_IN WHAT ACCOUNT MINISTERS OUGHT TO BE HAD. WE HAVE NOTHING WHICH WE HAVE NOT RECEIVED. THE APOSTLES ARE SPECTACLES TO THE WORLD, ANGELS, AND MEN; THE FILTH AND OFF-SCOURING OF THE WORLD; YET ARE THEY OUR FATHERS IN CHRIST, WHOM WE OUGHT TO FOLLOW._ _Anno Domini 57._ LEST, from what was said in th... [ Continue Reading ]
LET A MAN SO ACCOUNT OF US, &C.— The Apostle intimates, that he was so far from arrogating the title assumed by the founders of the different sects of philosophy, and fromwishing to have scholars denominated from him, that he would have no man think higher of him than that he was _a servant of Chris... [ Continue Reading ]
I JUDGE NOT MINE OWN SELF— That is, "not so as if my case were to be finally determined by my own apprehensions concerning it.... [ Continue Reading ]
FOR I KNOW NOTHING BY MYSELF— _"For,_ though I bless God that _I am not conscious to myself_ of any designed neglect of my office, or unfaithfulness in my trust, _yet am I not hereby justified."_ This seems a gentle, but a very affecting insinuation, that his opponents, confident as they might seem... [ Continue Reading ]
WILL BRING TO LIGHT, &C.— This is a lively and just insinuation, that under specious forms his enemies concealed very dark designs, which would not bear the discoveries of that awful day. The next passage also suggests a very solid argument against magnifying one minister above another; namely, that... [ Continue Reading ]
I HAVE IN A FIGURE TRANSFERRED, &C.— Mr. Locke and some others [see on ch. 1 Corinthians 3:4.] have hence inferred, that not Paul and Apollos, but some other persons were set up among the Corinthians for heads of parties, for whose names the Apostle substituted his own, and that of his most intimate... [ Continue Reading ]
NOW—YE HAVE REIGNED, &C.— This is a proverbial expression, used to signifythe most splendid and affluent circumstances; and some think, that when the Apostle adds _I would to God ye did reign,_ he means, "I wish you had the authority of princes, that you might shelter and accommodate us, amidst all... [ Continue Reading ]
THAT GOD HATH SET FORTH US THE APOSTLES LAST, &C.— The Apostle seems here to refer to the Roman custom of bringing forth on the theatre, in the latter part of the day, either to fight with each other, or with wild beasts, those persons who were appointed unto certain death, and who had not that chan... [ Continue Reading ]
WE ARE WEAK— "In an infirm and suffering state." See 2 Corinthians 12:10. Surely we cannot imagine any more glorious triumph of the truth, than what was gained in these circumstances; when St. Paul, with an impediment in his _speech,_ and a _person_ rather contemptible than graceful, appeared in a m... [ Continue Reading ]
AS THE FILTH OF THE WORLD— The word περικαθαρματα, rendered _filth,_ has a force and meaning, which no one word in our language can express. It was applied to those poor wretches, who were offered up as expiatory sacrifices, in times of any plague or public calamity, to the infernal deities. They we... [ Continue Reading ]
I WRITE NOT THESE THINGS TO SHAME YOU— See 2 Corinthians 11:20. St. Paul here (from 1 Corinthians 4:8.), by giving an account of his own conduct, gently rebukes them for following men of a different character, and exhorts them to be followers of himself.... [ Continue Reading ]
BE YE FOLLOWERS OF ME.— This he presses again, ch. 1 Corinthians 11:1 and it is not likely that he would have proposed himself over and again to them to be followed by them, had the question and contest among them been only whose _name_ they should have borne, his,or their new teacher's. His proposi... [ Continue Reading ]
FOR THIS CAUSE HAVE I SENT—TIMOTHEUS— This he does to shew that what he taught and pressed them to, was not in a pique against his opposer; but to convince them that all he did at Corinthwas the very same, and no other than what he did every where, as a faithful steward and minister of the Gospel. S... [ Continue Reading ]
SHALL I COME UNTO YOU WITH A ROD?— "Using my apostolic power for your chastisement?"ThattheApostleshadoftenamiraculouspower of inflicting death and other temporal judgments, in case of aggravated offence, appears from other passages of Scripture, and is more than once referred to in these Epistles t... [ Continue Reading ]