An Exposition, With Practical Observations, of
THE FIRST EPISTLE OF ST. PAUL TO THE
CORINTHIANS
Corinth
was a principal city of Greece, in that particular division of it which was
called Achaia. It was situated on the isthmus (or neck of land) that
joined Peloponnesus to the rest of Greece, on the southern side, and had two
ports adjoining, one at the bottom of the Corinthian Gulf, called Lechaeum,
not far from the city, whence they traded to Italy and the west, the other at
the bottom of the Sinus Saronicus, called Cenchrea, at a more remote
distance, whence they traded to Asia. From this situation, it is no wonder that
Corinth should be a place of great trade and wealth; and, as affluence is apt
to produce luxury of all kinds, neither is it to be wondered at if a place so
famous for wealth and arts should be infamous for vice. It was in a particular
manner noted for fornication, insomuch that a Corinthian woman was a
proverbial phrase for a strumpet, and korinthiazein,
korinthiasesthai—to play the Corinthian, is
to play the whore, or indulge whorish inclinations. Yet in this lewd city did
Paul, by the blessing of God on his labours, plant and raise a Christian
church, chiefly among the Gentiles, as seems very probable from the history of
this matter, Acts 18:1–18, compared with some passages in this epistle,
particularly 12:2, where the apostle tells them, You know that you wee
Gentiles, carried away to those dumb idols even as you were led, though it
is not improbable that many Jewish converts might be also among them, for we
are told that Crispus, the chief ruler of the synagogue, believed on the
Lord, with all his house, Acts 18:8. He continued in this city nearly two
years, as is plain from Acts 18:11 and 18 compared, and laboured with great
success, being encouraged by a divine vision assuring him God had much
people in that city, Acts 18:9, 10. Nor did he use to stay long in a place
where his ministry met not with acceptance and success.
Some time
after he left them he wrote this epistle to them, to water what he had planted
and rectify some gross disorders which during his absence had been introduced,
partly from the interest some false teacher or teachers had obtained amongst
them, and partly from the leaven of their old maxims and manners, that had not
been thoroughly purged out by the Christian principles they had entertained.
And it is but too visible how much their wealth had helped to corrupt their
manners, from the several faults for which the apostle reprehends them. Pride,
avarice, luxury, lust (the natural offspring of a carnal and corrupt mind), are
all fed and prompted by outward affluence. And with all these either the body
of this people or some particular persons among them are here charged by the
apostle. Their pride discovered itself in their parties and factions, and the
notorious disorders they committed in the exercise of their spiritual gifts.
And this vice was not wholly fed by their wealth, but by the insight they had
into the Greek learning and philosophy. Some of the ancients tell us that the
city abounded with rhetoricians and philosophers. And these were men naturally
vain, full of self-conceit, and apt to despise the plain doctrine of the
gospel, because it did not feed the curiosity of an inquisitive and disputing
temper, nor please the ear with artful speeches and a flow of fine words. Their
avarice was manifest in their law-suits and litigations about meum—mine,
and tuum—thine, before heathen judges. Their luxury appeared in more
instances than one, in their dress, in their debauching themselves even at the
Lord’s table, when the rich, who were most faulty on this account, were guilty
also of a very proud and criminal contempt of their poor brethren. Their lust broke
out in a most flagrant and infamous instance, such as had not been named among
the Gentiles, not spoken of without detestation-that a man should have his
father’s wife, either as his wife, or so as to commit fornication with her.
This indeed seems to be the fault of a particular person; but the whole church
were to blame that they had his crime in no greater abhorrence, that they could
endure one of such very corrupt morals and of so flagitious a behaviour among
them. But their participation in his sin was yet greater, if, as some of the
ancients tell us, they were puffed up on behalf of the great learning and
eloquence of this incestuous person. And it is plain from other passages of the
epistle that they were not so entirely free from their former lewd inclinations
as not to need very strict cautions and strong arguments against fornication:
see 6:9-20. The pride of their learning had also carried many of them so far as
to disbelieve or dispute against the doctrine of the resurrection. It is not
improbable that they treated this question problematically, as they did many
questions in philosophy, and tried their skill by arguing it pro and con.
