The Pulpit Commentary — 1 Corinthians — Section 133

Christ. He could not BBY as before, "for exh"rt them to do right." As the filth of the Christ's salce;" for even thou!l;h he is using world. Tl,e Greek worrl kntharmata ha, tho lBnguago of irnny, "the pseudo-wisdom a techniccL! sense, in whi ,h it means "men of the CorinlhiBns hnd other motives." We devoted to death for purposes of expiation" are weBk. The consciousness of physical (homines piawlares). The word perilw- and personnl weakness weigl.ted he,ivily on tharmata ha!! the sense of '' sin offerings" the mind of St. Paul in momeuts of de- in Prov. xxb 18; Tobit v. 18. It is, however, pression (2 Cor. x. 10; xiii. 4). Ye are doubtful whether this meanicg- of the word honourable, but we Bre despised; literally, could have been at Bll familiar to Greek ye are glorious, but we are dishonoured. The readers, and it is only in a very general word " disl.tonoured" also means " disfran- nod distantly metaphorical sense that the chised." sufferingd of God's saints can be regardccl Ver. 11.-Unto this present hour. In BS, in any sense of t.he word, vicarious. It these three verses he draws a picture of the is better, therefore, here to retain the sens0 condition of the apostles, especially of the of "reruse" (purgamentr,, things vile arnl trials to which he was himself subjected, on worthless). The offscouring of all things; which the best comment is in 2 Cor. xi. perhaps rather, of all men. The word 23-27. This letter was written from peripsema means "a thing scraped off," and Ephesus, where he had so much to do and this word also was used in expiatory human to endure (Acts xx. 31). Hunger Bnd thirst. sacrifices, where the formula used to victims " In hunger and thirst, iII fastings often" thus flung into the sea, in times of plague (2 Cor. xi. 27). Are naked (Matt. xxv. 36; or famine, was, "Become our peripsema" Jas. ii. 15 ;_ Bild comp. 2 Cor. xi. 27). And (' Schol. on Ar.;' Plut., 456). Thus in are buffeted. 'fhe verb means li temlly, are Tobit (v. 18), Anna the wife of Tobias slapped in tit~ face (comp. 2 Cor. xii. 7). says, "Let the money be used as a peripsema Such insults, together with scourgings, fell for the child;" aml lgnatins uses the phrase, to the lot of St. Paul (Acts xxiii. 2, etc.) and "I am yonr peripsema." From this and th,· the othe1· apostles (Acts xvi. 23, 1 Pet. ii. similnr phrnsc in the Letter of Barnabas, •· I 20), as well as to that of their Lord ( ~iatt. am the peripsema of your love,'' it seems to xxvi. 57, etc.). It showed the utter contempt hnve become a current expression of tender- with which they were treated ; for though ness nmon g Christians, "l am your peri- St. Paul ougl1t to have been exempt from psema." Ilut in this case also it may be such violence, both us a freeman and 11 doubted whether the sacrificial idea wns Uomun citizen, he wus treated as vilely present in the apostle's mind. He is thinking as if he hnd been a mere foreign slave. of scenes which he hnd already faced and Have no certain dwelling-plaoe. This would have to foce hereai'ter, when moli, hornelessuess was nmoug the severest of nil shouted ngainst him tbnt he was "a pestilent ti-ials ( Matt. viii. 20 ; x. 23). fellow" (Acts xxiv. 5) and not fit to live Ver. 12.-LBbour, working with our own (Acts xxii. 22). hands. St. Paul supported himself by the Vers. H-21.-The pmctical steps which drenry toil and scant e.,rn ings of a leu t-mnker, he intends to take with reference to the,e in the express determination to be no bur,len pa,·ty divisions. upon his converts (Acts xviii. 3; xx. 3!; Ver. 14.-To BhBme you. Such seems to I Thess. ii. 9; 2 Thess. iii. 8; eh. ix. 6; be the meaning of the word, for it is so used 2 Cor. xi. 7, etc.). Such conduct wns the in the LXX. (compare the use of the verl, more noble because 1111 mechanical tmdes in 2 Thess. iii. H ; Titus ii. 8 ; and of the were looked down upon by the Greeks as substantive in eh. vi. 5; xv. 3-1). I we.1-n; a sort of banausia. And though it wns rntl,er, I admonish. St. Puul here gives the repellent nnd mechanicnl work to be reason why he canuot writo angrily or hnndling the slrong-sccuted black gonts' bitterly, even though he has used strone:· hair nil clay, yet by this lnbolll" he n,ain- expostulntion nml keen irony. It is becau,,· taine,l not only himself but also his brother he regnrds himself ns their spiritual father missionnries (Acts xx. 3-1). Being reviled. (comp. 2 Cor. vi. 13; xii. H, 15; 1 Thess. 'l'be eBrly Christians were falsely accused of ii. 11). the most execrable crimes, so thnt the very Ver. 15.-Teu thousBnd; never so many. name " Christian·• was regnrded us eq ui va- 'fho word in Greek is used in,lcliuitely. lent to" nmlef'\ctor" (1 Pet. iv. H, IG). We but here implie~ a touch of impatience at bless. Herein they obeyed the direct prP.cept the itch of tenching which seems to hum of our Lord (l\'f,1tt. v. 4-1), us well as his prcvniled at Corinth. Tutors; mther, peda- cxumplo (Luke xxiii. 44; 1 Pet. ii. 23; iii. 9). !IO!Jaes, in a technical sense. We have no Ver. 13.-Being defe.med, we entreat. exact cquivnlc:nt in English to the paida- The expression "we entreat" is very general. gogos, the slave who led boys to scl10ol. It m11y mean "we cntrrnit men not to spenk 'l'ho wor,\ also occurs in Gal. iii. 21, 25. tuus injuriously of us" (Calvin); or ·• we The father loves most, and hus the ncurer  13G 'l'IlE: FIHST EPISTLE TO '!'HE CORIN'l'HlANS. [cu. 1v. 1-21.