19 for it behoveth sects also to be among you, that those approved may become manifest among you;
out of us they went forth, but they were not of us, for if they had been of us, they would have remained with us; but -- that they might be manifested that they are not all of us.
And he said unto the disciples, `It is impossible for the stumbling blocks not to come, but wo `to him' through whom they come;
A sectarian man, after a first and second admonition be rejecting,
and of your own selves there shall arise men, speaking perverse things, to draw away the disciples after them.
idolatry, witchcraft, hatred, strifes, emulations, wraths, rivalries, dissensions, sects,
And there did come also false prophets among the people, as also among you there shall be false teachers, who shall bring in besides destructive sects, and the Master who bought them denying, bringing to themselves quick destruction, and many shall follow out their destructive ways, because of whom the way of the truth shall be evil spoken of,
(and also thine own soul shall a sword pass through) -- that the reasonings of many hearts may be revealed.'
Your ownselves try ye, if ye are in the faith; your ownselves prove ye; do ye not know your ownselves, that Jesus Christ is in you, if ye be not in some respect disapproved of? and I hope that ye shall know that we -- we are not disapproved of; and I pray before God that ye do no evil, not that we may appear approved, but that ye may do that which is right, and we may be as disapproved;
knowing me before from the first, (if they may be willing to testify,) that after the most exact sect of our worship, I lived a Pharisee;
`And I confess this to thee, that, according to the way that they call a sect, so serve I the God of the fathers, believing all things that in the law and the prophets have been written,
and there rose up certain of those of the sect of the Pharisees who believed, saying -- `It behoveth to circumcise them, to command them also to keep the law of Moses.'
Worthy.Bible » Commentaries » Matthew Henry Commentary » Commentary on 1 Corinthians 11
Commentary on 1 Corinthians 11 Matthew Henry Commentary
Chapter 11
In this chapter the apostle blames, and endeavours to rectify, some great indecencies and manifest disorders in the church of Corinth; as,
1Cr 11:1-16
Paul, having answered the cases put to him, proceeds in this chapter to the redress of grievances. The first verse of the chapter is put, by those who divided the epistle into chapters, as a preface to the rest of the epistle, but seems to have been a more proper close to the last, in which he had enforced the cautions he had given against the abuse of liberty, by his own example: Be ye followers of me, as I also am of Christ (v. 1), fitly closes his argument; and the way of speaking in the next verse looks like a transition to another. But, whether it more properly belong to this or the last chapter, it is plain from it that Paul not only preached such doctrine as they ought to believe, but led such a life as they ought to imitate. "Be ye followers of me,' that is, "Be imitators of me; live as you see me live.' Note, Ministers are likely to preach most to the purpose when they can press their hearers to follow their example. Yet would not Paul be followed blindly neither. He encourages neither implicit faith nor obedience. He would be followed himself no further than he followed Christ. Christ's pattern is a copy without a blot; so is no man's else. Note, We should follow no leader further than he follows Christ. Apostles should be left by us when they deviate from the example of their Master. He passes next to reprehend and reform an indecency among them, of which the women were more especially guilty, concerning which observe,
1Cr 11:17-22
In this passage the apostle sharply rebukes them for much greater disorders than the former, in their partaking of the Lord's supper, which was commonly done in the first ages, as the ancients tell us, with a love-feast annexed, which gave occasion to the scandalous disorders which the apostle here reprehends, concerning which observe,
1Cr 11:23-34
To rectify these gross corruptions and irregularities, the apostle sets the sacred institution here to view. This should be the rule in the reformation of all abuses.