It is
manifest from this state of things that there was much that deserved
reprehension, and needed correction, in this church. And the apostle, under the
direction and influence of the Holy Spirit, sets himself to do both with all
wisdom and faithfulness, and with a due mixture of tenderness and authority, as
became one in so elevated and important a station in the church. After a short
introduction at the beginning of the epistle, he first blames them for their
discord and factions, enters into the origin and source of them, shows them how
much pride and vanity, and the affectation of science, and learning, and eloquence,
flattered by false teachers, contributed to the scandalous schism; and
prescribes humility, and submission to divine instruction, the teaching of God
by his Spirit, both by external revelation and internal illumination, as a
remedy for the evils that abounded amongst them. He shows them the vanity of
their pretended science and eloquence on many accounts. This he does through
the first four chapters. In the fifth he treats of the case of the incestuous
person, and orders him to be put out from among them. Nor is what the ancients
say improbable, that this incestuous person was a man in great esteem, and head
of one party at least among them. The apostle seems to tax them with being
puffed up on his account, 5:2. In the sixth chapter he blames them for their
law-suits, carried on before heathen judges, when their disputes about property
should have been amicably determined amongst themselves, and in the close of
the chapter warns them against the sin of fornication, and urges his caution
with a variety of arguments. In the seventh chapter he gives advice upon a case
of conscience, which some of that church had proposed to him in an epistle,
about marriage, and shows it to be appointed of God as a remedy against
fornication, that the ties of it were not dissolved, though a husband or wife
continued a heathen, when the other became a Christian; and, in short, that
Christianity made no change in men’s civil states and relations. He gives also
some directions here about virgins, in answer, as is probable, to the
Corinthians’ enquiries. In the eighth he directs them about meats offered to
idols, and cautions them against abusing their Christian liberty. From this he
also takes occasion, in the ninth chapter, to expatiate a little on his own
conduct upon this head of liberty. For, though he might have insisted on a
maintenance from the churches where he ministered, he waived this demand, that he
might make the gospel of Christ without charge, and did in other things
comply with and suit himself to the tempers and circumstances of those among
whom he laboured, for their good. In the tenth chapter he dissuades them, from
the example of the Jews, against having communion with idolaters, by eating of
their sacrifices, inasmuch as they could not be at once partakers of the Lord’s
table and the table of devils, though they were not bound to enquire concerning
meat sold in the shambles, or set before them at a feast made by unbelievers,
whether it were a part of the idol-sacrifices or no, but were at liberty to eat
without asking questions. In the eleventh chapter he gives direction about
their habit in public worship, blames them for their gross irregularities and
scandalous disorders in receiving the Lord’s supper, and solemnly warns them
against the abuse of so sacred an institution. In the twelfth chapter he enters
on the consideration of spiritual gifts, which were poured forth in great
abundance on this church, upon which they were not a little elated. He tells
them, in this chapter, that all came from the same original, and were all
directed to the same end. They issued from one Spirit, and were intended for
the good of the church, and must be abused when they were not made to minister
to this purpose. Towards the close he informs them that they were indeed valuable
gifts, but he could recommend to them something far more excellent, upon which
he breaks out, in the thirteenth chapter, into the commendation and
characteristics of charity. And them, in the fourteenth, he directs them how to
keep up decency and order in the churches in the use of their spiritual gifts,
in which they seem to have been exceedingly irregular, through pride of their
gifts and a vanity of showing them. The fifteenth chapter is taken up in
confirming and explaining the great doctrine of the resurrection. The last
chapter consists of some particular advices and salutations; and thus the
epistle closes.
Excerpt from:
Matthew Henry's Commentary on the Whole Bible
Matthew Henry (1662 - 1714)
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