le principle and history of the Christian faith. That faith, though
it is a wisdom which comes from God, does not lend itself to pride of
intellect. It is deliberately content to be counted foolish by the
world; its sign is the cross, its converts are the poor and
insignificant Corinthians, its eloquence the unpolished speaking of the
apostle himself. And as to their personal preferences for receiving
spiritual benefits from one Christian teacher rather than another, this
shows a complete misconception as to the source of the benefit and the
position of the teacher. This is explained in iii. 1-iv. 5. All
spiritual {138} increase comes from God. Christ is the Foundation.
Human teachers are not figure-heads of different schools, but the
instruments and the stewards through whom God dispenses His gifts. It
is not the duty of Christian teachers to put forward original ideas on
religion.

Then the apostle, after referring to their ostentatious
self-righteousness, pathetically shows the unfitness of pitting against
one another teachers who share in an equality of forlorn destitution
and contempt (iv. 6-13). He concludes this section with an
affectionate but authoritative speech: he says that he has sent Timothy
to Corinth, and hopes shortly to come himself (iv. 14-21).

The apostle proceeds with sharp decision to deal with _a case of
incest_. The Corinthians had treated this gross offence almost with
levity, but St. Paul declares that the offender shall be excommunicated
and shall be punished by disease (v. 1-8). After explaining some
advice of his earlier letter (v. 9-13), he goes on to rebuke a third
abuse--_litigation_ between Christians in pagan law-courts. The love
of law-suits was mischievous in itself, as involving a breach of
Christian brotherhood. It was also scandalous in its effects, as
exposing the bickerings of the disciples of Christ to the ridicule of
unbelievers. A stern rebuke of vice follows (vi. 1-11). Then comes an
indignant and lofty argument against fornication, which is a defilement
of the temple of the Holy Ghost (vi. 12-20).

St. Paul now turns to the various questions that the Corinthians have
asked him. He first gives some advice about _matrimony_, carefully
distinguishing between statements which he makes on his own authority,
and rules laid down by Christ, and also between counsels of perfection
and the obligations of ordinary Christians. It is excellent to lead a
single life, b