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The Corinthians are reproved

CHAP. VI.

for their litigious disposition.

CHAPTER VI.

The Corinthians are reproved for their litigious disposition; brother going to law with brother, and that before the heathen, 1-6. They should suffer wrong rather than do any, 7, 8. No unrighteous person can enter into the glory of God, 9, 10. Some of the Corinthians had been grievous sinners, but God had saved them, 11. Many things may be lawful which are not at all times expedient, 12. Meats are for the belly, and the belly for meats; but the body is not for uncleanness, 13. Christ's resurrection a pledge of ours, 14. The bodies of Christians are members of Christ, and must not be defiled, 15—17. He that commits fornication sins against his own body, 18. Strong dissuasives from it, 19, 20.

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DARE any of you, having judge the world? and if the A. M. 4060.
a matter against another, world shall be judged by you,
are ye unworthy to judge the

go to law before the unjust,
and not before the saints?

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smallest matters ?

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3 Know ye not that we shall bjudge angels?

Ps. xlix. 14. Dan. vii. 22. Matt. xix. 28. Luke xxii. 30. Rev. ii. 26. iii. 21. xx. 4.- -b2 Pet. ii. 4. Jude 6.

NOTES ON CHAP. VI.

Verse 1. Dare any of you, &c.] From the many things that are here reprehended by the apostle, we learn that the Christian church at Corinth was in a state of great imperfection, notwithstanding there were very many eminent characters among them. Divided as they were among themselves, there was no one person who possessed any public authority to settle differences between man and man; therefore, as one party would not submit to the decisions of another, they were obliged to carry their contentions before heathen magistrates; and probably these very subjects of litigations arose out of their ecclesiastical divisions. The thing, and this issue of it, the apostle strongly reprehends.

his words in view in what he says here to the Corinthians. By judging the twelve tribes of Israel, some have imagined that having authority in the church is merely intended; but Dr. Lightfoot contends that the words referred to the coming of our Lord to execute judgment on the Jews, and to destroy their state; and that the doctrine of the apostles, not themselves, was to judge and condemn that most disobedient people. The place before us is generally understood to imply, that the redeemed of the Lord shall be, on the great day, assessors with him in judgment; and shall give their award in the determinations of his justice. On reviewing this subject, I am fully of opinion that this cannot be the meaning of the words, and that no such assessorship as is conBefore the unjust, and not before the saints?] The tended for ever will take place; and that the interheathen judges were termed ducaoral from their pre-pretation is clogged with a multitude of absurdities. sumed righteousness in the administration of justice; here the apostle, by a paronomasia, calls them adukot, unrighteous persons; and it is very likely that at Corinth, where such corruption of manners reigned, there was a great perversion of public justice; and it is not to be supposed that matters relative to the Christians were fairly decided. The Christians the apostle terms ȧytoi, saints, which they were all by profession; and doubtless many were so in spirit and

in truth.

Verse 2. The saints shall judge the world?] Nothing can be more evident than that the writers of the New Testament often use ỏ kooμos, the world, to signify the Jewish people; and sometimes the Roman pire, and the Jewish state; and in the former sense it is often used by our Lord. When, says he, the Son of man shall sit on the throne of his glory, then shall ye sit on twelve throncs, judging the twelve tribes of Israel, Matt. xix. 28. It is supposed that he refers to the same subject as that mentioned herethe saints judging the world; and that St. Paul has

1. The saints themselves are to appear before the judgment-seat of Christ, and shall be judged by him, after which they shall reign with him; but it is never said in scripture that they shall judge with him.

2. It would be absurd to suppose that thrones should be erected for the purpose of saints sitting on them to give their approbation in the condemnation of the wicked; of what use can such an approbation be? is it necessary to the validity of Christ's decision? and will not even the damned themselves, without this, acknowledge the justice of their doom? I therefore think, with Dr. Lightfoot, that these words of the apostle refer to the prediction of Daniel, chap. vii. 18, 27, and such like prophecies, where the kingdoms of the earth are promised to the saints of the Most High; that is, that a time shall come when Christianity shall so far prevail that the civil government of the world shall be administered by Christians, which, at that time, was administered by heathens. And this is even now true of all those parts of the earth which may be considered of the greatest

No worker of iniquity shall

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how much more things that | another. b Why do ye not
pertain to this life?
rather take wrong? why do ye

4 If then ye have judgments of things pertaining to'this life, set them to judge who are least esteemed in the church.

5 I speak to your shame. Is it so, that there is not a wise man among you? no, not one that shall be able to judge between his brethren?

not rather suffer yourselves to be defrauded?

