1 Corinthians 15:31

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.)

The Biblical Illustrator, edited by Joseph S. Exell (c. 1880s–1900s) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

1Co 15:31-34. I protest by your rejoicing — Greek, νη την υμετεραν καυχησιν ην εχω, 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.

Joseph Benson's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1811–1818) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

1Co 15:31. Ἀποθνήσκω, 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.—νὴ τὴν ὑμετέραν καύχησιν,[140] ἣν ἔχω ἐν Χριστῷ Ἰησοῦ τῷ Κυρίῳ ἡμῶν, 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.—νὴ τὴν ὑγίειαν Φαραώ, by the health of Pharaoh; sometimes the first, 2Sa 3:35.—τάδε ποιήσαι μοι ὁ θεὸς καὶ τάδε προσθείη, God do so to me and more also: comp. ibid. 1Co 15:9., but generally the second, 1Sa 1:26, ζῇ ἡ ψυχή σου, may thy soul live: ibid. 1Co 3:17, τάδε ποιήσαι μοι ὁ θεὸς καὶ τάδε προσθέιη, 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 ἡμετέραν for ὑμετέραν.[141] The first person indeed follows, ἣν ἔχω, but in the singular number; and ἫΝ is to be referred not to ὙΜΕΤΈΡΑΝ ΚΑΎΧΗΣΙΝ, but to ΚΑΎΧΗΣΙΝ; 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 ἀδελφοὶ reckoned among the better readings in the margin of both Ed., and received by the Germ. Ver., is here thrown out.—E. B.

[141] Ὑμετέραν is the reading BD (Λ) Gfg Vulg. Ἡμετέραν is the reading of A, Orig. 2.710a.—ED.

Lachm. reads ἀδελφοὶ, with AB Vulg. But Tisch. omits it with D (Λ) Gfg Origen.—ED.

Bengel's Gnomon of the New Testament — English translation (T&T Clark, Edinburgh, 1860) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

1Co_15:31. Ἀποθνήσκω] 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.

νή] 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 (Kühner, 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 μομφὴν ἔχειν, μέμψιν ἔχειν, and the like, Ellendt, Lex. Soph. I. p. 732.

ὑμετέραν] is to be understood objectively (Matthiae, p. 1032; Mätzner, ad Antiph. p. 221; Kühner, 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.

Meyer — Critical and Exegetical Commentary on the New Testament — English translation by Peter Christie, edited by Frederick Crombie (T&T Clark, 1880) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

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 καθʼ ἠμέραν ἀποθνήσκω 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, νὴ τ . ὑμετέραν καύχησιν κ . τ . λ .: “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 καύχησις 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 , τ . ἐμὴν ἀνάμνησιν (and note), 2Co 9:3 . νή (= ναί ) 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 καύχημα εἰς ἡμέραν Χ . (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?” κατὰ ἄνθρωπον bears the stress, “humanitus spe vitæ præsentis 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.). ὄφελος (from ὀφέλλω , to increase ; nearly syn [2445] with μισθός , 1Co 3:8 , etc.; or κέρδος , 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). ἐθηριομάχησα is probably figurative , though Gd [2449] , Weizsäcker ( 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 θηριομάχος 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 θηρίον in the Rev. In view of this last parl [2450] and of 2Ti 4:17 , Krenkel in his Beiträge , 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: κινδυνεύω , ἀποθνήσκω , θηριομαχῶ .

[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. Ép. aux Corinthiens (Eng. Trans.).

[2439] Codex Porphyrianus (sæc. 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] synonym, synonymous.

[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. Ép. aux Corinthiens (Eng. Trans.).

[2450] parallel.

[2451] Codex Mosquensis (sæc. ix.), edited by Matthæi 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!’ ” εἰ νεκροὶ κ . τ . λ . 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: τὸ τέλος ἡδονή , τέρπε ζῶν σεαυτόν , σκηνὴ βίος , τοῦτʼ ἄνθρωπος (written over a skeleton holding a skull), ζῶν μετάλαβε τὸ γὰρ αὔριον ἄδηλόν ἐστιν . cf. our own miserable adage, “A short life and a merry one!”

[2453] Greek, or Grotius’ Annotationes in N.T.

[2454] Greek, or Grotius’ Annotationes in N.T.

