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293 1 COR INTH IANS 2:6

INTRODUCTION

1 CORINTHIANS

Address and greetings. Thanksgiving1I, Paul, appointed by God to be an apostle, toge the r with bro ther Sosthenes, 1send greetings -to the churc h of God" in Co rinth, to the holy people of Jesus 2Ch rist, who are ca lled to tak e their place among all the saints everywhere whopray to our Lor d Jesus Christ; for he is their Lo rd no less than ours . May Godou r Fa ther and the Lor d Jesus Christ send you grace and peace.I neve r stop thanking Go d. fo r all the graces yo u have recei ved thro ughJesus Christ. I thank him that you have been enriched in so many ways, especial- 5Iy in you r teac hers an d preacher s; the witness to Christ '> has indeed been strongamong you -so that you will not be without any of the gifts of the Spirit while 7you are waiting for our Lord Jesus Chris t to be revea led;' -a nd he will keep yousteady and withou t blame" until the last day, the day ' of ou r Lord Jesus Christ,because God by calling you has joined you to his Son, Jesu s Christ; a nd God 9is faithfulJ

1 I

Rm l : l+

10:32Ac 5:11 +Ac9: 13+ ;20:28Ac 2:21 +

2 Co 8:7.912:8 +

2T h 1:7-13:13; 5:52 co 1:14Ph 1:6 : 2:16Co l 1:2210:132C o 1:18Ph 3:IOfI J o 1:3

THE F IRST LETTERTO THE CHURCH AT

OF PAULCORINTH

are the scribes? Where a re any of our thinkers today? Do you see now how God2 1 has shown up the foo lishness of human wisdom? -I f it was God 's wisdom thathum an wisdom should not know God, it was beca use God wanted to savethose who have fa ith thro ugh the foo lishness of the message that we preach.nAnd so, while the Jews demand miracles a nd the Greeks look for wisdom, -hereare we preaching a crucified Chris t; to the Jews an obstacle that they can not

24 get over, to the paga ns madne ss , but to those who have been called, whether25 they are Jews or Greeks, a Christ who is the powe r and the wisdom of Go d. Fo rGod's fool ishness is wiser than human wisdom, and God's weakness is strongertha n human st rength.

26 Ta ke yourselves fo r insta nce, broth er s, at the time when you were called:how many of you were wise in the ordinary sense of the word, ' how many were27 influential people, or came fr om no ble families? No, i t was to shame the wisethat God chose wha t is foolish by hum an reckoning, and to shame what is st rong28 that he chose what is wea k by human recko ning ; - those whom the world thinkscommon and contempt ible are the ones that Go d has chosen-those who are29 not hing a t all to show up those who are everyt hing. -T he human race has nothing30 to boast abo ut to God, but you God has made memberso f Christ Jesus and byGo d's doing he has becom e our wisdom , and our virtue, and our holiness, and

31 our freedom. -As scr iptu re says: if anyone wants to boast, let him boast aboutthe Lord.I 2 As for me, brothers, when I came to you, it was not with any show of oratoryor philoso phy, bu t simply to tell you what God had guaranteed." Dur ingmy stay wit h you, the only know ledge I claimed to have was about Jesus, andonly ab out him as the crucified Christ. Fa r from relying on any power of myown, I came among you in great 'fear and tremb ling">-a nd in my speeches andthe sermons tha t I gave, there were non e of the a rguments that belong to philosophy; only a demon st ration of the power of the Sp irit. -A nd I did this so thatyo ur fai th should not depend on human ph ilosophy but on the powe r of God.But still we have a wisdom to offer those who have reached maturity:' nota philosophy of our age, it is t rue, st ill less of the masters of ou r age," which

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Ac 18:8Rm 16:2316:15- 17Ac 16:15+

3:182 Co 1:122 Co 2:16Rm 1:16Is 29:14Ps 33:10I s JJ: 18LXX

I. DIVISIO NS AND SC ANDALSA. FAC TIONS IN THE CORINTH IAN CHURCH

Dissensions amon g the faithfulAll the same, I do appeal to yo u, brothers, fo r the sake of our Lord Jesus 10

Christ, to mak e up the differences between you, a nd instead of disagreeingamo ng you rselves, to be un ited aga in in your belief and practice. From what IIChloe's peop le have been telling me, my dear brothers, it is clear that the re areserious differe nces amo ng you. Wha t I mean are all these slogans that you have, 12like: 'I am for Paul', 'I am for Apollos', 'I am for Cephas',' ' I am for Chr ist' ."Has Christ been parcelled out? Was i t Pau l that was crucified for you? Were you 13baptised in the name of Paul? I am thankful that I never bapt ised any of you 14after Cri spus and Gai us - so none of yo u can say he was bap tised in my name . I SThe n therewas the family of Ste phanas, of course, that I bap tised too, bu t no one 16else as far as I can remember.The t rue wisdom and the falseFo r Christ did no t s end me to bapt ise, but to prea ch the Go od News , and 17no t to preach that in the terms of philosophy' in wh ich the crucifixion of Christ

cannot be expressed. -The language of the c ross ma y be illogica l to those who 18are not on the way to salvation, but those of us who are on the way see it as God 'spower to save. As scripture says: I shall destroy the wisdom of the wiseand bring 19to nothing al l t he learning of the learned. Where are the philosophers now? Where 20

1 a. One of Paul's favou rit e express ion s: 10:32 ;11:16.22: 15:9 : 2 Co 1:1: G a 1:13; I T h 2: 14: 2 T h 1:4:I T m 3:5.15 : cr also Ac20 : 28 . Cf ' the churche s ofC hrist', Rm 16:16. Cf. Ml 16:18+ : Ac 5:11 - - ,b . Lc. wha t is sa id b y a witness test i fying 10 C hrist.'a mo n g y OU or ' in yOU ,c. Whe n the hidden p lan s of God are to be madeknown, Rm 16:25 + , Chris t will revea l himse lf a t theend of time, the time of his narousia, I Co 15:23 + ,and his App ea rin g, 1 Tm 6:14 1-: c f. Lk 17:30; 2 Th1:7 : Heb 9:28: I P 1:5,7,13; 4:13 . Before this, the Mano f Sin will ha ve ' revea led ' himself , only ' 0 be des troyedby Christ, 2 Th 2:38.d. Cr. Ph 1:10: 2: 15f: ED 1:4: Col 1:22 : I Th 3:13:5:23: Jude 24.e. This ' d a y o f the Lord ' , 5 : 5; 2 Co 1:14: 1T h 5:2:2 T h 2:2 ; cf. 2 P 3:10, ca lled a lso the 'd ay o f C hrist'.Ph 1:6,10: 2: 16. or simplyth e 'day', I Co 3:13: I T h 5:4 ;d. Heb 10:25, or ' tha t da y', 2 Th 1:1 0: 2 Tm 1:12,18 ;4;8: er . Mt 7:22: 24:36 : Lk 10:12 : 21:34. or 't he dayof the Son of Man', Lk 17:24, d. v. 26. or ' the day ofGo ll ' ,2 P 3:12. or ' the day of vlsita tto n ', I P 2:12, or't he gr ea t day' , Jude 6 : Rv 6: 17; 16:14 . o r ' the last day' ,Jn 6:39.40,44,54: 11:24 : 12:48, is t he fu lfilment in theesc ha tologica l era , ushered in by Chris t. of the 'da yo f Ya hwe h' fo retold by the p rophe ts, Am 5:18+ . T hefulfilmen t ben ins with [he first coming of Ch rist.Lk 17;20-24, and the punish men t of Je rusalem ,M t 24:1+: and this f in al s tage in t he histo ry ofsa lvation . cf. Ac 1:7 -l-, will be completed bYthe glorioussecond com ing , 1 Co 1:7 + ,1 5:23 + : 1 Tm6 :14 -t , o ft he Sovereign Judge, Rm 2:6 + ; Jm 5:8-9. A cosmicup heava l and renewa l will accompany it (cf . Am 8:9 +) ,Ml 24:29D+ ; Heb 12:26f ; 2 P 3: 10-13 ; Rv 20: I I ; 21:1:cr. Mt 19:28 : Rm 8:20-22. Th is day of light is com ing,R m 13:12; Heb 10;25 ; Jm 5:8; I P 4:7; cf. I Th 5:5.8.

but exac tly when is uncer tain , I Th 5:1-i- meanwhilewe must prep a re for it. 2 Co 6:2 + .f . Cf . 10:13 : 2 0

