THE HOLY BIBLE (Darby Translation) Darby's Notes on 1 Corinthians

1:2a saints: Saints by divine calling.
1:4b in respect of: I am not quite satisfied with 'in respect of.' It is epi with the dative, which has the force of 'the occasion of,' or condition under which anything happens, not its cause.
1:5c word: Logos, whatever is the expression of a thought formed in the mind, and otherwise unknown; hence used for the thing expressed, or the expression of it: hence 'word.' Here it is the communication of the mind of God in the gospel of Christ. (See ch. 2:1.) I retain 'word' in the expression 'all word, and all knowledge,' adding 'of doctrine' in brackets, because 'in all word' is scarcely English, and the 'word of doctrine' is, I believe, the sense here. 'Utterance' gives the sense imperfectly. It is the matter and form of thought and expression, as well as the utterance of it. It is a word so large in sense as to be very hard to express. Whatever expresses the mind is logos. Nous (ch. 2:16, 'mind') is the intelligent faculty: whatever expresses the thought formed in it is logos. There is thus the intelligent and the intelligible. Thus all that communicates the divine mind (the intelligible) is logos, and first of all Christ himself. But we are said, having the Holy Spirit, to have also the 'mind' of Christ, the intelligent faculty with its thoughts (ch. 2:16).
1:7d awaiting: 'Awaiting' expresses actual expectation.
1:9e fellowship: Koinonia: as ch. 10:16: see Notes, Heb. 2:14.
1:10f exhort: Or 'beseech,' as Acts 16:40.
1:10g united: Where all the members have each its own place, or make a whole; or, if broken, are restored to one complete whole, as 'mending,' Matt. 4:21.
1:18a word: Or 'the word (logos) which speaks of the cross.'
1:19b written: See Isa. 29:14.
1:20c world: Aion: age, or course of this world, see chs. 2:6 (twice), 3:18.
1:20d, 1:21d world: Kosmos, the usual word for world: see chs. 3:19; 6:2; Heb. 9:1.
1:21e preaching: 'The preaching' gives a different sense from 'preaching.' Without the article it is the instrument, the foolishness of such a means. Here 'the preaching' is the actual thing preached; and such is the force of the Greek.
1:23f offence: Lit. 'fall-trap,' as Matt. 13:57.
1:27g wise: Or 'those that are wise,' alluding to ver. 26: the word is masculine.
1:30h holiness: Hagiasmos. See Note i at Rom. 1:4.
1:31i written: See Isa. 45:25; Jer. 9:24.
1:31k Lord: Kurios without the article, for 'Jehovah.'
2:2l know: Oida, vers. 2:11 (1st), 12; ginosko, vers. 8:11 (2nd), 14:16.
2:5m stand: Lit. 'be.'
2:6n world: Aion: see ch. 1:20, Note c. In ver. 6 'world' has a moral signification: see Eph. 2:2.
2:7o ages, 2:8o age: Or 'worlds' (ver. 7), 'world' (ver. 8). I add this in note to keep up the connection with 'world' in ver. 6.
2:9p written: See Isa. 64:4.
2:10a his: Or 'the Spirit.'
2:11b man: 'Man' here has the article, but the sense is this: what is in man's mind is not known of any but the spirit of the man himself, who has the thoughts; much more is it so with God.
2:12c Spirit: Note here again the difficulty, arising from 'spirit' used for cause and state, as to putting a large S to signify the person of the Holy Spirit.
2:13d wisdom: It may perhaps be translated, 'taught words of human wisdom.'
2:13e communicating: Or 'expounding:' it means literally 'mixing or putting together;' as interpreting or expounding, it is common in the LXX: Gen. 40:8; 41:12, 15; 'determined,' Num. 15:34.
2:14f natural: Psuchikos: the man animated merely by his created soul, without the teaching and power of the Holy Spirit.
2:16g him: See Isa. 40:13-14.
2:16h mind: Nous, 'the intelligent faculty;' see Note, ch. 1:5.
3:1i fleshly, 3:3i carnal: Sarkinos: as Rom. 7:14; Heb. 7:16; 2Cor. 3:3. This word is said to mean properly the material -- the composition of a thing. 'Carnal,' twice in verse 3, is sarkinos, a form used, in some places, to express either material or physical or moral ideas. It occurs also in Rom. 15:27; 1Cor. 9:11; 2Cor. 1:12; 10:4; 1Pet. 2:11. This last passage, 'fleshly lusts,' shows how the material and moral thoughts run into one another.
