Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of 1 Corinthians 15:31
I protest by your rejoicing which I have in Christ Jesus our Lord, I die daily.
31. I protest by your rejoicing ] The word here rendered rejoicing is translated boasting in Rom 3:27, and less correctly whereof I may glory in Rom 15:17. It may mean either (1) that St Paul boasted of the fruits of faith in his Corinthian converts, or better (2) that their boasting in Christ was also his by reason of their common indwelling in Jesus Christ, Whom he had been permitted to minister to them. Cf. 1Co 1:14; 1Co 3:3. He makes this asseveration, because it was to that daily death of his (ch. 1Co 4:9-13) that they owed their conversion.
I die daily ] Cf. Rom 6:3-4; Rom 6:11; Rom 7:24; Rom 8:13; Rom 8:36; 2Co 1:9 ; 2Co 4:10-12; Gal 2:20; Gal 5:24; Gal 6:14; Col 2:20; Col 3:3; Col 3:5. The death of Christ was a death to sin, a death which must be imitated in His disciples by their putting all the sinful affections of their bodies to a lingering death. But such a task they would never be likely to undertake, but for the prospect of a Resurrection.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
I protest – ( ne). This is a particle of swearing, and denotes a strong asseveration. The subject was important; it deeply interested his feelings; and he makes in regard to it a strong protestation; compare Joh 3:5. I solemnly affirm, or declare.
By your rejoicing – Many manuscripts here read by our rejoicing, but the correct reading is doubtless that which is in the present Greek text, by your rejoicing. The meaning of the phrase, which is admitted by all to be obscure, is probably, I protest, or solemnly declare by the glorying or exultation which I have on your account; by all my ground of glorying in you; by all the confident boasting and expectation which I have of your salvation. He hoped for their salvation. He had labored for that. He had boasted of it, and confidently believed that they would be saved. Regarding that as safe and certain, he says it was just as certain that he died daily on account of the hope and belief of the resurrcction. By our hopes and joys as Christians; by our dearest expectations and grounds of confidence I swear, or solemnly declare, that I die daily. People swear or affirm by their objects of dearest affection and desire; and the meaning here is, So certainly as I confidently expect your salvation, and so certainly as we look to eternal life, so certain is it that I am constantly exposed to die, and suffer that which may he called a daily death.
Which I have in Christ Jesus – The rejoicing, boasting, glorying in regard to you which I am permitted to cherish through the grace and favor of the Saviour. His boasting, or confident expectation in regard to the Corinthians, he enjoyed only by the mercy of the Lord Jesus, and he delighted to trace it to him.
I die daily – compare Rom 8:36. I endure so many sufferings and persecutions, that it may be said to be a daily dying. I am constantly in danger of my life; and my sufferings each day are equal to the pains of death. Probably Paul here referred particularly to the perils and trials which he then endured at Ephesus; and his object was to impress their minds with the firmness of his belief in the certainty of the resurrection, on account of which he suffered so much, and to show them that all their hopes rested also on this doctrine.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
1Co 15:31
I protest I die daily.
I die daily
I. Inevitably–by the natural decay of nature.
II. Voluntarily–by self-mortification.
III. Experimentally–by a growing indifference to the world.
IV. Believingly–in hope of a better life. (J. Lyth, D.D.)
I die daily
1. Deposit my soul in Christs hands.
2. Resign the interests of earth.
3. Cultivate a closer communication with another world.
4. Realise death as the means of attaining my wishes.
5. Subdue the corruptions of nature. (J. Lyth, D.D.)
Dying daily
1. In a certain sense we all do this. The very moment we begin to live we commence to die. The whole of our life is like an ebbing tide.
2. Of some also this may be affirmed in a very painful and unhappy sense. They die daily because they feel a thousand deaths in fearing one. Through fear of death they are all their lifetime subject to bondage. They are afraid to die, and yet are so fascinated by death that they cannot take their eyes from off it.
3. Paul used this expression in an heroic sense; every day he deliberately put his life in jeopardy for the cause of Jesus Christ. In these more silken days, we cannot run such serious risks. We know professors who cannot imperil their business or venture the breaking of some fond connection for the sake of Christ. Alas! many are ashamed of Jesus.
4. Our text we shall now take in a practical spiritual sense. Note–
I. Some previous necessaries for the practice of this art. The Christian–
1. Must be willing to die; for if he shall shrink at death, and covet life, it will be a miserable necessity to him that he will have to die one day. In order that a man should be willing to die daily he must be a saved man, and know it.
2. Must be even desirous of departure, and cheered with the hope of the better land. To an ungodly man, to die can never be a thing to be desired, for what remaineth to him after death? But to the believer death is gain.
3. Should have a good understanding, and a clear knowledge as to what death really is, and what are the matters that follow upon it. What is it to die? Is it to cease to be? Is it to part with every comfort? If so, we might indeed be excused if we shut our eyes to the dreary prospect. To die is nothing, but to be at once with Jesus in paradise.
II. Wherein it consists.
1. To consider every day the certainty of death. We are but strangers and sojourners; we are only right when we act as such. The Lord knowing that we should try to shake off the remembrance of death, has so helped us as almost to force us to it; by–
(1) The frequent departures of others. God rings the funeral knell in our ears, and bids us remember that the bell may next toll for us.
(2) The course of nature. Look at the year travelling from spring to winter, and the day from morning to night. Every flower blooms that it may wither.
(3) The premonitions of death in ourselves. What is that grey hair but the foretoken of the coming winter which shall freeze the life current? What are those aches and pains, that decay of the eyesight, that dulness of hearing, those tottering knees? Dont avoid these thoughts because they seem sombre; familiarise yourself a little with the grey tints of death, and they will brighten before your eyes.
2. To put your soul, by faith, through the whole process of death. Anticipate the final stroke, the upward mounting, the eternal beatific vision.
3. To hold this world with a very loose hand. Birdlime so much abounds. When a man wins a little gain it sticks to him. Our dear friends and children are all strong chains, binding our eagle-souls to the rock of earth. Ah, said one, as he was shown a rich mans ample house and luxuriant gardens, these are the things that make it hard to die. Our bereavements would not be half so sharp if we always viewed our friends as being lent to us. A man does not cry when he has to return a tool which he has borrowed. Rejoice to say, The Lord gave, and the Lord hath taken away, etc.
4. To test our hope and experience every day. Alas! for that evil habit of taking our religion for granted. Each day examine yourself whether you be in the faith. The man who is in a sound business does not object to overhaul his stock and examine his books; but the man to whom bankruptcy is imminent generally seeks to shut his eyes to his actual position.
5. To come every day, just as you did at conversion, to the Cross of Christ; and if you can always live as a lost sinner saved wholly by a precious Saviour, you are then fit to live and fit to die.
6. To take care to be always in such a place and state that we should not be ashamed to die therein. Hence, the believer has no licence to be found in places of ungodly amusement. The Christian, also, should never be in a state of temper in which he would be ashamed to die.
