Corinthians, and a Defence of himself, against false Teachers SECTION V. (Chap. VII. 2-16.) The Law of Moral Influence. - Paul's intense Thankfulness that his Remonstrance with their Sins had not spiritually injured the Corinthians. - The Doc- trine of Contrition. - The Sorrow that is rooted in the World; and the Sorrow that is rooted in God. ST. PAUL URGES THE CORINTHIAN CHURCH TO DISCHARGE THE FULL DUTIES OF BROTHERLY LOVE TOWARDS THEIR SECTION I. (Chaps. X., XI.) St. Paul's Opponents.- His Per- sonal Infirmities. — His Apostleship denied: its Warrants. - - SECTION II. (Chaps. XII., XIII.) St. Paul's Qualifications not from himself, but of God's Grace: his Visions and Revela- tions. The Accompaniment of the chastening Thorn in the Flesh. His Claims upon the Love and Obedience of the Co- rinthian Church; his Prayer that their Restoration to a Chris- THE FIRST EPISTLE OF ST. PAUL TO THE CORINTHIANS. PART I. (CHAPS. I.-IV.) THE DISSENSIONS OF THE CORINTHIAN CHURCH. 1 ST. PAUL'S FIRST EPISTLE TO THE CORINTHIANS. PART I. (CHAPTERS I.-IV.) INTRODUCTION. SECTION I.* DIVISIONS IN THE CHURCH,- NO LEGITIMATE PLACE FOR THEM IN A RELIGION WHICH WAS NEITHER A PHILOSOPHY, NOR A SYSTEM OF DOCTRINES, NOR A LAW, BUT A SPIRIT OF LIFE, OF WHICH GOD ALONE WAS THE GIVER, AND CHRIST ALONE THE CHANNEL OF THE GIFT. 1 CHAP. I. 1-31. PAUL, called by the will of God to be an Apostle of 2 Jesus Christ, and Sosthenes † our brother, - To the Church of God that is at Corinth, to them that are sanctified in Christ Jesus, called to be saints, with all * St. Paul first visited Corinth about 51 A. D., and wrote the First Epistle to the Corinthians from Ephesus, about 56 A. D.· - Acts xviii. ; 1 Cor. xvi. 8. † Acts xviii. 17. in every place that call upon the name of Jesus Christ 3 our Lord, their Lord and ours,-Grace be unto you, and peace from God our Father, and from the Lord Jesus Christ. 4 - I thank my God always on your behalf for the grace 5 of God given to you in Jesus Christ, - that in every thing you are enriched in him, in all utterance and 6 knowledge, so that the testimony [evidence] of Christ 7 has been confirmed among you, - and you come behind in no gift, waiting to receive the revealing of our Lord 8 Jesus Christ; who will also confirm you until the end, 9 blameless in the day of our Lord Jesus Christ. God is faithful, by whom ye were called into the fellowship of his Son, Jesus Christ our Lord. 10 I beseech you, brethren, by virtue of the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that ye all speak the same thing, that there be no divisions among you, and that ye be perfectly joined together in the same mind and in the 11 same sentiment. For it hath been declared unto me of you, my brethren, by those of the house of Chloe,* that 12 there are contentions among you. This I mean, that you say severally, "I am of Paul," and, "I am of Apollos," 13 and, "I of Cephas," and, "I of Christ." Is Christ di vided? Was Paul crucified for you? Or, were you 14 baptized into the name of Paul? I thank God that I bap15 tized none of you, but Crispus † and Gaius,‡ — so that no 16 one can say I baptized into my own name. I baptized, too, the household of Stephanas: besides, I know not whether I baptized any other. * Conjectured to be the mother of Fortunatus and Achaicus, who, with Stephanas, are supposed to be the bearers of a letter from the church at Corinth to St. Paul, to which this Epistle (chap. vii. 1) is in part a reply. See ch. xvi. 17. † Acts xviii. 3. Rom. xvi. 23. § 1 Cor. xvi. 15. |