The Expositor's Bible: The First Epistle to the Corinthians

Crown 8vo, cloth, price 7s. 6d. each vol.

First Series, 1887-8.

Colossians.

By the Rev. A. Maclaren, D.D.

St. Mark.

By the Right Rev. the Bishop of Derry.

Genesis.

By Prof. Marcus Dods, D.D.

1 Samuel.

By Prof. W. G. Blaikie, D.D.

2 Samuel.

By the same Author.

Hebrews.

By Principal T. C. Edwards, D.D.

Second Series, 1888-9.

Galatians.

By Prof. G. G. Findlay, B.A.

The Pastoral Epistles.

By the Rev. A. Plummer, D.D.

Isaiah I.-XXXIX.

By Prof. G. A. Smith, D.D. Vol. I.

The Book of Revelation.

By Prof. W. Milligan, D.D.

1 Corinthians.

By Prof. Marcus Dods, D.D.

The Epistles of St. John.

By the Most Rev. the Archbishop of
Armagh.

Third Series, 1889-90.

Judges and Ruth.

By the Rev. R. A. Watson, M.A., D.D.

Jeremiah.

By the Rev. C. J. Ball, M.A.

Isaiah XI.-LXVI.

By Prof. G. A. Smith, D.D. Vol. II.

St. Matthew.

By the Rev. J. Monro Gibson, D.D.

Exodus.

By the Right Rev. the Bishop of Derry.

St. Luke.

By the Rev. H. Burton, M.A.

Fourth Series, 1890-91.

Ecclesiastes.

By the Rev. Samuel Cox, D.D.

St. James and St. Jude.

By the Rev. A. Plummer, D.D.

Proverbs.

By the Rev. R. F. Horton, D.D.

Leviticus.

By the Rev. S. H. Kellogg, D.D.

The Gospel of St. John.

By Prof. M. Dods, D.D. Vol. I.

The Acts of the Apostles.

By Prof. Stokes, D.D. Vol. I.

Fifth Series, 1891-2.

The Psalms.

By the Rev. A. Maclaren, D.D. Vol. I.

1 and 2 Thessalonians.

By Prof. James Denney, D.D.

The Book of Job.

By the Rev. R. A. Watson, M.A., D.D.

Ephesians.

By Prof. G. G. Findlay, B.A.

The Gospel of St. John.

By Prof. M. Dods, D.D. Vol. II.

The Acts of the Apostles.

By Prof. Stokes, D.D. Vol. II.

Sixth Series, 1892-3.

1 Kings.

By the Very Rev. the Dean of Canterbury.

Philippians.

By Principal Rainy, D.D.

Ezra, Nehemiah, Esther.

By Prof. W. F. Adeney, M.A.

Joshua.

By Prof. W. G. Blaikie, D.D.

The Psalms.

By the Rev. A. Maclaren, D.D. Vol. II.

The Epistles of St. Peter.

By Prof. Rawson Lumby, D.D.

Seventh Series, 1893-4.

2 Kings.

By the Very Rev. the Dean of Canterbury.

Romans.

By Prof. H. C. G. Moule, M.A., D.D.

The Books of Chronicles.

By Prof. W. H. Bennett, M.A.

2 Corinthians.

By Prof. James Denney, D.D.

Numbers.

By the Rev. R. A. Watson, M.A., D.D.

The Psalms.

By the Rev. A. Maclaren, D.D. Vol. III.

Eighth Series, 1895-6.

Daniel.

By the Very Rev. the Dean of Canterbury.

The Book of Jeremiah.

By Prof. W. H. Bennett, M.A.

Deuteronomy.

By Prof. Andrew Harper, B.D.

The Song of Solomon and

Lamentations.

By Prof. W. F. Adeney, M.A.

Ezekiel.

By Prof. John Skinner, M.A.

The Book of the Twelve
Prophets.

By Prof. G. A. Smith, D.D. Two Vols.