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8 Nay, ye do wrong, and defraud, and that your brethren.

9 Know ye not that the unrighteous shall not inherit the kingdom of God? Be not deceived; neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor effeminate, nor abusers of

d

6 But brother goeth to law with brother, themselves with mankind, and that before the unbelievers.

7 Now, therefore, there is utterly a fault among you, because ye go to law one with

a Ch. v. 12.- b Prov. xx. 22. Matt. v. 39, 40. Luke vi, 29. Rom. xii. 17, 19. 1 Thess. v. 15.- c 1 Thess. iv. 6.

political consequence. They profess Christianity, and the kings and other governors are Christians in this general sense of the term.

Verse 3. Know ye not that we shall judge angels?] Dr. Lightfoot observes that "the apostle does not say here, as he said before, the saints shall judge the angels, but we shall judge them. By angels all confess that demons are intended; but certainly all saints, according to the latitude with which that word is understood, i. e. all who profess Christianity, shall not judge angels. Nor is this judging of angels to be understood of the last day; but the apostle speaks of the ministers of the gospel, himself and others, who, by the preaching of the gospel, through the power of Christ, should spoil the devils of their oracles and their idols, should deprive them of their worship, should drive them out of their seats, and strip them of their dominion. Thus would God subdue the whole world under the Christian power, so that Christian magistrates should judge men, and Christian ministers judge devils."

Verse 4. Things pertaining to this life] They could examine all civil cases among themselves, which they were permitted to determine without any hinderance from the heathen governments under which they lived.

Who are least esteemed in the church.] Tovç εžovOεvnμevovs, Those who were in the lowest order of judges; for the apostle may refer here to the order in the Jewish benches, as Dr. Lightfoot conjectures, of which there were five, viz:

1. The great Sanhedrin, consisting of seventy-two elders, which presided in Jerusalem.

2. The little Sanhedrin of twenty-five, in large cities, out of Jerusalem.

3. The Bench of Three in every synagogue. 4. The Authorised, or Authentic Bench.

5. The Bench not authorised, εžovlevnμevoc. This latter bench was so called because it received not its authority immediately from the Sanhedrin, but was chosen by the parties between whom the controversy depended. The apostle certainly does not mean

10 Nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners, shall inherit the kingdom of God.

d Ch. xv. 50. Gal. v. 21. Eph. v. 5. 1 Tim. i. 9. Hebr. xii. 14. xiii. 4. Rev. xxii. 15.

persons of no repute, but such as these arbitrators, who were chosen for the purpose of settling private differences, and preventing them from going before the regular magistrates. The following verse makes it pretty evident that the apostle refers to this lower kind of tribunal; and hence he says,

Verse 5. Is it so, that there is not a wise man among you?] Have you none among yourselves that can be arbitrators of the differences which arise, that you go to the heathen tribunals?

Verse 6. Brother goeth to law with brother] One Christian sues another at law! This is almost as great a scandal as can exist in a Christian society. Those in a religious community who will not submit to a proper arbitration, made by persons among themselves, should be expelled from the church of God.

Verse 7. There is utterly a fault among you] There is a most manifest defect among you, 1. Of peaceableness; 2. Of brotherly love; 3. Of mutual confidence; and, 4. Of reverence for God, and concern for the honour of his cause.

Why do ye not rather take wrong?] Better suffer an injury than take a method of redressing yourselves which must injure your own peace, and greatly dishonour the cause of God.

Verse 8. Nay, ye do wrong] Far from suffering, ye are the aggressors; and defraud your pious, longsuffering brethren, who submit to this wrong rather than take those methods of redressing their grievances which the spirit of Christianity forbids. Probably the apostle refers to him who had taken his father's wife.

Verse 9. The unrighteous shall not inherit the kingdom] The unrighteous, adukot, those who act contrary to right, cannot inherit, for the inheritance is by right. He who is not a child of God has no right to the family inheritance, for that inheritance is for the children. If children, then heirs; heirs of God, and joint heirs with Christ, Rom. viii. 17. There are here ten classes of transgressors which the apostle excludes from the kingdom of God; and any man

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who is guilty of any one of the evils mentioned above is thereby excluded from this kingdom, whether it imply the church of Christ here below, or the state of glory hereafter.

