TEXT. 34 Let your women keep silence in the churches: for it is not permitted unto them to speak; but they are commanded to be under obedience, as also saith the law. 35 And if they will learn any thing, let them ask their husbands at home: for it is a shame for women to speak in the church. 36 What! came the word of God out from you? Or came it unto you only? 37 If any man think himself to be a prophet, or spiritual, let him acknowledge that the things that I write unto you are the commandments of the Lord. 38 But if any man be ignorant, let him be ignorant. 39 Wherefore, brethren, covet to prophesy, and forbid not to speak with tongues. PARAPHRASE. 34 As to your women, let them keep silence in your assemblies; for it is not permitted them to discourse there, or pretend to teach; that does no way suit their state of subjection, ap35 pointed them in the law. But, if they have a mind to have any thing explained to them, that passes in the church, let them, for their information, ask their husbands at home; for it is a shame for women to discourse and debate with men 36 publicly, in the congregation. What! do you pretend to give laws to the church of God, or to a right to do what you please amongst yourselves, as if the Gospel began at Corinth, and issuing from you was communicated to the rest of the world; or as if it were communicated to you alone of all the 37 world? If any man amongst you think that he hath the gift of prophecies, and would pass for a man knowing in the revealed will of Gods, let him acknowledge, that these rules, which I have here given, are the commandments of the Lord. 38 But if any man' be ignorant that they are so, I have no more 39 to say to him: I leave him to his ignorance. To conclude, brethren, let prophecy have the preference in the exercise of r NOTES. 34, 35 Why I apply this prohibition, of speaking only to reasoning and purely voluntary discourse, but suppose a liberty left women to speak, where they had an immediate impulse and revelation from the Spirit of God, vid. note on chap. xi. 3. In the synagogue it was usual for any man, that had a mind, to demand, of the teacher, a farther explication of what he had said: but this was not permitted to the women. 37 • Πνευματικός, a spiritual man," in the sense of St. Paul, is one, who founds his knowledge in what is revealed by the Spirit of God, and not in the bare discoveries of his natural reason and parts: vid. chap. ii. 15. 38 By the [any man] mentioned in this, and the foregoing verse, St. Paul seems to intimate the false apostle, who pretended to give laws amongst them, and, as we have observed, may well be supposed to be the author of these disorders; whom, therefore, St. Paul reflects on, and presses in these three verses. TEXT. 40 Let all things be done decently, and in order. PARAPHRASE. 40 it" but yet forbid not the speaking unknown tongues. But whether a man prophesies, or speaks with tongues, whatever spiritual gift he exercises in your assemblies, let it be done without any indecorum, or disorder. NOTE. 39" Znac, in this whole discourse of St. Paul, taken to refer to the exercise, and not to the obtaining the gifts, to which it is joined, will direct us right, in understanding St. Paul, and make his meaning very easy and intelligible. SECTION X. CHAPTER XV. 1–58. CONTENTS. AFTER St. Paul (who had taught them another doctrine) had left Corinth, some among them denied the resurrection of the dead. This he confutes by Christ's resurrection, which the number of witnesses, yet remaining, that had seen him, put past question, besides the constant inculcating of it, by all the apostles, every where. From the resurrection of Christ, thus established, he infers the resurrection of the dead; shows the order they shall rise in, and what sort of bodies they shall have. TEXT. 1 Moreover, brethren, I declare unto you the Gospel which I preached unto you, which also you have received, and wherein ye stand; PARAPHRASE. 1 In what I am now going to say to you, brethren, I make known to you no other Gospel than what I formerly preached to you, and you received, and have hitherto professed, and TEXT. 2 By which also ye are saved, if ye keep in memory what I preached unto you, unless ye have believed in vain. 3 For I delivered unto you, first of all, that which I also received, how that Christ died for our sins, according to the Scriptures; 4 And that he was buried, and that he rose again the third day, according to the Scriptures: 5 And that he was seen of Cephas, then of the twelve: 6 After that, he was seen of above five hundred brethren at once; of whom the greater part remain unto this present, but some are fallen asleep. 7 After that, he was seen of James; then of all the apostles. 8 And, last of all, he was seen of me also, as of one born out of due time. 9 For I am the least of the apostles, that am not meet to be called an apostle, because I persecuted the church of God. 10 But by the grace of God I am what I am: and his PARAPHRASE. grace, which was 2 by which alone you are to be saved. This you will find to be so, if you retain in your memories what it was that I preached to you, which you certainly do, unless you have taken up the Christian name and profession to no purpose. 3 For I delivered to you, and particularly insisted on this, which I had received, viz. that Christ died for our sins, ac4 cording to the Scriptures: And that he was buried, and that he was raised again, the third day, according to the Scriptures: 5 And that he was seen by Peter; afterwards by the twelve 6 apostles: And after that, by above five hundred Christians at once; of whom the greatest part remain alive to this day, but some of them are deceased: Afterwards he was seen by James; 8 and after that, by all the apostles: Last of all, he was seen by 9 me also, as by one born before my time. For I am the least of the apostles, not worthy the name of an apostle; be10 cause I persecuted the church of God. But, by the free bounty of God, I am what it hath pleased him to make me: and this favour, which he hath bestowed on me, hath not been altogether fruitless; for I have laboured in preaching of the Gospel more than all the other apostles: which yet I do not NOTES. 