INTRODUCTION TO 1 CORINTHIANS 6 The principal view of this chapter is to dissuade Christians from going to law with one another before Heathens, and also from fornication: the apostle begins with the first of these, and argues against it, from its being a daring, dangerous, and scandalous practice;... [ Continue Reading ]
DARE ANY OF YOU, HAVING A MATTER AGAINST ANOTHER,...., Any thing in difference, an action, cause, or suit. The apostle having dispatched the affair of the incestuous person, and blamed this church for their conduct therein: and having given them instructions what they should do, proceeds to lay befo... [ Continue Reading ]
DO YE NOT KNOW THAT THE SAINTS SHALL JUDGE THE WORLD,.... The apostle appeals to them concerning this matter, as a thing well known unto them, or might easily be known by them; for this was either a traditional notion among the Jews, many of whom were in this church, that good men should judge the w... [ Continue Reading ]
KNOW YE NOT THAT WE SHALL JUDGE ANGELS,.... Meaning not the ministers of the Gospel, and pastors of churches, called "angels", Revelation 1:20 whose doctrines are examined, tried, and judged by the saints, according to the word of God; nor the good angels, who, were it possible that they could, or s... [ Continue Reading ]
IF THEN YE HAVE JUDGMENTS OF THINGS PERTAINING TO THIS LIFE,.... Not judgements relating to life and death, for these were not in the power of a Jewish sanhedrim now, and much less of a Christian community, but were wholly in the power of the Roman magistrates; but judgments relating to the common a... [ Continue Reading ]
I SPEAK TO YOUR SHAME,.... Not that they did set such persons to judge, but that they did not; and instead of so doing went to law with their brethren before the unjust: IS IT SO THAT THERE IS NOT A WISE MAN AMONG YOU? this also the apostle speaks to their shame, who had so much gloried in their wi... [ Continue Reading ]
BUT BROTHER GOETH TO LAW WITH BROTHER,.... The relation meant is spiritual; it was usual for members of churches to be called brethren, they professing to be born again of the same Father, and belonging to the same family under Christ, the son, firstborn, and master of it: and a very wicked and sham... [ Continue Reading ]
NOW THEREFORE THERE IS UTTERLY A FAULT AMONG YOU,.... Or a "defect": a want of brotherly love, or there would be no occasion to go to law at all; a want of wisdom and conduct, or proper persons would be pitched upon, and chosen out from among themselves to be arbitrators and judge between them; and... [ Continue Reading ]
NAY, YOU DO WRONG AND DEFRAUD,.... So far were they from taking and acting up to the advice given, that instead of taking wrong, they did wrong; and instead of suffering themselves to be defrauded, they defrauded others: AND THAT YOUR BRETHREN; that were of the same faith, of the same religion, and... [ Continue Reading ]
KNOW YE NOT THAT THE UNRIGHTEOUS SHALL NOT INHERIT THE KINGDOM OF GOD?.... A way of speaking much like that in the Talmud, הוי יודע שהעולם הבא אינו עשוי אלא לצדיקים "know thou, that the world to come is not made but for the righteous?" h Without a righteousness there will be no entrance into the wor... [ Continue Reading ]
NOR THIEVES,.... Who take away another man's property, secret or openly, by fraud or force. NOR COVETOUS: insatiable, in the lust of uncleanness; or greedy of worldly gain, bent upon increasing their substance at any rate, by circumvention, fraud, and deceit; and do not use the things of this life... [ Continue Reading ]
AND SUCH WERE SOME OF YOU,.... Not all, but some of them; and of these everyone was not guilty of all these crimes; but some had been guilty of one, and others of another; so that they had been all committed by one or another of them. The Corinthians were a people very much given to uncleanness and... [ Continue Reading ]
ALL THINGS ARE LAWFUL UNTO ME,.... That is, which are of an indifferent nature; otherwise everything is not lawful to be done: BUT ALL THINGS ARE NOT EXPEDIENT; when the doing of them destroys the peace, comfort, and edification of others; when it stumbles and grieves weak minds, and causes offence... [ Continue Reading ]
MEATS FOR THE BELLY, AND THE BELLY FOR MEATS,.... All sort of food is appointed and provided to satisfy the appetite and stomach, to fill the belly, and nourish the body; and the belly, and all the parts through which the food passes, are purposely formed by God for the reception and digestion of th... [ Continue Reading ]
AND GOD HATH BOTH RAISED UP THE LORD,.... God the Father has raised up from the dead the Lord Jesus Christ, though not exclusive of the Son, who was equally concerned in the resurrection of himself, whereby he demonstrated himself to be the Son of God, truly and properly God. AND WILL ALSO RAISE UP... [ Continue Reading ]
KNOW YE NOT THAT YOUR BODIES ARE THE MEMBERS, OF CHRIST,.... The whole persons of God's elect were chosen in Christ, and given to him, and made one with him, their bodies as well as their souls; and both are redeemed by him, and, in union with him, are members of his body, of his flesh, and of his b... [ Continue Reading ]
WHAT? KNOW YE NOT THAT HE WHICH IS JOINED TO AN HARLOT,.... Not in marriage, but in carnal copulation, and unclean embraces, is one body with her FOR TWO ("saith he", Adam, or Moses, or God, or the Scripture, or as R. Sol. Jarchi says, the Holy Spirit, Genesis 2:24) SHALL BE ONE FLESH; what is ori... [ Continue Reading ]
HE THAT IS JOINED UNTO THE LORD,.... As every elect person is; his whole person, soul and body, is united to the Lord Jesus Christ, to his whole person, as God-man and Mediator; even as Adam and Eve, whose marriage was a representation of the marriage between Christ and his church, were personally u... [ Continue Reading ]
FLEE FORNICATION,.... As that which is hurtful, scandalous, and unbecoming Christians; avoid it, and all the occasions of it, that may lead unto it, and be incentives of it: EVERY SIN THAT A MAN DOTH IS WITHOUT THE BODY not but that other sins are committed by the body, and by the members of it as... [ Continue Reading ]
WHAT? KNOW YE NOT THAT YOUR BODY IS THE TEMPLE OF THE HOLY GHOST,.... What is said in 1 Corinthians 3:16 of the saints in general, is here said of their bodies in particular. The Holy Spirit, in regeneration and sanctification, when he begins the good work of grace on a man, takes possession of his... [ Continue Reading ]
FOR YE ARE BOUGHT WITH A PRICE,.... Not with gold and silver, but with the precious blood of Christ, as the whole church, and all the elect of God are. This proves them to be the Lord's, not only his redeemed ones, being ransomed by a price from the bondage of the law, sin, Satan, and the world; but... [ Continue Reading ]