judging the world, that they ought to be regarded as qualified to exercise judgment on the things pertaining to this life; but the fact that their holy lives shall be the occasion of the deeper condemnation of the world, does not seem to furnish any plain reason for this. To the opinion, also, of Whitby, Lightfoot, Vitringa, &c., that it refers to the fact that Christians would be magistrates, and governors, &c., according to the predictions of Isaiah and Daniel, there are obvious objections. (1.) The judgment to which Paul in this verse refers is different from that pertaining to things of this life, (ver. 3,) but the judgment which Christian magistrates would exercise, as such, would relate to them. (2.) It is not easy to see in this interpretation how, or in what sense, the saints shall judge the angels. (Ver. 3.) The common interpretation, that of Grotius, Beza, Calvin, Doddridge, &c., is, that it refers to the future judgment, and that Christians will in that day be employed in some manner in judging the world. That this is the true interpretation is apparent, for the following reasons. (1.) It is the obvious interpretation-that which will strike the great mass of men, and is likely, therefore, to be the true one. (2.) It accords with the account in Matt. xix. 28, and Luke xxii. 30. (3.) It is the only one which gives a fair interpretation to the declaration that the saints should judge angels in ver. 3. If asked in what way this is to be done, it may be answered, that it may be meant simply that Christians shall be exalted to the right hand of the Judge, and shall encompass his throne; that they shall assent to, and approve of his judgment, that they shall be elevated to a post of honour and favour, as if they were associated with him in the judgment. They shall then be regarded as his friends, and express their approbation, and that with a deep sense of its justice, of the condemnation of the wicked. Perhaps the idea is, not that they shall pronounce sentence, which will be done by the Lord Jesus, but that they shall then be qualified to see the justice of the condemnation which shall be passed on the wicked; they shall have a clear and distinct view of the case; they shall even see the propriety of their everlasting punishment, and shall not only approve it, but be qualified to enter into the subject, and to pronounce upon it intelligently. And the argument of the apostle is, that if they would be qualified to pronounce on the eternal doom of men and angels; if they had such views of justice and right, and such integrity as to form an opinion and express it in regard to the everlasting destiny of an immense host of immortal beings, assuredly they ought to be qualified to express their sense of the smaller transactions in this life, and pronounce an opinion between man and man. Are ye unworthy.-Are you disqualified. The smallest matters.-Matters of least consequence-matters of little moment, scarcely worth naming compared with the great and important realities of eternity. The "smallest matters" here mean, the causes, suits, and litigations relating to property, &c.

VER. 3. Know ye not that we shall judge angels? how much more things that pertain to this life?

Shall judge angels.-All the angels that shall be judged, good or bad. Probably the reference is to fallen angels, as there is no account that holy angels will then undergo a trial. The sense is, "Christians will be qualified to see the justice of even the sentence which is pronounced on fallen angels. They will be able so to embrace and comprehend the nature of law, and the interests of justice, as to see the propriety of their condemnation. And if they can so far enter into these important and eternal relations, assuredly they ought to be regarded as qualified to discern the nature of justice among men, and to settle the unimportant differences which may arise in the church." Or, perhaps, this may mean that the saints shall in the future world be raised to a rank in some respects more elevated than even the angels in heaven.-Prof. Stuart. In what respects they will be thus elevated, if this is the true interpretation, can be only a matter of conjecture. It may be supposed that it will be because they have been favoured by being interested in the plan of salvation-a plan that has done so much to honour God; and that to have been thus saved by the immediate and painful intervention of the Son of God, will be a higher honour than all the privileges which beings can enjoy who are innocent themselves.

VER. 4. If then ye have judgments of things pertaining to this life, set them to judge who are least esteemed in the church.

Ye have judgments.-Causes, controversies, suits. Things pertaining to this life.-Property, &c. Set them to judge, &c.-The verb translated set (kaiɛTE) may be either in the imperative mood, as in our translation, and then it will imply a command; or it may be regarded as in the indicative, and to be rendered interrogatively, "Do ye set or appoint them to judge who are of little repute for their wisdom and equity?" i. e. heathen magistrates. The latter is probably the correct rendering, as according to the former, no good reason can be given why Paul should command them to select as judges those who had little repute for wisdom in the church. Had he designed this as a command, he would doubtless have directed them to choose their most aged, wise and experienced men, instead of those "least esteemed.” * It is manifest, therefore, that this is to be read as a question: "Since you are abundantly qualified yourselves to settle your own differences, do you employ the heathen magistrates, in whom the church can have little confidence for their integrity and justice ?" It is designed, therefore, as a severe reproof for what they had been accustomed to do; and an implied injunction that they should do it no more. Who are least esteemed, (¿ovIevnμέvovç.)-Who are contemned, or regarded as of no value or worth; in whose judgment and integrity you can have little or no confidence. According to the interpretation given above of the previous part of the verse, this refers to the heathen magistrates-to men in whose virtue, piety, and qualifications for just judgment Christians could have little confidence; and whose judgment must be regarded as in fact of very little value, and as very little likely to be

