DIVISION IV. DISORDERS IN WORSHIP AND CHURCH LIFE, 11 14. The Ap. returns to the internal affairs of the Church, which occupied him in Div. I., dealing however not as at the outset with the relations of the Cor [2013] Church to its ministry, but with the mutual relations and behaviour of its members... [ Continue Reading ]
For the heading of the new topic, which runs on to the end of ch. 14., see note on 1 Corinthians 7:1. τῶν πνευματικῶν is _neut_. “concerning spiritual things (gifts, powers),” as in 1 Corinthians 14:1 (_cf._ πνευμάτων, 1 Corinthians 12:12) and 1 Corinthians 8:1; not “spiritual persons” (1 Corinthian... [ Continue Reading ]
§ 39. THE VARIOUS CHARISMS OF THE ONE SPIRIT. In treating of the questions of Church order discussed in this Div. of the Ep., the Ap. penetrates from the outward and visible to that which is innermost and divinest in the Christian Society: (1) the question of _the woman's veil_, a matter of social d... [ Continue Reading ]
On the critical reading, οἴδατε ὅτι ὅτε ἔθνη ἦτε … ὡς ἂν ἤγεσθε ἀπαγόμενοι, there are two plausible constructions: (_a_) that of Bg [1815], Bm [1816] (pp. 383 f.), Ed [1817], who regard ὡς as a resumption of the ὅτι, after the parenthetical ὅτε clause, and thus translate: “You know that, when you we... [ Continue Reading ]
Their old experience of the spells of heathenism had not prepared the Cor [1834] to understand the workings of God's Spirit and the notes of His presence. On this subject they had asked (1), and P. now gives instruction: “Wherefore I inform you”. They knew how men could be “carried away” by supernat... [ Continue Reading ]
“But,” while the Spirit prompts in all Christians the simultaneous confession _Jesus is Lord_, this unity of faith bears multiform fruit in “distributions of grace-gifts, services, workings”. These are not separate classes of πνευματικά, but varied designations of the πνευματικὰ collectively a _trin... [ Continue Reading ]
ἑκάστῳ δὲ κ. τ. λ. distributive in contrast with the collective τ. πᾶσιν of 1 Corinthians 12:6; _cf._ Ephesians 4:6 f., and the emphatic ἕκαστος of 1 Corinthians 3:5-13 : “But to _each_ there is being given the manifestation of the Spirit with a view to profiting”; _cf._ Ephesians 4:7-16, where the... [ Continue Reading ]
1 Corinthians 12:8-10 exhibit by way of example (γάρ) _nine_ chief manifestations in which the Holy Spirit was displayed: _word of wisdom, word of knowledge, faith, healings, powers, prophecy, discernings of spirits, kinds of tongues, interpreting of tongues_. The _fourth_ and _fifth_ are specially... [ Continue Reading ]
sums up the last par. (1 Corinthians 12:4-10), impressing on the Cor [1869] with redoubled emphasis the _variety in unity_ of the “gifts,” and vindicating the sanctity of each: “But all these things worketh the one and the same Spirit” (_cf._ 1 Corinthians 12:9). In the qualifying clause, “dividing... [ Continue Reading ]
“The one Spirit,” the leading thought of § 39, suggests the similitude of “the body” for the Church (called in ch. 3 the _tillage, building, temple_ of God), since this is the seat of His multifarious energies. In the Eph. and Col. Epp. τὸ σῶμα becomes a fixed title for the Christian community, sett... [ Continue Reading ]
§ 40. THE ONE BODY, OF MANY MEMBERS. The manifold graces, ministries, workings (1 Corinthians 12:4 ff.), that proceed from the action of the Holy Spirit in the Christian community, stand not only in common dependence upon Him (§ 39), but are mutually bound to each other. The Church of Christ is “the... [ Continue Reading ]
καὶ γὰρ ἐν ἑβὶ Πνεύματι κ. τ. λ.: “For indeed in _one_ Spirit we _all_ into _one_ body were baptized whether Jews or Greeks, whether bondmen or freemen and we _all_ of _one_ Spirit were made to drink,” _were drenched_ (Ev [1875]). An appeal to experience (_cf._ Galatians 3:2 ff; Galatians 4:6; also... [ Continue Reading ]