7. To have all our affairs in such a condition that we are ready to die.
(1) Whitefield would not go to bed until everything was in order, for he said, I should not like to die with a pair of gloves out of place; and yet I know some believers who have not made their wills, and if they were to die to-day a wife whom they love so well might be put to serious suffering.
(2) So should it be with all our acts towards God. Some of you have not yet fulfilled the Masters command with regard to baptism. Some of you have unconverted children, and you have not spoken to them about their souls.
III. Its practical benefit.
1. It will help us to live well. We should not be covetous and grasping if we knew that the heap would soon melt or we should be taken from it. We should not attach so much importance to trifles, if we felt that there were grander things close at our heels. If we saw our candle flickering in its socket, we should be far more diligent.
2. It will help us to die. No man would find it difficult to die who died every day. He would have practised it so often, that he would only have to die but once more.
3. The benefits of dying daily are commensurate–
(1) With the whole period of human existence. You young people would not be likely to plunge into youthful gaieties to your own damage, if you felt that you might die young. You men of middle age, how it would check you in that hasting to be rich, if you felt that you must soon be parted from it! And you who totter on a staff, nothing will keep you in holier or happier frame than to be always dying the death of Jesus that you might live His life.
(2) With every position. Is a Christian rich? he will not be purse-proud. Is he poor? He will not murmur, for he recollects the streets of gold. If he is seeking after knowledge, he will mingle with it the knowledge of Christ crucified. If he be toiling for a livelihood, he will seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness. Make a believer a king or a pauper, and the art of dying daily will help him in either position. Put him under every temptation, and this will help him, for he will not be tempted by the offers of so brief a happiness. Daily dying is as useful to the saint in his joys as in his griefs, in his exaltations as in his depressions. (C. H. Spurgeon.)
The Christians duty of dying daily
I. Show you what the duty is. To die once is a lot appointed for all; to die daily is a duty practised, a blessing obtained by few; most live as if they were never to die; because the day is evil, they put it far from them.
1. To die daily is to set death always before us as a change which will one day certainly come.
2. It is to be ready to meet death, as a change which may suddenly come.
3. To die daily is to wait for our change, as what we desire, were it Gods will, should come speedily (Php 1:23).
4. To die daily is to resign our souls solemnly into our Redeemers hands, as those who know not whether they have another day to live. To leave them with His faithfulness, love and care, who hath said, I will not fail thee, nor forsake thee.
II. Why are we to be found in the constant practice of it?
1. This redounds greatly to the glory of God. He is honoured by a lively frame and an upright walk. For the sons of God, and of glory, to live wholly strangers to death, or to be afraid of it; how does this sully their character and shame their profession!
2. It makes much for the establishment and consolation of other Christians. It greatly saddens the hearts of younger Christians to hear those that are going off the stage of life mourning and complaining, as if they were wholly in suspense as to their eternal state. Sure, were you to converse more with God, you would speak more for Him. What though your hopes for the present fail, the God of your hopes lives.
3. This is a frame which is highly beneficial to our souls.
III. How does the regular practice of this duty redound to the comfort of our own souls when death really comes?
1. They that die daily die comfortably, because by this means we make death familiar to us, and those we are well acquainted with we are but little afraid of.
2. Dying daily has a farther influence upon our comforts, because hereby we are weaned from the world, and all worldly enjoyments, and those things which we are weary of we are glad to leave behind us.
3. By dying daily our accounts are clearly stated between God and us; and what condemnation have we then to fear?
4. By dying daily we learn to look beyond death while we are looking at it; and all is peace and joy there for ever and ever.
I shall now close all with a few remarks.
1. How dreadful is it for them to think of dying who have not as yet begun to live.
2. The truest wisdom is to be prepared against the greatest danger; our everlasting all depends upon our dying well.
3. Unless we know Christ savingly we can neither die daily nor die comfortably. He is the Lord our righteousness, and our strength.
4. It is dangerous living, even for the Christian himself, without keeping his dying time ever in view; for a view of death is the greatest bridle upon indwelling sin, next to an immediate grant of mortifying grace from above.
5. Should we not make haste with our living work when we know not how soon our living time may cease?
6. Learn hence the excellency and sweetness of the Christians life. Interest in Christ makes life pleasant and death joyful. (J. Hill.)
Of dying daily
1. We must die while we live, in order that we may live when we die. We must habitually consider ourselves as mere strangers in this world, who are on pilgrimage to another. Our mortal life must be a daily death, in conformity with the sufferings of Christ.
2. This description of the Christians life on earth may seem to some repulsive. Remember this, then, that in the language of Scripture you are dead already. When born into the world you were dead in trespasses and sins; but now Ye are dead, and your life is hid with Christ in God. We are thus taught to look upon ourselves as dead to this world, from the moment we are brought into covenant with God.
3. But since, to each of us is allotted a longer or shorter period of sojourning therein, our condition may be fairly spoken of as a dying daily–i.e., we have to crucify the old man, those corrupt tempers and appetites which remain in us though we have been made regenerate, but which are at variance with the love of God. And this can only be done by a process slow and lingering, like that experienced by the victim on the cross. We cannot cast out the evil spirit at once; all we can do is to struggle with it, to keep every entrance by which it could gain admission fast and closed. We cannot destroy the noxious plant at once, but we may tear off each bud as it shoots forth. Yet, as all this is an anxious and a toilsome process, those who are engaged in it may be described as dying daily.
4. Now, it is not to be denied that religion, viewed as involving a continual struggle with our natural appetites, has something unattractive in it; and it seems hard at first to understand how her ways can be ways of pleasantness, and that all her paths are peace. But the question for persons to decide is, not whether they like the prospect of mortification and self-denial, but whether it is not far preferable to submit to any amount of suffering rather than, after spending a few short years in selfish gratification, to pass to death eternal? It is hard when the world invites, to renounce it; when Satan allures, to resist him; when the flesh tempts, to deny it; but if these, when yielded to, will keep me for ever from God, then I will fight against them all the day long, and, the Lord being my helper, they shall gain no mastery over me. It is hard to mortify the members; to say to the eyes, see not; to the ears, hear not; to the tongue, taste not; to the hands, touch not. But if these things place my soul in jeopardy, I will rule them with a rod of iron. It is hard to submit ones own will to Gods, but it were harder still to be shut out from His presence for ever.
4. Application: The first step towards dying daily is to establish within ourselves, practically, the feeling that we may die any day. Another step is to learn to discipline our earthly affections, by dwelling upon the thought that, though relations and friends are blessings for which it believes us to be very thankful, still they are only loans lent us by the Lord. And the same rule which applies to our earthly friends must be brought to bear on our worldly possessions. We must discipline ourselves to part with them by voluntary privations (1Co 7:29-30.) (F. E. Paget, M.A.)
