True Christians must consider

CHAP. VI.

themselves members of Christ.

A. M. 4050. Now the body is not for fornication, joined to a harlot is

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A. U. C. 809. but for the Lord; and the Lord

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ronis Cæs. 3. for the body.

petite of man; and, among others, those which are generally offered to idols: and he has adapted the appetite to these aliments, and the aliments to the appetite: but God shall destroy both it and them; none of these is eternal: all these lower appetites and sensations will be destroyed by death, and have no existence in the resurrection body and the earth and its productions shall be burnt up.

Now the body is not for fornication] Though God made an appetite for food, and provided food for that appetite; yet he has not made the body for any uncleanness, nor indulgence in sensuality; but he has made it for Christ; and Christ was provided to be a sacrifice for this body as well as for the soul, by taking our nature upon him; so that now, as human beings, we have an intimate relationship to the Lord and our bodies are made not only for his service, but to be his temples.

Verse 14. And God hath both raised up the Lord] He has raised up the human nature of Christ from the grave, as a pledge of our resurrection; and will also raise us up by his own power, that we may dwell with him in glory for

ever.

Verse 15. Know ye not that your bodies are the members of Christ] Because he has taken your nature upon him; and thus, as believers in him, ye are the members of Christ.

Shall I then take, &c.] Shall we, who profess to be members of his body, of his flesh, and of his bones, connect ourselves with harlots, and thus dishonour and pollute the bodies which are members of Christ? God forbid! These passages admit of a more literal interpretation. This, if given at all, I must give in a strange language.

one body? A. M. 4060.

for two, saith he, shall be one
flesh.

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Anno Imp. Ne-
ronis Cas. 3.

Verse 16. Ile that is joined to a harlot is one body] In Sohar Genes. fol. 19. we have these remarkable words:Whosoever connects himself with another man's wife, does, in effect, renounce the holy blessed God, and the church of the Israelites.

Verse 17. Is one spirit] He who is united to God, by faith in Christ Jesus, receives his Spirit, and becomes a partaker of the Divine nature. Who can change such a relationship for communion with a harlot; or for any kind of sensual gratification? sensual gratification? He who can, must be far and deeply fallen!

Verse 18. Flee fornication] Abominate, detest, and escape from every kind of uncleanness. Some sins, or solicitations to sin, may be reasoned with; in the above cases, if you parly, you are undone ; reason not, but FLY!

Sinneth against his own body] Though sin of every species has a tendency to destroy life; yet uone are so mortal as those to which the apostle refers they strike immediately at the basis of the constitution. By the just judgment of God, alt these irregular and sinful connections are married to death. Neither prostitutes, whore-mongers, nor unclean persons of any description, can live out half their days. It would be easy to shew, and prove also, how the end of these things, even with respect to the body, is death; but I forbear, and shall finish the subject with the words of the prophet.-The show of their countenance doth witness against them: and they declare their sin as Sodom, they hide it not; woe unto their soul, for they have rewarded evil unto themselves.

Verse 19. Your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost] Membra humana ad generationem pertinentia, vocantur What an astonishing saying is this! As truly as the living Membra Christi, quia mysterium conjunctionis Christi et Ec- God dwelt in the Mosaic tabernacle, and in the temple of clesiæ, per conjunctionem muris et fæminæ indigitatur, Solomon, so truly does the Holy Ghost dwell in the souls of Ephes. v. 32. In Vet. Test. idem valebat de membro mascu-genuine Christians: and as the temple, and all its utensils, lino, quippe quod circumcisione, tanquam signo fæderis, honoratum est. Vide Schoettgen, Hor. Hebr,

3

were holy, separated from all common and profane uses, and dedicated alone to the service of God; so the bodies of ge

13 Meats for the belly, and the belly for 12 All things are lawful unto me, but all meats; but God shall destroy both it and them.

constituted into a church; and this was the effect, as well as justified freely, having their sins forgiven through the rethe object, of their preaching.

A. M. 4050. Now the body is not for fornication, joined to a harlot is one body?
for two, saith he, shall be one
flesh.

A. U. C. 809. but for the Lord; and the Lord
Anno Imp. Ne-

15 Know ye not that 18 Flee fornication. Every sin that a man members of Christ? shall I then take the mem-doeth is without the body; but he that combers of Christ, and make them the members of mitteth fornication sinneth against his own a harlot? God forbid.

nuine Christians are holy, and all their members should be employed in the service of God alone.

There are strange discordances in MSS. Versions, and Fathers, on the conclusion of this verse; and the clause, And ye are not your own] Ye have no right over your- και εν τῷ πνευματι ύμων, ατινα επι του Θεού, and in your selves, to dispose either of your body, or any of its mem-spirit, which is God's, is wanting in ABC*D* EFG. some bers, as you may think proper or lawful: you are bound to others, Coptic, Ethiopic, Vulgate, and Itala; and in seGod, and to him you are accountable. veral of the primitive Fathers. Almost every critic of note Verse 20. Ye are bought with a price] As the slave who considers them to be spurious. Whether retained or exis purchased by his Master for a sum of money, is the sole punged, the sense is the same. Instead of price simply, the property of that master; so ye, being bought with the price Vulgate, and some of the Latin fathers, read pretio magno, of the blood of Christ, are not your own; you are his pro-with a great price: and, instead of glorify simply, they read perty. As the slave is bound to use all his skill and diligence || glorificate et portate, glorify and carry God in your bodies. for the emolument of his master; so you should employ body, soul, and spirit in the service of your Lord; promoting, by every means in your power, the honour and glory of your God, whom you must also considers as your Lord and Master.

