A Paraphrase on the New Testament, 1 Corinthians · Chapter 1
CHAP. I.
1. PAul called to be an apoſtle of Jeſus Chriſt, through the will of God, and Softhenes our Brother, 2. Unto the church of God which is at Corinth, to them that are ſanctified in Chriſt Jeſus, called to be ſaints, with all that in every place call upon the name of Jeſus Chriſt our Lord, both theirs and ours.
1, 2. Paul a called Apoſtle by the ſpecial Electing Will and Favour of God, and Brother Soſthenes; To the Church of God at Corinth, being ſanctified to God in Chriſt, and ſo are called Saints; with all ſuch as faithfully call on the Name of Chriſt, our common Lord.
3. Grace be unto you, and peace from God our Father, and from the Lord Jeſus Chriſt.
3. I wiſh the great Bleſſings of Grace and Peace, inward and outward Welfare, from God the Fountain of all Good, and Jeſus Chriſt the Mediator and Donor of all to us.
4. I thank my God always on your behalf, for the grace of God which is given you by Jeſus Chriſt. 5. That in every thing ye are enriched by him in all utterance and in all knowledge, 6. Even as the teſtimony of Chriſt was confirmed in you. 7. So that ye come behind in no gift, waiting for the coming of our Lord Jeſus Chriſt.
4, 5, 6, 7. I am thankful for what you have received, that you abound in the Gifts of Utterance and Knowledge, as among you the Goſpel of Chriſt was confirmed to you by the Miraculous Gifts of the Spirit, which you ſaw and received, ſo that you have attained to ſuch an Eminency, as fitteth you for the Perfection of all at the coming of Chriſt, which you hope and wait for.
8. Who ſhall alſo confirm you unto the end, that you may be blameleſs in the day of our Lord Jeſus Chriſt.
8. Who will not deny you his Confirming Grace, that you may be found holy and juſtifiable at that day.
9. God is faithful by whom ye were called into the fellowſhip of his ſon Jeſus Chriſt our Lord.
9. For God is faithful, who freely called you to the State of Communion with and in Chriſt, when you were Aliens to it, and therefore will not fail you when you are called and reconciled.
10. Now I beſeech you brethren by the name of our Lord Jeſus Chriſt, that ye all ſpeak the ſame thing, and that there be no diviſions among you; but that ye be perfectly joyned together in the ſame mind, and in the ſame judgment. 11. For it hath been declared unto me of you, my brethren, by them which are of the houſe of Cloe, that there are contentions among you.
10, 11. But notwithſtanding all your Gifts, I find cauſe to beſeech you, even by the Authority and precious Name of Chriſt, that you will take heed of Diviſions, Sidings, and Contentions, and be as one in Mind and Judgment. For I have been credibly told of your Contentions, &c.
Note, 1. That Churches and Perſons of eminent Gifts may be liable to ſinful Diviſions and Strife. 2. That Unity and Concord muſt improve all our Gifts, if we would have them profit our ſelves and others. 3. Therefore it muſt be in the Neceſſary things that we muſt unite, and be of the ſame Mind and Judgment, and not in things Doubtful and Unneceſſary: elſe it would be as vain, as to beſeech them to be all Men of Learning or higheſt Underſtanding.
12. Now this I ſay, that every one of you ſaith, I am of Paul, and I of Apollos, and I of Cephas, and I of Chriſt.
12. I hear that you name your ſelves as the Followers or Party of this or that Man, as if you ſet your Teachers and their Doctrine againſt one another, and even Chriſt againſt his Miniſters.
13. Is Chriſt divided? was Paul crucified for you? or were ye baptized in the name of Paul?
13. Will ye make Chriſt, who is our common Head and Saviour, to be the Head of a Faction? Or will you ſet Paul againſt Chriſt? As if Paul had been crucified for you, or you baptiſed into his Name? Know ye not that we have no Head of the Church but Chriſt?
14. I thank God that I baptized none of you but Criſpus and Gaius: 15. Leſt any ſhould ſay that I had baptized in mine own name. 16. And I baptized alſo the houſhold of Stephanus: beſides I know not whether I baptized any other.
14, 15, 16. Though Baptizing be Chriſt's Ordinance, I thank God that he ſo over-ruled my Actions, that I baptiſed none of you, but Criſpus and Gaius, and the Houſhold of Stephanus, but that it was done by others, becauſe thereby I have eſcaped this Scandal, which might have done more harm, than my Baptiſing would have done good.
Note, That as Abraham and others were to bring all their Houſholds with them into the Covenant, who were their own, and not free Servants; ſo were thoſe that had Houſholds bound to bring all their own into Gods Covenant, as far as they were able.
17. For Chriſt ſent me not to baptize, but to preach the Goſpel: not with wiſdom of words, leſt the croſs of Chriſt ſhould be made of none effect.
17. For though Baptizing be within my Commiſſion, it was not that, but Preaching the Goſpel to convert Souls to Chriſt, that I was moſt expreſly and principally commiſſioned to: And that not by ſuch Humane Arts of Philoſophy and Oratory as now paſs for Wiſdom, leſt theſe ſhould carry the Praiſe from the Doctrine, Croſs, and Miracles which Chriſt doth work by, to convert the World.
Note, how groſly they err, that ſay, That God converteth and giveth Grace by Sacraments only, or rather than by Preaching.
