mity itfelf, the apoftle ordered them forthwith, in a public affembly of the church called for the purpose, to deliver the offender to Satan, for the deftruction of his flesh, that his fpirit being reformed, he might be faved in the day of the Lord, ver. 3, 4, 5.-Then fhewed them the neceffity of cutting off the incestuous perfon, by comparing vice unpunifhed to leaven, on account of its contagious nature in corrupting a whole fociety, ver. 6.—And because this was written a little before the paffover, when the Jews put away all leaven out of their houses as the fymbol of corruption or wickedness, the apoftle defired the Corinthians to cleanse out the old leaven of lewdnefs, by cafting the incestuous perfon out of the church: For faid he, Chrift our paffover is facrificed for us. Alfo he exhorted them to keep the feaft of the Lord's fupper, which was instituted in commemeration of Christ's being facrificed for us, and which it would feem, was to be celebrated by them at the time of the paffover, not with the leaven of malice and wickedness, but with the unleavened bread of fincerity and truth, ver. 7, 8. Left, however, the Corinthians might have understood the apostle's command to excommunicate the incestuous perfon, and to cleanse out the old leaven, as an order not to keep company with the unconverted heathens, he told them, that was not his meaning; fince in that case they must have gone out of the world, ver. 9, 10.-And to make his meaning plain, he now wrote more explicitly, that if any person who profeffed himself a Christian, was a known fornicator, &c. they were to punish him by keeping no company with him, ver. 11.-This diftinction in the treatment of heathen and Chriftian finners, the apoftle fhewed them was reafonable, from the confideration, that church cenfures are not to be inflicted on persons who are without, but on them who are within the church, ver. 12.-And therefore, while they left it to God to judge and punish the wicked heathens, it was their duty to put away the incestuous perfon from among themselves, and to leave the woman with whom he was cohabiting, to the judgment of God, because she was a heathen, ver. 13. The apostle's order to the Corinthians, to keep no company with wicked perfons, though feemingly fevere, was in the true fpirit of the gofpel. For the laws of Chrift do not, like the laws of men, correct offenders by fines and imprisonments, and corporal punishments, or outward violence of any kind, but by earnest and affectionate reprefentations, admonitions, and reproofs, addreffed to their reason and conscience, to make them fenfible of their fault, and to induce them voluntarily to amend. If this remedy proves ineffectual, their fellow Chriftians are to thew their disapprobation of their evil courfes, by carefully avoiding avoiding their company. So Chrift hath ordered, Matt. xviii. 15, 16, 17. Moreover, if thy brother shall trefpafs against thee, go and tell him his fault between thee and him alone: if he shall hear thee, thou haft gained thy brother.-16. But if he will not hear thee, then take with thee one or two more, that in the mouth of two or three witnesses every word may be established.-17. And if he shall neglect to hear them, tell it unto the church: but if he neglect to hear the church, let him be unto thee as an heathen man, and a publican.Earneft reprefentation, therefore, from the injured party, followed with grave admonition and reproof, from the minifters of religion when the injured party's reprefentation is ineffectual, are the means which Chrift hath appointed for reclaiming an of fender: and with great propriety, because being addressed to his reason and conscience, they are calculated to influence his will as a moral agent, and fo to produce a lafting alteration in his conduct. But if thefe moral and religious means prove ineffectual, Chrift hath ordered the society, of which the offender is a member, to fhun his company and converfation, that he may be ashamed, and that others may be preferved from the contagion of his example. This laft remedy will be "ufed with the greateft effect, if the resolution of the fociety, to have no intercourse with the offender, especially in religious matters, is openly declared by a fentence deliberately and folemnly pronounced in a public affembly, (as in the cafe of the incestuous Corinthian,) and is fteadily carried into execution. The wholefome difcipline which Chrift inftituted in his church at the beginning, was rigorously and impartially exercised by the primitive Chriftians, towards their offending brethren, and with the happieft fuccefs, in preferving purity of manners among themselves. In modern times however, this falutary difcipline hath been much neglected in the church; but it hath been taken up by gaming clubs, who exclude from their fociety, all who refufe to pay their game debts, and fhun their company on all occafions, as perfons abfolutely infamous. By this fort of excommunication, and by giving to game debts, the appellation of debts of honour, the winners on the one hand, without the help of law, and even in contradiction to it, have rendered their unjuft claims effectual, while the lofers on the other, are reduced to the neceflity, either of paying, or of being fhunned by their companions as infamous.-I mention this as an example, to fhew what a powerful influence the approbation or disapprobation of thofe with whom mankind affociate, have upon their conduct; and from that confideration, to excite the friends of religion to fupport her against the attempts of the wicked, by teftifying on every fit occafion, their difapprobation of vice, and their con F4 tempt tempt of its abettors; and more efpecially, by fhunning the company and converfation of the openly profane, however dig Ver. 1.