[2455] T. C. Edwards’ Commentary on the First Ep. to the Corinthians . 2

[2456] ad locum , on this passage.

[2457] C. F. G. Heinrici’s Erklärung der Korintherbriefe (1880), or 1 Korinther in Meyer’s krit.-exegetisches Kommentar (1896).

The Expositor's Greek Testament, edited by W. Robertson Nicoll (1897–1910) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

1Co_15:31

I protest by your rejoicing which I have in Christ Jesus our Lord, I die daily.

Paul solemnly assures his readers that he was constantly in jeopardy, for, says he, I die daily, i.e. I am constantly exposed to death, 2Co_4:10. By your boasting which I have. This is not the meaning, but, By my boasting concerning you. That is, as surely as I boast of you, and rejoice over you. The pronoun ὑμετέραν your, is to be taken objectively (as in Rom_11:31; comp. also 1Co_9:12) the boasting of which you are the object. Which I have in Christ Jesus, i.e. which I have in communion with Christ. It was a rejoicing which he, as a Christian minister, had over them as the seals of his ministry.

Charles Hodge — Commentary on Romans (1835), First Corinthians (1857), and Ephesians (1856) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

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 amongst you.

Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain. Text via Bolls.life.

by your rejoicing--by the glorying which I have concerning you, as the fruit of my labors in the Lord. Some of the earliest manuscripts and fathers read "our," with the same sense. BENGEL understands "your rejoicing," to be the enjoyable state of the Corinthians, as contrasted with his dying daily to give his converts rejoicing or glorying (Co1 4:8; Co2 4:12, Co2 4:15; Eph 3:13; Phi 1:26). But the words, "which I have," favor the explanation--"the rejoicing which I have over you." Many of the oldest manuscripts and Vulgate insert "brethren" here.

I die daily--This ought to stand first in the sentence, as it is so put prominently forward in the Greek. I am day by day in sight of death, exposed to it, and expecting it (Co2 4:11-12; Co2 1:8-9; Co2 11:23).

Jamieson, Fausset & Brown — Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

Verse 31. I protest by your rejoicing] Νη την ὑμετεραν καυχησιν· 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 υμετεραν, YOUR exultation or boasting, ημετεραν, 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: καθ' ἑκαστην ἡμεραν, μαλλον δε ὡραν, προαποθνησκω, πολλους θανατους ὑπομενων ανθ' ἑνος του τελευταιου· "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: ετι ζωντες τεθνηκαμεν· "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."

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

(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. Paul’s, 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).

A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

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.

The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Awake to righteousness, and sin not,.... The apostle represents the Corinthians as inebriated with bad principles and notions, and as fallen asleep, and as greatly remiss, and declined in the exercise of grace and discharge of duty; and therefore calls upon them to awake out of sleep, to watch and be sober, and attend to "righteousness"; to the justice of God, which requires the resurrection of the dead, and makes it necessary that men may receive the things done in the body, whether good or evil; for as it is a righteous thing with God to render tribulation to them that sin against him, and trouble his people; so it is but just, that those bodies which Christ has purchased with his blood, who have served him, and suffered for his sake, should be raised again, that, together with their souls, they may enjoy the happiness provided for them; and to the righteousness of Christ, to look unto it, lay hold on it, exercise faith upon it, desiring to be found in it living and dying; and to works of righteousness, to a holy life and conversation, a living soberly, righteously and godly; and not spend their time, and give up themselves to vain speculations and notions; which were so far from being edifying, that they were very detrimental to themselves and others. The Vulgate Latin version reads, "awake, ye righteous": for righteous persons, good men, the wise as well as foolish virgins, sometimes fall asleep, and need awaking out of it; which is done by one providence or another, or by the ministry of the word, and whenever to purpose, by the powerful and efficacious grace of God: the words may be rendered, "awake righteously"; or as the Syriac version reads, "awake your hearts righteously"; and as the Arabic, "with a due awaking"; that is, as it becomes you, and as it is just, right, and proper you should: "and sin not"; not that they could be, or that it could be thought they might be without sin in them, or without sin being done by them; but that they ought not to live a sinful course of life, which the denial of the resurrection led unto, or indulged in; or not sin by denying that doctrine, and giving themselves up to a vicious life in consequence of it:

for some have not the knowledge of God; are like the Gentiles that are without God, and know him not; they know not, or, at least, do not own the truth of God in his word, declaring and testifying the doctrine of the resurrection; they err in that point, not knowing the Scriptures, the sense of them, and this truth contained in them; nor the power or God in raising the dead, nor the justice of God, which makes it necessary that the dead should be raised:

I speak this to your shame; that there should be such ignorant persons in their community; that there were any of such bad principles as to deny the resurrection of the dead, and of such dissolute lives as to give up themselves to sensual lusts and pleasures: that such were continued in the church, kept company with, indulged and caressed; and that there was so great a corruption in doctrine, discipline, and conversation, among them.

John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

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.

John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

I protest - (νὴ nē). 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.

Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

By your glory.[2] He seems, especially by the Greek text, to call God to witness, and to protest by the reasons he has to glory or boast in their conversion, that his life is as it were a continual death. Other expound it, I die daily for your glory; or, that I may have reason to glory for the progress of the gospel. (Witham)

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[BIBLIOGRAPHY]

Morior per vestram gloriam, Greek: ne ten umeteran kauchesin.

George Leo Haydock (1774–1849), Haydock's Catholic Family Bible and Commentary, 1859 edition — public domain. Excludes Psalms (Douay-Rheims chapter numbering differs from Protestant) and Deuterocanonical books (Catholic canon only).

What is meant here by your rejoicing which I have, is something doubted; some understanding it of the apostle’s 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.

Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

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.

Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

I protest. The particle of adjuration here used (nh) is found nowhere else in the New Testament. By your rejoicing. This is an erroneous translation. The words mean "by my glorying in you." St. Paul"s one subject of earthly glory, his "hope, and joy, and crown of rejoicing," was the conversion of Churches. (Rom_15:16, Rom_15:17) In Christ Jesus our Lord. His boasting was not a worldly boasting, but was sanctifled by its reference to the work of Christ. I die daily. St. Paul "died daily" a double death the ever deepening death unto sin and unto the world; and the daily death of sufferings borne for Christ"s sake. (see 2Co_4:10, 2Co_4:11) It is the latter to which he here alludes. "For thy sake are we killed all the day long". (Rom_8:36)

The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

I protest by your rejoicing, which I have - Which love makes my own. I die daily - I am daily in the very jaws of death. Beside that I live, as it were, in a daily martyrdom.

John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.

I protest by that glorying in [concerning] you, brethren, which I have in Christ Jesus our Lord, I die daily . [ Rom_8:36 ]

J. W. McGarvey (with Philip Y. Pendleton), Commentaries on the New Testament (The Fourfold Gospel, 1914; Acts; and the epistles) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

31. I protest, … I die daily. I am in daily peril of death.

B. W. Johnson's The People's New Testament with Notes (1889–1891) — public domain. Electronic text from the Christian Classics Ethereal Library (CCEL) ThML edition.

Every day I face death!

Here "face death" represents knowing that he might die soon. He knew that some people wanted to kill him because they did not like what he was teaching.AT: "Every day I risk my life!" (See: Metaphor)

This is as sure as my boasting in you

Paul uses this statement as evidence that he faces death every day. AT: "You can know that this is true, because you know about my boasting in you" or "You can know that this is true, because you know about how much I boast in you"

my boasting in you, which I have in Christ Jesus our Lord

Paul boasted in them because of what Christ Jesus had done for them. AT: "my boasting in you, which I do because of what Christ Jesus our Lord has done for you" (See: Assumed Knowledge and Implicit Information)

my boasting in you

"the way I tell other people how good you are"

What do I gain ... if I fought with beasts at Ephesus ... not raised?

Paul wants the Corinthians to understand without him having to tell them. This can be a statement. AT: "I gained nothing ... by fighting with beasts at Ephesus ... not raised." (See: Rhetorical Question)

I fought with beasts at Ephesus

Paul is referring to something that he actually did. Possible meanings are 1) Paul was speaking figuratively about his arguments with learned pagans or other conflicts with people who wanted to kill him or 2) he was actually put into the arena to fight against dangerous animals. (See: Metaphor)

Let us eat and drink, for tomorrow we die

Paul concludes that if there is no further life after death, it is better for us to enjoy this life as we can, for tomorrow our life will end without any further hope.

translationWords

declare

boast

Christ

Jesus

lord

beast

Ephesus

die

raise

unfoldingWord translationNotes — © Distant Shores Media and the Door43 World Missions Community, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Source: git.door43.org/Door43/en_tn.

