1 Corinthians 15:33

1Co_15:33

Be not deceived: evil communications corrupt good manners.

Self-deception

Of all species of deception, self-deception is the most detrimental; it is like having a traitor in the fortress who betrays his country to an enemy. Be not deceived--

I. By a corrupt heart. An eminent man said once, Paris is France; it is more correct to say, The heart is the man; As a man thinketh in his heart, so is he. The seed contains the future flower, the small acorn the majestic oak, the egg the poisonous viper; so also the heart contains the germ of the future glorified saint or doomed spirit (Mat_15:19). Every healthy man can easily see that consumptives are gradually approaching the great change; but they tell you they are improving in health, and persist in deceiving themselves to the last. We have people that are morally consumptive, whose end is destruction. They do not believe it. The heart is deceitful above all things, etc. These obstinately refuse the aid of the Great Physician, until their moral nature falls into the second death. Create in me a clean heart, O God, etc.

II. By a polluted imagination. Imagination--

1. Is like a merchants ship, she bringeth her food from afar. The poet mounts upon the wings of this imperial faculty, and brings back rich treasures from fairy land, and presents them to us in the form of poems and dramas. In ancient mythology spring is pictured as a young maiden whose lap is full of flowers, and all the paths she walks are strewn with them.

2. Is a beautiful maiden, whose voice is enchanting as the song of the nightingale. But, alas! she is not always chaste. When celebrating the inhumanities of the hero, her skirts drop human blood. When she ministers to the lusts and passions of men her crown is tarnished: she becomes a wanton coquette at the bidding of Horace, Ovid, and Byron; but at the bidding of Job, Isaiah, and Milton she becomes a woman clothed with the sun, etc. The reason why imagination sometimes wanders to forbidden paths is because she is the slave of the heart. The influence of the moon upon the tide is not more regular and absolute than that of the heart over the imagination.

III. By the habits of society. The phrase good manners is not used now in the sense in which it is used here. We mean etiquette; but Paul meant virtue--all that is noble and heroic. Be not deceived. One may have the beauty of Venus and the charms of Cleopatra; and another the figure of Adonis and the polish of Chesterfield, and still be void of good manners, What are the genteel habits without religion? Apples of Sodom, having a charming outside, but an inside of dust; a dead body dressed in a white winding sheet and decked with flowers which only hide a mass of putrefaction. So refinement, polish, and accomplishments are often only the adornments of one dead in trespasses and sins (1Sa_16:7). (W. A. Griffiths.)

Evil communications

I. Good manners are supposed as the result of--

1. Early training.

2. Religious influence.

II. May be corrupted.

1. The tendency of the heart is evil.

2. The world is wicked.

3. The influence of its example pernicious.

4. There needs decision and watchfulness.

III. Will certainly be corrupted by evil communications.

1. The choice of bad company shows the inclination to evil.

2. Such company is insinuating.

3. Insensibly lowers the tone of morality.

4. Destroys shame.

5. Hardens the heart. (J. Lyth, D.D.)

Evil communications

Let me--

I. Explain this doctrine.

1. Good manners, although applied by St. Paul to those Christian principles from which his converts were in danger of being seduced, may be understood as including both right sentiments and holy practice.

2. The term evil communications, means the associating with evil men.

3. Such evil communications corrupt the mind, sap the principles, and taint the conduct. In the case of the upright Christian, whose duty leads him to intercourse with the world, this tendency may, indeed, be counteracted by watchfulness and prayer, and by the preventing grace of God. But if, without this defence, a man will freely associate with the ungodly, the effect will soon be visible in his character.

4. The injurious effect of evil communications is not described as taking place in any sudden or striking manner. Corruption is a gradual change. Silently, but surely, evil communications corrupt good manners.

II. Confirm it, by an appeal to--

1. The Word of God (Pro_4:14, etc., 9:6, 13:6; 2Pe_2:1-22.).

2. Maxims of wise men. St. Pauls words are borrowed from a heathen writer. This shows that Reason without the aid of Inspiration has led men to the very same conclusion with the apostle. To this I will add the modern saying of a man is known by the company he keeps.

3. Take the cases of Lot, Solomon, etc.

4. Personal experience. Look back through your past lives, and recollect in how many instances your views and conduct have been influenced by the example of those among whom you lived.

III. Apply it. Be not deceived.

1. As to the reality of your danger from ungodly society. We soon perceive the perilous situation of a son, a daughter, or a friend; but we are apt to be very blind when the case becomes our own. There is no safety in the society of those who have not the fear of God before their eyes. If they be openly immoral or unprincipled, all connection with them is perilous in the extreme. But their society is scarcely less dangerous to a true Christian, if, while destitute of religion, their outward behaviour is plausible and decorous.

2. As to your ability for resisting the influence of evil communications. A man may say, I know that there is danger, but my principles are fixed: and, as I do not go into such company, out of any love for their bad conduct, I shall easily avoid what I know to be wrong. The man who talks thus is ignorant both of the power of temptation and of the weakness of his own heart, and he that trusteth in his own heart is a fool. And should the tempter suggest, as he did to Jesus, that God will give His angels charge over you to keep you, recollect that there is no promise of such protection to those who quit the path in which the Lord requires them to walk.

3. As to the possibility of separating yourself from ungodly connections.

4. As to the final tendency of that corruption, which arises from evil communications. (J. Jowett, M.A)

Evil communications

I. The import of the phrase.

1. Bad books.

2. Company.

3. Associations.

II. Their evil tendency.

1. They corrupt the heart.

2. Deprave the character.

3. Destroy reputation.

4. Spoil happiness.

5. Ruin the soul.

III. The means of escaping them

1. Avoid them.

2. Cultivate the company of the good.

3. Study the Bible.

4. Watch unto prayer. (J. Lyth, D.D.)

Evil communication

The text is a quotation from the Greek comic playwright Menander, which illustrates 1Co_9:22-23. In this sceptical age all teachers should go to the forges of the Philistines to sharpen their intellectual tools, so as to be able to meet their enemies on their own ground.

I. What are these evil communications? They are those of--

1. The tongue.

(1) Lying. The Bible shows, by precept and example, that God hates the liar (Pro_12:22).

(2) Foolish and profane talk. Certainly we do not condemn mirth and wit; but great care must be taken lest the comic should predominate in us. A hearty laugh maketh glad the heart, but the laughter of the fool is as the crackling of thorns under a pot. Moreover there is a kind of talk which blunts the moral feelings and lowers the dignity of man. The slandering gossip of the drawing-room and the coarse humour of the tap-room are equally condemned (Eph_4:29).

(3) Swearing. This mean habit is too prevalent amongst all grades of society.

2. The pen. In former times the evils of the pen were comparatively small, because only few could read what fewer still could write. But in this age of cheap literature the evil of the pen rivals the evil of the tongue in its magnitude. There is--

(1) The novel. Every young man and woman should read the masterpieces of imaginative literature as recreation; yet the greatest admirers of fiction admit that for every good novel there is a dozen bad ones. Truth after all is stranger than fiction; get good books, read and study them.

(2) The theatre, which has been all along one of the principal enemies of the Church: one is the nursery of rectitude, honesty, and charity: the other is the school of infidelity and genteel licentiousness.

3. The pencil. Nothing contributes more towards the education of the heart and the refinement of the feelings than familiarity with high art; but on the other hand, nothing is more infectious than familiarity with lewd pictures.

II. How to eradicate these evil communications.

1. Form a close and frequent intercourse with the people of God. The help afforded to Christians by mutual interchange of thought, feeling, and experience will be found to be wonderfully effective; as will also the biographies of good men.

2. Form a close and frequent intercourse with Christ. Enter into a covenant with Him, and He will keep thee in all thy ways. (W. A. Griffiths.)

Nature and danger of evil communications

This maxim of the heathen poet Menander accords with universal experience, and was worthy, therefore, of being adopted as a portion of the sacred record. The connection is not that in which we should have expected such a maxim; but the occasion of it was this: by a mixture of the corrupt communications of false teachers the Corinthians had been led off from the fundamental doctrine of the gospel. Hence we may learn the necessity of being on our guard in this respect.

