Reference: Corinthians, First Epistle to The
Easton
was written from Ephesus (1Co 16:8) about the time of the Passover in the third year of the apostle's sojourn there (Ac 19:10; 20:31), and when he had formed the purpose to visit Macedonia, and then return to Corinth (probably A.D. 57).
The news which had reached him, however, from Corinth frustrated his plan. He had heard of the abuses and contentions that had arisen among them, first from Apollos (Ac 19:1), and then from a letter they had written him on the subject, and also from some of the "household of Chloe," and from Stephanas and his two friends who had visited him (1Co 1:11; 16:17). Paul thereupon wrote this letter, for the purpose of checking the factious spirit and correcting the erroneous opinions that had sprung up among them, and remedying the many abuses and disorderly practices that prevailed. Titus and a brother whose name is not given were probably the bearers of the letter (2Co 2:13; 8:6,16-18).
The epistle may be divided into four parts:
(1.) The apostle deals with the subject of the lamentable divisions and party strifes that had arisen among them (1-4).
(2.) He next treats of certain cases of immorality that had become notorious among them. They had apparently set at nought the very first principles of morality (5; 6).
(3.) In the third part he discusses various questions of doctrine and of Christian ethics in reply to certain communications they had made to him. He especially rectifies certain flagrant abuses regarding the celebration of the Lord's supper (7-14).
(4.) The concluding part (15; 16) contains an elaborate defense of the doctrine of the resurrection of the dead, which had been called in question by some among them, followed by some general instructions, intimations, and greetings.
This epistle "shows the powerful self-control of the apostle in spite of his physical weakness, his distressed circumstances, his incessant troubles, and his emotional nature. It was written, he tells us, in bitter anguish, 'out of much affliction and pressure of heart...and with streaming eyes' (2Co 2:4); yet he restrained the expression of his feelings, and wrote with a dignity and holy calm which he thought most calculated to win back his erring children. It gives a vivid picture of the early church...It entirely dissipates the dream that the apostolic church was in an exceptional condition of holiness of life or purity of doctrine." The apostle in this epistle unfolds and applies great principles fitted to guide the church of all ages in dealing with the same and kindred evils in whatever form they may appear.
This is one of the epistles the authenticity of which has never been called in question by critics of any school, so many and so conclusive are the evidences of its Pauline origin.
The subscription to this epistle states erroneously in the Authorized Version that it was written at Philippi. This error arose from a mistranslation of 1Co 16:5, "For I do pass through Macedonia," which was interpreted as meaning, "I am passing through Macedonia." In 1Co 16:8 he declares his intention of remaining some time longer in Ephesus. After that, his purpose is to "pass through Macedonia."
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And it came about that while Apollos was at Corinth, Paul, having gone through the higher country, came to Ephesus, where there were certain disciples:
And this went on for two years, so that all those who were living in Asia had knowledge of the word of the Lord, Greeks as well as Jews.
So keep watch, having in mind that for three years without resting I was teaching every one of you, day and night, with weeping.
Because it has come to my knowledge, through those of the house of Chloe, that there are divisions among you, my brothers.
But I will come to you after I have gone through Macedonia, for that is my purpose;
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.
For out of much trouble and pain of heart and much weeping I sent my letter to you; not to give you sorrow, but so that you might see how great is the love which I have to you.
I had no rest in my spirit because Titus my brother was not there: so I went away from them, and came into Macedonia.
So that we made a request to Titus that, as he had made a start before, so he might make this grace complete in you.
But praise be to God, who puts the same care for you into the heart of Titus. For while he gladly gave ear to our request, he was interested enough to go to you from the impulse of his heart. read more. And with him we have sent a brother whose praise in the good news has gone through all the churches;
Hastings
CORINTHIANS, FIRST EPISTLE TO THE
1. Occasion of the Epistle.
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Crushing the head of the poor, and turning the steps of the gentle out of the way: and a man and his father go in to the same young woman, putting shame on my holy name:
And everyone to whom my words come and who does them not, will be like a foolish man who made his house on sand;
for he was teaching as one having authority, and not as their scribes.
Truly I say to you, Among the sons of women there has not been a greater than John the Baptist: but he who is least in the kingdom of heaven is greater than he.