-1. That there is whoredom. The word Topε is ufed by the LXX. and by the writers of the New Teftament, in the latitude which its correfpondent word hath in the Hebrew language, namely, to denote all the different kinds of uncleannefs committed, whether between men and women, or between men, or with beafts. Accordingly it is ufed in the plural number, chap. vii. 2. Nevertheless, din cas Topreas, on account of whoredoms. Here ogva, whoredom, fignifies incest joined with adultery, the woman s hufband being ftill in life, as appears from 2 Cor vii. 12. In the Old Teftament whoredom fometimes fignifies idolatry, because the union of the Ifraelites with God as their king, being reprefented by God himfelf as a marriage, their giving themfelves up to idolatry was confidered as adultery. 2. As no ezen among the heathens is named. The word oualetai, fignifies to be named with approbation, Kom xv. 20. Ephef i. 21. v. 3. -See Gen. vi 4. where ardewwa o ovoμason, LXX. men who are named, is in our bibles tranflated, men of renown 3 That one, xw, bath his father s wife. The word ex fignifies fometimes to use; thus, Deut xxviii. 30. LXX Iuvasxa anty, xal aing regia, Thou wilt take a wife, and another will use her. 4. iis father's wife. It feems the woman with whom this whoredom was committed, was not the guilty perfon's mother, but his stepmother; a fort of inceft which was condemned by the Greeks and Romans, as we learn from icero, Orat. pro Cluentio, fect. 4. and from Virgil, Eneid x. line 389. Thalamos nified their station in life, or however great their fortune may be. See I Cor. v. 11. note 3. Ι NEW TRANSLATION. CHAP. V. I It is generally reported, THAT THERE IS whoredom among you, and fuch aboredom, as not even among the heathens is named, 2 that one hath his father's 3 wife.4 2 And ye are puffed up, and have not rather bewailed, (fee 2 Cor. xii. 21.) fo as he who hath done this work,' might be taken away from among you, 3 (Tap, 93.) Wherefore, I verily as abfent in body, yet present in spirit,' COMMENTARY. CHAP. V. 1 It is generally reported, that there is whoredom tolerated among you, and fuch whoredom, as not even among the idolatrous heathens, is approved either by law or custom, that one bath his father's wife, more especially in his father's lifetime. 2 And, notwithstanding this iniquity, ye are puffed up with pride, on account of your knowledge, and the knowledge of your teachers, and have not rather bervailed your ignorance and wickednefs, in fuch a manner, as that he who hath done this finful work, might be put out of your church. 3 Wherefore, I verily, although abfent in body, yet prefent in spirit in refpect of the intereft I take in your Thalamos aufum incetare noverca. Wherefore from the Corinthians tolerating this crime, we may infer, that the guilty perfon was of fome note among them; perhaps he was one of the teachers of the faction, who being greatly admired for his perfonal qualifications, had efcaped cenfure by arguing, that fuch marriages were not forbidden by the gospel. Ver. 2. He who hath done this work. The apostle very properly terms this fis, gyor, a work; and in the following verfe, fpeaks of the perfon's working it out, because it was a practice continued in, and becaufe the offender perhaps had taken great pains to fereen himself from cenfure. It is remarkable, that neither here, nor in any of the paffages where this affair is spoken of, is the woman mentioned, who was the other party in the crime. Probably the was a heathen; confequently not fubject to the discipline of the church. See ver. 13. note. Ver. 3. Yet prefent in fpirit. Some think the apoftle, by a particular revelation of the Spirit, knew all the affairs of the Corinthiaus, as fully as if he had been perfonally prefent with them, juft as Elifha was prefent with Gehazi, 2 Kings v 36. Went not mine heart with thee, &c. But if this matter, in all its circumstances, was made known to St. Paul by the Spirit, Why did he found his knowledge of it, ver. I, on generál report? See Col. ii. 5. note. Ver. 4. Ver. 4.1. And of my fpirit. Paul being particularly directed by the Spirit to give this command, with an affurance that the offender's flefh fhould be destroyed, he ordered them to affemble, not only by the authority of the Lord Jefus, but by the authority of the Spirit who infpired him to give the command; whom therefore he calls his Spirit. 2. With the power of our Lord Jefus. The word dus here, as in other paffages, denotes a miraculous power derived from the Lord Jefus Christ. Ver. 5.1. Deliver fuch on one. As the infinitive is ufed for the verb, in all its modes and tenfes, Eff iv. 9. I have tranflated the word ragaderas, shall deliver. The Corinthians having been very blameable in tolerating this wicked perfon, and the faction with their leader who patronised him, having boalled of their knowledge and learning, the apoftle did not order the church to ufe admonition, before proceeding to excommunication, but required them inftantly to deliver the offender to Satan, that the faction might be roufed to a fenfe of their danger, and the whole church be convinced of their error in tolerating fuch grofs wickednefs. 2. Ta Satan. They who think the punishment to be inflicted on the incestuous perfon, was only excommunication, explain the delivering him to Satan in the following manner. As there are only two families or kingdoms in the moral world, the kingdom of God and the kingdom of the devil, the expelling of a perfon from the family or kingdom of God, is a virtual delivering of him into the hands of catan, to fhare.in all the miferies refulting from his ufurped dominion; and a depriving him of all thofe advantages which God hath provided in his church, for defending men against the fnares of the devil, and the machinations of his inftruments. In fhort, by a fentence of excommunication, if it is jufly founded, |