shall bring you into remembrance of my ways which be in Christ, as I teach every where in every church. 18 Now some are puffed up as though I would not come to you. 19 But I will come to you shortly, if the Lord will, and will know, not the speech of them which are puffed up, but the power. 20 For the kingdom of God is not in word, but in power. 21 What will ye? shall I come unto you with a rod, or in love, and in the spirit of meekness? τας όδους μου τας εν Χριςῳ, καθως πανταχου εν παση εκκλησια διδασκω. 18 Ὡς μη ερχομενου δε μου προς ύμας, εφυσιωπησαν τινες. 19 Ελευσομαι δε ταχεως προς ύμας, εαν ὁ Κύριος θηληση, και γνωσομαι ου τον λογον των πεφυσιωμένων, αλλα την δυναμιν 20 Ου γαρ εν λόγῳ ἡ βασιλεια του Θεου, αλλ' εν δυνάμει. 21 Τι θέλετε ; εν ραβδω ελθω προς ύμας, η εν αγαπη, πνευματι τε πραότητος ; and attempt it, by putting them in remembrance of the apostle's doctrine and practice. Yet he was uncertain whether Timothy went to Corinth : for he says, chap. xvi. 10. If Timothy come, &c. Ver. 21.1. Shall I come to you with a rod ? The apostle terms the power of punishing obstinate offenders by miracle, a rod, because it was to be exercised for chastisement. Perhaps also he had in his eye, the rod which Moses used when he brought the plagues on Egypt. The opposition which St. Paul met with from the faction at Corinth, led him to speak of his power of punishing obstinate offenders miraculously, as a thing which they CHAPTER V. View and Illustration of the Matters contained in this Chapter. THE HE messengers from Corinth, as well as the members of the family of Chloe, had informed the apostle, that one of the brethren was cohabiting with his father's wife, in his father's lifetime. In this chapter therefore, St. Paul reproved the whole Corinthian Church, for tolerating a species of whoredom, which was abhorred, even by the heathens, ver. 1.—And this scandal was the greater, that they were puffed up with pride, on account my ways, which ARE in Christ, even as I teach every where in every church. 18 Now some are puffed up, as if I were not coming to you. 19 But I will come to you soon, if the Lord will, and shall know, not the speech of them who are puffed up, but the power. 20 For not by speech is the kingdom of God ESTABLISHED, but by pow er. 21 What do ye incline? Shall I come to you with a rod? Or in love, and IN the spirit of meekness? as an apostle of Christ, even as I teach every where, and in every church; by which ye will know, that I never accommodate either my doctrine or my practice, to the humours of wicked men. 18 Now some are grown insolent, as fancying, because I have sent Timothy, I am not coming to Corinth myself, being afraid to come. 19 But I will come to you soon, if the Lord will, and shall know, not the boasting of them who are puffed up, but their power to defend themselves from the punishment which I will inflict on them, if they do not repent. 20 For not by the plausible talking which ye Greeks call eloquence, is the gospel established, but by the power of miracles, and of spiritual gifts. 21 To the false teacher, therefore, and to his adherents, I say, What do ye incline? Shall I come to you, with a rod to punish you? Or in love, and in the Spirit of meekness, because ye have repented? knew he possessed, 2 Cor. x. 6. xiii. 2. 10. And as he speaks of it, not for the information of posterity, but to terrify the faction, the evidence of his possessing that power, which arises from his having mentioned it so confidently on this occasion, is very strong. of the knowledge and learning of the teacher, by whose influence it was tolerated, ver. 2.-But to make the Corinthians sensible, that their boasting of a teacher who had patronised such an enormity was criminal, as well as to correct the enormity itself, the apostle ordered them forthwith, in a public assembly of the church called for the purpose, to deliver the offender to Satan, for the destruction of his flesh, that his spirit being reformed, he might be saved in the day of the Lord, ver. 3, 4, 5. -Then shewed them the necessity of cutting off the incestuous person, by comparing vice unpunished to leaven, on account of its contagious nature in corrupting a whole society, ver. 6.And because this was written a little before the passover, when the Jews put away all leaven out of their houses as the symbol of corruption or wickedness, the apostle desired the Corinthians to cleanse out the old leaven of lewdness, by casting the incestuous person out of the church: For said he, Christ our passover is sacrificed for us. Also he exhorted them to keep the feast of the Lord's supper, which was instituted in commemoration of Christ's being sacrificed for us, and which it would seem, was to be celebrated by them at the time of the passover, not with the leaven of malice and wickedness, but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth, ver. 7, 8. Lest, however, the Corinthians might have understood the apostle's command to excommunicate the incestuous person, and to cleanse out the old leaven, as an order not to keep company with the unconverted heathens, he told them, that was not his meaning; since in that case they must have gone out of the world, ver. 9, 10.-And to make his meaning plain, he now wrote more explicitly, that if any person who professed himself a Christian, was a known fornicator, &c. they were to punish him by keeping no company with him, ver. 11.