10Ο a τ Cor. iv. 8; Gal. v.
12. b Vv. 17, 21;
kal ἀνέχεσθε * μου.
ΧΙ. τ. *"Odedov! ἀνείχεσθέ 3 μου μικρὸν τῇ ὃ " ἀφροσύνῃ - ἀλλὰ 2. “ ζηλῶ γὰρ ὑμᾶς Θεοῦ ὅ ζήλῳ " "ἡρμοσάμην
ΜΚ. vii. γὰρ ὑμᾶς ἑνὶ ἀνδρὶ, παρθένον ἁγνὴν " παραστῆσαι τῷ Χριστῷ 3.
81; Gal. ἵν. 17. d Κεβ.ν 7 7. e Here only. f Reff. vii. 11. 1. kReff.iv.2. 1 Reff. vii. 4.
ος Cor, xii. φοβοῦμαι δὲ " μή δ ἢ πως, ds ὁ ' ὄφις Εὔαν ὃ ' ἐξηπάτησεν ev" τῇ .Κ πανουργίᾳ αὑτοῦ, οὕτω 8. ᾿ φθαρῇ τὰ "νοήματα ὑμῶν ἀπὸ τῆς i.
g Reff. iv. 14. τῇ Reff. ii. 11.
h Chap. xii.20; Gal.iv. 11. i Gen. iii.
1 DcEGKL have ὠφελον (cf. 1 Cor. iv. 8); οφελον BMP. 2 A few minuscules have οφελον ηνειχεσθε. .
> KLP support ty αφροσννῃ; ΝΒΡΕΜ 17 have (preferably) τι αφροσννης, and
there are minor variants. * S$ has αλλα και ανασχεσθε.
ὅ For µηπως G has μηποτε and D* has µη.
6 DEKL, the Harclean, ἃ, e, f, r, vg. support-the order Ev. εξηπ.; but NBGMP 17,
g and the Bohairic give εξηπ. Ev. 7 Ὁ)" omits εν.
8 DbcEKLM, f, vg. and the Syriac support οντω φθαρῃ; better om. ουτω (asa marginal gloss) with 4,BD*GP 17, d, e, g, τ and the Bohairic.
Ver. 2. ζηλῶ γὰρ ὑμᾶς κιτιλ.: for I am jealous over you with a godly jealousy (cf. Zech. i. 14, and for Θεοῦ tide cf. Acts xxii. 3, Rom. x. 2; this ‘ jealousy” of St. Paulis on behalf of God); for I espoused you to one husband, that I might present you as a pure virgin to Christ, sc., at His Coming. The figure of Israel as a Bride presented to Jehovah as the Bride- groom was frequently used by the 0.T. prophets (Isa. liv. 5, lxii. 5, Hosea ii. 19) ; and, according to the Rabbis, Moses was the bridesman or paranymph. Here St. Paul conceives of himself as the para- nymph (cf. John iii. 29) who presents the Church as a pure Bride (cf. Rev. xxi. 2) to Christ, the heavenly Spouse, the ‘* one husband" to whom she is bound to remain faithful. Some critics have found here an echo of Christ's words at Matt. ix. 15, XxV. 1-12; but the similarity does not extend further than the employment of the same image demands. ἁρμόζω in the act. is regularly used of the father of the bride; in the pass. of the bride her- self (Prov. xix. 14); and in the mid. generally of the bridegroom, but some- times (as here) of others.
Ver. 3. φοβοῦμαι δὲ μή πως κ.τ.λ.: but I fear lest by any means, as “ the serpent beguiled" Eve in his craftiness (in Gen. iii, x the serpent is called φρονιμώτατος, but St. Paul changes the word to indicate the baseness of the serpent’s wisdom. Aristotle uses πανονρ- yia in direct contrast to φρόνησις ; cf. Nic. Eth., vi., 12), your minds should be corrupted from the simplicity and the
purity (cf. chap. vi. 6) that is toward
hrist. It would appear that the belief of the synagogues was that the serpent literally “ seduced” Eve (cf. 4 max xviii. 6-8, and Iren., contra Haer., i., 307), and it is probably in reference to this that St. Paul substitutes the stronger word ἐξαπατάω (as he does at 1 Tim. ii. 14) for the simple verb ἆπατ. of Gen. iii. 13. Carrying on the metaphor of ver. 2, he expresses his anxiety lest the Corinthian Church, the Bride of Christ, should be seduced by the devil from her singleness of affection νά 1 Macc. ii. 37, 60, and see on viii. 2 for ἁπλότης) and her purity, and so should be guilty of spiritual fornica- tion. He assumes that “the serpent” is to be identified with Satan, the tempter of mankind, as he does also at Rom. xvi. 20; the earliest trace of this identi- fication, which has become so familiar, is Wisd. ii. 24, cf. Rev. xii.g,xx.2. He now gives the reason of his anxiety, lest they should fall away ; viz., they were show- ing themselves too willing to listen to strange teachings.