1 Corinthians 15

1 Corinthians 15:2

Warnings Against Idolatry SUMMARY OF I CORINTHIANS 10: Lights from Jewish History. Beware of a Fall. Will Not Be Trials Greater Than We Can Stand. Beware of the Fellowship of Idols. The Analogy of the Lord’s Supper. As No Questions at a Feast for Conscience Sake. But Avoid Anything Pointed Out As from an Idol Sacrifice. Moreover, brethren, I would not that ye should be ignorant. In the preceding chapter Paul warned the Corinthian Christians to avoid all that might cause weaker brethren to fall, pointed to his own example, and showed that he spared no effort to win the crown for himself. He now enforces the lesson of his own example by pointing to the warnings furnished in the journey of Israel from Egypt to Canaan, the type of the Christian’s journey to heaven. Schaff says: ``It is worthy of note that he selects his examples from that part of Israelitish history which has an analogy in the baptismal commencement, and the eucharistic nourishment of the Christian life.’' How that all our fathers. The ancient members of the Jewish race; the fleshly fathers of Jewish Christians, and, in a kind of spiritual sense, the fathers of Gentile Christians. See Galatians 3:29 Ephesians 2:19. Were all under the cloud. With the walls of the sea on each side, and the cloud over their heads, the Israelites at the Red Sea passage were buried out of sight of the Egyptians. See Exodus 13:21 Numbers 10:34 14:13 Ps 105:39.

1 Corinthians 15:3

Were all baptized to Moses. Canon Cook says: The two phrases, "Were under the cloud", and "Passed through the sea", seem to prefigure the double process of submersion and emersion in baptism.'' Observe that the Israelites by this event, left Egypt, escaped from Pharaoh, and entered upon their march, with Moses as their leader, even as Christians leave the Egypt of sin behind, and start upon the Christian life, when they are "baptized into Christ". One of the church Fathers, Theodoret, says: The sea of transition represents the laver of regeneration, Moses foreshadows Christ, Israel the baptized disciples, the pursuing Egyptians are the sins left behind, and Pharaoh is a type of the devil.''

1 Corinthians 15:4

And did all eat the same spiritual meat. The manna (Exodus 16:15), called “spiritual”, because supernaturally supplied, and because a type of the spiritual bread of the Christian.

1 Corinthians 15:5

And did all drink the same spiritual drink. The water supernaturally supplied (Exodus 17:6 Numbers 20:11) called “spiritual”, for the same reason. That spiritual Rock that followed them. The waters at Rephidim (Exodus 17:1-6) and Kadesh (Numbers 20:1-12) gushed from a rock. The rock did not itself supply them, but the power behind, the “spiritual Rock”, even Christ. The rock of Rephidim did not follow them, but the “spiritual Rock” did, and supplied their necessities whenever they were in need. As the rock of Rephidim became a fountain, so Christ is the fountain of living waters to the world.

1 Corinthians 15:6

But with many of them God was not well pleased. “All” were baptized, “all” were fed, “all” did drink, but notwithstanding God had done so much for them “all” without exception, many were overthrown in the wilderness. Fell in the wilderness because of their sins (Numbers 14:35 26:65); a startling warning to Christians on the journey.

1 Corinthians 15:7

Now these things were our examples. Beacon lights to Christians. To the intent we should not lust after evil things. The Israelites were led astray by “lusting after evil things”. Let all beware of this source of destruction.

1 Corinthians 15:8

Neither be ye idolaters. As many had been idolaters, and idolatry was so prevalent in Corinth, this was a great danger. As it is written The Israelites fell into idolatry at Sinai during the absence of Moses (Exodus 32:6). The people sat down to eat and drink. At a feast in honor of the golden calf. Rose up to play. To dance religiously around their idol. Such is the meaning. Of course such an example was a pertinent warning to Corinthian brethren to shun the banquets in idol temples and their accompanying festivities. Three thousand Israelites fell on the occasion referred to (Exodus 32:8).

