142 " Not beyond the things written'' CHAP. 



"Now these things, brethren, I have in a figure 

 transferred to myself and Apollos for your sakes ; 

 that in us ye might learn not to go beyond the things 

 which are written ; that no one of you be puffed up for 

 the one against the other. For who maketh thee to 

 differ 1 and what hast thou that thou didst not re- 

 ceive 1 but if thou didst receive it, why dost thou 

 glory, as if thou hadst not received it 1 " ] V 



The translation does not show, what is obvious in 

 the Greek, that the expression "not beyond the 

 things which are written" is quoted as being pro- 

 verbial. This is implied in the use of the article 

 introducing the quoted clause. The Greek is I'va Iv 

 rjfj.iv fJidOrjTe TO fjirj VTrep a yey/oaTrrai, 2 which CanQIl 

 Evans 3 translates, or paraphrases, "That you may 

 learn the (lesson), not above what is written," add *" 

 ing, " This expression refers apparently to the moral 

 tenor of the books of the Old Testament. No allusion 

 to a special text. 4 It seems to denote a sort of 

 ethical canon of the Scriptures, and the Corinthian 

 brethren are here exhorted not to transgress this 

 canon, but to keep within its limits by following the 

 specific pattern of modesty and humility adum- 



1 1 Cor. iv. 6, 7. 



a a (plural) not 6 (singular) is the reading adopted by the 

 Revisers. 



3 Speaker's Commentary on the New Testament, vol. iii. p. 

 270. 



4 Perhaps there is an allusion to Detit. xvii. 19, 20, a pass- 

 age written for the guidance of kings. Saint Paul, in the 

 verse following those quoted, says ironically, " Ye have reigned 

 (as kings) without us." 



