'BISHOP CHARLES J. ELLICOTT, D. D.—This Epistle was written in the year 57 or 58. Of its genuineness and authenticity no doubt has ever been entertained. The external evidences are extremely distinct. See Clem. Rom. ad Cor., c. 47, 49: Polyc. ad Phil., c. I I: Ignat. ad Eph., c. 2: Irenmus Hær., III., I I., Athenag. de Resurr., c. 18: Clem. Alex. Pædag., I., 33: Tertull. de Præscr., c. 33.—Smith's Dict. of Bible, p. 494.
The Church at Corinth
DR. ADAM CLARKE.—This church was planted by the Apostle himself, about A. D. 52. —Note, In loco.
The Preaching of Christ
Cor. 1:23.—We preach Christ crucified, unto the Jews a stumbling-block, and unto the Greeks foolishness.
TRYPHO, the Jew.—We cannot wonder enough that you should expect any good from God, who place all your hope on a man who was crucified.—Dialog of Justin Martyr and Trypho.
ST. AUGUSTIN.—The wise men of the world insult over us, and ask, Where is your understanding, who worship for a God a man who was crucified?—Quot. in Pict. Bible.
LUCIAN.—These people have been taught to renounce the Grecian deities, and to bow the knee to their crucified sophist, and to live in conformity to his laws.—De Mort. Pereg., c. 13.
Base and Despised Instruments
1 Cor. 1:2828And base things of the world, and things which are despised, hath God chosen, yea, and things which are not, to bring to nought things that are: (1 Corinthians 1:28).— And base things of the world, and things which are despised, hath God chosen, yea, and things which are not, to bring to naught things that are.
EURIPIDES.—I see the work of the gods, how they exalt, tower-like, some things that were naught, but destroy others that are in repute.—Troad., v. 608.
Hidden Wisdom
SENECA.—As in sacred things none know the mysterious parts but such as have been initiated; so in philosophy, her mysteries are unfolded to none but such as have been admitted into her sanctuary.— Epist., 95.
Saved As by Fire
CICERO.—This man, scorched indeed though he was by the fire made by our allies, yet escaped from those flames and that danger.—In Verr., II., c. 27.
LIVY.—In my former consulate I escaped the flames of popular rage, not without being scorched.—Liv., XXII., c. 40.
The Christian a Temple of God
1 Cor. 3:1616Know ye not that ye are the temple of God, and that the Spirit of God dwelleth in you? (1 Corinthians 3:16).—Know ye not that ye are the temple of God, and that the Spirit of God dwelleth in you? If any man defile the temple of God, him shall God destroy; for the temple of God is holy, which temple ye are.
EPICTETUS.—You carry a God about with you, and are unconscious of it. Do you suppose I mean some god of gold or silver? It is within yourself you carry him, and profane him, without being sensible of it, by impure thoughts and unclean actions.—Epic., II., 8.
All Things Yours
CICERO.—Everything will be properly said to belong to that man who alone knows how to make use of everything.—De Fin., III., 22.
Judgment of Men
SENECA.—Regard not the opinion of men: it is at best doubtful, and generally partial.—Epist., 26.
God the Bestower of All Gifts
PINDAR.—
For by the ruling powers of heaven
All virtues are to mortals given.
Wisdom is theirs-from them are sprung
:The active hand, the fluent tongue.
—Pyth., I., 80.
CICERO.—Curius and Fabricius had never been such men as they were, but for the divine assistance.—De Nat. Dear., IL, 66.
The Apostles Made a Spectacle
REV. ALBERT BARNES.—Here, Paul may mean to refer to the custom of bringing forth those in the amphitheater at the conclusion of the spectacles who were to fight with other men, and who had no chance of escape. These inhuman games abounded everywhere; and an allusion to them would be well understood, and is indeed often made by Paul. This interpretation receives support from the words which are used here, "God hath exhibited," "spectacle," or theater, which are all applicable to such an exhibition. The theater, or amphitheater of the ancients was composed of an arena, or level floor, on which the combatants fought, and which was surrounded by circular seats, rising above one another to a great height, and capable of containing many thousand spectators.—Note, In loco.
SENECA.—In the morning men are exposed to lions and bears; but at midday to their spectators. Those that kill are exposed to one another; the victor is detained for another slaughter; and the conclusion of the fight is death.—De Predic., c. 14.
SUETONIUS.—Caligula, after disfiguring many persons of honorable rank, by branding them in the face, condemned them to fight with wild beasts.—Calig., c. 27.
