Commentary on the Epistles to the Corinthians John Calvin (continued)
Commentary on the Corinthians
It is of little consequence, and so far as the sense is concerned it matters nothing, whether we say that the wife is bound legi, (to the law,) in the dative, or lege, (by the law,) in the ablative. For it is the law that declares the connection between husband and wife to be indissoluble. If, however, you read it in the dative, the term will convey the idea of authority or obligation. 454 Now he reasons from contraries; for if a woman is bound to her husband for life, she is, then, set at liberty by his death. After she has been set at liberty, let her be married to whom she will
When the verb to sleep means to die, 455 it refers not to the soul, but to the body, as is manifest from its constant use in Scripture. 456 It is a foolish part, therefore, that is acted by certain fanatics, who, from this little word, make it their endeavor to prove that the souls of men, after being separated from their bodies, are destitute of thought and intelligence, or, in other words, of their life.
Only in the Lord This is thought to be added for the purpose of admonishing them in passing, that they ought not to yoke themselves with the irreligious, or to covet their society. This, I acknowledge, is true, but I am of opinion that more is meant that they should do this in a religious way, and in the fear of the Lord, 457 for it is in this manner that marriages are formed auspiciously.
40. But she is happier if she so abide Why? Is it because widowhood is of itself a virtue? No; but because it will have less to distract, and is more exempt from earthly cares. As to what he adds — according to my judgment, he does not mean by this expression that his opinion was doubtful; but it is as if he had said that such was his decision as to this question; for he immediately adds that he has the Spirit of God, which is sufficient to give full and perfect authority. There appears, at the same time, to be somewhat of irony when he says I think For as the false apostles were ever and anon boasting in high-sounding terms of their having the Spirit of God, for the purpose of arrogating to themselves authority, and in the meantime endeavored to derogate from that of Paul, he says that he thinks that he is not less a partaker of the Spirit than they
454"Authoritc ou puissance et suiection;" — "Authority or power and subjection." 455"Comme en ce passage;" — "As in this passage." 456The original expression is {ἐὰν} {δὲ} {κοιμηθὟ} {ὁ} {ἀνὴρ} {αὐτὢς}, --- ``If her husband has fallen asleep.'' The metaphor is not peculiar to the Scriptures, but is made use of also by heathen writers, of which we have a beautiful instance in Callimachus --- {ἱερον} {ὑπνον} {Κοιμαται}· {Θνησκειν} {μη} {λεγε} {τους} {αγαθους}· He sleeps a sacred sleep --- say not that good men die. --- Ed
457"Auce reuerence, sagement, et en la erainte du Seigneur;" — "With reverence, wisely, and in the fear of the Lord."