I. What are evil communications? We cannot, of course, entirely avoid intercourse with bad men; this would be to go out of the world (1Co_5:10-11). The intercourse of society must be maintained, without respect to the characters of men, to such an extent as the business of life requires. An unsocial spirit that would lead us, like the Essenes of old, into the solitudes of the wilderness, would be inconsistent with the genius of Christianity and the example of our Lord. But still, we must not, under pretence of yielding to the necessary calls of business, cultivate and cherish that evil communication which corrupts good manners. Those communications may be justly regarded evil--

1. Which have a tendency to taint the purity of the mind by associations of a lascivious and sensual nature.

2. In which religion is not adverted to, or has no hold upon the mind, where the fear of God is evidently dismissed, and there is no scriptural rule of action.

3. Which abounds with objections to Christianity, and is calculated to produce a doubt, either of its Divine origin, or of the certainty of its most important truths.

4. Which is avowedly and aggressively infidel (2Jn_1:9-10).

5. Which proceed from those whose moral principles are loose, with respect to the great obligations of justice and equity, and who indulge in dishonourable practices.

II. The way in which evil communication operates in corrupting good manners. It is one of the fundamental laws of nature, that our minds should be subject to perpetual modification from the minds of others. We may determine what society we will keep, but not what influence that society shall have upon us. One of the first feelings of every person who goes into company is to please and be pleased. Hence we plainly perceive that there is a preparation in the very nature of society for an assimilation of our minds to the principles and dispositions of those with whom we converse.

1. Let us suppose, then, that the society into which we enter is not positively vicious, in any other sense than as it is distinguished by a total absence of religion; it is not too much to say that this society will possess a very pernicious influence over any mind. It is dangerous to be accustomed to the absence of religion. Next to the infusion of positive impiety, the most evil element in which the mind can be placed, is that out of which religion is expelled.

2. Suppose the society into which we enter be impure, such communications must corrupt good manners. Must not the primary effect be, at least, gradually to enure the mind to the contemplation of vicious objects, without horror and disgust?

3. Suppose that the society into which we enter be distinguished by a rejection of Christianity, or of its great doctrines. To hear the cause of Christ attacked without being in a situation, in a becoming manner, to undertake its defence, must bare an injurious tendency. Conversation, if we intend to please and be pleased, should never be a scene of continual dispute; we must either relinquish such society or hold our peace.

III. The caution is strongly implied in the words, be not deceived. Be not deceived--

1. By the adduction of false precedents. Our Lord mingled indiscriminately with all descriptions of persons; but do not imagine that it would be safe for you to do so. Recollect the infinite disparity of His situation and character, and yours.

2. By your past experience. You have been frequently exposed to vicious society, and perceived none of these evils. Be not deceived; you are very ill judges, it may be, of the state of your own minds; you may imagine that you have received no injury, but what has been the effect of such society on your private devotions? Has it endeared to you the Scriptures, or estranged you from them?

3. By any complacent reference to the time of life at which you have arrived, or the progress in religion which you have already made. At whatever period of life you have arrived, evil communications will corrupt good manners. Solomon, in his youth, feared God, but when old age came upon him, through the contagious example of his idolatrous wives, he forsook the God of his fathers.

4. By any supposed strength of resolution with which you may enter into such society. When confederacies are formed it requires a powerful effort to break them. It is far less difficult to keep out of society than to resist its current.

Conclusion: Let me suggest one or two cautions of prudence.

1. Let those who have a serious sense of religion bind themselves with the vows of God, and enter on a solemn profession of them at an early period of life. Let all young persons unite themselves to those whom God has touched by His Spirit, and is guiding, under the convoy of the Captain of salvation, to eternal glory. The Church will willingly receive all such as are desirous of uniting themselves to the Lord in an everlasting covenant.

2. Let it be remembered, that with those with whom you voluntarily associate here, you shall be associated hereafter by the disposer of all things, for ever. With whom would you have your everlasting portion? (R. Hall, M.A.)

The influence of association

When we find the heathen and Christian giving utterance to the same sentiment we ought the more to heed its importance. We are so constituted and circumstanced that none of us can live to himself, and none of us can die to himself. Each necessarily exerts a great influence on many others, and is acted on in turn by those with whom he is associated. If evil commumications corrupt good manners, it is to be inferred that good communications work for good upon the character. Of course in each case it must be supposed that the association is both intimate and voluntary. It does not always come to pass that the child of religious parents is religious himself; neither is every one who lives with the ungodly a partaker in their ungodliness.

I. There is in all of us considerable desire of being esteemed or approved. This desire is morally allied to that dislike of being singular which has so mighty an operation upon men. With those with whom we are in constant intercourse, we wish, if possible, to stand well, and we feel that this cannot be, so long as there is distinct opposition in their principles and motives to our own; and it is almost a necessary consequence that we shall gradually assimilate ourselves to their tastes and tendencies, and thus seek to escape the unpleasantness of being singular, and therefore of being tacitly disapproved, by acquiring resemblance, or softening down points of difference. For instance, suppose a man, not of vicious habits himself, thrown continually into association with the dissolute. He will feel that there is no affinity between himself and his companions, and it will be very galling to feel himself thus an object of dislike, whilst his desire is to be esteemed. But what is galling he will endeavour to escape from. Then the question is as to the mode of escape. If he be possessed of great moral courage, he may break loose from the pernicious associations; but if not he will cease to be singular by becoming like. He may not form any distinct resolution of this, but the almost certainty is that his virtuous principles will be undermined, and he will gradually get rid of what was unpleasant in his situation by getting rid of what was offensive in his character.

II. Over and above this desire of approval, consider the force of example. Our nature is prone to imitation, and practically seeing a thing done is more likely to move us to the doing of the same than any precept we can enforce. Undoubtedly men do feel encouraged to do evil by seeing others do it, just as though less danger were incurred by breaking Gods laws in company than in breaking them alone. A man whose conscience has been active, remonstrating against a particular sin while he has not mixed with those who are in the habit of that sin--place him with such persons, and you know very well that he will be led through the mere force of example to its habitual commission. Conclusion: We think we have said enough to warrant us in urging, especially upon the young, the vast importance of taking heed with whom they make their association. We might almost dare to say on the strength of the foregoing statements, that in choosing your companions for time you choose your companions for eternity. Never, therefore, let it be thought that it can be a trivial or unimportant thing with whom you contract intimacies. Rather be assured, that such is necessarily the influence of man upon man, that to make friends with the righteous is to gain a vast assistance towards saving the soul, and to make friends with the wicked is to advance a long stage towards everlasting ruin. (H. Melvill, B.D.)

The evils of bad company

I. It is dangerous to our characters. To have the same attachments and dislikes, the same pursuits and aversions, has always been esteemed the foundation of friendship; similarity of disposition, of sentiments, of manners, is the usual bond which unites companions together. The world forms its judgments by general rules; when it sees a man a frequent spectator of the excesses of the vicious, it takes for granted that he is a partaker also, and an approver of them.

II. It will have a proportionable pernicious influence on our fortunes. Reputation has been always looked on as the surest step to wealth and preferment. Whoever wishes to advance himself esteems a good character as useful, if not essential, to that end, and is as anxious to preserve it as the miser to preserve his gold. Let the ambitious, the covetous, those who aspire after dignity or wealth, think of this, and if they have no better motive for declining the society of the vicious, let them decline it as they have regard to the gratification of their favourite passion; let them be restrained by their interest, if they have lost their virtue. Bad company may likewise hurt our advancement in life another way, as it usually involves us in idleness and extravagance, and leads as to dissipate, or, at least, to neglect to improve, the provision bequeathed us by our ancestors.

III. It is dangerous to our quiet. As he who takes a viper frequently to his bosom, though he may awhile escape with impunity, will one time or other certainly repent of his rashness; so let, that man beware who has made choice of a confirmed vicious character for his intimate, for however strong in appearance his attachment be, if appetite or interest invite, he will certainly sting him to the heart. Can any reliance be placed on him who lives in a continued state of disobedience and ingratitude to his Creator, Preserver, and Redeemer, that he will not, when any imaginary pleasure or profit may accrue to him by it, betray or even ruin his fellow-creatures? But if, added to this state of rebellion towards God, he has been known in his general commerce with his brethren to be false and treacherous, is it not the height of folly in any individual to expose his family and affairs to his machinations, under the vain hope that he should belie his general conduct to be true to him alone?

