βρώματί σου ἐκεῖνον ἀπόλλυε, ὑπὲρ οὗ Χριστὸς ἀπέθανε.
) βλασφημείσθω οὖν ὑμῶν τὸ ἀγαθόν.
τοῦ | Θεοῦ βρῶσις καὶ πόσις, ἀλλὰ δικαιοσύνη καὶ εἰρήνη καὶ χαρὰ ἐν Πνεύματι ᾽Αγίῳ: 18. ὁ γὰρ ἐν τούτοις] δουλεύων τῷ Χριστῷ
17. οὗ γάρ ἐστιν ἡ βασιλεία 2.
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16. Μὴ h Ch. iii. 8.
ir Cor. iv.
Matt. vi. 24; Ch. xvi. 18; Eph. vi. 7; Col. iii. 24.
1 For εν τουτοις $°D5L read εν τούτω with ΝΙΑΒΟΡ)Ε and all edd.
thy brother is grieved. βρῶμα is the food which the strong eats in spite of his brother’s scruples. λυπεῖται need not imply that the weak is induced, against his conscience, to eat also (though that is contemplated as follow- ing); it may quite well express the un- easiness and distress with which the weak sees the strong pursue a line of conduct which his conscience cannot approve. Even to cause such pain as this is a violation of the law of Christ. He who does it has ceased to walk κατὰ ἀγάπην, according to love, which is the supreme Christian rule. In the sense of this, and at the same time aware that the weak in these circumstances may easily be cajoled or overborne into doing what his conscience disapproves, the Apostle exclaims abruptly, μὴ τῷ Bpopart σον ἐκεῖνον ἀπόλλνε ὑπὲρ οὗ Χριστὸς ἀπέθανεν. Το tamper with conscience, it is here implied, is ruin: and the selfish man who so uses his Christian liberty as to lead a weak brother to tamper with his conscience is art and part in that ruin. The wanton contempt such liberty shows for the spirit and example of Christ is emphasised both here and in 1 Cor. viii. 11 f. Ne pluris feceris tuum cibum quam Christus vitam suam.
Ver. 16. μὴ βλασφημείσθω οὖν ὑμῶν τὸ ἀγαθόνε τὸ ἄγαθόν is somewhat in definite. It has been taken (1) as the good common to all Christians — the Messianic salvation—which will be blas- phemed by the non-Christian, when they see the wantonness with which Christians rob each other of it by such conduct as Paul reprobates in ver. 15; and (2) as Christian liberty, the freedom of con- science which has been won by Christ, but which will inevitably get a bad name if it is exercised in an inconsiderate loveless fashion. The latter meaning alone seems relevant. For βλασφ. see 1 Cor. x. 30.
Ver. 17. Insistence and strife on such matters are inconsistent with Christian- ity: οὐ γάρ ἐστιν κ.τ.λ. Usually in Paul ἡ βασιλεία τοῦ θεοῦ is transcendent; the kingdom is that which comes with the second advent, and is the inheritance of believers ; it is essentially (as it is called