St. Paul, having planted the faithful in Corinth, where he had preached a year and a half and converted a great many, went to Ephesus. After being there three years, he wrote this first Epistle to the Corinthians and sent it by the same persons, Stephanus, Fortunatus and Achaicus, who had brought their letter to him. It was written about twenty-four years after our Lord's Ascension and contains several matters appertaining to faith and morals and also to ecclesiastical discipline.

 

 

 

 

 

 

[25] The foolishness: That is to say, what appears foolish to the world in the ways of God, is indeed most wise; and what appears weak is indeed above all the strength and comprehension of man.

 

 

 

 

[14] The sensual man: The sensual man is either he who is taken up with sensual pleasures, with carnal and worldly affections; or he who measureth divine mysteries by natural reason, sense, and human wisdom only. Now such a man has little or no notion of the things of God. Whereas the spiritual man is he who, in the mysteries of religion, takes not human sense for his guide: but submits his judgment to the decisions of the church, which he is commanded to hear and obey. For Christ hath promised to remain to the end of the world with his church, and to direct her in all things by the Spirit of truth.

 

 

 

 

[12] Upon this foundation: The foundation is Christ and his doctrine: or the true faith in him, working through charity. The building upon this foundation gold, silver, and precious stones, signifies the more perfect preaching and practice of the gospel; the wood, hay, and stubble, such preaching as that of the Corinthian teachers (who affected the pomp of words and human eloquence) and such practice as is mixed with much imperfection, and many lesser sins. Now the day of the Lord, and his fiery trial, (in the particular judgment immediately after death,) shall make manifest of what sort every man's work has been: of which, during this life, it is hard to make a judgment. For then the fire of God's judgment shall try every man's work. And they, whose works, like wood, hay, and stubble, cannot abide the fire, shall suffer loss; these works being found to be of no value; yet they themselves, having built upon the right foundation, (by living and dying in the true faith and in the state of grace, though with some imperfection,) shall be saved yet so as by fire; being liable to this punishment, by reason of the wood, hay, and stubble, which was mixed with their building.

 

 

 

 

[7] A fault: Lawsuits can hardly ever be without a fault, on the one side or the other; and oftentimes on both sides.

 

[12] All things are lawful: That is, all indifferent things are indeed lawful, inasmuch as they are not prohibited; but oftentimes they are not expedient; as in the case of lawsuits, etc. And much less would it be expedient to be enslaved by an irregular affection to any thing, how indifferent soever.

 

 

 

 

[2] Have his own wife: That is, keep to his wife, which he hath. His meaning is not to exhort the unmarried to marry: on the contrary, he would have them rather continue as they are. (Ver. 7: 8.) But he speaks here to them that are already married; who must not depart from one another, but live together as they ought to do in the marriage state.

 

[6] By indulgence: That is, by a condescension to your weakness.

[9] If they do not contain: This is spoken of such as are free, and not of such as, by vow, have given their first faith to God; to whom if they will use proper means to obtain it, God will never refuse the gift of continency. Some translators have corrupted this text, by rendering it, if they cannot contain.

 

[12] I speak, not the Lord: Viz., by any express commandment, or ordinance.

[14] Is sanctified: The meaning is not, that the faith of the husband or the wife is of itself sufficient to put the unbelieving party, or their children, in the state of grace and salvation; but that it is very often an occasion of their sanctification, by bringing them to the true faith.

 

[36] Let him do what he will. He sinneth not: The meaning is not, as libertines would have it, that persons may do what they will and not sin, provided they afterwards marry; but that the father, with regard to the giving his virgin in marriage, may do as he pleaseth; and that it will be no sin to him if she marry.

 

Chapter 8

[1] Knowledge puffeth up: Knowledge, without charity and humility, serveth only to puff persons up.

[5] Gods many: Reputed for such among the heathens.

[13] If meat scandalize: That is, if my eating cause my brother to sin.

 

Chapter 9

[5] A woman, a sister: Some erroneous translators have corrupted this text by rendering it, a sister, a wife: whereas, it is certain, St. Paul had no wife (chap. 7 ver. 7, 8) and that he only speaks of such devout women, as, according to the custom of the Jewish nation, waited upon the preachers of the gospel, and supplied them with necessaries.  

[16] It is no glory: That is, I have nothing to glory of.

