touching himself and Cephas and Apollos, because even then you had formed factions.’’ Like other post-apostolic writers, Clement shows an imperfect grasp of Pauline teaching, but his Salutation, with §§ xxiv., xxxiv. 8, xxxvii., xlix., and Ixv. 2, bears unmistakable impressions of this Epistle. The Epistle of Barnabas (iv. 9-11, v. 6, vi. 5, xvi. 7-10; Hermas, Mand. iv. 4 (cf. 1 Cor. vii. 99); Ignatius, Ad Eph., xvi., xviii., Ad Rom., iv. 3, v. 1, ix. 2; Polycarp, Ad Phil., x. 2, Ad Diognetum, xii. 5; the Didaché, i. 5, iii. 3, iv. 3, x. 6, etc., attest the use of this writing in primitive Christian times. Prom Irenzeus onwards it is quoted as Holy Scripture. The Gnostics used it with predilection. The testimony of early Christianity to its Pauline authorship and Apostolic authority is unequivocal! and full.
But our Epistle did not at first take a leading place among N.T. writings. Its influence has been “ broken and fitful”. It had little to say directly upon the questions (except that of the Resurrection) which chiefly interested the ante-Nicene Church. Tertullian, how- ever, expounded it in his Adv. Marcionem ; and Origen wrote anno- tations, partly preserved in Cramer’s Catena. In the fourth century, when “controversies on Church discipline and morals began to sway the minds of thoughtful men, this Epistle came to the front ”’ (Edwards). Many of the Church leaders of that time wrote upon 1 Corinthians. Only fragments of the Greek commentators éarlier than John Chrysostom (+407 a.p.) are extant; later expositors— the most notable, Theodoret (420 a.p.), Oecumenius (ο. 950), Theo- phylact (1078)—built upon him; his versatile powers shine in the exposition of this Epistle. The Latin commentaries of Pelagius (for long ascribed to Jerome) and of Ambrosiaster (Hilary of Rome ?) testify to the wide use of this Scripture in the West in the fourth and fifth centuries. To Thomas Aquinas we owe the only interpre- tation of value bequeathed by the Middle Ages. Though subordin- ated, like all medizeval exegesis, to scholastic theology, his exposition contains fresh and vigorous thought.
Colet’s Oxford Lectures on this Epistle (Α.Ρ. 1496), and the N.T. Paraphrase of Erasmus (1519), breathe the new spirit of the Refor- mation, which brought 1 Corinthians to the front again, along with Romans and Galatians. The adjustment of liberty and order, the application of evangelical faith to secular life, the reconstitution of the Church with its sacraments and ministry started a multitude of problems calling for its aid. Calvin excelled himself in his interpre- tation of this Epistle, offending many of his followers by his breadth and candour. Estius, his Romanist contemporary, is no mean rival. Amongst the German Reformers, Melanchthon, W. Musculus, Bui-