on the
First Epistle to the Corinthians
by
thomas charles edwards, m.a.,
of lincoln college, oxford
Principal of the University College of Wales, Aberystwyth.
second edition
Ὁ δὲ Κύριος τὸ Πνεῦμά ἐστιν·
οὗ δὲ τὸ Πνεῦμα Κυρίου, ἐλευθερία.
New York:
a. c. armstrong & son,
714, broadway.
1886
to two revered teachers,
in grateful recognition of what i owe them intellectually and spiritually:
to
the rev. benjamin jowett, d.d. (Leyd.),
Master of Balliol College,
Regius Professor of Greek
in the
University of Oxford:
and to
my father,
the rev. lewis edwards, d.d. (Edin.),
Principal of the Welsh Presbyterian College,
Bala.
Several years ago I entered on a solitary and prolonged study of the Apostle Paul, from a desire to find out for myself, if possible, his real meaning and central principle. This principle seemed to me to spring first to the front in the Epistles to the Corinthian Church. But in the effort to understand it and the Apostle’s application of it to the difficulties and faults of his readers, I found the truth of Wycliffe’s remark “that Paulis wordis passen othere writingis in two thingis,—thei ben pure, sutil, and plentenous to preche the puple.” As I proceeded, I was ever more convinced of the vitality and power of his doctrine of Christ, its sufficiency, its peculiar fitness, to rekindle our dying faith. To me its power was the evidence of its truth. It seemed, not merely to answer the anxious questions of the age, but also to raise the entire spiritual life into a higher sphere, in which doubt is put away with the things of the child and faith in the supernatural made human becomes a promise of strength and a pledge of victory. Not that St. Paul in any way represents our age. In a very true sense he does not represent his own. But the contrast itself gives a startling force to his strong and stirring thoughts. They come to us, as they came to the Corinthians, from afar, untarnished by the foibles and fashions of the hour, like the quickening voice of one crying in the wilderness, Prepare ye the way of the Lord Christ;—in the wilderness, very far away from the petty strifes of sects and parties, in touch anew with God. Here in Wales, at least, I am very sure that what we most need is to go outside our age and bring down into it a force not ourselves. I do not mean to say that the doctrines of our various Churches are false. They have been too much handled as excellent themes for controversy. But to determine the worth of a doctrine, we must ask, not whether it can be argued about, but whether it can be preached. Our truths need vitalising by contact with a larger truth; for living truths alone make the preacher. Must we, then, wait until the great idea rises out of the deep? I will not answer the question by reminding the reader that every renewal in the spiritual life of the West has hitherto been brought about by fresh contact with the East. Rather, let us again read for ...
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About A Commentary on the First Epistle to the CorinthiansIn Edwards’ A Commentary on the First Epistle to the Corinthians, he seeks to provide exegetical studies on scripture and doctrine that are easily overlooked. Edwards draws upon Charles Hodge and Dean Stanley to validate his theological assertions. |
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