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The rest is from me and not from the Lord. If a brother has a wife who is an 12unbeliever, and she is con tent to l ive with him , he must not send he r awa y;and if a woman has an unbeliever for her husband, and he is content to live with 13her , she must not le ave him. -Th is is because the unbelieving hu sb and is mad e 14one with the saints through hi s wife, and the unbel ieving wife is made one withthe saints through her husband. If th is were not so, your children would beunclean, whereas in fa ct they are ho ly ." However, if the unbelieving partner 15does not consent , they may separate; in these c ircumstances, the brother orsister' is not tied:" God has cal led you- to a li fe of peace . If you are a wife, it 16may be your part to save your husband, fo r all you k now ; if a hu sband, fo r allyou know, it may be your part to save your wife.For the rest , what each one has is what the Lord has given him and he should 17continue as he was when God 's call reached h im. This is the rul ing tha t I givein a ll the churches. -If anyone had already been circumcised at the tim e of 18his call, he need not disguise it, and anyone who was uncircumcised atthe time of his ca ll need not be c ir cumc is ed ; becaus e to be circumcised or 19uncircumcised means nothing: what does matter is to keep the commandmentsof God. -Let everyone stay as he was at the time of his call. - If, when you were ~ called, you were a s lave , do not let this bother you; but if you s houl d have thechance of being free, accept it. A slave, when he is call ed in the Lord, becomes 22the Lord's freedman, and a freeman call ed in the Lord becomes Christ 's slave .You have al l been bought an d paid for ; do not be slaves o f o ther men '! -Each ~ one of you , my brothers,should sta y as he was before God at the t ime of his call.Abou t remaining celibate, I have no dire ctions from the Lord but give my 25own op inion as one who , by the Lord's mercy, has stayed faithful. Well then, 26I believe th at in these present t imes of stress" this isright : that it is good for a manto stay as he is. If yo u are tied to a wife, do not look for freedom ; if you are 27free of a wife, then do not look for one . But i f yo u marr y, it is no sin, and it i s 28not a sin for a yo ung girl to get married. They will have their troubles, though,in their marr ied life," and I should l ike to spare you that .Brothers, this is what I mean: our time is growing short. Tho se who have 29wives should live as though they had none, -and those who mourn should live as 30though they had nothing to mourn for ; those who are enjoying life should liveas tho ugh there were no thing to laugh about ; those whose life is buying thingsshou ld live as though they had no thing of their own; -and those who have to 31deal with the world should no t become engrossed in it.' I say this because thewor ld as we know it is passing away.

I would like to see you free from all wo r ry . An unmar ri ed man can devote 32himself to the Lord's affairs, al l he need worry about is pleasing the Lord; but 33a married man has to bo ther about the wor ld 's affairs and devote himself topleasing his wife: he is torn two ways. In the s ame wayan unmarried woman, 34like a young girl, can d evot e hersel f to the Lord's affairs ; all she need worryabout is being holy in bod y and spiri t. The married woman, on the other hand,has to wor ry about the world's affairs and devote herself to pleasing her husband.I say this only to help you, not to put a hal te r round your necks, but simply to 35make sure that everything is as it s houl d be, and that you give your undi videdattention to the Lord.Sti ll , i f there is anyone who feels that it would not be fair to his daughter to 36l et her grow too o ld for marri age, and that he should do something about it, heis free to do as he likes: he is not sinning i f there is a marr iage. -On the o th er 37hand , if someone has firmly made his mind up, without any compulsion andin complete freedom of choice, to keep his daughter as she is, he will be do inga good thing. -In other words, t he man who sees that h is daugh ter i s married 38has do ne a good thing but the man who keeps his daughter unmarried has donesomething even better)

A wife is tied as long as her husband is alive . But if the husband dies, she is .19

B. FOOD OFFERED TO IDOLS-

40 free to marry anybody she likes, only it must be in the Lord ." -She would behappier, in my opinion, if she stayed as shei s- and I too have the Spirit of God, 'I think.

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8 a. The freq uen t feasts and public ceremonies inantiquity were always accompanied by sac rifice.Por tions of the sacrificial food (eidolythal wen t to thegods. the pr iests and t h e dono r s. What remained waseither ea te n a t a sacred meal or so ld in the markets.Thissituation provided several difficulties fo r Ch ristians:co uld they take part in a sac red meal ; buy meat tha tha d been sacrificed to idols: accept invitations to eatin a pagan house'?Pau l answersthese specificd ifficul ties.10:14-22 and 23-30. In principle. en lightened Christiansa re completely f ree to decide for themselves, 8:1-6;10:15.25.29-30, but they mu st avo id lead ing astrayoth er Chr ist ians who are not yet emancipated fromthei r pre -convers ion ideas , 8:7-13; 1.023-24 .28-29.Paul makes no re fe renc e t o t he Decree of Jerusalem.Ac 1 : 2 0 ~ 2 9 and does not even seem to have heardabout it . Ac 15:1+.b . In the biblical sense, i.e . ' loved', Cf. Ho 2:22+.c . Pa ul is simply sta ti n g a f act. The ' gods ' are themythical gods of Olymp us, the 'lords' are divinisedhuman beings.d . Lit. ' he bui lt up ' ; iron ical. cf. 8:1.9 a. Though free to do wha tever he thinks best aboutfood sacrificed to idols a Ch ristian must be guid e d bycharity. Paul himself, as he go es o n to save had gi venup ou t of charity some of his r ights as an apostle.

1 COR I NTH I A NS

b. 'Sanctificati on ' a n d 'ho liness' here. as frequentlyin the Bible . mean not so much the perfection of aman 's l if e a s i ts precondition -ded ication t o God andado ption by him . cf. Ac 9:13 +. By mar rying one ofGo d' s p eo ple a pagan is brought in to a specia lre lat ionship with the true God and with his Church .c. That is. the Christian partner.d. This is known as ' the Pauline priv ilege ' .e. Var. ' us ' .r. Spi ritua lly slaves to thei r o ut lo ok a nd c on ven tions.g. Li t. 'because of t he p re sent (or imminent)dist ress'.h . Lit . ' in the flesh ' , no t however referring. as in7:2,9, t o concupiscen ce.

i. Li t. 'should not use it to the full'.i. In the cla s si ca l world a father made whatarrangements he thought fit for his daughter. Someint erp r et er s see in this pa ss ag e a re ferenc e t o thepractice of a man and wom an livin g toge th er ondervows of st ric t chast ity. for which there.r nay be someevidence th ough onl y fro m a later date. In this case,read 'virgi n' for 'da ughter' i n v v. 3 6-38.

k , She must marry a Christian .I. Var . 'of Chr ist' .

299

Pau l invokes his own example-1 9 I , personally, am free: I am an apo st le and I have seen Jesus our Lord. Youarea ll my work in the Lord. Even if I were not an apostle to others , I should

General principlesI 8Now about food sacrificed to idols. 'We all have knowledge'; yes, that is so,but knowledge gives self-importance- i t is love that makes the building grow.2 A man may imagine he understands something, but still not understand anything3 in the way th at he ought to. -But any man who loves God is known" by him.4 Well then, about eat ing food sacrificed to ido ls :we know that ido ls do not really5 exist in the world and that the re is no god but the One. -And even if there werethings called gods, either in the sky or on earth-where there certainly seem tobe 'gods' and 'lords' in plenty--c--etill for us there is one God , the Father, fromwhom all things come and for whom we exist; and there isone Lord, Jesus Christ,through whom all things come and th rough whom we exist.The cla ims of love

Some people, however, do no t have this knowledge. There are some whohave been so lo ng used to idols that they ea t this food as though it rea llyhad been sacri fi ced to the idol, and their conscience, being weak, is defiled8 by it. Food, of course, cannot br ing us in touch with God: we lose nothingif we refuse to eat, we gain nothing if we eat. -O nly be c are ful that youdo not make use of this freedom in a way that proves a p it fall for the weak.10 Suppo se s omeone sees you, a man who understands, eating in some templeof an id ol; his own conscience, even if it is weak, may encourage him"

11 to eat food which has been offered to ido ls. -In this way your knowledgecould become the ruin of someone weak, of a brother for whom Chr ist12 died. By s inning in thi s way against your brothers , and injuring their weak13 consc iences, it would be Chris t aga inst whom you s inned. -That is why,since food can be the occas ion of my bro ther 's downfall, I sha ll never eat meatagain in case I am the ca use of a brother's downfall.