3:5k servants: Diakonos: see Note, ch. 4:1; Rom. 16:1.
3:9l fellow-workmen: 'Workers, or labourers together with God,' goes too far. The Greek word has the sense of journeyman, but they are fellows doing the chief's work: see 2Cor. 6:1.
3:13a it: That is, the day: see 2Thess. 2:8.
3:15b fire: The addition of the article gives the right sense: 'saved by fire' may mean that the fire was a means of safety, whereas 'through the fire' is in spite of it, or going through the danger and difficulty of it. Dia has two distinct uses as 'through' in English: see 1Pet. 3:20 for the other sense.
3:16c, 3:17c temple: Naos: the house itself -- the shrine.
3:17d corrupt, destroy: The word for 'destroy' and 'corrupt' is the same in Greek; the force of this is lost in English: see Note d, Eph. 4:22.
3:18e deceive: A strong word. See Note at 1Tim. 2:14.
3:18f be: Or 'has the appearance of being.'
3:19g written: See Job 5:13.
3:20h again: See Ps. 94:11.
4:1i servants: The appointed servant. Three words are translated 'servant': doulos, a slave, bondman; diakonos, a person who acts or waits in service; and huperetes, as here, which is always used in the New Testament for an official servant, or apparitor: see Luke 1:2; Acts 26:16. For latreuo, serve, see Matt. 4:10.
4:3k examined: The word does not signify 'judgment,' but the preliminary examination, at which the accused has to answer and give an account of himself, as Luke 23:14.
4:5l God: Lit. 'then shall the praise be to each from God.'
4:6m application: The word is used for a metaphor, no doubt, because a metaphor transfers the thoughts as to one object, to another which is an image of it. Amos says, 'The lion has roared,' speaking of God's threatening ways with Israel, as if he were his prey: in thought it is to be transferred to Israel. So here Paul is really speaking of those who came with great pretensions amongst the Corinthians, and he transferred it to himself and Apollos, that he might establish the principle universally, without naming these persons. By saying he 'transferred' it, the application was easy: but one can hardly say that is a figure.
4:13a insulted: Or 'spoken to injuriously.'
4:13b, 4:16b entreat: Parakaleo. The word has to be rendered very differently in English in different places, and is hard to render, though simple and easy to understand. It means 'to call upon a person so as to stimulate him to anything;' hence 'to exhort, comfort or encourage:' see Note to 2Cor. 1:4. It has a fuller force here than a mere apostolic or pastoral exhortation.
4:13c world: Kosmos: as chs. 1:20; 7:31, 34.
5:1d reported: This does not quite give the sense. It was the reputation they had by common report.
5:7e out: See Note b, 2Tim. 2:21.
6:2a *: A question, with some expression of surprise, as 'is it so that you do not?' previous circumstances leading one to suppose they could not know: see Rom. 6:3; 7:1; 11:2. I have added 'then' to give the force in English. In Rom. 2:4 the force as seen in 'or' is more apparent.
6:2b judgments: 'To judge the smallest matters?'
6:5c brethren: Lit. 'between his brother and brother.'
6:11d washed: Or 'washed from' what defiled, so as to be clean: see Acts 22:16. Washed is strengthened by the addition of the preposition 'from' (apo).
6:11e in, by: En, 'in virtue of the power of.'
6:16a flesh: Lit. 'to (eis) one flesh.' In English 'shall' or 'shall become' is the nearest in sense. It corresponds to the Hebrew of Gen. 2:24. Eis is left out when he says 'one Spirit' in ver. 17. We are really 'one Spirit,' not two, with the Lord. But we cannot say, 'to' or 'for one flesh.' The two become so (i.e. 'one flesh') practically by their union; they are created individually. The union induces unity in the flesh; 'shall be,' or 'shall become' partly, though imperfectly, implies this: see Matt. 19:5. It is not 'shall be one Spirit:' but 'he is.' The Spirit which is in the Lord himself dwells in us, and is the living power of the new life.
7:5b Defraud: It means to 'deprive another of anything wrongfully:' so that it has the sense of 'rob,' 'defraud;' but with the sense of taking away, or depriving of, what another had a right to. Such is the sense. I have said 'defraud,' as it is the same word as in ch. 6:7, 8. The sense is just the same; only here it is of one another.
