must mean that sch... [ Continue Reading ]
ARE CALLED— _Call you:_ which words I would supply from the first clause of the verse. Our translators have supplied the words _are called,_ for which there are no correspondent words in the original, and which convey a sentiment neither true nor suitable to the Apostle's design. It is not true: for... [ Continue Reading ]
AND BASE THINGS— _And mean things._ In this and the preceding verse, though the Apostle makes use of the neuter gender, which occasioned our translators to insert the word _things,_ yet it is evident from the context, that he means _persons;_ and if the word _things_ were omitted, the sense would be... [ Continue Reading ]
BUT OF HIM ARE YE IN CHRIST JESUS— _"For,_ on the whole, all that we have that is worth mentioning we receive from Christ; and we receive it from him as the gift of God, since it is _of him;_ and his free mercy and grace, that _ye are_ called to share _in_ the blessings given by _Christ Jesus_ his S... [ Continue Reading ]