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[5.] Now we command you, brethren, in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, that ye withdraw yourselves from every brother that walketh disorderly and not after the tradition which ye received of us. For yourselves know how ye ought to imitate us, for we behaved not ourselves disorderly among you, neither did we eat bread for nought at any man's hand, but in labor and travail, working night and day, that we might not burden any of you not because we have not the right, but to make ourselves an ensample unto you, that ye should imitate us. For even when we were with you, this we commanded you, If any will not work, neither let him eat. For we hear of some that walk among you disorderly, that are not busy but busybodies: now them that are such we command and exhort in the Lord Jesus Christ, that with quietness they work and eat their own bread. But ye, brethren, do not lose courage in well-doing. And if any man obeyeth not our word by this epistle, note that man, that ye have no company with him, to the end that he may be ashamed: and yet count him not as an enemy, but admonish him as a brother. Now the Lord of peace Himself give you peace at all times in all ways. Lord be with you all.

The

The salutation of me Paul with mine own hand, which is the token in every epistle: so I write. The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you all.

EPISTLES OF PAUL.

THE SECOND GROUP.

I. FIRST TO THE CORINTHIANS.

II. SECOND TO THE CORINTHIANS.

III. TO THE GALATIANS.

IV. TO THE ROMANS.

Hitherto the opposition to the Apostle had sprung from Jews and Gentiles. With the Second Group of Epistles we come to the fierce struggle against him of Judaizing Christians. The question had arisen, Is it necessary that Gentiles become Jews in order to become Christians? Some Christian Jews answered Yes, and vainly endeavored to impose their views on the Church (Acts xv., p. 257). They then organized a counter-mission which sought to undermine his work everywhere, sending delegates with letters of recommendation, who gave themselves forth as representatives of the Twelve. The whole of his Third Missionary Journey, particularly the last year or two during which the Second Group of Epistles was written, seems to have been for the Apostle a period of conflict and suffering. Many of the highest authorities place the Epistle to the Galatians before instead of after those to the Corinthians. Read in the order here given, these Epistles enable us to trace a twofold progress, both in the gradual unfolding of the Judaizing opposition and in the advance of the Apostle through sorrow to calmness of spirit. 1. In the Epistles to the Corinthians the storm is gathering. In Galatians it has reached its height. Among the Corinthians it is his Apostleship and character rather than his Gospel that is questioned. In Galatians it is both. 2. A similar progress is to be traced as regards his inner history. In First Corinthians the reference to his personal distress is only occasional. Second Corinthians is the outpouring of a spirit which has been through deep affliction, yet the worst is already past: the tumultuous conflict of feeling revealed is like the heavy roll of the sea after a great storm. In Galatians he has a deeper firmness and strength. Henceforth no man can trouble him. The whole of the Epistle to the Romans is distinguished by its sustained tranquillity and its frequent bursts of triumphant gratitude.

FIRST EPISTLE TO

THE

TO THE CORIN

THIANS.

[St. Paul first went to Corinth in A.D. 52 or 53 (Acts xviii., 1-18, p. 266). Halfway between Ephesus and Rome, it was a centre from which influence would stream out in both directions along the lines of commerce and travel. Here he remained over a year and six months. This Epistle was written about Easter, A.D. 57, toward the close of his long sojourn at Ephesus (Acts xix., 1-xx, 1, pp. 269– 272). The Church at Corinth combined two distinct elements, (1) Jews and proselytes, (2) Gentile converts. Disputes were troubling the Church, fomented by the factious spirit so inveterate among the Greeks. The Judaizing opposition, which sought everywhere to undermine St. Paul, was also beginning its work here, but at first only in a veiled and indirect manner. To the evils of party spirit was added the tendency of the Gentile section to carry freedom to an extreme, and the licentiousness for which Corinth was notorious was invading the Church. While St. Paul was hearing of this condition of things a letter was brought to him by three trustworthy members of the Church at Corinth (ch. xvi., 17, p. 362), asking him a series of questions, but saying nothing of the disorders which had sprung up, a letter which seems to have been full of inflated self-complacency. In the First Part of his Epistle, i., 10-vi., 20, the Apostle speaks of the Divisions and Disorders in the Corinthian Church; in the Second Part, from ch. vii. on, he answers their questions.]

Introduction Address, Greeting, Thanksgiving. 1. 1-9.

PAUL, called to be an apostle of Jesus Christ through. the will of God, and Sosthenes our brother, unto the church of God which is at Corinth, unto them that are sanctified in Christ Jesus, called to be saints, with all that call upon the name of our Lord Jesus Christ in every place, their Lord and ours: Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. I thank God always concerning you for the grace of God which was given you in Christ Jesus, that in every

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thing ye were enriched in Him, in all Utterance and all Knowledge, even as our testimony concerning Christ was confirmed in you, so that ye come behind in no gift, while waiting for the revelation of our Lord Jesus Christ: who shall also confirm you unto the end, that ye be unreprovable in the day of our Lord Jesus Christ. God is faithful by whom ye were called into the fellowship of His Son Jesus Christ our Lord.

First Part.-The Disorders in the Church at Corinth.
I. 10-6. 20.

I. The Divisions arising from Party-Spirit :

Exhortation to Unanimity. The Simplicity of the Gospel: Christ and His Cross. Human and Divine Wisdom.

the Pre-eminence of Teachers. I. 10-4. 21.

Party-Strife about

Now I beseech you, brethren, by the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that ye all speak the same thing, and let there be no divisions among you, but be perfected together in the same mind and in the same judgment. For it hath been signified unto me concerning you, my brethren, by them that are of the household of Chloe, that there are contentions among you. Now this is what I mean, that each one of you is saying, I belong to Paul, and I to Apollos, and I to Cephas, and I to Christ. Christ is divided into parts. Was Paul crucified for you, or were ye baptized into the name of Paul? I give thanks that I baptized none of you save Crispus and Gaius, lest any man should say that ye were baptized into my name and I baptized also the household of Stephanas besides, I know not whether I baptized any other. For Christ sent me not to baptize but to preach the gospel; not in wisdom of words, lest the Cross of Christ should be made void.

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