The Great Commentary of Cornelius a Lapide: the First Epistle to the Corinthians
Chapter 1
Achaia, or the peninsula commonly called the Morea, had in olden times several famous cities. The metropolis of these was the celebrated emporium of Corinth, famed, says Chrysostom, for its two ports, of which Lechaeum stood on the Ionian and Schœnus on the Aegean Sea. Hence poets, as, e.g . , Ovid (Fasti iv.), frequently called it bimaris.
Corinth is said to have had its first foundation from Sisyphus, the robber son of Æolus, and to have been called Corcyra (Strabo, lib. 8.), and afterwards Ephyre. Having been destroyed, it was rebuilt by Corinth, son of Marithon, or of Pelops, according to Suidas, or according to others of Orestes, and was called after his name. Cicero, in his speech pro lege Manilia , calls this city the light of the whole of Greece. Its natural position was so strong that the Romans found great difficulty in reducing it.
1 Corinth abounded in wealth, in merchandise of all kinds, and in metals, especially brass or copper. This Corinthian copper was well known and in great request ; so much so that Pliny (lib. iv., c. 2) says that it was reckoned equal to gold or silver. From this wealth were derived the pride, gluttony, self-indulgence , lust and ostentatious living of the Corinthians, and it became a proverbial saying that it was not every man’s luck to go to Corinth.
Demosthenes replied to a harlot who asked for eight talents of gold as her hire that he did not give so high a price for repentance. For the same reason the Apostle is called upon to rebuke their vices, and especially in ch. vi.
2 At Corinth flourished a large number of orators and philosophers, amongst whom was Periander, one of the Seven Wise Men of Greece. Paul, we can see, went to Corinth because it gave him so excellent an opportunity for spreading the Gospel. There he converted many to Christ, by the help of the Lord, who appeared to him in a vision at Corinth and said, “ Be not afraid but speak, and hold not thy peace, for I am with thee and no man shall set on thee to hurt thee ; for I have much people in this city.” Under Paul’s preaching the Corinthian Christians made such progress that Paul himself speaks (i. 5 ; xiv. 26) of their wisdom, prudence, gift of prophecy, and other gifts bestowed on them by God.
3 From this there arose among the Corinthians pride, self-seeking, and strife, and especially after the arrival of Apollos. Some then came to prefer him to Paul, as a more polished and eloquent speaker. Thence came schisms ; while one party would boast, “ I am of Paul,” and another, “ I am of Apollos.” This caused Paul to write to them this Epistle, in which, through the first four chapters , he tries to lead them away from pride in human wisdom and eloquence, and from all contentious support of their teachers, Paul and Apollos, and to bring them to the humility of the Cross, to the doctrine of the faith of Christ.
4 The Corinthians had written to Paul, asking him to resolve certain difficulties they felt (vii. 1), which he does in this letter. After dealing in the first four chapters with their schisms and striving after empty wisdom, he proceeds in ch. v. to order the fornicator to be excommunicated, and in ch. vi., to rebuke them for this sin of fornication, and for going to law before heathen judges. In ch. vii. he answers their first question about matrimony and virginity, and lays down the laws of Christian marriage, putting over against it and before it the evangelical counsel of virginity and celibacy. Then in chs. viii. and x., he deals with the question of eating of things offered to idols, and lays down that such eating was lawful but needed caution, lest the weaker brethren should be offended. In ch. ix., he shows how such offence might be guarded against, and takes occasion to say that, out of regard for his neighbour’s edification, he himself had abstained from receiving pay for his own support, but had maintained himself, while preaching the Gospel, by the labours of his hands. In ch. xi., he replies to their third question, one concerning the veiling of women, as well as their fourth about the Eucharist and Agapae. In ch. xii., he discourses of the gifts of the Spirit, pointing out that different gifts were distributed by the Holy Spirit to different people. Ch. xiii. dwells on the pre-eminent place among the gifts and graces of the Spirit occupied by charity. Ch. xiv. is an answer to the fifth question of the Corinthians, as to whether the gift of tongues was superior to the gift of prophecy. He answers in the negative. Ch. xv. resolves their sixth doubt, and gives manifold proofs of the resurrection, and describes its gifts, its mode, and order. In ch. xvi he orders a collection to be made for the poor saints at Jerusalem, and he closes all with salutations.
5 Both this and the Second Epistle were written before that to the Romans ; for, as Chrysostom points out, the collection which he orders here ( I Cor. xvi. 2), he speaks of in Rom. xv. 25, 26, as having already taken place. The Greek MSS. say that this Epistle was written at Philippi and sent by Timotheus, and in this they are supported by the Syriac and the Regia Latina. But it seems more likely from xvi. 8, and other passages, that it was written at Ephesus (Acts xix. 1), in A.D. 57 (Baronius and Œcumenius).
Ver. 1. — Sosthenes . He was chief ruler of the synagogue at Corinth ; having been converted to Christ by Paul, he was severely beaten for his faith before Gallio, the Proconsul (Acts xviii. 17), and after his death was placed among the Saints. — November 28th.
Unto the church of God which is at Corinth, to them that are sanctified in Christ Jesus , called to be saints [supply, Paul writes and salutes in praying], grace be unto you and peace from God, For called to be saints the Syriac translates, called and saints. For in Greek it is not the participle λεγόμενος or κεκλημένος, i.e., summoned, named, called ; but κλητός, a word which denotes having a call to holiness, or holy by way of call, called to holiness.
Note first, that Paul throughout this chapter and everywhere else holds up to admiration this benefit of calling. Secondly, that this and all other benefits he, humbly and devoutly ascribes to the Divine benevolence and to the power of humility. Chrysostom has here a noteworthy passage in the moral part of his first homily.
Thirdly, it is plain from this, in opposition to Pelagius, that, not for our merits, but by the mere grace of God, have we been called to the faith and the grace of Christ. Again, that all Christians were formerly called Saints : not because they were really so, but by way of call, profession, duty.
Fourthly, he calls them saints in Christ, that is sanctified through the merits of Christ, namely, in Baptism and its consequent gifts.
Fifthly : “the church and the “called to be saints” are the same thing. For the latter is in opposition and is explanatory of the former : so that if you ask, What is the Church ? I shall answer from this passage of S. Paul : It consists of those called to be Saints, or it is a congregation and assembly of the faithful, who have been called to holiness.
Whence, sixthly, it is evident from here that the Church is visible ; for Paul writes these things not to an abstract idea, but “to the church which is at Corinth,” which was able to read and see his letters, as is plain.
Seventhly, from this place it is evident that there is the same Church everywhere, a part of which was the Church at Corinth. Whence he says : “ With all that in every place call upon the name of Jesus Christ our Lord, both theirs and ours;” i.e., all Christians, wherever they exist : whether with me in this place of ours, or in any other place you please. Theirs , then, viz., of the Corinthians, and ours, viz., of me and Sosthenes. He adds this, that no one might suppose when he said Jesus Christ our Lord, that he meant to say that Christ is the Lord of Paul and Sosthenes alone. So Chrysostom says: “By this Paul tacitly enjoins the Corinthians that they ought to lay aside contentions and to be of one mind, as being members of the same Church, and of the same Head, Christ.” Next, he reminds them that he writes this letter specially indeed to the Corinthians, but, nevertheless, that he wishes it to be a circular letter to all Christians, in the same way that the letters of the other Apostles and of the Bishops in those first ages were circular letters.