20. Scribe (ypaupareds). Always in the New Testament in the Jewish sense, an interpreter of the law, except Acts xix. 35, the town-clerk.
Disputer (cufmrntijs). Only here. Compare the kindred verb cufnréw to question with, Mark i. 27; Luke xxii. 23; Acts vi. 9; and cufjrnots disputation, Acts xv. 2,7. Referring to Grecian sophistical reasoners, while scribe refers to rabbinical hair-splitters.
World (aidvos). See on John i. 9. More correctly, age or period.
Made foolish (€u@pavev). Proved it to be practical folly ; stupefied it. Compare Rom. i. 22. Possibly with a latent sug- gestion of the judicial power of God to make it foolish.
21. After that (ézrecd7)). Rev., correctly, seeing that.
By wisdom (dia tis copias). Better, as Rev., giving the force of the article, “through z¢s wisdom.”
Preaching (xnpvyyartos). Not the act, but the swbstance of preaching. Compare ver. 28.
To save (c@ca). The word was technically used in the Old Testament of deliverance at the Messiah’s coming; of salvation from the penalties of the messianic judgment, or from the evils which obstruct the messianic deliverance. See Joel ii. 32; Matt. i. 21; compare Acts 11.40. Paul uses it in the ethical sense, to make one a partaker of the salvation which is
Cu. L] THE FIRST EPISTLE TO THE CORINTHIANS. 193
through Christ. Edwards calls attention to the foregleam of this christian conception of the word in the closing paragraph or Plato’s “‘ Republic: ” “And thus, Glaucon, the tale has been saved, and has not perished, and will save (c@cevev) us if we are obedient to the word spoken, and we shall pass safely over the river of forgetfulness and our soul will not be defiled.”
22. The Jews. Omit the article. Among the Jews many had become Christians.
Require (airodow). Rey., ask. But it is questionable whether the A. V. is not preferable. The word sometimes takes the sense of demand, as Luke xii. 48; 1 Pet. iii. 15; and this sense accords well with the haughty attitude of the Jews, demanding of all apostolic religions their proofs and credentials. See Matt. xii. 38; xvi. 1; John vi. 30.
Greeks. See on Acts vi. 1.
Seek after (Sytoidcw). Appropriate to the Greeks in con- trast with the Jews. The Jews claimed to possess the truth: the Greeks were seekers, speculators (compare Acts xvii. 23) after what they called by the general name of wisdom.
Christ crucified (Xpucrov éotaupwpévov). Not the crucified Christ, but Christ as crucified, not a sign-shower nor a philo- sopher; and consequently a scandal to the Jew and folly to the Gentile.
Unto the Greeks (“Enddnov). The correct reading is €9veow to the Gentiles. So Rev. Though “Eddnves Greeks, is equiva- lent to Gentiles in the New Testament when used in antithesis to Jews, yet in this passage Paul seems to have in mind the Greeks as representing gentile wisdom and culture.
25. The foolishness (76 pwpov). Lit., the foolish thing. More specific than the abstract uwpla foolishness (vv. 18, 21), and pointing to the fact of Christ crucified.
26. Calling («Ajow). Not condition of life, but your calling by God ; not depending on wisdom, power, or lineage.
Noble (evyeveis). Of high birth. So originally, though as
Greece became democratic, it came to signify merely the better Vou. III.—13
194 WORD STUDIES IN THE NEW TESTAMENT. (Cu. IL
sort of freemen. Plato applies it to the children of native Athenians (“Menexenus,” 237). Aeschylus makes Clytaem- nestra say to the captive Cassandra that if slavery must befall one there is an advantage in having masters of ancient family property instead of those who have become unexpectedly rich (“ Agamemnon,” 1010).
9%. Hath chosen. The threefold repetition of the word emphasizes the deliberate and free action of God’s gracious will.
98. Base (dayevq). Of no family. The reverse of evryevets noble.
Despised (é£ovIevnuéva). Lit., sed at nought. Not merely despised, but expressly branded with contempt. See Luke y-o-anb le Ail