Unheard-of Crime
CICERO.—This was an incredible and unheard-of crime.—Pro Chien., 5, 6.
Suffering Wrong
PLATO.—To injure in any respect me and mine, is both more disgraceful and worse for him who does the injury than for me who am injured.—Gorg., c. 64.
Things Expedient
CICERO.—There are things which are not expedient, even if they are lawful. But whatever is not lawful is most certainly not expedient.—Pro Bath., c. 3.
Fornication
DR. JOHN KITTO. —The frequent cautions against lewdness, which the apostle gives to the Corinthian converts, are explained and illustrated by the character of Corinth—notorious, even among the heathen, for the dissolute conduct of its inhabitants, and for their abandonment to every kind of sensuality and voluptuous indulgence. The heathen world in general regarded the indulgence of the sensual appetites as a matter in itself indifferent; but even heathen Morality was shocked at the proverbial excesses of Corinth. Indeed, what could be expected of the state of society in a town which possessed a temple to Venus, in which a thousand women were kept in honor of the goddess, and ministered to the gratification of her adorers? Such abandoned worship was not only in itself sufficient to corrupt a city, but secured to it the further corruption which it derived from the continual arrival of dissolute strangers, who came from all parts to visit this unholy temple. Considering, therefore, the loose principles in which the native converts had been brought up, the temptations by which they were surrounded, and the vague ideas concerning Christian liberty which they entertained, we can easily understand the deep anxiety which St. Paul experienced, and his frequent and earnest representations on this subject.—Pict. Bib., In loco.
Uncircumcision
CELSUS.—The process of restoring a circumcised person to his natural condition by a surgical operation was sometimes undergone.—De Re Medica, VII., 25.
AUTHOR OF MACCABEES.—In those days went there out of Israel wicked men, who persuaded many, saying, Let us go and make a covenant with the heather that are round about us.... And they built a place of exercise at Jerusalem according to the customs of the heathen: and made themselves uncircumcised; and forsook the holy covenant, and joined themselves to the heathen.-t Mac.
Right Use of the World
SENECA.—The world IS forever changing, and remains not the same for t moment; for though it may have all things in it that it ever had, it possesseth them not in the same manner; the whole order is continually changed.—Epist. 58.
Idols and Their Temples
CICERO.—The atoms, the vacuum, the appearances, which they call " eidola,” idols.—De Fin., I., 6.
CICERO.—Why are we to add many more gods? What a multitude of them there is!— De Nat. Deor., III., 16.
DR. THOMAS DICK.—We are informed by Hesiod, Varro, and other ancient authors, that no less than thirty thousand subordinate divinities were comprised within that system of idolatry which prevailed among the Greeks and Romans, They had both celestial and terrestrial deities. They assigned peculiar gods to the fountains, the rivers, the hills, the mountains, the lawns, the groves, the sea, and even to hell itself. To cities, fields, houses, edifices, families, gates, nuptial chambers, marriages, births, deaths, sepulchers, trees and gardens, they also appropriated distinct and peculiar deities.— Philos. of Religion, Chapter 3
REV. T. S. MILLINGTON.—The feasts which took place among the heathen on the occasion of the sacrifices offered to their gods were often held in their temples.—Testim. of Heath., p. 572.
HERODOTUS— Standing before the shrine the mother of Cleobis and Biton implored the divinity to grant her sons the greatest blessing man could receive. After they had sacrificed and feasted in the temple they retired to rest: but they rose no more.—Clio, c. 31.
The Instructor's Work
ARISTOTLE.—Benefactors love, and are fond of those whom they have benefited; for he who is benefited is the work of his benefactor.—Eth., IX., 7.
SENECA.—I claim you to myself; you are my work; when first saw your good disposition, I laid my hand upon you.—Epist., 34
Muzzling the Ox
DR. W. M. THOMSON.—The command of Moses not to muzzle the ox that treadeth out the corn is literally obeyed to this day by most farmers, and you often see the oxen that draw the mowrej eating from the floor as they revolve. There are niggardly peasants, however, who do muzzle the ox, enough to show the need of the command, and Paul intimates that there were just such in the church in his day.— The Land and the Book, II., 316.
The Race
REV. T. S. MILLINGTON.—Paul draws a lesson from' the self-denials practiced by the competitors in the Isthmian games. “Know ye not?" he begins: this was an appropriate form of address to those to whom the practices which he describes were familiar, as they were to all the Corinthians, among whom the Isthmian games were celebrated. Plato has the same simile, and the same application of it. See De Rep., x., 12.—Testim. of Heathen, p. 572.