Several of the evils here enumerated will not bear to be particularly explained; they are, however, suficiently plain of themselves, and show us what abominations were commonly practised among the Corinthians.

Verse 11. And such were some of you] It was not with the prospect of collecting saints that the apostles weat about preaching the gospel of the kingdom. None but sinners were to be found over the face of the earth; they preached that sinners might be conreted unto God, made saints, and constituted into a earch; and this was the effect as well as the object of their preaching.

But ye are washed] Several suppose that the order E which the operations of the grace of God take place in the soul is here inverted ; but I am of a very different mind. Every thing will appear here in its order, when we understand the terms used by the apostie.

Ye are washed, ameλovoare; ye have been baptized into the Christian faith, and ye have promised in this baptism to put off all filthiness of the flesh and spirit; and the washing of your bodies is emblematical of the purification of your souls.

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Ye are sanctified] 'Hyiaσ0ŋte; from a, privative, the earth; ye are separated from earthly things to be connected with spiritual. Ye are separated from time to be connected with eternity. Ye are separated from idols to be joined to the living God. Separation from common, earthly, or sinful uses, to be wholly employed in the service of the true God, is the ideal meaning of this word, both in the Old and New Testaments. It was in consequence of their being separated from the world that they became a church of God. Ye were formerly workers of iniquity, and associated with workers of iniquity; but new ye are separated from them, and united together to work out your salvation with fear and trembling before God.

Ye are justified] Εδικαιώθητε Ye have been bght into a state of favour with God; your sins aving been blotted out through Christ Jesus, the erit of God witnessing the same to your conscience, a carrying on by his energy the great work of eration in your hearts. The process here is pair and simple:-1. Paul and his brother apostles preached the gospel at Corinth, and besought the people to turn from darkness to light-from idol vanities to the living God, and to believe in the Lord Jesus for the remission of sins. 2. The people who

which are not expedient.

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12 All things are lawful unto me, but all things are not expedient: all things are lawful for me, but I will not be brought under the power of any.

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Ch. i. 30. Hebr. x. 22.- - Ch. x. 23.d Or, profitable.

heard were convinced of the divine truths delivered by the apostle, and flocked to baptism. 3. They were baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus, and thus took upon them the public profession of the gospel. 4. Being now baptized into the Christian faith, they were separated from idols and idolaters, and became incorporated with the church of God. 5. As penitents, they were led to the Lord Jesus for justification, which they received through faith in his blood. 6. Being justified freely-having their sins forgiven through the redemption that is in Jesus, they received the Spirit of God to attest this glorious work of grace to their consciences; and thus became possessed of that principle of righteousness, that true leaven which was to leaven the whole lump, producing that universal holiness without which none can see the Lord.

Verse 12. All things are lawful unto me] It is likely that some of the Corinthians had pleaded that the offence of the man who had his father's wife, as well as the eating the things offered to idols, was not contrary to the law, as it then stood. To this the apostle answers: Though such a thing be lawful, yet the case of fornication, mentioned chap. v. 1, is not expedient, ov ovμpepu-it is not agreeable to propriety, decency, order, and purity. It is contrary to the established usages of the best and most enlightened nations, and should not be tolerated in the church of Christ.

They might also be led to argue in favour of their eating things offered to idols, and attending idol feasts, thus:-that an idol was nothing in the world; and as food was provided by the bounty of God a man might partake of it any where without defiling his conscience, or committing sin against the Creator. This excuse also the apostle refers to: All these things are lawful, taken up merely in the light that none of your laws is against the first; and that, on the ground that an idol is nothing in the world, there can be no reason against the last;

But I will not be brought under the power of any.] Allowing that they are all lawful, or at least that there is no law against them, yet they are not expedient; there is no necessity for them; and some of them are abominable, and forbidden by the law of God and nature, whether forbidden by yours or not; while others, such as eating meats offered to idols, will almost necessarily lead to bad moral consequences: and who, that is a Christian, would obey his appetite so far as to do these things for the sake of gratification? A man is brought under the power of any thing which he cannot give up. He is the slave of that thing, whatsoever it be, which he cannot relinquish ; and then, to him, it is sin.

