_HE REPROVETH THEM, BECAUSE IN HOLY ASSEMBLIES THEIR MEN PRAYED WITH THEIR HEADS COVERED, AND WOMEN WITH THEIR HEADS UNCOVERED: AND BECAUSE GENERALLY THEIR MEETINGS WERE NOT FOR THE BETTER, BUT FOR THE WORSE; AS NAMELY, IN PROFANING WITH THEIR OWN FEASTS THE LORD'S SUPPER: LASTLY, HE REMINDETH THEM... [ Continue Reading ]
BE YE FOLLOWERS OF ME, &C.— This verse seems to belong to the preceding chapter, where the Apostle had proposed himself as an example, and therefore it should not be separated from it. From what St. Paul says in this and the preceding verse, taken together, we may collect that he makes some reflecti... [ Continue Reading ]
_1 CORINTHIANS 11:2_.— St. Paul commends the Corinthians for observing the orders he had left with them, and uses arguments to justify the rule he had given them, that women should not pray or prophesy in their assemblies uncovered; concerning which, it seems, there was some contention, for the reso... [ Continue Reading ]
AND THE HEAD OF CHRIST IS GOD— When God is said to be _the head of Christ,_ it relates to office constitution; and we can no more infer thence, that they are not partakers of the same _divine nature,_ than that man and woman are not of the same _human nature,_ when the man is said to be _the head of... [ Continue Reading ]
DISHONOURETH HIS HEAD— It was the custom among the Greeks and Romans, as well as the Jews, to appear in places of worship with their heads covered; and it is certain that the Jewish priests wore a kind of turban, when ministering in the temple: but it seems that the Corinthian men wore a veil, out o... [ Continue Reading ]
BUT EVERY WOMAN THAT PRAYETH OR PROPHESIETH— Because they who gave thanks, and praised the Lord with musical instruments, are said, 1 Chronicles 25:1 to _prophesy with harps,_ &c.; and because the priests of Baal, who prayed and sang hymns to that idol in the contest with Elijah, are said, 1 Kings 1... [ Continue Reading ]
GLORY OF GOD— The word rendered _glory_ signifies both a _beam_ or _irradiation,_ and a _likeness._ But I apprehend, that here the word must be taken in the latter sense. As a man ought not to have his head covered, as being the immediate image and glory of God, made in his likeness, as the first co... [ Continue Reading ]
FOR THIS CAUSE OUGHT THE WOMAN TO HAVE POWER, &C.— Mr. Locke acknowledges, with a modesty which does him much honour, that he did not understand this text,—and many seem to have darkened it bytheir attempts to explain it. The chief difficulty does not lie in the word _power,_ which undoubtedly must... [ Continue Reading ]
BUT IF A WOMAN HAVE, &C.— This should be read with an interrogation, connecting it with the former verse,_—But that if a woman have long hair, it is a glory to her?—For,_ &c.... [ Continue Reading ]
BUT IF ANY MAN SEEM TO BE, &C.— _Be,_ or _is disposed to be,_ &c. _"If any one,_ from a love of disputing, or from his own different views of what is naturally decent, _should controvert_ what I advance, I shall not contend further; but content myself with saying, that _we have_ here _no such custom... [ Continue Reading ]
_1 CORINTHIANS 11:17_.— We may observe from several passages in this epistle, that many Judaical customs had crept into the Corinthian church: this church being of St. Paul's own planting, who spent two years at Corinth in forming it, it is evident that these abuses had their rise from some other te... [ Continue Reading ]
FOR FIRST OF ALL, &C.— To understand this, we must observe, _first,_ that they had meetings sometimes on purpose only for eating the Lord's supper, 1 Corinthians 11:33. _Secondly,_ That to those meetings they brought their _own supper,_ 1 Corinthians 11:21. _Thirdly,_ That though every one's supper... [ Continue Reading ]
THERE MUST BE ALSO HERESIES— _There must be even heresies._ Hence it seems evident, that _heresy_ is spoken of as something worse than the _schisms_ or _divisions_ mentioned 1 Corinthians 11:18 but whether it be an evil entirely of a different kind, or only of a higher degree, is not so clear from t... [ Continue Reading ]
EVERY ONE TAKETH BEFORE OTHER, &C.— This circumstance of their rapacious and indecent behaviour at their feasts is finely illustrated by a passage from Xenophon, _Memorab._ lib. 3 : 100: 41 in which he observes, that Socrates was much offended with the Athenians for their conduct at their common sup... [ Continue Reading ]
SHALL I PRAISE YOU, &C.— The Apostle plainly refers here to what he had said 1 Corinthians 11:2 where he _praised_ them for _remembering_ him in all things, and for retaining what he had delivered to them. This commendation he now retracts; for in this matter of eating the Lord's supper they did not... [ Continue Reading ]
AND WHEN HE HAD GIVEN THANKS, &C.— This is a remarkable instance, among a thousand, to prove the authenticity of St. Luke's Gospel. The Apostle, finding it necessary to reprove the Corinthians for their behaviour at the Lord's supper, labours to convince them of the heinousness of their conduct, by... [ Continue Reading ]
AS OFTEN AS YE EAT THIS BREAD— It is no wonder that a text, in which this element is so plainly called _bread,_ after consecration, should be urged against the popish doctrine of _transubstantiation:_ it signifies little for the favourers of that opinion to plead, that the Scriptures sometimes call... [ Continue Reading ]
AND DRINK— The original is, _or drink._ Our Saviour, in the institution of the Lord's supper, tells the Apostles, that the bread and the wine were sacramentally his body and blood, and that they were to be eaten and drunk in remembrance of him; which, as St. Paul interprets it, was to _shew forth hi... [ Continue Reading ]
BUT LET A MAN EXAMINE HIMSELF— St. Paul, as we have observed, tells the Corinthians, 1 Corinthians 11:20 that to eat it after the manner they did, was not to eat the Lord's supper. He tells them also, 1 Corinthians 11:29 that to eat it without a due and direct imitating regard had to the Lord's body... [ Continue Reading ]
UNWORTHILY— See 1 Corinthians 11:27. To receive for the purposes of intemperance or of faction, was certainly receiving very _unworthily._ The sense of the Apostle's expression, however, may be extended to every manner of receiving contrary to the nature and design of this solemn ordinance, and cons... [ Continue Reading ]
FOR IF WE WOULD JUDGE OURSELVES, &C.— In 1 Corinthians 11:29 the Apostle uses the word διακρινων,— μη διακρινων,— _"Not discriminating,_ or not putting a difference between the sacramental bread and wine, which St. Paul, with our Saviour, calls _Christ's body,_ and other bread and wine, in the solem... [ Continue Reading ]
WE ARE CHASTENED— The word Παιδευομεθα properly signifies to be _corrected,_ as scholars are by their masters for their good. Some render the verse, _But when we judge_ NOT _ourselves, we are chastened by the Lord,_ &c.... [ Continue Reading ]
TARRY ONE FOR ANOTHER, &C.— Some would read this passage thus, _Wait one for another,_ (_and if any man hunger, let him eat at home_) THAT _ye may not come together to your guilt._ See Musculus and Bengelius. _INFERENCES.—_It is the duty of Christians frequently to remember the honourable relation... [ Continue Reading ]