REV. ALBERT BARNES. —"All run "—who entered the lists; “but one "—the victor alone, " received the prize."—Note, In loco.
So run that ye may obtain.
ANACHARSIS. —The prize was conferred on the successful champions on the last day of the games, and with great solemnity, pomp, congratulation and rejoicing. Every one thronged to see and congratulate them; their relations, friends and countrymen, shedding tears of tenderness and joy, lifted them on their shoulders to show them to the crowd, and held them up to the applauses of the whole assembly, who strewed handfuls of flowers over them.—Anachar., III., 448.
Striving for the Mastery
1 Cor. 9:2525And every man that striveth for the mastery is temperate in all things. Now they do it to obtain a corruptible crown; but we an incorruptible. (1 Corinthians 9:25).—And every man that striveth for the mastery is temperate in all things. EPICTETUS. Would you be a victor in the Olympic games? So, in good truth, would I; for it is a glorious thing. But pray consider what must go before, and what must follow, and so proceed in the attempt. You must then live by rule, eat what will be disagreeable, and refrain from delicacies: you must oblige yourself to constant exercise, at the appointed hour, in heat and cold; you must abstain from wine and cold liquors: in a word, you must be as submissive to all the directions of your master as to those of a physician.—Euchirid., c. 35.
HORACE. —
A youth who hopes the Olympic prize to gain,
All arts must try, and every toil sustain;
The extremes of heat and cold must often prove,
And shun the weakening joys of wine and love.
—De Ark. Poet., v. 412.
Now they do it to obtain a corruptible crown.
PLUTARCH. —Branches of the Pine Tree formed the ancient coronets of the Isthmian games; the crown of Parsley was then introduced from Numea; but afterward the Pine Garland flourished again and recovered its ancient reputation.—Sympos., lib. v., qu. 3.
ARISTOPHANES. —At the Olympic games, the victorious athletes were crowned with a chaplet of Wild Olive.—Plut., v. 586.
PLINY. —It is with the Laurel that the victors at Delphi are crowned, and warriors who enjoy the honors of a triumph at Rome.—Hist. Nat., XV., 30.
Beating the Air
LUCIAN. —If an athlete, in order to put himself in breath, ere he begins the contest, should fight with an imaginary antagonist, and deal out lusty fisticuffs and kicks in the air, as if he were giving them to his opponent, will the umpire immediately by the public crier proclaim him invincible?—Hermot., c. 33.
VIRGIL.—
Thus, glorying in his strength, in open view
His arms around the towering Dares threw;
Stalk'd high, and laid his brawny shoulders bare
And dealt his whistling blows in empty air.
—Æn., V. 375.
Keeping Under the Body
PYTHAGORAS. —Accustom yourself to command the belly, sleep, lust and anger.—Aur. Car., v. 9.
SENECA.—Maintain this sound and salutary way of living; so far only to indulge the body, as to preserve it in good health. Despise those superfluities which needless labor acquires by way of ornament or credit. Think there is nothing admirable in thee but the soul.—Epist., 8.
QUINTILIAN. —Without moderation nothing can be either glorious or salutary. —Quint., XII., 10.
Temptation and a Way to Escape
EPICTETUS.—Hast thou overcome thy lust, thine intemperance, thine anger? How much greater cause hast thou then for offering sacrifice, than if thou hadst obtained a consulship or a prætorship! for these things come only from thyself and from the gods.—Epict., IV., 4.
Cup of Devils
JOHN MURRAY, F. S. A.—The worship of demons originated in the worship of the " serpent," the personification of the devil. Paul's allusion to the " cup of devils " is easily understood, from the cup of libation we see in bas reliefs, on bronzes, and on coins, as presented to serpents. The serpent is celebrated in the Orphic Hymns; and a serpent was the guardian of the Acropolis of Athens.—Revel. Dem., 200.
Do All to the Glory of God
EPICTETUS. —How may a man eat acceptably to the gods? If he eat with justice, and with gratitude, and fairly, and temperately, and decently, will not this be to eat acceptably to the gods?—Epict., I., 13.
Covering and Uncovering the Head
PLUTARCH.—It was the custom for women to come into the public assembly covered, and for men uncovered.—Prob. Rom., c. 14.
Long and Short Hair
PHOCYLIDES. —To men long hair is unbecoming; but to women it is graceful. —Phocyl., v. 200.