Daily dying
There is a daily dying that is–
I. Inevitable. There is a daily dying of–
1. Our corporeal frame. In each human body the seed of death is implanted, the law of mortality is at work. There is decay with every respiration and heart-throb. The water does not more naturally roll towards the ocean, or a falling body gravitate towards the centre of the earth, than the human frame runs every moment to dissolution. This fact should teach us–
(1) That worldly-mindedness is an infraction of reason. What a monstrous absurdity it is to set our supreme affections upon objects from which we are departing every moment! No anchor can stop this ship of destiny. All Life Insurance offices recognise and act upon this fact. Every mans life is less valuable to-day than it was yesterday.
(2) That sorrow for the departed should be moderated. Their departure was but obedience to the resistless law of their nature, and that same law is daily bearing us whither they are gone. Why battle with destiny?
(3) That Christianity is an invaluable boon to mortals. It does two things–it teaches us that there is a future world of blessedness, and points us the way by which that blessed world is reached.
2. Our social world. We live not only with others but by them. But the social circumstances which feed our life are changing every day. The circle of the nursery in which we once lived is gone; the circle of the school and other circles in which we lived have broken up long ago.
3. Our mental motivity. The motives that influence us to action are elements of life, and they are constantly dying. A realised purpose has lost its motivity. Many of the loves, hopes, fears, romances, ambitions, which once formed much of our life, have been buried long ago in the ever-widening cemetery of the soul.
II. Optional. This death is of two kinds.
1. There is the criminal. In the depraved soul, sensibility of conscience, generosity of impulse, elasticity of intellect, freedom of thought, spirituality of feeling–the sinner is constantly murdering these, and their blood cries to heaven for vengeance. To be carnally minded is death.
2. There is the virtuous. The highest life of man is a daily dying to all that is mean, false, mercenary, unspiritual, and uncharitable. The apostle felt this when he said, I, that is my carnal self, am crucified with Christ; nevertheless, I, that is my spiritual self, live, etc., etc. (D. Thomas, D.D.)
On the utility of meditating on death
Such meditation–
I. Teaches us to value all earthly things aright, and perpetually corrects the fallacy of our calculations by reminding us of the period to which they apply; it discourages those schemes of injustice and ambition, the fruits of which are distant, by reminding us that that distance we may never reach.
II. Improves the mind–
1. By destroying in it trifling discontents, and by blunting the force of all the malevolent passions. Jealousy and hatred cannot coexist with the prospect of the last hour. It diminishes the importance of the offence we have suffered, awakens that candour which self-love has set to sleep, and makes us think, not of the trifling scenes which are past, but of the awful events which are to come.
2. It aggrandises the mind as the near approach of death itself is commonly accustomed to do; for men on their death bed often evince an heroism of which their lives have afforded little or no symptom, forgive injuries which should have been forgiven years before, faults which should have been rectified before half the race of life was run, confession of Christ who had been denied before the world. The distant contemplation of death leaves us greater time for godly actions–whatever seeds it casts into the mind may spring up and fructify.
III. Induces us to consider by what means we shall avert its terrors. Can we figure to ourselves anything more dreadful than a human being at the brink of death who has never once reflected that he is to die? Let us, then, in youth and strength gather a decent firmness for that trial.
IV. Opens up the prospect of eternity. In the contemplation of heaven the persecuted man figures to himself a state of rest; the poor, an exemption from want; the sick, health; the weak, power; the ignorant, knowledge; the timid, safety; the mean, glory; the parent looks for his lost child across the great gulph, and the widow for her husband; the soul lifts itself up to the great Author of our being who has sanctified and redeemed us by the blood of Christ.
V. Teaches us that the evil is not without its remedy. That through Christ we are become the lords of death, that the mere separation of matter and spirit is a pang of so short a moment that it is hardly a rational object of fear, that the real pang is the remembrance of a misspent life. If you think the accumulation of such thoughts is awful take care that they do not accumulate. Conclusion: The choice is, Shall we meditate voluntarily on death as a religious exercise, or shall we be haunted by the image of death as a terrific spectre? Shall we gain wisdom by meeting the danger, or shall we, like children, be bribed by the tranquillity of a moment to keep it off? The image of death follows the man who fears it, it rises up at feasts and banquets; no melody can soothe it; it is undaunted by the sceptre or the crown. All men suffer from the dread of death; it is folly to hope you can escape it. Our business is to receive the image, to gaze upon it, to prepare for it, to seek it, and by these means to disarm. (Sydney Smith.)
Gods gladiators
There is a well known picture which represents a band of gladiators who are going to fight in the Roman Amphitheatre; with shields lifted and bowed heads, they address the Emperor thus–Ave Caesar! Morituri te salutant (Hail Caesar! we are going to die, salute thee). And so they go to the hard fight which can only have one ending. St. Paul was thinking of such a scene (1Co 15:31-32). He would have us understand that we are all Gods gladiators sent into the arena of this world to fight, and that in that battle we must turn our eyes to Christ, and ever say, Hail, Master! we who are dying daily, salute Thee.
I. We must fight.
1. This world is one long battle to the Christian. It is the coward alone who yields without a struggle, who gives himself up as the slave of sin.
(1) Sometimes Gods gladiators are called to fight with wild beasts out in this busy world. The sins and temptations of society, the evil words and works of our fellow-men meet us.
(2) Sometimes the wild beast is caged within ourselves. It may be the lion of our angry, cruel temper, or of a proud rebellious spirit, or of an impure desire, or of a faithless, discontented thought.
2. And there is but one thing for us to do, we must fight or perish. Some of the hardest battles are fought by our bedside, or when we lie, like the sinful woman, prostrate in the dust, where Jesus wrote His words of pardon.
II. We must die.
1. Gods gladiators can only come out of the battle when death sets them free; they leave their bodies scarred by many a wound, to rest here on the battle-field of earth, but Gods angels bear their spirits to paradise. Every day we live we see a comrade falling in the ranks of battle, but still the Church marches on to victory; another fills his place. In the American war a wounded soldier heard the bugles of the enemy close at hand; weak as he was, he crawled out of the ambulance, and seizing a rifle, tried to march to the front. The doctor assured him that he was too feeble, and that the exertion would kill him. If I must die, said the soldier, I would rather die in battle than in an ambulance.
2. Happy are Gods gladiators who die fighting. There are signs and tokens all around to show us that we die daily. Read the dim writing of old letters, look at your book of photographs, turn tenderly to the dead flowers between the leaves of your Bible, or gaze on the picture which childish fingers coloured, what do they say to us? We understand now what these relics say to us, Behold, we die daily. The vacant places around us teach us that our place will one day know us no more, that we, like our brethren, shall pass to the land which has never been surveyed, and the great secret which is between God and His creatures. But not till our fight is over, and our work finished, man is immortal till his work is done.