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tuUJthe pre -exi stent Christ wi th the att ributes of Yahweh.c . Li t. ' t ype s' nuoon, The p urpose in th e events,intended by G od. was to p re fi gure in the hi sto ry ofIs rae l th e sp iri tual rea lities of the m essian ic age(wh ich are k now n as 'a n t it vp es", I P 3:2 1, bu t cf.Heb 9:24) . T hese ' typologica l' (or le ss acc urately,' a llegorical", G a 4:24) meanings in the O.T . narrative.tho ug h not consci ou s ly in tend ed by the au thors , a reneve rth e less valid an d nec essary for t he unde rstandingof sc riptu r e, s ince the pattern of God 's working on thephysica l plane does in fact ref lect h is e te rn al p urposesfu lfilled in the incarna tion to become the spi ritua lrea lities of t he messianic age. Typological meaningsof O.T. events are of ten po in ted out by t he a utho rsof th e N.T., as tho ugh th e sal e pu rpose of Israel'swr itt en histor y had be en to provide types fo r theins t ruction of Ch ristians. Pau l doe s this. v , 11an d 9:9:Rm 4:23f; 5:14 : 15:4: cf. 2 T im 3 :1 6 . a n d some bookslike Jn a nd Heb are la r ge ly b ased on a typologicalin t erp re t a t ion of t he O.'T.

f. Var . 'Cnr tst".g . Lit. 'unto who m the ends of th e ag es have

reached' .h. I. e . the cu p of win e for which we thank G od,like Chr ist at t he La st Supper .

i. Li t. ' th e Israel according to t he flesh' . i.e . th eIsrael of h istory, cf . Rm 7:5. as compared with th eIs rael 'o f God', Ga 6:16 , the tr ue Is rael, the Chris tiancommuni ty.

b. At the expense o f t he C hrist ian congregations.c . Li t. 'a si s ter , a wo man (w ife '? )' . To loo k a fterthe ap ost le's need s.d . L it . ' I wou ld rat he r di e th an . No one shalllake away so methi ng that I can boast of .' Apos iopesis.

c . VaT. (Vul x.) 'a ll' .r. In t h is pa ssa ge Pau l is usi ng contemporaryspo rt ittg ter ms.10 a . Before reverting to th e problem of food sacri ficedto idols , Pa ul quotes the O,T . to remi n d Cori nth ian sabout the da nger s of Idolatry so as to pre vent th emjo inin g i n t h e ac tua l sacr ificia l mea ls , 10: 14-22 .b. As C hr istians are now bapt ised 'i nt o' Christ(Rm 6:3: Ga 3:27) . i.e. to be united wi t h h im .c. Passing th rou g h the Red Sea in v , 2 su ggestsC hristian baptism; he re manna an d wa ter from th erock sugg est the Eucharis t. C hr ist ia ns too k the descr iption in Ex o f th e libe ra ti on from Egypt a s a s ymb olof liberation from sin by Christ , who is symbolised byMoses . cf. J n 1:21 + ; 13:1 -l-. Th is comparison wasim pli e d by Je su s when he link ed his Euc ha ris t to thePassover-sup per , cf. M t 26:17 -29p; 1 Co 5:7. Th isaccounts for t he man y Exodus references in th e Ea sterli turgy.d . A l lus i on to th e le ge n d tha t the rock from whichM oses mad e water flow accompanied th e Israelites ontheir tr avels thro ugh the w ilderness. Jewish writer s hada lready tended to ide ntif y this rock wit h Yahwehhimself . a nd h ad su p po r te d this identification withreferences to Ex 17:6. and to the O .T. us e of ' R o ck o fIsrael' a s a title fo r Yah weh. cr Ps 18:2 + . Paul credits

23Food sacrificed to idols. Practical solutions

'For me there are no forb idden things' , but not everything does good. True,the re arc no forbidden th in gs , but it is not everything that helps th e building to24 grow . -Nobody shou ld be looking for his own advantage, but everybody for the25 other man's. -D o no t he sit ate to eat anything that is sold in butchers' shops:26 there is no need to raise questions of conscie nce ; -for the earth and everything27 that is in it belong to the Lord. - If an unbelie ver invi tes you to hi s house, go if

did, for scripture says: After sitting down fa eat and drink, the people got up to8 amuse themselves. We must never fall into sexual immorality: some of them did,9 and twenty-three thousand met thei r downfall in one day. We are not to put

10 the Lord! to the test: some of them did, and they were killed by snakes. Youmust never complain: some of them did , and they were killed by the Destroyer.11 All this happened to them as a warning, and it was written down to b e a lesson12 for us who are living at the end of the age." -The man who thinks he issafe must13 be careful that he does not fall. -The trials that you have had to bear are nomore tha n people nor mally ha ve . You can tr ust God not to let you be tr iedbeyond your strength, and with any trial he will give you a way out of it and the

strengt h to bear it.Sacrificial fea sts. No compromise with idolatry

14 This is the reason, my dear bro thers, why you mus t keep clear of idolatry.: I say to you as sensibl e people: judge for you rselves what I am saying. -Theblessing-cup" tha t we bless is a communion with th e b lood of Christ, and the17 bread that webreak is a commun ion with the body of Christ. -The fact thai thereis only one loaf means that, though there are many of us, we form a single body18 because we all have a share in this one loaf. Loo k at the o th er Israel, the race,'19 where those who eat the sacr ifices are in communion with the altar . -D oes thismean that the food sacri ficed to idols has a real value, or that the idol i tself is20 real? -Not at all. It simply meansth at the sacrifices that they offer they sacrifice todemons who are not God. I ha ve no desire to see you in communion with2 1 demons. -You cannot drink the cup of the Lord and the cup of demons. You22 cannot take you r share at the tab le of the Lord and at the ta ble of demons. Dowe want to make the L.ord angry; are west ronger th an he is?

A warning, and the lessons of Israel's history"10 I want to remin d you, brothers , how ou r fat hers were all guided by a cloud 1above them and how they all passed through the sea . -T hey were allbaptised into Moses " in this cloud and in this sea; -.all ate the same spiritualfood -and all drank the same spir itual dr ink ,' since they all drank from thespiritual rock tha t f ol lowed them as they went ," and that rock was Chr ist. In 5spite of th is , most of them fa iled to please God and their corpses littered thedesert.These things all happened as warnings ' for us, not to have the wicked lusts 6for forbidden things that they had. -Do not become idola ters as some of them 7

st ill be an apostle to you who are the seal of my apo stolate in the Lord. My 3answer to those who wan t to inter rogate me is thi s: -Have we not every right 4to eat and dr ink?" -And the right to tak e a Chri stian woman' round with us, 5like all the other ap ostles and the b ro th er s of the Lord a nd Cephas?Are Barnabas and I t he only ones who are not allowed to stop working? Nobodyever p ai d money to stay in the army, and nobody ever planted a vineyard andrefused to eat the f rui t o f i t .Who has there ever been that kept a flock and did notfeed on the milk fr om his flock?These may be only human comparisons, but does not the Law i tsel f say the 8same thing? -I t is wri tt en in the Law of Moses: You must not put a muzzle on theox when it is treading alit the corn. Is it ab out oxen that God is concerned, -or is 10there no t an obv ious reference to ourselves? Clearly this was written for our saketo sh ow that the ploughman ought to plough in expectation, and the thresher tothresh in the expectation of getting his share. If we hav e sown spiritual things 11for you , why should you be surprised if we harvest your material things? -Ot hers 12are allowed these righ ts over you and our right is surely greater? In fact we havenever exerc ised this right. On the contrary we ha ve put up with anything rat herthan obstruct the Good News ofChrist in any way.>Remember that the minis ters 13serving in the Temple get their food from the Temple and those serving at thealtar can claim their share from the altar itself. -In the same sor t of way the Lord 14dir ected that thosewho preach the gospel should get their living from the gospel.However, I have not exercised any of these rights, and I am not writing all 15thi s to secure this treatment for myself. I would ra ther die tha n let an yone ta keawaysomething that I can boast of." -Not that I do boast of preaching the gospel, 16since it is a duty which has been laid on me ; I should be punished if I d id notpreach it! - If I had cho sen th is work myself, I might have been pai d for it, but 17as J have not , it is a responsibility which has been put into my hands. -Do you 18know what my reward is? It is th is: in my preaching, to be able to offer the GoodNews free, and no t insist on the rights which the gospel gives me.So though I am not a slave of any man I have made myself the slave of 19eve ryone so as to win as many as I could . - I made myself a Jew to the Jews, to 20win the Jews ; that is, I who am not a subjec t of the Law made myself a subjectof the Law to those who are the subjects of the Law, to win those who are subjectto the Law. -To those who have no Law, I was free of the Law myself (though 21no t free from God's law, being under the law of Christ) to win tho se who haveno Law . Fo r the weak I made myself weak . I made myself all things toall men in 22order to save some' at any cost ; -and I still do this, for the sake of the gospel, 23to have a shar e in its blessings.All the runners at the stad ium are trying to win, but only one of them gets 24the prize. You must run in the same way, meaning to win. A Il the fighters at 25the games go into strict training ; they do this just to win a wreat h that will wit heraway, but we do it for a wreath that will never wither. -T ha t is how I run , intent 26on winning ; that is how I fight, not beating the ai r. 1 t reat my body hard and 27make i t obey me, for , having been an announcer myself, I should not wan t to bedisqualified."

