1 Corinthians — Chapter 10

Mine answer to them that do examine me is this . Those who ask about my Apostleship may take what I have said as their answer. So Anselm. But Chrysostom and Ambrose just as suitably refer this to the following verse. To examine or interrogate is a judicial term, and is purposely 200 FIRST EPISTLE TO THE CORINTHIANS, C. IX. used by S. Paul to point to the audacity of those who called in question his jurisdiction.

Have we not power to eat and to drink ? Viz., at your expense. This is the glory and defence of me and my apostleship, that it is gratuitous, unlike that of the false apostles. Notwith- standing I have the same right, the same power to look for means from you for my eating and drinking.

Have we not power to lead about a sister , a wife , as well as other apostles ? The Greek is aScXfjnjv ywaiica, which the Latin version turns mulierem sororem ; and Beza, Peter Martyr, Vatablus, and Valla render sororem uxorem . They argue from this that Paul was married, urging that, though the Greek word stands both for woman and wife, yet here its meaning is fixed to the latter by the term “lead about.” Men do not, they say, lead about sisters but wives. They mistake: 1. Christ led about women, not as a husband might a wife, but as a teacher is accompanied by disciples and handmaidens, who see to his necessities. Cf. Luke viii. 3. 2. It would be absurd to call a sister a wife, and the term sister would be superfluous. 3. The definite article is wanting in the Greek, which would be required if a certain woman, as, e.g y a wife, were designated. 4. It is evident from 1 Cor. vii. 8 that Paul was unmarried. This passage is explained at length in the sense I have given by Augustine (de Opere Monach . c. iv.), Jerome {contra Jovin . lib. i.), Chrysostom, Ambrose, Theodoret, Theophylact in their comments on the verse, and by other Fathers generally, except by Clement of Alexandria {Strom, lib. iii.). S. Jerome indeed says that, among the Apostles, Peter was the only one that had a wife, and that only before his conversion. Tertullian's words {de Monogamies) are : “ I find that Peter alone was a husband.” I say, then, that the phrase here is literally H sister woman,” and denotes a Christian matron who ministered to Paul's necessities from her means. We have a similar phrase in Acts xiii. 26, “men brethren,” i.e y Christian men. S. Paul says then that he might, S. PAUL AS A CELIBATE 201 if he so saw fit, lead about a matron to support him, as much as Peter; but he does not do so, because it might be a cause of of- fence to the Gentiles, whose Apostle he was, and might only cause evil surmisings. So Ambrose, Chrysostom, Theodoret, CEcumenius, Anselm. It may be said that Ignatius, in his letter to the Philadelphians, classes Paul among the married. Baronius (a.d. 57, p. 518) and others well reply that Paurs name was inserted there by later Greek copyists, to serve as an excuse for themselves being married. The oldest and best copies of the Epistles of S. Ignatius, including that of the Vatican and of Sfort, have not S. Paul's name. It may be said again that Clement of Alexandria (Strom, lib. iiL) understands this passage of a wife of Paul. I reply, firstly, that that is true, but that he goes on to say that after he became an Apostle she was to him as a sister, not as a wife, which is against the heretics, and in the second place that all the Fathers are against Clement. And the brethren of the Lord. Brethren is a common Hebraism for kinsmen. James, John, and Judas are here meant. So Anselm. And Cephas. Nay, as well as Peter, the prince of the Apostles and of the Church.

Who goeth a warfare any time at his own charges ? Just as it is right for soldiers to be paid and to live on their pay; just as it is right for a vine-grower to eat of the fruit of his vine, for a shepherd of the milk of the flock that he feeds, so is it right for the preachers of the Gospel to live of the Gospel, of their vineyard the Church, and of their flock, the members of Christ. The Apostle is beginning here to prove in various ways his right to receive payment for his preaching, that all after him might know that this is owing to preachers of the Word of God, and that he may show how unde- niable and how clear is the right that he has freely given up by refusing to receive payment out of regard to the Corinthians. He so acted in order that by this generosity of his he might draw them to Christ and help forward their salvation. I will summarise his reasons at ver. 12. 202 FIRST EPISTLE TO THE CORINTHIANS, C. IX.

Say I these things as a man t Do I prove or strengthen my arguments by human reasons merely, and by similitudes drawn from the life of the soldier, the vine-grower, the shepherd? By no means. Nay, rather I establish and fortify them from the law of God.