8 An abortive birth, that comes before its time, which is the name St. Paul gives himself here, is usually sudden and at unawares, and is also weak and feeble, scarce deserving to be called or counted a man. The former part agrees to St. Paul's being made a Christian and an apostle; though it be in regard of the latter, that, in the following verse, St. Paul calls himself abortive. 10 St. Paul drops in this commendation of himself, to keep up his credit in the church of Corinth, where there was a faction labouring to discredit him. TEXT. bestowed upon me, was not in vain; but I laboured more abundantly than they all: yet not I, but the grace of God which was with me. 11 Therefore, whether it were I or they, so we preach, and so ye believed. 12 Now if Christ be preached that he rose from the dead, how say some among you, that there is no resurrection of the dead? 13 But if there be no resurrection of the dead, then is Christ not risen. 14 And if Christ be not risen, then is our preaching vain, and your faith is also vain. 15 Yea, and we are found false witnesses of God; because we have testified of God that he raised up Christ: whom he raised not up, if so be that the dead rise not. 16 For if the dead rise not, then is not Christ raised: 17 And if Christ be not raised, your faith is vain; ye are yet in your sins. PARAPHRASE. с ascribe to any thing of myself, but to the favour of God, 11 which accompanied me. But whether I, or the other apostles, preached, this was that which we preached, and this was the faith ye were baptized into, viz. that Christ died, and rose 12 again the third day. If, therefore, this be so, if this be that, which has been preached to you, viz. that Christ has been raised from the dead; how comes it that some amongst you say, as they do, that there is no resurrection of the dead? 13 And if there be no resurrection of the dead, then even Christ 14 himself is not risen: And if Christ be not risen, our preaching 15 is idle talk, and your believing it is to no purpose. And we, who pretend to be witnesses for God, and his truth, shall be found liars, bearing witness against God, and his truth, affirming, that he raised Christ, whom in truth he did not 16 raise, if it be so, that the dead are not raised. For if the 17 dead shall not be raised, neither is Christ raised. And if Christ be not risen, your faith is to no purpose; your sins are not forgiven, but you are still liable to the punishment due NOTE. 12 This may well be understood of the head of the contrary faction, and some of his scholars: 1st, Because St. Paul introduces this confutation, by asserting his mission, which these, his opposers, would bring in question. 2dly, Because he is so careful to let the Corinthians see, he maintains not the doctrine of the resurrection, in opposition to these their new leaders, it being the doctrine he had preached to them, at their first conversion, before any such false apostle appeared among them, and misled them about the resurrection. Their false apostle was a Jew, and in all appearance Judaized: may he not also be suspected of Sadducism? For it is plain, he, with all his might, opposed St. Paul, which must be from some main difference in opinion at the bottom. For there are no footsteps of any personal provocation. TEXT. 18 Then they also, which are fallen asleep in Christ, are perished. 19 If in this life only we have hope in Christ, we are of all men most miserable. 20 But now is Christ risen from the dead, and become the first-fruits of them that slept. 21 For since by man came death, by man came also the resurrection of the dead. 22 For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive. 23 But every man in his own order: Christ the first-fruits, afterwards they that are Christ's, at his coming. 24 Then cometh the end, when he shall have delivered up the kingdom to God, even the Father; when he shall have put down all rule, and all authority, and power. 25 For he must reign, till he hath put all enemies under his feet. 26 The last enemy that shall be destroyed is death. 27 For he hath put all things under his feet. But when he saith, “ All things are put under him," it is manifest that he is excepted, which did put all things under him. PARAPHRASE. 18 to them. And they also, who died in the belief of the Gospel, 19 are perished and lost. If the advantages we expect from Christ are confined to this life, and we have no hope of any benefit from him, in another life hereafter, we Christians are 20 the most miserable of all men. But, in truth, Christ is actually risen from the dead, and become the first-fruits of 21 those who were dead. For since by man came death, by man came also the resurrection of the dead, or restoration to 22 life. For as the death that all men suffer is owing to Adam, so the life, that all shall be restored to again, is procured them 23 by Christ. But they shall return to life again not all at once, but in their proper order: Christ, the first-fruits, is already risen; next after him shall rise those, who are his people, his 24 church, and this shall be at his second coming. After that shall be the day of judgment, which shall bring to a conclusion and finish the whole dispensation to the race and posterity of Adam, in this world: when Christ shall have delivered up the kingdom to God, the Father; which he shall not do, till he hath destroyed all empire, power, and authority, that shall be 25 in the world besides. For he must reign, till he has totally subdued and brought all his enemies into subjection to his 26 kingdom. The last enemy that shall be destroyed is death. 27 For God hath subjected all things to Christ: but when it is said, "All things are subjected," it is plain that he is to be NOTE. 20 The first-fruits were a small part, which was first taken and offered to God, and sanctified the whole mass, which was to follow. |
