_HE DECLARETH THAT HIS PREACHING, THOUGH IT BRING NOT EXCELLENCY OF SPEECH, OR OF HUMAN WISDOM; YET CONSISTETH IN THE POWER OF GOD; AND SO FAR EXCELLETH THE WISDOM OF THIS WORLD, AND HUMAN SENSE, AS THAT THE NATURAL MAN CANNOT UNDERSTAND IT._ _Anno Domini 57._ BECAUSE the learned Greeks had object... [ Continue Reading ]
AND I, BRETHREN, &C.— As a further argument to keep them from glorying in their leaders, St. Paul tells the Corinthians, that, as the preachers of the Gospel, of God's choosing, were mean and illiterate men, so the Gospel was not to be propagated, nor men to be established in the faith, by human lea... [ Continue Reading ]
FOR I DETERMINED NOT TO KNOW ANY THING, &C.— The word rendered _to know,_ is used according to the Hebrew idiom, _to cause to know,_ or _to teach._ St. Paul, who was himself a learned man, especially in the Jewish knowledge, having told them in the foregoing chapter, that neither the Jewish learning... [ Continue Reading ]
I WAS WITH YOU IN WEAKNESS— St. Paul, by thus setting forth his own modest and humble behaviour among them, reflects on the contrary carriage of their false Apostle; which he describes at length, 2 Corinthians 11:20. See also Acts 18:6; Acts 18:9.... [ Continue Reading ]
BUT IN DEMONSTRATION OF THE SPIRIT, AND OF POWER— There were two sorts of arguments wherewith the Apostle confirmed the Gospel; the one was, the revelations made concerning our Saviour by types and figures, and prophesies of him under the law; the other, the miracles and miraculous gifts accompanyin... [ Continue Reading ]
THAT YOUR FAITH SHOULD NOT STAND, &C.— Their faith being built wholly on divine revelation and miracles, whereby all human abilitieswere shut out, there could be no reason for any of them to boast themselves of their teachers, or value themselves upon their being followers of this or that preacher;... [ Continue Reading ]
HOWBEIT, WE SPEAK WISDOM, &C.— The next argument the Apostle uses, to shew them that they had no reason to glory in their teachers, is, that the knowledge of the Gospel, was not attainable by our natural parts, however they were improved byart and philosophy, but was wholly owing to revelation, 1 Co... [ Continue Reading ]
WE SPEAK THE WISDOM OF GOD— The wisdom of God is used here for the doctrine of the Gospel, coming immediately from God by the revelation of his Spirit; and in this chapter it is set in opposition to all knowledge, discoveries, and improvements whatsoever, attainable by human industry, parts, and stu... [ Continue Reading ]
THEY WOULD NOT HAVE CRUCIFIED— The force of the original is, _They would not by any means._ Compare Luke 23:34. St. Paul, in the close of the foregoing verse, opposes the true glory of a Christian, to the glorying which was among the Corinthians in the eloquence, learning, or any other quality of th... [ Continue Reading ]
KNOWETH NO MAN— _Knoweth no one._ These words must signify the perfect acquaintance with all the divine schemes and purposes which the Holy Spirit had, and which the Apostle's argument directly proves that no creature can have: so that in this passage we have a strong proof of the divinity of the Sp... [ Continue Reading ]
NOW WE HAVE RECEIVED— _We,_ the true Apostles, or rather _I;_ for though he speaks in the plural number to avoid ostentation, as they might interpret it, yet he is here justifying himself, and shewing the Corinthians, that none of them had reason to forsake and slight him, in order to follow and cry... [ Continue Reading ]
COMPARING SPIRITUAL THINGS, &C.— _Explaining,_ &c. Wall, Elsner. "Comparing one part of revelation with another." It is plain, says Mr. Locke, that the _spiritual things_ which he here speaks of, are uncharitable counsels of God, revealed by his Holy Spirit in the sacred Scriptures. This expression... [ Continue Reading ]
BUT THE NATURAL MAN, &C.— The natural man and the spiritual man are opposed by St. Paul in these verses; the one signifying a man who has no higher principles to build on, than those of natural reason; the other, a man who founds his faith and religion on divine revelation, and, experiences the powe... [ Continue Reading ]
THAT HE MAY INSTRUCT HIM.— _"Him,_ refers here to _spiritual man_ in the former verse, says Mr. Locke; for St. Paul is shewing, not that a _natural man,_ and a mere philosopher, cannot instruct Christ;—this nobody, pretending to be a Christian, could imagine;—but that a man, by his bare natural part... [ Continue Reading ]