IV. It is prejudicial to our morals, and of consequence dangerous to our eternal salvation. Man is by nature prone to imitation; this is observed by every wise parent, and turned as much as possible to their childrens advantage by every good one. What we are taught, however wise, virtuous, and prudent, will have little effect on us if it be contradicted by what we see. If a young person perceives that vice is no exclusion from the countenance and familiarity of those whom he has been accustomed to honour, it cannot but greatly diminish the abhorrence in which he has been taught to hold it. It is the property of vice to endeavour to draw over to its party all who come within its influence--the libertine, the drunkard, and all the other votaries of profligacy, have ever taken delight to render others as wicked as themselves; to compass this point they spare no arguments, no solicitations--the sons of virtue, I fear, are not half so anxious to make converts as the children of darkness to make apostates. (G. Haggitt, M.A.)

On the progress of vice

I. The contagion which is diffused by bad examples, and heightened by particular connections with persons of loose principles or dissolute morals. This, in a licentious state of society, is the most common source of those vices and disorders which so much abound in great cities. It is indeed disagreeable to contemplate human nature in this downward course of its progress. But it is always profitable to know our own infirmities and dangers. There are few but who set out at first in the world with good dispositions. The warmth which belongs to youth naturally exerts itself in generous feelings and sentiments of honour; in strong attachments to friends, and the other emotions of a kind and tender heart. At that period they repudiate whatever is mean or base. It is pleasing to them to think of commanding the esteem of those among whom they live, and of acquiring a name among men. But, alas! how soon does this flattering prospect begin to be overcast. How many pass away some of the most valuable years of their life tossed in a whirlpool of what cannot be called pleasure so much as mere giddiness and folly. There are certain degrees of vice which are chiefly stamped with the character of the ridiculous and the contemptible; and there are also certain limits beyond which if it pass it becomes odious and execrable. If to the other corruptions which the heart has already received be added the infusion of sceptical principles, that worst of all the evil communications of sinners, the whole of morals is then on the point of being overthrown. For every crime can then be palliated to conscience, every check and restraint which had hitherto remained is taken away. Miserable and deluded man! to what art thou come at the last? Dost thou pretend to follow nature, when thou art contemning the laws of the God of nature? when thou art stifling His voice within thee, which remonstrates against thy crimes? when thou art violating the best part of thy nature by counteracting the dictates of justice and humanity?

II. This brings me to the next head of discourse; to suggest some means that may be used for stopping in time the progress of such mischiefs; to point out some remedies against the fatal infection of evil communications.

1. The first and most obvious is, to withdraw from all associations with bad men, with persons either of licentious principles or of disorderly conduct. The circumstances which chiefly attract the liking and the friendship of youth are vivacity, good humour, engaging manners, and a cheerful or easy temper; qualities, I confess, amiable in themselves, and useful and valuable in their place. But I entreat you to remember that these are not all the qualities requisite to form an intimate companion or friend. Something more is still to be looked for; a sound understanding, a steady mind, a firm attachment to principle, to virtue, and honour. As only solid bodies polish well, it is only on the substantial ground of these manly endowments that the other amiable qualities can receive their proper lustre. Destitute of these essential requisites they shine with no more than a tinsel brilliancy. Allow me to warn you that the most gay and pleasing are sometimes the most insidious and dangerous companions.

2. In order to prevent the influence of evil communications it is farther needful that you fix to yourselves certain principles of conduct, and to be resolved and determined on no occasion to swerve from them. Setting the consideration of religion and virtue aside, and attending merely to interest and reputation, it will be found that he who enters on active life without having ascertained some regular plan, according to which he is to guide himself, will be unprosperous in the whole of his subsequent progress. But when conduct is viewed in a moral and religious light, the effect of having fixed no principles of action, of having formed no laudable standard of character, becomes more obviously fatal. From hence it is that the young and thoughtless imbibe so readily the poison of evil communications, and fall a prey to every seducer. They have no internal guide whom they are accustomed to follow and obey; nothing within themselves that can give firmness to their conduct. They are, of course, the victims of momentary inclination or caprice.

3. As a farther corrective of evil communications, and as a foundation to those principles which you lay down for conduct, let me advise you sometimes to think seriously of what constitutes real enjoyment and happiness. Your days cannot be entirely spent in company and pleasure. Seize that sober hour of retirement and silence. Indulge the meditations which then begin to rise. Cast your eye backwards on what is past of your life; look forward to what is probably to come. Think of the part you are now acting, and of what remains to be, acted, perhaps to be suffered, before you die. If your hearts secretly reproach you for the wrong choice you have made, bethink yourselves that the evil is not irreparable. Still there is time for repentance and retreat; and a return to wisdom is always honourable. Were such meditations often indulged, the evil communications of sinners would die away before them; the force of their poison would evaporate; the world would begin to assume in your eyes a new form and shape.

4. Let me once more advise you to look forward sometimes beyond old age; to look to a future world. Amidst evil communications let your belief and your character as Christians arise to your view. Think of the sacred name in which you were baptized. Think of the God whom your fathers honoured and worshipped; of the religion in which they trained you up; of the venerable rites in which they brought you to partake. (H. Blair, D.D.)

On evil communication

I. In almost every case the young begin well. They come out of the hand of nature pure and uncorrupted.

II. It is wise in them, in the second place, to reflect for what it is that they were born, and in what consists the real happiness of mortal life.

III. It is wise in them, in the last place, to look beyond the world, and to consider the final destiny of their being. And to us, my elder brethren, it is a reflection of no common interest--that our folly and imprudence may thus poison the minds of the pure, and introduce guilt and woe into the innocent family of God.

1. There is, in the first place, an evil communication to the young, which proceeds from the abuse of rank and affluence. These are the high and the valued situations of life, to which all others naturally look up--and it is their manners which necessarily give the tone and fashion to their age. Of what fatal consequence it is to every generation when rank and fashion are only the leaders of folly, and when riches are employed in vice and sordid dissipation; and, what is even worse, when the manners of the higher ranks of mankind are assimilated to all that is base or degrading in the lower. How many, alas! of the young are the victims of these abuses of prosperity?

2. There is, in the second place, an evil communication to the young which arises from the abuse of learning and talents. Of all the employments of human wisdom, the noblest certainly, and the most genuine is that of the instruction of the ignorance, and the support of the innocence of youth. Yet the world shows us that there are men who have deserted this sublimest duty--who please themselves in spreading doubt and unbelief, and who delight to employ their powers with withdrawing all the most sacred principles of religion and morality.

3. There is, in the last place, an evil communication to the young from the society of the aged in vice itself. (A. Allison.)

Fatal tendency of evil associations

While seeking for a rainbow in the Handeck Falls another lesson was learned. A beautiful butterfly was sporting in the sunshine, and either through carelessness, or the fascination of the pearly drops which shot from the fall in profusion, went too near, was caught in the falling shower, and hurled to destruction in the awful gulf two hundred feet below. Who does not see in this an every-day occurrence? Young people, in the thoughtlessness which the pursuit of pleasure engenders, go to places in winch they see no harm, and, alas! are soon hurled into the gulf of disgrace here, and of everlasting despair hereafter. (Gavin Kirkham.)

Depraved by evil associations

Sir Thomas Lawrence, the eminent painter and president of the Royal Academy, commended the pictures of a young artist, and then said to him: You have round your room two or three rough, clever, but coarse Flemish sketches. If I were you I would not allow my eye to become familiarised with any but the highest forms of art. If you cannot afford to buy good oil-paintings, buy good engravings of great pictures, or have nothing at all upon your walls. You allow, in intercourse with your fellows, that Evil communications corrupt good manners. So is it with pictures. If you allow your eye to become familiar with what is vulgar in conception, however free and dashing the handling, and however excellent the feeling for colour, your taste will insensibly become depraved. Whereas, if you habituate your eye to look only on what is pure and grand, or refined and lovely, your taste will insensibly become elevated. Sir Thomass advice, which is as applicable to books as to pictures, was enforced by an anecdote. The artist of reputation, who had never seen any of the works of the greatest painters, went with Sir Thomas to see one of the best collections on the Continent. It was arranged according to the different schools--beginning with the German, proceeding to the Flemish, Dutch, Spanish, Bolognese, the Venetian, and ending with the Umbrian. The artist was so fascinated with the vigour, the colour, the invention, and the drawing of Rubenss pictures that Sir Thomas had difficulty in dragging him away from them. After visiting the several schools they came to the Italian collection, with its Guidos, Titians, and Raphaels, before which they lingered until the hour for closing the gallery. The contemplation of these beautiful, chastened works of the Italian masters so educated the visitors taste that, on repassing the Rubens pictures, which a few hours before had delighted him, he shuddered at their grossness.

