PUBLIC-DOMAIN CHRISTIAN BOOK
The Pulpit Commentary — 1 Corinthians
Frederic William Farrar [1831-1903] · 502,662 words · 564 reading sections
The Pulpit Commentary — 1 Corinthians — Section 301
Vers. 24, 25.-The Christian race. Nothing could be more natural, more effective, than an allusion of this kind, occurring as it does in a letter to residents at Corinth. The Isthmian games, celebrated in the neighbourhood of their own city, were to the inhabitants of this famous place a matter of the greatest concern…
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V ers. 1-15.-The support of the ministry. Paul recognizes a ministry set apart. J. 'l'HE RIGHT OF MINISTERS TO CLAIM ADEQUATE SUPPORT FROM THEIII PEOPLE. Enforced by: 1. .Analogy. (1) The soldier who gives his services to his country receives maintenance. (i) 'l'ho planter of a vineyard eats of its fruit. (3) 'l'he …
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precious thing in the world. Whilst men were seeking to save all other things, be would seek to save this. All other f(ain was as loss compared to the gain of a soul. 2. The fate of the lost soul. He saw the unsaved soul going down, getting further and :further from God, becomin~ viler, ripening for hell. The fearful w…
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II. CHRISTIAN LIFE IS A COl. . 'I'EST WITH ENEMIES. The" race" does not fully illustrate- it. We have opponents, many and resolute. We have a trinity against us as well as for us-the world, the flesh, and the devil. We have not only to "run," but to "fight." 111. Fon SUCCESS ARE NEEDED: 1. Preparation. For athletic…
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Confidence that will prompt to exertion, not confidence which kills effort. "Lest ... I myself should be a. casta.way." IV. Succ~;ss MEETS WITH REWARD. Contrast the crowns of earth with the crown of heaven. Many do so much for a corruptible crown, and we so little for an incorruptible one. A garland of leaves and a da…
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i_nsk1?ccs are adduced in illmtr,1tion ~,·er. 7). (L) 'l'he soldier. 'l'he duty of fighting !or Ins country throws the ~urden of Ins support upon others. ·why should it be other- wise with the Christian soldier (2 Tim. ii. 4)? (2) The husbandman. His labour is rewarded by the fruit. The minister of the gospel is als…
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Paul to decline it. To receive a rea~onable maintenance is to be in the best position for devoting one's self entirely to the mi11istry of the \Vonl. Ilut at all times it sbouhl be manifest that the servant of Christ does not act from mercenary motives. '1.'be shepherd is not to tend the flock for the sake of the fl…
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Vers. 24---27.-The i·ace for the prize. The thought introduced in ver. 23, that Paul's self-denial bad a reference to his own salvation as well as the salvation of others is here carried on and applied generally to all Christians. The imagery is derived from the Isthmian gan,cs celebrated in the neighbourhood of Cor…
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Ver. 16.-0ompulsory service. The apostle here affords us a passing glimpse of his own state of mind in reference to his high calling as a "preacher of the gospel." The revelaticn of the secret workings of an earnest human spirit must needs be deeply interesting to us, and most of all in the case of a man of such noble …
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eternal harvest. It is to C"l'ery man "none other than the savour of life unto life, o, of death unto death." II: THE SENSE OF PERSO:S-AL ~Nwo~TIIINESS. "Though I preach the gospel, I have nothmg to glory of." The consc10us dignity of his office is coupled with deep humility. "Who is snflkicnt for these things?" (2…
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thought, may hnve arrived at the conclusion that to forecast the nature or the duration of the penalty that will then fall on the transgressor is beyond our province, and that we can only take the l:rnguageof Scripture as it stands, without attempting to penetrate- the haze of 1lreadful mystery that hangs around it. Bu…
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Vers. 24-27.-Runningandfigliting. The crown of eternal life is here set forth as the issue of successful conflict with difficulties and foes. It would seem as if all Divine excellence must needs present itself to our minds as the negation of opposite forms of e"l'il. \Ve cannot think of God but as the "Licrht" that …
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is called to be tempemtc alike in all his thoughts, emotions, worc!s, and ways; in his joys and sorro,vs, his schemes and activitic's, his personal indulgences and personal mortifications; in his worldly ambitions, and even in the zeal of his religious life. But " the flesh" must needs be the chief occasion for the exe…
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disable the powers of the mind in hope of purifying the soul. Such has been the practice of men and wonien in the ascetic life, :ind ,it one time it took the form of a· frenzy, when the Flagcllants traversed a consideraLle part of Europe in long proces- sions, with covered faces, chanting penitential hymns, and cont…
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office which in no sense belonged to him. It will be seen from his letters that he was very jealous of his position as an apostle, and persisted in claiming the rights which belonged to the office. We may, therefore, recall to mind the general grounds on which he believed himself to be an apostle, and the more special …
