Reference: CORINTHIANS
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EPISTLE 1. This was written by Paul at Ephesus, about A.D. 57, upon the receipt of intelligence respecting the Corinthian church, conveyed by members of the family of Chole, 1Co 1:11, and by a letter from the church requesting advice, 1Co 7:1, probably brought by Stephanus, etc., 1Co 16:17. Certain factions had arisen in the church, using his name and those of Peter, Apollos, and of Christ himself, in bitter partisan contentions. In the first part of this letter he endeavors to restore harmony among them, by reuniting them to the great and sole Head of the church. He then takes occasion to put them on their guard against teachers of false philosophy, and resting their faith on the wisdom of men instead the simple but mighty word of God. He proceeds, in 1Co 5, to reprove them for certain gross immoralities tolerated among them, such as they had formerly practiced like all around them, but which he charges them to banish form the church of Christ. He replies to their queries respecting celibacy and marriage, and the eating of food offered to idols; and meets several errors and sins prevalent in the church by timely instructions as to disputes among brethren, decorum in public assemblies, the Lord's supper, the resurrection of believers, true charity, and the right use of spiritual gifts, in which the Corinthian Christians excelled, but not without a mixture of ostentation and disorder. He directs them as to the best method of Christian beneficence, and closes with friendly greetings.
EPISTLE 2. This was occasioned by intelligence received through Titus, at Philippi. Paul learned of the favor reception of his former letter, and the good effect produced, and yet that a party remained opposed to him-accusing him of fickleness in not fulfilling his promise to visit them; blaming his severity towards the incestuous person; and charging him with an arrogance and assumption unsuited to his true authority and his personal appearance. In the course of his reply he answers all these objections; he enlarges upon the excellence of the new covenant, and the duties and rewards of its ministers, and on the duty of the Corinthian Christians as to charitable collections. He then vindicates his own course, his dignity and authority as an apostle, against those who assailed him. His last words invite them to penitence, peace, and brotherly love. This epistle seems to have been written soon after the first.
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For I have been informed about you, my brothers, by Chloe's people, that there are wranglings among you.
Now I take up the matters about which you wrote me. It may be good thing for a man to remain unmarried;
And I am glad that Stephanas, Fortunatus, and Achaicus have come to see me, because they have supplied what you lacked.
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CORINTHIANS, Epistles to. St. Paul left Corinth A.D. 53 or 54, and went to Jerusalem. From Ephesus he wrote his First Epistle to the Corinthians, in the beginning of A.D. 56. In this epistle he reproves some who disturbed the peace of the church, complains of some disorders in their assemblies, of law suits among them, and of a Christian who had committed incest with his mother-in-law, the wife of his father, and had not been separated from the church. This letter produced in the Corinthians great grief, vigilance against the vices reproved, and a very beneficial dread of God's anger. They repaired the scandal, and expressed abundant zeal against the crime committed, 2Co 7:9-11.
To form an idea of the condition of the Corinthian church, we must examine the epistles of the Apostle. The different factions into which they were divided, exalted above all others the chiefs, ???? ???? ???? ?????????? [the very chiefest Apostles,] 2Co 11:5; 12:11, whose notions they adopted, and whose doctrines they professed to follow, and attempted to depreciate those of the opposite party. While, then, some called themselves disciples of Paul, Cephas, or Apollos, others assumed the splendid appellation of Christ's party. Probably they affected to be the followers of James, the brother of our Lord, and thought thus to enter into a nearer discipleship with Jesus than the other parties. The controversy, as we shall see from the whole, related to the obligation of Judaism. The advocates of it had appealed, even in Galatia, to Cephas and James, for the sake of opposing to Paul, who had banished Jewish ceremonies from Christianity, authorities which were not less admitted than his own. The question itself divided all these various parties into two principal factions: the partisans of Cephas and James were for the law; the friends of Paul adopted his opinion, as well as Apollos, who, with his adherents, was always in heart in favour of Paul, and never wished to take a part in a separation from him, 1Co 16:12. The leaders of the party against Paul, these ?????????????, [false apostles,] as Paul calls them, and ?????????????????? ??? ?????????? ???????, [transformers of themselves into the apostles of Christ,] who declared themselves the promulgators and defenders of the doctrines of Cephas, and James, were, as may be easily conceived, converted Jews, 2Co 11:22, who had come from different places,
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For Christ did not send me to baptize, but to preach the good news -- but not by means of wisdom and rhetoric, so that the cross of Christ may not be emptied of its power.
Now we have not received the spirit that belongs to the world but the Spirit that comes from God, that we may get an insight into the blessings God has graciously given us.
When one of you has a grievance against his neighbor, does he dare to go to law before a heathen court, instead of laying the case before God's people?
Now I take up the matters about which you wrote me. It may be good thing for a man to remain unmarried; but because of so much sexual immorality every man should have a wife of his own, and every woman a husband of her own. read more. The husband must always give his wife what is due her, and the wife too must do so for her husband.
The husband must always give his wife what is due her, and the wife too must do so for her husband. The wife does not have the right to do as she pleases with her own body; the husband has his right to it. In the same way the husband does not have the right to do as he pleases with his own body; the wife has her right to it.
The wife does not have the right to do as she pleases with her own body; the husband has his right to it. In the same way the husband does not have the right to do as he pleases with his own body; the wife has her right to it. You husbands and wives must stop refusing each other what is due, unless you agree to do so just for awhile, so as to have plenty of time for prayer, and then to be together again, so as to keep Satan from tempting you because of your lack of self-control.