Environment

That environment is an immense and controlling natural law for the sustenance of life has come to be a fact as conceded and confessed as that Biogenesis, or life only proceeding from life, is the inexorable natural law for the beginning of life. Environment, as the natural law for the sustenance of life, is energetic, with two main influences upon life. The first influence is that of variation. The life itself varies as the environment gets changed. Hunter put a sea-gull into such environment that it could only get grain to eat. The result was that the stomach of a bird, normally adapted to a fish diet, came in time to resemble in structure the gizzard of a grain feeder like the pigeon. Holmgren fed pigeons for a lengthened period on meat diet, and their gizzards became carnivorous stomachs. How constant and controlling this varying power upon life is, is seen in the adjustment of animals to their habitat--the flounder, burying himself in the mud and sand at the bottom of its sea or river, takes on its hue; the fur of the polar bear is white as are the arctic snows amid which it lives; the alternating narrow stripes of shadow and sunshine inter-braided amid the tangled Indian jungles are photographed and stereotyped upon the Bengal tiger which seeks its prey among them. But is not this varying force of environment upon life a natural law for life as thoroughly energetic in the spiritual world as in what we call the natural? What mans spiritual life does not get shape and take on colour from his environment? The books he reads, the social atmosphere in which he is immersed, the daily business to which he sets his hand, the companionships he chooses--how do their varieties, their purities or impurities, their nobleness or lowness, react into variations within himself. The law of environment which, in the natural world, bleaches the brown coat of the hare into the white coat of it in the arctic regions, is only the same law plying its changes upon man in the spiritual world.

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

15:33 “bad company corrupts good character”: This quotation from the Greek poet Menander (300s BC) is a warning not to listen to those who are teaching wrong things.

Tyndale Open Study Notes — © Tyndale Open Resources, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

1Co 15:33. Μὴ πλανᾶσθε) in the Middle voice.—φθείρουσιν) they corrupt. Its conjugate corruption, is found at 1Co 15:42. He uses the well-known sentence of Menander in a sublimer sense, and opposes it to the Epicurean creed, 1Co 15:32; presently after, at 1Co 15:34, he was about to apply a more weighty stimulant. [The multitude of wicked sayings and vicious proverbs in human life is indeed very great, by which a vast number repel things however sacred and salutary and endeavour to defend their own wantonness and hypocrisy. Scoffs of that kind were also common among the Israelites, Eze 11:3; Eze 11:15; Eze 12:22; Eze 18:2.—V. g.]—ἤθη, manners) Good manners [principles] are those, with which a man passes from things that are fading to things that are eternal.—χρηστὰ) good or even easy, light [pliant dispositions]: see Scap. on this word, col. 1820. Comp. Rom 16:18.—κακαὶ, evil) opposed to faith, hope, love. On the other hand, good communication [conversations] as for instance concerning the resurrection, puts an end to gluttony and depravity of manners.

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

1Co_15:33 f. The immoral consequence of the denial of the resurrection (1Co_15:32) gives occasion to the apostle now in conclusion to place over against that Epicurean maxim yet a word of moral warning, in order thereby to express that the church should not be led astray, i.e. be seduced into immorality (πλανᾶσθε, passive, see on 1Co_6:9), by its intercourse with those deniers who were in its bosom (τινὲς ἐν ὑμῖν, 1Co_15:12; comp. 1Co_15:34).

φθείρουσιν κ.τ.λ.] justification of the admonition μὴ πλανᾶσθε. The words (forming an Iambic trimeter acatalectic[70]) are from the Thais of the comic poet Menander (see his Fragmenta, ed. Meineke, p. 75); although it still remains a question whether Paul really recognised them as an utterance of this comic poet (as a Μενάνδρειος φωνή, Lucian, Am. 43), or only generally as a common Hellenic saying, which, just as such, may have been taken up by that poet also. The latter is probable from the proverbial character of the words, and in the absence of any indication whatsoever that they are the words of another. Similar classical passages may be seen in Alberti, Obss. p. 356 ff., and Wetstein. Comp. especially, Theognis 35 f.

ἤθη χρηστά] good morals, the opposite being κακά, Soph. O. R. 610, Antig. 516, and πονηρά, Plato, Gorg. p. 499 E, Phil. p. 40 E; Plat. Def. p. 412 E: χρηστότης ἤθους ἀπλαστία μετʼ εὐλογιστίας.

ὁμιλίαι κακαί] Vulgate: colloquia mala. So Luther, Erasmus, and many, including van Hengel and Krauss. Comp. Dem. 1468, 27, 1466, 2; Xen. Mem. i. 2. 6. But the context does not justify this restriction of the conception. Comp. Beza. Hence it is rather: good-for-nothing intercourse, bad company. Regarding the plural, comp. Plato, Pol. p. 550 B: ὁμιλίαις … κακαῖς κεχρῆσθαι, Soph. O. R. 1489; Xen. Mem. iii. 7. 5, Hier. iv. 1. In the application the readers were meant to think of intercourse with the deniers of the resurrection, to be on their guard against moral contagion through the.

ἐκνήψατε δικαίως, κ. μὴ ἁμαρτ.] Parallel to μὴ πλανᾶσθε, but representing the readers as already disturbed in the moral clearness and soundness of their judgment, already transferred by the influence of those τινές, 1Co_15:34, into a certain degree of moral bondage (intoxication); for the idea of being completely sobered from the condition in which they were before their conversion (Hofmann) is remote from the text, as, in particular, the very ground assigned, which immediately follows, points to the hurtful influence of the τινές. He separates the church from these individuals among her members; the former is not to let herself be injured through the latter (1Co_5:6), but to become sober, in so far as she has already through them experienced loss of moral soberness. Become sober after the right fashion, properly as it behoves. Comp. Livy, i. 41: expergiscere vere; Homer, Od. xiv. 90: οὐκ ἐθέλουσι δικαίως μνᾶσθαι, Dem. 1180, 25. Comp. Lobeck, ad Soph. Aj. 547. As regards ἐκνήφειν, to become sober in a non-literal respect, comp. Plutarch, Dem. 20; Aret. iv. 3; Joe_1:5. Bengel, we may add, says well: ἐκνήψατε exclamatio plena majestatis apostolicae. The aorist imperative denotes the swift, instant realization of the becoming sober; μὴ ἁμαρτάνετε,[71] on the contrary, requires the continuous abstinence from sinnin.

ἀγνωσίαν γὰρ κ.τ.λ.] for some persons have ignorance of God; how carefully should you guard yourselves from being befooled by such! Ἀγνωσία (1Pe_2:15) is the opposite of γνῶσις, see Plato, Pol. v. p. 477 A, Soph. p. 267 B. The τινές are those spoken of in 1Co_15:12, not, as Billroth arbitrarily assumes, only a small portion of them. The nature of their unbelief in the resurrection is apprehended as in Mat_22:29. The expression ἀγν. ἔχειν, gravior est phrasis quam ignorare, Bengel. They are affected with it. Comp. Stallbaum, ad Plat. Rep. p. 574 E.

πρὸς ἐντρ. ὑμ. λέγω] For it disgraced the church, that such τινές were within it; all the more alert should it be. Comp. 1Co_6:5, 1Co_5:6. Ὑμῖν belongs to λέγω.

[70] The reading χρήσθʼ (Lachmann; Elzevir, with wrong accent: χρῆσθʼ), which is, however, almost without support, suits the metre. According to the correct reading χρηστά, Paul has left the metrical form out of account, perhaps was not aware of it at all.

[71] The context gives no warrant for lending (comp. on Eph_4:26) to the imperative vim futuri (Bengel, Krauss). As regards the general μὴ ἁμαρτάνειν, comp. the ποιῆσαι κακὸν μηδέν, 2Co_13:7.

REMARK on 1Co_15:32-34.

Billroth, followed by Olshausen, is too hasty in inferring from 1Co_15:32 that the opponents of a resurrection would themselves have abhorred the maxim φάγωμεν κ.τ.λ. Paul assumes of his readers generally that they abhorred that maxim as anti-Christian; but the τινές among them, who denied the resurrection, must, according to the warning and exhortation 1Co_15:33-34, have been already carried away in consequence of this denial to a frivolous tendency of life; otherwise Paul could not warn against being led away by their immoral companionship (1Co_15:33). Nay, several others even must already have become shaken in their moral principles through the evil influence of the τινές; else Paul could not give the exhortations which he does in 1Co_15:34. For that, in 1Co_15:33 f., he is not warning against mistaking and neglecting of saving truths, as Hofmann thinks, but against corruption of wholesome habits, consequently against immorality, is certain from ἤθη in the words of Menander, and from μὴ ἁμαρτ.; hence, also, the danger of going astray is not to be conceived of as having arisen through intercourse with heathen fellow-countrymen (Hofmann), but through association with those τινές in the church, who had become morally careless by reason of the denial of the resurrection. This is demanded by the whole connection. The τινές were sick members of the church-body, whom Paul desires to keep from further diffusion of the evil, alike in faith and in life.