III. We must ever look unto Jesus, who will raise up from the dead. (H. J. W. Buxton.)
Daily dying
We die daily. We are connstantly returning to the earth the materials we received from it. Every movement of our bodies, every exercise of thought and will, every muscular and nervous effort, is accompanied by a corresponding change in the structure of our frames–exhausts the vitality of so much brain, and nerve, and muscle. Every part of our body is undergoing a process of disintegration and renovation; constantly throwing off old effete matter, and constantly receiving deposits of new and living matter. Day and night, sleeping and waking, this ceaseless dying and ceaseless resurrection is going on with more or less rapidity; the river of life flows on changing its particles, but preserving the same form and appearance. In seven years the whole structure is altered down to the minutest particles. It becomes essentially a different body, though the individual still retains his original form and his personal identity unimpaired. (Scientific Illustrations and Symbols.)
Fuente: Biblical Illustrator Edited by Joseph S. Exell
Verse 31. I protest by your rejoicing] By your exaltation or boasting. Dr. Lightfoot understands this of “the boasting of the Corinthians against the apostle; that he considered himself continually trampled on by them; rejected and exposed to infamy and contempt; but that he took this as a part of the reproach of Christ; and was happy in the prospect of death and a glorious resurrection, when all those troubles and wrongs would terminate for ever.” Instead of , YOUR exultation or boasting, , OUR exultation, is the reading of the Codex Alexandrinus, and several others, with the AEthiopic, Origen, and Theophylact. This will lead to an easier sense: I declare by the exultation which I have in Christ Jesus, as having died for my offences, and risen again for my justification, that I neither fear sufferings nor death; and am daily ready to be offered up, and feel myself continually exposed to death. But the common reading is probably to be preferred; for your glorying is the same as glorying on your account: I profess by the glorying or exultation which I have on account of your salvation, that I anticipate with pleasure the end of my earthly race.
I die daily.] A form of speech for, I am continually exposed to death. The following passages will illustrate this. So Philo, p. 990. Flaccus, who was in continual fear of death, says: ‘ , , , ‘ “Every day, rather every hour, I anticipate death; enduring many deaths before that last one comes.” So Libanius, speaking of his own miseries and those of the people of Antioch, epist. 1320, page 615, says: “Though living, we are dead.” Livy has a similar form of expression to signify continual danger, xxix. 17: Quotidie capitur urbs nostra, quotidie diripitur. “Daily is our city taken, daily is it pillaged.”
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
What is meant here by your rejoicing which I have, is something doubted; some understanding it of the apostles rejoicing in them as believers, whom he had been an instrument to convert, and bring home to Christ; others, of their rejoicing in him (which seems not probable, many of them so much despising and vilifying him): others understand it of their glorying against him, and triumphing over him, and that this was one of his sufferings which he instanceth in, which he underwent in hope of a resurrection. The words are not an oath, (for here God is not called to witness), they are only an attestation. As the prophets sometimes call heaven and earth to witness, so here he calls their rejoicing to witness; and this rejoicing seems to be the joy of those who amongst them truly rejoiced in Jesus Christ, for which also he rejoiced daily, they being the seal of his apostleship. That which he solemnly affirms, is, that he died daily; not only was ready to die daily, but in the same sense that he elsewhere saith, he was in deaths often, and that they were killed all the day long; suffering such afflictions as were near akin to death, and led on to death, as their end.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
31. by your rejoicingbythe glorying which I have concerning you, as the fruit of mylabors in the Lord. Some of the earliest manuscripts and fathers read”our,” with the same sense. BENGELunderstands “your rejoicing,” to be the enjoyable stateof the Corinthians, as contrasted with his dying daily to givehis converts rejoicing or glorying (1Co 4:8;2Co 4:12; 2Co 4:15;Eph 3:13; Phi 1:26).But the words, “which I have,” favor the explanation”therejoicing which I have over you.” Many of the oldestmanuscripts and Vulgate insert “brethren” here.
I die dailyThis oughtto stand first in the sentence, as it is so put prominently forwardin the Greek. I am day by day in sight of death, exposed toit, and expecting it (2Co 4:11;2Co 4:12; 2Co 1:8;2Co 1:9; 2Co 11:23).
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
I protest by your rejoicing,…. Some copies read, “our rejoicing”; and so the Ethiopic version, which seems most natural and easy; since it follows,
which I have in Christ Jesus our Lord; who in him could rejoice and glory in afflictions and sufferings, which he endured as a preacher of the Gospel for his sake; and which being certain and evident, and what might be depended upon, he makes a protestation by it, saying,
I die daily; which is to be understood, not in a spiritual sense of dying unto sin; he was dead unto sin, as to its damning power, through the death of Christ, and as to its governing power, through the Spirit and grace of Christ, but still it was living and dwelling in him; but in a corporeal sense: he instances in himself in particular, who was one that was in jeopardy or danger of his life every hour; he always bore in his body the dying of the Lord Jesus, and was continually delivered to death for Jesus’ sake; death was always working in him, he expected it every day, and was ready for it; he did not count his life dear unto himself, but was very willing to lay it down for the sake of Christ and his Gospel; which he would never have done, if he had not good reason to believe the doctrine of the resurrection of the dead.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
I protest by that glorying in you ( ). No word for “I protest.” Paul takes solemn oath by the use of (common in Attic) with the accusative. Only here in N.T., but in LXX (Ge 42:15f.). For other solemn oaths by Paul see 2Cor 1:18; 2Cor 1:23; 2Cor 11:10; 2Cor 11:31; Rom 9:1. For see on 1Th 2:19. The possessive pronoun () is objective as in 1Co 11:24.
I die daily (‘ ). I am in daily peril of death (2Cor 4:11; 2Cor 11:23; Rom 8:36).
Fuente: Robertson’s Word Pictures in the New Testament
I protest, etc. I protest is not expressed, but merely implied, in the particle of adjuration, nh by. The order of the Greek is noteworthy. I die daily, by your rejoicing, etc.
Your rejoicing [ ] . Rev., better, that glorying in you which I have. Paul would say : “You Corinthian Christians are the fruit of my apostolic labor which has been at a daily risk to life; and as truly as I can point to you as such fruit, so truly can I say, ‘I die daily.” ‘ I die daily. I am in constant peril of my life. Compare 2Co 4:11; 2Co 11:23; Rom 8:36. So Clytaemnestra : “I have no rest by night, nor can I snatch from the day a sweet moment of repose to enfold me; but Time, ever standing over me, was as a jailer who conducted me to death” (Sophocles, “Electra,” 780, 781). And Philo : “And each day, nay, each hour, I die beforehand, enduring many deaths instead of one, the last.”
Fuente: Vincent’s Word Studies in the New Testament
1) “I protest” (kath) Paul protested the resurrection rejecting gnosticism of unbelieving Jews and Greeks; To him the joy in Christian hope and the moral and ethical changes for God and good in lives of Christians validated the gospel witnesses.
2) “By your rejoicing which I have in Christ Jesus our Lord. (ne ten humeteran kauchesan adelphoi) “`By your boasting, brethren” (hen echo en christo iesou to kurio hemon) “Which I have in Christ Jesus our Lord.” Paul shared with the Corinth Christians a joy in Christ that he never had in Phariseeism or unbelief.
