“‘Silver shrines,’ verse 24. The heathens used to carry the images of their gods in procession from one city to another. This was done in a chariot which was solemnly consecrated for that employment, and by the Romans styled Thensa, that is, the chariot of their gods. But besides this, it was placed in a box or shrine, called Ferculum. Accordingly, when the Romans conferred divine honors on their great men, alive or dead, they had the Circen games, and in them the Thensa and Ferculum, the chariot and the shrine, bestowed on them; as it is related of Julius Caesar. This Ferculum among the Romans did not differ much from the Graecian Ναὸς, a little chapel, representing the form of a temple, with an image in it, which, being set upon an altar, or any other solemn place, having the doors opened, the image was seen by the spectators either in a standing or sitting posture. An old anonymous scholiast upon Aristotle’s Rhetoric, lib. i. c. 15, has these words: Ναοποιοὶ οἱ τοὺς ναοὺς ποιοῦσι, ἤτοι εἱκονοστάσια, τινα μικρὰ ξύλινα ἅ πωλοῦσι, observing the ναοι here to be εικονοστάσια, chaplets, with images in them, of wood, or metal, (as here of silver,) which they made and sold, as in verse 25, they are supposed to do. Athenaeus speaks of the καδισκος, ‘which,’ says he ‘is a vessel wherein they place their images of Jupiter.’ The learned Casaubon states, that ‘these images were put in cases, which were made like chapels. (Deipnos. lib. ii. p. 500.) So St. Chrysostom likens them to ‘little cases, or shrines.’ Dion says of the Roman ensign, that it was a little temple, and in it a golden eagle, (Ρωμαικ, lib. 40.) And in another place: ‘There was a little chapel of Juno, set upon a table.’ Ρωμαικ, lib. 39. This is the meaning of the tabernacle of Moloch, Acts vii. 43, where by the σκηνη, tabernacle, is meant the chaplet, a shrine of that false god. The same was also the סכות דנות the tabernacle of Benoth, or Venus.” Hammond’s Annotations. [Williams on Pearson, p. 55.]
Robbers of temples.——Think of the miserable absurdity of the common English translation in this passage, (Acts xix. 37,) where the original ἱεροσυλοι is expressed by “robbers of churches!” Now who ever thought of applying the English word “church,” to anything whatever but a “Christian assembly,” or “Christian place of assembly?” Why then is this phrase put in the mouth of a heathen officer addressing a heathen assembly about persons charged with violating the sanctity of heathen places of worship? Such a building as a church, (εκκλησια, ecclesia) devoted to the worship of the true God, was not known till more than a century after this time; and the Greek word ἱερον, (hieron,) which enters into the composition of the word in the sacred text, thus mistranslated, was never applied to a Christian place of worship.
FIRST EPISTLE TO THE CORINTHIANS.
Paul’s residence in Ephesus is distinguished in his literary history, as the period in which he wrote that most eloquent and animated of his epistles,——“the first to the Corinthians.” It was written towards the close of his stay in Asia, about the time of the passover; according to established calculations, therefore, in the spring of the year of Christ 57. The more immediate occasion of his writing to the Corinthian Christians, was a letter which he had received from them, by the hands of Stephanas, Fortunatus and Achaicus. Paul had previously written to them an epistle, (now lost,) in which he gave them some directions about their deportment, which they did not fully understand, and of which they desired an explanation in their letter. Many of these questions, which this epistle of the Corinthians contained, are given by Paul, in connection with his own answers to them; and from this source it is learned that they concerned several points of expediency and propriety about matrimony. These are answered by Paul, very distinctly and fully; but much of his epistle is taken up with instructions and reproofs on many points not referred to in their inquiries. The Corinthian church was made up of two very opposite constituent parts, so unlike in their character, as to render exceedingly complicated the difficulties of bringing all under one system of faith and practice; and the apostolic founder was, at one time, obliged to combat heathen licentiousness, and at another, Jewish bigotry and formalism. The church also, having been too soon left without the presence of a fully competent head, had been very loosely filled up with a great variety of improper persons,——some hypocrites, and some profligates,——a difficulty not altogether peculiar to the Corinthian church, nor to those of the apostolic age. But there were certainly some very extraordinary irregularities in the conduct of their members, some of whom were in the habit of getting absolutely drunk at the sacramental table; and others were guilty of great sins in respect to general purity of life. Another peculiar difficulty, which had arisen in the church of Corinth, during Paul’s absence, was the formation of sects and parties, each claiming some one of the great Christian teachers as its head; some of them claiming Paul as their only apostolic authority; some again preferring the doctrines of Apollos, who had been laboring among them while Paul was in Ephesus; and others again, referred to Peter as the true apostolic chief, while they wholly denied to Paul any authority whatever, as an apostle. There had, indeed, arisen a separate party, strongly opposed to Paul, headed by a prominent person, who had done a great deal to pervert the truth, and to lessen the character of Paul in various ways, which are alluded to by Paul in many passages of his epistle, in a very indignant tone. Other difficulties are described by him, and various excesses are reproved, as a scandal to the Christian character; such as an incestuous marriage among their members,——lawsuits before heathen magistrates,——dissolute conformity to the licentious worship of the Corinthian goddess, whose temple was so infamous for its scandalous rites and thousand priestesses. Some of the Corinthian Christians had been in the habit of visiting this and other heathen temples, and of participating in the scenes of feasting, riot and debauchery, which were carried on there as a part of the regular forms of idolatrous worship.
