388
~ , e τῶν Κορινθίων ἀκούοντες ἐπίστευον καὶ ἐβαπτίζοντο.
g. Εἶπε δὲ 6
Κύριος δι᾽ ὁράματος ἐν νυκτὶ τῷ Παύλῳ, Μὴ φοβοῦ, ἀλλὰ Adder καὶ μὴ σιωπήσῃς" 10. διότι ἐγώ εἰμι μετὰ god, καὶ οὐδεὶς ἐπιθήσεταί σοι τοῦ κακῶσαί ve διότι λαός ἐστί por πολὺς ἐν τῇ πόλει ταύτῃ.
Ver. 8. Κρίσπος, cf. 1 Cor. i. 14, coincidence with, admitted by McGiffert, p. 269 (so too by Holtzmann), “no reason to doubt that he is the man whose conversion Luke reports,” ac- cording to tradition he became Bishop of Aigina, Const. Apost., vii., 46. Though a Jew he bore a Latin name, cf. for a parallel case J. Lightfoot, Hor. Heb., in loco.—é ἂρχισ., if we cf. ver. 17 it looks as if in the Corinthian synagogue there was only one person bearing this titie, and that Sosthenes succeeded Crispus when the latter became a Christian, see ‘‘ Cor- inth” (Ramsay), Hastings’ B.D., i., p. 482, and see also Ramsay, Expositor, April, 1895, and above on xiii. 15: on the reason of St. Paul’s baptism of Cris- pus, Gaius, Stephanas, see B.D.?, and Hastings’ Β.Γ., µ.5. There is certainly no ground for supposing that St. Paul depreciated baptism although he baptised so few in Corinth with his own hands, Speaker's Commentary on 1 Cor. i. 17. It is evident from this notice that St. Paul’s preaching had not been without its effect on the Jewish residents, and probably one reason why the feeling against the Apostle was so strong, xx. 3, was because this influence extended to persons of importance in Corinth; the next words show good results among the Gentile population of the city.—otv ὅλῳ τῷ οἴκῳ, cf. xvi. 15, I Cor. i. 16.---τῶν Κ., not Ἰουδαῖοι, who are always so called, but Ἑλληνες, ver. 4, including for the most part ‘“‘proselytes of the gate”.— ἀκού. ἐπίστευον καὶ ἐβαπτ.: “used to hear, and believe, and receive baptism,” imperfects; the spread of the new faith was gradual but continuous. ἀκού. is taken by some to refer to the hearing of the fact that Paul had separated himself from the synagogue (so Wendt, Weiss) ; see critical note.
Ver. 9. So at other crises in the Apostle’s life, cf. xxii. 17, xxvii. 23. —é Κ., i.e., Jesus.—pn Φοβοῦ, cf. Isa. xlii. 6, xlili. 2, and for the phrase Luke i. 13, ii, 10, Vv. 10, viii. 50, xii. 7, 32, Acts, in loco, and xxvii. 24, char- acteristic of the Evangelist ; Friedrich, Ρ. 35, and Plummer on Luke i. 13. Cf. xx. 3 for the continued malignity of these
Corinthian Jews; the Apostle’s apprehen- ' sion as expressed here is confirmed by
the statements in 1 Thess. ii. 15, iii. 7, which describe the Jewish opposition as existing at the time he wrote (see this fully acknowledged by McGiffert, Apos- tolic Age, p. 270). Hilgenfeld sees no reason to refer vv. g and ro to the Re- viser (with Jingst). He finds them in his source C of which they are characteristic, cf. xvi. 9, το; the vision refers not to what had preceded, but to what follows, and explains the stay of Paul at Corinth mentioned in νετ. 11.—aAAG λάλει καὶ ἡ σιωπ., {.ε., “continue to speak,” “‘speak on,” cf. Isa. Iviii. 1, affirmation and negation; solemnity in the double form; see too Jer. 1. 6-8, xv. 15-21; on the form of the tenses see Weiss, in loco. In x Cor. il. 3, 4 we have a proof of the effect of this assurance, and of the confidence with which the Apostle was inspired.
Ver. 10. διότι ἐγώ: fundamentum jfiducia, Bengel.—ém6.: only here in this sense, but so in LXX, aggrediri, cf. Gen. xliii. 18, Exod. xxi. 14, 2 Chron. xxiii. 13, Jud. xvi. 7.--τοῦ κακῶσαι: infinitive with τοῦ, probably to express conceived or intended result, Burton, p. 157 and also p. 148, {.ε., an event indi- cated by the context not to have actually taken place.—Aads: ‘“‘qui mei sunt et mei fient”: Bengel—even in Corinth, proverbial for its vice, Christ has His ‘*chosen people,” and in Cenchreae, where all the vices of a seafaring population found a home, “ Christianity wrought its miracle,” so Renan, Saint Paul, p. 219, cf. the Apostle’s own description, 1 Cor. vi. g-t1: ‘in Corinth the Gospel had been put to a supreme test, and nowhere had it triumphed more gloriously”. No wonder that in facing this stronghold of the powers of darkness St. Paul needed an assurance similar to that which cheered the heart of an Elijah, 1 Kings xix. 18. But whilst the new faith thus gained adherents chiefly from the lowest social grade, cf. also 1 Cor. i. 26, which indicates that there were some in the higher social ranks and some versed in the learning of the schools who welcomed the Gospel; to a Crispus, a Gaius, a Stephanas, we may add Erastus, the public treasurer of the city, Rom. xvi. 23, an office which in a place like Corinth carried with it con- siderable influence and position (as even