respectively persons of refined and plain understandings. From this use of the term, St. Paul seems to have employed it here to denote, generally, a person of superior natural understanding, who relied, implicitly and exclusively, on the deductions of his reason. It appears to be synonymous with ropos; but, also, with an allusion to Greece as the chief place of intellectual refinement and philosophy. Compare Rom. ch. 1. 14.

V. 23. "Though" sv.

-See the latter part of v. 18. and n. II. I have paraphrased μɛv here as in the above place; but this verse, together with the former and the following, might be thus literally rendered: " And since Jews require a sign, and Greeks seek for wisdom, and we preach Christ crucified, a stumbling-block indeed to Jews, and foolishness to Greeks, but to them both Jews and Greeks, when called, Christ, power and wisdom from God"

-The premises laid down by

V. 25. I. "It is manifest"the Apostle in the three preceding verses require that an inference should be drawn, which is accordingly here done. The phrase dr201 EOT has been supplied as elliptically understood as the connecting

term.

II. "That in your estimation the foolishness proceeding from God is wiser than the wisdom of men, and the weakness proceeding from God is stronger than the power of men."- This conclusion is founded on the assertion that the first converts rising superior to the expectations of worldly power entertained by the Jew, and the fond attachment of the heathen to worldly wisdom, had received the gospel as "the power and the wisdom of God"; and as the justness of the conclusion depends on the truth of that assertion, St. Paul enforces it in the three following verses, by pointing out that the Christian doctrine had not in it any worldly inducement whatever by which it could secure converts: and therefore its reception in the world was a triumph of divine things over worldly ones, of spiritual things over natural. This verse concludes the second part

L

of the proof that God had by the Christian revelation shewn worldly wisdom to be foolishness. This he had done, first, by the superior knowledge of himself thereby communicated (see v. 21. n. Iv.), and, secondly, by instituting an entirely new and divine scheme for regulating the conduct, and making it triumph, independently of all worldly considerations, over its strongest opponents; viz. the worldly-minded prejudice of the Jew, and the equally worldly-minded intellectual pride of the heathen. Of the greatness of this triumph these early converts could not but have been well aware, knowing, as they did, the circumstances under which they had embraced the gospel, since the profession of it, at that time, was attended with poverty and distress, and led inevitably to ignominy and contempt.

V. 26. I. "For as a proof" &c.

II. "Observe as you must, that".

yag refers to v. 24.

-or is not connected with

βλεπετε in the first clause, which governs κλησιν ; and therefore BλETTETE must be here repeated as understood.

III. "Concerned with it".

The verb not being expressed in

the original is to be supplied, but, with reference to the former part of

the sentence. I think that appeal is to the sight, and xλŋow may allude either to the persons called, or to those who called them, it seems proper to connect the subsequent nominatives with xλσ in the largest sense, so as to include both teachers and disciples. It is as if the Apostle had said "look at your call, look and see, here are not many", &c. The description which follows would suit both the first teachers and the early converts; for though some of these latter were of a superior condition, yet they were not numerous, compared to the whole number of the disciples. Neither was it fit that they should be; since, if they had been so, their worldly power might have been employed for establishing the gospel, which, on the contrary, was to be done altogether independently of human means, except as instruments.

is understood; and as the Apostle's

iv. "In a worldly sense, eminent for wisdom," ropos nara σagna. The phrase xara σagna, which refers in general to our present bodily nature, has a peculiar meaning determined in each case by the context. In the present, its sense is fixed by the parallel phrase of rou xocμov added to μwga in the next verse. As it seems to apply to all the three adjectives, I have accordingly so rendered it.

