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William Smith
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(accurately Cenchre’ae) (millet), the eastern harbor of Corinth (i.e. its harbor on the Saronic Gulf) and the emporium of its trade with the Asiatic shores of the Mediterranean, as Lechaeum on the Crointhian Gulf connected it with Italy and the west. St. Paul sailed from Cenchrae, ( Acts 18:18 ) on his return to Syria from his second missionary journey. An organized church seems to have been formed here. ( Romans 16:1 )
(green herb), a woman mentioned in ( 1 Corinthians 1:11 )
The disciples, we are told, ( Acts 11:26 ) were first called Christians at Antioch on the Orontes, somewhere about A.D. 43. They were known to each other as, and were among themselves called, brethren, ( Acts 15:1 , 23 ; 1 Corinthians 7:12 ) disciples, ( Acts 9:26 ; 11:29 ) believers, ( Acts 5:14 ) saints, ( Romans 8:27 ; 15:25 ) The name “Christian,” which, in the only other cases where it appears in the New Testament, ( Acts 26:28 ; 1 Peter 4:16 ) is used contemptuously, could not have been applied by the early disciples to themselves, but was imposed upon them by the Gentile world. There is no reason to suppose that the name “Christian” of itself was intended as a term of scurrility or abuse, though it would naturally be used with contempt.
was peculiarly, though not exclusively, a Jewish rite. It was enjoined upon Abraham, the father of the nation, by God, at the institution and as the token of the covenant, which assured to him and his descendants the promise of the Messiah. Gen. 17 . It was thus made a necessary condition of Jewish nationality. Every male child was to be circumcised when eight days old, ( Leviticus 12:3 ) on pain of death. The biblical notice of the rite describes it as distinctively Jewish; so that in the New Testament “the circumcision” and “the uncircumcision” are frequently used as synonyms for the Jews and the Gentiles. The rite has been found to prevail extensively in both ancient and modern times. Though Mohammed did not enjoin circumcision in the Koran, he was circumcised himself, according to the custom of his country; and circumcision is now as common among the Mohammedans as among the Jews. The process of restoring a circumcised person to his natural condition by a surgical operation was sometimes undergone. Some of the Jews in the time of Antiochus Epiphanes, wishing to assimilate themselves to the heathen around them, “made themselves uncircumcised.” Against having recourse to this practice, from an excessive anti-Judaistic tendency, St. Paul cautions the Corinthians. ( 1 Corinthians 7:18 )
an ancient and celebrated city of Greece, on the Isthmus of Corinth, and about 40 miles west of Athens. In consequence of its geographical position it formed the most direct communication between the Ionian and AEgean seas. A remarkable feature was the AcroCorinthus, a vast citadel of rock, which rises abruptly to the height of 2000 feet above the level of the sea, and the summit of which is so extensive that it once contained a whole town. The situation of Corinth, and the possession of its eastern and western harbors, Cenchreae and Lechaeum, are the secrets of its history. Corinth was a place of great mental activity, as well as of commercial and manufacturing enterprise. Its wealth was so celebrated as to be proverbial; so were the vice and profligacy of its inhabitants. The worship of Venus where was attended with shameful licentiousness. Corinth is still an episcopal see. The city has now shrunk to a wretched village, ont he old site and bearing the old name, which, however, is corrupted into Gortho . St. Paul preached here, ( Acts 18:11 ) and founded a church, to which his Epistles to the Corinthians are addressed. [EPISTLES TO THE Corinthians, First Epistle To The , Corinthians, Second Epistle To The ]
was written by the apostle St. Paul toward the close of his nearly three-years stay at Ephesus, ( Acts 19:10 ; 20:31 ) which, we learn from ( 1 Corinthians 16:8 ) probably terminated with the Pentecost of A.D. 57 or 58. The bearers were probably (according to the common subscription) Stephanas, Fortunatus and Achaicus. It appears to have been called forth by the information the apostles had received of dissension in the Corinthian church, which may be thus explained:—The Corinthian church was planted by the apostle himself, ( 1 Corinthians 3:6 ) in his second missionary journey. ( Acts 18:1 ) seq. He abode in the city a year and a half. ( Acts 18:11 ) A short time after the apostle had left the city the eloquent Jew of Alexandria, Apollos, went to Corinth, ( Acts 19:1 ) and gained many followers, dividing the church into two parties, the followers of Paul and the followers of Apollos. Later on Judaizing teachers from Jerusalem preached the gospel in a spirit of direct antagonism to St. Paul personally. To this third party we may perhaps add a fourth, that, under the name of “the followers of Christ,” ( 1 Corinthians 2:12 ) sought at first to separate themselves from the factious adherence to particular teachers, but eventually were driven by antagonism into positions equally sectarian and inimical to the unity of the church. At this momentous period, before parties had become consolidated and that distinctly withdrawn from communion with one another, the apostle writes; and in the outset of the epistle, 1Cor 1 -4:21, we have this noble and impassioned protest against this fourfold rending of the robe of Christ.
was written a few months subsequent to the first, in the same year—about the autumn of A.D. 57 or 58—at Macedonia. The epistle was occasioned by the information which the apostle had received form Titus, and also, as it would certainly seem probable, from Timothy, of the reception of the first epistle. This information, as it would seem from our present epistle, was mainly favorable; the better part of the church were returning to their spiritual allegiance to the founder, ( 2 Corinthians 1:13 , 14 ; 7:9 , 15 , 16 ) but there was still a faction who strenuously denied Paul’s claim to apostleship. The contents of this epistle comprise, (1) the apostle’s account of the character of his spiritual labors, chs. 1-7; (2) directions about the collections, chs. 8,9; (3) defence of his own apostolical character, chs. 10-13:10. The words in ( 1 Corinthians 5:9 ) seem to point to further epistles to the church by Paul, but we have no positive evidence of any.
(curled), ruler of the Jewish synagogue at Corinth, ( Acts 18:8 ) baptized with his family by St. Paul. ( 1 Corinthians 1:14 ) (A.D. 50.)
This ornament, which is both ancient and universal, probably originated from the fillets used to prevent the hair from being dishevelled by the wind. Such fillets are still common; they gradually developed into turbans, which by the addition of ornamental or precious materials assumed the dignity of mitres or crowns. Both the ordinary priests and the high priest wore them. The crown was a symbol of royalty, and was worn by kings, ( 2 Chronicles 23:11 ) and also by queens. ( Esther 2:17 ) The head-dress of bridegrooms, ( Ezekiel 24:17 ; Isaiah 61:10 ) Bar. 5:2 , and of women, ( Isaiah 3:20 ) a head-dress of great splendor, ( Isaiah 28:5 ) a wreath of flowers, ( Proverbs 1:9 ; 4:9 ) denote crowns. In general we must attach to it the notion of a costly turban irradiated with pearls and gems of priceless value, which often form aigrettes for feathers, as in the crowns of modern Asiatics sovereigns. Such was probably the crown which weighed (or rather “was worth”) a talent, mentioned in ( 2 Samuel 12:30 ) taken by David from the king of Ammon at Rabbah, and used as the state crown of Judah. ( 2 Samuel 12:30 ) In ( Revelation 12:3 ; 19:12 ) allusion is made to “many crowns” worn in token of extended dominion. The laurel, pine or parsley crowns given to victors int he great games of Greece are finely alluded to by St. Paul. ( 1 Corinthians 9:25 ; 2 Timothy 2:5 ) etc.
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