recalls, under the analogy of the σῶμα, the reason given in 1 Corinthians 12:12 for the diversity of spiritual powers displayed in the Church: it is not “one member,” but “many” that constitute the “body”. This thesis the rest of the § illustrates.... [ Continue Reading ]
1 Corinthians 12:15-16 represent with lively fancy the _foot_ and _ear_ in turn organs of activity and intelligence as disclaiming their part in the body, because they have not the powers of the _hand_ and _eye_ : an image of jealous or discouraged Cor [1884] Christians, emulous of the shining gifts... [ Continue Reading ]
expostulates in the vein of 1 Corinthians 12:15 f. with those who exalt one order of gifts (either as possessing it themselves or envying it in their neighbours) to the contempt of others; the despised function is as needful as the admired to make up the body: “If all the body (were) eye, where the... [ Continue Reading ]
“But now (argumentative νῦν, ‘as things are': see 1 Corinthians 5:11) God has appointed the members, each single one of them, in the body as He willed.” It is _God's will_ that has ranged the physical organs and by analogy the members of the Church in their several places and offices (_cf._ 1 Corint... [ Continue Reading ]
1 Corinthians 12:19-20 rehearse the doctrine of 1 Corinthians 12:12-14, now vividly illustrated by 1 Corinthians 12:15 ff., _viz_., that a _manifold variety of organs_ is indispensable for the existence of the Church. First the principle is _suggested_ by a rhetorical question, in the strain of 1 Co... [ Continue Reading ]
personifies again the physical members, in the fashion of 1 Corinthians 12:15 f.: there the inferior disparaged itself as though it were no part of the body at all; here the superior disparages its fellow, affecting independence. “The eye (might wish to say but) cannot say to the hand, I have no nee... [ Continue Reading ]
1 Corinthians 12:21-31 _a_. § 41. THE MUTUAL DEPENDENCE OF THE BODY'S MEMBERS. Multiformity, it has been shown, is of the essence of organic life. But the variously endowed members, being needful to the body, are consequently _necessary to each other_ those that seem “weaker” sometimes the more so ... [ Continue Reading ]
1 Corinthians 12:22-24 _a_. “On the contrary” (ἀλλά), instead of the more powerful and dignified (1 Corinthians 12:23) bodily parts dispensing with the humbler (1 Corinthians 12:21), it is “much more” the case that these latter “the weaker” or “less honourable as they may seem to be” (τὰ δοκοῦντα …... [ Continue Reading ]
illustrates the unselfish solicitude of the bodily organs; the nervous connexion makes it a veritable συμπάθεια (συμπάσχει). Plato applies the same analogy to the State in a striking passage in his _Politicus_, 462C;.see also Cm [1929], _ad loc_ [1930] δοξάζεται (_glorificatur_, Cv [1931]; not _glor... [ Continue Reading ]
The figure of _the body_, developed from 1 Corinthians 12:14-26 with deliberation and completeness, is now applied in detail to the Church, where the same solidarity of manifold parts and powers obtains (1 Corinthians 12:4 ff.): “Now you are (ὑμεῖς δέ ἐστε) a _body_ of (in relation to) Christ, and m... [ Continue Reading ]
expounds the μέλη ἐκ μέρους. οὓς μὲν (_cf._ 8 ff.) should be followed by οὒς δέ; but πρῶτον intervening suggests δεύτερον, τρίτον in the sequel “instead of a mere enumeration P. prefers an arrangement in order of rank” (Wr [1939], pp. 710 f.); and this mode of distinction in turn gives place to ἔπει... [ Continue Reading ]
In this string of rhetorical questions P. recapitulates once more the charisms, in the terms of 1 Corinthians 12:28. He adds now to the γλώσσαις λαλεῖν its complementary διερμηνεύειν (see 10, and 1 Corinthians 14:13, etc.: διὰ in this vb [1942] imports _translation_); and omits ἀντιλήμψεις and κυβερ... [ Continue Reading ]
_a_ corrects the inference which an indolent nature or weak judgment might draw from 1 Corinthians 12:29 f., supposing that God's sovereign ordination supersedes man's effort. Our striving has a part to play, along with God's bestowment, in spiritual acquisitions; hence the contrastive δέ. “But (for... [ Continue Reading ]