The Pulpit Commentary — 1 Corinthians — Section 5

1mttrrs is perf0ct.ly valueless, spoke of him thnt the actual resembled the ideal. 'fhey as'· one of the S<'Vent.y disciples, and Ilishop nc,·er conceal the immense chasm which of Colophon" (Euscbius, 'Hist. Eccl.,' i. 12). scp,iratcd the rmtl condition of m,my mem- Th,,rc is a Jewish Sosthenes, A. ruler of the bers of theil' Churches from the voco.tion synagogue, in A,:it,; xviii. 17; but it is only which they professed. They knew also that a vo.gue conjecture that he may have been it is (as Calvin says)" a perilous tempto.tion subsequently converted, and may have to refuse the name of Oh urch to every joined St. Paul at Ephesus. It is obl'ious Church in wliich there is not perfect that the persons named in the greeting·s of purity." Ideally even the Corinthian Chris- tile Epistlt's were not in any way snppos0d tinns were redeemed by Christ's expintion, to be responsible for their contents, for St. consecrated and sanctified by the work of Paul begins "ith "I" in ver. 4. Brother. the Holy Spirit. They could ouly be ad- At tl,is time there was no recognized title dressed in accordo.nce with their ostensible for Christians. In the Acts they are rnguely position (see Hooker, 'Eccl. Pol.,' iii. 1; v. spoken of as " those of this way." Among 68 ). Our Prayer-book is constructed on the themselves they were known as "the same principle. The harvest is still a har- saints," "the faithful," "the elect." The vest, though among•t the corn there may be name "Christians" was originally a nick- many tares. In Christ Jesus. The words, name dedscd hy the Antiochenes. In the "in Christ," constitute what bas been Kew Testament it only occurs ns a designa- happily called "the monogram of St. Paul." tion used by enemies (Acts :i:i. 26; xxvi. 28; The life of the true Christian is no longer l Pet. iv. 16). his own. The Christ for him has become Yer. 2.-Unto the Church. This form the Chri~t in him. His natural life is of address is used in 1 and 2 Thes- merged into a higher spiritual life. liap- sa.lonians, 1 and 2 Corinthians, and Gnla- tized into Christ, he has become one with tians. In St. Paul's Inter Epistles, for Christ. Called to be saints. (On this Chris- some unknown reason, he prefers tlie ad- tian calling, see Eph. iv. 1, 4; 2 Thess. i.11 ; dress "to the snints." These forms of 2 Tim. i. 9; Heh. iii. 1; 2 Pet. i. 10.) They address show the absence of any fixed are called to be united saints, not schismatic ecclesiastical gornrnment. He does not in partisans or members of antagonistic cliques. this Epistle address o.ny "bishops" or The description of what they were ideally is "presb)·ters" whom he might regard as the more emphatic because he feels how much responsible for thi, growing disorders which they had fallen away. With all that . . . prevailed at Curinth, but he appeals to the in every place. Perhaps this may mean thti whole Church. The word eccZesia-signily- same as 2 Cor. i. 1," With all the saints that i11g those who were "called out of the are in the whole of Achaia;" or the words world," and so primarily applied to "the may imply that St. Paul's exhortations are congregation of Israel "-came ultimately applicable to all Christians, wherever they to mean "a congregation." The only may be and (as is expressed in the next apostle who uses the word "synagogue" of clause) whatever may be their varyi11g the Christian assemblies ia St. James shades of individual opinion. It was well (ii. 2). Of God. Not the Church of this in any case to remind the Corinthians that or that party leader. Some commentators they formed but a fraction of the Christian give to these words an <'mphasis and impor- communities. Catholicity, not provincialism, tance which does not seem to belong to them. makes the true Chlll'ch of God. Call upon Which ia at Corinth. So in 2 Uor. i. 2. the Name. The Greek verb is here in the In l and 2 Thessalonfons he prefers the middle voice, not " who are called by the form, "the Church of the Thessalonians." Name"(comp.Jas. ii.7; Amosix.12, LXX,). "The Church at Corinth" was an expres- It meaus, therefore, all who 1·everence the sion which involved the sba,·pest of con- Name of Christ, all who adore their one trasts. It brought into juxtaposition the " Lord " in the fulneso of his nature ( see holiest ideal of the new faith and the Joel iii. 5; Acts ii. 21; Rom. x. 24; 2 Tim. vilest degradatiollB of the old pa,:anism. ii. 22, etc.); in other words, "all who pro- It was "a glad and great paradox " fess and call themselves Christians" (comp. (Bengel), The condition of society at Acts xxv. 11). Their Lord and OW'&. I con- Corint\J, at once depraved and sophis- nect these words, not with "place," as in the tical, throws light on many parts of the Vulgate, In omni loco ipsorum et nostro- Epistle. Cicero describes the city as "illus- which, however it may be twisted, co.n give trious alike for wantonness, opulence, and no good sense-but with "Jesus Christ." the study of philosophy." Even them that It hns been in all ages a fatal temptation are sanctified. The apostles could only write of party Christians to claim a monopoly of 1o Churches as being really Churches, and to Christ for tliemsel ves and their own sects, Christians as being true Christians. In all as though they only taught the gospel, and geueral addresses they could only absllwe were the only Christians or the only -0H. 1. 1--31.) THE Fil!8T EPISTLE TO THE COP.INTHIANS. 3