PAUL, CALLED TO BE AN APOSTLE - See the notes at Romans 1:1. THROUGH THE WILL OF GOD - Not by human appointment, or authority, but in accordance with the will of God, and His command. That will was made known to him by the special revelation granted to him at his conversion, and call to the apostles... [ Continue Reading ]
UNTO THE CHURCH OF GOD WHICH IS AT CORINTH - For an account of the time and manner in which the church was established in Corinth, see the introduction, and the notes at Acts 18:1. The church is called “the church of God,” because it has been founded by His agency, and was devoted to his service. It... [ Continue Reading ]
GRACE BE UNTO YOU ... - See the note at Romans 1:7.... [ Continue Reading ]
I THANK MY GOD ... - No small part of this Epistle is occupied with reproofs for the disorders which had arisen in the church at Corinth. Before proceeding, however, to the specific statement of those disorders (1 Corinthians 1:10 ff), the apostle commends them for the attainments which they had rea... [ Continue Reading ]
THAT IN EVERY THING - In every respect, or in regard to all the favors conferred on any of his people. You have been distinguished by him in all those respects in which he blesses his own children. YE ARE ENRICHED BY HIM; - compare the note at Romans 2:4. The meaning of this expression is, “you abo... [ Continue Reading ]
EVEN AS - Καθώς Kathōs. The force of this expression seems to be this, “The gospel of Christ was at first established among you by means of the miraculous endowments of the Holy Spirit. Those same endowments are still continued among you, and now furnish evidence of the divine favor, and of the tr... [ Continue Reading ]
SO THAT - God has so abundantly endowed you with his favors. YE COME BEHIND - ὑστερεῖσθαι hustereisthai. You are not missing, or deficient. The word is usually applied to destitution, want, or poverty; and the declaration here is synonymous with what he had said, 1 Corinthians 1:5, that they abou... [ Continue Reading ]
WHO SHALL ALSO CONFIRM YOU - Who shall establish you in the hopes of the gospel. He shall make you “firm” (βεβαιώσει bebaiōsei) amidst all your trials, and all the efforts which may be made to shake your faith, and to remove you from that firm foundation on which you now rest. UNTO THE END - That... [ Continue Reading ]
GOD IS FAITHFUL - That is, God is true, and constant, and will adhere to his promises. He will not deceive. He will not promise, and then fail to perform; he will not commence anything which he will not perfect and finish. The object of Paul in introducing the idea of the faithfulness of God here, i... [ Continue Reading ]
NOW I BESEECH YOU, BRETHREN - In this verse the apostle enters on the discussion respecting the irregularities and disorders in the church at Corinth, of which he had incidentally heard; see 1 Corinthians 1:11. The first of which he had incidentally learned, was that which pertained to the divisions... [ Continue Reading ]
FOR IT HATH BEEN DECLARED UNTO ME - Of the contentions existing in the church at Corinth, it is evident that they had not informed him in the letter which they had sent; see 1 Corinthians 7:1, compare the introduction. He had incidentally heard of their contentions. MY BRETHREN - A token of affecti... [ Continue Reading ]
NOW THIS I SAY - This is what I mean; or, I give this as an instance of the contentions to which I refer. THAT EVERY ONE OF YOU SAITH - That you are divided into different factions, and ranged under different leaders. The word translated “that” ὅτι hoti might be translated here, “because,” or “si... [ Continue Reading ]
IS CHRIST DIVIDED? - Paul, in this verse, proceeds to show the impropriety of their divisions and strifes. His general argument is, that Christ alone ought to be regarded as their head and leader, and that his claims, arising from his crucifixion, and acknowledged by their baptism, were so pre-emine... [ Continue Reading ]
I THANK GOD ... - Why Paul did not himself baptize, see in 1 Corinthians 1:17. To him it was now a subject of grateful reflection that he had not done it. He had not given any occasion for the suspicion that he had intended to set himself up as a leader of a sect or party. BUT CRISPUS - Crispus had... [ Continue Reading ]
LEST ANY SHOULD SAY - Lest any of those who had been baptized should pervert his design, and say that Paul had baptized them unto himself; or, lest any others should, with any appearance of truth, say that he had sought to make disciples to himself. The Ethiopic version renders this, “that ye should... [ Continue Reading ]
AND I BAPTIZED ALSO THE HOUSEHOLD - The family. Whether there were any infants in the family, does not appear. It is certain that the family was among the first converts to Christianity in Achaia, and that it had evinced great zeal in aiding those who were Christians; see 1 Corinthians 16:15 - From... [ Continue Reading ]
