order enforced by the community, so that individual talents may be combined for the common good (xiv. 26-33). To the direction of these matters a manly practical sense must be applied; “the under- standing” aids the service of “the spirit” (xiv. 14-20).
This charismatic ministry, diffused through the body of Christ, is the basis of all Christian agency. As yet there are only “ func- tions, not formal offices” (Hort); the function is anterior to the office, and may exist without it. Each man in the Church of Corinth spontaneously speaks, sings, serves in whatever fashion (xiv. 26), in virtue of his xdpiopa,—the particular form which the common Χάρις assumes in him for the benefit of others. The realisation of the life of Christ in the Christian Society is the aim imposed on each Christian by the Spirit whose indwelling makes him such.
3. The teaching of the Epistle takes a wide outlook in its con- sideration of the relations of the Christian to the world. This relationship is exhibited mainly on its negative side. The believer in Christ, “‘ elect’ and “ sanctified” (i. 2, 27), built on the founda- tion of Jesus Christ into God’s temple, is separated from the world. The Spirit he has from God makes him a πνευματικός; he has new faculties, and lives in a changed order of things. There are two worlds—a new world of the Spirit formed within the old κόσμος but utterly distinct from it, unintelligible to it, and destined soon to overthrow and displace it (i. 25-29, ii. 6-14, iii. 18 f., vii. 31).
(1) With the world’s stn the Church of God holds truceless war. Living in the world, Christians cannot avoid contact with its “ forni- cators, extortioners,’’ and the rest ; but it can and must keep them out of its ranks (v. 9-13); the old leaven is to be ‘‘ cleansed out” of the “new kneading,” since Christ is our paschal lamb (ν. 6-8). The ‘sin of the world culminates in its idolatry ; from this the Corinthians, unconditionally, must “ flee ” (x. 1-14).
(2) The Apostle recognises the natural order of life as one who sees through and beyond it. He cherishes, up to this date, the hope of his Lord’s speedy return (xv. 51 f.). Hence the provisional char- acter of his advices respecting marriage in chap. vii. He writes ata juncture of suspense, when men should keep themselves free from needless ties. He admits the necessity of marriage in the case of many Corinthians, and applies the law of Christ carefully to the mixed unions so troublesome at Corinth. He fears for his disciples the burdens imposed by domestic cares in times so uncertain, and in a society at war with the world. Christians may not “ go out of the world,’ nor cease to “use” it; but they must hold it lightly and refrain from “ using it to the full” η