Reference: CORINTHIANS
American
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.
See Verses Found in Dictionary
Because it has come to my knowledge, through those of the house of Chloe, that there are divisions among you, my brothers.
Now, as to the things in your letter to me: It is good for a man to have nothing to do with a woman.
And I am glad of the coming of Stephanas and Fortunatus and Achaicus: for they have done what was needed to make your work complete.
Watsons
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,
See Verses Found in Dictionary
For Christ sent me, not to give baptism, but to be a preacher of the good news: not with wise words, for fear that the cross of Christ might be made of no value.
But we have not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit which comes from God, so that we may have knowledge of the things which are freely given to us by God.
How is it, that if any one of you has a cause at law against another, he takes it before a Gentile judge and not before the saints?
Now, as to the things in your letter to me: It is good for a man to have nothing to do with a woman. But because of the desires of the flesh, let every man have his wife, and every woman her husband. read more. Let the husband give to the wife what is right; and let the wife do the same to the husband.
Let the husband give to the wife what is right; and let the wife do the same to the husband. The wife has not power over her body, but the husband; and in the same way the husband has not power over his body, but the wife.
The wife has not power over her body, but the husband; and in the same way the husband has not power over his body, but the wife. Do not keep back from one another what is right, but only for a short time, and by agreement, so that you may give yourselves to prayer, and come together again; so that Satan may not get the better of you through your loss of self-control.
Do not keep back from one another what is right, but only for a short time, and by agreement, so that you may give yourselves to prayer, and come together again; so that Satan may not get the better of you through your loss of self-control. But this I say as my opinion, and not as an order of the Lord. read more. It is my desire that all men might be even as I am. But every man has the power of his special way of life given him by God, one in this way and one in that.
It is my desire that all men might be even as I am. But every man has the power of his special way of life given him by God, one in this way and one in that. But I say to the unmarried and to the widows, It is good for them to be even as I am.
But I say to the unmarried and to the widows, It is good for them to be even as I am. But if they have not self-control let them get married; for married life is better than the burning of desire. read more. But to the married I give orders, though not I but the Lord, that the wife may not go away from her husband (Or if she goes away from him, let her keep unmarried, or be united to her husband again); and that the husband may not go away from his wife. But to the rest I say, and not the Lord; If a brother has a wife who is not a Christian, and it is her desire to go on living with him, let him not go away from her. And if a woman has a husband who is not a Christian, and it is his desire to go on living with her, let her not go away from her husband. For the husband who has not faith is made holy through his Christian wife, and the wife who is not a Christian is made holy through the brother: if not, your children would be unholy, but now are they holy. But if the one who is not a Christian has a desire to go away, let it be so: the brother or the sister in such a position is not forced to do one thing or the other: but it is God's pleasure that we may be at peace with one another. For how may you be certain, O wife, that you will not be the cause of salvation to your husband? or you, O husband, that you may not do the same for your wife? Only, as the Lord has given to a man, and as is the purpose of God for him, so let him go on living. And these are my orders for all the churches. If any man who is a Christian has had circumcision, let him keep so; and if any man who is a Christian has not had circumcision, let him make no change.
If any man who is a Christian has had circumcision, let him keep so; and if any man who is a Christian has not had circumcision, let him make no change. Circumcision is nothing, and its opposite is nothing, but only doing the orders of God is of value. read more. Let every man keep the position in which he has been placed by God. If you were a servant when you became a Christian, let it not be a grief to you; but if you have a chance to become free, make use of it. For he who was a servant when he became a Christian is the Lord's free man; and he who was free when he became a Christian is the Lord's servant. It is the Lord who has made payment for you: be not servants of men. My brothers, let every man keep in that condition which is the purpose of God for him. Now about virgins I have no orders from the Lord: but I give my opinion as one to whom the Lord has given mercy to be true to him.
Now about things offered to images: we all seem to ourselves to have knowledge. Knowledge gives pride, but love gives true strength.
For if a man sees you, who have knowledge, taking food as a guest in the house of an image, will it not give him, if he is feeble, the idea that he may take food offered to images?
What I say is that the things offered by the Gentiles are offered to evil spirits and not to God; and it is not my desire for you to have any part with evil spirits. It is not possible for you, at the same time, to take the cup of the Lord and the cup of evil spirits; you may not take part in the table of the Lord and the table of evil spirits.
Whatever meat may be had at the public market, take as food without question of right or wrong;
But if anyone says to you, This food has been used as an offering, do not take it, on account of him who said it, and on account of his sense of right and wrong:
But every woman who does so with her head unveiled, puts shame on her head: for it is the same as if her hair was cut off. For if a woman is not veiled, let her hair be cut off; but if it is a shame to a woman to have her hair cut off, let her be veiled.
For this reason it is right for the woman to have a sign of authority on her head, because of the angels.
But in giving you this order, there is one thing about which I am not pleased: it is that when you come together it is not for the better but for the worse.
Let women keep quiet in the churches: for it is not right for them to be talking; but let them be under control, as it says in the law.
Then he was seen by James; then by all the Apostles.
But someone will say, How do the dead come back? and with what sort of body do they come?
But as for Apollos, the brother, I had a great desire for him to come to you with the brothers, but it was not his pleasure to come now; but he will come when he has a chance.
Now I am glad, not that you had sorrow, but that your sorrow was the cause of a change of heart; for yours was a holy sorrow so that you might undergo no loss by us in anything. For the sorrow which God gives is the cause of salvation through a change of heart, in which there is no reason for grief: but the sorrow of the world is a cause of death. read more. For you see what care was produced in you by this very sorrow of yours before God, what clearing of yourselves, what wrath against sin, what fear, what desire, what serious purpose, what punishment. In everything you have made it clear that you are free from sin in this business.
For if anyone comes preaching another Jesus from the one whose preachers we are, or if you have got a different spirit, or a different sort of good news from those which came to you, how well you put up with these things. For in my opinion, I am in no way less than the most important of the Apostles.
Are they Hebrews? so am I. Are they of Israel? so am I. Are they the seed of Abraham? so am I.
I have been forced by you to become foolish, though it was right for my praise to have come from you: for in no way was I less than the chief of the Apostles, though I am nothing.