FOR CHRIST SENT ME NOT TO BAPTIZE - That is, not to baptize as my main business. Baptism was not his principal employment, though be had a commission in common with others to administer the ordinance, and occasionally did it. The same thing was true of the Saviour, that he did not personally baptize... [ Continue Reading ]
FOR THE PREACHING OF THE CROSS - Greek, “the word (ὁ λόγος ho logos) of the cross;” that is, the doctrine of the cross; or the doctrine which proclaims salvation only through the atonement which the Lord Jesus Christ made on the cross, This cannot mean that the statement that Christ died “as a mar... [ Continue Reading ]
FOR IT IS WRITTEN - This passage is quoted from Isaiah 29:14. The Hebrew of the passage, as rendered in the English version is, “the wisdom of their wise men shall perish, and the understanding of their prudent men shall be hid.” The version of the Septuagint is, “I will destroy the wisdom of the wi... [ Continue Reading ]
WHERE IS THE WISE? - Language similar to this occurs in Isaiah 33:18, “Where is the scribe? where is the receiver? where is he that counted the towers?” Without designing to quote these words as having an original reference to the subject now under consideration, Paul uses them as any man does langu... [ Continue Reading ]
FOR AFTER THAT - ἐπειδὴ epeidē. Since, or seeing that it is true that the world by wisdom knew not God. After all the experience of the world it was ascertained that human beings would never by their own wisdom come to the true knowledge of God, and it pleased him to devise another plan for salva... [ Continue Reading ]
FOR THE JEWS REQUIRE A SIGN - A miracle, a prodigy, an evidence of divine interposition. This was the characteristic of the Jewish people. God had manifested himself to them by miracles and wonders in a remarkable manner in past times, and they greatly prided themselves on that fact, and always dema... [ Continue Reading ]
BUT WE - We who are Christian preachers make Christ crucified the grand subject of our instructions and our aims in contradistinction from the Jew and the Greek. They seek, the one miracles, the other wisdom, we glory only in the cross. CHRIST CRUCIFIED - The word Christ, the anointed, is the same a... [ Continue Reading ]
BUT UNTO THEM WHICH ARE CALLED - To all true Christians. See the note at 1 Corinthians 1:9. BOTH JEWS AND GREEKS - Whether originally of Jewish or Gentile extraction, they have here a common, similar view of the crucified Saviour. CHRIST THE POWER OF GOD - Christ appears to them as the power of Go... [ Continue Reading ]
BECAUSE THE FOOLISHNESS OF GOD - That which God appoints, requires, commands, does, etc., which appears to people to be foolish. The passage is not to be understood as affirming that it is really foolish or unwise; but that it appears so to people - Perhaps the apostle here refers to those parts of... [ Continue Reading ]
FOR YE SEE YOUR CALLING - You know the general character and condition of those who are Christians among you, that they have not been generally taken from the wise, the rich, and the learned, but from humble life. The design of the apostle here is, to show that the gospel did not depend for its succ... [ Continue Reading ]
BUT GOD HATH CHOSEN - The fact of their being in the church at all was the result of his choice. It was owing entirely to his grace. THE FOOLISH THINGS - The things esteemed foolish among people. The expression here refers to those who were destitute of learning, rank, wealth, and power, and who we... [ Continue Reading ]
AND BASE THINGS OF THE WORLD - Those things which by the world are esteemed ignoble. Literally, those which are not of noble, or illustrious birth τὰ ἀγειῆ ta ageiē. THINGS WHICH ARE DESPISED - Those which the world regards as objects of contempt; compare Mark 9:12; Luke 18:19; Acts 4:11. YEA -... [ Continue Reading ]
THAT NO FLESH - That no person; no class of people. The word “flesh” is often thus used to denote human beings. Matthew 24:22; Luke 3:6; John 17:2; Acts 2:17; 1 Peter 1:24; etc. SHOULD GLORY - Should boast; Romans 3:27. IN HIS PRESENCE - Before him. That man should really have nothing of which to b... [ Continue Reading ]
BUT OF HIM - That is, by his agency and power. It is not by philosophy; not from ourselves; but by his mercy. The apostle keeps it prominently in view, that it was not of their philosophy, wealth, or rank that they had been raised to these privileges, but of God as the author. ARE YE - Ye are what... [ Continue Reading ]
AS IT IS WRITTEN - This is evidently a quotation made from Jeremiah 9:23. It is not made literally; but the apostle has “condensed” the sense of the prophet into a few words, and has retained essentially his idea. HE THAT GLORIETH - He that boasts or exults. IN THE LORD - Not ascribing his salvati... [ Continue Reading ]