correct. That the heathen magistrates were in general very corrupt, there can be no doubt. Many of them were men of abandoned character, of dissipated lives, men who were easily bribed, and men, therefore, in whose judgment Christians could repose little confidence. Paul reproves the Corinthians for going before them with their disputes when they could better settle them themselves. Others, however, who regard this whole passage as an instruction to Christians to appoint those to determine their controversies who were least esteemed, suppose that this refers to the lowest orders of judges among the Hebrews; to those who were least esteemed, or who were almost despised; and that Paul directs them to select even them in preference to the heathen magistrates. See Lightfoot. But the objection to this is obvious and insuperable. Paul would not have recommended this class of men to decide their causes, but would have recommended the selection of the most wise and virtuous among them. This is proved by ver. 5, where, in directing them to settle their matters among themselves, he asks whether there is not a "wise man" among them, clearly proving that he wished their difficulties adjusted, not by the most obscure and the least respected members of the church, but by the most wise and intelligent members. In the church.-By the church. That is, the heathen magistrates evince such a character as not to be worthy of the confidence of the church in settling matters of controversy.

VER. 5. I speak to your shame. Is it so, that there is not a wise man among you? no, not one that shall be able to judge between his

brethren?

I speak to your shame.—I declare that which is a reproach to you, that your matters of dispute

are carried before heathen tribunals. Is it so, &c. —Can it be that in the Christian church the church collected in refined and enlightened Corinth-there is not a single member so wise, intelligent, and prudent that his brethren may have confidence in him, and refer their causes to him? Can this be the case in a church that boasts so much of its wisdom, and that prides itself so much in the number and qualifications of its intelligent members?

permission to have settled their disputes in the same manner. Credibility, vol. i. p. 165.

VER. 7. Now therefore there is utterly a fault among you, because ye go to law one with another. Why do ye not rather take wrong? why do ye not rather suffer yourselves to be defrauded?

b Prov. xx. 22. Matt. v. 39, 40. Rom. xii. 17—19. 1 Thess. v. 15. e 1 Thess. iv. 6.

There is utterly a fault.-There is altogether a fault; or you are entirely wrong in this thing That ye go to law, &c.-That is, in the sense under discussion, or before heathen magistrates. This was the point under discussion, and the interpretation should be limited to this. Whatever may be the propriety or impropriety of going to law before Christian magistrates, yet the point which the apostle refers to was that of going to law before heathens. The passage, therefore, should not be interpreted as referring to all litigation, but only of that which was the subject of discussion. The apostle says that that was wholly wrong; that they ought by no means to go with their causes against their fellow Chris tians before heathen magistrates; that whoever had the right side of the question, and whatever might be the decision, the thing itself was unchristian and wrong; and that rather than dishonour religion by a trial or suit of this kind they ought to be willing to take wrong, and to suffer any personal and private injustice. The argument is, that greater evil would be done to the cause of Christ by the fact of Christians ap

pearing before a heathen tribunal with their disputes than could result to either party from the injury done by the other.-And this is probably always the case; so that although the apostle

refers here to heathen tribunals, the same reasoning, on the principle, would apply to Christians carrying their causes into the courts at all. Why do ye not rather take wrong?-Why do you not suffer yourself to be injured rather than to dis honour the cause of religion by your litigations? They shall do this, (1.) Because religion requires its friends to be willing to suffer wrong patiently. Matt. v. 39, 40. Rom. xii. 17— (Prov. xx. 22. 19. 1 Thess. v. 15.) (2.) Because great injury results to the cause of religion from such trials.

suffer, in perhaps all cases, would be a less evil on the whole than the public injury which is done to the cause of piety by the litigations and strifes of Christian brethren before a civil court. (3) The differences among Christians could be adjusted among themselves, by a reference to their brethren. In ninety-nine cases of a hundred, the decision would be more likely to be just and satisfactory to all parties from an amicable refer ence, than from the decisions of a civil court. In the very few cases where it would be otherwise. it would be better for the individual to suffer, than for the cause of religion to suffer. Christians ought to love the cause of their Master more than their own individual interest. They ought to be more afraid that the cause of Jesus Christ would be injured than that they should be a few