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Vers. i-12.-The duty of supporting the ministry. The separation of certai11 rncmhcrs of the Christian Church to the specific work of the pastor, the teacher, or thc missionary, may be said to have begun at the election of the "seven," commonly called "deacons," which is nar:a~ed in Acts vi. 1-6. Then certain persons ga…
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take an individual and exceptional line. And he may do this withont opposition to others, without making himself in any way objectionable. St. Paul found sufficient reason for the adoption of a singular course of conduct in relation to his apostleship or ministry. He would receive nothing in a way of payment or reward …
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Y ers. 24-27.-The laws of the Christian race. The illustration used in these verses is one which St. Paul frequently employs, and we cannot but think that he must have actually seen some of these games, for the impression made by them on his mind is that which comes from personal observation and impression rather th…
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'\"er. 21.-The relation of personal consistency to public labours, The expression use,1 by the apostle here, and translated, "I keep under my body," is literally, "I strike under the eye; I beat black and blue" (comp. Luke xviii. 5). Mastery of the body, repression of the lusts and indulgences and evil inclinations of …
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EXPOSITION. CHAPTER X. Ver. 3.-And did a.II eat the same spiritual meat. As the cloud ond the Red Seu sym- Yers. 1-14.-Warnings against over-con• bolized the waters of baptism, so the manna .fideuce in rehrtion to idolatry and other and the water of the rock symbolized the ele- temptations. ments of the other Chl'…
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,of God, or of the Word (Logos), in nlmost they were specially warned not "to provoke," every incident of the deliverance from Egypt because "my Name is in him" (Exod. xxiii. nnd the wnnderings in the wilderness. 20, 21). Another reading is "the Lord." 'fhus in Wied. x. 15 and xi. 4 it is Wisdom "Christ" may have co…
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that these temptations were not superhuman, Ver. 17.-We being many a.re one bread, but were such ns men had resisted, nnd such and one body. It is easy to see how we aro as they could resist. God is faithful. He "one body," of which Christ is the Head,. had called them (eh. i. 9), and since he nnd we are the members…
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Their seats long after next the seat of ing no question for conscience sake, Do not God, trouble your conscience by scruples ansmg 'I'l!_eir nltcn·s by his altar, gods adored from needless investigation (avup/,.,,,) Among the nations round.'' about the food. (' Paradise Lost,' i.) Ver. 26.-For the earth is the Lord…
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circumstances necessarily invokes a differ- which has been compured with Rom. xiv. 16, encein the mode of Yicwing rnatt~rs which in " Let not your good bo evil spoken or."· themselves are unimportant. For the earth is Whichever view be taken, it is olear thnt the Lord's. It is doubtful whether the theoretically St. …
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I. THE MORAL RELATIONSHIP of the ages. Paul teaches here that the age of tlic Jew in the wilderness sustained a twofold relation to men of all future times-the relation of a representative and of an admonisher. 1. It was a representutive. Things that happened in the wilderness happened as "ensarnples." (1) Their blessi…
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Vers. 16-22.-The Chi-istian feast, "The cup of Llc,~ing which we bless, is it not the communion of the blood of Christ?" etc. 'Jhe text undoubLedly refers to the feast which Christ instituted the night on which he was betrayed, and tile words lead us to look at that feast in two aspects. I. As A MEDIUM FOR 6Plll11.'UA…
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fragrant in aroma, however hungry you may be, out of regard to that weak brother's conscience deny yourself. The most sacred thing under these heavens is the conscience. The weakest conscience should be respected; to wound the conscience is to wound the man. What are meats and drinks in comparison with a human conscien…
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into the principleK underlying psychology and physiology in their relations t0 spiritu,,, life. His own personal experience turned his thoughts to this study. Providence made him this sort of a student, and the Holy Ghost enlarged and sanctified his. investigations. Such thinkers generally come as precursors to scienti…
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a man may eat thereo~, and not. ~ie.''. Did not the miracle, wrought so lavishly for tile public, wrought without sohc1tat10n, seem to the excited multitude a siO'n 0 thu.t Christ was the national Messiah their hearts craved to have? Next day, he disen- chanted them by sweeping away the secular illusion and tellin(…
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communion; idolatrous feasts a communion w'ith demons; law, expediency, conscience. "Wherefore,'' says St. Paul, as a deduction from the foregoing argument," my dearly 'beloved," his heart kindled anew towards his brethren, "flee from idolatry." This ~read of idolatry is the key to what follows. Idolatry, in those day…
