The practical and hortatory portion of the epistle, which begins with ch. xii., treats of the cultivation of different graces, civil duties, the right of private judgment, and the doctrine of christian expediency in its relations to weak faith.

Critics are not unanimous as to the integrity of the epistle. The authenticity of the doxology has been questioned, and the Tübingen critics declared the fifteenth and sixteenth chapters to be spurious. By some, the greater part of ch. xvi. is supposed to be addressed to the Ephesians. See on ch. xiv. 23; xvi. 25.

The epistle is characterized by system, masculine vigor, logical acuteness, copiousness of thought, and depth of feeling. Logic is backed by history, and christian doctrine and precept are illumined from the Prophets and Psalms. Neither personal feeling nor national sentiment is allowed to turn the keen edge of truth. The opening theme-all alike under sin-is evolved with remorseless sternness. The picture of the moral condition of the pagan world is the work of an eye-witness, and is terrible in its stark realism. Yet the logic is aglow with intense feeling, which rises at times toward the level of the Ephesian epistle. The emotion is as deep as in Second Corinthians, but less turbulent. The irony of that epistle is almost wholly absent. The opening of the ninth chapter is a veritable sob. The personal expressions are affectionate and laudatory, but the companion and friend who appears in First Thessalonians, Philippians, and Philemon, mostly gives place to the apostle and teacher. The powerful dramatic element in the epistle is overlooked in the popular impression of a hard theological treatise. It appears in the forensic moulds in which the great spiritual processes are occasionally cast; in the embodiment of the antagonism of sin and holiness in a personal struggle; in the introduction of objections as by an interlocutor; in the vivid contrasts of life and death, spirit and flesh, bondage and freedom, condemnation and acquittal; in the impersonation of the whole creation groaning and travailing for deliverance from the bondage of corruption.

The transitions are as easy and natural as the contrasts are sharp. The nervous but steady movement of chs. ii., iii., iv.,

suddenly subsides with the opening of ch. v., and one can pause and bare his forehead to the sweet air ere he begins upon the new ascent from ver. 12. The first words of the eighth chapter succeed the seventh like a quiet melody given out by flute or horn after the tumultuous harmonies of the ochestra; and one is conscious of no shock in the descent from the high themes of sovereignty and grace to their applications in common life and duty.

The epistle must be grasped entire. No portion of the New Testament lends itself to more dangerous distortions of truth through fragmentary use. No one of Paul's epistles is so dependent for its just effect upon the perception of the relation of its parts to the whole. Its logic and its feeling are inseparable. It answers the highest test of eloquence in stimulating emotion with profound thought, and in fusing thought in feeling.

But to acquire such a grasp is no easy task, especially for the English reader. It requires far more than close grammatical analysis, and adjustment of the special theological problems raised by the epistle. The letter must be studied in the light of the whole body of the Pauline writings, and with the largest possible acquaintance with the logical and rhetorical habits of the apostle. The fulness and impetuosity of his thought sometimes render him careless of its arrangement. Suggestions, striking into the main line of reasoning, are pursued with an eagerness and to a length which may easily divert the reader from the principal track. Possible qualifications of a truth are temporarily neglected in the concentration of thought upon a single aspect. It is not always easy to discover where the matter of a parenthesis gives place to the resumption of the main thought; sometimes indeed the parenthesis is carried on as if it were the main thought. The first member of a proposition often acquires a headway which makes him forget to offset it with its complementary member. His antitheses are not always evenly balanced, and one member may be literal and the other metaphorical. Certain expressions depend for their force upon word-plays which cannot be translated, and prepositions are accumulated with reference to shades of meaning which tax the utmost resources of the translator and commentator.

THE FIRST EPISTLE TO THE CORINTHIANS.

The account of Paul's first visit to Corinth is given in Acts xvii. He continued there a year and six months, going thence to Syria, and making a brief stay on his way to Jerusalem at Ephesus, to which he returned and remained for over two years. The church at Corinth became the most important of those founded by the apostle, and probably embraced the church at the adjoining seaport of Cenchreae (see on Rom. xvi. 1), and the Christians scattered throughout Achaia (2 Cor. i. 1).

After Paul's departure from Corinth, Apollos, commended by the Ephesian church, was sent to labor there. Notwithstanding his efficiency he involuntarily became the cause of division in the church, as the nucleus of a party which preferred his polished rhetoric to the plainer utterances of Paul (1 Cor. iii. 4, 5).

Besides this, the characteristic sensuous and pleasure-loving tendencies of the Corinthians began to assert themselves within the church. The majority of the converts were of a low social grade, many of them slaves, and the seductions of the gay city often proved too strong for resistance.