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 15:33-34 deliver Paul’s judgment upon the situation: the disbelief in the Resurrection declared in the Cor [2458] Church is of a piece with its low ethics (1Co 3:1 ff., 1Co 4:18 to 1Co 5:2 ) and its heathen intimacies (1Co 8:10 , 1Co 10:14-22 , 2Co 5:14 to 2Co 7:1 ); it springs from ἀγνωσία Θεοῦ , from a feeble religious consciousness. μὴ πλανᾶσθε (see parls.), “Be not misled (seduced)”: the seduction lay in the specious philosophy under which sceptical tenets were advanced, concealing their demoralising tendency. The line the Ap. quotes (an ordinary senarius of the dialogue in the Attic drama: χρηστά , so written in the best copies, was probably read f1χρήσθʼ , Wr [2459] , Hn [2460] ) is attributed to Menander (322 B.C.), of the New Comedy and an Epicurean, by Tert [2461] and Hier., followed by most others. But this was a proverbial gnomé, and probably current long before Menander. ὁμιλίαι bears the narrower sense of conversations (A.V.; colloquia , Vg [2462] ), or the wider sense, more fitting here, of intercourse, companionships (R.V.). ἐκνήψατε δικαίως κ . τ . λ . ( cf. 1Co 15:32 b , 1Co 11:21 ; and parls. for ἐκνήφω ): “Rouse up to soberness in righteous fashion, and cease to sin” (the first impv [2463] is aor [2464] , of a single action; the second pr ., of a course of action) a startling call, to men fallen as if into a drunken sleep under the seductions of sensualism and heathen society and the fumes of intellectual pride. δικαίως signifies the manner of the awaking; it is right the Cor [2465] should rouse themselves from self-delusion; P. assails their conscience. ἀγνωσίαν γὰρ Θεοῦ τινες ( cf. 12) ἔχουσιν , “For some have (maintain) an ignorance of God” ( cf. the use of ἔχω in 31, 1Co 8:1 , Rom 4:2 ; Rom 5:1 , respecting states of mind ); this asserts, beyond τὸν Θεὸν ἀγνοοῦσιν , a characteristic, a persistent condition, in which the Cor [2466] τινὲς share with the heathen (1Co 12:2 , Rom 1:19 ff., etc.). πρὸς ἐντροπὴν ὑμῖν λαλῶ , “I say (it) for a shame to you,” otherwise than in 1Co 4:14 . “Ignorance of God” is a deeper evil than the ingratitude toward the Ap. which he censured earlier; this can only be remedied by a thorough inward reaction “ad pudorem vobis incutiendum dico” (Cv [2467] ). That these wise Cor [2468] should be taxed with “ignorance,” and “ of God ” on the knowledge of whom they flattered themselves above all (1Co 8:1 ; 1Co 8:4 ), was humiliating indeed.

[2458] Corinth, Corinthian or Corinthians.

[2459] Winer-Moulton’s Grammar of N.T. Greek (8th ed., 1877).

[2460] C. F. G. Heinrici’s Erklärung der Korintherbriefe (1880), or 1 Korinther in Meyer’s krit.-exegetisches Kommentar (1896).

[2461]ert. Tertullian.

[2462] Latin Vulgate Translation.

[2463] imperative mood.

[2464] aorist tense.

[2465] Corinth, Corinthian or Corinthians.

[2466] Corinth, Corinthian or Corinthians.

[2467] Calvin’s In Nov. Testamentum Commentarii .

[2468] Corinth, Corinthian or Corinthians.

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

Vv. 33, 34. “Be not deceived: evil company doth corrupt good manners. 34. Awake up righteously, and sin not; for some of you have not the knowledge of God: I speak [thus] to move you to shame.”

The formula μὴ πλανᾶσθε does not signify: Let not yourselves be misled by others; its meaning always is: “Do not deceive yourselves (by false reasonings).” — What follows applies undoubtedly to the secret thoughts of the Corinthians whereby they sought to excuse certain acts which still kept up a connection between them and the heathen society around; comp. particularly chaps. 8-10. This meaning seems to me more natural than that of Meyer, who applies the expression evil companionships to the τινές, the some spoken of in 1Co 15:34. Paul is rather addressing the whole Church of which these some still form part. It is they who run the risk of being seduced by their heathen friends.

Erasmus, Luther, and some moderns (Heinrici, Holsten) give to ὁμιλίαι the meaning of conversations. This is a possible meaning. But the ordinary signification, societies, companies, is perfectly suitable.

The saying quoted by Paul has been found in the fragments of the Thais of Menander, a comic poet, who flourished in the 3rd century before Christ. It is easily recognised as an iambic trimeter acatalectic verse, provided it be written, as in the T. R., putting χρῆσθ᾿ and not χρῆστα. We are uncertain whether Menander borrowed this sentence from common usage, and simply made a verse of it, or if it passed from his comedy into ordinary use, as a sort of proverb. Paul himself may have borrowed it either from the one or other of these sources. In both cases, the form χρῆστα is probably Paul’s original reading; why should he have been concerned to preserve the exact poetic form? The meaning only was of importance to him. The form χρῆσθ᾿ is therefore a correction. Already true in its application to ordinary moral life, the saying becomes still more so from the religious and Christian standpoint. Spiritual life is quenched in the atmosphere of carnal society, and a sort of intoxication quickly comes over him who frequents it. Hence the following abrupt exhortation.

Vv. 34. The word ἐκνήφειν strictly signifies: to get out of the stupefaction caused by drunkenness. The aorist imperative denotes an energetic, decided act. Nothing less will do if the Church is to shake off the torpor with which some of its members have been seized.

The word δικαίως here signifies seriously, or as we say: en règle, in due order. They were so far awaked already from their natural slumber, from their former carnal state, but only half; and hence the reason why this state had so easily regained the upper hand in many of them.

The present imperative ἁμαρτάνετε, sin, forms a contrast to the preceding aorist: the act of awaking is unique, decisive; but the state of sin which would follow without fail from the intoxication into which they were plunging, would, if they persisted, become permanent; this is what forms the danger of it; for such a life swayed by sin leads to total apostasy. Such is the terrible sin present to the mind of St. Paul when he uses the verb ἁμαρτάνετε, suggesting the strict meaning of the word in Greek: to miss the aim.

The for states the reason why he thinks he ought to address to them so formidable a warning. There was in the Church a knot of strong-headed members who, as we have seen, more than once derided the apostle’s directions, and claimed to be more clear-sighted than he. Paul describes these people strangely. Instead of saying to them that they have not the knowledge of God, he says literally: that they have the non-knowledge, ἀγνωσία, of God. It is not merely a deficiency, the lack of a good thing, it is the possession of a real evil. It involves not only inanition, but poisoning. We must beware of limiting this non-knowledge of God to the denial of His power to raise the dead, as might be inferred from the parallel Mat 22:29; the rebuke is too serious for that: it is the Divine holiness, the apprehension of which these men have stifled within them, by substituting for it a deeply corrupted notion of God’s character, that they might give themselves up to their presumptuous and profane frivolity; it is that moral libertinism to which the Pantheistic conception of the Divine Being leads. For as to the suspicion of atheism, it is excluded by the very expression which the apostle uses. In the presence of such a group of men within the Church there is cause for profound humiliation, and at the same time an alarming danger. According to the T. R., the meaning of the last words would be: “I say this to you (λέγω) to shame you.” According to the Alex.: “I speak thus to you (λάλω) to...,” which is undoubtedly better. The apostle thus insists on the tone he is obliged to take, rather than on the matter of his words.

This severe tone is intended to throw them back on themselves (ἐντρέπεσθαι), and so to make humiliation succeed to pride and the feeling of their fall to that of the superiority which they think they possess over all the other Churches; comp. the expressions either analogous, 1Co 6:5, or opposite, 1Co 4:14.

The apostle has restored the expectation of the resurrection to its true bases, and so demonstrated its certainty. It now remains to solve the objections which are raised to the possibility of such an event, by showing how it will take place. This is what he does in the second part of the chapter.