31. ὑμετέραν אBDEFG Vetus Lat. Vulg. Peshito. ἡμετέραν rec. with A.

ἀδελφοί אAB Vulg. Peshito. Rec. om. with DEFG Vetus Lat.

31. καθ’ ἡμέραν ἀποθνήσκω. I am daily dying. 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; 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.

νὴ τὴν ὑμετέραν καύχησιν. καύχησις is the act of rejoicing, καύχημα that of which we boast, or the boast itself. Here we may either (1) take ὑμετέραν your rejoicing concerning me, in which case ἣν ἔχω must relate to the community of life and feeling there is among Christians (cf. 2Co 1:14; 2Co 3:3), or (2) my rejoicing concerning you. See Winer, Pt III. § 22, 7, and cf. ch. 1Co 11:20. The latter is preferable. For St Paul not only adds ἣν ἔχω, which would naturally imply that the rejoicing was his, but it was to this daily dying that he attributes his success in founding the Corinthian Church, a legitimate ground, as he repeatedly said, for boasting. See ch. 1Co 4:15, 1Co 9:2; 1Co 9:15; 2Co 1:12; 2Co 1:14; 2Co 3:2; 2Co 4:5-15; 2Co 6:4; 2Co 10:13-18; 2Co 11:18 to 2Co 12:12.

Cambridge Greek Testament for Schools and Colleges (Cambridge University Press, 1896; 21 vols, various authors incl. Carr, Maclear, Plummer, Farrar, Lumby, Moule, M. R. James, Simcox) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

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.

ὑμετ.] gen. obj., see reff. νή, the affirmative, as μά is the negative particle of adjuration: but ναὶ μά is often found in an affirmative sense: see Kühner, § 701.

Henry Alford, The Greek Testament (1849–1861) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

31. And the danger is neither rare nor trifling. Every day he goes about with his life in his hands: obsideor assiduis mortibus quotidie (Calv.). Possibly he refers also to the moribund condition of his body, but the chief reference is to external perils which might any day be fatal; 2Co 1:8, 2Co 1:9; 2Co 11:23, ἐν θανάτοις πολλάκις. What assurance is he to give them for the truth of this strong statement? The estimation in which (as they know) he holds them. ‘As surely as I am proud of you,’ or, ‘I affirm it by the glorying in you which I have in Christ Jesus our Lord.’ It is, however, not in any earthly sphere that he has this feeling, but ἐν Χριστῷ Ἱησοῦ τῷ Κυρίῳ ἡμῶν. The full titles show how great the security is, and the ἔχω perhaps implies that he regards his exultation over them as a valuable possession. We have similar asseverations 2Co 1:23, 2Co 2:17, 2Co 11:10, 2Co 12:19. Origen asks whether the Apostle does not here violate the evangelical command, Swear not at all, and leaves the question unanswered. Atto remarks that the fact that the Apostle here uses an oath proves that an oath is not always wrong; quod ipse Dominus manifestat, dum non dicit quod amplius malum est, sed a malo (Mat 5:37). Ωή occurs here only in the N.T., and in the LXX only Gen 42:15, Gen 42:16, νὴ τὴν ὑγίειαν Φαραώ: but comp. 1Sa 1:26, 1Sa 1:3:17; 2Sa 3:35. Outside the Pauline Epistles, καύχησις, καύχημα, καυχᾶσθαι are rare in the N.T.; comp. 1Th 2:19; Php 2:16; and for the feeling without this word, Col 1:4. The affectionate ἀδελφοί (which D E F G L, Orig. Chrys. omit) comes very naturally in the middle of the affectionate asseveration; ‘I assure you by the brotherly pride in your faith with which I am possessed in Christ Jesus our Lord’ (Rutherford).

International Critical Commentary — older volumes (1896–1929), various authors — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

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 [την υμετεραν καυχησιν] . 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."

Marvin R. Vincent, Word Studies in the New Testament (1887–1900) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.