1Cor 3:21, 4:19, 5:2 | JFB | e4.org | 21. let no man glory in men —resuming the subject from ; compare , where the true object of glorying is stated: "He that glorieth, let him glory in THE LORD ." Also , "That no one of you be puffed up for one against another." For all things —not only all men. For you to glory thus in men, is lowering yourselves from your high position as heirs of all things. All men (including your teachers) belong to Christ, and therefore to you, by your union with Him; He makes them and all things work together for your good ( ). Ye are not for the sake of them, but they for the sake of you ( ). They belong to you, not you to them.

‏ 1 Corinthians 3:21

21. let no man glory in men—resuming the subject from 1Co 3:4; compare 1Co 1:12, 31, where the true object of glorying is stated: "He that glorieth, let him glory in THE LORD." Also 1Co 4:6, "That no one of you be puffed up for one against another."

For all things—not only all men. For you to glory thus in men, is lowering yourselves from your high position as heirs of all things. All men (including your teachers) belong to Christ, and therefore to you, by your union with Him; He makes them and all things work together for your good (Ro 8:28). Ye are not for the sake of them, but they for the sake of you (2Co 4:5, 15). They belong to you, not you to them.

‏ 1 Corinthians 4:19

19. ALFORD translates, "But come I will"; an emphatical negation of their supposition (1Co 4:18).

shortly—after Pentecost (1Co 16:8).

if the Lord will—a wise proviso (Jas 4:15). He does not seem to have been able to go as soon as he intended.

and will know—take cognizance of.

but the power—I care not for their high-sounding "speech," "but" what I desire to know is "their power," whether they be really powerful in the Spirit, or not. The predominant feature of Grecian character, a love for power of discourse, rather than that of godliness, showed itself at Corinth.

‏ 1 Corinthians 5:2

2. puffed up—with your own wisdom and knowledge, and the eloquence of your favorite teachers: at a time when ye ought to be "mourning" at the scandal caused to religion by the incest. Paul mourned because they did not mourn (2Co 2:4). We ought to mourn over the transgressions of others, and repent of our own (2Co 12:21) [BENGEL].

that—ye have not felt such mourning as would lead to the result that, &c.

taken away from among you—by excommunication. The incestuous person was hereby brought to bitter repentance, in the interval between the sending of the first and second Epistles (2Co 2:5-10). Excommunication in the Christian Church corresponded to that in the Jewish synagogue, in there being a lighter and heavier form: the latter an utter separation from church fellowship and the Lord's house, the former exclusion from the Lord's Supper only but not from the Church.