3) “I die daily.” (hemeran apothnesko) “Daily I die.” With joy, Paul exposed himself daily to execution in Ephesus, as he preached the good news of salvation, involving the resurrection and baptism, a picture of its proclaimed hope, at the peril of death, 2Co 4:10; 2Co 11:23; Rom 8:36.
Fuente: Garner-Howes Baptist Commentary
31. I die daily Such a contempt of death he declares to be in himself, that he may not seem to talk bravely when beyond the reach of danger. “I am every day,” says he, “incessantly beset with death. What madness were it in me to undergo so much misery, if there were no reward in reserve for me in heaven? Nay more, if my glory and bliss lie in this world, why do I not rather enjoy them, than of my own accord resign them?” He says that he dies daily, because he was constantly beset with dangers so formidable and so imminent, that death in a manner was impending over him. A similar expression occurs in Psa 44:22, and we shall, also, find one of the same kind occurring in the second Epistle. (2Co 11:23.)
By our glory. The old translation reads propter, (because of,) (75) but it has manifestly arisen from the ignorance of transcribers; for in the Greek particle (76) there is no ambiguity. It is then an oath, by which he wished to arouse the Corinthians, to be more attentive in listening to him, when reasoning as to the matter in hand. (77) “Brethren, I am not some philosopher prattling in the shade. (78) As I expose myself every day to death, it is necessary that I should think in good earnest of the heavenly life. Believe, therefore, a man who is thoroughly experienced.”
It is also a form of oath that is not common, but is suited to the subject in hand. Corresponding to this was that celebrated oath of Demosthenes, which is quoted by Fabius, (79) when he swore by the Shades of those who had met death in the field of Marathon, while his object was to exhort them to defend the Republic. (80) So in like manner Paul here swears by the glory which Christians have in Christ. Now that glory is in heaven. He shows, then, that what they called in question was a matter of which he was so well assured, that he was prepared to make use of a sacred oath — a display of skill which must be carefully noticed.
(75) The rendering in Wiclif (1380) is — for youre glorie. — Ed.
(76) The particle νὴ, made use of in solemn protestation. — Ed.
(77) “ Veu qu’il parloit a bon escient, ayant luy-mesme les mains a la besongne, ainsi qu’ on dit;” — “Inasmuch as he spoke in good earnest, having himself his hands in the work, as they say.”
(78) “ Quelque Philosophe qui triomphe de dire, estant loin de la prattique;” — “Some Philosopher, that talks loftily, while far from the scene of action.”
(79) “ Lequel Quintilian allegue;” — “Which Quintilian quotes.”
(80) “ Quid denique Demosthenes? non illud jusjurandum per caesos in Marathone ac Salamine propugnatores reipublicae, satis manifesto docet, praeceptorem ejus Platonem fuisse ?” — “What in fine as to Demosthenes? Does not that celebrated oath by these defenders of the Republic who were slain at Marathon and Salamis, afford ample evidence, that Plato was his preceptor?” Quinctilian, (Edin. 1810,) volume 2. The celebrated oath of the Grecian orator referred to, was in these terms — νὴ τοὺς ἐν Μαράθωνι πεπτωκοτας “By those who fell at Marathon.” — Ed.
Fuente: Calvin’s Complete Commentary
(31) I protest by your rejoicing which I have in Christ Jesus.Better, I protest by your boast which I have in Christ Jesus. His converts are his boasting (2Co. 9:3), and by the fact that they are his in the Lord, he utters the solemn assertion, I die daily. Such a life as St. Pauls, both as regards the spiritual battles in his own soul and the ceaseless conflict with enemies around him, was indeed a daily dying (2Co. 11:23-28).
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
31. By your rejoicing Rather, by the boasting of you which I have. He not only affirms his daily death, but he protests it by that which was both its cause and its compensation, his triumph in the conversion of the Corinthians.
Die daily In the purpose of my enemies, and in the just apprehension of my own mind. But God gave him as many lives as his persecutors gave him deaths.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
1Co 15:31. I protest by your rejoicing. “I protest by your joys, which I do so cordially take part in that I may call them my own.”
Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke
1Co 15:31 . ] I am occupied with dying , am a moribundus . See Bernhardy, p. 370, and van Hengel. Strong way of denoting the deadly peril with which he sees himself encompassed daily. Comp. 2Co 4:11 ; 2Co 11:23 ; Rom 8:36 , and the parallel passages in Wetstein. The perfect , as in Eur. Hec. 431, would have been still stronge.
] a very frequent term of asseveration in classical writers (in the New Testament only here), always with the accusative of the person or thing by which the asseveration is made (Khner, II. p. 396). By your boasting, which I have in Christ, i.e. as truly as I boast myself of you in my fellowship with Christ, in the service of Christ. Comp. Rom 15:17 . The boasting, which takes place on the part of the apostle, is conceived of by him as a moral activity, which belongs to him. Comp. the opposite , , and the like, Ellendt, Lex. Soph. I. p. 732.
] is to be understood objectively (Matthiae, p. 1032; Mtzner, ad Antiph. p. 221; Khner, II. 627, A. 6). Comp. 1Co 11:24 ; Rom 11:31 . The expression brings out more strongly the reference to the person (as truly as ye are the subject of my boasting). The Corinthians, whose subsistence as a church is an apostolic boast for Paul, can testify to himself what deadly perils are connected with his apostolic work. He thus guards himself against every suspicion of exaggeration and bragging. The asseveration does not serve to introduce what follows (Hofmann), since that does not come in again as an assertive declaration, but in a conditional form.
Fuente: Heinrich August Wilhelm Meyer’s New Testament Commentary
DISCOURSE: 1993
DYING DAILY
1Co 15:31. I protest by your rejoicing which I have in Christ Jesus our Lord, I die daily.
THERE were many in the apostolic age who denied the resurrection of the dead [Note: ver. 12.]. St. Paul, in opposition to them, maintained the truth of that doctrine. In confirmation of his word, he asserted that he himself, no less than the other Apostles, had seen the Lord Jesus Christ in his risen state; and that, consequently, there must be a resurrection of the dead; more especially because the Lord Jesus did not rise as a mere individual, but as the head and forerunner of his people, even as the first-fruits before the harvest. He then appeals to his adversaries themselves, whether, upon any other hypothesis than that of a resurrection to a future life of blessedness and glory, it would be possible to account for the conduct of himself and all his fellow Apostles and fellow Christians; all of whom so readily encountered the severest trials that men could endure in this world, in the hope and prospect of approving themselves to God, and of being approved by Him in the day of judgment? What shall they do who are baptized for the dead, that is, in the room of the dead, like soldiers filling up the ranks of those who have been cut off, if the dead rise not at all? Why are they then baptized for the dead? and why stand we in jeopardy every hour? Then, for their conviction, he protests most solemnly before God, that this was his own experience, and that he died daily.
In considering these words, I will notice,
I.
The Apostles experience
He here declares the daily habit of his mind,
1.