Ex 1 3:21:14:22

Ga 5:7+Ws 5:16Ph 3:142 Tm 4:7-8Jm 1:121 P 5:4Rv 2:10 :3:11

Heb 4:2-3

2 Co 11:7

Rm 15:12 Coll:29

10:32-33M t 20:260Rm 6: 15+Ga 4:4-5

Nb 11:4.34Rm 4:23Heb 9:9.24

Ga 4 :12

Ac 4'20'9:15-16: 22:14-15 :26:16-18

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Spiritual gifts"12 Now my dear brothers, I want to c lear up a wron g impression aboutspiritual gifts. You remember that , when you were pagans, wheneveryou felt irresistibly drawn, I it was towardsd umb idols? It is for that reason thatI want you to understand th at on the one hand no one can be speaking under theinfluence of the Holy Spirit and say, 'Cu rseJesus', and on the other hand, no onecan say, 'Jesus is Lord' unless he is under the influence of the Ho ly Spirit.The variety and the unity of giftsTher e is a variety of gifts but always the same Spirit ; th ere are all sorts ofservice to be done, but a lways to the same Lord; -working in all sor ts of different

7 ways in different people, it is the same God who is working in all of them .s -Th epart icu lar way in which the Spirit is given to each person is fo r a good purpose.Onemay have the gift of preaching with wisdom" given him by the Spirit ; anothermay have the gift of preachin g instruction' given him by the same Spir it ; -andanotherthe gift of faith! given bythe same Spirit; ano ther aga inthe gift ofhealing,10 th rough this one Spiri t; -o ne, the power of miracles; anothe r, prophecy;"

23 Fo r this is what I received from the Lord, and in turn passed on to you : that24 on the same night tha t he was betrayed , the Lord Jesus took some bread, -andthanked God for it and broke it, and he said, 'Thisis my body, which is for you; '25 do th is as a memorial of me' . In the same way he took the cup afte r supper,and said, 'Th is cup is the new covenant in my blood. Whenever you d rink it , do26 this as a memorial of me.' Until the Lord comes, therefore, every time you eat27 this bread and drink this cup , you ar e p roclaiming his death, -and so anyonewho eats the bread or dr inks the cup of the Lord unworth ily will be behavingunworth ily towards the body and bloo d of the Lord .28 Everyone is to recollect himself befo re eating this br ead and drinking thi s29 cup ; because a person who eats and drinks' without recognising the Body"30 i s eating and drinking his own condemnation . In fa ct that is why many of you31 are weak and ill and some of you have died.' -I f only we recollected ourselves,32 we should not be punished like that . But when the Lord does puni sh us l iket hat,it is to correct us and stop us from being condemned with the world.33 So to sum up, my dear brothers, when you meet for the Meal , wait for one34 another. Anyone who is hun g ry should eat at home, and then your meetingwill not bring your condemnation. The other matters I shall adjust when I c ome.

n

f

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I Tm 4:4

Co13 :171 P 4:l l9:19 -231:2+10:24 +Rm 15:2

2 Th 3:7+

15:1-31 Th 2:13+:4:1-22 Th 2:15Ep 5:233:23

Ac 11:27+

2 Co 3:1811:15

Gn 1:26-27

Gn 2:21-231Tm2 :12-13

14:34

1l :54:17: 7:17:14:331:2+

1:2 +

you want to, and eat whatever is put in fro nt of you, without ask ing questionsjust to satisfy conscience. But if someone says to you, 'This food was offered 28in sacrifice', then, out of consideration for the man that told you, you shouldnot eat it, for the sake of his scruples ; -his scrupl es, you see, not your own . Why 29should my freedom depend on somebody else's conscience? -I f I take my share 30with thankfulness, why should I be blamed for food for which I have thankedGod?Conclusion

Whatever yo u eat, wha tever you drink, whatever you do at all, do it for the 31glory of God. Never do anything offensive to anyon e- t o J ews or G reeks or to 32the Church of God ; just as I try to be helpf ul to everyone at a ll times, no t 33anxious for my own adv antage but for the advantage of everybody else, so that11 they may be saved.Tak e me for your model, as I take Christ.

C. DECORUM IN PU BLI C WORSHIPWomen's behaviour at servicesYou have done well in remembering me so constantly and in maintaining 2the traditions " just as I passed them on to you -H owever, what I want you tounderstand is that Christ is the head of every man , man is the head of woman,

and God is the head of Christ. For a man to pray or prophesy with his head 4covered is a sign of disrespec t to his head. b For a woman , however, it is a sign 5of disrespect to her heads if she prays or prophesies unveiled; she migh t as wellhave her ha ir shaved off. In fact , a woman who will no t weara veil ought to haveher ha ir cu t off.d If a woman is ashamed to have her ha ir cut off or shaved, sheought to wear a veil.A man should certainly no t cover his head, since he is the image of God andreflects God's glory; but woman is the reflection of man's glory. Fo r man did 8not come from woman; no , woman came from man ; -a nd man was not createdfor the sakeof woman , but woman was creat ed for the sake of man . That is the 10arg ument for women 's cove ring their heads with a symbol of the authority'over th em, out of respec t fo r the angels." -However, though woman cannot do 11without man, neither can man do wit hout woman, in the Lord; ' woman may 12come f rom man , but man is born of woman- both come from God.Ask yourselves if it is fi tti ng for a woman to pray to God without a veil; 13and whether nature itself does not tell you that long hair on a man is nothing 14to be admired, -while a woman, who was given her hair as a covering, th inks 15long hair her glory?To anyone who might st il l want to argue: it is not the cust om with us, nor in 16the churches of God . The Lord' s Suppe rNow that I am on the subj ect of instructions, I can not say that you have done 17well in hold ing meetings that do you more harm than good. In the first place, 18I hear that when you all come together as a community, there are sepa ratefactions among you, and I hal f believe it- since there must no doubt be separa te 19groups among you, to distinguish those who are to be t ru st ed . -The point is, 20when you hold these meet ings, it is not the Lord's Supper- that you are eating,s ince when the time comes to eat, eve ryone is in such a hurry to start his own 2 1supper that one person goes hungry while another is getting drunk. -Surely you 22

have homes for eating and drinking in? Surely you have enough respect for thecommunity o fGod not to make poor people embarrassed? What am I to say toyou? Congratulate you ? I cannot congratulate you on this.

11 a . I . c. t he teac hing of Christ and the apostles.b. Greek pun on word ( ' h / ~ ' head ' , ' leader' ,A Chri s t ia n who pra ye d with head co vered insult edC hri st his leader ; he shou ld no t hi de Chri s t' s glor y butretlcct it 'wi th uncovered face",cf. 2 Co 3: 18.c. l .e. her husband. since she seemed to be ctat rntneequ a lit y wi th her hu sband. A woman 's veil was a signof subjectio n. v. 10.d. Iro nica l: having begun by remov ing the v ei l,she may as well go a ll the way and sh a ve her he ad a swell . Cf. v, 15.c . Lit. ' a po wer' , or 'authority '.r. Appare nrlv a reference to ange ls as bein gguard ia ns of public ord er in pu blic wors hip.g. This PU IS a st op to any d iscussi on .h. The supper commemorating Chr is t 's la s t supperwith his d isciples during which he institut ed theEucharist . Befo re the litu r gi cal meal the Co rint hiansheld thi s ordinar y meal. th e ea rl ie s t f orm of the agape.Pau l disappr oves of this custom, v. 34, and co ndemnsits ab uses, 'IV . 2 1-22.

i. Var . ' This is my bcdy , broken fo r y ou' .I . Add . 'unwo rthil y" .k, T he Body of t he Lo rd.I. Li t. 'fa llen as leep' . Evidently Paul considers thesick ness and de at h o f some Corin th ian s to have bee n

a punishmen t for irreveren ce to ' t he t ''Jdy an d blo od oft he Lord' .12 a . T he sp iritua l gifts tchartsmata l gra nted by theHoly Sp irit 1O some members of the community witnessed to the Spirit's p resence and helped the Churchto function while i ts hier ar chy was s ti ll in a rudi mentarysta le. T her e w er e so many ems. and so me were soecce nt ric and noisy, t hat they tended to pr odu cedisorde r. Hen ce Pa ul's admonitio ns: I. A l l th ese gift scome fro m the Sp ir it . 2 . All are given for the bene fitof the co mm unity. 3. T heir respect ive value s are to beiudu ed by thei r usef uln ess to the commun ity. 4. Thegift of p rop hecy (oroonetetat is vastly superior to thegift of to ngues (glossolalia) of which the Cori nthiansa rc so pro ud . 5. F ina lly, it is be tt e r to ha ve char ity t hana ny of the char ismata,b. Allus ion to the fre nzies and org ies o f somepagan CUlts.c, No te aga in th e trinitarian fo rmulation , cr. 6:11;2Col ) :13+.d . Probab ly the Rift of pre ac h i ng the ce ntralChristian truth s about God and God's life in us: thisis the ' perfect teachin g' of Heb 6:1. Cf. also 1 Co 2:6-16,c. The Rift of p reac h ing the e leme ntary Christiant ruths: ' the elemen ta ry teachin g concerning Chr ist'of Heb 6:1.t, An unu sually int ense fa it h , cf. 13:2.s . On 'pr oph ecy' cr, Ac 11:27+ ,

10:16-1711M! 26:26-29I I 14:22-IILk 22:14-20Ex 12:14D! 16:3Ex 24:8JI31:3 1+ ..JHe b 8:6-13 s16:22Rv 22:17.20 :I:Q.W

Ac 5:9..J:i:Q.

