_HE SHEWETH HIS LIBERTY, AND THAT THE MINISTER OUGHT TO LIVE BY THE GOSPEL; YET THAT HIMSELF HATH OF HIS OWN ACCORD ABSTAINED, TO BE EITHER CHARGEABLE UNTO THEM, OR OFFENSIVE UNTO ANY IN MATTERS INDIFFERENT. OUR LIFE IS LIKE UNTO A RACE._ _Anno Domini 57._ THE false teacher having come to Corinth... [ Continue Reading ]
_1 CORINTHIANS 9:1_.— St. Paul had preached the Gospel at Corinth about two years, in all which time he had taken nothing of them, 2 Corinthians 11:7. This, by some of the opposite faction, and particularly, as we may suppose, by their leader, was made use of to call in question his apostleship. For... [ Continue Reading ]
FOR THE SEAL OF MINE APOSTLESHIP ARE YE— "Your conversion to Christianity, is as it were a _seal_ set to make good the truth of my apostleship.... [ Continue Reading ]
TO LEAD ABOUT A SISTER, A WIFE— It is very improbable that the Apostle would have carried about with him, in these sacred peregrinations, a woman to whom he was not married; so that the answer which the Papists generally make to the argument often brought from these words in favour of a _married cle... [ Continue Reading ]
OR I ONLY, AND BARNABAS— From this expression one would think that the Judaizing Christians, who were the main cause of St. Paul's uneasiness in this respect, had a peculiar spleen against these two Apostles of the uncircumcision; who were so instrumental in procuring and publishing theJerusalem dec... [ Continue Reading ]
THOU SHALT NOT MUZZLE THE MOUTH OF THE OX— See on Deuteronomy 25:4 and Raphelius on the place.... [ Continue Reading ]
ALTOGETHER— _On the whole._ It cannot be thought that God had no regard at all to the brute creatures, in such precepts as these; and therefore it is better to render παντως, by _on the whole,_ than _entirely,_ or _altogether;_ though that sense is more frequent. See Mintert, and Vigerus.... [ Continue Reading ]
PARTAKERS OF THIS POWER— It may be proper just to observe, that Matthew 10:1. John 17:2 and many other places prove, that εξουσιας υμων may properly be rendered _a power over you._ The Corinthians, considering the low rate at which Socrates taught, might have been induced to think that St. Paul was... [ Continue Reading ]
SHOULD LIVE OF THE GOSPEL— _That man might be_ said to _live on the Gospel,_ who was maintained for preaching it; as he might be said to live on the _temple,_ who was supported out of its income for ministering there. See Mede's _Diatrib._ on the place.... [ Continue Reading ]
BUT IF AGAINST MY WILL, &C.— _But if I do it merely because I am obliged to it, I only discharge an office which is committed to me:_ 1 Corinthians 9:18. _For what then shall I be rewarded?—It is for this, that preaching the Gospel of Christ, I preach it gratis; and do not insist upon_ [or _use_] _a... [ Continue Reading ]
SERVANT UNTO ALL— This is very emphatical, and intimates that he acted with as self-denying a regard to their interests, and as much caution not to offend them, as if he were absolutely in their power,—as a slave is in that of his master. See Doddridge.... [ Continue Reading ]
UNTO THE JEWS I BECAME AS A JEW, &C.— For an illustration of this, see Acts 16:3; Acts 21:21; Acts 21:40 which instances were undoubtedly a specimen of many more of the like kind. _As under the law,_ in the next clause, can only signify that he voluntarily complied with it as an indifferent thing; b... [ Continue Reading ]
THAT I MIGHT GAIN THEM THAT ARE WITHOUT LAW— This refers to the Gentiles not yet converted to Christianity.... [ Continue Reading ]
I AM MADE ALL THINGS— I am become, &c.... [ Continue Reading ]
THAT I MIGHT BE PARTAKER, &C.— _That I may share in its benefits._ Heylin. There is nothing for _with you_ in the original. The words seem to refer to the satisfaction which St. Paul found, in imparting the invaluable and inexhaustible blessings of the Gospel toall around him;—a sentiment most suita... [ Continue Reading ]
THEY WHICH RUN IN A RACE, &C.— The Apostle here refers to the _Isthmian games,_ so called from their being celebrated on the Corinthian Isthmus, or the neck of land which joins Peloponnesus to the continent. They are supposed to have been instituted in honour of Palaemon, or Melicertes, and Neptune.... [ Continue Reading ]
A CORRUPTIBLE CROWN— The Apostle alludes to the crowns at the Olympic games, which were formed of _garlands of leaves,_ which soon withered and perished, and which were the only rewards of the contenders in those games. In the _Olympic_ games, sacred to Jupiter, the crown was of _wild olive;_ in the... [ Continue Reading ]
I—RUN, NOT AS UNCERTAINLY— The _stadia,_ or courses of the Greeks, were like the courses of our horse-races, marked with posts and other signs, that shewed the racer which way he was to run, and of which he could not be ignorant; and the word rendered _uncertainly,_ is often used for _ignorantly._ I... [ Continue Reading ]