1 ▼. 20 impurity, lasciviousness; idolatry, witchcraft; enmities, strife, jealousy, passionate anger; intrigues, divisions, sectarian parties; envy, murder; 21 drunkenness, revellings, and such like. Of which I forewarn you (as I told you also in times past), that they who do such things shall not inherit the 22 kingdom of God. But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, long-suf23 fering, kindness, goodness, trustfulness, gentleness, self-denial. Against such there is no Law. 24 the more party against spiritual But they who are Christ's have crucified' the Flesh, with its Warning to 25 passions and its lusts. If we live by the Spirit, let our steps enlightened 26 be guided by the Spirit. Let us not become vainglorious, pro- pride. vi. 1 voking one another to strife, regarding one another with envy. Brethren, -I speak to you who call yourselves the Spiritual, even if any one be overtaken in a fault, do you correct such a man in a spirit of meekness; 2 and take thou heed to thyself, lest thou also be tempted. Bear ye one 8 another's burdens, and so fulfil the law of Christ. For, if any man exalts himself, thinking to be something when he is nothing, he deceives 4 himself with vain imaginations. Rather let every man examine his own work, and then his boasting will concern himself alone, and not his neigh5 bor; for each will bear the load [of sin] which is his own," [instead of magnifying the load which is his brother's]. 6 Provision to be made for the mainte nance of the presbyters (in Moreover, let him who is receiving instruction in the Word give to his instructor a share in all the good things which he 7 possesses. Do not deceive yourselves-God cannot be de8 frauded. Every man shall reap as he has sown. The man who now 1 The profession of magical arts. The history of the times in which St. Paul lived is full of the crimes committed by those who professed such arts. We have seen him brought into contact with such persons at Ephesus already. They dealt in poisons also, which accounts for the use of the term etymologically. 2 For this word, compare Rom. ii. 8, and note. Also 2 Cor. xii. 20. 3 The word seems to have this meaning here; for faith (in its larger sense) could not be classed as one among a number of the constituent parts of love. See 1 Cor. xiii. + Some translate this aorist "crucified the flesh [at the time of their baptism or their conversion.]" But it is more natural to take it structors). as used for the perfect. See notes on 2 Cor. vii. 2, and Rom. v. 5. 5 "Ye that are spiritual." See p. 391. • The allusion here is apparently to Esop's well-known fable. It is unfortunate, that, in the Authorized Version, two words (v. 2) are translated by the same term burder, which seems to make St. Paul contradict himself. His meaning is, that self-examination will prevent us from comparing ourselves boastfully with our neighbor: we shall have enough to do with our own sins, without scrutinizing his. By the Word is meant the doctrines of Chris tianity. 8 Literally, "God is not mocked," i. e. God is not really deceived by hypocrites, who think to reap where they have not sown. vi. sows for his own Flesh shall reap therefrom a harvest doomed to perish; but he who sows for the Spirit shall from the Spirit reap the harvest of life eternal. But let us continue in well-doing, and not be weary: 2 for in 9 due season we shall reap, if we faint not. Therefore, as we have oppor- 10 tunity, let us do good to all men, but especially to our brethren in the household of Faith. Autograph conclusion. Observe the size of the characters in which I write to you 11 with my own hand. I tell you that they who wish to have a good repute in things pertain- 12 ing to the Flesh, they, and they alone, are forcing circumcision upon you; and that only to save themselves from the persecution which' Christ bore upon the cross. For even they who circumcise themselves do 13 not keep the Law; but they wish to have you circumcised, that your obedience to the fleshly ordinance may give them a ground of boasting. But as for me, far be it from me to boast, save only in the cross of our 14 Lord Jesus Christ; whereby the world is crucified unto me, and I unto the world. For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision is any thing, nor 15 1 See Rom. viii. 21. 2 Compare 2 Thess. iii. 13, where the expression is almost exactly the same. 8 This opportunity (time) is suggested by the preceding season (time); but the verbal identity cannot with advantage be retained here in English. 4 Thus we must understand the phrase, unless we suppose (with Tholuck) that "how large" is used for "what kind of," as in the later Greek of the Byzantine writers. To take "characters" as equivalent to "letter " appears inadmissible. St. Paul does not here say that he wrote the whole Epistle with his own hand ; but this is the beginning of his usual autograph postscript, and equivalent to the "so I write" in 2 Thess. iii. 17. We may observe as a further confirmation of this view, that scarcely any Epistle bears more evident marks than this of having been written from dictation. The writer of this note received a letter from the venerable Neander a few months before his death, which illustrated this point in a manner the more interesting, because he (Neander) takes a different view of this passage. His letter is written in the fair and flowing hand of an amanuensis, but it ends with a few irregular 9 lines in large and rugged characters, written by himself, and explaining the cause of his needing the services of an amanuensis, namely, the weakness of his eyes (probably the very malady of St. Paul). It was impossible to read this autograph without thinking of the present passage, and observing that he might have expressed himself in the very words of St. Paul: "Behold! in what large characters I have written to thee with my own hand." [The words are given in uncial characters on the next page. H.] The past tense, used, according to the classical epistolary style, from the position of the readers. The "they" is emphatic. 