Acts 13:46
46. Then Paul and Barnabas waxed bold, and said, &c.—This is in the highest style of a last and solemn protestation.
It was necessary that the word should first have been spoken to you—See the direction of Christ in Lu 24:47; also Ro 1:16. since ye judge yourselves unworthy of everlasting life—pass sentence upon yourselves. 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 6:15
15. Resuming the thought in 1Co 6:13, "the body is for the Lord" (1Co 12:27; Eph 4:12, 15, 16; 5:30).
shall I then—such being the case. take—spontaneously alienating them from Christ. For they cannot be at the same time "the members of an harlot," and "of Christ" [BENGEL]. It is a fact no less certain than mysterious, that moral and spiritual ruin is caused by such sins; which human wisdom (when untaught by revelation) held to be actions as blameless as eating and drinking [CONYBEARE and HOWSON]. 1 Corinthians 7:23
23. be not ye—Greek, "become not ye." Paul here changes from "thou" (1Co 7:21) to "ye." YE ALL are "bought" with the blood of Christ, whatever be your earthly state (1Co 6:20). "Become not servants to men," either externally, or spiritually; the former sense applying to the free alone: the latter to Christian freemen and slaves alike, that they should not be servile adherents to their party leaders at Corinth (1Co 3:21, 22; Mt 23:8-10; 2Co 11:20); nor indeed slaves to men generally, so far as their condition admits. The external and internal conditions, so far as is attainable, should correspond, and the former be subservient to the latter (compare 1Co 7:21, 32-35).
1 Corinthians 12:23-24
23. less honourable—"We think" the feet and the belly "less honorable," though not really so in the nature of things.
bestow . . . honour—putting shoes on (Margin) the feet, and clothes to cover the belly. uncomely parts—the secret parts: the poorest, though unclad in the rest of the body, cover these.24. tempered . . . together—on the principle of mutual compensation.
to that part which lacked—to the deficient part [ALFORD], (1Co 12:23). 1 Thessalonians 4:4
4. know—by moral self-control.
how to possess his vessel—rather as Greek, "how to acquire (get for himself) his own vessel," that is, that each should have his own wife so as to avoid fornication (1Th 4:3; 1Co 7:2). The emphatical position of "his own" in the Greek, and the use of "vessel" for wife, in 1Pe 3:7, and in common Jewish phraseology, and the correct translation "acquire," all justify this rendering. in sanctification— (Ro 6:19; 1Co 6:15, 18). Thus, "his own" stands in opposition to dishonoring his brother by lusting after his wife (1Th 4:6). honour— (Heb 13:4) contrasted with "dishonor their own bodies" (Ro 1:24).