v. "In a worldly sense eminent for religious knowledge." EU/EVELS κατα σαρκα. -The word εuyɛvas signifies, literally, noble by birth; but as that circumstance would hardly be of any weight in the propagation of the gospel, and besides, if of any, is included in Suvarol, that cannot be its meaning here. There seems both in the use of the word auyeveσtego in Acts, ch. xvII. 11., and of evyevais in this place, an allusion to the descent from Abraham, on which the Jews prided themselves so much. But in my opinion this allusion is not, in either case, solely to the descent itself, but also, and chiefly to a consequence naturally flowing from it; that is, in the former case, to the ready faith which might be expected from it; and in this, to the superior religious knowledge to which the Jews had access from their institutions. So that the word eʊyeves might be figuratively used to signify the members of the Jewish commonwealth, generally, under that notion. But here by the words nata capxa (in a worldly sense), which, I suppose, to be understood, the meaning is restrained to the unbelieving Jews; and of these, the allusion is perhaps more especially to the Scribes and Pharisees, who were highly esteemed by the people for their religious knowledge; see John, ch. VII. 47-49. This interpretation accords well with the course of the Apostle's argument, which was to prove that the success of the gospel was not owing to any influence arising from the reputed wisdom of the philosophers, or the worldly power of individuals, or the reputed religious knowledge of the Jews, the three great sources of influence in those times.

and artery in this verse and ayɛvn in the next are in the neuter

gender, it is evident from the preceding verse that they allude to persons as well as things, and that the apostle's intention here is to contrast the persons as well as the doctrine of the first Christians with those of the unbelievers both Heathen and Jewish. And per haps it is on a principle of humility that these neuters are used in reference to the Christian dispensation, for the purpose of fixing the reader's attention on the doctrine rather than the professors of it.

V. 28. "Persons and things in a worldly sense of no account in religious matters,” αγενη του κοσμου.. These words being opposed to EUYEVEIS naтa σagna in v. 26. (for the meaning of which see n. v. of that verse) signify persons and things, which the world, or rather worldly-minded persons, in their estimate of religion held to be of no value. In this sense they suit the first Christians and the gospel doctrine. In like manner, the words εoubernueva and Ta μn ovтa are descriptive of the first Christians and the gospel doctrine; which are thus contrasted with the Jews and the Mosaic system, τα οντα.

V. 30. 1. "In the profession of faith in Christ Jesus," ev XIOTY Iyoou literally, in Christ Jesus. That this phrase signifies being a Christian by profession appears from Rom. ch. VIII. 1. But the use of this peculiar mode of expression seems to be derived from the character which our Lord holds in his religion, and which imports the most intimate union between himself and his disciples (see the latter part of note on verse 4 of this chapter). Properly speaking, it is a spiritual mode of expression, and, therefore, to be fully comprehended must be spiritually considered.

II. "Who has become to us the means from God for obtaining true wisdom, consisting, as it does, in justness of sentiment and action”, &c. ὃς εγενήθη ήμιν σοφια απο Θεου, κ. τ. λ. It will be observed, that σοφια απο Θεου is contrasted with σοφια λογου in v. 17. and therefore signifies the divine wisdom exhibited in the gospel scheme of salvation as distinguished from a moral system deduced

from reasoning. Hence dratourns ayraouos and amourgwais, denote not things distinct from divine wisdom, but properly its several parts as relating to that plan of salvation. If the passage is literally rendered, re might be translated even. The word dialoσuvy being derived from Sinaios, "just", must, in its largest acceptation, be explained conformably to that general notion. It may be applied either to God or to men. In reference to God it signifies the assigning to each thing its just and appropriate value, and acting agreeably to that valuation; as it refers to men, it signifies the giving to each thing that proportionate value, in our estimation, which God intended it should have, and regulating our conduct accordingly. From these general senses of this word, its special meaning in any particular passage of scripture, may be easily deduced by attending to the idiom of the language, and the scope of the context.

V. 31. "Let the Christian who glories in his knowledge of God, glory in our Lord as the means for obtaining that knowledge."

-It is generally admitted that St. Paul here refers to the passage of Jeremiah noted in the paraphrase; but the reference is not immediately to the prophet's declaration, but to an inference from it. Having in the preceding verses proved, at some length, that Christ is the only means of obtaining the true knowledge of God, he concludes his argument by referring to the command of God, that no one should glory in any thing but in the knowledge of him, and drawing from it, at the same time, the inference which his argument warrants, that Christ, as the sole medium of the true knowledge of God, is the only proper subject for glory.

CHAPTER II. '

I.

V.1. 1. Declaring to you" %arayyannan our

-It is observable

that the simple verb ayye入入w is not used in the New Testament. But the compound xarayyenu occurs frequently; and in those cases the effect of the preposition is generally to express opposition. The literal sense of the verb is to declare a thing xara against or in opposition