D! 8:5+Rv 3:19..J0

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I ]n 3:2Nb 12:8Ws3 :9Rm 5:4Ga 5:6Ep 1 :15: 4:2Co l1 :4Phm 5Ac 2:4+ ;11:27+

Nb 11:29

I Th 5:20

14:5

15:9, wh ic h he was se nt to save, 2 Co 5: 14f: Ga 2:20;Ep 5:2.25; I T m 1:14f: cr . u n 15: 13 : 1 Jn 3:16; Rv 1:5.T h is is th e sa me love that the Holy Spirit, Rm 15:30;Coi l :8, gives Christians. Rm 5:5: cf. Ga 5:22, to helpthem to car ry ou t . Rm 8:4, th e essential commandmento f t he Law, which is love of God and neighbour, Mt 22:37-40p ; Rm t3 :8-JO: Ga 5:14. To love friends, andenemies. Mt : 4 ~ 4 8 p is not on ly t he n ecessary consequence of God's love fo r us, but ac tually proves thatGo d loves us, I In 3:17: 4:20f, and it is the newcommandment laid down by Christ, In 13:34f: 15:12.17:I In 3:23: etc., and co nstantly em p ha sis ed by hisd isciples . Rm 13:8; Ga 5:13( ; Ep 1:15; Ph 2:2f; Col 1:4;I Th 3:12; 2 T h 1:3: Phm 5:7: cf. Jm 2:8: I P 1:22;2: 17 ; 4:8: I I n 2:10 ; 3:lOf,14: et c. Th is is how Paulloves the C hris tians of his own chu r ches , 2 Co 2:4 ;12:15 ; e tc., and how they love h im, Co l 1:8: I Th 3:6;etc . Love p resupposes since rit y, humility, se lflessnessand self -sacr if ice. Rm 12:9(: I Co 13 :4- 7 ; 2 Co 6:6 :Ph 2 :2 f. s ervice, Ga 5:13: cf. Heb 6: I0 , mutua l help ,Ep 4:2; cr Rm 14115 ; 2 Co 2:7f. Lov e shows itself inthe way we be have. 2 Co 8:8-11,24 : cf. 1 In 3:18, an dthe way we obey the Lord ' s commands, In 14:15:I Jn 5:2f , et c. and give effect to our faith. G a 5:6 ;cf. He b 1 0:24. Lo ve ho lds the community together,Col 3:14; cf. 2 P 1:7, and it 'co ve rs u p ma ny sins'.1 P 4 :8 : cf. L k 7:47. Since love of neighbour springsfrom love of Go d , i ts mo t ive cannot be fear , R m 8 :2839; cf. I In 4: 17f. Nor can we be charitable withouttruth, Ep 4:15 cf . 2 Th 2:10, and it is this that enab lesus t o make moral judgements, Ph I :9, and gives usspirit ual understa nding of t he divi ne mystery , Co l 2:2 :cf . I In 4:7, and spi ritual know ledge o f t he o therwi seunkn owable Joveo f Christ, En 3:17-19; c f. 1 Co 8:1-3;13:8- 12. Since Christ, En 3:17, and the whole Tri nity.2 Co 13:13 + : cf. In 14:1523: 1 In 4 :12. l ive in theso u l that ha s thi s love, it fosters the theological virtues,cf. Rm 1:16 + : 5:2 + , i n an y per son where it is thedominant characterist ic , J Co 13:13. Love is the onl yete rnal virtue , 1 Co 13:8, and wi ll only be perfect in thevision. 1 Co 13:12 ; cf . 1 In 3:2. when Go d gives hislovers th e Ri ft s he has prom ised . I Co 2:9: Rm 8:28 ;Ep 6:24: 2 T m 4: 8: cf.1m 1:12: 2;5.b. Var . ' I may Rve a ll my Roods to the poo r soth at I can boast o f i t '.c. Lit. ' in par t ' .

d. I.e. bY G od .e. O r 'M eanwhile' .f. Or 'In shor t . then, we are left with these thr eethings' . This ass ociation of the thr ee theo logicalvirtues, which is found ea r l ier in 1 Th 1:3 and whichwas pro bably in use before Paul's time, recurs frequentlyin hi s letters, though the order var ies : I Th 5:8 ;I Co 13:7.13: Ga 5:5f: Rm 5:1-5 : 12:6-12; Col 1:4-5 :Ep 1: 15-18: 4:2-5: I Tm 6:11: Tt 2:2 .C f. Heb 6:1Q.12 :10:22-24: I P 1:3-9.21f. Fa ith and cha rity ar e ass ociatedin I Th 3:6 ; 2 Th 1:3; Phm 5. faith a nd fortitude in2 Th 1:4. love and fo r t i tude in 2 Th 3 :5 . Cr. 2 Co 13:13.

1 COR IN T H I ANS

h. The gift of knowing if charismata were spiritual.natu ra l, or evil.1. O n the c ha ri sm a of ' tongues' ( etossotattatcr. Ac 2:4 + .J. Paul us es the classical analogy of soc ie t y as asingle body with many parts but hi s concept of theBody of Chri st goes back to the memory o f h is ownconversion . cr. Ac 9:4f; Ga 1:15(, to faith in Jesuswhose body, raised from t he d ea d a nd given l if e bythe Spirit, Rm 1:4+. became the ' first-fruits ' of a newcreation, 1 Co 15:23. The words spoken b y t he Lordat Paul's convers ion , 'I am Jesus , whom you ar epersecuting' , imply that Christians a re identified withthe risen Christ. In Paul ' .. writings, Christians a rebodily un ited with the r isen body, Rm 8:11. by bantisrn,1 Co 12:13; cr.Rm 6:4 + , and the Euchar is t , 1 Co 10:16f, which makethem parts of Christ's bodv. 1 Co 6:15.unit ed i n s uch a way that he and they rogerher formt h e Body of Ch r is t (what is no w ca lled ' the mysticalbody '), 1 Co 12:27; Rm 12:4f. T his ra t he r r ea li sti ctea ching o f 1 Co is taken up later on and developedin the Letters of th e Captivity, where the ba sic idearemains the same, t.e. humans are reconciled to Godby becoming pa rts of, Ep 5:30, Christ 's body which wasphysica lly dead but is now spiritually a live.Ep 2:14- 18,Co l I :22 . The st ress however is on the un it y o f t heBody that bri ngs all Christians to ge t he r i n one Spi rit,En 4:4: Co l 3:15, an d o n th e identification of the Bodywith the Chu rch, Ep 1: 22 f ; 5:23: Co l 1:18,24. Havingthus personified the bo dy, En 4:12f ; Col 2:19, Pa ulasserts that Christ is it s Head, En 1:22; 4:15f; 5:23;Col 1:18:2: 19 (cr. 1 Co 12:21). This assertion pr obablydeveloped from the concep t of Christ as Head o f a llPowers, Col 2:10. "Eventu ally , i n i t s widest sense, Pau lincludes in bts'cdncem of the Body the ent ire cosmos asunified under the Lord Christ . Ep 1:23 +. Cf. In 2:21 +.k . The way a human body gives unity to a ll i tscomponent parts is the way Christ, as unifying principl eo f h is Church, gives un i ty t o a ll Christians in his Body.I . The regular teac her s appointed for eachseparatechurch, c f. Ac 13:1+.m. Lit. ' helpings': voluntary gifts to wor k s ofcharity.

n , Administra torsand guides o f t he churches.13 a. Love (agape) ha s no possessiveness and is nota desire for sat isfact ion: it wants to satisfy the oth er .The Supreme cha rity is God's love for us, 1 In 4:19,tha t made him give his Son so that sinners might bereconciled , Rm 5 :8: 8:32-39; 2 C0 5:18-21: Ep2:4.7;cf . In 3: 16f : 1 In 4:9-10, and become no t only God'schosen one s, Ep 1:4, but God's sons, 1 In 3:1. T hisl ove is a t t ri bu ted to God ( the Father) , Rm 5:5 : 8:39 ;2 Co 1 3: 11.13 ; Ph 2:1: 2 Th 2:16: cf. I Jn 2 :15. but asit i s i dentical with God' s nature , I In 4:7f,16, it is foundin the So n. Rm 8:35.37 .39 : 2 Co 5 :14: Ep 3:19:I Tm 1: 14: 2 Tm 1: 13. so t heSon loves the Fa t he r asthe Son is loved by t he F at h er, Ep 1:6 : Co l 1:13:cr In 3 :35; 10:17 ; 14:31, and as t h e F a ther loves us.so the Son loves the human race, In 13:1.34: 14:21;

35in a mirror; but then we shall be seeing face to face. The knowledge that I havenow is imperfect; but then I shall know as fully as I am known."In short, e there are three things that last ! faith, hope and love ; and thegreatest of these is love.Spiritual gifts: their respective importance in the community14 You must want love more than anything else; but sti ll hope for the spiritualgifts as well, especially prophecy. -Anybodywith the gift of tonguesspeaksto God, but not to other people ; because nobody understands him when hetal ks in t he spirit about mysterious things. On the o ther hand, the man whopro phesies does talk to other people, to their improvement, their encouragementand their consolation . -The one with the gift of tongues talks for his ownbenefit, but the man who prophesies does so for the benefit of the community.While I should like you all to have the gift of tongues, J would much rat her youcould prophesy, since the man who prophesies is of greater importance than the

34COR INTH IANS

The order of importance in spi ri tual gif ts . LoveBe ambitious for the higher gifts. And I am going to show you a way that is 31better than any of them.

