The Pulpit Commentary — 1 Corinthians — Section 360

that these reports are ,oholly false. There so much in so short a time." But th~ must be some ground for them, even if the r<'mo.rk was, perho.ps, dictnted by the wholly facts ha,e been e:rno-o-eratcd. 0 mistaken fancy that the Church of tho Yer. 19.-There ~ust be also heresies apostolic days wo.s exceptionally pure. On -among you. It results from the inevitable the contrarv, manv of the heathen converts decrees of the Divine proviilence. "It is were unabie at ouce to break the spell of impossible but that offences will come" their old habits, o.nd few monern Churches (Luke xvii. 11). Heresies. The word does present a. spectacle so deplornble as that not mean "erroneous opinions," but party which we here find in the aposlolic Church factions. Originally the word only means of Corinth. It is quite obvious that Church " a choice," anil is not used in a bad sense; discipline must have been almost in abey- but since the opinionath-encss of men pushes ance if such gro.ve scandals could exist "a choice" into a '' party," and since it is the uncorrected o.nd apparently unreproved. in.ariable tendency of a party to degenerate Ver. 22.-To eat and to drink in. The into a "faction," tl1e word soon acquires o. object of the agape was something higher bad sense (see its use in Acts v. 17: :s:v. 5; than the mere gro.tification of appetite. xxiv. 5, 14; :s::s:viii. 22; Gal. v. 20: Titus Though not a sacrament, it was an accom- iii. 10; 2 Pet. ii. 1; and Gieseler, • Church po.niment of the Lord's Supper, and was Hist.,' i. 149). The mutually railing factions, itself intended to be a symbolical and sacred which in their Church newspapers and else- meal. Despise ye the Church of God 1 The "here bandy about their fo.lse and rival congregation of your fellow-Christians. charges of :, heresy," are illustrating the Sha.me ; rather, disgrace, or put to shame. ,irulence of the very sin which they are Them that ha.ve not. It would be natural professing to ilenounce-the sin of factious- to supply" houses." But the commentatord ness. That they which are approved me.y found it difficult to suppose tho.t any of the be made manifest e.mong you. Similarly Corinthians had not "houses to eo.t and to St. John (1 John ii. 19) speaks of the o.berra- drink in." Hence most commentators give tions of false teachers as destined to prove to the phrase its classic sense, in which" those that tl1ey did not belong to the true Church. who have" means the rich, o.nd "those who -Goon is educed out of seeming evil (Jas. i. 3; have not," the poor. They seem, however, 1 Pet. i. 6, 7). Approved; standing the test to have forgotten that slaves at any rate (dolcinwi), the opposite of the "reprobate" could hardly be said to have "houses of (adokimoi) of eh. ix. 27. their own," and it is certain that not o. few Ver. 20.-Into one place. There were as of the Corinthian Christians were slaves. yet no churches. The Lord's Supper was I praise you not. As in ver. 17, this is an held in pri va.te houses. This is not; or per- instance of what is called litotes, a mild haps, it is not possible. The Lord's Supper. expression, suggesting a meaning much The fact that there is no article in the stronger tho.n the words tl.iemselves. For. Greek shows the early prevalence of this He is about to give his reason for thus name for the Eucharist. strongly blaming their irregularities. Ver. 21.-For in eating; rather, in your Ver. 23.-I have received; rather, I re- eating. Every one. All who have them- ceived. Ho thus refers the revelation to selves contributed a. share to the common some specio.l tiine, and this seems to point .meal. Taketh before other hie own supper. to the cone! usion that he is not referring to It is as if they had come together only to any account of the institution of the Lord's eat, not to partake of n holy sacrament. Supper, which mo.y have been given him by The ahuse rose from the connection of the St. Peter or one of the twelve, hut to some Lord's Supper with the agape, or love-feast, immediate 1·evelation from Christ. The a social gathering of Christian brothers, to terms in which ho describes the institution which each, as in the Greek eranoi, or '' club- of the Eucharist resemble most nearly those feasts," contributed his share. The abuse of St. Luke, who may very probably ho.ve led to the separation of the agape from the derh-ed his information from St. Paul. Holy Communion, and ultimately to the This passage should be compared with Mo.tt. entire disuse of the former at religious xxvi. 26-29; l\Iark xiv. 22-25; Luke xxii. gatherings. One is hungry. The poor mo.n, 19, 20. Was betrayed; ro.ther, was being who has been unable to contribute to the betrayed. weal which was intended to be an exhibition Ver. 24.-When he ha.d given thanks. of Christian love, looked on with grudging The same worn is used in St. Luke (,~- eyes and craving nppelile, while the rich xap<ITTT/<Tas ), and is the origin of the name had more than enough. Is drunken. " St. Eucho.rist. St. Mark and perhnps St. l\f utthew Paul draws the picture in strong colours, have "having blessed it" (eulogesas). Hence and who can say that the reality was less the I◄:11chn1·ist is " this our sacrifice of praise ,strong?" (Meyer). Calvin says, "It is por- and tho.nksgiving." Take, eat. 'fhese words te11tous that Salan should have occomplished o.re omitted by 1111 the best uncials. Whick ou. XI. 1-34.] THE FIRST EPISTLE TO THE CORINTHIANS. 305