The public worship of the Corinthian church had been disturbed also by various irregularities which Paul reprehends;——the abuse of the gift of tongues, and the affectation of an unusual dress in preaching, both by men and women. In the conclusion of his epistle he expatiates too, at great length, on the doctrine of the resurrection of the body, vehemently arguing against some Corinthian heretics, who had denied any but a spiritual existence beyond the grave. This argument may justly be pronounced the best specimen of Paul’s very peculiar style, reasoning as he does, with a kind of passion, and interrupting the regular series of logical demonstrations, by fiery bursts of enthusiasm, personal appeals, poetical quotations, illustrative similes, violent denunciations of error, and striking references to his own circumstances. All these nevertheless, point very directly and connectedly at the great object of the argument, and the whole train of reasoning swells and mounts, towards the conclusion, in a manner most remarkably effective, constituting one of the most sublime argumentative passages ever written. He then closes the epistle with some directions about the mode of collecting the contributions for the brethren in Jerusalem. He promises to visit them, and make a long stay among them, when he goes on his journey through Macedonia,——a route which, he assures them, he had now determined to take, as mentioned by Luke, in his account of the preliminary mission of Timothy and Erastus, before the time of the mob at Ephesus; but should not leave Ephesus until after Pentecost, because a great and effectual door was there opened to him, and there were many opposers. He speaks of Timothy as being then on the mission before mentioned, and exhorts them not to despise this young brother, if he should visit them, as they might expect. After several other personal references, he signs his [♦]own name with a general salutation; and from the terms, in which he expresses this particular mark already alluded to in the second epistle to the Thessalonians, it is very reasonable to conclude, that he was not his own penman in any of these epistles, but used an amanuensis, authenticating the whole by his signature, with his own hand, only at the end; and this opinion of his method of carrying on his correspondence, is now commonly, perhaps universally, adopted by the learned.
[♦] “ownn,ame” replaced with “own name”
“Chapter xvi. 10, 11. ‘Now, if Timotheus come, see that he may be with you without fear; for he worketh the work of the Lord, as I also do: let no man therefore despise him, but conduct him forth in peace, that he may come unto me, for I look for him with the brethren.’
“From the passage considered in the preceding number, it appears that Timothy was sent to Corinth, either with the epistle, or before it: ‘for this cause have I sent unto you Timotheus.’ From the passage now quoted, we infer that Timothy was not sent with the epistle; for had he been the bearer of the letter, or accompanied it, would St. Paul in that letter have said, ‘if Timothy come?’ Nor is the sequel consistent with the supposition of his carrying the letter; for if Timothy was with the apostle when he wrote the letter, could he say, as he does, ‘I look for him with the brethren?’ I conclude, therefore, that Timothy had left St. Paul to proceed upon his journey before the letter was written. Further, the passage before us seems to imply, that Timothy was not expected by St. Paul to arrive at Corinth, till after they had received the letter. He gives them directions in the letter how to treat him when he should arrive: ‘if he come,’ act towards him so and so. Lastly, the whole form of expression is more naturally applicable to the supposition of Timothy’s coming to Corinth, not directly from St. Paul, but from some other quarter; and that his instructions had been, when he should reach Corinth, to return. Now, how stands this matter in the history? Turn to the nineteenth chapter and twenty-first verse of the Acts, and you will find that Timothy did not, when sent from Ephesus, where he left St. Paul, and where the present epistle was written, proceed by a straight course to Corinth, but that he went round through Macedonia. This clears up everything; for, although Timothy was sent forth upon his journey before the letter was written, yet he might not reach Corinth till after the letter arrived there; and he would come to Corinth, when he did come, not directly from St. Paul, at Ephesus, but from some part of Macedonia. Here therefore is a circumstantial and critical agreement, and unquestionably without design; for neither of the two passages in the epistle mentions Timothy’s journey into Macedonia at all, though nothing but a circuit of that kind can explain and reconcile the expressions which the writer uses.” (Paley’s Horae Paulinae, 1 Corinthians No. IV.)
“Chapter v. 7, 8. ‘For even Christ, our passover, is sacrificed for us; therefore let us keep the feast, not with old leaven, neither with the leaven of malice and wickedness, but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth.’
“Dr. Benson tells us, that from this passage, compared with chapter xvi. 8, it has been conjectured that this epistle was written about the time of the Jewish passover; and to me the conjecture appears to be very well founded. The passage to which Dr. Benson refers us, is this: ‘I will tarry at Ephesus until Pentecost.’ With this passage he ought to have joined another in the same context: ‘And it may be that I will abide, yea, and winter with you:’ for, from the two passages laid together, it follows that the epistle was written before Pentecost, yet after winter; which necessarily determines the date to the part of the year, within which the passover falls. It was written before Pentecost, because he says, ‘I will tarry at Ephesus until Pentecost.’ It was written after winter, because he tells them, ‘It may be that I may abide, yea, and winter with you.’ The winter which the apostle purposed to pass at Corinth, was undoubtedly the winter next ensuing to the date of the epistle; yet it was a winter subsequent to the ensuing Pentecost, because he did not intend to set forwards upon his journey till after the feast. The words, ‘let us keep the feast, not with old leaven, neither with the leaven of malice and wickedness, but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth,’ look very much like words suggested by the season; at least they have, upon that supposition, a force and significancy which do not belong to them upon any other; and it is not a little remarkable, that the hints casually dropped in the epistle, concerning particular parts of the year, should coincide with this supposition.” (Paley’s Horae Paulinae. 1 Corinthians. No. XII.)