| vee 9ο. The ground of Paul’s hope for the ultimate welfare of the Cor. is God’s fidelity. His gifts are bestowed on a wise and settled plan (21, Rom. viii. 28 ff., xi. 29); His word, with it His character, is pledged to the salvation of those who believe in His Son: πιστὸς 6 Θεὸς δι’ οὗ ἐκλήθητε = πιστὸς ὁ καλῶν of τ Thess. v. 23 f.; the formula πιστὸς 6 λόγος of the Past. Epp. is not very different. δι οὗ is ‘through (older Eng., by) whom you were called”; cf. διὰ θελήµατος Θεοῦ (1, see note), and δι οὗ . . . τὰ πάντα (of God, Rom. xi. 36); similarly in Gal. iv. 7: God had manifestly interposed to bring the Cor. into the communion of Christ (see, further, 26-28); His voice sounded in the ears of the Cor. when the Gospel summons reached them (cf. 1 Thess. i1. 13). Christ (8) and God are both therefore security for the perfecting of their Christian life. —God’s accepted call has brought the readers ets κοινωνίαν τοῦ υἱοῦ αὐτοῦ ᾿Ρησοῦ Χριστοῦ τοῦ κυρίου ἡμῶν--ἶ.ε., not “into a communion (or partnership) with His Son Jesus Christ our Lord”’ (nowhere else has this noun an objective
762
d iv. 16, xvi. 15; fre- quent in
ΠΡΟΣ ΚΟΡΙΝΘΙΟΥΣ A iy
Το. “Mapaxah@ δὲ Spas, ἀδελφοί, "διὰ τοῦ " ὀνόματος τοῦ Κυρίου.
νεος, Ἰησοῦ Χριστοῦ, ἵνα ‘rd ' αὐτὸ λέγητε πάντες καὶ ph ᾖ ἐν ὑμῖν © σχίσ-
in P.;also Heb. xiii. 19, 22; 1 Pet.; Jude 8- Bu a οι ιν. ee
gen. of the person: see parls.), but ‘into a communion belonging to (and named after) God’s Son,” of which He is founder, centre and sum. In this fellowship the Cor. partake “with all those that call on the name of our Lord Jesus Christ’ (2) ; κοινωνία denotes collective participation. The κοινωνία τ. viod is the same, both in content and constituency, as the κοινωνία τ. πνεύματος (see xii. 13, 2 Cor. xili. 13, Phil. ii. 1, Eph. iv. 4-6). Its content— that which the Cor. share in—is sonship to God, since it is ‘‘a communion of His Son,’’ with Christ for ‘“ first-born among many brethren” (Rom. viii. 29 f.; cf. Heb. ii. 10-16), and consequent Aeirship to God (Rom. viii. 17, Gal. 11. 26-iv. 7). The title ‘‘our Lord,’’ added to ‘“ His Son Jesus Christ,’’ invests the Christian communion with present grandeur and certifies its hope of glory; Christ’s glory lies in His full manifestation as Lord (xv. 25, Phil. ii. rz), and its glorification is wrapped up in His (2 Thess. i. 12, ii. 14; alsox Thess. ii. 12). Wer. g sustains and crowns the hope expressed in ver. 8. For κοινωνία, see further the notes on x. 16 {.
Division I. THE CORINTHIAN PARTIES AND THE GOSPEL MINISTRY, 1. I0-iv. 21. Paul could not honestly give thanks for the actual condition of the Cor. Church. The reason for this omission at once appears. The Church is rent with factions, which ranged them- selves under the names of the leading Christian teachers. On the causes of these divisions see Introduction, Chap. i. Out of their crude and childish experience (iii. 1-4) the Cor. are constructing pre- maturely a γνῶσις of their own (viii. 1, see note), a σοφία resembling that “ wis- dom of the world ”’ which is “‘ foolishness with God” (18 ff., 30, ili. 18 f., iv. 9 f.) ; they think themselves already above the mere λόγος τοῦ σταύρου brought by the Ap., wherein, simple as it appeared, there lay the wisdom and the power of God, This conceit had been stimulated, unwittingly on his part, by the preaching of Apollos. ΟΠ. iii. 3-7 shows that it is the Apollonian faction which most exercises Paul’s thoughts at present; the irony of i. 18-31 and iv. 6-13 is aimed at the partisans of Ap., who exalted his ὑπεροχὴ λόγου κ. σοφίας in disparage-
6 Acts iv. 30, x. 43 g xi. 18, xii. 25; Jo. vii. 43, ix. 16, x. 19.