252 WORD STUDIES IN THE NEW TESTAMENT. [Cu. XL
render brotherhood and words of the covenant. In Philo it has the same sense as in the Septuagint, and covenant is its invari- able sense in the New Testament.
26. Ye do shew (katayyédnere). Rev., better, proclaim. It is more than represent or signify. The Lord’s death is preached in the celebration of the Eucharist. Compare Exodus xiii. 8, thow shalt shew. In the Jewish passover the word Haggadah denoted the historical explanation of the meaning of the passover rites given by the father to the son. Dr. Schaff says of the eucharistic service of the apostolic age: “The four- teenth chapter of first Corinthians makes the impression—to use an American phrase—of a religious meeting thrown open. Everybody who had a spiritual gift, whether it was the gift of tongues, of interpretation, of prophecy, or of sober, didactic teaching, had a right to speak, to pray, and to sing. Even women exercised their gifts” (“Introduction to the Didache”). See, further, on ch. xiv. 33.
27. Unworthily (dvakiws). Defined by “not discerning the Lord’s body,” ver. 29.
Guilty (évoyos). See on Mark iii. 29; Jas. ii. 10.
28. So. After self-examination and consequent knowledge of his spiritual state.
29. Unworthily. Omit.
Damnation (xpiua). See on Mark xvi. 16; John ix. 39. This false and horrible rendering has destroyed the peace of more sincere and earnest souls than any other misread passage in the New Testament. It has kept hundreds from the Lord’s table. Kpiwa is a temporary judgment, and so is distinguished from KaTaxpia condemnation, from which this temporary judgment is intended to save the participant. The distinction appears in ver. 32 (see note). The A. V. of the whole passage, 28-34, is marked by a confusion of the renderings of xpivew to judge and its compounds.*
* See Lightfoot, ‘‘On a Fresh Revision of the New Testament.”
Cu. XI.] THE FIRST EPISTLE TO THE CORINTHIANS. 258
Not discerning (4 dvaxpivev). Rev., if he discern not, bringing out the conditional force of the negative particle. The verb primarily means to separate, and hence to make a dis- tinction, discriminate. Rev., in margin, discriminating. Such also is the primary meaning of discern (discernere to part or separate), so that discerning implies a mental act of discrim- inating between different things. So Bacon: ‘“ Nothing more variable than voices, yet men can likewise discern these per- sonally.” This sense has possibly become a little obscured in popular usage. From this the transition is easy and natural to the sense of doubting, disputing, judging, all of these involving the recognition of differences. The object of the discrimina- tion here referred to, may, I think, be regarded as complex. After Paul’s words (vv. 20, 22), about the degradation of the Lord’s Supper, the discrimination between the Lord’s body and common food may naturally be contemplated; but further, such discernment of the peculiar significance and sacredness of the Lord’s body as shall make him shrink from profanation and shall stimulate him to penitence and faith.
The Lord’s body. Omit Zord’s and read the body. This adds force to discerning.
30. Weak and sickly. Physical visitations on account of profanation of the Lord’s table.
Many sleep (xoiuavras ixavol). The word for many means, primarily, adequate, sufficient. See on Rom. xv. 23. Rev., not a few hardly expresses the ominous shading of the word : quite enough have died. Sleep. Better, are sleeping. Here simply as a synonym for are dead, without the peculiar restful sense which christian sentiment so commonly conveys into it. See on Acts vii. 60; 2 Pet. iil. 4.
31. We would judge (dvexpivowev). An illustration of the confusion in rendering referred to under ver. 29. This is the same word as discerning in ver. 29, but the A. V. recognizes no distinction between it, and judged (éxpwopueda) immediately following. Render, as Rev., if we discerned ourselves ; i.¢., examined and formed a right estimate.