But, before passing to the study of this new subject, we have to examine the question put at the beginning of the foregoing discussion: Does not the apostle throughout this passage confound the resurrection of the body with the immortality of the soul, and does he not ascribe to the denial of the former, practical consequences which, strictly speaking, only flow from the denial of the latter?

It seems to me that the Apostle Paul could not possibly be so much of a novice on this question as to be guilty of such confusion. The question of the survival of the personality after death was as thoroughly raised by Sadduceism as that of the resurrection of the body; and it is impossible that in the polemic of the Pharisees against the Sadducees the two questions should not have been distinguished. Are we not entitled to suppose, especially after the immediately preceding verses, that if Paul reasons as he does, it is because in the opinion of the adversaries whom he had before him the two denials were really confounded? And, in fact, once the hope of the resurrection of the body is abandoned, there no longer remains any very solid security for the survival of the person after death. There is a speedy gliding down the incline which leads from the idea of the annihilation of the body to the Pantheistic absorption of the finite spirit in the absolute Spirit. And it seems to me that if we carefully weigh the bearing, not only of 1Co 15:33-34 of our chapter, but also of the passage 1Co 6:12-20, there can be little doubt that the adversaries of the resurrection at Corinth were on this path, though Paul carefully avoids expressly saying so, and only exhibits this disastrous consequence as a result to be dreaded. But in this question there is another point of view, which is to be carefully taken into account. Paul is reasoning not as a philosopher, but as an apostle, that is to say, from the viewpoint of the Christian salvation. Now if the resurrection be once denied, either as to believers or as to Christ Himself, what means the survival of the soul after death? Paul has told us in 1Co 15:18: “Then they which are fallen asleep in Christ are perished;” a saying the meaning of which is obvious from the preceding words: “We are yet in our sins.” Such an immortality is more to be dreaded than desired; it is not therefore of a nature to weaken the pernicious practical consequences drawn from the denial of the resurrection. It rather gives them new force. For is not condemnation following a life of sacrifice still more terrible than annihilation? Weiss says with perfect truth (Bibl. Theol. § 96d): “If Paul contends against those who deny the resurrection as if this denial involved the negation of all life after death, it must be remembered that with the denial of the resurrection of the body the resurrection of Christ in his view fell to the ground, and that consequently communion with the living Christ beyond the tomb was no longer possible.” In such circumstances, the conclusion was evident: Why torment ourselves to acquire and to bring into the possession of others a salvation which will never be realized? Better enjoy life peaceably till it be withdrawn from us.

The same confusion which is here ascribed to Paul might be imputed to Jesus Himself, on the occasion of His reply to the Sadducees, Mat 22:29-32 and parallels. This reply indeed assumes that the immortality of the soul necessarily implies the resurrection of the body.

The position of Jesus face to face with the Sadducees was almost the same as that of Paul in relation to the Corinthian opponents of the resurrection. The Sadducees could not conceive the existence of the spirit as independent of that of the body; from the annihilation of the latter there followed therefore the annihilation of the former. Hence it is that Jesus, not confining Himself to solving the difficulty which they had put to Him, takes the offensive and saps at the root their view of the resurrection, demonstrating to them, by the declaration of Jehovah to Moses regarding His relation to the long-dead patriarchs, the survival of their persons. He argues on the foundation of Jewish monotheism, as St. Paul here argues on the foundation of Christ’s own resurrection. The relation of the patriarchs to the living God implies the permanence of their personal life, as the relation of believers to Christ raised in the body implies the permanence of their personal and bodily life.

Frédéric Louis Godet — Commentaries on Luke, John, Romans, and 1 Corinthians — English translation (T&T Clark, Edinburgh, 1870s–1890s) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

1Co_15:33

Be not deceived: evil communications corrupt good manners.

This warning flows naturally from what had been said. If the tendency of the denial of the resurrection be to render men reckless and sensual, then the Corinthians should not be deceived by the plausible arguments or specious conduct of the errorists among them. They should avoid them, under the conviction that all evil is contagious. Evil communications. The word properly means a being together, companionship. It is contact, association with evil, that is declared to be corrupting. This is a fact of common experience, and therefore the apostle expresses it in a verse borrowed from the Greek poet, Menander, which had probably become a proverb. It is only when men associate with the wicked with the desire and purpose to do them good, that they can rely on the protection of God to preserve them from contamination.

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

The conclusion with a sharp exhortation, that they take heed of the naughty company of certain: from whence he showeth that this mischief sprang: warning them to be wise with sobriety unto righteousness.

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

evil communications corrupt good manners--a current saying, forming a verse in MENANDER, the comic poet, who probably took it from Euripides [SOCRATES, Ecclesiastical History, 3.16]. "Evil communications" refer to intercourse with those who deny the resurrection. Their notion seems to have been that the resurrection is merely spiritual, that sin has its seat solely in the body, and will be left behind when the soul leaves it, if, indeed, the soul survive death at all.

good--not only good-natured, but pliant. Intimacy with the profligate society around was apt to corrupt the principles of the Corinthians.

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 33. Be not deceived] Do not impose on yourselves, and permit not others to do it.

Evil communications corrupt good manners.] There are many sayings like this among the Greek poets; but this of the apostle, and which according to the best MSS. makes an Iambic verse, is generally supposed to have been taken from Menander's lost comedy of Thais.

Φθειρουσιν ηθη χρησθ' ὁμιλιαι κακαι·

Bad company good morals doth corrupt.

There is a proverb much like this among the rabbins:

תרי אורי יכישי ותר רטיכא אוקרן יכישי לרטיכא

"There were two dry logs of wood, and one green log; but the dry logs burnt up the green log."

There is no difficulty in this saying; he who frequents the company of bad or corrupt men will soon be as they are. He may be sound in the faith, and have the life and power of godliness, and at first frequent their company only for the sake of their pleasing conversation, or their literary accomplishments: and he may think his faith proof against their infidelity; but he will soon find, by means of their glozing speeches, his faith weakened; and when once he gets under the empire of doubt, unbelief will soon prevail; his bad company will corrupt his morals; and the two dry logs will soon burn up the green one.

The same sentiment in nearly the same words is found in several of the Greek writers; AEschylus, Sept. Theb. ver. 605: Εν παντι πραγει δ' εσθ' ὁμιλιας κακης κακιον ουδεν· "In every matter there is nothing more deleterious than evil communication."---Diodorus Siculus, lib. xvi. cap. 54: Ταις πονηραις ὁμιλιαις διεφθειρε τα ηθη των ανθρωπων· "With these evil communications he corrupted the morals of men."

Ταυτα μεν οὑτως ισθι· κακοισι δε μη προσομιλο

Ανδρασιν, αλλ' αιει των αγαθων εχεο·

Και μετα τοισιν πινε και εσθιε, και μετα τοισιν

Ἱζε, και ἁνδανε τοις, ὡν μεγαλη δυναμις.

Εσθλων μεν γαρ απ' εσθλα μαθησεαι· ην δε κακοισι

Συμμιχθῃς, απολεις και τον εοντα νοον.

Theogn. Sent., ver. 31-36.

Know this: Thou must not keep company with the wicked, but converse always with good men. With such eat, drink, and associate. Please those who have the greatest virtue. From good men thou mayest learn good things; but if thou keep company with the wicked, thou wilt lose even the intelligence which thou now possessest.

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

(33) Be not deceived.—The previous words are spoken with sarcasm. That is what you must come to if this life be all. The solemn thought then occurs to the Apostle that perhaps these words do only too truly describe the actual state of some of the Corinthians. They had become tainted by the bad moral atmosphere in which they lived and which was impregnated with the teaching of that false philosophy, “Let us eat and drink, for to-morrow we die.” “Be not deceived,” he adds, solemnly; it is a fact, “Evil communications corrupt good manners.” This is a proverb, slightly modified in one word from a line in the Thais of Menander. It is impossible to say whether the Apostle was acquainted with the original line in the poem, or not; for in any case he would probably have quoted it in the form in which it was current amongst ordinary people. The force of the proverb is, that even evil words are dangerous. The constant repetition of an immoral maxim may lead to immoral life. Words that seem harmless, because they float lightly like thistledown, may bear in them a seed of evil which may take root and bring forth evil fruit.

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

33. evil communications corrupt good manners] This passage is taken from the Thais of Menander, and like Act_17:28 and Tit_1:12, shews that St Paul was familiar with classical literature.

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.