[27] I chastise: Here St. Paul shews the necessity of self-denial and mortification, to subdue the flesh, and its inordinate desires.

 

Chapter 10

[2] In Moses: Under the conduct of Moses, they received baptism in figure, by passing under the cloud, and through the sea; and they partook of the body and blood of Christ in figure, by eating of the manna, (called here a spiritual food because it was a figure of the true bread which comes down from heaven,) and drinking the water, miraculously brought out of the rock, called here a spiritual rock, because it was also a figure of Christ.

[11] The ends of the world: That is, the last ages.

[13] Take hold on you: or come upon you as yet, but what is human, or incident to man. Issue-- a way to escape.

[16] Which we bless: Here the apostle puts them in mind of their partaking of the body and blood of Christ in the sacred mysteries, and becoming thereby one mystical body with Christ. From whence he infers, ver. 21, that they who are made partakers with Christ, by the eucharistic sacrifice and sacrament, must not be made partakers with devils by eating of the meats sacrificed to them.

[17] One bread: or, as it may be rendered, agreeably both to the Latin and Greek, because the bread is one, all we, being many, are one body, who partake of that one bread. For it is by our communicating with Christ, and with one another, in this blessed sacrament, that we are formed into one mystical body; and made, as it were, one bread, compounded of many grains of corn, closely united together.

 

Chapter 11

[10] A power: that is, a veil or covering, as a sign that she is under the power of her husband: and this, the apostle adds, because of the angels, who are present in the assemblies of the faithful.

[19] There must be also heresies: By reason of the pride and perversity of man's heart; not by God's will or appointment; who nevertheless draws good out of this evil, manifesting, by that occasion, who are the good and firm Christians, and making their faith more remarkable.

[20] The Lord's supper: So the apostle here calls the charity feasts observed by the primitive Christians; and reprehends the abuses of the Corinthians, on these occasions; which were the more criminal, because these feasts were accompanied with the celebrating of the eucharistic sacrifice and sacrament.

[27] Or drink: Here erroneous translators corrupted the text, by putting and drink (contrary to the original) instead of or drink.

[27] Guilty of the body: not discerning the body. This demonstrates the real presence of the body and blood of Christ, even to the unworthy communicant; who otherwise could not be guilty of the body and blood of Christ, or justly condemned for not discerning the Lord's body.

[28] Drink of the chalice: This is not said by way of command, but by way of allowance, viz., where and when it is agreeable to the practice and discipline of the church.

 

Chapter 14

[1] Prophesy: That is, declare or expound the mysteries of faith.

[2] Not unto men: Viz., so as to be heard, that is, so as to be understood by them.

[12] Of spirits: Of spiritual gifts.

[16] Amen: The unlearned, not knowing that you are then blessing, will not be qualified to join with you by saying Amen to your blessing. The use or abuse of strange tongues, of which the apostle here speaks, does not regard the public liturgy of the church, (in which strange tongues were never used,) but certain conferences of the faithful, ver. 26, etc., in which, meeting together, they discovered to one another their various miraculous gifts of the Spirit, common in those primitive times; amongst which the apostle prefers that of prophesying before that of speaking strange tongues, because it was more to the public edification. Where also not, that the Latin, used in our liturgy, is so far from being a strange or unknown tongue, that it is perhaps the best known tongue in the world.

[28] The Son also himself shall be subject unto him: That is, the Son will be subject to the Father, according to his human nature, even after the general resurrection; and also the whole mystical body of Christ will be entirely subject to God, obeying him in every thing.

[29] That are baptized for the dead: Some think the apostle here alludes to a ceremony then in use; but others, more probably, to the prayers and penitential labours, performed by the primitive Christians for the souls of the faithful departed; or to the baptism of afflictions and sufferings undergone for sinners spiritually dead.

[32] Let us eat and drink: That is, if we did not believe that we were to rise again from the dead, we might live like the impious and wicked, who have no belief in the resurrection.

 

Chapter 16

[22] Let him be anathema, maranatha: Anathema signifies here a thing accursed. Maran-atha, which, according to St. Jerome and St. Chrysostom, signify, 'The Lord is come' already, and therefore is to be taken as an admonition to those who doubted of the resurrection, and to put them in mind that Christ, the judge of the living and the dead, is come already. Others explain Maran-atha: 'May our Lord come', that is, to judge and punish those with exemplary judgments and punishments, that do not love the Lord Jesus Christ.