16 Know ye not, that ye are the temple of God, and THAT the Spirit of God dwelleth (, 172.) among you?

17 If any one destroy1 the temple of God, him will God destroy; for the temple of God is holy, which TEMPLE ye are. (See Eph. ii. 19—22.)

18 Let no one deceive himself: if any one among you (doxei eivas) thinketh, to be wise (ET HINDI TOTW) in this age, let him become a fool, that he may be wise.

19 For the wisdom of this (xx) world is foolishness with God; for it is written, (Job v. 13.) He catcheth the wise in their own craftiness.

20 And again, (Psal. xciv. 11.) The Lord knoweth the reasonings of

16 Know ye not, that ye, of whom the church is composed, are the temple of God, the building of which I am speaking; and that the Spirit of God dwelleth among you, by his gifts and graces, as in his temple?

17 If any one, handling the word of God deceitfully, allures wicked men into the church; or if any hypocrite intrudes himself into it, whose apostacy destroys the temple of God, him will God destroy: for the temple of God should consist of holy persons, which temple ye are, ver. 16.

18 Let no teacher deceive himself with false notions of prudence. If any teacher among you thinketh to be wise, in this age of spreading the gospel, by misrepresenting its doc-. trines for the purpose of rendering it acceptable to bad men, let him become a fool in his own eyes by preaching the gospel sincerely, that he may be really wise.

19 For the prudence of this world, in concealing or misrepresenting the gospel, is foolishness in the eye of God; for it is written, he catcheth the wise, &c. that is, he maketh the craftiness of those who think themselves wise,the occasion of their destruction.

20 And in another passage, The Lord knoweth the reasonings, the subtle contrivances, of the wise, that

Ver. 19,-1. The wisdom of this world is foolishness with God; consequently will issue in punishment to these worldly wise teachers. That this is the apostle's meaning, is evident from his adding, For it is written, He catcbeth the wise in their own craftiness.

Ver. 20.-1. That they are vain. The subtle contrivances of men, when opposed to the methods which God's wisdom hath appointed, are vain; are utterly ineffectual for accomplishing what they intend by them. Wherefore those wise teachers, whom the apostle reproved, laboured to no purpose,

knoweth the thoughts of γινώσκει τους διαλογισμούς

the wise that they are vain.

21 Therefore let no man

των σοφών, ότι εισι ματαιοι.

21 Ωςε μηδεις καυχασ

glory in men : for all things Sω εν ανθρωποις παντα γαρ

when they endeavoured to build the temple of God by methods which God condemned.

Ver. 21.1. Wherefore let no one boast in men. Besides the general meaning of this verse, expressed in the commentary, I think the apostle insinuated, that the Corinthians in particular, had no reason to boast in the false teacher, who had spoiled the temple of God by building wicked men into it.

Ver. 22.1. Gr things present, or things to come, all are yours. The apostle does not mean, as some fanatics have vainly imagined, that the property of all the things in the world is vested in believers, by an exclusive title; but that by the direction of the providence of God, all things prosperous or adverse, whether present or future, shall be made subservient to the promoting of their virtue in the present life, and of their felicity in the life to come. Thus far they may consider themselves as having an interest in all things; and may survey them with pleasure, as making a part of their treasures; and among the rest, death itself is theirs, as it is the appointed means of bringing them to the vision and enjoyment of God.

the wise, that they are they are vain, when used in opposisition to his purposes.

vain.

21 Wherefore, let no one boast in men:1 for all things are yours;

22 Whether Paul, or Apollos, or Cephas, or the world, or life, or death, or things present, or things to come; all are yours;1

23 And ye ARE Christ's, and Christ is God's. 1

21 Wherefore, since we are all joint labourers of God, let no one boast in men, as if any teacher belonged peculiarly to him; for all the ministers of the gospel, and all its privileges, and all the blessings of providence, belong equally to you all:

22 Whether Paul, 'or Apollos, or Cephas, or the fabric of the world, or life with its enjoyments, or death with its consequences, or things present, or things to come, all belong to you in general, and each shall receive such a share of them, as is best for him.

23 And, instead of being the disciples of this or that teacher, ye are Christ's disciples, and Christ is God's disciple.

Ver. 23.-1. And Christ is God's. As the foregoing expression, Ye are Christ's, means that the Corinthians belonged to Christ as his disciples, this expression, Christ is God's, I think means, that in making the gospel revelation, Christ is God's disciple or servant. So Christ himself says, John vii. 16. My doctrine is not mine, but his that sent me.—viii. 28. As my Father hath taught me, I speak these things.—xii. 49. I have not spoken of myself, but the Father who sent me, he gave me commandment what I should say, and what I should speak.-xiv. 10. The words that I speak unto you, I speak not of myself. This I suppose is the apostle's meaning, likewise, when he tells us, 1 Cor. xi. 3. The head of Christ is God.-Others understand the passage thus, All things are appointed for your good, and ye are appointed for Christ's honour, and Christ for God's glory.