But he said to them, Not all men are able to take in this saying, but only those to whom it is given.
And when they had made selection of some to be rulers in every church, and had given themselves to prayer and kept themselves from food, they put them into the care of the Lord in whom they had faith.
To keep from things offered to false gods, and from blood, and from things put to death in ways which are against the law, and from the evil desires of the body; if you keep yourselves from these, you will do well. May you be happy.
And a certain woman named Lydia, a trader in purple cloth of the town of Thyatira, and a God-fearing woman, gave ear to us: whose heart the Lord made open to give attention to the things which Paul was saying.
And when Silas and Timothy came down from Macedonia, Paul was completely given up to the word, preaching to the Jews that the Christ was Jesus.
And Crispus, the ruler of the Synagogue, with all his family, had faith in the Lord; and a great number of the people of Corinth, hearing the word, had faith and were given baptism.
And they all made an attack on Sosthenes, the ruler of the Synagogue, and gave him blows before the judge's seat; but Gallio gave no attention to these things.
Now a certain Jew named Apollos, an Alexandrian by birth, and a man of learning, came to Ephesus; and he had great knowledge of the holy Writings.
And when he had been there three months, because the Jews had made a secret design against him when he was about to take ship for Syria, he made a decision to go back through Macedonia.
And when he had been there three months, because the Jews had made a secret design against him when he was about to take ship for Syria, he made a decision to go back through Macedonia.
And we went away from Philippi by ship after the days of unleavened bread, and came to them at Troas in five days; and we were there for seven days.
And from Miletus he sent to Ephesus for the rulers of the church.
And he had four daughters, virgins, who were prophets.
What may we say, then? are we to go on in sin so that there may be more grace?
But I say to every one of you, through the grace given to me, not to have an over-high opinion of himself, but to have wise thoughts, as God has given to every one a measure of faith.
Timothy, who is working with me, sends his love to you, so do Lucius and Jason and Sosipater, my relations.
Because it has come to my knowledge, through those of the house of Chloe, that there are divisions among you, my brothers. That is, that some of you say, I am of Paul; some say, I am of Apollos; some say, I am of Cephas; and some say, I am Christ's.
That is, that some of you say, I am of Paul; some say, I am of Apollos; some say, I am of Cephas; and some say, I am Christ's. Is there a division in Christ? was Paul nailed to the cross for you? or were you given baptism in the name of Paul?
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.
Where is the wise? where is he who has knowledge of the law? where is the man of this world who has a love of discussion? has not God made foolish the wisdom of this world?
Where is the wise? where is he who has knowledge of the law? where is the man of this world who has a love of discussion? has not God made foolish the wisdom of this world?
But we give the good news of Christ on the cross, a hard thing to the Jews, and a foolish thing to the Gentiles;
But we give the good news of Christ on the cross, a hard thing to the Jews, and a foolish thing to the Gentiles;
For you see God's design for you, my brothers, that he has not taken a great number of the wise after the flesh, not the strong, not the noble:
And when I came to you, my brothers, I did not come with wise words of knowledge, putting before you the secret of God.
But still we have wisdom for those who are complete in knowledge, though not the wisdom of this world, and not of the rulers of this world, who are coming to nothing:
And these are the things which we say, not in the language of man's wisdom, but in words given to us by the Spirit, judging the things of the spirit by the help of the Spirit.
And you are Christ's; and Christ is God's.
My brothers, it is because of you that I have taken Apollos and myself as examples of these things, so that in us you might see that it is not wise to go farther than what is in the holy Writings, so that no one of you may be lifted up against his brother.
When evil things are said about us we give gentle answers: we are made as the unclean things of the world, as that for which no one has any use, even till now.
That this man is to be handed over to Satan for the destruction of the flesh, so that his spirit may have forgiveness in the day of the Lord Jesus.
In my letter I said to you that you were not to keep company with those who go after the desires of the flesh; But I had not in mind the sinners who are outside the church, or those who have a desire for and take the property of others, or those who give worship to images; for it is not possible to keep away from such people without going out of the world completely:
For it is no business of mine to be judging those who are outside; but it is yours to be judging those who are among you;
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? Is it not certain that the saints will be the judges of the world? if then the world will be judged by you, are you unable to give a decision about the smallest things?