As the fruit and consequence of the persecutions he suffered
[The Apostle preached the Gospel with great plainness of speech. By this he gave offence to multitudes, both of Jews and Gentiles, who with implacable animosity sought his life. He had not preached the Gospel many days before his enemies conspired to destroy him; and necessitated him, for the preservation of his life, to be let down in a basket from the battlements of a walled city. From that time he was in continual danger, never knowing but that the address he was delivering would prove his last. Truly, he was in deaths oft [Note: 2Co 11:23.]; and like a sheep appointed for the slaughter [Note: Rom 8:36.]; or like the gladiators, who were to engage in renewed combats till they died [Note: 1Co 4:9.]. In truth, he was regarded only as the filth of the world, and as the off-scouring of all things; fit only to be sacrificed for the pacifying of a dmon, or for the removal of a common plague [Note: 1Co 4:13.]. Thus he was in jeopardy every hour of his life [Note: ver 30.]; and, as he expresses it in my text, he died daily.]
2.
As wrought and cherished in his own soul
[It is plain that this also is included in the expression before us; and that it forms, in fact, the very jet of his argument. I protest, says he that, as I am daily exposed to death for my ministrations, so I willingly submit to it in an assured prospect that I shall be recompensed at the resurrection of the just. He knew that, independently of his persecutions, his life was very uncertain, and that he could not call a day or an hour his own: and the murderous cruelty of his enemies rendered his continuance in life still more precarious. But he was willing to die at any time, and in any way, for his Masters sake [Note: Act 20:24; Act 21:13.]: yea, he desired to depart, and to be with Christ, as far better than any thing he could attain in this life [Note: Php 1:23.]; and he accounted every moment of his continuance in the body as a privation of blessedness in the immediate presence of his Lord [Note: 2Co 5:6-8.]. He knew, that, at the very instant of his departure from the body, he should behold his Lord face to face [Note: 1Co 13:12.]; and, that, at the day of judgment, his body also should be raised to meet the Lord in the air, and to be for ever with the Lord [Note: 1Th 4:17.]: and, under this conviction, he looked upon martyrdom itself as a ground of cordial self-congratulation and joy [Note: Php 2:17-18.].]
This subject derives peculiar importance from,
II.
The solemn manner in which he affirmed it
He takes for granted that those, whom he addressed, rejoiced in Christ Jesus, even as he did: and he protests by their rejoicing, as well as by his own [Note: I think the marginal translation of our instead of your, decidedly preferable.], that this was indeed his experience from day to day. And from this protest we learn,
1.
That this experience is not common
[No, in truth: it is very rare even among those who profess godliness. That there is no such persecution now, as existed in the apostolic age, is certain; and, consequently, the preachers of the Gospel exercise not their ministry so much at the peril of their life: but there is as much need of zeal now as ever: and the servants of God are as much bound to be faithful in the discharge of their duty as ever; and they must be as ready to sacrifice their lives in the cause of their Divine Master as ever. There is to be no difference in these respects between the Apostles and us. If not called to endure the same trials as they, we must be willing to endure them, if called to it: and if we love our lives in comparison of Him and his glory, we shall lose our souls for ever.
As to looking forward to a longer stay on earth, we are no more entitled to indulge such a conceit than the Apostles were; for we know not what a day or an hour may bring forth. And it is our privilege to be anticipating the blessedness of heaven as much as it was theirs. We should count death amongst our treasures: and be looking for, and hasting unto, the coming of the day of Christ, quite as much as they did in their devoutest frames
But is this a common attainment? Would to God it were! But the generality of Christians put the day far from them, as though it were to be dreaded, rather than desired: and even the more godly amongst us live far below their privileges in this respect.]
2.
That, however, it ought to be found in all who believe in Christ
[He takes for granted, that all true Christians rejoice in Christ. And truly this is a distinctive character of them: and the man who has not in himself this evidence of his relation to Christ, has no sufficient reason to think that he belongs to Christ [Note: Php 3:3.]. But, supposing that we are really Christs, then should the Apostles experience be ours: and so palpably should it be ours, that we should be able to join in the asseveration of St. Paul, and say, I protest, by my rejoicing in Christ, and as I hope to rejoice in him in a better world, I am dying daily: I am crucified to the world, and to all things in it: and I am, in the constant habit of my mind, like a dying man, expecting and preparing for my speedy dissolution, and anticipating with joy the blessedness that awaits me. Beloved brethren, if ye be Christians indeed, this is the experience which you are to aspire after; this is the experience which ye are bound to attain.]
3.
That the existence of this, in the Lords people, is a strong presumptive proof of a future resurrection
[A few enthusiasts may be supposed to be carried forward to strange excesses of zeal, even in a bad cause. But to act and suffer as the Apostles did, could not be general amongst pious Christians, if they were not animated by a hope beyond the grave: and their conduct in this world, if it prove not the certainty of a future resurrection, proves, beyond a doubt, the full persuasion of their minds respecting it. In truth, nothing but this expectation could carry persons on to such high attainments: and, on the other hand, there is nothing which those who are persuaded of it will not gladly do and suffer in the prospect of such happiness and glory.
Certify then yourselves, brethren, that there is indeed a future state; and labour, by the conformity of your lives to that of the holy Apostle, to shew that you are borne up, by the hope of it, far above all that the world can give, and above all that the most inveterate enemy can inflict.]
Tell me now, whether the Christian be not,
1.
A happy man?
[As rejoicing in Christ, he must of necessity be happy. Nor is he less so in his superiority to all the things of time and sense. In truth, the only way to live happily is to die daily. Be it so: he is an object of hatred and persecution amongst men: but he is beloved of God, and enjoys God; and is even led to anticipate more the blessedness of heaven by the very sufferings which he endures on earth. When God therefore gives him such quietness, who can make trouble? Verily none can harm him, seeing that he is thus a follower of that which is good.]
2.
A man worthy to be imitated by all around him?
[The poor, wretched, ignorant world run from vanity to vanity in pursuit of pleasure; and never find it. The Christian follows after righteousness; and happiness waits on him, even as the shadow of his body. To him every thing is a source of good: adversity itself comes to him as a blessing in disguise; and in his afflictions he tastes nothing but love. Seek then, my brethren, to rejoice in Christ; and then shall all the Christians blessedness be yours.]
Fuente: Charles Simeon’s Horae Homileticae (Old and New Testaments)
31 I protest by your rejoicing which I have in Christ Jesus our Lord, I die daily.
Ver. 31. By our rejoicing ] i.e. By our infirmities, afflictions, wherein he so much glorieth, 2Co 11:23-33 ; 2Co 12:1-10 , as an old soldier doth of his scars. As if the apostle should say, I appeal to all those miseries that I have suffered among you for a testimony.
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
31. ] To die daily is a strong expression for to be daily in sight of death and expecting it. See 2Co 4:11 .
This he strengthens by an asseveration, grounded on his boast of them as his work in Christ: not that this is immediately or proximately at stake in the matter, but much as we should say, “As I love you, it is true.” He would not think of deceiving those of whom he boasted before God in connexion with Christ.