7:6c to: Or 'permitting' it. Not 'by permission;' that would imply that he said it by the Lord's permission. He said it in the way of permission, not as command.
7:7d gift: Charisma: see Note h, Rom. 5:16.
7:13e husband: Lit. 'the husband.'
7:15f them: Lit. 'him:' see Note, ver. 28.
7:25a virgins: Whether men or women.
7:28b have: Or 'she has.' I say 'they' to embrace both sexes, which the 'such' (toioutoi, plural), and what follows, distinctly implies. The Greek for 'virgin' is feminine from its primary natural reference, but see Rev. 14:4.
7:29c wives: It may be translated 'for the rest I say it, in order that even they who have wives.'
7:31d own: See Note, ch. 9:18.
8:1a, 8:4a know: Two Greek words are used for 'to know' in the New Testament -- ginosko and oida. The former signifies objective knowledge, what a man has learned or acquired. The English expression 'being acquainted with' perhaps conveys the meaning. Oida conveys the thought of what is inward, the inward consciousness in the mind, intuitive knowledge not immediately derived from what is external. The difference between the two words is illustrated in John 8:55, 'ye know (ginosko) him not; but I know (oida) him;' in John 13:7, 'What I do thou dost not know (oida) now, but thou shalt know (ginosko) hereafter;' and in Heb. 8:11, 'they shall not teach ... saying, Know (ginosko) the Lord; because all shall know (oida) me.' The word oida is used of Christ as knowing the Father, and as knowing the hypocrisy of the Scribes and Pharisees, of Paul's knowledge of a 'man in Christ,' and of the Christian's knowledge that he has eternal life. 'I know whom I have believed,' 2Tim. 1:12 -- I have the inward conscious knowledge of who the person is: see also 1Cor. 16:15; 2Tim. 3:14 and 15 -- all of these refer to inward conscious knowledge. The difference between the significance of the two words is often slight; and objective knowledge may pass into conscious knowledge, but not vice versa. The Greek for conscience is derived from oida: see ch. 4:4, 'I am conscious of nothing in myself,' that is, not conscious of any fault. In the present passage, 'We know that an idol is nothing' is conscious knowledge: 'we all have knowledge' and 'knowledge puffs up' is objective knowledge. 'If any one think he knows (conscious knowledge), he knows (objectively) nothing yet as he ought to know it (objectively):' 'he is known (objectively) of him,' so 'knowledge,' ver. 10.
8:6b of: 'Of,' ek; 'for,' eis; 'by,' dia.
8:9c right: Or 'liberty,' exousia. Title in a man's own conscience is the sense: see Note, Matt. 10:1.
8:10d weak: Lit. 'the conscience of him weak.'
8:10e emboldened: Lit. 'edified,' 'built up.'
9:9a, 9:10a For: These two 'fors' are an example of the rapidity of the apostle's style. To make the sense hang together, we should have to add, in the first case, 'not as a man merely,' or, 'surely it does:' 'For in the law of Moses,' &c.; and, in the second, 'not about the oxen, for for our sakes,' &c.
9:9b written: See Deut. 25:4.
9:10c in: Or 'with:' see Rom. 4:18.
9:10d partaking, 9:12d partake: Metecho, see Note q, Heb. 2:14.
9:13e things: Or 'perform the sacred rites.'
9:13f temple: Or 'of what is sacred.' It is well to distinguish naos (as ch. 3:16), 'the house,' including both parts of the house (i.e. the holy of holies and the holy place), from hieron (the word used here), 'the general buildings of the temple.'
9:18g me: The same word as translated in ch. 7:31, 'not disposing of it as their own.' According to common usage it is 'to use as one who has possession of a thing;' using it as he likes, as his own. The apostle, as sent of the Lord to preach, had a right to be supported; but he did not use this right. It would not have been an abuse; but he did not use it for himself, as a thing he possessed. He weighed the effect as to Christ's glory. 'Made use of it' hardly fully expresses the force of it. The sense is given in result in adding 'as belonging to me.'
9:19h possible: 'The most possible' gives the sense. It is used for the major part of any body, and hence for the mass opposed to leaders. It is not 'the more,' i.e. so much the more, but the greatest number possible, the whole mass that he could reach by these means.
9:21a law: Anomos, 'without law'. This is important as showing the true force of the Greek word anomia employed elsewhere, as in 1John 3:4, 'sin is lawlessness,' not 'transgression of law.'
