Online Resource Library
Commentary Index | Return to PrayerRequest.com | DownloadCambridge Greek Testament for Schools and Colleges - 1 Corinthians 1:13 - 1:13
(Show All Books | Show All Chapters)
This Chapter Verse Commentaries:
13. μεμέρισται ὁ Χριστός; Some editors (e.g. Westcott and Hort) have read this affirmatively, ‘Christ is divided.’ But can Christ be divided? It seems better to render ‘Hath Christ (then) been divided?’ Dean Colet says in his Commentary on this chapter: ‘Quum itaque ejusmodi quiddam unum compositum ex Deo et hominibus constans divina mens Pauli cogitat, qui ex quamplurimis “unctis unus est Christus.” ’ And he especially cites ch. 1Co 12:12. ‘This Divine whole,’ the Apostle would say, ‘cannot be separated into portions. If you break the unity of the Church, you sever yourself from Christ into Whom all have been baptized, and Whose Body (ch. 1Co 12:12) they are.’ Moreover, it is the Apostle’s wont, when strongly affected, to break into interrogations. See for instance 1Co 1:20, 1Co 3:16, 1Co 6:1, &c.
ἢ εἰς τὸ ὄνομα Παύλου ἐβαπτίσθητε. To baptize ‘into’ a name means more than to baptize ‘in’ a name. Had St Paul used ἐν, he would simply have disclaimed the desire to make proselytes to any doctrine of his own. But εἰς implies more than this. Since the name stands for the person named, to baptize ‘into’ a name means to bring the person baptized into a close inward connection with the person in whose name he is baptized. This close inward connection with the soul of the believer is the prerogative of Christ alone, and St Paul disclaims any desire to arrogate to himself any such position. Cf. Mat 28:19; Act 3:16; Act 4:10; Act 4:12.