  SCRIPTURE READING EXERCISE. BOOKS OF THE NEW TESTAMENT. (Continued).
SPECIAL TEXT: "Do ye not know that they which minister about holy things live of the things of the temple? and they which wait at the altar are partakers with the altar? Even so hath the Lord ordained that they which preach the gospel should live of the gospel"—PAUL. NOTES.1. Corinth—the City: "Corinth was the great center of commercial traffic on the overland route from Rome to the East; and also between Upper and Lower Greece. Possessing the only good harbor in that quarter, and being the shortest and safest route, small vessels were dragged across the isthmus, larger ones transhipped their cargoes, and hence all the trade of the Mediterranean flowed through it, so that 'a perpetual fair was held there from year's end to year's end;' to which were added the great annual gatherings of Greeks at the 'Isthmian Games' (to which Paul alludes, I Cor. ix: 24-27). Hence it was proverbial for wealth, luxury, and profligacy. Its population, and that of Achaia, was mainly foreign, formed of colonists from Caesar's army, and of manumitted slaves, settlers from Asia Minor, returned exiles from the islands, and at this time a large influx of Jews lately expelled from Rome. (Acts xviii: 2.)" (Oxford Bible Helps, p. 27.) 2. Character of Paul's Disciples at Corinth: "Paul's disciples were mostly of the lower order, partly Jews, but mainly Roman freedmen and heathen Greeks, who became enthusiastic admirers of the Apostle. Here he wrote the latter or both of his two epistles to the Thessalonians, and one to the Romans; immediately after which he returned to Ephesus, and was succeeded in his mission by Apollos, who also made many converts. The latter was imperfectly instructed in Christianity, but was well versed in the Jewish Scriptures, and very eloquent." (Oxford Bible Helps, p. 27.) 3. Cause of Writing the First Epistle to the Corinthians: "There arose two factions, in Corinth, a Jewish, clinging to a Pharisaic attachment to the law; a Gentile, prone to push evangelical freedom to license; while keeping the right faith, claiming to indulge in even heathen licentiousness. They joined freely in heathen sacrificial feasts; degraded the Holy Communion into a festive banquet; women threw off the usual eastern veil of modest attire; and the Greek love of intellectual speculation and discussion ran riot on sacred subjects, till appeals on Christian disputes were brought before heathen tribunals and morality was scandalized by even incestuous intercourse. Under such corruption, during three years, factions attained a formidable height. Paul was defamed by the Jewish party, and rumors of alarming disputes reached him, followed by a letter full of inquiries on matters of morality and doctrine, brought by a deputation of freedom. Under such circumstances the first epistle was written." (Oxford Bible Helps, p. 27.) 4. The Character of the First Epistle to the Corinthians: "The letter is, in its contents, the most diversified of all St. Paul's epistles; and in proportion to the variety of its topics, is the depth of its interest for ourselves. For by it we are introduced, as it were, behind the scenes of the Apostolic Church, and its minutest features are revealed to us under the light of daily life. We see the picture of a Christian congregation as it met for worship in some upper chambers, such as the house of Aquila, or of Caius, could furnish. We see that these seasons of pure devotion were not unalloyed by human vanity and excitement; yet, on the other hand, we behold the heathen auditor pierced to the heart by the inspired eloquence of the Christian prophets, the secrets of his conscience laid bare to him, and himself constrained to fall down on his face and worship God; we hear the fervent thanksgiving echoed by the unanimous Amen; we see the administration of the Holy Communion terminating the feast of love. Again we become familiar with the perplexities of domestic life, the corrupting proximity of heathen immorality, the lingering superstition, the rash speculation, the lawless perversion of Christian liberty; we witness the strife of theological factions, the party names, the sectarian animosities. We perceive the difficulty of the task imposed upon the Apostle, who must guard from so many perils, and guide through so many difficulties, his children in the faith, whom else he had begotten in vain; and we learn to appreciate more fully the magnitude of that laborious responsibility under which he describes himself as almost ready to sink, 'the care of all of the churches,'" (The Life and Epistles of St. Paul, Coneybeare & Howson, p. 424.) 1. The Persons Addressed in Galatians: "This alone among the Pauline epistles is addressed, not to an individual or to a single church, but to a group of churches; 'unto the churches of Galatia' (i: 2)." 