VIII. 1. Περὶ δὲ τῶν * εἰδωλοθύτων - οἴδαμεν, ὅτι πάντες Ῥγνῶσιν
i.25; 2 εν a ε ον eT Bank ᾱ 5 a > iy
xxi-25; ἔχομεν. ἡ ᾽γνῶσις "φυσιοῖ, ἡ δὲ ἀγάπη 3 οἰκοδομεῖ. 2. εἰ δέ 14, 20.
b In this disparaging sense, xiii. 2,8; Rom. ii. 20; 1 Tim. vi. 20; see also i. 5. c See iv. 6. din
this sense, x. 23, XIV. 4,17; 1 Th. v.11; Acts ix. 31, xx. 32; Mt. xvi. 18.
10m. δε SABP 17, 46, 73, vg. (older codd.), cop.
words, mastery of the situation.—The obj., τ. παρθένον, suggests the tacit com- plement to τηρεῖν (see parls.): “to keep intact, in what he believes to be the best state ’’ for the Lord’s service (Ed.). ‘‘ The will of the maiden is left wholly out of ‘court ’”? (Hn.) ; social custom ignored this factor in marriage; for all that, it might constitute the opposed ἀνάγκη, and might, in some circumstances, prac- tically limit the paternal ἐξουσία; see ver. 286, and note.
Ver. 38, the sum of the matter: either to marry one’s daughter or refuse her in marriage is, abstractly viewed, an honour- able course; the latter, in Paul’s judg- ment, and for Christians in the present posture of things, is better. ‘Ce bien et mieux résument tout le chapitre ” (Gd.).
Vv. 39, 40 dispose, by way of appendix to the case of the maiden and to the like effect, of the question of the re- marriage of Christian widows. Ver. 39 is repeated in almost identical terms, for another purpose, in Rom. vii. 2.—On δέδεται and γαμηθῆναι (cl. γαμεθῆναι), see vv. 27 f.; κοιµηθῃ, the term for Christian death (see parls.).—‘‘ She is free to be married to whom she will,” while the maiden is disposed of by her father’s will (36 f.); µόνον ἐν Κυρίῳ (cf. 2 Cor. vi. 14 ff., 1 Thess. iv. 3 ff.) forbids union with a heathen; it also forbids any union formed with un-Christian motives and otherwise than under Christ’s sanction (cf. Thess. iv. 4 f.).—‘* But more blessed she is” (µακαριωτέρα δέ: see parls.)— not merely happier by exemption from trouble (26 ff.), but religiously happier in her undivided devotion to the Lord (32 ff.\—“if she abide as she is”. This advice was largely followed in the Pauline Churches, so that before long widows came to be regularly enrolled for Church service (τ Tim. v. 3-16).- κατὰ τὴν ἐμὴν γνώµην (see note on 26): Paul’s advice, not command.—Sox@ δὲ Kayo κ.τ.λ. : “ However I think, for my own part (however others may deem of me), that i have (an inspiration of) God’s Spirit” (the anarthrous πνεῦμα Θεοῦ: cf. xii. 3, etc.); see for Paul’s claim to Divine guidance, extending to his opinions as
well as commands, ver. 25, ii. 10-16, iv. I, ix. 2, xiv. 37.—On δοκῶ, see note to iv. 9; it is the language of modesty, not misgiving. The Ap. commends his ad- vice in all these matters, conscious that it proceeds from the highest source and is not the outcome of mere human prudence or personal inclination. Division III. Contact witH IDoLa- TRY, Vili.-x. We have traced in the pre- vious chapters the disastrous reaction of the old leaven upon the new Christian kneading at Cor. But Christian society had its external as well as its internal problems—a fact already evident in the discussion of ch. vi. respecting the carry- ing of disputes to the heathen law-courts. A much larger difficulty, involving the whole problem of social intercourse between Christians and their heathen neighbours, had been raised by the Church Letter—the question περὶ τῶν εἰδωλοθύτων (viii. τ). Was it lawful for a Christian to eat flesh that had been: offered in sacrifice to an idol? Social festivities commonly partook ofa religious character, being conducted under the auspices of some deity, to whom libations were poured or to whom the animals consumed had been dedicated in sacri- fice. The ‘idol’s house” (viii. το) was. a rendezvous for banquets. Much of the meat on sale in the markets and found on ordinary tables came from the tem- ples; and without inquiry it was impos- sible to discriminate (x. 25-28). Jewish rule was uncompromisingly strict upon this point; and the letter of the Jerusalem Council, addressed to the Churches of Antioch, Syria, and Cilicia, had directed ‘the brethren from among the Gentiles” to “abstain from idolothyta” (Acts xv. 29). The Cor. Church, in consulting Paul, had expressed its own leaning towards liberty in this matter (viii.); what will the Ap. say? It is a real dilemma for him. He has to vindicate the broad principles of spiritual religion ; at the same time he must avoid wound- ing Jewish feeling, and must guard Gen- tile weakness against the seductions of heathen feasts and against the peril of relapsing into idolatry through inter-