.] gen. obj., see reff. , the affirmative, as is the negative particle of adjuration: but is often found in an affirmative sense: see Khner, 701.
Fuente: Henry Alford’s Greek Testament
1Co 15:31-32 a . In no slight jeopardy do P. and his comrades stand; for his part he declares, “Daily I am dying ; my life at Ephesus has been that of a combatant with wild beasts in the arena for what end , if there is no resurrection?” With cf. 2Co 4:10 ; 2Co 11:23 , Rom 8:36 ; referring to his present “affliction in Asia,” P. writes in 2Co 1:8 f., “We have had the sentence of death in ourselves”. Ed [2436] softens the expression into “self-denial, dying to self and the world”: better Cv [2437] , “obsideor assiduis mortibus quotidie”; and Gd [2438] , “Not a day, nor an hour of the day, when they might not expect to be seized and led out to execution” . [2439] . had not been in this extreme peril at Cor [2440] (see Act 18:9 f.), and his readers might think the description overdrawn; so he exclaims, . . . .: “Yea, by the glorying over you, brothers, which I have in Christ Jesus our Lord!” cf. the protests of 2 Cor. 2:18, 23; 2Co 11:10 f., 2Co 11:31 , Rom 9:1 . He protests by this as by that which is dearest to him: cf. 1Co 1:4 ff., 1Co 4:14 , 2Co 7:3 ; 2Co 7:14 ff.; similarly in 1Th 2:19 f., 2Th 1:4 , Phi 4:1 , etc. For this rare use of the pron [2441] , cf. 1Co 11:24 , . (and note), 2Co 9:3 . (= ) with acc [2442] of adjuration, a cl [2443] idiom. Paul’s “glorying” he “holds in Christ Jesus our Lord” ( cf. 1Co 1:7 ); it is laid up with Christ as a . (Phi 2:16 ; cf. Phi 3:8 ; Phi 4:3 ff. above, 1Th 2:19 , Col 1:4 , etc.). “If in the manner of men I have fought with wild beasts in Ephesus, what is the profit?” bears the stress, “humanitus spe vit prsentis duntaxat” (Bg [2444] : cf. iii., 3 f.); seeking the rewards applause, money, etc. for which men risk their lives. Instead of these, P. earns poverty and infamy (1Co 4:9 ff., Phi 3:7 f.); if there is no “day of Christ” when his “glorying” will be realised, he has been befooled ( cf. 1Co 15:19 and note, Php 3:14 , 2Ti 4:8 ; Mat 19:27 ff., Luk 14:14 ; Luk 22:28 ff.). (from , to increase ; nearly syn [2445] with , 1Co 3:8 , etc.; or , Phi 1:21 ) signifies the consequent advantage accruing to P. from his fight; that it brings present moral benefit is obvious, but this is not the point ( cf. 1Co 9:24-27 ; see Ed [2446] ad loc [2447] , touching the diff [2448] of pagan and Christian morality). is probably figurative , though Gd [2449] , Weizscker ( Apost. Zeitalter , pp. 325 f.), McGiffert ( Christianity in the Apost. Age , pp. 280 f.), with some older expositors, take it that P. had been actually a in the Ephesian amphitheatre, despite his Roman citizenship. But no such experience is recorded in the list of his woes in 2Co 11 ; moreover it appears from Act 19:31-40 that P. had friends in high quarters at Eph., who would have prevented this outrage if attempted. Ignatius ( ad Rom ., v.; cf. ad Smyrn ., iv.) applies the figure to his guards, borrowing it probably from this place. The metaphor is in the strain of 1Co 4:9 (see note); cf. also Psa 22:12 ; Psa 22:16 , etc., and the use of in the Rev. In view of this last parl [2450] and of 2Ti 4:17 , Krenkel in his Beitrge , V., finds the “wild beast” of Paul’s struggle in the Imperial Power , which [2451] . thinks was already so designated “in the secret language of Christians” ( cf. 2Th 2:5 f.). But nothing in Act 19 indicates conflict on P.’s part with the magistrates of Eph. (and Lk. habitually traces with care his relations with Roman authorities); it was the city-mob , instigated by the shrine-makers, which attacked him; before the riot he had been probably in danger of assassination from this quarter, as well as from “the Asian Jews,” who set upon him afterwards in Jerusalem (Act 21:27 ff.). Bt [2452] observes the climax: , , .
[2436] T. C. Edwards’ Commentary on the First Ep. to the Corinthians . 2
[2437] Calvin’s In Nov. Testamentum Commentarii .
[2438] F. Godet’s Commentaire sur la prem. p. aux Corinthiens (Eng. Trans.).
[2439] Codex Porphyrianus (sc. ix.), at St. Petersburg, collated by Tischendorf. Its text is deficient for chap. 1Co 2:13-16 .
[2440] Corinth, Corinthian or Corinthians.
[2441]ron. pronoun.
[2442] accusative case.
[2443] classical.
[2444] Bengel’s Gnomon Novi Testamenti.
[2445]
[2446] T. C. Edwards’ Commentary on the First Ep. to the Corinthians . 2
[2447] ad locum , on this passage.
[2448] difference, different, differently.
[2449] F. Godet’s Commentaire sur la prem. p. aux Corinthiens (Eng. Trans.).
[2450] parallel.
[2451] Codex Mosquensis (sc. ix.), edited by Matthi in 1782.
[2452] J. A. Beet’s St. Paul’s Epp. to the Corinthians (1882).
1Co 15:32 b states in words of Scripture the desperation that ensues upon loss of faith in a future life: “If (the) dead are not raised (the Sadducean dogma repeated a sixth time), ‘Let us eat and drink, for to-morrow we die!’ ” . . . is rightly attached by the early Gr [2453] and most modern commentt. to the following clause. Paul is not drawing his own conclusion in these words, nor suggesting that the resurrection supplies the only motive against a sensual life; but he points out ( cf. 33 f.) the patent fruit of the unbelief in question. This is just what men were saying on all sides; the words quoted voice the moral recklessness bred by loss of hope beyond death. Gr [2454] and Rom. literature teem with examples of this spirit (see Wis 2:6 ; Herod., ii., 78, Thuc., ii., 53, and other reff. furnished by Ed [2455] ad loc [2456] ); indeed Paul’s O.T. citation might have served for the axiom of popular Epicureanism. Hn [2457] describes ancient drinking-cups, recently discovered, ornamented with skeleton figures wreathed in roses and named after famous philosophers, poets, and gourmands, with mottoes attached such as these: , , , (written over a skeleton holding a skull), . cf. our own miserable adage, “A short life and a merry one!”
[2453] Greek, or Grotius’ Annotationes in N.T.
[2454] [2455]
[2456] ad locum , on this passage.
[2457] C. F. G. Heinrici’s Erklrung der Korintherbriefe (1880), or 1 Korinther in Meyer’s krit.-exegetisches Kommentar (1896).