2. Galatia: "The name 'Galatia,' however, is ambiguous. Originally it was restricted to the region possessed and inhabited by the descendants of the invading Gauls; a tract of country separated from the Black Sea by Bithynia and Paphlagonia, and bounded on the east by Pontus and Cappadocia and on the south by Phrygia. This country had been known as Galatia since the beginning of the third century B. C., when three tribes of Gauls (Galatinas, Celts), who had attempted to overrun Greece, were driven back, and finally found a footing in this part of Asia Minor. In 189 B. C., Galatia became a Roman dependency, and in 25 B. C. Augustus added to it Lycanonia, Pisidia, Pamphylia, and a large part of Phrygia, and constituted the whole into a Roman province, under the name 'Galatia.' And it is not easy to determine whether we are to seek for the churches here addressed among the northern Galatians, or in Antioch, Iconium, Lystra, and Derbe. Perhaps, on the whole, the evidence is somewhat in favor of the belief that St. Paul addresses the last-named churches. Of the founding of these we have a full account in Acts xiii: 13-14, 24." (Bible Treasury, p. 139.) 3. Object of the Epistle: During the absence of St. Paul from the churches of Galatia, Judaizing teachers had found access to them. These persistent enemies of the Apostle of the Gentiles taught his young churches that it was only through the gate of Judaism any one could enter the Christian fold. They demanded that the Gentile converts should be circumcised, and should keep the whole law. And they had much that was plausible to advance in favor of the idea. The law was a divine institution, and could not be abrogated. The promises had been made to Abraham and to his seed. The Messiah was the Messiah of the Jews. Jesus himself had been circumcised and had kept the whole law. The original apostles followed his example. Besides, if the Gentiles were not enjoined to keep the law, how were they to escape from the immoralities in which they had been reared? And who was Paul, that he should presume to introduce this novel doctrine? He had not known Christ while on earth. He was merely the messenger of the church at Antioch, and had no commission from the apostolic circle at Jerusalem. And vehemently as he declaimed against circumcision, he enjoined it when it suited him; witness the case of Timothy. The very speciousness of these arguments convinced St. Paul that a great crisis had arrived, and that, if Christianity was to become the universal religion and not a mere Jewish sect—if religion was to be spiritual and not mere ritual—if union with Christ really meant emancipation from bondage of every kind, then it was time that he should, once for all, make clear the relation of Christ to the law" hence the epistle. (Bible Treasury, p. 139.) 4. The Case of the Judaizing Party against Paul: "It is remarkable, therefore, that the Judaizing emissaries should so soon have gained so great a hold over a church consisting mainly of Gentile Christians; and the fact that they did so proves not only their indefatigable activity, but also their skill in the arts of conciliation and persuasion. It must be remembered, however, that they were by no means scrupulous as to the means which they employed to effect their objects. At any cost of falsehood and detraction, they resolved to loosen the hold of St. Paul upon the affection and respect of his converts. Thus to the Galatians they accused him of want of uprightness in observing the Law himself whilst among the Jews, yet persuading the Gentiles to renounce it, they argued that his motive was to keep his converts in a subordinate state, excluded from the privileges of a full covenant with God, which was enjoyed by the circumcised alone; they declared that he was an interested flatterer, 'becoming all things to all men,' that he might make a party for himself; and above all, they insisted that he falsely represented himself as an Apostle of Christ, for that he had not, like the Twelve, been a follower of Jesus when he was on earth, and had not received his commission; that, on the contrary, he was only a teacher sent out by the authority of the Twelve, whose teaching was only to be received so far as it agreed with theirs, and was sanctioned by them; whereas his doctrine (they alleged) was now in opposition to that of Peter and James, and the other 'Pillars' of the Church. By such representations they succeeded, to a great extent, in alienating the Galatian Christians from their father in the faith; already many of the recent converts submitted to circumcision, and embraced the party of their new teachers with the same zeal which they had formerly shown for the Apostle of the Gentiles; and the rest of the Church was thrown into a state of agitation and division"—hence the Epistle to the Galations. (The Life and Epistles of St. Paul, Conybeare and Howson, p. 522.) Footnotes |
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