Cornelius a Lapide
Table of Contents
Argument
Paul came to Corinth that he might disseminate the Gospel in so populous and celebrated a city, and there evangelized for a year and six months, and converted many to Christ, the Lord confirming him, who appeared to him at Corinth in a vision: "Do not," He said, "fear, but speak, and do not be silent, because I am with you, and no one shall be set upon you to harm you, for I have many people in this city," Acts 18:9. By this preaching of Paul the Corinthian Christians made wonderful progress, so much so that Paul himself extols their wisdom, prophecy, and other gifts given to them by God in chapter 1:5; 14:26, and elsewhere.
Achaia or the Peloponnese, which is now commonly called the Morea, formerly had famous cities; the metropolis and noble emporium of these was Corinth, says Chrysostom, renowned for its two harbors, of which Lechaeum overlooks the Ionian sea, and Schoenus the Aegean. Hence from this double sea the Poets called Corinth "two-sea'd," as Ovid in book IV of the Fasti: "And the Adriatic open wide, and Corinth of the two seas."
Corinth is said to have been first founded by the brigand Sisyphus, son of Aeolus, and named Corcyra, according to Strabo, book VIII of the Geography, afterwards Ephyre: then overthrown, and restored by Corinthus, son of Marathon or of Pelops (as Suidas prefers), or (as others would rather) of Orestes, and called Corinth. This city Cicero, in the speech for the Manilian Law, calls the light of all Greece. For it attained such a degree of power, owing to the advantage of its situation, that it scarcely yielded to the city of Rome.
Corinth therefore abounded in wealth, merchandise and metals, and especially in bronze, and Corinthian bronze was most celebrated and praised; so much so that Pliny, book IV, chapter 2, relates that it was reckoned equal to gold and silver. From this opulence flowed the Corinthians' pride, gluttony, luxury, lust, and ostentation, so that it passed into a proverb: "It is not given to every man to go to Corinth." Where Demosthenes, when a courtesan demanded eight talents of gold for the hourly use of her body, replied: "I do not buy repentance at so high a price." For this reason the Apostle from time to time, and especially in chapter 6, inveighs against these vices of theirs.
Again secondly, at Corinth there was a great frequency of Orators and Philosophers; among whom was Periander, one of the seven sages of Greece. Therefore Paul went to Corinth, that he might disseminate the Gospel in so populous and renowned a city.
Hence thirdly, among the Corinthians there arose pride, ambition, and contentions, especially after Apollos, a man eloquent and mighty in the Scriptures, came to Corinth, Acts 18:27; for then some preferred this Apollos to Paul, as if Paul were less elegant and eloquent in speech; and thence arose schisms, one boasting and saying: "I am of Paul;" another: "I am of Apollos," etc. Paul therefore writes this epistle to them, in which immediately through the first four chapters he leads them away from the pride of human wisdom and eloquence, and from the empty vaunting of their teachers Paul or Apollos, to the humility of the cross, to the faith and doctrine of Christ.
Fourth, the Corinthians had written to Paul proposing various questions, as is clear from chapter 7, verse 1, which he resolves in this epistle: hence after he had in the first four chapters refuted their schisms and the ambition of their vain wisdom; then, in chapter 5, ordered the incestuous man to be excommunicated and shunned, and in chapter 6 had attacked their lawsuits before an unbelieving judge, and fornication; in chapter 7 he unties their first question about marriage and virginity, and teaches what are the rights of Christian marriage, and opposes and prefers to it the Evangelical counsel of virginity and celibacy. Soon, in chapters 8 and 10, he addresses their second question about the eating of food sacrificed to idols, and asserts that it is in itself lawful, but to be avoided where there is scandal to the weak. Then in chapter 9, in order to show how the scandals concerning food sacrificed to idols are to be avoided, he affirms that for the edification of his neighbors he had abstained from the stipend of support owed to him as a preacher of the Gospel, and had earned his livelihood by the labor of his hands. Then in chapter 11 he resolves the third question of the Corinthians, about the veiling of women, and the fourth, about the Eucharistic Supper and its agape. Soon in chapter 12, he disputes about the gifts freely given (gratiae gratis datae), and teaches that they are variously distributed by the Holy Spirit to various persons. In chapter 13, he demonstrates that among God's gifts and graces charity excels. In chapter 14, to the fifth question of the Corinthians, namely whether the gift of tongues is preferable to prophecy, he answers in the negative. In chapter 15, he resolves their sixth question, proving the resurrection by many arguments, and teaching its qualities, manner, and order. In chapter 16, he commands a collection of alms to be made for the poor of Jerusalem; and finally closes the epistle with greetings.
Note fifthly: Both this first and the second epistle to the Corinthians were written before the epistle to the Romans; for, as Chrysostom notes, the Apostle, in 1 Corinthians 16:2, exhorts the Corinthians to a collection by which they may relieve the famine of the poor of Jerusalem, which in Romans 15:25-26 he teaches has already been made. Again, that this epistle was written from Philippi and sent through Timothy is held by the Greek, Syriac, and Royal Latin texts, at the end of the epistle; but it seems rather to have been written from Ephesus (Acts 19:1), as appears from chapter 16, verse 8 and other places, in the year of Christ 57. Thus Baronius, Oecumenius, and others.