Ye are Christ's

A summary of the title following the inventory. Compare Romans 8:17.

Ministers (ὑπηρέτας)

See on officer, Matthew 5:25. Only here in Paul's epistles.

Stewards

See on Luke 16:1.

It is required (ζητεῖται)

Lit., it is sought for; thus agreeing with found in the following clause.

A very small thing (εἰς ἐλάχιστον)

Lit., unto a very small thing: it amounts to very little.

Judged

See on 1 Corinthians 2:14. Rev., in margin, examined.

Man's judgment (ἀνθρωπίνης ἡμέρας)

Lit., man's day, in contrast with the day of the Lord (1 Corinthians 4:5).

Judge (κρίνετε)

See on 1 Corinthians 2:14. The change of the verb favors the rendering examine for ἀνακρίνω. The Lord is the only competent examiner therefore do not judge until He comes to judgment. Even I myself am not competent to institute a conclusive examination, for the absence of condemnation from my conscience does not absolutely acquit me. See the critical note on 1 John 3:19-22.

I have in a figure transferred (μετασχημάτισας)

From μετά, denoting exchange, and σχῆμα outward fashion. Here the fashion in which Paul expresses himself. See on transfigured, Matthew 17:2.

Not to go beyond the things which are written (τὸ μὴ ὑπὲρ ἃ γέγραπται)

Lit. (that ye might learn) the not beyond what stands written. The article the introduces a proverbial expression. The impersonal it is written is commonly used of Old-Testament references.

Be puffed up (φυσιοῦσθε)

Used only by Paul in Corinthians and Colossians. From φῦσα a pair of bellows.

Now ye are full (ἤδη κεκορεσμένοι ἐστέ)

Rev., better, filled. Ironical contrast between their attitude and that of the apostle in 1 Corinthians 4:3, 1 Corinthians 4:4. We are hungering for further revelations; ye are already filled without waiting for the Lord's coming.

Ye have reigned (ἐβασιλεύσατε)

American Rev., better, ye have come to reign; attained to dominion, that kingship which will be bestowed on Christians only at Christ's coming.

Without us

Though it is through us that you are Christians at all.

For

Introducing a contrast between the inflated self-satisfaction of the Corinthians and the actual condition of their teachers. You have come to reign, but the case is very different with us, for I think, etc.

Hath set forth (ἀπέδειξεν)

Only twice in Paul's writings; here, and 2 Thessalonians 2:4. See on approved, Acts 2:22. In classical Greek used of publishing a law; shewing forth, and therefore naming or creating a king or military leader; bringing forward testimony; displaying treasure, etc. So here, exhibiting.

Last (ἐσχάτους)

As in Mark 9:35, of relative rank and condition: as having in men's eyes the basest lot of all.

Appointed to death (ἐπιθανατίους)

Rev., doomed. Only here in the New Testament. Probably an allusion to the practice of exposing condemned criminals in the amphitheatre to fight with beasts or with one another as gladiators. The gladiators, on entering the arena, saluted the presiding officer with the words Nos morituri salutamus, We who are to die greet you. Tertullian paraphrases this passage, God hath chosen us apostles last as beast-fighters. "The vast range of an amphitheatre under the open sky, well represents the magnificent vision of all created things, from men up to angels, gazing on the dreadful death-struggle; and then the contrast of the selfish Corinthians sitting by unconcerned and unmoved by the awful spectacle" (Stanley). For a similar image of spectators watching the contest in the arena, see Hebrews 12:1. Compare also 1 Corinthians 15:32.

Spectacle (θέατρον)

Primarily, a theatre; then that which is exhibited. Compare the kindred verb θεατριζόμενοι being made a gazing-stock, Hebrews 10:33.

Unto the world (τῷ κόσμω)

The universe, a sense not usual with Paul; compare 1 Corinthians 8:4. The words to angels and to men define world; so that the rendering of the American Rev. is preferable, both to angels and men. Principal Edwards remarks: "This comprehensive use of the word kosmos is remarkable, because, on the one hand, it is an advance on the Old-Testament conception of two separate spheres of existence, heaven and earth, not comprehended under any wider designation; and, on the other, because it differs from the meaning attached to the word among the Greeks; inasmuch as the apostle uses it of the spiritual as well as the physical totality of existence." The spiritual oneness of the universe is a conception eminently characteristic of St. Paul; but it is foreshadowed by Plato. "Communion and friendship and orderliness and temperance and justice bind together heaven and earth and gods and men; and this universe is therefore called kosmos or order; not disorder or misrule" ("Gorgias," 508).