For it is written in the law of Afoses y &c. Deut. xxv. 4. The reason doubtless was that it was right that the animals who laboured should also eat. Hence God forbade that the mouths of the oxen that trod out the corn should be muzzled, to prevent them from eating of what they trod out It was the custom in Palestine, as it is now in some places, for the oxen to thresh out the grain by treading the corn-ears with their hoofs. That this is the literal meaning appears from the words in which it is enjoined on the hard-hearted Jews. It may be objected that the Apostle seems here to exclude this meaning, by saying, “Doth God take care for oxen?” Abulensis, commenting on Deut. xxv., says that the literal sense of the verse is twofold: (1.) It refers to oxen, as has just been said, but not principally; (2.) The sense which is uppermost and chiefly intended by the Holy Spirit is that given by the Apostle here when he speaks of preachers. God, he says, takes care for oxen in the second place, but for teachers in the first ; and therefore it is more the literal sense of the injunction that preachers should be maintained than that oxen should. But it is evident that the first only of these two is the literal sense. For the word ox denotes a preacher typically only, and not literally. Otherwise the literal sense would be wholly allegorical, which is absurd. For the lite- ral sense is that which is the first meaning of any sentence; the allegorical or typical is that which is derived from the literal As then the shadow of a body is not the body itself, so the typical sense cannot be the literal, but is merely shadowed forth by the literal The literal meaning therefore of the verse in Deuteronomy is that which I have given, but the mystical is that which is given by the Apostle, that preachers must be maintained, and that they are to 1 CLERGY SHOULD LIVE OF THE ALTAR 203 live of the Gospel, just as the ox is fed on what he treads out ; and since God’s chief care is for the former, the mystical meaning of the text is, as the Apostle says, the one that is uppermost Notice that it is a matter of faith that God takes care for oxen : for by His providence He cares for the sparrows (S. Matt x. 29), and for the young ravens that call upon Him (Ps. cxlvii. 9), and for all animals, as the Psalmist frequently says, and especially throughout Psalm civ. The Apostle means, therefore, that in this precept God’s chief care was not for oxen, but for preachers like S. Paul, who are like oxen in labouring and treading out the corn in the Lord’s field and threshing-floor, and are to be allowed to live of the GospeL

Or saith He it altogether for our sakes f For our sakes no doubt this is written. The argument is here, as so often in S. Paul’s writings, from the mystical, not the literal sense ; or rather it is an d fortiori argument from the literal to the mystical sense, thus : If the ox lives on what he treads out, much more may an Apostle live of the Gospel. CL Tertullian ( contra Marcion , lib. v. c. 7) and Theodoret (qu. xxL in Deut .). Observe here that, though the literal sense is the first in time, yet the mystical is the first in importance, and the one chiefly intended by the Holy Spirit. That he that ploweth should plow in hope. Just as those that plough and thresh do so in hope of being partakers of what is reaped and threshed out, so too the preacher may hope for support because of his preaching. Of this hope Ovid speaks ( Ep . ex Ponto , lib. i. vi. 30) : “ Hope it is that gives courage to the farmer, and intrusts the seeds to the ploughed-up furrows, to be returned with heavy interest by the kindly earth.” From this passage we may argue d fortiori that to work in hope of an eternal reward is an act of virtue, and that this act therefore is meritorious. Hence the Sorbonne, as Claudius Guiliandus testi- fies in his remarks on this passage, has defined as erroneous the proposition that “he that strives for the sake of a reward, and would not strive unless he knew that a reward would be given, 204 FIRST EPISTLE TO THE CORINTHIANS, C. IX. deprives himself of the reward.” The Council of Trent has the same definition (Sess. vi. can. 31).