You husbands and wives must stop refusing each other what is due, unless you agree to do so just for awhile, so as to have plenty of time for prayer, and then to be together again, so as to keep Satan from tempting you because of your lack of self-control. But I say this by way of concession, not by way of command. read more. However, I should like for everyone to be just as I am myself, yet each of us has his own special gift from God, one for one way, another for another.
However, I should like for everyone to be just as I am myself, yet each of us has his own special gift from God, one for one way, another for another. To unmarried people and to widows I would say this: It would be a fine thing for them to remain single, as I am.
To unmarried people and to widows I would say this: It would be a fine thing for them to remain single, as I am. But if they do not practice self-control, let them marry. For it is better to marry than to be burning in the fire of passion. read more. To the people already married I give this instruction -- no, not I but the Lord -- that a wife is not to leave her husband. But if she does leave him, she must remain single, or better, be reconciled to her husband. I instruct the husband too not to divorce his wife. To the rest of the people I myself would say -- though the Lord Himself has said nothing about it -- if a Christian has a wife that is not a believer and she consents to live with him, he must not divorce her; and a woman who has a husband that is not a believer, but he consents to live with her, must not divorce her husband. For the unbelieving husband is consecrated by union with his wife and the unbelieving wife by union with her Christian husband, for otherwise your children would be unblessed, but in this way they are consecrated. But if the unbelieving consort actually leaves, let the separation stand. In such cases the Christian husband or wife is not morally bound; God has called us to live in peace. For how do you know, wife, whether you will save your husband? Or, how do you know, husband, whether you will save your wife? Only, everybody must continue to live in the station which the Lord assigned to him, in that in which God called him. These are my orders in all the churches. Has a man been called after he was circumcised? He must not try to change it. Has a man been called without being circumcised? He must not be circumcised.
Has a man been called after he was circumcised? He must not try to change it. Has a man been called without being circumcised? He must not be circumcised. Being circumcised or not being circumcised has no value, but keeping God's commands is important. read more. Everybody must remain in the station in which he was called. Were you called while a slave? Stop letting that annoy you. Yet, if you can win your freedom, take advantage of such an opportunity. For the slave who has been called to union with the Lord is the Lord's freedman; in the same way the freeman who has been called is a slave of Christ. You have been bought and actually paid for; stop becoming slaves to men. Brothers, each one must continue close to God in the very station in which he was called. About unmarried women I have no command from the Lord, but I will give you my opinion as of one who is trustworthy, since I have had mercy shown me by the Lord.
Now about the foods that have been sacrificed to idols: We know that every one of us has some knowledge of the matter. Knowledge puffs up, but love builds up.
For if somebody sees you, who have an intelligent view of this matter, partaking of a meal in an idol's temple, will he not be emboldened, with his overscrupulous conscience, to eat the food which has been sacrificed to an idol?
I mean that what the heathen sacrifice they sacrifice to demons, not to God, and I do not want you to be in fellowship with demons. You cannot drink the cup of the Lord and the cup of demons. You cannot eat at the table of the Lord and at the table of demons.
As a rule eat anything that is sold in the meat market without raising any question about it for conscience' sake,
But if someone says to you, "This meat has been offered as a heathen sacrifice," make it your rule not to eat it, for the sake of the man who warned you and for conscience' sake;
and any woman who prays or prophesies bareheaded dishonors her head, for it is one and the same thing with having her head shaved. For if a woman will not wear a veil, let her have her hair cut off too. Now if it is a dishonor for a woman to have her hair cut off, or her head shaved, let her wear a veil.
This is why woman ought to wear upon her head a symbol of man's authority, especially out of respect to the angels.
But as I am giving you these instructions I cannot approve of your meetings, because they do not turn out for the better but for the worse.
Women must keep quiet in the churches, for no permission is given them to speak. On the contrary, they must take a subordinate place, just as the law says.
and that He was seen by Cephas, and then by the Twelve.
Then He was seen by James, then by all the apostles, and finally
But someone will ask, "How can the dead rise? With what kind of body do they come back?"
As for our brother Apollos, I have earnestly urged him to go to see you, but he is not at all inclined to come just now; yet he is coming when he has a good opportunity.
I am glad of it now, not because you had such sorrow, but because your sorrow led you to repentance, for you took your sorrow in accordance with the will of God, so that you should not suffer any loss at all from me. For the sorrow that comes in accordance with the will of God results in repentance that leads to salvation and leaves no regrets, but the sorrow the world produces results in death. read more. For see what this very sorrow, suffered in accordance with the will of God, has done for you! How earnest it has made you, how concerned to clear yourselves, how indignant, how alarmed, how much it made you long to see me, how loyal to me, how determined to punish the offender! At every point you have cleared yourselves in the matter.
For if anybody comes along and preaches another Jesus than the one I preached, or you receive another spirit different from the one you did receive or a glad message different from the one you did accept, you listen to it all right! For I consider myself not a single bit inferior to those surpassingly superior apostles of yours!
Are they Hebrews? So am I. Are they Israelites? So am I. Are they descendants of Abraham? So am I.
I have made a fool of myself, but you have forced me to do it, for I am the man who ought to have been constantly approved by you. For I am not a single bit inferior to your surpassingly superior apostles, though really I am "nobody."