For Christ's sake - in Christ (δια Χριστόν - ἐν Χριστῷ)

We apostles are fools in the world's eyes on account of (διὰ) Christ, because we know and preach nothing but Christ: You are wise in Christ, as Christians, making your Christianity a means to your worldly greatness - union with Christ the basis of worldly wisdom. "Wise men are ye in your connection with Christ! Sagacious, enlightened Christians!" (Meyer).

Honorable (ἔνδοξοι)

With a suggestion of display and splendor. Right honorable are ye!

We have no certain dwelling-place (ἀστατοῦμεν)

From ἄστατος unstable, strolling about. Only here in the New Testament. Compare Matthew 8:20; Matthew 10:23; Hebrews 11:37. Wyc., we ben unstable.

Labor (κοπιῶμεν)

Rev., toil. Unto weariness. See on Luke 5:5.

Reviled (λοιδορούμενοι)

See on Acts 23:4.

We bless (εὐλογοῦμεν)

See on blessed, John 12:13.

We suffer (ἀνεχόμεθα)

Lit., we hold or bear up.

Defamed (δυσφημούμενοι)

Publicly slandered; while reviled refers to personal abuse.

Intreat (παρακαλοῦμεν)

See on consolation, Luke 6:24, and see on comfort, Acts 9:31. The sense is, we strive to appease by entreaty.

Filth - offscouring (περικαθάρματα - περίψημα)

The former word is from περικαθαίρω to cleanse all round. Hence that which is thrown off in cleansing; refuse. Κάθαρμα the refuse of a sacrifice. So Aeschylus. Electra says: "Should I, like one who has carried away refuse (καθάρμαθ) from a purification, after tossing away the urn, go back again with unturned eyes?" ("Choephoroe," 90). In Proverbs 21:18, Sept., it occurs in the sense of ransom. Some find an allusion here to an ancient Athenian custom of throwing certain worthless persons into the sea in case of plague or famine, saying Be our offscouring! These persons were called περικαθάρματα offscourings, or περιψήματα scrapings, in the belief that they would wipe away the nation's guilt. Ignatius says to the Ephesians, περίψημα ὑμῶν I am your offscouring. The sense is twofold: I am as the meanest among you; and I devote my life for you. In the middle of the third century, περίψημά σου had become a common expression of formal compliment: your humble servant. See Lightfoot, "Apostolic Fathers," on Ignatius to the Ephesians, 8. "Compare Lamentations 3:45, and Tobit 5:18. Περίψημα that which is scraped or scoured off. Both words only here in the New Testament.

This tremendous piece of irony justifies the numerous allusions which have been made to Paul's vehemence and severity. Thus Dante, in his vision of the Earthly Paradise, pictures Paul:

"Two old men I beheld, unlike in habit,

But like in gait, each dignified and grave.

One (Luke) showed himself as one of the disciples

Of that supreme Hippocrates whom Nature

Made for the animals she holds most dear,

Contrary care the other (Paul) manifested,

With sword so shining and so sharp, it caused

continued...

To shame (ἐντρέπων)

Lit., as shaming. See on Matthew 21:37. The verb means to turn about, hence to turn one upon himself; put him to shame. Compare 2 Thessalonians 3:14; Titus 2:8. Also, in the middle voice, in the sense of reverence; to turn one's self toward another. See Mark 12:6; Luke 18:2. The kindred noun ἐντροπή occurs twice: 1 Corinthians 6:5; 1 Corinthians 15:34. Compare Sophocles: "Think you he will have any regard (ἐντροπὴν) for the blind man" ("Oedipus at Colonos," 299).