Is it not certain that the saints will be the judges of the world? if then the world will be judged by you, are you unable to give a decision about the smallest things? Is it not certain that we are to be the judges of angels? how much more then of the things of this life? read more. If then there are questions to be judged in connection with the things of this life, why do you put them in the hands of those who have no position in the church? I say this to put you to shame. Is there not among you one wise man who may be able to give a decision between his brothers? But a brother who has a cause at law against another takes it before Gentile judges. More than this, it is not to your credit to have causes at law with one another at all. Why not put up with wrong? why not undergo loss? So far from doing this, you yourselves do wrong and take your brothers' property.
And such were some of you; but you have been washed, you have been made holy, you have been given righteousness in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and in the Spirit of our God. I am free to do all things; but not all things are wise. I am free to do all things; but I will not let myself come under the power of any.
I am free to do all things; but not all things are wise. I am free to do all things; but I will not let myself come under the power of any. Food is for the stomach and the stomach for food, and God will put an end to them together. But the body is not for the desires of the flesh, but for the Lord; and the Lord for the body: read more. And God who made the Lord Jesus come back from the dead will do the same for us by his power. Do you not see that your bodies are part of the body of Christ? how then may I take what is a part of the body of Christ and make it a part of the body of a loose woman? such a thing may not be.
Do you not see that your bodies are part of the body of Christ? how then may I take what is a part of the body of Christ and make it a part of the body of a loose woman? such a thing may not be. Or do you not see that he who is joined to a loose woman is one body with her? for God has said, The two of them will become one flesh. read more. But he who is united to the Lord is one spirit. Keep away from the desires of the flesh. Every sin which a man does is outside of the body; but he who goes after the desires of the flesh does evil to his body. Or are you not conscious that your body is a house for the Holy Spirit which is in you, and which has been given to you by God? and you are not the owners of yourselves; For a payment has been made for you: let God be honoured in your body.
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 to the married I give orders, though not I but the Lord, that the wife may not go away from her husband
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.
But it will be better for her to keep as she is, in my opinion: and it seems to me that I have the Spirit of God.
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? And so, through your knowledge, you are the cause of destruction to your brother, for whom Christ underwent death. read more. And in this way, doing evil to the brothers, and causing trouble to those whose faith is feeble, you are sinning against Christ. For this reason, if food is a cause of trouble to my brother, I will give up taking meat for ever, so that I may not be a cause of trouble to my brother.
Am I not free? am I not an Apostle? have I not seen Jesus our Lord? are you not my work in the Lord?
Have we no right to take about with us a Christian wife, like the rest of the Apostles, and the brothers of the Lord, and Cephas?
Who ever goes to war without looking to someone to be responsible for his payment? who puts in vines and does not take the fruit of them? or who takes care of sheep without drinking of their milk?
If others have a part in this right over you, have we not even more? But we did not make use of our right, so that we might put nothing in the way of the good news of Christ.
Even so did the Lord give orders that the preachers of the good news might get their living from the good news.
What then is my reward? This, that when I am giving the good news, I may give it without payment, not making use of my rights as a preacher of the good news.
Do you not see that in a running competition all take part, but only one gets the reward? So let your minds be fixed on the reward.
For it is my desire, my brothers, that you may keep in mind how all our fathers were under the cloud, and they all went through the sea;
And the same holy drink: for they all took of the water from the holy rock which came after them: and the rock was Christ.
You have been put to no test but such as is common to man: and God is true, who will not let any test come on you which you are not able to undergo; but he will make with the test a way out of it, so that you may be able to go through it. For this cause, my dear brothers, give no worship to false gods.
So take me for your example, even as I take Christ for mine.
So take me for your example, even as I take Christ for mine. Now I am pleased to see that you keep me in memory in all things, and that you give attention to the teaching which was handed down from me to you.
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 this reason it is right for the woman to have a sign of authority on her head, because of the angels.
But now, when you come together, it is not possible to take the holy meal of the Lord:
For it was handed down to me from the Lord, as I gave it to you, that the Lord Jesus, on the night when Judas was false to him, took bread,
You are conscious that when you were Gentiles, in whatever way you were guided, you went after images without voice or power.
