although ctSoiXov is constantly employed in that version in the sense oi false gods. For then ye must needs go out of the world. This is the reason why the apostle did not prohibit all intercourse with wicked men. We should have to seek another world to live in.
11. But now I have written unto you not to keep company, if any man that is called a brother be a forni- cator, or covetous, or an idolater, or a railer, or a drunk- ard, or an extortioner ; with such an one no not to eat.
Hut now {yvvX Se). If taken in the ordinary sense, these particles refer to time. ' In the former epistle I wrote to you so and so, hut now I write to you, &c.' They may have an inferential sense — therefore. ' Since ye cannot go out of the world, therefore I wrote unto you.' The apostle is explaining the meaning of what he had written. ' I did not write this, but I wrote, i. e. I meant, this.' This explanation best suits the context, and agrees better with the force of the tense (eypaxf/a) here used ; for although the aorist of this verb is used in the epistolary style in reference to the letter m the pro- cess of writing, it is not used to express what is about to be written. The command is not to associate with any one who is called a brother', and yet is a fornicator, or covetous, or an idolater, or a railer (slanderer), or a drunkard, or an extor- tioner. A man in professing to be a Christian professes to re- nounce all these sins ; if he does not act consistently with his profession, he is not to be recognized as a Christian. We are not to do any thing which would sanction the assumption that the offences here referred to are tolerated by the gospel. It may appear strange that Paul should assume that any one call- ing himself a Christian could be an idolater. By idolatry, however, he understands not merely the intentional and con- scious worship of false gods, but doing any thing which, according to the common judgment of men, expresses such worship. Thus eating sacrifices within the precincts of a temple was an act of heathen worship, as much as par- taking of the Lord's supper is an act of Christian worship. And yet some of the Corinthians did not hesitate to eat of heathen sacrifices under those circumstances, 10, 14-22. The principle laid down by the apostle is, that to join in the reh- gious rites of any people is to join in their worship, whether we so intend it or not.