13If I have all the el oquence of men or of angels, but speak wit hout love,aI am simply a gong booming or a cymbal clashing. -I f I have the gift ofprophecy, understanding al l the mysteries there are, and knowing everything,

and if I have faith in all its fulness, to move mountains, but without love, thenI am nothi ng at al l. -If J give away all that I possess, piece by piece, and if I evenlet. them take my body to burn it, b but am without love, it will do me no goodwhatever.Love is always patient and kind ; it is never jealous ; love is never boastfulor conceited; it is never rude or selfish; it does not take offence, and is notresentful. Love takes no pleasure in other people's sins but delights in the tru th ;it is always ready to excuse, to trus t, to hope, and to endure whatever comes.Love does not come to an end. But if there are gifts of prophecy, the t imewill come when they must fai l; or the gift of languages, it will not continuefor ever ; and knowledge-for this, too, the time will come when it must fail.For our knowledge is imperfect- and our prophesying is imperfect; -but once ~ perfection comes, all imperfect things will disappear. When I was a child, I used 11to talk like a child, and think like a child, and argue like a child, but now I ama man , all childishwaysa re put behind me. Now we are seei ng a dim reflection 12

12: 1 I

2 Co 5 :7

R m 8:31:14:15Col 1:8Mt 7:22

Mt 17:20Jm 2:14-17Mt 6 :2

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r

I ' J ~ ~ 1 : 1 3 another the gift of recognising spirits;h another the gift of tongues! and anotherthe abili ty to interpret them. AII these are the work of one and the same Spi ri t, IIwho distributes different gifts to different people just as he chooses. 1311 The analogy of the bodyl6:15 : 10:17 Just as a human body, t hough it is made up of many parts, i s a s ingle uni t 12Rm 12:4-5

, " E . ~ n ~ because all these parts, though many, make one body, so i t is wi th Chr is t." -I n 13t a l : l . ~ the one Spirit we were all bap tised, Jews as well as Greeks, slaves as well asC ~ 1 3 : 1 1 citizens, and one Spiri t was given to us al l to drink.

Nor i s the body to be identi fi ed with anyone of i ts many parts . If the foot l

n were to say, 'I am not a han d and so I do not belong to the body', would thatmean that i t stopped being part of the body? -I f the ear were to say, 'I am not 16 4an eye, and soI do not belong to the body', would that mean tha t i twas not a partofthe body? If yourwhole body was just one eye,how would you hear anything? 17If it was just one ear, how would you smell anything?Instead of that, God put a ll the separate parts into the body on purpose. If l al l the parts were the same, how could i tbe a body? -As it i s, the parts are many 20but the body isone. -The eye cannot say to the hand, ' I do not need you', nor can 21the head say to the fee t, ' I do not need you' .What is more, i t is precisely the parts of the body that seem to be the weakest 22which are the indispensable ones; -and i t i s t he l east honourabl e par ts of the 23body that we c lo the with t he great est care. So our more improper parts getdecorated -in a way that our more proper parts do not need. God has arranged 24the body so tha t more digni ty i sgiven to the parts which are without i t, -and so 25

that there may not be disagreements ins ide the body, but that each part may beRm 12:15 equally concerned for all the others. If one part is hur t, al l parts are hur t wit h 26i t. I f one part i sgiven spec ial honour, all parts enjoy it.RmlUiA Now you together are Chris t' s body; but each of you i s a different par t of it . 27Ac T f i f ~ In the Church, God has given the first place to apostles, the second to prophets, 28

~ : : : n the third to teachers;' after them, miracles, and after them the gif t of hea ling;helpers ,'" good leaders," those with many languages. -Are all of them apostles, 29or a ll of them prophets, or all of them teachers? Do they all have the gift ofmiracles, 'o r all have the gift of healing? Do all speak strange languages, and 30all interpret them?

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d . Or, he is u nn ot ic ed by God who does notacknowledge him as his own . Va r. ' if he refuses torecognise thi s, w el t l et him' (Paul los ing patie nce).Fo r a similar way of puttin g an en d t o di sc us si on,er, 11:16: Ph 3:15.t 5 a . Chrlst 'e resurrection, o f which the apo stles arewitnesses, vv, 2-8, cr, Ac 1:8+, is the decisive proof,vv. 12 -28, of the future resurrection of al l, w hi ch issomething the a .T. first of alt suspects and hopes for ,Ps 16:10 +; . Jb 19:25+ ; Ezk 37:10+, bu t eventuallyassert sQuite pla inly, 2 M 7:9+ . Thi s is why the resurrect ion of Ch ri s t i s the foundation of faith , vv. 1 2 ~ 1 9

14 a. Lit. ' .. . sou nds i n the wor ld but no t one The r is en Christ can be called the first -fru i t. v. 20. notsoundless' , only hera lding but causi ng t he resurrect ion of allb. Th is p ra ye r of ecs tat i c utterance is so freed by Chris tians, vv. 20-28, cr. Rm 8:11+.'the spirit' th at it con tains no thing limited enough to b. An allusion to the abnormal, sudden and surgicalbe grasped by the 'mind' . nature of Paul's birth into the apostolic fam ily. Hec. The Quotat ion is very free. m ak es no di stinction between the sort of apparitiontha t took place on the Damascus road an d t he s or t o fapparit ions of Jesus tha t took place between theresurrection and the ascension.c. Pa ul is talk in g t o those who believe Christ rosefrom t he dead . To believ e t his and to lead a C hristianlife necessarily imp l y b elief in the resurre ct io n of thedead.d. Or 'through God' .e , 'T hislife' has become for Chr istians a sta tefromwh ich l ife in Christ. through the resurrecti on , willdeliver them. If there is no r esurrection, they have losttheir deliverance, Note tha t the possibility of the soul's

immortality without the resurrect ion o f t he bo dy is notcons idered.

II I. THE RESURRECT ION OF THE DEAD aThe fact of the resur rect ion

1 15Brot hers , I want to remind you of the gospel I preached to you, the gospelthat you received and in which you are firmly established; because thegospel will save you only if you keep believing exact ly what I preached to youbelieving anything else will not lead to anything.

3 Well then, in the f irs t place, I taught you what I had been taught myself,4 namely that Christ died for our sins, in accordance with the scr ip tures; -that hewas buried; and that he was raised to life on the third day, in accordance with5 the scriptures; -t ha t he appeared first to Cephas and secondly to the Twelve .6 Next he ap peared to more than five hundred of the brothers at the same time,7 most of whom are st ill alive, t hough some have d ied; -t hen he appea red to8 James, and then to all the apostles; -and las t of all he appeared to me too ; it wasas though I was born when no one expected it."9 I am the least of the apos tl es ; in fact, since I persecuted the Church of God,10 I hardly deserve the name apostle; -but by God's grace that is what 1 am, andthe grace that he gave me has no t been fru itless . On the contrary, I, or rat her11 the grace ofGod that iswith me, have worked harder than any of the others; b utwhat matters is that I preach what they preach, and this is what you all believed.12 Now if Christ raised from the de ad is what has been preac hed ,' how can13 some of you be saying that there is no resurrection of the dead? If there is no14 resurrection of the dead, Chr ist himself cannot have been raised, -and if Christhas not been raised then our preaching is useless and your believing it is u seless;15 indeed, we are shown up as witnesses who have committed perjury before God,16 becau se we swore in evidence before God" tha t he had raised Christ to life. Fo r17 if the dead are not raised, Ch r ist has not been raised, -and if Christ has not been18 raised, you are sti ll in your sins. -And wha t is more serious, all who have died in19 Chr ist have perished. -If our hope in Chr ist has been for th is life only, we arethe most unfortunate' of al l people.20 But Christ has in fact been raised from the dead, the f irst-fruits of all who21 have fallen asleep. -Death came through one man and in the same way the

their husbands at home : i t does not seem right for a woman to raise her voiceat meeti ngs.36 Do you think the word of God came out of yourselves? Or tha t it has come37 on ly to you? -Anyone who claims to be a prophet or inspired ought to recog nise38 that what I am wri ting to you isa command from the Lord. Un less he recognisesthis, you shou ld not recognise him."39 And so, my dea r brothers, by all means be amb it ious to prophesy , do not40 suppress the gift of tongues, but let everything bedone with proprietyand inorder.