Fuente: The Expositors Greek Testament by Robertson
I protest, &c. = I affirm (a Greek particle used in affirmations) by the boasting concerning you. The pronoun “your” corresponds to the genitive, not of possession, but of relation. App-17.
Christ Jesus. App-98.
Lord. App-98. For this full title see Rom 6:23. daily. Greek. kath’ (App-104.) hemeran.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
31.] To die daily is a strong expression for to be daily in sight of death and expecting it. See 2Co 4:11.
This he strengthens by an asseveration, grounded on his boast of them as his work in Christ: not that this is immediately or proximately at stake in the matter, but much as we should say, As I love you, it is true. He would not think of deceiving those of whom he boasted before God in connexion with Christ.
.] gen. obj., see reff. , the affirmative, as is the negative particle of adjuration: but is often found in an affirmative sense: see Khner, 701.
Fuente: The Greek Testament
1Co 15:31. , I die) Not only by reason of the danger which was always set before him, 2Co 1:8-9; 2Co 11:23, but also by a continual dying itself [mortification.] This agrees with the whole discourse.- ,[140] , by your glorying, which I have in Christ Jesus our Lord) In swearing or making an asseveration, if a human being is appealed to, then that person is used, which is preferred as more worthy, and therefore sometimes the third, Gen 42:15-16.- , by the health of Pharaoh; sometimes the first, 2Sa 3:35.- , God do so to me and more also: comp. ibid. 1Co 15:9., but generally the second, 1Sa 1:26, , may thy soul live: ibid. 1Co 3:17, , God do so to thee, and more also. So Paul here appeals to the very enjoyable condition of the Corinthians, even as to spiritual life, in opposition to his own death, which he bore for [in order to give them] their glorying [rejoicing, Engl.] comp. 1Co 4:8; 2Co 4:12; 2Co 4:15; Php 1:26; Eph 3:13; and therefore he brings it forward to stir up the Corinthians themselves. They did not attend to this, who wrote for .[141] The first person indeed follows, , but in the singular number; and is to be referred not to , but to ; for so relatives are sometimes wont to be used, Gal 1:6-7; Eph 2:11; where that which is called circumcision is concrete, and there is added, however, in the flesh made by hands, which can only agree with the abstract, 1Ti 6:20-21; 2Ti 1:5. Paul shows that it is not without good cause that he dies daily, but that he is a partaker of the glorying of the Corinthians, 2Co 4:14.
[140] The vocative reckoned among the better readings in the margin of both Ed., and received by the Germ. Ver., is here thrown out.-E. B.
[141] is the reading BD () Gfg Vulg. is the reading of A, Orig. 2.710a.-ED.
Lachm. reads , with AB Vulg. But Tisch. omits it with D () Gfg Origen.-ED.
Fuente: Gnomon of the New Testament
1Co 15:31
1Co 15:31
I protest by that glorying in you, brethren, which I have in Christ Jesus our Lord,-He gloried in them as his children in Christ, and, in spite of their many defects, they were very precious to him. The very joy and gratitude worked by his thought of them recalls the peril he had endured for their salvation.
I die daily.-To die daily incurred the danger of death. [This is a vivid picture of his constant danger. Not that each day he actually dies, but that the process of death is ever going on; as though the executioner was already at work putting him to death.]
Fuente: Old and New Testaments Restoration Commentary
protest: Gen 43:3, 1Sa 8:9, Jer 11:7, Zec 3:6, Phi 3:3
your: “Some read, our.” 2Co 1:12, 2Co 2:14, 1Th 2:19, 1Th 3:9
die: 1Co 4:9-13, Act 20:23, Rom 8:36, 2Co 4:10, 2Co 4:11, 2Co 11:23
Reciprocal: 1Sa 20:3 – but a step Psa 44:22 – killed Psa 119:109 – My soul Mar 8:34 – take Luk 9:23 – daily Act 14:19 – supposing Act 21:13 – for 1Co 15:30 – General 2Co 1:14 – even 2Co 6:9 – behold 2Co 7:5 – without Phi 1:20 – whether Phi 2:1 – any consolation
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
1Co 15:31. I die daily is figurative, meaning that Paul was daily exposed to the danger of death because of his service to Christ.
Fuente: Combined Bible Commentary
1Co 15:31. I protest by that glorying in you which I have in Christ Jesus our LordGr. by your glorifying (as in 1Co 11:24; Rom 11:31),I die daily. By the joy and glory which I have in you as my children in Christ, I protest I am in daily peril for Jesus sake.
Fuente: A Popular Commentary on the New Testament
1Co 15:31-34. I protest by your rejoicing Greek, , by the boasting concerning you which I have, namely, on account of your faith in Christ Jesus our Lord. So the clause is interpreted by some critics. I die daily That is, I am daily in danger of death, for bearing testimony to the resurrection of Christ, and to a general resurrection through him. If, to speak after the manner of men That is, To use a proverbial phrase expressive of the most imminent danger; I have fought with beasts at Ephesus With the savage fury of a lawless multitude, Act 19:29, &c. What advantageth it me What have I gained by such sufferings; if the dead rise not? And I have nothing to expect after death. Let us eat and drink, &c. We might, on that supposition, as well say, with the Epicureans, Let us make the best of this short life, seeing we have no other portion to expect. Be not deceived By such pernicious counsels as this. Evil communications corrupt good manners He opposes to the Epicurean saying a well-known verse of the poet Menander. By evil communications, is meant conversation contrary to faith, hope, or love; or familiar intercourse with worldly and carnal people, which tends to destroy all holiness. Awake An exclamation full of apostolical majesty. Shake off your lethargy! To righteousness Evangelical and divine righteousness, flowing from the true knowledge of God, and implying that the whole soul be broad awake and watchful: the righteousness through which grace reigns unto eternal life, Rom 5:21; and sin not That is, and you will not sin, for sin supposes sleepiness or drowsiness of soul. There is need to press this; for some Among you; have not the knowledge of God With all your boasted knowledge, you are ignorant of what it most concerns you to know; I speak this to your shame For nothing is more shameful than sleepy ignorance of God, and of the word and works of God; to them especially, it was shameful, considering the advantages they had enjoyed.
Fuente: Joseph Bensons Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
I protest by that glorying in [concerning] you, brethren, which I have in Christ Jesus our Lord, I die daily. [Rom 8:36]
Fuente: McGarvey and Pendleton Commentaries (New Testament)
Verse 31
Your rejoicing; rejoicing on account of you.–I die daily; I am daily environed by extreme sufferings and alarms.
Fuente: Abbott’s Illustrated New Testament
15:31 I protest by your {p} rejoicing which I have in Christ Jesus our Lord, I die daily.
(p) As though he said, “I die daily, as all the miseries I suffer can well witness, which I may truly boast of, that I have suffered among you.”
Fuente: Geneva Bible Notes
Paul backed up this assertion with a kind of oath. He said he faced death daily just as he boasted about the Corinthians. In this epistle Paul was quite critical of his readers. Probably he meant that he boasted in their very existence as Christians rather than that he boasted to other churches about their behavior.