7 Literally, that they may not be persecuted with the cross of Christ. Cf. 2 Cor. i. 5 (the sufferings of Christ). Literally, that they may boast in your flesh. To understand the full force of such expressions as "to boast in the cross," we must remember that the cross (the instrument of punishment of the vilest malefactors) was associated with all that was most odious, contemptible, and horrible in the minds of that generation, just as the word gibbet would be now. vi. 16 uncircumcision; but a new creation.1 And whosoever shall walk by this rule, peace and mercy be upon them, and upon all the Israel of God.2 Henceforth, let no man vex me; for I bear, in my body the scars' which mark my bondage to the Lord Jesus. 17 18 Brethren, the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with your spirit Amen. ΙΔΕΤΕ ΠΗΛΙΚΟΙΣ ΥΜΙΝ ΓΡΑΜΜΑΣΙΝ ΕΓΡΑΨΑ ΤΗ ΕΜΗ ΧΕΙΡΙ 1 Cf. 2 Cor. v. 17. 1 Compare ch. iii. v. 9. Literally, the scars of the wounds made upon the body of a slave by the branding-iron, by which he was marked as belonging to his master. Observe the emphatic "I:" whatever others may do, I at least bear in my body the true marks which show that I belong to Christ; the scars, not of circumcision, but of wounds suffered for His sake. Therefore let no man vex me by denying that I am Christ's servant, and bear His commission. Cf. 2 Cor. xi. 23. [The words used by St. Paul (Gal. vi 11), as they appear in the Uncial MSS., & g the Codex Ephræmi Rescreptus (C). —¤] CHAPTER XIX. She St. Paul at Corinth. — Punishment of Contumacious Offenders. — Subsequent Character of the Corinthian Church. — Completion of the Collection. — Phœbe's Journey to Rome. bears the Epistle to the Romans. IT T was probably about the same time when St. Paul despatched to Ephesus the messengers who bore his energetic remonstrance to the Galatians, that he was called upon to inflict the punishment which he had threatened upon those obstinate offenders who still defied his censures at Corinth. We have already seen that these were divided into two classes: the larger consisted of those who justified their immoral practice by Antinomian doctrine, and, styling themselves "the Spiritual," considered the outward restrictions of morality as mere carnal ordinances, from which they were emancipated; the other and smaller (but more obstinate and violent) class, who had been more recently formed into a party by emissaries from Palestine, were the extreme Judaizers,' who were taught to look on Paul as a heretic, and to deny his apostleship. Although the principles of these two parties differed so widely, yet they both agreed in repudiating the authority of St. Paul; and, apparently, the former party gladly availed themselves of the calumnies of the Judaizing propagandists, and readily listened to their denial of Paul's divine commission; while the Judaizers, on their part, would foster any opposition to the Apostle of the Gentiles, from whatever quarter it might arise. But now the time was come when the peace and purity of the Corinthian Church was to be no longer destroyed (at least openly) by either of these parties. St. Paul's first duty was to silence and shame his leading opponents by proving the reality of his Apostleship, which they denied. This he could only do by exhibiting "the signs of an Apostle,' which consisted, as he himself informs us, mainly in the display of miraculous powers (2 Cor. xii. 12). The present was a crisis which required such an appeal to the direct judgment of God, who could alone 1 In applying this term Antinomian to the "all things lawful party at Corinth, we do not of course mean that all their opinions were the same with those which have been held by modern (so-called) Antinomians. But their characteristic (which was a belief that the decide between conflicting claimants to a Divine commission. It was a contest like that between Elijah and the prophets of Baal. St. Paul had already in his absence professed his readiness to stake the truth of his claims on this issue (2 Cor. x. 8, and xiii. 3-6); and we may be sure that now, when he was present, he did not shrink from the trial. And, doubtless, God, who had sent him forth, wrought such miracles by his agency as sufficed to convince or to silence the gainsayers. Perhaps the Judaizing emissaries from Palestine had already left Corinth after fulfilling their mission by founding an anti-Pauline party there. If they had remained, they must now have been driven to retreat in shame and confusion. All other opposition was quelled likewise, and the whole Church of Corinth were constrained to confess that God was on the side of Paul. Now, therefore, that "their obedience was complete," the painful task remained of" punishing all the disobedient" (2 Cor. x. 6). It was not enough that those who had so often offended and so often been pardoned before should now merely profess once more a repentance which was only the offspring of fear or of hypocrisy, unless they were willing to give proof of their sincerity by renouncing their guilty indulgences. They had long infected the Church by their immorality; they were not merely evil themselves, but they were doing harm to others, and causing the name of Christ to be blasphemed among the heathen. It was necessary that the salt which had lost its savor should be cast out, lest its putrescence should spread to that which still retained its purity (2 Cor. xii. 21). St. Paul no longer hesitated to stand between the living and the dead, that the plague might be stayed. We know, from his own description (1 Cor. v. 3-5), the very form and manner of the punishment inflicted. A solemn assembly of the Church was convened; the presence and power of the Lord Jesus Christ was especially invoked; the cases of the worst offenders were separately considered, and those whose sins required so heavy a punishment were publicly cast out of the Church, and (in the awful phraseology of Scripture) delivered over to Satan. Yet we must not suppose that even in such extreme cases the object of the sentence was to consign the criminal to final reprobation. On the contrary, the purpose of this excommunication was so to work on the offender's mind as to bring him to sincere repentance, "that his spirit might be saved in the day of the Lord Jesus." If it had this happy effect, and if he manifested true contrition, he was restored (as we have already seen in the case of the incestuous person) to the love of the brethren and the communion of the Church. 1 We here assume that some of the Corinthian Church remained obstinate in their offences, as St. Paul expected that they would. ⚫ 1 Cor. v. 5. 2 Cor. ii. 6-8. |