1 Corinthians 15:9

Neither let us commit fornication, as some of them committed. The fornication with the Midianites (Numbers 25:1-10). Fornication was also one of the besetting sins of Corinth (1 Corinthians 5:1 16:3,18 7:2). And fell in one day three and twenty thousand. In Numbers 25:9 it is stated that 24,000 lost their lives. Paul names 23,000 as the number who lost their lives by the plague. The number was no doubt between 23,000 and 24,000, and is stated in each place by a round sum, according to Jewish custom, Paul naming the smaller.

1 Corinthians 15:10

Neither let us tempt Christ, etc. The event referred to is narrated in Numbers 21:4-6. The application is that we should not be discontented over hardships or long for the sinful pleasures of a former life from which we have parted.

1 Corinthians 15:11

Neither murmur ye. See Numbers 14:2.

1 Corinthians 15:12

Now all these things happened to them for ensamples. They are historical facts designed to teach great lessons, since God still deals on the same principles. Upon whom the ends of the world are come. The last of God’s dispensations.

1 Corinthians 15:13

Wherefore, let him that thinketh he standeth take heed lest he fall. Presumption is the greatest of all dangers. He who realizes his danger will be on his guard. See the case of Peter’s fall, for an illustration. The safe way is, conscious of weakness, not to dally with temptation.

1 Corinthians 15:14

There hath no temptation taken you but such as is common to man. Perhaps the Corinthians thought their temptations were usually severe, but these were only what human nature is exposed to. But God [is] faithful. Will keep every promise, and hence will not suffer you to be tempted above that ye are able. Will give them strength and deliverance in every temptation if they trust in him. None who devoutly follow Christ, who pray constantly for strength, and trust God, will fall.

1 Corinthians 15:15

Flee from idolatry. In idolatry, the greatest temptations at Corinth were combined, lust, drinking, reveling, etc. The way to avoid all these was to flee it. Sin must not be dallied with, but shunned.

1 Corinthians 15:17

The cup of blessing which we bless. A name applied to the cup used in the Lord’s Supper. Paul shows from the nature of the Lord’s Supper, and of the Jewish sacrificial feasts, that to eat in an idol feast is an idol communion. Is it not the communion of the blood of Christ? Is not the cup the symbol of joint participation or fellowship of the blood of Christ. Is it not the communion of the body of Christ? Is not the bread the symbol of joint participation of Christ’s body?

1 Corinthians 15:18

For we [being] many are one bread. One loaf. There being one loaf implies that we Christians, though many, are all one body, and joint participators of the one body of Christ. Paul had no conception of a divided church.

1 Corinthians 15:19

Behold Israel after the flesh. The natural Israel, in contrast with the spiritual Israel, the church. Are not they which eat of the sacrifices partakers of the altar? A part of the sacrifice was eaten by the offerers and their friends, and as a part was burnt on the altar, as an offering to God, they were supposed to be partakers with God in the feast. So, too, those who partook of an idol feast, would be worshipers of the idol.

1 Corinthians 15:20

What say I then? He had said an idol was nothing (1 Corinthians 8:4). Does he not now imply an idol is something? He affirms nothing of the kind.

1 Corinthians 15:21

The things which the Gentiles sacrifice, they sacrifice to devils. The idol is nothing, but to the worshiper it is a reality. That reality is not God, but really a demon. The gods were mainly dead kings and heroes who had been defiled. The “diamonia”, or demons, were the spirits of dead men. The worship was really demon worship. Fellowship with devils. If the feast of the Lord’s Supper is communion with Christ, the feast of the altar sacrifice communion with God, who is worshiped, the feast of the idol is communion with the idol. Yet this idol in the mind of the worshiper is a diamonion, a demon.

1 Corinthians 15:22

Ye cannot drink the cup of the Lord. So inconsistent are the two with each other that no man can commune with Christ who partakes of the feast of the demon. And the cup of devils. The libations offered at the idol sacrifices. A part of the cup was poured on the altar, and a part drunk by the offerers. See “Aeneid” 8:273. Table of devils. The table in the idol temple where a feast was spread.

1 Corinthians 15:23

Do we provoke the Lord to jealousy? Such acts in an idol temple would be worship of the idol. Yet Jehovah says that he is “a jealous God” (Exodus 20:5 Deuteronomy 5:9).