These readings appear to be glosses, intended to explain the text. Litigious Christians, who will have recourse to law for every little difference, as well as the impure, may read this chapter either to their conviction or confusion.

CHAPTER VII.

A solution of several difficult cases concerning marriage, and married persons, 1-6. God has given every man his proper gift, 7. Directions to the unmarried and widows, 8, 9. Directions to the married, 10, 11. Direc tions to men married to heathen women; and to women married to heathen men, 12—16. Every man should abide in his vocation, 17–24. Directions concerning virgins, and single persons in general, 25—28. How all should behave themselves in the things of this life, in reference to eternity, 29-31. The trials of the mar ried state, 32–35. Directions concerning the state of virginity or celibacy, 36-38. How the wife is bound to her husband during his life; and her liberty to marry another, after his death, 39, 40.

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woman.

NOW, concerning the

a

OW, concerning the things whereof ye wrote unto me: It is good for a man not to touch a

a Ver. 8, 26. Matt. 19. 10. Prov. 6. 29.

NOTES ON CHAP. VII. Verse 1. The things whereof ye wrote unto me] It is sufficiently evident that the principal part of this Epistle was written in answer to some questions which had been sent to the apostle, in a letter from the Corinthian church and the

:

b Ch. 6. 18. Matt. 14. 4. & 15. 19. Heb. 13. 4.

first question seems to be this, "Is it proper for a man to marry in the present circumstances of the church ?”

The question concerning the expediency or inexpediency of marriage, was often agitated among the ancient philosophers; and many, though inclined to decide against it, because of

bidden: and they are commanded to marry for the purpose of procreating children.

In the Jewish constitutions, there are some things not only curious but useful, respecting marriage. "There are four causes which induce men to marry: 1. Impure desire: 2. To get riches: 3. To become honourable: 4. For the glory of God. Those who marry through the first motive, beget wicked and rebellious children. Those who marry for the sake of riches, have the curse of leaving them to others. Those who marry for the sake of aggrandizing their family, their families shall be diminished. Those who marry to promote the glory of God, their children shall be holy, and by them shall the true church be increased.”

the troubles and cares connected with it, tolerated it in their|| Here, plurality of wives and husbands is most strictly for opinions; because, though an evil, it was judged to be a necessary evil. The words of Menander are full to this effect. Γαμειν εαν τις την αλήθειαν σκοπή, κακον μεν εςι, αλλ' αναγ "If a man consider marriage in a proper point of view, it is an evil; but then, it is a necessary evil." Metellus Numidicus spoke of it nearly in the same way. Si sine uxore possemus, Quirites, esse, omnes eû molestiá careremus; sed quoniam ita natura tradidit, ut nec CUM ILLIS satis commodè, nec SINE ILLIS ullo modo vivi possit, saluti perpetuæ potius quam brevi voluptati consulendum. "If, O ye Romans, we could live unmarried, we should be saved from a great deal of trouble: but, seeing that nature has so ordered it, that we cannot live very comfortably with wives, and with out them, cannot live at all,marriage should be adopted,not for Verse 3. Let the husband render unto the wife due benethe sake of the short lived pleasure, but rather for perpetual volence] Try peoμavy auvolav: though our version is no safety." But this was not the common opinion: the Jews translation of the original, yet few persons are at a loss for absolutely required that every man should marry, and re- the meaning; and the context is sufficiently plain. Some puted those as murderers who did not.-See on ver. 6. By have rendered the words, not unaptly, the matrimonial debt, the laws of Lycurgus, unmarried persons were prohibited from or conjugal duty; that which a wife owes to her husband, seeing the public games. By the laws of the Spartans, batche-and the husband to his wife and which they must take care lors were punished. And Pluto declares all such unworthy of mutually to render, else alienation of affection will be the any honour. And to this the Commentator says Amen.

Not to touch a woman.] Tuvaixos μy atteσla The learned Reader need not be informed in what sense άroμ is used among the Greeks, and tangere among the Latins. For examples, Wetstein may be consulted.

Verse 2. To avoid fornication] Ala тas πopvelas; verto, propter exercendam libidinem, vel ut libidinem licitè cxercere liceat. Probo hanc notionem ex Hebræo, ibi n zanah, est libidinem exercere, Hos. iv. 10. For they shall eat and not have enough; they shall commit whoredom, libidinem in exercebunt; and shall not increase. Here the prophet certainly does not speak of whoredom, in our sense of the word; for the persons he mentions, expected to have children, which cannot be said of those who are addicted to improper connections: the prophet speaks concerning married persons, whom he threatens with a privation of children, notwithstanding libidinem exercebant, in order to have numerous families.-See Schoettgen. The following verse shews that this is the apostle's meaning.

Let every man have his own wife] Let every man have one woman, his own; and every woman one man, her own.

infallible consequence; and this, in numberless instances, has led to adulterous connections. In such cases, the wife has to blame herself for the infidelity of her husband; and the husband for that of his wife. What miserable work has been made in the peace of families, by a wife or a husband pretending to be wiser than the apostle, and too holy and spiritual to keep the commandments of God!

Verse 4. The wife hath not power, &c.] Her person belongs to her husband; her husband's person belongs to her: neither of them has any authority to refuse what the other has a matrimonial right to demaud. The woman that would act so, is either a knave or a fool. It would be trifling to attribute her conduct to any other cause than weakness or folly. She does not love her husband; or she loves some one else better than her husband; or she makes pretensions to a fancied sanctity unsupported by Scripture or common

sense.

Verse 5. Defraud ye not one the other] What ye owe thus to each other, never refuse paying; unless by mutual consent; and let that be only for a certain time, when prudence dictates the temporary separation or when some ex