Regulating spiritual giftsSo, my dear brothers, what conclusion is to be drawn? At all your meetings, 26let everyone be ready with a psalm or a se rmon or a revelation, or ready to usehis gift of t ongues or to give an interpretat ion; but it must always be for thecommon good . -If there are people present with the gift oftongues, let only two or 27three, at the most, be allo wed to use it, and only one at a time, and there mustbe someone to interpret. -I f there is no interpreter present, they must keep quiet 28in church and speak only to themselves and to God . As for pro phets, let two 29or thr ee of them speak, and the o thers attend to them. I f one of the listeners 30receives a revelat ion, the n the man who is already speaking should stop. For 31you can all prophesy in turn, so tha t everybody will learn something andeverybody will be encouraged . Prophets can always contro l their prophetic 32spirits, - since God is not a God of disorder but of peace . 33As ill all the churches of the saints, ' women are to remain quiet at meet ings 34since they ha ve no permission to speak; they must keep in the background asthe Law itself lays i t dow n. -I f they have any questions to ask, they should ask 35

man with the gift of tongues, unless of course the latter offers an interpretat ionso that the church may get some benefit.Now suppose, my dea r brothers, I am someone with the gift of tongues, and 6I come to visit you, what use shall I be if ail my ta lking reveals nothing new, tellsyou nothing , and neither inspires you nor inst ructs you? -Think of a musical 7instru ment, a flute or a harp: if one note on it cannot be dist inguishedfrom anothe r, how can you tell what tune is being p layed? -O r jf no one can 8be sure which call the trumpet has sounded, who will be ready for the a tt ack?It is the same with you: if your tongue does not produce intelligible speech, how 9can anyone know what you are say ing? You will be talking to the air. There are 10any number of different languages in the world, and not one of them is meaningless, -but if I am ignorant of what the sounds mean , I am a savage to the man 11who is speaking, and he is a savage to me. It is the same in your own case: since 12you aspire to spiritual gifts, concentrate on those which will grow to benefit thecommunity.That is why anybody who has the gift of tongues mus t p ray for the power 13of interpretingthem. For i f I use th isgift in my prayers, myspirit may be praying 14but my mind is left b ar ren. " What is the answer to that? Surely I should pray 15not only with the spiri t but with the mind as well? And sing praises not only withthe spi rit but with the mind as well? -Any uninitiated person will never be able 16to say Amen to your thanksgiving, if you only bless God with the spiri t, fo r hewill have no idea wha t you are saying. However well you make your thanks- 17giving, the other gets no benef it f rom it. . 1 thank God that I have a grea ter gift 18of tongues than all of you, but when I am in the presence of the community 19I would rat her say five words that mean something than ten thousand wordsin a tongue.Brothers, yo u are not to be childis h in your outlook . You can be babies as 20far as wickedness is concerned, but mentally you must be adult. -In the wri tten 21Law it says:' Through men speaking strange languages and through the lips offo reigners, I shall lalk 10 the nation, and still they will not listen 10 me, says theLord. You see then, that the strange languages are meant to be a sign not for 22believers but for unbelievers, while on the other hand, p rophecy isa sign not forunbelievers but for believers. -So that any uninitiated people or unbelievers , 23com ing int o a meeting of the whole church where everybody was speaking inton gues, would say you were all mad ; but it you were all prophesying and an 24unbeliever or un initiated person came in, he wou ld find himself analysed andjudged by everyone spea king; -he would find his secre t thought s laid bare, 25

~ c 4 ~ ~ and then fall on his fac e and worship God, declaring that God is among youindeed.

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CO NCLUSIO N

mo rtal nature has put on immortalit y, then the words of scripture- will come55 tru e: Death is swallowed upin victory . Death, where is your victory? Death, where56 is your sting ? Now the s ting of death is sin, and sin gets its power from the Law.57 So let us thank God for giving us the victory through our Lord Jesu s Ch rist.58 Never give in t he n, my dea r brothe rs , never admit defeat; keep on work ingat the Lord's wor k always, knowing that, in the Lord, you cannot be labouringin vain.

Commendations. GreetingsI 16 Now about the collection made for the saints:" you are to do as I t ol d t nechurches in Galat ia to do. Every Sunday, b each one of you must putaside what he can afford, so that collections need not bemade after I have come .3 When I am with you, I will send you r offer ing to Jerusalem by the hand4 of whatever men you give letters of reference to ; -if it seems worth whi le for meto go too , they can travel with me.

I sha ll be coming to you after I have passed through Macedonia-and I amdoing no more than pass thr ough Macedonia-i-s and I may be staying with you,perhaps even passing the winter, to make sure that it is you who send me on myway wherever my trave ls take me. -A s you see, I do not want to ma ke it onlya passing visit' to you and I hope to spend some time with you , the Lord permi tting. In any case I shall be staying at Ephesus until Pentecost because a bigan d important door" has opened for my work and there is a great dea lof opposition.10 I f Timothy comes, show him tha t he has nothing to be afraid of in you: like

11 me, he is do ing the Lord ' s work, -a nd no bod y is to be scornful of him. Send

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4:17I Tm 4 :12 I-Tm 1:7 "a n a nd life-giving Snlrh , 1 Co 15:45-49, The 'body'is no longer psych ikon but pneuma/ikon , it is inco rrupt ibl e, immo rtal. I Co 15:53, glorious. 1 Co 15:43:cf. Rm8 :18: 2 C04: 17; Ph 3:21; Co l 3:4, no longersubject to th e laws o f matter, In 20:19.26 : i t doe s noteven answer the description of matt er , L k 24:16. Psychecan be used in a wide r sense as the OPpos it e o f the

body to indica te what it is in a human being thatbehaves and f ee ls , Ph 1:27; Ep 6:6: Col 3:23; cf . Mt 22:37p ;26 :38p; Lk 1:46; I n 12:27; Ac 4:32; 14:2; I P 2:11;etc., or even to indicate the spir it u al and immortalso ul. M t 10:28, 39p; Ac 2:2 7 ; Jm 1:21; 5:2 0 ; I P 1 :9 ;Rv 6:9; e tc.m. Somet hing that is alive because It has a psychegivlnR it a mere ly natural life, subject to decay andco rruption.n. Th e vure reading ' we all d i e but we sha l l notall be changed' is incor rect.0 , I.e. those who will be alive at the tim e, amongwho m Paul co uld theoretically ha ve been included,cf.1 Th 5: 1+ .p. Om , 'When this pe rishable na tu r e h as pu t onimpe rishability'.

q , A f re e quotation.]6 a . On thi s col lec tion see Rm 15:26-28 : Ga 2:10:2 Co 8:9 ; A c 24:17. The ' saints' (cf. 2 Co 8:4) are theChristians in Jer u sa l em who from the earliest daysstood in need of he lp, Ac 11:2930. Pa ul was verya nxious t o have this col lect ion made.since he regardedit as a s lan and a p ledgeof unity between the ch urcheshe ha d f ounded and those of the Judaeo-Christians.b. Lie 'Firs t day of t he week', i.e. 'T he Lord 's Day',cr . Ac20:7 ; Rv 1;10; Mt 28:1,c, An a lternative translation 'This time, I do notwant to pa y yo u a pa ss ing visi t' ; t h i swou ldp resupposea short visit rece ntly made, which is har d ly l ikely.

d . The sam e image is used in 2 Co"2:12 ; Col 4 :3 :it indi cat e s Paul 's missiona ry opportunities, cf. Rv3:8.

f. Parousia (p resence). a Greek word adop ted byea rly Chr is t ia ns to indicate the glor ious co ming ofChr ist o n his 'day' , I Co 1:8 + . at th e en d of time.Ml 24 :3+ ; cf. also I Th 2:19;3: 13; 4:15; 5:32 ; 2T h 2 :1;Jm 5:7,8; 2 P 1:16; 3:4,12; I I n 2:28. I n 2 Th 2:8,9 thesa me word is used to ind icate the coming of the la wlessOne. C r. the similar terms ' revelation', I Co 1: 7 + ,and 'appearing' , I Tm 6:14 -i-.J:, All for c es ho st ile to the sovere ignty of God ,cf. I Co 2:6; Ep 1:21; Co l 1:16: 2:15; I P 3:22.h . Wh en the who le cosmos has been subjected 10him, Jesus will go to the Fat her and say his task iscomplete. The tran slat ion ' scripture says ' is incorrect.l. What this pra ctice was is unknown: Pa ul docsno t s ay if he approved of it or no t: he uses it mere lyfor an ad hominem a rgument.J. What episode Paul is referring to IS unknown.k. Quo ted from Men and er's Thais: it may havebec ome a po pular proverb .I. li t. It is sow n a ph ysical ( psychik on) bod y, itis raised a spiritual ( pneumatlkon) body . In Pa ul,as in the O.T . , psyche (H ebr. nephesh : cf. G n 2:7) is

what gives life to ani mals. to the human body,I Co 15:45; or it is the actual ' life' of the body, Rm 16:4 ;Ph 2:30: 1 Th 2:8; cf. Mt 2:20; Mk 3:4; Lk 12:20;In 10: I I ; Ac 20:10: et c., its ' living soul' , 2 Co 1:23.The ter m can also mean any hum an be ing , Rm2 :9;13:1; 2 Co 12:15; Ac2:41,43, et c. As it only givesnat ur a l li fe , I Co 2:14; cr. Ju de 19, it is less imp ort antthan pneuma by which a hum an life is divinised by aprocess that begins thr ough the gift of the Sp'rf t,Rm 5:5+ ; cf. 1:9 + , and is completed afte r death.G reek philosophers t hought of the higher soul (thenous) esca ping from ' t he b ody' , to survive immortally.Ch ristians thought of immortality mor e in te rm s o f t herestoration of the who le pe rs on , involving a r esurrectio n of the bo dy effected by the Spirit or divine principlewhich God withdrew from human bei ngs becaus e ofsins, Gn 6:3, but rest o re d to all who arc un i t ed to therisen Christ. Rm 1:4+: 8: II, who is the 'heaven ly'

