The Expositor's Bible: The First Epistle to the CorinthiansDods, Marcus
Religion
The Expositor's Bible: The First Epistle to the Corinthians
Dods, Marcus
Bible. Corinthians, 1st -- Commentaries
In declining pecuniary remuneration, Paul was acting on his general
principle of making himself the servant of all and of living entirely
and exclusively for the good of others. "Though I be free from all
men, yet have I made myself servant unto all, that I might gain the
more." It was from Paul that Luther derived his two propositions which
he uttered as the keynote of the resonant blast "on Christian Liberty"
with which he stirred all Europe into new life: "A Christian man is
the most free lord of all, and subject to none; a Christian man is the
most dutiful servant of all, and subject to every one." So Paul's
independence of all men was assumed and maintained for the very
purpose of making himself the more effectually the servant of all. To
the Jew and to those under the Law he became as a Jew, observing the
seventh day, circumcising Timothy, abstaining from blood,
accommodating himself to all their scruples. To those who were without
the Law, and who had been brought up in Greece, he also conformed
himself, freely entering into their innocent customs, calling no meats
unclean, appealing, not to the law of Moses, but to conscience, to
common-sense, to their own poets. "I am made all things to all men,
that I might by all means save some"--a course which none but a man of
wide sympathy and charity, clear intellect, and thorough integrity can
adopt.
For Paul was no mere latitudinarian. While accommodating himself to
the practice of those around him in all matters of mere outward
observance, and which did not touch the essentials of morality and
faith, he at the same time held very definite opinions on the chief
articles of the Christian creed. No amount of liberality of sentiment
can ever induce a thoughtful man to discourage the formation of
opinion on all matters of importance. On the contrary, the only escape
from mere traditionalism or the tyranny of authority in matters of
religion is in individual inquiry and ascertainment of the truth. Free
inquiry is the one instrument we possess for the discovery of truth;
and by pursuing such inquiry men may be expected to come to some
agreement in religious belief, as in other things. No doubt
righteousness of life is better than soundness of creed. But is it not
possible to have both? It is better to live in the Spirit, to be meek,
chaste, temperate, just, loving, than to understand the relation of
the Spirit to God and to ourselves; but the human mind can never cease
to seek satisfaction: and truth, the more clearly it is seen, will the
more effectually nourish righteousness.
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