dollars poorer from the conduct of others, or than that they should individually suffer in their character from the injustice of others. To be defrauded?—Receive injury; or suffer a loss of property. Grotius thinks that the word "take wrong" refers to personal insult; and the word "defrauded" refers to injury in property. Together, they are probably designed to refer to all kinds of injury and injustice. And the apostle means to say, that they had better submit to any kind of injustice than carry the cause against a Christian brother before a heathen tribunal. The doctrine here taught is, that Christians ought by no means to go to law with each other before a heathen tribunal; that they ought to be willing to suffer any injury from a Christian brother rather than do it. And by implication the same thing is taught in regard to the duty of all Christians, that they ought to suffer any injury to their persons and property rather than dishonour religion by litigations before civil magistrates. It may be asked then, whether law-suits are never proper, or whether courts of justice are never to be resorted to by Christians to secure their rights? To this question we may reply, that the discussion of Paul relates only to Christians, when both parties are Christians, and that it is designed to prohibit such an appeal to courts by them. If ever lawful for Christians to depart from this rule, or for Christians to appear before a civil tribunal, it is conceived that it can be only in circumstances like the following: (1.) Where two or more Christians may have a difference, and where they know not what is right, and what the law is in a case. In such instances there may be a reference to a civil court to determine it-to have what is called an amicable suit, to ascertain from the proper authority what the law is, and what is justice in the case. (2.) When there are causes of difference between Christians and the men of the world. As the men of the world do not acknowledge the propriety of submitting the matter to the church, it may be proper for a Christian to carry the matter before a civil tribunal. Evidently, there is no other way, in such cases, of settling a cause; and this mode may be resorted to, not with a spirit of revenge, but with a spirit of love and kindness. Courts are instituted for the settlement of the rights of citizens, and men by becoming Christians do not alienate their rights as citizens. Even these cases, however, might commonly be adjusted by a reference to impartial men, better than by the slow, and expensive, and tedious, and often irritating process of carrying a cause through the courts. (3.) Where a Christian is injured in his person, character, or property, he has a right to seek redress. Courts are instituted for the protection and defence of the innocent and the peaceable against the fraudulent, the wicked, and the violent. And a Christian owes it to his country, to his family, and to himself, that the man who has injured him should receive the proper punishment. The peace and welfare of the community demand it. If a man murders my wife or child, I owe it to the laws and to my country, to justice, and to God, to endeavour to have the law enforced. So if a man robs my property, or injures my cha

racter, may owe it to others as well as to myself, that the law in such a case should be executed, and the rights of others also be secured. But in all these cases, a Christian should engage in such prosecutions, not with a desire of revenge, not with the love of litigation, but with the love of justice, and of God, and with a mild, tender, candid, and forgiving temper, with a real desire that the opponent may be benefited, and that all his rights also should be secured. Comp. Notes on Rom. xiii.

VER. 8. Nay, ye do wrong, and defraud, and that your brethren.

Nay, ye do wrong, &c.-Instead of enduring wrong patiently and cheerfully, they were themselves guilty of injustice and fraud. And that As if your brethren.-Your fellow Christians. they had injured those of their own familythose to whom they ought to be attached by most tender ties. The offence in such cases is aggravated, not because it is in itself any worse to injure a Christian than another man, but because it shows a deeper depravity, when a man overcomes all the ties of kindness and love, and injures those who are near to him, than it does where no such ties exist. It is for this reason that parricide, infanticide, &c. are regarded every where as crimes of peculiar atrocity, because a child or a parent must have sundered all the tenderest cords of virtue before it could be done.

VER. 9. Know ye not that the unrighteous shall not inherit the kingdom of God? Be not deceived; neither fornicators, nor idolators nor adulterers, nor effeminate, nor abusers of themselves with mankind,

d Gal. v. 19-21. Eph. v. 4, 5. Heb. xii. 14; xiii. 4.
Rev. xxii. 15.

Know ye not, &c.-The apostle introduces the declaration in this verse to show the evil of their course, and especially of the injustice which they did one to another, and their attempt to enforce and maintain the evil by an appeal to the heathen tribunals. He assures them, therefore, that the unjust could not be saved. The unrighteous.The unjust (adiko)—such as he had just mentioned-they who did injustice to others, and attempted to do it under the sanction of the courts. Shall not inherit.-Shall not possess ; shall not enter into. The kingdom of heaven is often represented as an inheritance. (Matt. xix. 29; xxv. 34. Mark x. 17. Luke x. 25; xviii. 18. 1 Cor. xv. 50. Eph. i. 11, 14; v. 5.) The kingdom of God.-Cannot be saved; cannot enter into heaven. See Note, Matt. iii. 2. This may refer either to the kingdom of God in heaven, or to the church on earth-most probably the former. But the sense is the same essentially, whichever is meant. The man who is not fit to enter into the one, is not fit to enter into the other. The man who is fit to enter the kingdom of God on earth, shall also enter into that in heaven. Be not deceived. A most important direction to be given to all. It implies, (1.) That they were in danger of being deceived. (a) Their own hearts might have deceived them. (b) They might be

All is condensed here in a few words. (1.) He is by nature a miserable and polluted sinnerwithout merit, and without hope. (2.) He is renewed by the Holy Ghost, and washed by baptism. (3.) He is justified, pardoned, and accepted as righteous, through the merits of the Lord Jesus alone. (4.) He is made holy-becomes sanctified-and more and more like God, and fit for heaven. (5.) All this is done by the agency of the Holy Ghost. (6.) The obligation thence results that he should lead a holy life, and forsake sin in every form.