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hirn~elf, for its Jewish and Rornnn and workl-wide aspects, for its self-sacrifice for it a~ the divinely onlainc~ means _to r~concile God to man and man to God, he pr~pared lumself as one who realized the mfintteness of the act. Previously to the great passion- hour, nature had given him, of her own accord, no recogni…
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say to you, that ye cannot "drink the cnp" consecrated to the Lord and "drink the cup" consecrated by the heathen to their demons-deities to the Gentiles, evil spirits to Jews and Christians. For this use of the cup is an acknowledgment of fellowship with these "evil spirits," and a fraternization with their worshipper…
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Ver. 4.-" That spiritual Rock." There is no need, in explaining this passage, to suppose a reference on the part of the writer to the Jewish fable that the rock in question was rolled along with the advancing camp of Israel through the wilderness of "'andering, and th:-.t upon the chant of the chiefs," Spring up, 0 …
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"living water, of which whoso drinks shall not thirst again." The dying revive, the thirsting are satisfied, the weary arc refreshed, the labourers are cheered, as they together draw near to the spiritual fountains which flow from Christ. (4) The blessings which proce~d from Jesus proceed in an enduring and unfailing s…
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and by the light they cast upon the position and the hopes of the Christian. Heaven may seem to us" the laud which is very far off;" yet faith can bring it noar and make it ours even now. "E'en now by faith I see th<'e, E'en now thy woll~ discern, To thee my thoughts are kindled, And strive and pant and yearn." …
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these-infirmity and suffering or body; the brevity of its life, and its conseqUfmt insufficieucy for carrying out favourite schemes or studies; the limitation of the mental powers and. of knowledge; the imperfections of human society, civil, social, and religious. 2. There are such as may, at any time, be special to…
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Yer. 12.-The danger c:f selj-crm.fidence. To "Rtand" is to be and to continue upright in the Christian lifr, and they truly stand whoso character and habits a()'ree with their profession. To "fall" is to act with inconsistency, to yield to the tempter, to stumble over the stone of offence, to be caught by the snare …
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out of temptation." The faithfulness of a true and unchanging God is the anchor by which the tempted shall ride out the fiercest storm. 2. God effects this by the instru- mentality of his Word. This is" the sword of the Spirit." \\'hen Jesus was beset by; the adversary, he warded off every thrust by the power of the Sc…
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Vers. 16, 17.-Communion. This passage and another in the following chapter ,rnnld in themselves suffice to prove the antiquity of the Lord's Supper. And as this Epistle is of undisputed genuineness, it may be taken as established that the Eucharist has been observed in an unbroken chain from its institution by the F…
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Ver. 23.-Expedience and edification. Like a true rhetorician, as (in the best sense) Paul was, he_ took up the positions of his opponents, and turned them to good account for his own cause. Those of the Corinthians who adopted the laxer view .and practice with reference to association with idolatry, put forward the …
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~er. 31.-The aim of the Christian's life. Nothing is more characteristic of Paul's mind than the way in which, upon every suggestion, he ascends to great principles. He begins with what it seems must be a homely and practical and almost trivial discussion concerning idol-feasts. But now and again, before he quits th…
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Ver, 33.-Benevolence. Paul recommended to the Corinthians that course of conduct which he followed himself. As a religious teacher, he practised what he taught. And the lessons of his lips and of his pen were enforced with a tenfold power by the actions of his lifo. In nothing was this more observable anrl undeniable t…
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on, and they walked out qf the peril. They were hedged in, but God made for them ~ path throngh the waters. God always leaves one saie way for those whom he tarnurs. God helps us when we are at our wits' ent.l. Everything fails, but God never fails. 3. 'J'hey wei·e all "baptized unto Moses." They became his disciple…
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of the danger langbs at us. How low the privileged m,iy fall! The chosen people havr. become as moral scum and refuse. 4. '1.'hey tempted God. Or Christ, as the Angel (Exod. xxiii. 20) and Administrator of the Divine kingdom. By their sinfulness they tried the forbearance of God-they provoked him. Their unbelief and d…
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of temptation ha~ often been shown in the hour after temptation. l\fany who ha~e ial!en "into manifold temptations" have beeu led to "count it all joy" (Jas. i. 2). ll. To DE TEMPTED IS NOT TO srn. We need to remember this. Some sensitive natures conclude that they must be very sinful because they are so much tempte…