-This distinction in the treatment of heathen and Christian sinners, the apostle shewed them was reasonable, from the consideration, that church cen-, sures are not to be inflicted on persons who are without, but on them who are within the church, ver. 12.—And therefore, while they left it to God to judge and punish the wicked heathens, it was their duty to put away the incestuous person from among themselves, and to leave the woman with whom he was cohabiting, to the judgment of God, because she was a heathen, ver. 13. The apostle's order to the Corinthians, to keep no company with wicked persons, though seemingly severe, was in the true spirit of the gospel. For the laws of Christ do not, like the laws of men, correct offenders by fines and imprisonments, and corporal punishments, or outward violence of any kind, but by earnest and affectionate representations, admonitions, and reproofs, addressed to their reason and conscience, to make them sensible of their fault, and to induce them voluntarily to amend. If this remedy proves ineffectual, their fellow Christians are to shew their disapprobation of their evil courses, by carefully avoiding their company. So Christ hath ordered, Matt. xviii. 15, 16, 17. Moreover, if thy brother shall trespass against thee, go and tell him his fault between thee and him alone: if he shall hear thee, thou hast gained thy brother.-16. But if he will not hear thee, then take with thee one or two more, that in the mouth of two or three witnesses every word may be established.-17. And if he shall neglect to hear them, tell it unto the church: but if he neglect to hear the church, let him be unto thee as an heathen man, and a publican.Earnest representation, therefore, from the injured party, followed with grave admonition and reproof, from the ministers of religion when the injured party's representation is ineffectual, are the means which Christ hath appointed for reclaiming an offender and with great propriety; because being addressed to his reason and conscience, they are calculated to influence his will as a moral agent, and so to produce a lasting alteration in his conduct. But if these moral and religious means prove ineffectual, Christ hath ordered the society, of which the offender is a member, to shun his company and conversation, that he may be ashamed, and that others may be preserved from the contagion of his example. This last remedy will be used with the greatest effect, if the resolution of the society, to have no intercourse with the offender, especially in religious matters, is openly declared by a sentence deliberately and solemnly pronounced in a public assembly, (as in the case of the incestuous. Corinthian,) and is steadily carried into execution. The wholesome discipline which Christ Instituted in his church at the beginning, was rigorously and impartially exercised by the primitive Christians, towards their offending brethren, and with the happiest success, in preserving purity of manners among themselves. In modern times however, this salutary discipline hath been much neglected in the church; but it hath been taken up by gaming clubs, who exclude from their society, all who refuse to pay their game debts, and shun their company on all occasions, as persons absolutely infamous. By this sort of excommunication, and by giving to game debts, the appellation of debts of honour, the winners on the one hand, without the help of law, and even in contradiction to it, have rendered their unjust claims effectual, while the losers on the other, are reduced to the necessity, either of paying, or of being shunned by their companions as infamous.-I mention this as an example, to shew what a powerful influence the approbation or disapprobation of those with whom mankind associate, have upon their conduct; and from that consideration, to excite the friends of religion to support her against the attempts of the wicked, by testifying on every fit occasion, their disapprobation of vice, and their con tempt of its abettors; and more especially, by shunning the company and conversation of the openly profane, however dig- Ver. 1.-1. That there is whoredom. The word oрvea is used by the LXX. and by the writers of the New Testament, in the latitude which its correspondent word hath in the Hebrew language, namely, to denote all the different kinds of uncleanness committed, whether between men and women, or between men, or with beasts. Accordingly it is used in the plural number, chap. vii. 2. Nevertheless, dia vas mopvelas, on account of wboredoms. Here wogvus, whoredom, signifies incest joined with adultery, the woman's husband being still in life, as appears from 2 Cor. vii. 12.—In the Old Testament, whoredom sometimes signifies idolatry, because the union of the Israelites with God as their king, being represented by God himself as a marriage, their giving themselves up to idolatry was considered as adultery. 2. As not even among the heathens is named. The word ovoμatral, signifies to be named with approbation, Rom. xv. 20. Ephes. i. 21. v. 3.-See Gen. vi. 4. where avdgwrs is ovoμa501, LXX. men who are named, is in our bibles translated, men of renown. 3. That one, extiv, bath his father's wife. The word * signifies sometimes to use; thus, Deut. xxviii. 30. LXX. Tuvaina anty, nai aung iTegos žu, Thou wilt take a wife, and another will use her. 4. His father's wife. It seems the woman with whom this whoredom was committed, was not the guilty person's mother, but his step-mother; a sort of incest which was condemned by the Greeks and Romans, as we learn from Cicero, Orat. pro Cluentio, sect. 4. and from Virgil, Eneid x. line 389. |