1 Corinthians 15:24

All things are lawful for me. All meats are especially referred to. See PNT 1 Corinthians 6:12. But all things are not expedient. But things that are lawful, i.e., not sinful in themselves, are often not expedient.

1 Corinthians 15:25

Let no man seek his own. In asserting rights, consider the interests of others.

1 Corinthians 15:26

Whatsoever is sold in the shambles. In the butcher’s stalls. This one might eat without question as to whether it had been part of an idol sacrifice or not.

1 Corinthians 15:27

For the earth [is] the Lord’s. All that is offered for sale is the Lord’s bounty.

1 Corinthians 15:28

If any of them that believe not bid you [to a feast], etc. If invited to an unbeliever’s house, go, if you wish, and eat what is set before you without question on account of conscience.

1 Corinthians 15:29

But if any man shall say unto you, etc. If some one points out that a part is from an idol’s sacrifice, then it is not to be eaten; not because the food is sinful, but because the conscience of others might be offended.

1 Corinthians 15:30

Conscience, I say, not thine own, but of the other. When one eats what he knows to be simply wholesome food, his own conscience is not offended, but that of another man. Why is my liberty judged of another [man’s] conscience? His liberty of conscience is not abridged by another man’s want of knowledge.

1 Corinthians 15:31

For if I by grace be a partaker, etc. If by God’s gift I partake with thanksgiving to him, there should be no reproach.

1 Corinthians 15:32

Whether therefore ye eat, or drink. The rule for eating and drinking is now given. It must be done all to the glory of God. This implies, (1) thanksgiving to God; (2) not doing what would put a stumbling-block in the way of weak brethren.

1 Corinthians 15:33

Give none offence. The rule just given implies this. Do nothing that would produce a scandal, or arouse prejudice, whether they be Jews, or Gentiles, or brethren.

1 Corinthians 15:34

Even as I please all [men] in all [things]. See notes on 1 Corinthians 9:20-23.

1 Corinthians 15:36

Dress and Conduct in the Church SUMMARY OF I CORINTHIANS 11: Men in Church to Pray with Uncovered Heads. Women to Be Veiled. Disorderly Assemblies. The Abuse of Love Feasts. The Lord’s Supper Profaned. The Lesson from Christ’s Appointment of the Ordinance. Must Be Eaten with Solemn Reverence. Be ye followers of me even as I also [am] of Christ. This refers to 1 Corinthians 10:33. Like him, they should not seek to “please themselves”, but to so act as to save others.

1 Corinthians 15:37

Now I praise you. This praise is preparatory to censure for disorderly conduct among them. Keep the ordinances. Those he had taught them while in Corinth.

1 Corinthians 15:38

But I would have you know, etc. The order of rank is that Christ is the center, with the Father above and man below him; and in the family the man is first and the woman second. That is nature’s order.

1 Corinthians 15:39

Every man praying or prophesying. The last word means speaking by inspiration. Having [his] head covered, dishonoureth his head. He dishonors his head by covering what God would have exposed. Some hold that the head dishonored is Christ. I agree rather with Meyer and Schaff, that it is his own. Heathen priests of Rome covered their heads. So do modern Jews.

1 Corinthians 15:40

Every woman that prayeth or prophesieth, etc. With the customs and ideas which existed in the East in that age it would be an unseemly act, and would bring reproach. The veil was regarded as a badge of subordination, and if not worn would imply that the woman did not yield deference to her husband. Almost all women are still veiled in the presence of men in the East. For that is even all one as if she were shaved. For a woman’s head to be shaven was usually a sign of shamelessness (See Meyer). The uncovered head in an assembly was also unbecoming.

1 Corinthians 15:41

For if the woman be not covered, let her also be shorn. If she defies decorum by an uncovered head, let her go further, and be shaven.

1 Corinthians 15:42

A man indeed ought not to cover [his] head, etc. In this whole passage we must keep in mind the Eastern ideas of the relations of the sexes. Paul bases these rules of propriety on the account of their creation. The veil is a sign of subordination to others present. He is the image and glory of God. But man has no created superior. The woman is the glory of the man. She is subordinate to him, of which the veil is the symbol.