Many Members, but One Body
1 Cor. 12:20-2220But now are they many members, yet but one body. 21And the eye cannot say unto the hand, I have no need of thee: nor again the head to the feet, I have no need of you. 22Nay, much more those members of the body, which seem to be more feeble, are necessary: (1 Corinthians 12:20‑22).—But now are they many members, yet but one body. And the eye cannot say unto the hand, I have no need of thee: nor again the head to the feet, I have no need of you. Nay, much more those members of the body, which seem to be more feeble, are necessary.
MAXIMUS TYRIUS. —If the Phrygian fabulist should devise a fable to this effect; that the foot, being indignant with the rest of the body, should declare that it was. incapable through weariness, of bearing any longer, in an upright position, so great a burden, and that in future it should continue in rest and quietness; or, if the teeth, enraged at having prepared nourishment for so great a quantity of flesh, should refuse to perform their duty; if these things should take place, what else would ensue in the fable than the destruction of the man? The like takes place in the political community.—Max. Tyr., Diss. 5.
MENENIUS AGRIPPA delivered a similar apologue; see—Livy, Hist., II., 32.
Charity
DR. BLOOMFIELD.—It would be difficult to find a finer passage than this in the writings of Demosthenes himself.—Note, In loco.
PYTHAGORAS. —Do not hate your friend on account of a trifling offense.—Aur. Carm., v. 6.
ARISTOTLE.—He who is delighted with a falsehood, resembles a depraved man.—Eth., IV., 7.
IDEM.—The worthy man, so far as he is worthy, rejoices in these actions which are conformable to virtue; but is indignant with those which proceed from vice: just as a musician is delighted with beautiful melodies, but is pained with those that are bad.—Eth., IX., 9.
THEOGNIS.—It is the part of a good man to bear all things.—Theogn., v. 658.
Childhood and Manhood
SENECA.—Number your years, Seneca, and you will be ashamed to desire and seek after those things in which you delighted when a child.—Epist. 27.
Superior Knowledge in the Future State
XENOPHON.—I see that the soul communicates vigor and motion to mortal bodies during its continuance in them. Neither can I be persuaded that the soul is divested of intelligence in its separation from this gross senseless body; but it is probable that when the soul is separated it becomes pure and entire, and is then more intelligent.—Cyrop., VIII., 7.
PLATO.—Being pure and free from the folly of the body, we shall in all likelihood be with others like ourselves, and shall of ourselves know the real essence, and that probably is truth: for it is not allowable for the impure to attain to the pure.—Phœd., c.
PLUTARCH.—The souls of men, so long as they are here below, and encompassed with bodies and passions, can have no participation of God, except so much as they may attain to as in a dark dream by the aid of philosophy; but when they shall be set free, and pass into the place which is invisible, immaterial, pure, and impassionable, then the same God is their leader and king, they cleave unto him as much as they can, they contemplate him without satiety, and desire that beauty which it is not possible to utter or express.—De Isid. et Osirid., c. 79.
CICERO. —We shall certainly discover things in a more clear and perfect degree when the soul is disengaged from the body, and has arrived at that goal to which nature leads her. When we shall be nothing but soul, then nothing will interfere to prevent our seeing everything in its own true character.—Tusc., I., 20.
SENECA.—You will then say you lived in darkness before, when you shall behold the full glories of that light, which. now you see but dimly through the narrow circles of the eyes. And yet at so great a distance the mind is filled with admiration! How will it then amaze you when, I say, you shall behold that divine light in its full spread of glory in heaven.—Epist., 102.
Dying Daily
SENECA.—Where will you find a man who sets any value upon time, or seems to understand that he dies daily?—Epist., I.
IDEAL—We must die soon, nay, we die every day; for we daily draw near our end.—Epist, 120.
Fighting With Beasts
LUCIAN. —We took our seats among the rest of the spectators, and saw first some wild beasts, which, for the purpose of making them more fierce, had been pierced with darts and then baited by dogs, let loose upon some wretches in chains, who, I suppose, had committed atrocious crimes. After this the gladiators entered, etc. Toxar., c. 59
JOSEPHUS.—Herod revolted from the laws of his country, and corrupted their ancient constitution by the introduction of foreign practices. In the first place, he appointed solemn games to be celebrated every fifth year, in honor of Caesar, and built a theater at Jerusalem, as also a very great amphitheater in the plain. He had also made a great preparation of wild beasts, and of lions themselves in great abundance, and of such other beasts as were of either uncommon strength, or of such sort as were rarely seen. These were prepared either to fight with one another, or that men who were condemned to death were to fight with them.—Aniq., 15, 8, 1.