CHAPTER IV.

View and Illustration of the Matters handled in this Chapter. LEST, from what was said in the preceding chapters, concerning the inspiration of the apostles by the Spirit, the Corinthians might have imagined that Paul claimed to himself and to his brethren, an authority not derived from Christ, he began this chapter with telling them, that they were to consider the apostles only as servants of Christ, and as stewards of the mysteries of God, ver. 1.—And, that the thing required of every such steward is, that he be faithful in dispensing these mysteries according as his disciples are able to receive them, ver. 2.—Therefore, although the false teacher accused Paul of unfaithfulness, because he had taught the Corinthians the first principles only, and not the deep doctrines of the gospel, he told them, it was a very small matter in his eyes, to be condemned as unfaithful by them, or by any man's judgment, seeing he did not condemn himself, ver. 3.-For he was conscious to himself of no unfaithfulness; yet by this he was not justified; he meant in the eyes of the faction, who could not see his heart. At the same time he told them, that the only person who had a right to condemn him if he proved unfaithful, was the Lord his master, ver. 4.— This being the case, he desired the faction not to condemn him, till the Lord should come to judgment, who will bring to light every thing most secret, and lay open the designs of the heart, of which they were no judges, ver. 5.

Next, to prevent the Corinthians from mistaking what he had said, concerning their boasting in himself and Apollos, as the heads of the factions, (chap. i. 12. iii. 4.) he declared, that he had applied these things to himself and Apollos figuratively only, for their sakes, that by disclaiming all pretensions to be the heads of parties, the Corinthians might learn in them, not to esteem any teacher above what he had written, chap. iii. 5. namely that Paul and Apollos were only servants of Christ, by 'whose ministry the Corinthians had believed; and that none of OLD TRANSLATION. CHAP. IV. 1 Let a

man so account of us, as of the ministers of Christ, and stewards of the mysteries of God.

GREEK TEXT.

1 Ουτως ἡμας λογιζέσθω ανθρωπος, ὡς ὑπηρετας Χριςου, και οικονομους μυςηρίων cov.

Ver. 1.-1. Stewards of the mysteries of God. The apostle gave to those doctrines which in former ages had been kept secret, but which were now

them, on account of any teacher, should be puffed up with envy and anger against another, ver. 6.

In what follows, the apostle, turning his discourse to the false teacher, says, without naming him, Who maketh thee to differ in gifts from others? Or what spiritual gift hast thou, which thou didst not receive from some apostle? And if thou hast received all thy gifts from the apostles, why dost thou set thyself above them, as if thou hadst not received thy gifts from them, but wert independent of, and superior to them? ver. 7.—Then to shew the Corinthians the difference between the false teacher and the true apostles of Christ, he contrasted the ease and opulence in which that impostor and the other leaders of the faction, were living at Corinth, and their imperious conduct towards the church, with the afflicted and persecuted state of the apostles, ver. 8.—13.—And assured them, that he wrote not these things to shame them, for having increased his sufferings by their calumnious speeches, and disrespectful behaviour. But his design was, affectionately to instruct them, that they might not be seduced by teachers, whose character and relation to them were so different from his, ver. 14.-For he told them, though they had ten thousand instructers in the christian doctrine, yet they had not many fathers. He was their only spiritual father, ver. 15.-And therefore he besought them to imitate him, ver. 16, 17. -To conclude, because the false teacher had boasted, that Paul being afraid to encounter such learned and eloquent opposers, durst not return to Corinth, he assured the Corinthians that he would come soon, and make trial, not of the speech of that insolent person, but of his supernatural power, ver. 18, 19.-For said he, the gospel is not established by the boasting speeches of its preachers, but by the miraculous powers which they exercise for its confirmation, ver. 20.-Then to terrify the faction, he asked them, whether they chose that he should come and exercise his supernatural power in punishing them? Or come in the spirit of peace, on account of their amendment? ver. 21.

NEW TRANSLATION. CHAP. IV. 1 (OUTUS, 266.) So then, let a man consider us as (ingeras) servants ONLY of Christ, and stewards of the mysteries, of God.

COMMENTARY.

CHAP. IV. 1 So then, let men consider us apostles in no other light, but as servants only of Christ, and stewards appointed by him to dispense the doctrines of the gospel, which are the mysteries of God.

discovered to all through the preaching of the gospel, the appellation of the mysteries of God, to recommend them to the Corinthians, as was formerly