1 Corinthians 4:6

Ταῦτα δὲ κ. τ. λ. (δὲ metabatikon, of transition): “Now these things I have adapted (in the way I have put them) to myself and Apollos”. μετα - σχηματίζω (see parls.), to change the dress, or form of presentment (σχῆμα), of anything. P. has put in a specific personal way speaking in concrete, exempli gratia what he might have expressed more generally; he has done this διʼ ὑμᾶς, “for your better instruction,” not because he and Ap. needed the admonition. The rendering “I have in a figure transferred ” (E.V [671]), suggests that the argument of 1 Corinthians 3:3 to 1 Corinthians 4:5 had no real connexion with P. and A., and was aimed at others than their partisans an erroneous implication: see Introd. to Div. I. P. writes in the σχῆμα κατʼ ἐξοχήν, aiming through the Apollonian party at all the warring factions, and at the factious spirit in the Church; his reproaches fall on the “puffed up” followers, not upon their unconsenting chiefs (1 Corinthians 4:4). We found certain other teachers, active at Cor [672] in the absence of P. and A., rebuked in 1 Corinthians 3:11-17; the Cor [673] will easily read between the lines. This μετασχηματισμὸς is “id genus in quo per quandam suspicionem quod non dicimus accipi volumus” (Quintilian, In stit., ix., 2). Απολλών, the preferable reading here and in Titus 3:13, like the gen [674] of 1Co 1:12, 1 Corinthians 3:4, is acc [675] of Attic 2nd decl.; Ἀπολλώ (3rd) is attested in Acts 19:1.

[671] English Version.

[672] Corinth, Corinthian or Corinthians.

[673] Corinth, Corinthian or Corinthians.

[674] genitive case.

[675] accusative case.

ἵνα ἐν ἡμῖν μάθητε τὸ Μὴ ὑπὲρ ἅ γέγραπται : “that in our case you may learn the (rule), Not beyond the things that are written ”; cf. the cl [676] Μηδὲν ἄγαν. The art [677] τὸ seizes the Μὴ ὑπὲρ clause for the obj [678] of μάθητε; for the construction, cf. Galatians 5:14; Luke 22:37, and see Wr [679], pp. 135, 644; the elliptical form (“Not” for “Do not go,” or the like) marks the saying as proverbial, though only here extant. Ewald suggests that it was a Rabbinical adage as much as to say, Keep to the rule of Scripture, Not a step beyond the written word! “ γέγραπται in his libris semper ad V. T. refertur” (Grotius); but in a general maxim it is superfluous to look for particular passages intended. In 1 Corinthians 3:19 f., and indirectly in 1 Corinthians 4:4 f. above, P. has shown the Cor [680] how to keep their thoughts about men within the lines marked out in Scripture. The 1st ἵνα is definitely applied by the second, apposed ἵνα : “that you be not puffed up, each for his individual (teacher) against the other”. Scripture teaches the Cor [681] both not to “glory in men” and not to “judge” them (1 Corinthians 3:21; 1 Corinthians 4:4 f.). φυσιοῦσθε (φυσιόω, older Gr [682] φυσάω or φυσιάω, to inflate) is best explained as irreg. pr [683] sbj [684] (cf. ζηλοῦτε, Galatians 4:17); John 17:3 is the only clear ex [685] of ἵνα with ind [686] in N.T. see however Wr [687], pp. 362 f. Mr [688] obviates the difficulty by rendering ἵνα where, against Bibl. and later Gr [689] use. Fritzsche read ὅ (T. R.) for ἅ in the previous clause; then, by a double itacism, ἕνα for ἵνα and φυσιοῦθαι for φυσιοῦσθε, thus getting ingeniously an inf [690] clause in 1 Corinthians 4:6 c, standing in apposition to the ὅ of 1 Corinthians 4:6 b “Not beyond what is written, i.e., that one be not puffed up for the one,” etc.). εἷς ὑπὲρ τ. ἑνός, a reciprocal phrase (cf. 1 Thessalonians 5:11), “one for the one (teacher), another for the other” (see 1 Corinthians 1:12), zeal “for the one” admired master generating an animus “against the other” (κατὰ τοῦ ἑτέρου, the second) correspondingly despised. Those who cried up Apollos cried down Paul, and vice versâ.

[676] classical.

[677] grammatical article.

[678] grammatical object.

[679] Winer-Moulton's Grammar of N.T. Greek (8th ed., 1877).

[680] Corinth, Corinthian or Corinthians.

[681] Corinth, Corinthian or Corinthians.

[682] Greek, or Grotius' Annotationes in N.T.

[683] present tense.

[684] subjunctive mood.

[685] example.

[686] indicative mood.

[687] Winer-Moulton's Grammar of N.T. Greek (8th ed., 1877).

[688] Meyer's Critical and Exegetical Commentary (Eng. Trans.).

[689] Greek, or Grotius' Annotationes in N.T.

[690] infinitive mood.