Tutors (παιδαγωγοὺς)

From παῖς boy and ἀγωγός leader. The Paedagogus was a slave to whom boys were entrusted on leaving the care of the females, which was somewhere about their sixteenth year. He was often a foreigner, sometimes educated and refined, but often otherwise; for Plutarch complains that seamen, traders, usurers, and farmers are engaged in this capacity. The office was one of general guardianship, not of instruction, though sometimes the paedagogus acted as teacher. He accompanied the boy to school, carrying his books, etc., and attended him to the gymnasium and elsewhere. See, further, on Galatians 3:24.

Commonly (ὅλως)

Better, absolutely or actually, as Rev.

Should have

Opinions are divided as to whether the relation was that of marriage or concubinage. The former is urged on the ground that ἔχειν to have is commonly used in the New Testament of marriage; and that the aorist participles ποιήσας (so Tex. Rec.) had done, and κατεργασαμενον hath wrought, imply that an incestuous marriage had already taken place. It is urged, on the other hand, that ἔχειν to have is used of concubinage, John 4:18; but it takes its meaning there from the sense of marriage in the preceding clause, and is really a kind of play on the word. "He who now stands for thy husband is not thy husband." The indications seem to be in favor of marriage. Notwithstanding the facilities for divorce afforded by the Roman law, and the loose morals of the Corinthians, for a man to marry his stepmother was regarded as a scandal.

To deliver - unto Satan for the destruction of the flesh. On this very obscure and much controverted passage it may be observed: 1. That it implies excommunication from the Church. 2. That it implies something more, the nature of which is not clearly known. 3. That casting the offender out of the Church involved casting him back into the heathen world, which Paul habitually conceives as under the power of Satan. 4. That Paul has in view the reformation of the offender: "that the spirit may be saved," etc. This reformation is to be through affliction, disease, pain, or loss, which also he is wont to conceive as Satan's work. See 1 Thessalonians 2:18; 2 Corinthians 12:7. Compare Luke 13:16. Hence in delivering him over to these he uses the phrase deliver unto Satan. Compare 1 Timothy 1:20.

Glorying (καῦχημα)

Not the act, but the subject of boasting; namely, the condition of the Corinthian church.

Lump (φύραμα)

See on Romans 12:21. A significant term, suggesting the oneness of the Church, and the consequent danger from evil-doers.

Leaven

Not the sinful man, but evil of every kind, in accordance with the more general statement of the leavening, power of evil in 1 Corinthians 5:6. The apostle's metaphor is shaped by the commands concerning the removal of leaven at the passover: Exodus 12:19; Exodus 13:7. Compare Ignatius; "Dispense, therefore, with the evil leaven that has grown old (παλαιωθεῖσαν) and that has gone sour (ἐνοξίσασαν), and be changed into new leaven which is Jesus Christ" (Epistle to Magnesians, 10).

New (νέον)

See on Matthew 26:29.

Passover (τὸ πάσχα)

The Paschal lamb, as Mark 14:12; Luke 22:7.

Let us keep the feast (ἑορτάζωμεν)

Only here in the New Testament. The epistle was probably written a short time before the Passover. See 1 Corinthians 16:8.

Sincerity (εἰλικρινείας)

See on pure minds, 2 Peter 3:1.

Truth

Bengel observes: "Sincerity takes care not to admit evil with the good; truth, not to admit evil instead of good."

I write - in my epistle

American Rev., as it is I wrote. The reference is probably to a former letter now lost. Some explain ἔγραψα I wrote as the epistolary aorist (see on 1 John 2:13); but the words in my epistle seem to favor the other view.

To company (συναναμίγνυσθαι)

Only here and 2 Thessalonians 3:14. The translation company is inadequate, but cannot perhaps be bettered. The word is compounded of σύν together, ἀνά up and down among, and, μίγνυμι to mingle. It denotes, therefore, not only close, but habitual, intercourse.

Idolaters (εἰδωλολάτραις)

Only twice outside of Paul's writings: Revelation 21:8; Revelation 22:15. This is the earliest known instance of the use of the word. For the collocation of the covetous and idolaters, compare Colossians 3:15; Ephesians 5:5. New-Testament usage does not confine the term to the worship of images, but extends it to the soul's devotion to any object which usurps the place of God.