IDEM.—While Titus was at Caesarea, he solemnized the birthday of Domitian after a splendid manner, and inflicted a great deal of the punishment intended for the Jews in honor of him; for the number of those that were now slain in fighting with beasts, and were burnt, and fought with one another, exceeded two thousand five hundred.—Jewish Wars, 7, 3, I.
A False Maxim
PERSEUS.—
O rather cultivate the joy of sense,
And crop the sweets which youth and health dispense;
Give the light hours to banquets, love, and wine:
These are the zests of life, and these are mine!
Dust and a shade are all you soon must be:
Live then, while yet you may.
—Sat., V., v. 151.
Evil Communications
XENOPHON.—AS converse with the good must exercise and improve every virtue, so to associate with the bad must prove no less pernicious and baneful. —Memorab., I. 2.
PLAUTUS.—Hold no converse with profligate men.—Trinum., II., 2.
DIODORUS SICULUS.—With these evil communications he corrupted the morals of men. — Diod. Sic., XVI., 54.
Stars Differ in Glory
SIR JOHN F. W. HERSCHEL.—Astronomers are in the habit of distinguishing the stars into classes, according to their apparent brightness. These are termed magnitudes. The brightest stars are said to be of the first magnitude; those which fall so far short of the first degree of brightness as to make a strongly marked distinction are classed in the second; and so on down to the sixth or seventh, which comprise the smallest stars visible to the naked eye, in the clearest and darkest night. Beyond these, however, telescopes continue the range of visibility, and magnitudes from the eighth down to the sixteenth are familiar to those who are in the practice of using powerful instruments; nor does there seem the least reason to assign a limit to this progression.—Outlines of Astronomy, Art. 778.
Resurrection Body
J. P. COOKE, Prof. of Chemistry in Harvard, University.—The materials of our bodies are being constantly renewed, and the great mass of their structure changes in less than a year. At every motion of your arm, and at every breath you draw, a portion of the muscles concerned is actually burnt up in the effort. During life, in some utterly mysterious manner, beyond the range of all human science, the various gases and vapors of the atmosphere, together with a small amount of a few earthy salts, are elaborated into various organized structures they first pass into the organism of the plant, and thence are transferred into the body of the animal; but no sooner are they firmly built into the animal tissues than a destructive change begins, by which before long they are restored to the air or the soil, only to renew the same cycle of ceaseless change. Life, during its whole existence, is an untiring builder; the oxygen of the atmosphere a fell destroyer; and when at last the builders cease, then the spirit takes its heavenward flight, and leaves the frail tenement to its appointed end. Dust returns to the dust, and these mortal mists and vapors to the air.
I know that there are some who entertain a vague fear that these well-established facts of chemistry conflict with one of the most cherished doctrines of the Christian faith; but so far from this, I find that they elucidate and confirm it. Modern scientific discoveries have shown that our only abiding substance is merely the passing shadow of our outward form, that these bones and muscles are dying within us every day, that our whole life is an unceasing metempsychosis, and that the final death is but one phase of the perpetual change. Thus the idea of a spiritual body becomes not only a possible conception, but, more than this, it harmonizes with the whole order of nature; and now that we can better trace the process of growth in the organic world, and understand more of their hidden secrets, the inspired words of Paul have acquired fresh power, and convey to us a deeper meaning than they ever gave to the early Fathers of the Church. Chemistry has shown us that it is the form alone (not the substance) of our mortal bodies which is permanent, and that we retain our PERSONALITY under constant change; and lastly, in organic nature, the sprouting of the seed, the breaking of the bird from the egg, the bursting of the butterfly from the chrysalis, and ten thousand other transmutations not less wonderful, which we are daily witnessing around us, all unite their analogy to elucidate and confirm the glorious and comforting doctrine of a material resurrection in form. —Religion and Chemistry, p. 103-106.
SENECA.—A day will come after death, which shall raise us again to light.— Epist., 36.
MAXIMUS TYRIUS.—This very thing, which the multitude call death, is the, beginning of immortality, and the birth of a future life; bodies being corrupted by the very law and time of their existence, but the soul being recalled to her proper place and life. —Diss., 25.
R. BECHAI.—When the godly shall arise, their bodies shall be pure and innocent; obedient to the instinct of the soul: there shall be no adversary, nor any evil disease.—Fol., 14.
R. PINCHAS.—The holy blessed God shall make the bodies of the righteous as beautiful as the body of Adam was when he entered into Paradise.
R. LEVI.—When the soul is in heaven, it is clothed with celestial light; when it returns to the body, it shall have the same light; and then the body shall shine like the splendor of the firmament of heaven. Then shall men gain the knowledge of what is perfect.—Sohar. Gen., fol. 69.