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Theodoret of Cyrus

Nicene & Post-Nicene · AD 325–500 · 1,374 passages across 50 books

Commentary

61–80 of 1,374
1 Corinthians 10:19

What say I then? that the idol is any thing, or that which is offered in sacrifice to idols is any thing?

Paul does not want anyone to think that sacrifices as such have any power or that they can corrupt the one who eats them afterward.

COMMENTARY ON THE FIRST EPISTLE TO THE CORINTHIANS 229

1 Corinthians 11:8

For the man is not of the woman; but the woman of the man.

Man has the first place because of the order of creation.

COMMENTARY ON THE FIRST EPISTLE TO THE CORINTHIANS 234

1 Corinthians 11:9

Neither was the man created for the woman; but the woman for the man.

This is all that is needed to demonstrate the primacy of the man, for the woman was created to serve him, not the other way round.

COMMENTARY ON THE FIRST EPISTLE TO THE CORINTHIANS 234

1 Corinthians 11:20

When ye come together therefore into one place, this is not to eat the Lord's supper.

The Lord’s Supper is the sacrament of the Lord. Everyone participates equally in it, whether they are poor or rich, slaves or lords, rulers or ruled. Common tables must at all costs be truly common so as to imitate the table of the Lord, which is open to all equally.

COMMENTARY ON THE FIRST EPISTLE TO THE CORINTHIANS 236-37

1 Corinthians 12:1

Now concerning spiritual gifts, brethren, I would not have you ignorant.

In former times those who accepted the divine preaching and who were baptized for their salvation were given visible signs of the grace of the Holy Spirit at work in them. Some spoke in tongues which they did not know and which nobody had taught them, while others performed miracles or prophesied. The Corinthians also did these things, but they did not use the gifts as they should have done. They were more interested in showing off than in using them for the edification of the church.

COMMENTARY ON THE FIRST EPISTLE TO THE CORINTHIANS 240

1 Corinthians 12:3

Wherefore I give you to understand, that no man speaking by the Spirit of God calleth Jesus accursed: and that no man can say that Jesus is the Lord, but by the Holy Ghost.

There is no disharmony between the teaching of the only begotten Son and that of the Holy Spirit. In the Gospels, Christ the Lord taught us how great the Holy Spirit is, and the Spirit has proclaimed his lordship. No one who is truly moved by the Spirit can say that Christ is not divine.

COMMENTARY ON THE FIRST EPISTLE TO THE CORINTHIANS 242

1 Corinthians 12:7

But the manifestation of the Spirit is given to every man to profit withal.

Even in our time grace is given to those who are deemed worthy of holy baptism, but it may not take the same form as it did in those days.

COMMENTARY ON THE FIRST EPISTLE TO THE CORINTHIANS 243

1 Corinthians 12:9

To another faith by the same Spirit; to another the gifts of healing by the same Spirit;

The faith mentioned here is not the kind given to every believer but the kind which can move mountains.

COMMENTARY ON THE FIRST EPISTLE TO THE CORINTHIANS 244

1 Corinthians 12:10

To another the working of miracles; to another prophecy; to another discerning of spirits; to another divers kinds of tongues; to another the interpretation of tongues:

These gifts were given to women as well as men, as the Acts of the Apostles makes plain.

COMMENTARY ON THE FIRST EPISTLE TO THE CORINTHIANS 245

1 Corinthians 12:11

But all these worketh that one and the selfsame Spirit, dividing to every man severally as he will.

Here Paul is comforting those who received the lesser gifts, pointing out that they too come from the Holy Spirit.

COMMENTARY ON THE FIRST EPISTLE TO THE CORINTHIANS 246

1 Corinthians 12:12

For as the body is one, and hath many members, and all the members of that one body, being many, are one body: so also is Christ.

Paul is pointing out that just as the body has many members, some of which are more important than others, so it is with the church also. But every member is necessary and useful.

COMMENTARY ON THE FIRST EPISTLE TO THE CORINTHIANS 246

1 Corinthians 12:17

If the whole body were an eye, where were the hearing? If the whole were hearing, where were the smelling?

Even if the body had only its most important member, it would still be useless without the others.

COMMENTARY ON THE FIRST EPISTLE TO THE CORINTHIANS 247

1 Corinthians 13:1

Though I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, and have not charity, I am become as sounding brass, or a tinkling cymbal.

Paul chooses speaking in tongues as his example because the Corinthians thought that it was the greatest of the gifts. This was because it had been given to the apostles on the day of Pentecost, before any of the others. The tongues of angels are those which are perceived by the mind, not by the ear.

COMMENTARY ON THE FIRST EPISTLE TO THE CORINTHIANS 251

1 Corinthians 13:6

Rejoiceth not in iniquity, but rejoiceth in the truth;

Love hates what is unjust and rejoices in what is good and honorable.

COMMENTARY ON THE FIRST EPISTLE TO THE CORINTHIANS 253

1 Corinthians 13:8

Charity never faileth: but whether there be prophecies, they shall fail; whether there be tongues, they shall cease; whether there be knowledge, it shall vanish away.

Love always remains firm and stable, unchanged and unchanging.

COMMENTARY ON THE FIRST EPISTLE TO THE CORINTHIANS 254

1 Corinthians 13:13

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

If faith is the substance of things hoped for, as Hebrews [11:1] tells us, it will be superfluous once these things have arrived. Similarly with hope. But love is greater than these, because when our troubles are over and our bodies have been changed in the resurrection, our minds will be steadied by it, so that they will no longer desire now one thing, now another.

COMMENTARY ON THE FIRST EPISTLE TO THE CORINTHIANS 255-56

1 Corinthians 14:25

And thus are the secrets of his heart made manifest; and so falling down on his face he will worship God, and report that God is in you of a truth.

Note that here the Holy Spirit is directly called God.

COMMENTARY ON THE FIRST EPISTLE TO THE CORINTHIANS 261

1 Corinthians 14:31

For ye may all prophesy one by one, that all may learn, and all may be comforted.

This rule is still applied in the church today, in that preachers take turns to teach the people.

COMMENTARY ON THE FIRST EPISTLE TO THE CORINTHIANS 262

1 Corinthians 14:40

Let all things be done decently and in order.

Law and order come first. Let us also dedicate ourselves to this principle as members of the fellowship of the great Lawgiver.

COMMENTARY ON THE FIRST EPISTLE TO THE CORINTHIANS 264

1 Corinthians 15:8

And last of all he was seen of me also, as of one born out of due time.

Paul compares himself here to an aborted fetus which is not even regarded by some as fully born.

COMMENTARY ON THE FIRST EPISTLE TO THE CORINTHIANS 266

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