Tertullian — Commentary on Scripture

1 Corinthians 4:8

Now ye are full, now ye are rich, ye have reigned as kings without us: and I would to God ye did reign, that we also might reign with you.

For, by this time, in this respect as well as others, "you are reigning in wealth and satiety" -not making inroads upon such sins as fasts diminish, nor feeling need of such revelations as xerophagies extort, nor apprehending such wars of your own as Stations dispel.

1 Corinthians 4:9

For I think that God hath set forth us the apostles last, as it were appointed to death: for we are made a spectacle unto the world, and to angels, and to men.

But here, at least, you say he interprets the world to be the God thereof, when he says: "We are made a spectacle unto the world, and to angels, and to men." For if by world he had meant the people thereof, he would not have afterwards specially mentioned "men.

1 Corinthians 4:15 · 2 passages

For though ye have ten thousand instructors in Christ, yet have ye not many fathers: for in Christ Jesus I have begotten you through the gospel.

He says specifically "sons of men," and not men promiscuously; thus exhibiting to us those who were the children of men truly so called, choice men, apostles. "For," says he, "I have begotten you through the gospel; " and "Ye are my children, of whom I travail again in birth.

Grant, now, that Abraham is our father; grant, too, that Paul is. "In the Gospel," says he, "I have begotten you." Show yourself a son even of Abraham.

1 Corinthians 5:1 · 2 passages

It is reported commonly that there is fornication among you, and such fornication as is not so much as named among the Gentiles, that one should have his father's wife.

Of course, a man of the noble courage of our apostle (to say nothing of the Holy Ghost) was afraid, when writing to the children whom he had begotten in the gospel, to speak freely of the God of the world; for against Him he could not possibly seem to have a word to say, except only in a straightforward manner! I quite admit, that, according to the Creator's law, the man was an offender" who had his father's wife." He followed, no doubt, the principles of natural and public law.

Thus He has not prohibited judging, but taught (how to do it). Whence the apostle withal judges, and that in a case of fornication, that "such a man must be surrendered to Satan for the destruction of the flesh; " chiding them likewise because "brethren" were not "judged at the bar of the saints: " for he goes on and says, "To what (purpose is it) for me to judge those who are without? ""But you remit, in order that remission may be granted you by God.

1 Corinthians 5:2

And ye are puffed up, and have not rather mourned, that he that hath done this deed might be taken away from among you.

Accordingly, he could have said that to a fornicator, too, "affection" only was conceded, not "communion "as well; to an incestuous man, however, not even "affection; "whom he would, to be sure, have bidden to be banished from their midst -much more, of course, from their mind.

1 Corinthians 5:3 · 2 passages

For I verily, as absent in body, but present in spirit, have judged already, as though I were present, concerning him that hath so done this deed,

Come, now, if he had not "wholly saddened" so many persons in the first Epistle; if he had "rebuked" none, had "terrified" none; if he had "smitten" the incestuous man alone; if, for his cause, he had sent none into panic, had struck (no) "inflated" one with consternation,-would it not be better for you to suspect, and more believing for you to argue, that rather some one far different had been in the same predicament at that time among the Corinthians; so that, rebuked, and terrified, and already wounded with mourning, he therefore-the moderate nature of his fault permitting it-subsequently received pardon, than that you should interpret that (pardon as granted) to an incestuous fornicator? For this you had been bound to read, even if not in an Epistle, yet impressed upon the very character of the apostle, by (his) modesty more clearly than by the instrumentality of a pen: not to steep, to wit, Paul, the "apostle of Christ," the "teacher of the nations in faith and verity," the "vessel of election," the founder of Churches, the censor of discipline, (in the guilt of) levity so great…

Come, now, if he had not "wholly saddened" so many persons in the first Epistle; if he had "rebuked" none, had "terrified" none; if he had "smitten" the incestuous man alone; if, for his cause, he had sent none into panic, had struck (no) "inflated" one with consternation,-would it not be better for you to suspect, and more believing for you to argue, that rather some one far different had been in the same predicament at that time among the Corinthians; so that, rebuked, and terrified, and already wounded with mourning, he therefore-the moderate nature of his fault permitting it-subsequently received pardon, than that you should interpret that (pardon as granted) to an incestuous fornicator? For this you had been bound to read, even if not in an Epistle, yet impressed upon the very character of the apostle, by (his) modesty more clearly than by the instrumentality of a pen: not to steep, to wit, Paul, the "apostle of Christ," the "teacher of the nations in faith and verity," the "vessel of election," the founder of Churches, the censor of discipline, (in the guilt of) levity so great as that he should either have condemned rashly one whom he was presently to absolve, or else rashly absolved one whom he had not rashly condemned, albeit on the ground of that fornication which is the result of simple immodesty, not to say on the ground of incestuous nuptials and impious voluptuousness and parricidal lust,-(lust) which he had refused to compare even with (the lusts of) the nations, for fear it should be set down to the account of custom; (lust) on which he would sit in judgment though absent, for fear the culprit should "gain the time; " (lust) which he had condemned after calling to his aid even "the Lord's power," for fear the sentence should seem human. Therefore he has trifled both with his own "spirit," and with "the angel of the Church," and with "the power of the Lord," if he rescinded what by their counsel he had formally pronounced.