18. For the Preaching of the croſs is to them that periſh, fooliſhneſs: but unto us which are ſaved, it is the power of God.
18. For to them that thus paſs for Wiſe Men in the World, but are unſaved and periſh in their Wiſdom, it ſeemeth great Folly to truſt in a Crucified Chriſt for Salvation, and ſuffer for him: But the Power and Wiſdom of God are this way eminently manifeſted to us, who have felt its ſaving Efficacy on our ſelves, and ſhall be ſaved by it.
19. For it is written, I will deſtroy the wiſdom of the wiſe; and will bring to nothing the underſtanding of the prudent.
19. For God, who is againſt the Pride of Man, did propheſie, That he would fruſtrate the Carnal Wiſdom of ungodly Men, ſaying, I will deſtroy, &c.
20. Where is the wiſe? where is the ſcribe? where is the diſputer of this world? Hath not God made fooliſh the wiſdom of this world?
20. Doth not the Goſpel of a Crucified Chriſt now vanquiſh and ſhame the Learned Philoſophy and Oratory, Heathen and Jewiſh artificial Learning, counted the chief Wiſdom? And doth it not ſilence and ſhame the wrangling Logicians, and ſhew the Folly and utter Impotency and Vanity of their Learning?
21. For after that in the wiſdom of God, the world by wiſdom knew not God, it pleaſed God by the fooliſhneſs of preaching to ſave them that believe.
21. For when as the World, by Gods wiſe Permiſſion, lived in ſuch Ignorance, that they had not the Practical Knowledge of the True God, but diſobeyed him, and worſhipped Idols, it pleaſed God by that Preaching of Chriſt which they count Fooliſhneſs, to convert and ſave Believers, and do that which all their Learning could not do.
22. The Jews require a ſign, and the Greeks ſeek after wiſdom: 23. But we preach Chriſt crucified; unto the Jews a ſtumbling-block, and unto the Greeks fooliſhneſs; 24. But unto them which are called, both Jews and Greeks, Chriſt the power of God, and the wiſdom of God.
22, 23, 24. For beſides all the Miracles and Reſurrection of Chriſt, the Jews require ſome Sign from Heaven, to prove to them that Chriſt was ſent from God: And the Greeks look for eminent Learning to prove it, (ſome eminent Learning in Philoſophy, Logick, or Oratory.) But we, that convert and ſave the World, do it by preaching Salvation by a Crucified Chriſt, though it be to the Jews a Scandal which they cannot receive, and to Gentiles ſeeming Folly: But to them that are converted and ſaved by it, Chriſt is the Power and the Wiſdom of God.
25. Becauſe the fooliſhneſs of God is wiſer then men, and the weakneſs of God is ſtronger then men.
25. For that of God which Men count Fooliſhneſs and Weakneſs, and deride, doth overcome their pretended Wiſdom and Strength, and do that which they cannot do, and proveth them to be but Folly and Weakneſs.
26▪ For ye ſee your calling, brethren, how that not many wiſe men after the fleſh, not many mighty, not many noble are called.
26. As Chriſtianity is the true Wiſdom, you ſee by experience, that not many Learned Men, or Great Men that rule in the World, or Noble Men that abound in Wealth, Pleaſures, and Honour, become Chriſtians.
27. But God hath choſen the fooliſh things of the world, to confound the wiſe; and God hath choſen the weak things of the world, to confound the things which are mighty, 28. And 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; 29. That no fleſh ſhould glory in his preſence.
27, 28, 29. But it pleaſeth God to chuſe that which the World counts Fooliſh, and Weak, and Baſe, to confound, ſhame, and overcome that which is accounted by them Wiſe, and Mighty, and Honourable; and the things which they deſpiſe, God will uſe and honour; yea, by that which ſeemeth nothing to them, or which yet is not in being, to vanquiſh thoſe which ſeem great and real to them; that ſo the Pride of Man may be ſhamed, and the Impotency of Man man feſted, and all Fleſh may be humbled, and driven from their Self-confidence, and none may glory of any thing of his own againſt his Glory.
30, 31. But of him are ye in Chriſt Jeſus, who of God is made unto us wiſdom, and righteouſneſs, and ſanctification and redemption. That according as it is written, He that glorieth, let him glory in the Lord.
30, 31. But it is by his Power and Work that you are made Chriſtians, united to Chriſt, who of God is made to us the Object and Teacher of the trueſt Wiſdom; (To know him, and to be taught by him the Great things of Salvation, excelleth all the Heathen Philoſophy.) He is made of God our Righteouſneſs, the Merits of his perfect Righteouſneſs procuring our free Pardon and Adoption, which our Works could not do. He is made our Sanctification, we being purified by vertue of his Sacrifice, and by his Spirit, and by him ſeparated as a Peculiar People to God. And by him it is that we have Redemption and Deliverance from Sin, and Satan, and the Law, and Death, and Hell: That as it is written, God and not Man may be all our Glorying and Truſt.
ANNOTATIONS.
THis Chapter doth ſo plainly deſcribe the ſame ſort of Wiſe Men that are deſcribed Rom. 1. and ſeveral other ſuch Places, and yet is confeſſedly meant of the Heathen Philoſophers, and Learned and Great Men, including the Jewiſh Scribes; and therefore confuteth the miſapplication of many ſuch Texts to the Gnoſticks only.