1 Corinthians 15:43

For the man is not from the woman. In the creative act man was first, and woman was made from man.

1 Corinthians 15:44

Neither was the man created for the woman. Woman was made for man because he needed a helpmeet.

1 Corinthians 15:45

For this cause ought the woman to have power on [her] head. She ought to have on her head the veil, the badge of submission to authority. Because of the angels. This clause has puzzled the critics. The idea probably is: “There should be no violation of decorum, such as a bareheaded woman in a public assembly would be, lest it offend the ministering angels which are always present, though unseen”.

1 Corinthians 15:46

Neither is the man without the woman, etc. Neither sex is independent of the each; each needs the other. In the Lord. The Lord recognizes their mutual dependence upon each other.

1 Corinthians 15:47

For as the woman [is] from the man, etc. As she was created for man so man is born of woman. But all things of God. There is an equipoise. These relations are all “of God”.

1 Corinthians 15:48

Is it comely that a woman should pray unto God uncovered? That is, in the public assembly. Private prayer, or with her own sex or household, is not meant. It was very unbecoming in view of the customs of the East, nor would it generally be esteemed decorous in our times, and with our ideas, that she should appear with no covering on her head at all.

1 Corinthians 15:49

Doth not even nature itself teach you?, etc. It is nature’s arrangement that men should wear short hair, and a woman long. For a man to have long hair and a woman to be shorn are violations of nature’s teachings.

1 Corinthians 15:51

But if any man seemeth to be contentious. If, in spite of nature’s lessons, a man contentiously opposes, let him know that We have no such custom, neither the churches of God. No such customs exists in the churches. Many suppose that “custom” refers to being contentious. I think, rather, that it refers to covering the head, etc. The lesson of this whole passage is that we must not defy existing social usages in such a way as to bring reproach on the church.

1 Corinthians 15:52

Now in this that I declare [unto you] I praise [you] not. That their church assemblies were not orderly.

1 Corinthians 15:53

When ye come together in the church. In a meeting of the church. I hear that there be divisions among you. He had spoken in chapters 1-3 of the divisions in the congregation. He now tells them that he had heard that these divisions were manifest at their church meetings.

1 Corinthians 15:54

There must be also heresies among you. Heresies were false opinions which led to divisions. In the state of the human mind they were unavoidable, and would sift the church.

1 Corinthians 15:55

When therefore ye come together in one place. When they assembled these heresies and divisions were manifest. There was a Paulite group, an Apolloite group, and a Petrine group, who sat apart from each other. See PNT 1 Corinthians 1:12. [This] is not to eat the Lord’s supper. Coming in such a spirit they were in no fit mind to eat the Lord’s supper.

1 Corinthians 15:56

For in eating every one taketh before [other] his own supper. It was customary in Corinth to eat a meal together as did Christ and his disciples the night of the Lord’s supper (Matthew 26:26 Mr 14:22 Lu 22:14). After this came the Lord’s supper. At this meal each party in Corinth sat apart and ate when it was ready. The result was that some began before the others. One is be hungry, and another is drunken. This last clause means that he had eaten and was satisfied.

1 Corinthians 15:57

What? have ye not houses to eat and to drink in? The practice is rebuked. The place to eat their feasts was at home. Or despise ye the church of God? By a selfish feast, where some ate luxuriously, and put to shame others, perhaps the poor, who had nothing.

1 Corinthians 15:58

For I have received from the Lord that which I also delivered unto you. While at Corinth he had told the church the solemn history of the institution of the supper, an account that he had received directly by inspiration from the Lord. Such a sacred event was utterly inconsistent with strife, revelry or disorder. The history is repeated to show this. That the Lord Jesus . . . took bread. The account given here (1 Corinthians 11:23-25) of the institution of the Lord’s supper is one in the four New Testament. That of Matthew (Matthew 26:26-30) is of an eye witness; those of Mark (Mr 14:22-25) and Luke (Lu 22:14-20) were received by them from witnesses who were present; that of Paul was “received from the Lord”. Many regard it as the oldest written account of the event.