The report of these evils, brought to Ephesus by Apollos on his return from Corinth, called out a letter from Paul which is lost, but which is referred to in 1 Cor. v. 9. Additional tidings came in a letter from the church to Paul, asking advice on the following points: 1. Celibacy and marriage. Was married life a lower condition than celibacy, or was it wrong in itself? Were marriages allowable between Christians and heathen? Should a Christian wife or husband abandon a heathen spouse? 2. Meats offered to idols. Idol sacrifices were festivals. Gentile converts refused to abandon the society of their heathen friends, and mingled with them at the idol feasts; while a meal at a public festival was a substantial help to the poor. Might Christians attend these festivals? Might they buy in the market the resold meat which had been offered to idols? 3. Rules in assemblies. Should men cover their heads? Should women

appear uncovered? Might women speak and teach in public? 4. Spiritual gifts. Which was the more important, speaking with tongues or preaching? What should be done when several began to speak at once? 5. The resurrection. Some maintained that it was purely spiritual and that it was already past. 6. They also desired to hear something more about the collection for the poor in Judaea, and to have Apollos sent back.

The bearers of the letter, Stephanas, Fortunatus, and Achaicus, together with those of the household of Chloe (1 Cor. i. 11), also brought tidings of the factions which had divided the church and the quarrels over the different preachers. Certain Judaic teachers had come, with commendatory letters from Jerusalem, claiming the authority of Peter and impugning that of Paul, declaring that Peter was the true head of the Christian Church and Paul an interloper. A fourth distinct party is supposed by some to be indicated by the words "I of Christ" (see on 1 Cor. i. 10). It also appeared that the assemblies of the church had become disorderly; that the agapae and the eucharist were scenes of gluttony, brawling, and drunkenness; while the gatherings for worship were thrown into confusion by the simultaneous speaking of those who professed the gift of tongues. Women were speaking unveiled in these assemblies. One prominent church-member was living criminally with his stepmother.

On the receipt of this letter Paul abandoned his intended visit to Corinth, sent Titus to inform the church of his change of plan and to arrange for the collection, and dictated to Sosthenes the first epistle to the Corinthians. Notwithstanding the subscription of the letter, "written from Philippi," a mistake which grew out of 1 Cor. xvi. 5, it was written at Ephesus, as appears from 1 Cor. xvi. 8, 19.

He begins by stating his complaints against the church (i. 10-vi. 20). He then answers the questions contained in their letter: Marriage (vii. 1–40); Sacrificial feasts (viii. 1–13). From this he diverges to the insinuations against his character and authority, noticing the charge based upon his refusal to receive pecuniary support, and asserting his unselfish devo

tion to the Gospel (ix.). He returns to the sacrificial feasts (x.). Then he passes to the regulation of the assemblies (xi.). The different spiritual gifts and their mutual relation are discussed in ch. xii., and Love is shown to be greater and more enduring than all gifts (xiii.). The subject of speaking with tongues is then taken up, and the superiority of prophecy to the gift of tongues is asserted (xiv. 1-40). Ch. xv. discusses the resurrection, and the epistle concludes with references to certain personal and incidental matters, including the collection. Authorities are generally agreed in placing the date of the epistle A.D. 57. Its authenticity is conceded on all hands.

The key-note of the epistle is struck in two correlated thoughts-the supreme headship of Christ, and the union of believers as one body in and with Him. The former thought finds expression in Paul's humble disclaimer of all merely personal authority, and of all right to a hearing save as Christ's agent and mouthpiece. The power of preaching resides in its theme-Christ crucified-and not in its philosophic wisdom nor in the personal culture of its preachers. The gifts and graces of the Church are due to Christ alone. The other thought is the standing confutation and rebuke of all the errors and abuses which have invaded the Church. Faction, fornication, litigation, fellowship with idolaters-all are sufficiently condemned by the fact that they break the sacred tie between the Church and Christ, and between individuals and the Church. Union in Christ implies divine order in the Church. The sexes fall into their true relation. The subordinations of the heavenly hierarchies are perpetuated in the Church. Confusion is banished from public worship, and the mystery of the eucharist is expounded in the mutual love and helpfulness of the participants. Diversities of spiritual gifts are harmonized and utilized through their relation to the one body and the informing power of one divine Spirit-the Spirit of love. Christian expediency, involving individual sacrifice for the common welfare, becomes an authoritative principle. This unity finds its crowning exhibition in the resurrection, in which believers share the resurrection of their Lord, and enter into final and perfect communion with His glorified life.