The manner of the resur rectionSomeone may ask, 'How are dead people raised,and wha t sort of body do they 35have when theycome back?' -T hey are stupid questions. Whatever you sow in the 36

gro und has to die before it is given new life -and the thing that you sow is not 37what is going tocome; yousow a ba re grain,s ay of wheat or something like that,and then God gives it the so rt of body tha t he has chosen: each sort of seed gets 38its own sort of body.Everything tha t is flesh is not the same flesh : there is human flesh, animals' 39flesh, the flesh of birds and the flesh of fish. Then there are heavenly bodies and 40there a re earthly bodies; but the heavenly bod ies have a beauty of thei r own andthe earthly bodiesa different one. Thesun has i ts brightness, the moon a d ifferent 4 1brightness, and the star s a different brightness, and the stars differ from eachother in brightness. -I t is the same with the resurrection of the dead : the thing 42that is sown is perishable but what is r ai se d is imperishable ; -the thing that is 43sown is contemptible but what is raised is glorious ; the thing that is sown is weakbut what is raised is power ful ; -when it i s sown it embodies the soul, whe n it is 44rai sed it embodies the spirit. 'If the soul has its own embodiment, so does the spirit have its own embodiment.The first man, Adam , as scripture says, became a l iving soul;" bu t the last Adam 45has become a life-giving spirit. Th at is, first the one wit h the soul , not the spirit, 46and after tha t, the one with the spirit. -Th e first man , being from the earth, is 47ear thly by nat ure ; the second man is from heaven . -As this earthly man was, so 48are we on eart h; and as the heavenly man is, so are we in heaven. -And we, who 49have been modelled on the earth ly man, will be modelled on the heavenly man .Or else, brothers, pu t it th is way:flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom 50of God : and the perishable cannot inhe ri t what las ts for ever. 1 will tell you 51something that has been secret: that we are not all go in g t o die, but we shall allbe changed." -This will be instantaneous, in the twinkling of an eye, when the 52last trumpet sou nds. It will s ound , and the dead will be raised , imperishable,and we shall be cha nged as well," because our present perishable nat ure must 53put on imperishability and th is mortal na ture must put on immortal ity.

resurrection of the dead has come through one man . - Ju st as all men die inAdam, 22so a ll men wil lbe brought to lifein Chris t ; but a ll of them in their proper order: 23Chris t as the first-fruits and then, after the coming! of Christ, those who belongto him . After that willcome the end, when he hands over the kingdom to God 24the Father, having done away with every sovereignty, authority and power.'For he must be king until he has put all his enemies under his feet -and the last ~ of the enemies to be destroyed is death , for everything is to be put under his fe et.-Though when it is said- that everything is subjected, this clearly cannot include 27the One who subjected everything to him. -And when everything is subjected to 28him , then the Son himse lf wil l be subject in his turn to the One who subjectedal l things to him, so that God may be al l in al l.If this were not true , what do peop le h op e to gain by being baptis ed for 29the dead?' If the dead are not ever going to be raised, why be bap ti se d on theirbehal f? What about ou rselves? Why are we living under a constant thr eat ? 30I face death every day, bro thers, and I can swea r it by the pride that I t ak e in you 31in Christ Jesus our Lord. If my motives were on ly human ones, what good would 32it do me to figh t the wild animals at Ephesus?' -Yo u say: Let us eat and drink 33today; tomorrow we shall be dead. You must sto p being led astray: 'Ba d friendsruin the noblest peop le'." -Co rne to yo ur senses, behave pro perly, and leave sin 34a lone; there a re some of you who seem no t to know God at all; you should beashamed.

A hymn of triumph. ConclusionWhen this peris hable nature has put on imperishability;> and when this S4

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2 CORINTH IANS

Address and greetings. Thanksgiving1From Paul, appoi nted by God to be an apostle of Christ Jesus , and fromTimothy, one of the brothers, to the chu rch of Goda t Corin th and to all the2 sain ts in the whole of Achaia. -G race and peace to you from God our Father andthe Lord Jesus Christ.

Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, a gentle Fa ther and4 the God of all consolation, -who comfor ts us in all our sor rows, so that we canoffer others, in the ir sorr ows, the consolation tha t we have received from God5 ourselves. Indeed, as the sufferings of Christ overflow to us, so, through Christ,does our consolation overflow. When we a re made to suffer, it is for yourconsola tion and salva tion. When, instead, we are comforted, th is s ho ul d be aconsolation to you, supporting you in pat iently bear ing the same sufferings as

7 we bear. -And ou r hope for you is confident , since we know that , sharing oursufferings,you will also share our conso lations.Fo rwe should like you to realise, brothers, that the th ings we had to undergo'in As ia were more of a burden than we could carry, so that we despaired ofcoming through alive. Yes, we were car rying our own death warrant with us,and it has taught us not to rely on ourse lves but only on God, who raises the10 dead to l ife. -And he saved us from dying, as he will save us aga in ;yes, that is our11 firm hope in him, that in the future he will save us again. Yo u must alljoin in theprayers for us: the more people ther ea re ask ing for help fo r us, the more will begiving thanks when i t is granted to us.

INT RODU CTION

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OF PAULCORINTH

SECOND LETTERCHURCH AT

THETO THE

himhappily on his way to come back to me; the brothers and I are wait in g forhim.' -As for our brother Apollos, I begged him to come to you with the brothers 12but he was qu ite firm that he did not want to go yeti and he will come as soonas he can .Be awake to all the dangers; st ay firm in th e faith; be br ave and be strong. 13Let everything you do be done in love. 14There is something else to ask you, brothers. You kn ow how the Stephanas 15family, who were the first-fruits of Achaia, have really wor ked hard to help thesaints. Well, I want you in you r tu rn to put yourselves at the service of people 16like this, and anyon e who helps and wor ks with them. 1 am delight ed that I7Stephanas, Fortunatus and Achaic us have arrived; .thcy make up for you rabsence. They have settled my mind, and yours too ; I ho pe you appreciate men 18like this.All the churches of Asia" send you greetings. Aquila and Prisca, with the 1"church that meets at their house, send you the ir warmest wishes, in the Lord .All the brothers send you their greetings. Gree one ano ther with a holy kiss. 211This greet ing is in my own hand- Paul. 2 1If anyone does not love the Lord, a curse on him. 'Ma ran ath a. ' 22The grace of the Lo rd Jesus be with you. 23My Jove is with you all in Christ Jesus. 24

Ac 18:2 +Rm1 6:5 +1 Co 13:12Ga 6:11-'-CO :18J1:27Ph

Ac 18:24+

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IIfI. SOME RECENT EVENTS REVIEWED

Why Paul changed his plans12 There is one thing we are proud of, and our conscience te lls us i t is t rue : thatwe have always treated everybody, and especially you , with the reverence" andsincerity which come from God, and by the grace of God we have don e this13 without ulterior motives . There are no h idd en meanings in our lette rs besides14 what you can read for yourselves and understand . And I hope that , althoughyou do not know us very well yet, you will have come to recognise, when the dayof our Lord Jesus comes, that you can be as pro ud of us as we are of you .15 Because I was so sure of th is, I had meant to come to you first, so that you16 would benefit doubly; staying with you before going to Macedonia and comingback to youagain on the way back from Macedonia, for you to see me on my way17 to Judaea. Do you thi nk I was not sure of my own intentions when I planned

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rrr" 16 e. The nbrase is ambtauous: e ither Pa ul and the'bro thers' of Ephesus are wail ing Ior Ti moth y, orPau l e ' l ( p e l . : t ~ T il"1010V and the ' brot hers who are h isrravellina comp anio ns (o f whom Erastus was one.Ac 19;22).t , In ca se his presence ag eravatcd party ~ l i

amo n g his own supporters, 1: 12; 3:4- 6: 4;6. . Pro bably these had brough t the letter from

the Co rinthians to Paul, 7:1.h. The Roman provi nce is mea nt.i. These Aram aic words ('the Lord is comma')ha d pa ssed into litur gica l lise: they expressed the hopeth at t he parous!a would not be l on g de la ye d . Anat terna uve rea din g is Marana Iha (Lord , co rnet).R v 22:20, c r. Rm 13:12 ; Ph 4:5; Jm 5:8; I P 4:7, a. It is not known what incident thi s refe rs to,b . var . 'stee te-mindedness',c. Var. ' to give YOU a double orees s re'.d . Paul must ther efore have changed the plan

mentioned in t Co 16:5-6.

1:17Jm 3:15

1 Co 1;17;z.ir1 Co 1:8+Ph 1:26; 2:16 : 4:11 Th 2:19-20

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