True Christians are

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13 Meats for the belly, and | saith he, shall be one flesh. the belly for meats; but God 17h But he that is joined unto shall destroy both it and them. the Lord is one spirit.

Now the body is not for fornifor the Lord; and the Lord for

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cation, but
the body.
14 And God hath both raised up the Lord,
and will also raise up us by his own power.
15 Know ye not that your bodies are the
members of Christ? shall I then take the
members of Christ, and make them the mem-
bers of a harlot? God forbid.

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a Matt. xv. 17. Rom. xiv. 17. Col. ii. 22, 23.--b Ver. 15, 19, 20. 1 Thess. iv. 3, 7.- Eph. v. 23.--d Rom. vi. 5, 8. viii. 11. 2 Cor. iv. 14. -e Eph. i. 19, 20.-- Rom. xii. 5. Ch. xii. 27. Eph. iv. 12, 15, 16. v. 30.---8 Gen. ii._24. Matt. xix. 5. Eph. v. 31. John xvii. 21, 22, 23. Eph.

Verse 13. Meats for the belly] I suppose that Koiλia means the animal appetite, or propensity to food, &c., and we may conceive the apostle to reason thus: I acknowledge that God has provided different kinds of aliments for the appetite of man, and among others those which are generally offered to idols; and he has adapted the appetite to these aliments, and the aliments to the appetite: but God shall destroy both it and them; none of these is eternal; all these lower appetites and sensations will be destroyed by death, and have no existence in the resurrection body; and the earth and its productions shall be burnt up.

18 Flee fornication. Every

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sin that a man doeth is without the body; but he that committeth fornication sinneth against his own body.

19 What! 'know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost which is in you, which ye have of God, and ye are not your own?

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20 For "ye are bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body, and in your spirit, which are God's.

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tur Membra Christi, quia mysterium conjunctionis Christi et Ecclesiæ per conjunctionem maris et fæmina indigitatur, Ephes. v. 32. In Vet. Test. idem valebat de membro masculino, quippe quod circumcisione, tanquam signo fœderis, honoratum est. Vide Schoettgen, Hor. Hebr.

Verse 16. He that is joined to a harlot is one body] In Sohar Genes., fol. 19, we have these remarkable words: Whosoever connects himself with another man's wife, does in effect renounce the holy blessed God, and the church of the Israelites.

who can must be far and deeply fallen !

Verse 17. Is one spirit.] He who is united to God, by faith in Christ Jesus, receives his Spirit, and Now the body is not for fornication] Though God becomes a partaker of the divine nature. Who can made an appetite for food, and provided food for that change such a relationship for communion with a appetite, yet he has not made the body for any un-harlot; or for any kind of sensual gratification? He cleanness, nor indulgence in sensuality; but he has made it for Christ; and Christ was provided to be a sacrifice for this body as well as for the soul, by taking our nature upon him; so that now, as human beings, we have an intimate relationship to the Lord; and our bodies are made not only for his service, but to be his temples.

Verse 14. And God hath both raised up the Lord] He has raised up the human nature of Christ from the grave, as a pledge of our resurrection; and will also raise us up by his own power, that we may dwell with him in glory for ever.

Verse 15. Know ye not that your bodies are the members of Christ? Because he has taken your nature upon him, and thus, as believers in him, ye are the members of Christ.

Shall I then take, &c.] Shall we, who profess to be members of his body, of his flesh, and of his bones, connect ourselves with harlots, and thus dishonour and pollute the bodies which are members of Christ? God forbid! These passages admit of a more literal interpretation. This, if given at all, I must give in a strange language.

Verse 18. Flee fornication.] Abominate, detest, and escape from every kind of uncleanness. Some sins, or solicitations to sin, may be reasoned with; in the above cases, if you parley you are undone ; reason not, but FLY!

Sinneth against his own body.] Though sin of every species has a tendency to destroy life, yet none are so mortal as those to which the apostle refers; they strike immediately at the basis of the constitution. By the just judgment of God, all these irregular and sinful connexions are married to death. Neither prostitutes, whoremongers, nor unclean persons of any description, can live out half their days. It would be easy to show, and prove also, how the end of these things, even with respect to the body, is death; but I forbear, and shall finish the subject with the words of the prophet: The shew of their countenance doth witness against them, and they declare their sin as Sodom, they hide it not; woe unto their soul, for they have rewarded evil unto themselves.