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the sacrifice is virtually offered to devils, partaking of it when it is in the form of a sacri- fice-this would not apply to meat sold in the shambles (ver. 25) or to meat at a friend's house (ver. 27)-involves fellowship with devils. Established by reference to: (1) Jewish sacrifices. Those who partook of these sacri…
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Ver. 31.-The great rule of life. I. WHAT IT IS. To seek the glory of God. There- ha,c been and are many life-rules; this alone is flawless. Many have themselves as life-ends. Some enjoin us to make the welfare of others our life-object, and preach to .is "the greatest happiness of the greatest number," which would p…
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Vers. 1-4.-Ancient types. These incidents of patriarchal history were typical of what belongs to the Christian age (ver. 11). A "type" is one of two things-it is either a figw·e and prophecy of something to come, the antitype, in which the idea of the type finds its full and complete unfolding; or it is the example and…
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following and obeying Christ. The supreme fact in the history of all the ages is Goel'~ redemption of the human rnce by Jesus Christ his Son. Through him God enters into a ne~ relatioll: to humanity. Iu him hu~anity rises into its true freedom and dignity. l3y ~1m the kmgdom of Go~ upon earth 1~ est-0.blished, consumma…
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creatural existence must needs be the glory of him who created it. In proportion ns we recognize the fact that all the springs of our being are in God, that all tbe faculties of our .iature, all the resources, materials, and relations of our life are from him, we shall feel that our existence answers its true end, l…
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Vers. 3, 4.-Meat and drink/or God's people. By a few master strokes of bis per. St. Paul indicated the typical significance of Israel's life in the wilderness. His object in these allusions to the Old Testament was to correct party spirit amona- the Greek Christians of the first century, by showing that, like the tr…
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is symbolized in the Lord's Supper. "The cup of blessing which we bless, is it not ~he communion of _the blood of Christ?" Other Scriptures follow more closely the ;idea of water guslnng from a rocky fountain. As the blood of Christ signifies his atonement, so the water is a sign of the communication of the Holy Ghos…
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V ers. 3, 4.-The spiritual meat and drink. Give account of the historical facts to which the apostle refers. It seems as if he had in mind also the Jewish tradition that the rock-i.e. a fragment broken off from the rock smitten by Moses-followed the Israelites through their journey. St. Paul sees, in that symbol of …
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Ver. 12.-&lf-secun'ty ia insecurity. Over-confidence in a religious profession is one :359 THE FIJST EPISTLE TO THE CORINTHIANS. [cH. x. 1-33. of the most perilous of Christian faults. He who presumes upon his position and his j,riYileges is only too likely to be unwatcbful of his conduct. A solemn lesson is ieame…
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Ver. 16.-The communion of souls in Christ. These words are uttered in illustration of an important practical principle, which St. Pan! is urging as sufficient to guide the Corinthians safely through many of the difficulties of the Uhristian life. Explain the question, which threatened to break up the unity and peace…
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II. THE VALUE OF A SYMBOLICAL ACT WHICH WILL ASSERT THAT COMMUNION. As in C\'erything, so in respect of symbols, two extremes are possible, and both are to be arnided. He is unhurnan who thinks he may refuse the help of any symbol. He is too human who multiplies symbols, glorifies symbols, until they occupy all his …
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and keep, de. Tltis is probably a quoto.lion found in eh. xv. 27, 28. 'fhis too is the from their letter. He tho.11ks them for tbis meo.niug of John xiv. 28, "My Father is kind messo.ge, but points out one po.rticulo.r greater tbo.n I." in which their pro.ctice wo.s not quite com- Ver. 4.-:Prophesying; thnt is, jJl'…
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..,-ith unveiled head in the presence of his Ver. 10.-To have power on her head. Father. Dishonoureth hie head. He dis- A great deal of irrelovant guesswork h11s honoureth his own head, which is os it were been written on this verse. Under this I\ sharer in the glory of Christ, who is Head head must be classed the i…
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plain words into impossible meanings. "His fair large front o.nd eye sublime The word "angels" cannot mean "Church declared officials," or "holy men," or "prophets," or Absolute rule; and hyaci11thi11e locks " de)euo.tee " or "bride,,room'a men " or Round from his parted forelock manly anything but angels. Nor con the …
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that these reports are ,oholly false. There so much in so short a time." But th~ must be some ground for them, even if the r<'mo.rk was, perho.ps, dictnted by the wholly facts ha,e been e:rno-o-eratcd. 0 mistaken fancy that the Church of tho Yer. 19.-There ~ust be also heresies apostolic days wo.s exceptionally pur…
1,012 wordsSource & rights
Public domain historical Pulpit Commentary. Source page identifies the volume as Public Domain; text extracted from its historical PDF.
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Historical Christian writing; not Scripture.