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Theodore of Mopsuestia

Nicene & Post-Nicene · AD 325–500 · 490 passages across 31 books

Commentary

1–20 of 490
1 Corinthians 1:24

But unto them which are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God, and the wisdom of God.

The power and wisdom of God is not the divinity of Christ as such but the preaching of the cross.

PAULINE COMMENTARY FROM THE GREEK CHURCH

1 Corinthians 1:28

And base things of the world, and things which are despised, hath God chosen, yea, and things which are not, to bring to nought things that are:

Paul uses the expression “things that are not” differently here from the way he uses it in his epistle to the Romans. Here it means simply that which is vile and contemptible, as opposed to “things that are,” which are beautiful, powerful and respected.

PAULINE COMMENTARY FROM THE GREEK CHURCH

1 Corinthians 1:29

That no flesh should glory in his presence.

Boasting, even if it is of good works, harms the soul of the boaster. Anyone who boasts of worldly achievements is highly worldly himself.

PAULINE COMMENTARY FROM THE GREEK CHURCH

1 Corinthians 2:7

But we speak the wisdom of God in a mystery, even the hidden wisdom, which God ordained before the world unto our glory:

By wisdom Paul means the cross and the whole dispensation of salvation.

PAULINE COMMENTARY FROM THE GREEK CHURCH

1 Corinthians 3:9

For we are labourers together with God: ye are God's husbandry, ye are God's building.

Paul calls us God’s fellow workers, not his servants or slaves.

PAULINE COMMENTARY FROM THE GREEK CHURCH

1 Corinthians 3:16

Know ye not that ye are the temple of God, and that the Spirit of God dwelleth in you?

The one who believes in Christ receives the Holy Spirit, who dwells in him by the washing of rebirth, and thus he is spiritual. But if such people then turn around and serve worldly passions, in that respect they are carnal. Paul says that those who have become spiritual according to their confession of faith may nevertheless still live as though they were carnal so as to become an insult to the Holy Spirit who dwells in them.

PAULINE COMMENTARY FROM THE GREEK CHURCH

1 Corinthians 5:5

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.

This is not to be taken literally. What Paul means is that the person concerned should be put out of the church and forced to live in the world, which is ruled by Satan. That way he will learn to fear God and escape the greater punishment that is to come.

PAULINE COMMENTARY FROM THE GREEK CHURCH

1 Corinthians 6:1

Dare any of you, having a matter against another, go to law before the unjust, and not before the saints?

Paul did not want them to be judged by outsiders because he did not want the shortcomings of those who had been taught propriety and righteousness to become a scandal to those outside the church.

PAULINE COMMENTARY FROM THE GREEK CHURCH

1 Corinthians 6:15

Know ye not that your bodies are the members of Christ? shall I then take the members of Christ, and make them the members of an harlot? God forbid.

You are all members of Christ because you have been united to him by being born again of the Spirit. You have the hope that you will rise again, just as he rose.

PAULINE COMMENTARY FROM THE GREEK CHURCH

1 Corinthians 7:17

But as God hath distributed to every man, as the Lord hath called every one, so let him walk. And so ordain I in all churches.

It is wrong to suppose that the circumstances which prevailed when a person was converted stand in the way of his becoming holy.

PAULINE COMMENTARY FROM THE GREEK CHURCH

1 Corinthians 7:18

Is any man called being circumcised? let him not become uncircumcised. Is any called in uncircumcision? let him not be circumcised.

It is not possible to replace flesh which has been cut off in this way, although the blessed Epiphanius of Cyprus says that it is. Those who want to know more about the subject can consult what he has to say about it.

PAULINE COMMENTARY FROM THE GREEK CHURCH

1 Corinthians 8:5

For though there be that are called gods, whether in heaven or in earth, (as there be gods many, and lords many,)

Paul says “so-called” here because he is showing that they do not really exist.

PAULINE COMMENTARY FROM THE GREEK CHURCH

1 Corinthians 9:21

To them that are without law, as without law, (being not without law to God, but under the law to Christ,) that I might gain them that are without law.

Paul states, somewhat surprisingly, that he is under the law of Christ, lest anyone think that he is under the law of Moses.

Pauline Commentary from the Greek Church

1 Corinthians 9:26

I therefore so run, not as uncertainly; so fight I, not as one that beateth the air:

The “air” here refers to the powers of evil.

PAULINE COMMENTARY FROM THE GREEK CHURCH

1 Corinthians 10:2

And were all baptized unto Moses in the cloud and in the sea;

The sea is a figure of baptism with water; the cloud of the grace of baptism in the Spirit.

PAULINE COMMENTARY FROM THE GREEK CHURCH

1 Corinthians 10:3

And did all eat the same spiritual meat;

Paul calls the food supernatural because it gave those who ate it the power of the Holy Spirit. However, it did not of itself make them spiritual people.

PAULINE COMMENTARY FROM THE GREEK CHURCH

1 Corinthians 13:13

And now abideth faith, hope, charity, these three; but the greatest of these is charity.

Paul tells the Corinthians that love is the greatest of all because there was jealousy and strife among them, and the church was in danger of being divided.

PAULINE COMMENTARY FROM THE GREEK CHURCH

1 Corinthians 15:14

And if Christ be not risen, then is our preaching vain, and your faith is also vain.

Forgiveness of sins comes through the resurrection.

PAULINE COMMENTARY FROM THE GREEK CHURCH

1 Corinthians 15:39

All flesh is not the same flesh: but there is one kind of flesh of men, another flesh of beasts, another of fishes, and another of birds.

In the resurrection a better body is constructed, one which is no longer flesh and blood as such but which is an immortal and indestructible living being.

PAULINE COMMENTARY FROM THE GREEK CHURCH

1 Corinthians 15:56

The sting of death is sin; and the strength of sin is the law.

By “law” here Paul simply means either what inheres in the flesh or what is added to it. His point is that sin is taken away along with death and that the law ceases to exist once we have become immortal and are governed by the grace of the Spirit.

PAULINE COMMENTARY FROM THE GREEK CHURCH

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