Corinth was the first Gentile city in which Paul spent any considerable time. It afforded him the opportunities he sought as a preacher of Christ. Lying as it did on the famous Isthmus which connected Northern and Southern Greece, and defended by an almost impregnable citadel, it became a place of great political importance. Its position gave it also commercial advantages. Many traders bringing goods from Asia to Italy preferred to unlade at Cenchrea and carry their bales across the narrow neck of land rather than risk the dangers of doubling Cape Malea. So commonly was this done that arrangements were made for carrying the smaller ships themselves across the Isthmus on rollers; and shortly after Paul’s visit Nero cut the first turf of an intended, but never finished, canal to connect the two seas.

Becoming by its situation and importance the head of the Achaian League, it bore the brunt of the conqueror’s onslaught and was completely destroyed by the Roman general Mummius in the year 146 B.C. For a hundred years it lay in ruins, peopled by few but relic-hunters, who groped among the demolished temples for bits of sculpture or Corinthian brass. The all-discerning eye of Julius Cæsar, however could not overlook the excellence of the site; and accordingly he sent a colony of Roman freedmen, the most industrious of the metropolitan population, to rebuild and replenish the city. Hence the names of Corinthians mentioned in the New Testament are mainly such as betoken a Roman and servile origin, such as Gaius, Fortunatus, Justus, Crispus, Quartus, Achaicus. Under these auspices Corinth speedily regained something of its former beauty, all its former wealth, and apparently more than its original size. But the old profligacy was also to some extent revived; and in Paul’s day “to live as they do at Corinth” was the equivalent for living in luxury and licentiousness. Sailors from all parts with a little money to spend, merchants eager to compensate for the privations of a voyage, refugees and adventurers of all kinds, were continually passing through the city, introducing foreign customs and confounding moral distinctions. Too plainly are the innate vices of the Corinthians reflected in this Epistle. On the stage the Corinthian was usually represented drunk, and Paul found that this characteristic vice was allowed to follow his converts even to the communion table. In the letter there are also discernible some reminiscences of what Paul had seen in the Isthmian and gladiatorial contests. He had noted, too, as he walked through Corinth, how the fire of the Roman army had consumed the meaner houses of wood, hay, stubble, but had left standing, though charred, the precious marbles.

Nowhere do we see so clearly as in this Epistle the multifarious and delicate work required of one on whom lay the care of all the Churches. A host of difficult questions poured in upon him: questions regarding conduct, questions of casuistry, questions about the ordering of public worship and social intercourse, as well as questions which struck to the very root of the Christian faith. Are we to dine with our heathen relatives? May we intermarry with those who are not yet Christian? may we marry at all? Can slaves continue in the service of heathen masters? What relation does the Communion hold to our ordinary meals? Is the man who speaks with tongues a superior kind of Christian, and must the prophet who speaks with the Spirit be allowed to interrupt other speakers? Paul in a previous letter had instructed the Corinthians on some of these points, but they had misunderstood him; and he now takes up their difficulties point by point, and finally disposes of them. Had nothing been required but the solution of practical difficulties, Paul’s part had not been so delicate to play. But even through their request for advice there shone the ineradicable Greek vices of vanity, restless intellectualism, litigiousness, and sensuality. They even seemed to be on the perilous brink of glorying in a spurious liberality which could condone vices condemned by the heathen. In these circumstances the calmness and patience with which Paul pronounces on their entanglements are striking. But even more striking are the boundless intellectual vigour, the practical sagacity, the ready application to life, of the profoundest Christian principles. In reading the Epistle, one is amazed at the brevity and yet completeness with which intricate practical problems are discussed, the unerring firmness with which, through all plausible sophistry and fallacious scruples, the radical principle is laid hold of, and the sharp finality with which it is expressed. Nor is there any lack in the Epistle of the warm, rapid, and stirring eloquence which is associated with the name of Paul. It was a happy circumstance for the future of Christianity that in those early days, when there were almost as many wild suggestions and foolish opinions as there were converts, there should have been in the Church this one clear, practical judgment, this pure embodiment of the wisdom of Christianity.

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