9:21b legitimately: Or, 'under law to Christ' (not under the law), i.e. rightfully, duly, subject to Him. I have said 'legitimately' to preserve the connection with law. See Acts 19:39, 'regular,' i.e. lawful and right.
9:22c events: Or 'by all means.'
10:2d baptised: The middle form of the verb, which has a reflexive force. It is when an act returns back in its effect on oneself: see Note e, Heb. 1:3. Paul was to act thus in Acts 22:16; not to baptise himself, that would be active; but 'get baptised.' They passed through the sea and so got baptised. There was no action of course of a baptiser here, hence the middle voice.
10:7e written: See Ex. 32:6.
10:16f communion: Or 'fellowship,' koinonia, as ch. 1:9; Acts 2:42.
10:17b loaf: Or 'bread.'
10:17c, 10:21c, 10:30c partake: Metecho, see Note q, Heb. 2:14.
10:22d jealousy: See Deut. 32:16, 21.
10:23e lawful, 10:29e liberty: 'Are lawful' is the verb, of which exousia, the word translated 'right' or 'liberty' in ch. 8:9, and 'power' in Matt. 10:1, is the noun. The word translated 'liberty' in v. 29 is different, and is opposed to 'bondage,' as in John 8:32, 36; 2Cor. 3:17; Gal. 5:13.
10:28f purposes: Or 'to a god.'
10:32g stumbling: Lit. 'be offenceless (no occasion to stumble) to both Jews and Greeks and the assembly of God.' The Greek is stronger in style than English.
11:2h directions: The word translated 'directed,' 'directions,' is used for any instruction or ordinance delivered by word of mouth or writing. As 'instructions,' 2Thess. 2:15.
11:3i man, 11:7i man's: Aner: 'man' in contrast with 'woman:' see John 6:10.
11:7k his: Lit. 'the.'
11:7l covered: Or 'to cover his head;' middle voice: see Note, ch. 10:2.
11:10a authority: i.e. a token of the authority under which she stands.
11:10b her: Lit. 'the.'
11:14c if: I have not changed the effect of the rapidity of the apostle's style here, to make a smoother sentence, as the sense is clear.
11:17d prescribing: The Greek word is used in New Testament for 'charging,' or 'commanding:' see Matt. 10:5; Luke 5:14, 'enjoined'; 1Thess. 4:11.
11:17e praise: See 'I praise' in ver. 2.
11:17f that: Or 'because.'
11:19g sects: 'Schools' or 'parties' after a man's own opinion, as Gal. 5:20.
11:22h not: Or 'nothing' or 'none.'
11:24i me: 'For the calling of me to mind.' The word translated 'remembrance' has an active signification of 'recalling' or 'calling to mind,' as a memorial. Cf. Heb. 10:3, 'a calling to mind of sins.'
11:25k supped: Or 'after the supper,' from deipneo, to have a meal.
11:25l in: En: see Note c, Matt. 3:11.
11:29m judgment: Krima, i.e. anything that can be laid to our charge, or the subject of a judge's sentence. As 'sentence of guilt,' Rom. 13:2. Christ's krima was written on the cross.
11:31n ourselves: 'Judged ourselves' is not the same in Greek as 'judged,' used later in this ver. and in ver. 32, but as 'distinguish the Lord's body,' ver. 29. But 'distinguish' does not imply the active exercise of judgment on our own state, nor a formal scrutiny. Here the force is, If I scrutinize and judge myself, I shall not come under an actual judgment from the Lord's hand. Judging oneself has this force in English, while the Lord's judgment is felt to be a positive result of judgment exercised towards us.
11:34a judgment: See Note, ver. 29.
12:13b of: Or 'For also by,' en.
12:18c set: Mid. voice; as LXX, Gen. 1:17, 'set for himself:' see Note e, Heb. 1:3.
12:20d one: Or 'There are many members, and one body.'
12:23e honour: Possibly 'less honourable.' It is a question whether the apostle is referring to the 'uncomely' parts, or to the comely ones which yet have not such a place as the face.
12:28a set: See Note, ver. 18.
13:2b know: Oida: see Note, ch. 8:1.
13:4c rash: Or 'vain-glorious.'
13:7d bears: Or 'covers.'
13:9e know: Ginosko: see Note, ch. 8:1.
13:11f felt: What the mind or thoughts are upon. As Matt. 16:23; Rom. 8:5; Phil. 3:19; Col. 3:2.