Thou fool,.... Not transgressing the law of Christ, which makes him that calls his brother a fool in danger of hell fire; for the apostle said not this in anger, and from a malevolent disposition, as that rule supposes, but out of zeal for truth, and to reprove the stupidity and folly of such a bold objector; in opposing the veracity and power of God, in setting up his reason above divine revelation, and in not attending even to natural philosophy itself; in which professing to be wise he might be justly called a fool, and therefore sends him to the husbandman to learn of him how to answer his own queries:

that which thou sowest is not quickened except it die; and which is more especially true of a grain of wheat: our Lord observes the same; see Gill on Joh 12:24, and designs by the simile his own death, and resurrection, and the fruit following thereon. This seed being cast into the earth corrupts, rots, and dies, and then is quickened, and rises up in stalk, blade, and ear. Which shows that the dissolution and corruption of the body by death is so far from being an objection to its resurrection, that it is necessary to it, even as the dying and putrifying of the seed, or grain of wheat, is necessary to its quickening and rising up again; and that if God is able to quicken a seed or grain that is rotten and entirely dead, and cause it to rise up in verdure and with much fruit, as he does every year in millions of instances, why should it be thought incredible that God should quicken dead bodies, when the one is as much an instance of his power as the other? The Claromontane exemplar reads, "except it die first"; and so the Vulgate Latin version.

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

33 Be not deceived: evil communications corrupt good manners.

Ver. 33. Evil communication] Evil words are not wind, as most imagine, but the devil’s drivel, that leaves a foul stain upon the speaker, and often sets the like upon the hearer. Shun obscene borborology (filthy talk) (saith one) and unsavoury speeches; thou losest so much of thine honesty and piety as thou admittest evil into thy tongue.

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.

Be not deceived - By your false teachers, and by their smooth and plausible arguments. This is an exhortation. He had thus far been engaged in an argument on the subject. He now entreats them to beware lest they be deceived - a danger to which they were very liable from their circumstances. There was, doubtless, much that was plausible in the objections to the doctrine of the resurrection; there was much subtilty and art in their teachers, who denied this doctrine; perhaps, there was something in the character of their own minds, accustomed to subtle and abstruse inquiry rather than to an examination of simple facts, that exposed them to this danger.

Evil communications - The word rendered “communications” means, properly, a being together; companionship; close contact; converse. It refers not to discourse only, but to contact, or companionship. Paul quotes these words from Menander (in Sentent. Comicor. Greek p. 248, ed. Steph.), a Greek poet. He thus shows that he was, in some degree at least, familiar with the Greek writers; compare the note on Act 17:28. Menander was a celebrated comic poet of Athens, educated under Theophrastus. His writings were replete with elegance, refined wit, and judicious observations. Of one hundred and eight comedies which he wrote, nothing remains but a few fragments. He is said to have drowned himself, in the 52nd year of his age, 293 b.c., because the compositions of his rival Philemon obtained more applause than his own. Patti quoted this sentiment from a Greek poet, perhaps, because it might be supposed to have weight with the Greeks. It was a sentiment of one of their own writers, and here was an occasion in which it was exactly applicable. It is implied in this, that there were some persons who were endeavoring to corrupt their minds from the simplicity of the gospel. The sentiment of the passage is, that the contact of evil-minded men, or that the close friendship and conversation of those who hold erroneous opinions, or who are impure in their lives, tends to corrupt the morals, the heart, the sentiments of others. The particular thing to which Paul here applies it is the subject of the resurrection. Such contact would tend to corrupt the simplicity of their faith, and pervert their views of the truth of the gospel, and thus corrupt their lives. It is always true that such contact has a pernicious effect on the mind and the heart. It is done:

(1) By their direct effort to corrupt the opinions, and to lead others into sin.

(2) By the secret, silent influence of their words, and conversation, and example. We have less horror at vice by becoming familiar with it; we look with less alarm on error when we hear it often expressed; we become less watchful and cautious when we are constantly with the frivilous, the worldly, the unprincipled, and the vicious. Hence, Christ sought that there should be a pure society, and that his people should principally seek the friendship and conversation of each other, and withdraw from the world. It is in the way that Paul here refers to, that Christians embrace false doctrines; that they lose their spirituality, love of prayer, fervor of piety, and devotion to God. It is in this way that the simple are beguiled, the young corrupted, and that vice, and crime, and infidelity spread over the world.

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

Evil communications (or discourses) corrupt good manners. He hints that this error against the resurrection, and the other faults into which they had fallen, were occasioned by the heathen philosophers and other vain teachers among them. (Witham)

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).

Do not suffer yourselves to be abused with evil and corrupt discourses of those philosophers amongst whom you converse, who argue from innate principles of reason against articles of faith; though you may judge that they talk but for discourse sake, yet their communication or discourse is naught, and will influence men as to things of practice, and debauch men in their morals. It is a verse or saying taken out of, or at least found in, one of the pagan poets; but containing in it much truth.

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

33. Paul now flings out some words of warning against the demoralizing influence of the men who are among them insinuating the non-existence of any human future.

Deceived—Beware of error, for evil intercourses, intimacies, corrupt good morals, rather than manners. Bad principles produce bad characters and conduct. The belief that we live but for this world will seduce us into sin.

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

Be net deceived. Do not be led astray by such specious maxims. They can only arise from that too great familiarity with the heathen against which I have already put you on your guard. Evil communications corrupt good manners. An iambic line from the "Thais" of Menander, and perhaps taken by Menander from a play of Euripides. More accurately it means "evil associations corrupt excellent morals." According to the best reading (crhsta, not crhsq), St. Paul does not quote it as an iambic, and in itself it does not offer the least shadow of proof that St. Paul was familiar with classic literature. It is just such a line as he might have seen carved on the Hermae of any Greek town, or preserved in any chrestomathy or gnomology which may have chanced to pass through his hands. His other classic quotations (from Epimenides, Tit_1:12; and Aratus or Cleanthes, Act_17:28) are of the same common and proverbial character. It is very unlikely that he would have deliberately quoted from the immoral play of a corrupt comedian like Menander. (For the sentiment, see 2Ti_2:16-18)

Evil company.

This is one of several instances in which inspired writers have incorporated in their own compositions the language of current literature. The adoption of a line from Menander is a witness to the harmony between human reason and Divine revelation. From whatsoever source proceeding, truth and justice, wisdom and prudence, possess a Divine authority. We are encouraged to use the wisdom of so called profane writers even m enforcing spiritual truth.

I INFIDELITY AND IMMORALITY ARE OFTEN ASSOCIATED. It would be unjust to charge all unbelievers with vice; but there is no injustice in pointing out that the natural tendency of infidelity is both to shake the foundations of virtue and to snap the restraints upon vice. If there be no righteous God, no moral law, no future retribution, all sanctions to virtue and uprightness of heart and conduct are removed, except such as are imposed by civil society. Where external penalties are removed, or where they can be evaded, it is not reasonable to expect that the bulk of men will deny themselves, check their appetites and passions, and practise the difficult virtues of justice, chastity, and benevolence. And it cannot be concealed that in most cases the prevalence of infidelity opens the flood gates of all iniquity. The Corinthian false teachers seem to have taught that, the body being perishable, sins of the flesh are immaterial and unimportant, and thus to have given countenance to the maxim of Epicureanism, "Let us eat and drink; for tomorrow we die.

II INFIDELITY AND IMMORALITY ARE CONTAGIOUS AND CORRUPTING. By appealing to what is base and selfish in human nature, the champions of error and self indulgence lead especially the young who come under their influence away from the stern steep road of virtue into "the primrose path of dalliance." None are more contemptible than those blasphemers and voluptuaries who, having grown grey in the service of Satan, make it their aim to corrupt and debauch the young and inexperienced. By casting aspersions upon religion, by insinuating doubts, by representing the pleasures of sin, and, above all, by an example of irreligion, profanity, and vice, such persons make themselves a moral plague and pestilence in human society.

III INFIDELITY AND IMMORALITY SHOULD THEREFORE BE DISCOUNTENANCED AND ESCHEWED. For the sake of our own welfare, for the sake of the family, the Church, and society, it is needful that we should be upon our guard against those evil associations which have a tendency to corrupt even good manners and morals. And, on the other hand, those whose influence has been exerted against the cause of virtue and religion may well be reminded that they cannot perish alone, that their example will probably be injurious and even ruinous to others; so that if there remain in them any spark of pity and unselfishness, they may well be entreated to immediate and sincere repentance, for the sake of others as well as of themselves. T.

