Forasmuch as ye know that ye were not redeemed with corruptible things, as silver and gold, from your vain conversation received by tradition from your fathers;
Ver. 18. Ye were not redeemed with silver and gold] These are poor things to purchase a soul with (more likely they are to drown it in perdition and destruction, 1Ti 6:9). Our Saviour, who only ever went to the price of souls, tells us that one soul is more worth than a world, Matthew 16:26 .
Received by tradition] Children are very apt to follow their parents' example, whether of good or evil. Me ex ea opinione quam a maioribus accepi de cultu Deorum, nullius unquam movebit oratio, saith Cicero, I will never forsake that way of di vine service that I have received from my fore fathers.