If others be partakers of this power over you, are not we rather t The Apostle proves by six arguments that he and other ministers of the Word of God and the Church may receive their expenses from their flocks: (a) By the examples of the other Apostles (ver. 5); (b) by comparisons drawn from the practice of soldiers, shepherds, and agriculturists (ver. 7) ; (c) from the law of Moses (ver. 9); (d) from the example of the priests and Levites of the Old Testament, who lived on the sacrifices offered on the altar that they served (ver. 13); (e) from the ordinance of God and of Christ (ver. 14); (/) from the very nature of the case, from the positive command of God, as well as from the law of nature, which declares that, as payment is due to a workman, so is support to a minister of the Word, not as the price of sacred things, which would be dishonouring to them and simoniacal, but as what is necessary for them to fitly discharge their sacred functions for the people’s sake. Hence this support is owing to them as a matter of justice. So Chrysostom. Nevertheless we have not used this power t but suffer all things. We have not claimed our right to maintenance, but endure the utmost poverty, and undertake every kind of evil to relieve that poverty by working with our hands. Lest we should hinder the gospel of Christ. He would not receive money for his support, lest he should give occasion to covetous or injudicious men to hinder the Gospel and bring obloquy upon it. That there was no cause of offence given here by the Apostle, but that it was received from others, and that it was in him a work of supererogation to refuse to receive payment, appears from what has gone before, and from ver. 15, where he says, “It were better for me to die than that any man should make my glorying void.”

Do ye not know that they which minister about holy things live of the things of the temple t The priests and Levites partake of the victims offered, and the tithes and firstfruits. The Greek for “minister” is “labour.” The office of the priests was to SUPPORT OF THE CLERGY 205 labour at killing, cutting up, skinning, boiling, and burning the victims, all of which are laborious, and under other circumstances would be the work of butchers. And they which wait at the altar. He does not say, says S. Chrysostom, the priests, but they which wait at the altar, that we may see that constant attendance on sacred things is required from the ministers of the temple of Christ, who partake of the good things of the Temple. On the other hand, now-a-days, none are less often at the altar than some who derive the greatest profit from the altar and from tithes. These are condemned by the Council of Trent.

Even so hath the Lord ordained. S. Luke x. 7 ; S. Matt x. 10, 11, and 14.

For it were better for me to die than that any man should make my glorying void. His glorying has for its subject the preaching of the Gospel without charge, or his work of liberality, free grace, and supererogation, as is evident from ver. 18. It appears from this that it is an Evangelical counsel to preach the Gospel without charge, as is now done by some apostolic and religious men. So Theophylact, Theodoret, and Anselm. Cf. also Chry- sostom and Anselm. Observe that S. Paul does not speak of his glory but his glorying ; viz., that that he could make before God and before men, especially before the false apostles, who were held of great account and sumptuously maintained by the Corinthians. Cf 2 Cor. xi. 7, for similar “glorying.”

Woe is unto me if I preach not the gospel. It appears from this that strict injunctions were given to the Apostles (S. Matt xxviii. 19) to preach the Gospel and teach all nations, insomuch that, if they had neglected to do so, they would have sinned mortally. For on those that neglect this their duty he pronounces the woe of the wrath of God and of helL By the same injunctions all pastors, Bishops, and Archbishops are now bound. Cf chap. L 17.

For if 1 do this thing willingly I have a reward. That is, as Chrysostom, Theophylact, CEcumenius, and Anselm say, if I 2C6 FIRST EPISTLE TO THE CORINTHIANS, C. IX. freely preach without charge, I have not merely the reward given to a work that has been enjoined on me, as other Apostles have, but the exceeding reward of abounding glory given to a work not enjoined, but heroically undertaken by a soul that is of its own accord generous towards God. But if against my will Compelled by a command of God, or under fear of punishment. Willingly here denotes the doing a thing of one’s own motion, one’s own accord, and free will; un- willingly , the doing it under order, being moved and forced by the will of another. A dispensation of the gospel is committed unto me . I shall not have that supreme glory I spoke of, but neither shall I sin, because I fulfil my duty, and do what I am ordered. For this commission of preaching the Gospel was intrusted to me. But though I do not sin, yet I act as a slave, or as a steward in matters intrusted to his care, not of his own accord, but merely doing what he ought to do, because compelled to it by his Lord’s command. Cf. S. Luke xvii. 8. So the Fathers cited understand this passage, and that this is the meaning appears also from the context. Some explain it differently in this way : If I preach the Gospel willingly I have merit and reward, because of my own free will I fulfil the command of Christ ; but if I do it unwillingly, I fail to attain merit and reward, because I act under compulsion. A dis- pensation of the Gospel is committed unto me, and so by me, though unwilling, Christ’s Gospel is propagated, and others profit, though I do not. This seems to be the simple meaning of the words by themselves. This explanation is favoured by S. Thomas, Lyranus, and the Ambrosian commentary ; but the context requires the former sense.

