Ver. 6 ff. At this point an application, apparently, is made of what has been said in vers. 4 and 5, but the grammar is very difficult. Both A.V.and R.V. supply what is needed in order to read the verses as an exhortation; thus in ver. 6, “Jet us prophesy”; in ver. 7, “let us wait” ; and in ver. 8, answering to the change of construction in the Greek, ‘‘let him do it”. This is the simplest way out of the difficulty, and is followed by many scholars (Meyer, Lipsius, Gifford). But it is not beyond doubt, and there is some- thing to say for the more rigorous con- struction adopted by Weiss and others, who put only a comma after µέλη at the
Cor. iv. 7. end of ver. 5, and construe ἔχοντες with Ver. 4f. καθάπερ yap: For language ἐσμεν. In either case, there is an apo- WOU, τν, 44
690
2
g Here only. ® ἀναλογίαν τῆς πίστεως αμ
” , ~ εἴτε Stakoviav, ἐν τῇ διακονία. ite
aA / ~ ~ 6 διδάσκων, ἐν τῇ διδασκαλία" 8. etre 6 παρακαλῶν, ἐν τῇ παρα-
κλήσει' ὁ μεταδιδοὺς, ἐν ἁπλότητι ' ὁ προϊστάμενος, ἐν σπουδῇ °
ς
ὁ ἐλεῶν, ἐν ἱλαρότητι.
dosis to be supplied; but while in the former case it is hinted at in the second half of every clause (as is seen in our English Bibles), in the latter it is simply forgotten. It is as if Paul had said,‘“‘ We are members one of another, and have gifts differing according to the grace given to us; our gift may be prophecy, prophecy in the proportion of our faith; it may be διακονία in the sphere appro- priate for that; another instance would be that of the teacher in his department, or of the exhorter in his ; or again you may have the distributor, whose gift is in the form of ἁπλότης; or the ruler, who is divinely qualified for his function by the gift of σπουδή, moral earnestness ; or the man who to show mercy is en- dowed with a cheerful disposition”. All this requires an apodosis, but partly because of its length, partly because of the changes in construction as the Apostle proceeds, the apodosis is over- looked. Its import, however, would not vary, as in the A.V., from clause to clause, but would be’the same for all the clauses together. Even with the ordin- ary punctuation, which puts a period at the end of ver. 5, I prefer this reading of the passage. The varying apodoses supplied in the English Bible to the separate clauses are really irrelevant ; what is wanted is a common apodosis to the whole conception. ‘* Now having gifts differing according to the grace given to us—as one may see by glancing at the phenomena of church life—let us use them with humility (remembering that they are gifts) and with love (inasmuch as we are members one of another).” It is easier to suppose that the construction was suspended, and gradually changed, with some general conclusion like this before the mind from the beginning, than that it broke down, so to speak, as soon as it began; which we must suppose if we insert mpopytevopev in νετ. 6. But it is not a question which can be infallibly decided. It ought to be observed that there is no hint of anything official in this passage; all ministry is a function of membership in the body, and every member has the function of ministry to some intent or other. χαρίσματα: i. 11, τ σοι, ασ κά. 4 οἱ 8, 1 IP. ἵν. πο.
With the exception of 1 P. iv. 10 (which is not without relation to this passage) Paul alone uses χάρισμα in the N.T. Every χάρισμα is a gift of the Holy Spirit given to the believer for the good of the Church. Some were supernatural (gifts of healings, etc.), others spiritual in the narrower sense: this passage is the best illustration of the word. τὴν δοθεῖσαν, sc., when we believed. προ- φητείαν κατὰ τὴν ἀναλογίαν τῆς πίστεως. προφητεία is the highest of χαρίσματα, t Cor. xiv. 1 ff. When one has it, he has it κατὰ τὴν ἀναλογ. τῆς πίστεως = in the proportion of his faith. The faith meant is that referred to in ver. 3, the measure of which is assigned by God: and since this is the case, it is obviously absurd for a man to give himself airs— ὑπερφρονεῖν--οπ the strength of being a προφήτης: this would amount to for- getting that in whatever degree he has the gift, he owes it absolutely to God. The expression προφητείαν κατὰ τὴν ἀναλογίαν τῆς πίστεως implies that the more faith one has—the more com- pletely Christian he is—the greater the prophetic endowment will be. [In theology, “the analogy of the faith” is used in quite a different sense, though it was supposed to be justified by this passage. To interpret Scripture, e.g., according to the analogy of the faith meant to interpret the parts, especially difficult or obscure parts, in consistency with the whole. The scope of the whole, again, was supposed to be represented in the creed or rule of faith; and to interpret κατὰ τ. G. τ. πίστεως meant simply not to run counter to the creed. In the passage before us this is an anachronism as well as an irrelevance. There was no rule of faith when the Apostle was thinking out the original interpretation of Christianity contained in this epistle; and there is no exhorta- tion or warning, but only a description of fact, in the words.] διακονία as opposed to προφητεία and the other functions mentioned here probably refers to such services as were material rather than spiritual: they were spiritual how- ever (though connected only with help- ing the poor, or with the place or forms of worship) because prompted by the Spirit and done in it. One who has this