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Commentary Index | Return to PrayerRequest.com | DownloadJohn Bengel Commentary - 1 Corinthians 15:32 - 15:32
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1Co 15:32. Εἰ κατὰ ἄνθρωπον ἐθηριομάχησα ἐν Ἐφέσῳ, τί μοι τὸ ὄφελος; εἰ νεκροὶ οὐκ ἐγείρονται, φάγωμεν καὶ πίωμεν, αὔριον γὰρ ἀποθνήσκομεν, if after the manner of men, I have fought with wild beasts at Ephesus, what advantageth it to me? if the dead rise not, let us eat and drink, for to-morrow we die) This clause, if the dead rise not, is now for a long time properly connected with the words that follow; for in the foregoing, the formula, after the manner of men, is equivalent to it in force: that is, if, after human fashion, for a human consideration, with the mere hope of the present life, not in the hope of a resurrection to be expected on Divine authority, I have fought with beasts at Ephesus, etc.-ἐθηριομάχησα ἐν Ἐφέσῳ, I have fought with wild beasts at Ephesus) This one contest Paul expressly mentions, not only because it was a very great one, but also, because it was very recent. He was still at Ephesus; 1Co 16:8 : and there, before this epistle was written, he had been exposed to extraordinary danger, which seems to be the same occasion as that described, Act 19:29-30; 2Co 1:8; wherefore he calls it a fight with wild beasts, in which his life was in jeopardy; comp. 1Co 4:9 : as Heraclitus of Ephesus had been in the habit of applying the term wild beasts, θήρια, to the Ephesians four hundred years before: comp. Tit 1:12 concerning the Cretans and Epimenides.-φάγωμεν-ἀποθνήσκομεν, let us eat-we die) So the LXX., Isa 22:13, that is, let us use the good things of the body and of the present life. This is a Mimesis or the imitation of a supposed opponent’s wicked manner of speaking.