All things are lawful unto me.-The apostle here evidently makes a transition to another subject from that which he had been discussing-a consideration of the propriety of using certain things which had been esteemed lawful. The expression, "all things are lawful," is to be understood as used by those who palliated certain indulgences, or who vindicated the vices here referred to, and Paul designs to reply to them. His reply follows. He had been reproving them for their vices, and had specified several. It is not to be supposed that they would indulge in them without some show of defence; and the declaration here has much the appearance of a proverb, or a common saying that all things were lawful; that is, "God has formed all things for our use, and there can be no evil if we use them." By the phrase "all things" here, perhaps, may be meant many things; or things in general; or there is nothing in itself unlawful. That there were many vicious persons who held this sentiment there can be no doubt; and though it cannot be supposed that there were any in the Christian church who would openly advocate it, yet the design of Paul was to cut up the plea altogether wherever it might be urged, and to show that it was false and unfounded. The particular things which Paul here refers to, are those which have been called adiaphoristic, or indifferent, i. e. pertaining to certain meats and drinks, &c. With this Paul connects also the subject of fornication, the subject particularly under discussion. This was defended as "lawful," by many Greeks, and was practised at Corinth; and was the vice to which the Corinthian Christians were particularly exposed. Paul designed to meet all that could be said on this subject; and to show them that these indulgences could not be proper for Christians, and could not in any way he defended. We are not to understand Paul as admitting that fornication is in any case lawful; but he designs to show that the practice cannot possibly be defended in any way, or by any of the arguments which had been or could be used. For this purpose, he observes, (1.) That admitting that all things were lawful, there were many things which ought not to be indulged; (2.) That admitting that they were lawful, yet a man ought not to be under the power of any improper indulgence, and should abandon any habit when it had the mastery. (3.)

See

That fornication was positively wrong, and against the very nature and essence of Christianity. (Ver. 13-20.) Are not expedient. This is the first answer to the objection. Even should we admit that the practices under discussion are lawful, yet there are many things which are not expedient; that is, which do not profit, for so the word (ovμpipe) properly signifies; they are injurious and hurtful. They might injure the body; produce scandal; lead others to offend or to sin. Such was the case with regard to the use of certain meats, and even with regard to the use of wine. Paul's rule on this subject is stated in chap. viii. 13. That if these things did injury to others, he would abandon them for ever; even though they were in themselves lawful. Note on chap. viii. and on Rom. xiv. 14-23. There are many customs which, perhaps, cannot be strictly proved to be unlawful or sinful, which yet do injury in some way if indulged in; and which, as their indulgence can do no good, should be abandoned. Any thing that does evil, however small, and no good, should be abandoned at once. All things are lawful.-Admitting this, or even on the supposition that all things are in themselves right. But I will not be brought under the power.-I will not be subdued by it; I will not become the slave of it. Of any. Of any custom, or habit, no matter what it is. This was Paul's rule; the rule of an independent mind. The principle was, that even admitting that certain things were in themselves right, yet his grand purpose was not to be the slave of habit, not to be subdued by any practice that might corrupt his mind, fetter his energies, or destroy his freedom as a man and as a Christian. We may observe, (1.) That this is a good rule to act on. It was Paul's rule, (chap. ix. 27,) and it will do as well for us as for him. (2.) It is the true rule of an independent and noble mind. It requires a high order of virtue; and is the only way in which a man may be useful and active. (3.) It may be applied to many things now. Many a Christian and Christian minister is a slave; and is completely under the power of some habit that destroys his usefulness and happiness. He is the slave of indolence, or carelessness, or of some vile habit-as the use of tobacco, or of wine. He has not independence enough to break the cords that bind him; and the consequence is, that life is passed in indolence, or in self-indulgence, and time, and strength, and property, are wasted, and religion blighted, and souls ruined. (4.) The man that has not courage and firmness enough to act on this rule should doubt his piety. If he is a voluntary slave to some idle and mischievous habit, how can he be a Christian? If he does not love his Saviour and the souls of men enough to break off from such habits which he knows are doing injury, how is he fit to be a minister of the self-denying Redeemer?