What is my reward thent That glorious and supreme reward spoken of. Observe that reward is put by metonymy for merit, or for a heroic and meritorious work, that calls for a great reward. This work, he goes on to say, is to preach the Gospel without charge. From these words it is evident that not all good works are matters GRATUITOUS PREACHING 207 of precept, but that some are works of counsel and supererogation, and that such merit with God an illustrious crown of glory. So* S. Chrysostom, Ambrose, S. Augustine {de Opere Monach, . c. 5), and Bellarmine {de MonacJu lib. ii. c. 9). The other Apostles, being full of zeal for God, would as well as Paul have preached the Gospel freely, if they might thence have hoped for a greater harvest of souls, and greater glory before God. But this they might not hope for, for the faithful were generous to them, and the Jews devoted to them, and of their own accord they supplied their needs. Cf. Acts iv. 34. But Paul, as one outside the order and number of the twelve Apostles, called to the aposto- late after the death of Christ, had to gain a recognition of his authority, and he judged it useful to that end that he should preach the Gospel without charge. Moreover, the Corinthians, though rich, were covetous; and, therefore, Paul preached freely to prevent them from supposing that he sought their goods instead of them- selves ; but from the more generous Thessalonians and Philippians he accepted support. In short, Paul wished by this course of action to shut the mouth of the Jews, who hated him, and of the false Apostles. He says this indeed in 2 Cor. xi. 1 2. That I abuse not my power in the Gospel That I may not use my undoubted right and liberty to the detriment of the Gospel. Not that it really is an abuse to receive money for preaching the Gospel, but that it is the employment of a lesser good. Abuse is used here for use to the full \ as it is in chap. vii. 31. Cf a similar use of the word in S. Paulinus {Ep. ii.) It may be said that Ambrose here understands the word to mean literal abuse, which is sin, when he says : “They who use their right, when it is inexpedient to do so, or when another suffers loss, are guilty, and therefore sin." I reply that this is true when they can easily give up their right, and when others suffer great loss by their not yielding ; for charity then bids us give way. These conditions, the Ambrosian commentary seems to think, existed with Paul and the Corinthians. But the opposite is far more true. It was a very difficult matter 208 FIRST EPISTLE TO THE CORINTHIANS, C. IX. for the Apostle to yield his right of maintenance at the hands of the Corinthians, because by so yielding he had to spend nights without sleep, while he laboured with his hands to procure food for himself and his companions; while the Corinthians, who were numerous and rich, might easily have maintained him. Nor ought they to have taken offence at this, for the other Apostles were maintained by their flocks, and all law and reason say that he who labours for another should be maintained by him. The Apostle, therefore, wished to set a noble example of poverty, sincerity, and zeal, for the greater commendation and spread of the faith among those who were young in it, and the avaricious rich. But such a heroic work as this is not a precept, but a counsel of charity. Therefore, in the next verse, he says that in such matters he is free.

For though I be free from all men, yet have I made myself servant unto all I humbled myself to all things, even to want and hunger ; I accommodated myself to the weaknesses of all, insomuch that, when I saw the Corinthians slow and niggardly in their support of the Apostles, I refused to accept any payment from them, that I might gain all by condescending to their infirmity.

To them that are under the law , as under the law . To the Jews I became as one under the Mosaic law. This took place, e.g., says (Ecumenius, when he circumcised Timothy, when, after purifying himself, he went to the Temple, because he had a vow (Acts xxi. 26).

To them that are without law , as without law . To the Gentiles I became as though I followed nature only as my light and leader, as the Gentiles do. So CEcumenius, Theophylact, and Chrysostom.

I am made all things to all men. Not by acting deceit- fully or sinfully, but through sympathy and compassion, which made me suit myself to the dispositions of all men, so, as far as honesty and God’s law allow, that I might be able to heal the indispositions of all. Cf. S. Augustine (Epp. 9 and 19): “Not by lying, but by sympathy; not by cunning craftiness, but by large-hearted com- passion was Paul made all things to all men.” ALL THINGS TO ALL MEN 209 The Apostle does not sanction what men of the world wish for and do, viz., the accommodating ourselves through right and wrong to all men, feigning to be heretics with heretics, Turks with Turks, pure with the pure, and unclean with those that are unclean. This he condemns (Gal. ii. 11 etseq.). The advice of S. Ephrem ( Attende tibij c. 10) is sound : “ Have charity with all and abstain from all ;” and again the apophthegm of S. Bernard, which embraces every virtue : “Live so as to be prudent for yourself useful to others, pleasing to God.” S. Jordan, S. Dominick successor in the Generalship of the Order, used to say, as his life relates : " Jf I had devoted myself as closely to any branch of learning as I have to that sentence of S. Pauls, ‘ I am made all things to all men ,* I should be most learned and eminent in it. Throughout the whole of my life I have studied to accommodate myself to every one : to the soldier I was as a soldier , to the nobleman as a nobleman , to the plebeian as a plebeian ; and thus I always endeavoured to do them good in this way , while on the watch that I did not lose or hurt my soul while benefiting them.”