If we also, in our diverse provinces, (but) present mutually in spirit, observe those very solemnities, whose then celebration our present discourse has been defending, that is the sacramental law.

1 Corinthians 5:5 · 4 passages

To deliver such an one unto Satan for the destruction of the flesh, that the spirit may be saved in the day of the Lord Jesus.

For, in fact, they suspect the Apostle Paul of having, in the second (Epistle) to the Corinthians, granted pardon to the self-same fornicator whom in the first he has publicly sentenced to be "surrendered to Satan, for the destruction of the flesh," -impious heir as he was to his father's wedlock; as if he subsequently erased his own words, writing: "But if any hath wholly saddened, he hath not wholly saddened me, but in part, lest I burden you all.

He followed, no doubt, the principles of natural and public law. When, however, he condemns the man "to be delivered unto Satan," he becomes the herald of an avenging God.

It does not matter that he also said, "For the destruction of the flesh, that the spirit may be saved in the day of the Lord," since both in the destruction of the flesh and in the saving of the spirit there is, on His part, judicial process; and when he bade "the wicked person be put away from the midst of them," he only mentioned what is a very frequently recurring sentence of the Creator.

Whence the apostle withal judges, and that in a case of fornication, that "such a man must be surrendered to Satan for the destruction of the flesh; " chiding them likewise because "brethren" were not "judged at the bar of the saints: " for he goes on and says, "To what (purpose is it) for me to judge those who are without? ""But you remit, in order that remission may be granted you by God.

1 Corinthians 5:6 · 2 passages

Your glorying is not good. Know ye not that a little leaven leaveneth the whole lump?

Are women who think that, in furnishing to their neighbour that which is demanded of beauty, they are furnishing it to themselves also, to augment that (beauty) when (naturally) given them, and to strive after it when not (thus) given? Some one will say, "Why, then, if voluptuousness be shut out and chastity let in, may (we) not enjoy the praise of beauty alone, and glory in a bodily good? "Let whoever finds pleasure in "glorying in the flesh" see to that.

It remains, therefore, that his meaning was, that that spirit which is accounted to exist in the Church must be presented "saved," that is, untainted by the contagion of impurities in the day of the Lord, by the ejection of the incestuous fornicator; if, that is, he subjoins: "Know ye not, that a little leaven spoileth the savour of the whole lump? " And yet incestuous fornication was not a little, but a large, leaven.

1 Corinthians 5:7 · 3 passages

Purge out therefore the old leaven, that ye may be a new lump, as ye are unleavened. For even Christ our passover is sacrificed for us:

The unleavened bread was therefore, in the Creator's ordinance, a figure of us (Christians). "For even Christ our passover is sacrificed for us." But why is Christ our passover, if the passover be not a type of Christ, in the similitude of the blood which saves, and of the Lamb, which is Christ? Why does (the apostle) clothe us and Christ with symbols of the Creator's solemn rites, unless they had relation to ourselves? When, again, he warns us against fornication, he reveals the resurrection of the flesh.

Which prediction was thus also fulfilled, that "on the first day of unleavened bread" you slew Christ; and (that the prophecies might be fulfilled) the day hasted to make an "eventide,"-that is, to cause darkness, which was made at mid-day; and thus "your festive days God converted into grief, and your canticles into lamentation.

It does not matter that he also said, "For the destruction of the flesh, that the spirit may be saved in the day of the Lord," since both in the destruction of the flesh and in the saving of the spirit there is, on His part, judicial process; and when he bade "the wicked person be put away from the midst of them," he only mentioned what is a very frequently recurring sentence of the Creator. "Purge out the old leaven, that ye may be a new lump, as ye are unleavened." The unleavened bread was therefore, in the Creator's ordinance, a figure of us (Christians).

1 Corinthians 5:9

I wrote unto you in an epistle not to company with fornicators:

But now I write to you, if any is named a brother among you, (being) a fornicator, or an idolater" (for what so intimately joined?), "or a defrauder" (for what so near akin?), and so on, "with such to take no food even," not to say the Eucharist: because, to wit, withal "a little leaven spoileth the flavour of the whole lump.

1 Corinthians 5:10

Yet not altogether with the fornicators of this world, or with the covetous, or extortioners, or with idolaters; for then must ye needs go out of the world.

Thus our "adversary" (therein mentioned ) is the heathen man, who is walking with us along the same road of life which is common to him and ourselves. Now "we must needs go out of the world," if it be not allowed us to have conversation with them.