PART II. CHAPTER THE TENTH. OF THE FIRST EPISTLE TO THE CORINTHIANS. -II. DATE OF I. STATE OF THE CHURCH AT CORINTH. I. CORINTH, situated on the Isthmus which joins Peloponnesus to the rest of Greece, was at this time a place of extensive commerce, and the capital of the Roman province of Achaia. Near it were celebrated the Isthmian Games, to which the Apostle alludes in this Epistle. Its inhabitants were a very licentious and profligate people, and were great admirers of the sceptical philosophy of the Greeks. We have seen that St. Paul, in his first journey upon the continent of Europe, resided at Corinth about eighteen months, and that he planted a church there, which consisted chiefly of converts from heathenism. After he left this city, some false teachers, who are supposed to have been Jews by birth, endeavoured to alienate the converts from their attachment to him and his doctrine, by calling in question the authority of his mission, and by ridiculing the plain and simple style in which he delivered his instructions. They recommended themselves to their hearers by showing indulgence to their prejudices and vicious propensities, and by using those artificial ornaments of eloquence which had great effect upon their minds. Hence arose divisions and other irregularities among the Corinthian Christians, totally inconsistent with the genuine spirit of the Gospel. a II. This Epistle was written from Ephesus' in the beginning of the year 56°, during the Apostle's second visit to that city, in the second year of Nero's reign, and about three years after St. Paul had left Corinth. The immediate occasion of its being written was to answer some questions which the Corinthians had in a letter proposed to St. Paul; but before he enters upon that subject, he takes notice of the abuses and disorders which prevailed in the church at Corinth, and of which he had received private information, although they do not seem to have been mentioned or alluded to in the public letter. This letter is not now extant. a III. The Apostle begins with an affectionate Some learned men have thought, from 1 Cor. v. 9., that St. Paul wrote an epistle to the Corinthians before he wrote this. It is certain that no such epistle is quoted or alluded to by any ancient author now extant; and therefore others have supposed, which seems more probable, that in that passage St. Paul referred to the former part of this Epistle. Vide Jones's New Method, and Lardner at the end of vol. vi. b 1 Cor. xvi. 8. Vide Paley's Hor. Paul. iii. n. 12. The postscript or subscription to this Epistle, as printed in our Bibles, states that this Epistle was written from Philippi; but those postscripts make no part of the apostolical writings, and are not to be depended upon. Both Pearson and Mill say in the year 57; Lardner, in the spring of 56.-EDITOR. 1 Cor. i. 11, 12.; and v. 1. address to the Corinthians, and with congratulations upon their having received the Holy Ghost." He then exhorts to harmony and union, and condemns the parties and factions into which they had formed themselves; he vindicates his own character, justifies the manner in which he had preached the Gospel to them, and shows the futility of all human learning, when compared with the excellency of the Gospel of Christ." He orders that a man, who had married his father's wife, should be publicly excommunicated; and directs the Corinthians not to associate with any person of a notoriously wicked life; he blames them for carrying their disputes before heathen courts of judicature, and advises them to settle their differences among themselves; he condemns the sin of fornication, and cautions them against indulgence in sensual pleasures, to which the Corinthians in general were addicted in the highest degree.d After discussing these points, St. Paul proceeds to answer the questions which the Corinthians had put to him; and he begins with those relative to the marriage state, upon which subject he gives a variety of directions; he next considers the lawfulness of Christians eating the meat of sacrifices which had been offered to heathen idols, and warns them against making the liberty, which he allows, an occasion of giving offence; he asserts his right as an Apostle to a maintenance from his a i. 1-9. bi. 10. to the end of iv. C V. f a disciples, although he had never accepted any money from the Corinthian converts; and because the false teachers had contrived to make this disinterestedness a ground of reproach to St. Paul, he points out the superior motives by which the ministers of the Gospel were animated to bear the hardships of their ministry, above those which induced the Greeks to submit to the labour of contending at their public games. He directs that women should not pray or prophesy in public unveiled; and by this subject he is led to speak of some irregularities of which the Corinthians had been guilty in celebrating the Lord's Supper, but which were probably not noticed in the letter to the Apostle; and he afterwards gives an account of the institution of that sacrament. He then discourses concerning spiritual gifts, and explains the nature and extent of Christian charity; he enumerates the proofs of Christ's resurrection, deduces from it the certainty of the general resurrection of the dead, and in a forcible strain of eloquence answers some objections which were urged against that fundamental doctrine of the Gospel. In the last chapter, St. Paul gives directions concerning the collections to be made for the poor Christians of Judæa, promises to visit the Corinthians, and concludes with friendly admonitions and salutations. e d Epistle relates principally to the then state of the church at Corinth; but the truths and instructions which it contains, are of the greatest importance to the Christians of every age and country. It was sent to Corinth by Titus, who was directed to bring an account to St. Paul of the manner in which it was received by the Corinthians. |