And this I do for the gospels sake , that I might be partaker thereof with you. That I may with other preachers receive, in due time, fruit of the Gospel that I have preached. The Greek denotes a partaker with others. Hence in the second place Chry- sostom understands “partaker thereof” to mean a fellow-sharer of the faithful in the Gospel, i.e., of the crowns laid up for the faithful. And Chrysostom rightly points to the wonderful humility of Paul, in putting himself on a level with even ordinary Christians, when he had surpassed not only the faithful, but all the other Apostles in his labours for the Gospel. Cf. 1 Cor. xv. 10.

Know ye not that they which run in a race run all \ but one receiveth the prize ? For this I preach the Gospel without charge , for this I am made all things to all men ; for this I labour, that I may obtain that best prize of ail, given to those who run in this race. As it is in a race, so is it in the Christian course : it is not all that run that receive the prize, but those only that run well and duly reach the appointed goal. I say duly, or according to the laws of the course which Christ the Judge has laid down for those vol 1. o 210 FIRST EPISTLE TO THE CORINTHIANS, C. IX. that run, and according to which He has promised the prize to those that run well When, therefore, one is mentioned, more are not excluded. For the Apostle does not mean to say, as Chrysostom well remarks, that only one Christian surpasses the rest, and is more zealous of good works, and will receive the prize; for a similitude does not hold good in all points, but only in that one which is expressed. The comparison here is that, as in a race he who runs well receives the prize, so in Christianity he who runs well will receive a crown of glory. And this is evident from what is added, “So run that ye may obtain ,” t.e., not one, but each one. Moreover, in a race it is often not only the first, but the second, third, or fourth who also receives a prize. Still the Apostle says one, not three or four, because he is chiefly looking at that glory and superexcellent reward given, not to all the elect, but to those few heroic souls that follow, not only the precepts, but also the counsels of Christ For he is looking to the prize which he is expecting for himself, in having been the only Apostle to preach the Gospel without charge, in having surpassed all the other Apostles in the greatness of his labour and his charity, in having become all things to all men. He says in effect: O Christians, do not merely run duly, that ye may obtain, but run most well and most swiftly, that you may carry off the first and most splendid prize of glory. It is a sluggish soul that says, “It is enough for me to be saved and reach heaven.” For each one, says Chrysostom, ought to strive to be first in heaven, and receive the first prize there. Some understand this passage to refer to the mansions or crowns and prizes prepared for each of the elect, and would read it, “ Let each so run that he may obtain his prize.” But this explanation is more acute than simple. Anselm again takes it a little differently. Heathens, heretics, reprobates, he says, run, but the one people of elect Christians receives the prize. But the Apostle is speaking to Christians only as running, and he urges them to so run that they may obtain the prize to which they are called by the Gospel of Christ THE CHRISTIAN RACE 21 1 So run that ye may obtain. I.e., obtain the crown of glory and the prize of victory. The allusion is to those that ran in the public games for a crown as the prize, with which they were crowned when victorious. Cf. notes to Rev. iii. 2. The word so denotes the recti- tude, the diligence, the swiftness, and the perseverance especially re- quired in order to win the prize. The course of Christ was marked by these qualities, that course which all ought to put before themselves for imitation. S. Bernard {Ep. 254) says: “ The Creator Himself of man and of the worlds did He , while He dwelt here below with men , stand still ? Nay , as the Scripture testifies , ‘ He went about doing good and healing all .' He went through the world not un fruit fully, care- lessly y lazily , or with laggard step , but so as it was written of Him , 1 He rejoiced as a giant to run his course .' No one catches the runner but he that runs equally fast; and what avails it to stretch out after Christ if you do not lay hold of Him ? Therefore is it that Paul said, * So run that ye may obtain There , 0 Christian , set the goal of your course and your journeying where Christ placed His . 1 He was made obedient unto death.' However long then you may have run, you will not obtain the prize if you do not persevere even unto death. The prize is Christ." He then goes on to point out that in the race of virtue not to run, to stand still, is to fail and go back. “ But if while He runs you stand still, you come no nearer to Christ , nay, you recede from Him, and should fear for yourself what David said, * Lo , they that are far from Thee shall perish.' Therefore, if to go forward is to run, when you cease to go forward you cease to run : when you are not running you begin to go back. Hence we may plainly see that not to wish to go forward is nothing but to go back. Jacob saw a ladder, and on the ladder angels, where none was sitting down, none standing still ; but all seemed to be either ascending or descending, that we might be plainly given to understand that in this mortal course no mean is to be found between going forward and going back, but that in the same way as our bodies are known to be continuously either increasing or decreas- ing, so must our spirit be always either going forward or going back."

