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 Chloe's people inform me that you are quarrelling.
Now about the questions in your letter. It is an excellent thing for a man to have no intercourse with a woman;
I am glad that Stephanas and Fortunatus and Achaicus have arrived, for they have made up for your absence.
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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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Christ did not send me to baptize but to preach the gospel. And to preach it with no fine rhetoric, lest the cross of Christ should lose its power!
Now we have received the Spirit ??not the spirit of the world but the Spirit that comes from God, that we may understand what God bestows upon us.
When any of you has a grievance against his neighbour, do you dare to go to law in a sinful pagan court, instead of laying the case before the saints?
Now about the questions in your letter. It is an excellent thing for a man to have no intercourse with a woman; but there is so much immorality that every man had better have a wife of his own and every woman a husband of her own. read more. The husband must give the wife her conjugal dues, and the wife in the same way must give her husband his;
The husband must give the wife her conjugal dues, and the wife in the same way must give her husband his; the wife cannot do as she pleases with her body ??her husband has power, and in the same way the husband cannot do as he pleases with his body ??his wife has power.
the wife cannot do as she pleases with her body ??her husband has power, and in the same way the husband cannot do as he pleases with his body ??his wife has power. Do not withhold sexual intercourse from one another, unless you agree to do so for a time in order to devote yourselves to prayer. Then come together again. You must not let Satan tempt you through incontinence.
Do not withhold sexual intercourse from one another, unless you agree to do so for a time in order to devote yourselves to prayer. Then come together again. You must not let Satan tempt you through incontinence. But what I have just said is by way of concession, not command. read more. I would like all men to be as I am. However, everyone is endowed by God in his own way; he has a gift for the one life or the other.
I would like all men to be as I am. However, everyone is endowed by God in his own way; he has a gift for the one life or the other. To the unmarried and to widows I would say this: it is an excellent thing if like me they remain as they are.
To the unmarried and to widows I would say this: it is an excellent thing if like me they remain as they are. Still, if they cannot restrain themselves, let them marry. Better marry than be aflame with passion! read more. For married people these are my instructions (and they are the Lord's, not mine). A wife is not to separate from her husband ??11 if she has separated, she must either remain single or be reconciled to him ??and a husband must not put away his wife.
To other people I would say (not the Lord): ??if any brother has a wife who is not a believer, and if she consents to live with him, he must not put her away; and if any wife has a husband who is not a believer, and if he consents to live with her, she must not put her husband away. read more. For the unbelieving husband is consecrated in the person of his wife, and the unbelieving wife is consecrated in the person of the Christian brother she has married; otherwise, of course, your children would be unholy instead of being consecrated to God. (Should the unbelieving partner be determined to separate, however, separation let it be; in such cases the Christian brother or sister is not tied to marriage.) It is to a life of peace that God has called us. O wife, how do you know you may not save your husband? O husband, how do you know you may not save your wife? Only, everyone must lead the lot assigned him by the Lord; he must go on living the life in which God's call came to him. (Such is the rule I lay down for all the churches). Was a man circumcised at the time he was called? Then he is not to efface the marks of it. Has any man been called when he was uncircumcised? Then he is not to get circumcised.
Was a man circumcised at the time he was called? Then he is not to efface the marks of it. Has any man been called when he was uncircumcised? Then he is not to get circumcised. Circumcision counts for nothing, uncircumcision counts for nothing; obedience to God's commands is everything. read more. Everyone must remain in the condition of life where he was called. You were a slave when you were called? Never mind. Of course, if you do find it possible to get free, you had better avail yourself of the opportunity. But a slave who is called to be in the Lord is a freedman of the Lord. Just as a free man who is called is a slave of Christ (for you were bought for a price; you must not turn slaves to any man). Brothers, everyone must remain with God in the condition of life where he was called. I have no orders from the Lord for unmarried women, but I will give you the opinion of one whom you can trust, after all the Lord's mercy to him.
With regard to food that has been offered to idols. Here, of course, 'we all possess knowledge'! Knowledge puffs up, love builds up.
Suppose anyone sees you, a person of enlightened mind, reclining at meat inside an idol's temple; will that really 'fortify his weak conscience'? Will it not embolden him to violate his scruples of conscience by eating food that has been offered to idols?
No, what I imply is that anything people sacrifice is sacrificed to daemons, not to God. And I do not want you to participate in daemons! You cannot drink the cup of the Lord and also the cup of daemons; you cannot partake of the table of the Lord and also of the table of daemons.
Eat any food that has been sold in the market, instead of letting scruples of conscience oblige you to ask any questions about it;
But if someone tells you, 'This was sacrificial meat,' then do not eat it; you must consider the man who told you, and also take conscience into account ??29 his conscience, I mean, not your own; for why should one's own freedom be called in question by someone else's conscience?
while any woman who prays or prophesies without a veil on her head dishonours her head; she is no better than a shaven woman. If a woman will not veil herself, she should cut off her hair as well. But she ought to veil herself; for it is disgraceful that a woman should have her hair cut off or be shaven.
Therefore, in view of the angels, woman must wear a symbol of subjection on her head.
But in giving you the following injunction I cannot commend you; for you are the worse, not the better, for assembling together.
women must keep quiet at gatherings of the church. They are not allowed to speak; they must take a subordinate place, as the Law enjoins.
and that he was seen by Cephas, then by the twelve;
after that, he was seen by James, then by all the apostles,
But, someone will ask, 'how do the dead rise? What kind of body have they when they come?'
As for our brother Apollos, I urged him to accompany the other brothers on a visit to you; he will come as soon as he has time, but for the present it is not the will of God that he should visit you.
but I am glad now ??not glad that you were pained but glad that your pain induced you to repent. For you were pained as God meant you to be pained, and so you got no harm from what I did; the pain God is allowed to guide ends in a saving repentance never to be regretted, whereas the world's pain ends in death. read more. See what this pain divine has done for you, how serious it has made you, how keen to clear yourselves, how indignant, how alarmed, how eager for me, how determined, how relentless! You have shown in every way that you were honest in the business.
You put up with it all right, when some interloper preaches a second Jesus (not the Jesus I preached), or when you are treated to a Spirit different from the Spirit you once received, and to a different gospel from what I gave you! Why not put up with me? I hold I am not one whit inferior to these precious 'apostles'!
Are they Hebrews? so am I. Israelites? so am I. Descended from Abraham? so am I.
Now this is playing the fool! But you forced me to it, instead of coming forward yourselves and vouching for me. That was what I deserved; for, 'nobody' as I am, I am not one whit inferior to these precious 'apostles.'