And God has put some in the church, first, Apostles; second, prophets; third, teachers; then those with wonder-working powers, then those with the power of taking away disease, helpers, wise guides, users of strange tongues.
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. And if they have a desire for knowledge about anything, let them put questions to their husbands privately: for talking in the church puts shame on a woman.
Let all things be done in the right and ordered way.
And he was put in the place of the dead; and on the third day he came back from the dead, as it says in the Writings;
Now if the good news says that Christ came back from the dead, how do some of you say that there is no coming back from the dead?
Now about the giving of money for the saints, as I gave orders to the churches of Galatia, so do you.
But I may be with you for a time, or even for the winter, so that you may see me on my way, wherever I go.
And being certain of this, it was my purpose to come to you before, so that you might have a second grace;
But God is my witness that it was in pity for you that I did not come to Corinth at that time.
But their minds were made hard: for to this very day at the reading of the old agreement the same veil is still unlifted; though it is taken away in Christ.
So though I sent you a letter, it was not only because of the man who did the wrong, or because of him to whom the wrong was done, but so that your true care for us might be made clear in the eyes of God.
And in this I give my opinion: for it is to your profit, who were the first to make a start a year before, not only to do this, but to make clear that your minds were more than ready to do it.
For I have before made clear to those of Macedonia my pride in your ready mind, saying to them that Achaia has been ready for a year back; and a great number have been moved to do the same by your example.
Give attention to the things which are before you. If any man seems to himself to be Christ's, let him keep in mind that we are as much Christ's as he is.
This is the third time that I am coming to you. From the mouth of two or three witnesses will every word be made certain.
For the husband is the head of the wife, as Christ is the head of the church, being himself the saviour of the body.
For the husband is the head of the wife, as Christ is the head of the church, being himself the saviour of the body.
Paul and Timothy, servants of Jesus Christ, to all the saints in Christ Jesus at Philippi, with the Bishops and Deacons of the church:
Paul, an Apostle of Jesus Christ, by the purpose of God, and Timothy our brother,
For which reason we made attempts to come to you, even I, Paul, once and again; but Satan kept us from coming.
Such are Hymenaeus and Alexander, whom I have given up to Satan, so that they may say no more evil words against God.
In my opinion it is right for a woman not to be a teacher, or to have rule over a man, but to be quiet.
Men whose ideas are all false, who say that the coming back from the dead has even now taken place, overturning the faith of some.
Smith
Corinth'ians, First Epistle to the,
was written by the apostle St. Paul toward the close of his nearly three-years stay at Ephesus,
which, we learn from
probably terminated with the Pentecost of A.D. 57 or 58. The bearers were probably (according to the common subscription) Stephanas, Fortunatus and Achaicus. It appears to have been called forth by the information the apostles had received of dissension in the Corinthian church, which may be thus explained: --The Corinthian church was planted by the apostle himself,
in his second missionary journey.
seq. He abode in the city a year and a half.
A short time after the apostle had left the city the eloquent Jew of Alexandria, Apollos, went to Corinth,
and gained many followers, dividing the church into two parties, the followers of Paul and the followers of Apollos. Later on Judaizing teachers from Jerusalem preached the gospel in a spirit of direct antagonism to St. Paul personally. To this third party we may perhaps add a fourth, that, under the name of "the followers of Christ,"
sought at first to separate themselves from the factious adherence to particular teachers, but eventually were driven by antagonism into positions equally sectarian and inimical to the unity of the church. At this momentous period, before parties had become consolidated and that distinctly withdrawn from communion with one another, the apostle writes; and in the outset of the epistle, 1Cor 1-4:21, we have this noble and impassioned protest against this fourfold rending of the robe of Christ.
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After these things, he went away from Athens, and came to Corinth.
And he was there for a year and six months, teaching the word of God among them.
And it came about that while Apollos was at Corinth, Paul, having gone through the higher country, came to Ephesus, where there were certain disciples:
And this went on for two years, so that all those who were living in Asia had knowledge of the word of the Lord, Greeks as well as Jews.
So keep watch, having in mind that for three years without resting I was teaching every one of you, day and night, with weeping.
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.
I did the planting, Apollos did the watering, but God gave the increase.