And every man that striveth for the mastery is temperate in all things. Every wrestler, &c., refrains from everything that may 212 FIRST EPISTLE TO THE CORINTHIANS, C. IX. endanger his success, i. The allusion is to the Isthmian games, celebrated at Corinth in honour of Neptune and Palaemon, in which the victor was crowned with a pine-wreath. Of these games the poet Archias thus sings : — “ Four Argive towns the sacred contests see. And two to men, and two to gods belong ; Tove gives the olive, Phoebus sunny fruit, Palaemon poppy, and Archemorus the pine.” 2. There is consequently an allusion also to the athletes, the wrestlers, and boxers, who fought with their fists ; to the runners, who strove for the prize for speed ; to all who contested, whether with hand, or foot, or the whole body, for the prize. 3. Ail these abstained from luxurious living, and only lived on the necessities of life. This is what the Apostle alludes to when he says, is temperate in all things. Clement of Alexandria (Strom. lib. iil), following Plato (de Leg. lib. viii.), adds that they also re- frained from all sexual intercourse. For as lust weakens, enervates, and exhausts the body, so do continence and chastity strengthen the body, and much more the mind. S. Ephrem, too, in his tractate on the words, “ It is better to marry than to bum,” explains this abstinence from all things spoken of here to be abstinence from all lust. 4. The course is this present life, or each one’s state in the Church, and especially that of an evangelist ; the runner or wrestler is each Christian. Hence, S. Dionysius (de Eccles. Hierarch, cvii.) says that those who are baptized are anointed with oil, that they may understand that by this sign they are anointed to be Christ’s athletes, and are consequently called to fight a holy fight for faith and godliness. He adds that it is the practice, too, to anoint them when dead, as athletes perfected by death. He says : “ The first anointing called him to a holy fight ; the second shows that he has finished his course and been perfected by death.” 5. In this course and contest the antagonist is the world, the flesh, and the devil; the athlete’s diet is moderate food tempered THE RULES OF THE COURSE 213 with fasting ; the fight consists in the castigation of the body, and all the arduous offices of virtue, which are accomplished with a conflict, whether external or internal especially is the preaching and spreading of the Gospel such a fight ; and from such arises the victory over the world, the flesh, and the devil. The prize is the incorruptible crown of eternal glory for which Paul expresses his longing in 2 Tim. iv. 8. The punishment inflicted on the con- quered is rejection and eternal confusion (ver. 27). As the athlete, by abstinence, exercise, and toil, subdues and exercises his body, and prepares it for the race-course or the contest, that he may conquer by lawful and generous effort, and may obtain a corruptible crown, so much more to obtain the eternal crown do we Christians, and especially I, your Apostle, keep under and exercise my body by fasting, labour, and weariness, and so much more severely do I, as an athlete in the Divine contest, exact from myself all the offices of those that fight. I do this, lest my body lose the strength derived from continency and a hard life by luxurious living, and then dwindle down into the helplessness of a self-indulgent life. But as I have to fight against the world, the flesh, and the devil, let me rather imitate the athletes, and so conquer and be crowned. Come, then, O Corinthians, run with me in this course ; abstain not only from things offered to idols, because of scandal, but also from luxuries — from wine and lust — that you may gain the victory and carry off the prize. This exhortation to abstinence was occasioned by the question of idol- sacrifices, as I said at the beginning of