Evil communications.

This sentence is taken from a work by Menander, and may be regarded as an indication of St. Paul"s acquaintance with classical literature. Too much, however, must not be made of this, because so sharply defined a sentence might very well have become a common proverb, and the apostle may only have known it in this form. As a proverb it was designed to embody the truth that evil words are dangerous. The constant repetition of an immoral maxim may lead to immoral life. "Words that seem harmless, because they float lightly like thistledown, may bear in them a seed of evil which may take root and bring forth evil fruit." The apostle used it in reference to the mischievous moral influence of those who deny the resurrection. It was, to the apostle"s view, positively immoral to assert that the resurrection is only spiritual; that sin belongs only to the body, and so will pass away with its death. Dealing with the proverb in its more general applications, we note

I MAN CANNOT AVOID CONTACT WITH EVIL MEN. We must meet them in business, and in all the various forms of life association; and we cannot keep ourselves free from their contaminating influence. We are like transplanted trees; the bad atmosphere for us is all around us, and the question is whether our vitality is strong enough to thrive even under the bad influence. Illustration of this point is very abundant and ready to hand. It applies to evil thought as well as evil life.

II MAN MAY AVOID FRIENDSHIP WITH EVIL MEN. We can put firm limitations on the character of our relationships. Much of the practical wisdom in ordering our life is shown in doing so.

III MAN MAY BE PRESERVED FROM THE INFLUENCE OF EVIL MEN. Mainly in three ways.

1. By due watching and care.

2. By adequate culture of the spiritual life into vigour and strength.

3. By cherished dependence upon the guardings of Divine grace. A man may be in the world, and not of it.

IV MAN MAY BE A CORRECTIVE POWER ON EVIL MEN. Man may stand in three relations to evil.

1. He may yield to it.

2. He may stand aloof from it.

3. He may master it. The last is at once the relation that is safe; and the relation to which the Christian man is called, and for which he is endowed.

R.T.

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

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. Evil communications - Discourse contrary to faith, hope, or love, naturally tends to destroy all holiness.

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

Here the apostle advises them to take heed of being corrupted in their manners by such wicked principles as epicures would be ready to instill into them. Ill words draw persons on to ill deeds; therefore, says he, look to your communication and discourse, take heed of debauching your morals by evil communications; and he backs this exhortation with a forcible motive, because that such sensual principles and lewd opinions show that men’s consciences and reason are in a deep sleep, and that a sottish stupidity has benumbed them: so much is implied in the next words, Awake to righteousness and sin not.

Here note, 1. That sin is frequently in scripture compared to sleep, and very fitly, because sinners apprehend things no better than men asleep; all their apprehensions of God and Christ, of heaven and hell, of eternity and a life to come, are slight and hovering notions, wild and uncertain guesses: and the most substantial realities are with them but mere fancies.

Again, he that is asleep is void of all care and fear, full of forgetfulness, unapprehensive of dangers; such is the sinner, whilst he continues asleep in sin, secure, but not safe.

Note, 2. That repentance is the soul’s awaking out of the sleep of sin: the soul rouses up, apprehends, and considers its dangers, whilst there is possibility to escape it, and accordingly by repentance flies from the wrath to come.

Note, 3. That it is not enough that we awake from sin, but we must awake to righteousness; we must not only eschew evil, but do good: for a negative holiness saves none; the positive fruits of holiness towards God, and righteousness towards our neighbour, must be brought forth by us, and the duties of both tables be observed of us; this will be an argument of our sincerity, and an ornament to our profession.

The want of this, the apostle tells the Corinthians here, argued them not to have the true knowledge of God, which was really matter of shame to them, considering the means and advantages enjoyed by them: Some have not the knowledge of God; I speak this to your shame.

William Burkitt's Expository Notes on the New Testament (1700–1703) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

33. “Be not deceived, evil communications corrupt good manners.” Beware that you keep your houses pure, lest your children intermarry the wicked and the whole family be turned over to the devil. In this way the antediluvian world was ruined and the flood became a necessity, when the Holiness people (the descendants of Seth) entered into matrimonial alliances with the worldly people, i. e., the descendants of Cain.

William B. Godbey, Commentary on the New Testament (1896–1900) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Be not deceived: Evil companionships corrupt good morals .

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.

Bad company corrupts good morals

If you live with bad people, you will act like them. Paul is quoting a common saying.

Sober up

"You must think seriously about this"

translationWords

deceive

righteous

sin

know

shame

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

33. χρηστὰ אABDEFG. Rec. χρῆσθ’. Scrivener follows Lachmann, who edits χρήσθ’ ‘per meram licentiam’ (Tischendorf).

33. φθείροσιν ἤθη χρηστὰ ὁμιλίαι κακαί. Perhaps the nearest approach to this in English is bad company corrupts good habits. This passage is taken from the Thais of Menander, and like Act 17:28 and Tit 1:12, shews that St Paul was familiar with classical literature.

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.

33.] The tendency of the denial of the resurrection, represented by the Epicurean maxim just quoted, leads him to hint that this denial was not altogether unconnected with a practice of too much intimacy with the profligate society around them.

μὴ πλαν., as in ref., introduces a warning against moral self-deception.

φθείρ. ἤθη …] These words (according to the reading χρῆσθʼ, which has, however, hardly any support) form an Iambic trimeter, and occur in this form in a fragment of the Thais of Menander; but Alex. Strom. i. 14 (59), p. 350 P., says, πρὸς γοῦν Κορινθίους … ἰαμβείῳ συγκέχρηται τραγικῷ—but this may be a mere inaccuracy. Socrates, Hist. Ecc 3:16, quotes it as a sufficient proof that Paul was conversant with the tragedies of Euripides. “Perhaps,” says Dr. Burton, “Menander took it from Euripides.” The Apostle may have cited it merely as a commonplace current, without any idea whence it came;—and χρηστά seems to shew this. The plur. ὁμιλίαι, points out the repetition of the practice. Meyer quotes Plato, Rep. viii. p. 550, διὰ τὸ μὴ κακοῦ ἀνδρὸς εἶναι τὴν φύσιν, ὁμιλίαις δὲ ταῖς τῶν ἄλλων κακαῖς κεχρῆσθαι.

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

33. Having quoted the natural but fatal advice which might be given to them, he passes on to give advice which is wholesome and necessary. Here we get his own view.

μὴ πλανᾶσθε. ‘Do not begin to be led astray’ (6:9), nolite seduci (Vulg.); or (better), ‘Cease to be led astray’ by such Epicurean principles: 6:9; Gal 6:7; Jas 1:16, where see Hort’s note. He perhaps wishes to intimate that some of them have been captivated by this specious, but immoral doctrine. The quotation that follows confirms this.

φθείρουσιν ἤθη χρηστὰ ὁμιλίαι κακαί. ‘Evil companionships mar good morals,’ or ‘Bad company spoils noble characters.’ It is uncertain whether Menander adopted a popular proverb, or the saying passed from the Thais into popular use. St Paul may have got the saying from either source; but the form χρηστά (for the reading χρησθʼ has hardly any authority) points to the proverb rather than the play. The saying is specially true of the Christian life, and the friends and acquaintances of the Corinthian Christians were mostly heathen; 7:12, 8:10, 10:27; 2Co 6:14-16. Neither ὁμιλίαι nor ἤθη is found elsewhere in the N.T. The former combines the meanings of ‘conversations’ and ‘societies’ or ‘companies,’ colloquia (Vulg.), commercia (Beza), LXX of Pro 7:21; Wisd. 8:18. We cannot infer from this passage, combined with Act 17:28 and Tit 1:12, that St Paul was well acquainted with classical writers; his quotations may have been common-places. Origen (Hom. xxxi. in Luc.) says that St Paul borrows words even from heathen in order to hallow them.

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

Communications [ομιλιαι] . Wrong. Lit., companionships. Rev., company.

Manners [ηθη] . Only here in the New Testament. Originally hqov means an accustomed seat or haunt; thence custom, usage; plural, manners, morals, character. The passage, "Evil company doth corrupt good manners," is an iambic line; either the repetition of a current proverb, or a citation of the same proverb from the poet Menander. Compare Aeschylus : "Alas for the ill - luck in mortals that brings this honest man into company with those who have less regard for religion. In every matter, indeed, nothing is worse than evil - fellowship" [ομιλιας] (" Seven against Thebes, " 593 - 595).

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