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Commentary Index | Return to PrayerRequest.com | DownloadCambridge Greek Testament for Schools and Colleges - 1 Corinthians 4:21 - 4:21
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This Chapter Verse Commentaries:
21. ἐν ῥάβδῳ. That is either (1) with some commentators, e. g. Chrysostom, the resolution to deliver the rebellious over to Satan (see next chapter). If this be the case, the word ‘power’ in the last verse must include power to do harm. But it is better (2) to refer the expression to the severity of language which the Apostle would be compelled to use, if there were no signs of improvement when he came. This falls in best with the fatherly relation, involving of course the idea of correction, in which he describes himself as standing towards the Corinthian Church. See 1Co 4:15, and compare Pro 13:24; Pro 23:13-14, &c. The words ‘spirit of meekness’ in the last part of the verse confirm this last interpretation. ἐν here refers to the spirit in which the Apostle was to come. ‘Am I to come to you in a spirit of correction, or in a spirit of meekness?’ See note on 1Co 1:5.
ἔλθω. Should I come?