13:12g window: That is, through some medium which, in degree, hinders vision. The word means also 'a mirror,' but it is used for window, made, not of clear transparent glass, as now, but of semi-transparent materials. In this verse, 'know' (partially) is ginosko, the words used for 'know' and 'known' in the last clause of the verse are from epiginosko, which is stronger, as in Matt. 11:27.
14:1h emulous: Or 'desire earnestly,' as vers. 12 and 39, and ch. 12:31.
14:9a ye: Or 'ye, unless by means of the tongue, ye,' &c. In either case 'tongue' means the language he spoke, not the organ of speech.
14:12b spirits: 'Spiritual gifts,' though in sum the sense, deprives the phrase of its force here. As Gentiles, they were in danger of confounding demons' action with the Holy Spirit; and they did not adequately hold the unity of the Spirit, but looked for a spirit's power and action to distinguish themselves. The apostle was obliged to point out the difference between demons and the Holy Spirit. But the word further tends to show the reality of a personal spirit acting, though for the Christian there be but one, the Spirit of God.
14:20c children: Paidion: see 1John 2:13.
14:20d grown: i.e. 'full-grown,' as Eph. 4:13.
14:21e law: See Isa. 28:11-12.
14:27a separately: i.e. in turn.
14:33b disorder: Or 'he is not the God of disorder.'
14:33c saints: Some connect this last phrase with what follows. The repetition of 'assemblies' might seem harsh in that case. But ver. 36 would perhaps tend to the opposite conclusion. It is a question of interpretation, not of translation.
15:1d, 15:2d announced: Lit. 'evangelized.'
15:8e abortion: Or 'one born out of due time.' As LXX, Job 3:16; Eccles. 6:3.
15:12a, 15:15a, 15:16a raised: 'Are not raised,' vers. 15, 16, applies to the abstract fact whenever it may be; the doctrinal fact as to dead people; 'he (Christ) is raised,' vers. 12, 13, 16, 20, is an accomplished but continuing fact. The English tenses do not always secure this distinction. I have not put 'do not rise,' because then the thought of being raised by God is lost.
15:23b rank: * A military term.
15:24c Father: It is almost impossible to render the Greek idiom, which unites with one article either two qualities of the same person, or two persons under the same quality. But I prefer this awkward English to 'God, even the Father,' because this phrase is uncertain in doctrine, and might be used as meaning that the Father only is God, which is not the sense.
15:25d all: Lit. 'all the enemies:' all those recognized or objectively manifested as such.
15:27e feet: See Ps. 8:6.
15:29f for: Or 'in place of,' 'in view of.' Lit. 'over.'
15:32g beasts: The expression 'fought with beasts' is used figuratively as well as literally.
15:32h die: See Isa. 22:13.
15:34i ignorant: Lit. 'have ignorance.' On the whole, 'ignorant of God' gives the sense. 'Have not the knowledge' is weak. 'No knowledge' does not meet the case. It refers to the true character of God.
15:39a fishes: Or 'that of men is one, the flesh of beasts another, the flesh of birds another, of fishes another.'
15:44b, 15:46b natural: i.e. having natural life through the living soul.
15:45c written: See Gen. 2:7.
15:45d quickening: Making alive.
15:54e written: See Isa. 25:8.
15:55f victory: See Hos. 13:14.
16:1g directed: It means ordering troops, so as to set them in array; and in general, thence, any order directing any plan to be followed.
16:3a letters: It may be read 'whomsoever ye shall approve by letters, I will send them to carry,' &c.
16:7b will: Not exactly 'purpose;' but 'it is not my desire or intention.'
16:12c much: It may mean 'often,' but the word is used for 'much' in v. 19.
16:12d will: Or 'but it was not, at any rate, his will.'
16:14e do: Lit. 'all your things.'
16:15f know: Oida. It refers to their inward acquaintance with their qualities, not objective knowledge.
16:15g themselves: 'Devoted themselves,' &c. In sum this is the sense; but the force of the apostle's phrase is not wholly given. The Greek word means 'appointed to,' as an officer to a regiment. The family of Stephanas had appointed themselves to the saints for service -- given themselves up to serve them, or rather given themselves up to them. 'The saints' is governed by the verb, not by 'service.' The idea resulting from what I have given in the text is more what the apostle means.
16:22h love: Phileo: see John 5:20.
16:22i Maranatha: Meaning, 'Accursed -- the Lord cometh.'

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