Verse 19. Your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost | What an astonishing saying is this! As truly as the Membra humana, ad generationem pertinentia, vocan- living God dwelt in the Mosaic tabernacle, and in the

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temple of Solomon, so truly does the Holy Ghost dwell in the souls of genuine Christians; and as the temple and all its utensils were holy, separated from all common and profane uses, and dedicated alone to the service of God, so the bodies of genuine Christians are boly, and all their members should be employed in the service of God alone.

And ye are not your own?] Ye have no right over yourselves, to dispose either of your body, or any of its members, as you may think proper or lawful; you are bound to God, and to him you are accountable. Verse 20. Ye are bought with a price] As the slave who is purchased by his master for a sum of money is the sole property of that master, so ye, being bought with the price of the blood of Christ, are not your on, you are his property. As the slave is bound to use all his skill and diligence for the emolument of his master, so you should employ body, soul, and spirit in the service of your Lord; promoting, by every means in your power, the honour and glory of

and married persons.

your God, whom you must also consider as your Lord and Master.

There are strange discordances in MSS., Versions, and Fathers, on the conclusion of this verse; and the clause, και εν τῳ πνευματι ὑμων, άτινα εστι του Θεού, and in your spirit, which is God's, is wanting in ABC* D*EFG, some others, Coptic, Ethiopic, Vulgate, and Itala, and in several of the primitive Fathers. Almost every critic of note considers them to be spurious. Whether retained or expunged, the sense is the same. Instead of price simply, the Vulgate and some of the Latin Fathers read, pretio magno, with a great price ; and instead of glorify, simply, they read glorificate et portate, glorify and carry God in your bodies. These readings appear to be glosses, intended to explain the text. Litigious Christians, who will have recourse to law for every little difference, as well as the impure, may read this chapter either to their conviction or confusion.

CHAPTER VII.

God

A solution of several difficult cases concerning marriage and married persons, 1-6. has given every man his proper gift, 7. Directions to the unmarried and widows, 8, 9. Directions to the married, 10, 11. Directions to men married to heathen women, and to women married to heathen men, 12—16. Every man should abide in his vocation, 17—24. Directions concerning virgins, and single persons in general, 25-28. How all should behare themselves in the things of this life, in reference to eternity, 29–31. The trials of the married state, 32-35. Directions concerning the state of virginity or aelibacy, 36-38. How the wife is bound to her husband during his life, and her liberty to marry another after his death, 39, 40.

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NOTES ON CHAP. VII.

Verse 1. The things whereof ye wrote unto me] It is sufficiently evident that the principal part of this epistie was written in answer to some questions which had been sent to the apostle in a letter from the Corinthian church; and the first question seems to be this: “ Is it proper for a man to marry in the present circumstances of the church?"

The question concerning the expediency or inexpedierey of marriage was often agitated among the ancient philosophers; and many, though inclined to decide against it, because of the troubles and cares Enected with it, tolerated it in their opinions; because, though an evil, it was judged to be a necesry evil. The words of Menander are full to this εξεις: Γαμείν, εαν τις την αλήθειαν σκοπη, κακον μεν έστιν, αλλ' αναγκαίον κακον "If a man consider marriage in a proper point of view, it is an evil; but then it is a necessary evil." Metellus Numidicus spoke of

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it nearly in the same way. Si sine uxore possemus, Quirites, esse, omnes ea molestia careremus; sed quoniam ita natura tradidit, ut nec CUM ILLIS satis commode, nec SINE ILLIS ullo modo vivi possit, saluti perpetuæ potius quam brevi voluptati consulendum. "If, O ye Romans, we could live unmarried, we should be saved from a great deal of trouble; but, seeing that nature has so ordered it that we cannot live very comfortably with wives, and without them cannot live at all, marriage should be adopted, not for the sake of the short-lived pleasure, but rather for perpetual safety." But this was not the common opinion; the Jews absolutely required that every man should marry, and reputed those as murderers who did not.—See on ver. 6. By the laws of Lycurgus unmarried persons were prohibited from seeing the public games. By the laws of the Spartans bachelors were punished. And Plato declares all such unworthy of any honour. And to this the Commentator says, Amen.

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