YALE
DIVINITY SCHOOL
LIBRARY

Gift of

NOTES

ON

THE SECOND EPISTLE OF PAUL THE APOSTLE

CORINTHIANS,

WITH

A NEW TRANSLATION,

BY
WILLIAM KELLY.

Bible Truth Publishers
239 Harrison St., Oak Park,' 111.

G. MORRISH, (.
114, Camberwell Road,
„ut'London, S.E.5.

Yale Divinity Library
Woiai Hai/fin. Conn.

Made and Printed in England

THE
SECOND EPISTLE TO THE COEINTHIANS.
I. Paul, apostle of Jesns Christ by God's will, and
Timothy the brother, to the assembly that is in Corinth,
with all the saints that are in the whole of Achaia;
'grace to you and peace from God our Father and
Lord Jesus Christ.
* Blessed [be] the God and Father of our Lord
Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and God of all
comfort, ' that comforteth us in all our tribulation, that
we may be able to comfort those that are in any tri
bulation through the comfort with which we are com
forted ourselves by God, * because as the sufferings of
the Christ abound toward us, even so through the
Christ aboundeth also our comfort. * But, whether we
be in tribulation, [it is] for your comfort and salva
tion, that worketh in endurance of the same sufferings
which we also suffer (and our hope [is] stedfast for
you) ; whether we be comforted, [it is] for your
comfort and salvation, 7 knowing that as ye are par
takers of the sufferings, so also of the comfort.
8 For we would not have you ignorant, brethren, as to
our tribulation that came to pass in Asia, that we were
excessively pressed beyond power, so as for us to despair
even of our living. * But we ourselves have had in our
selves the sentence of death, that we should not have
our trust in ourselves, but in God that raiseth the dead,
"who delivered us from so great a death, and doth [or,
will] deliver, in whom we have hope that he will
also yet deliver, n ye also labouring together by suppli-

II CORINTHIANS.
cation for us that from many persons the gift toward
us may by many be matter of thanksgiving for us. u For
our boasting is this, the testimony of our conscience
that in holiness and sincerity before God, not in carnal
wisdom but in God's grace, we conducted ourselves in
the world, and more abundantly towards you. w For
no other thing we write unto you than what ye read, or
even recognise, and I hope that ye will recognise unto
the end, " even as also ye recognised us in part that
we are your boast, just as ye also are ours in the day
of our Lord Jesus.
"And with this confidence I was intending pre
viously to come unto you, that ye might have a second
favour, 16 and through you to pass into Macedonia, and
again from Macedonia to come unto you, and by you to
be sent forward into Judea. 17 Having, then, this in
tention, did I, pray, use lightness ? Or what I purpose,
do I purpose according to flesh, that with me may be
the yea yea and the nay nay ? 18 Now God [is] faithful
that our word that [was] unto you is not yea and nay.
19 For the Son of God, Christ Jesus, that was preached
among you by us, by me and Silvanus and Timothy,
became not yea and nay, but is become yea in him.
20 For as many as [be] God's promises, in him [is] the
yea ; wherefore also by him [is] the amen for glory to
God by us. n Now he that establisheth us with you
in Christ, and anointed us is God, ^who also sealed us,
and gave the earnest of the Spirit in our hearts. 2e But I
call God as witness upon my soul, that to spare you I
came not yet unto Corinth ; ** not that we rule over
your faith, but are fellow-workers of your joy, for by
faith ye stand.
II. But I judged this for myself not to oome again
unto you in grief. * For if I grieve you, who

OH APT KB II. V
then [is] he that gladdeneth me, if not he that is grieved
by me ? s And I wrote this very thing, that I might
not on coming have grief from those from whom I
ought to have joy, having trust in you all that my joy
is [that] of you all. * For out of much tribulation and
distress of heart I wrote to you with many tears, not
that ye should be grieved, but that ye may know the
love that I have very [lit. more] abundantly unto you.
8 But if any one hath grieved, he hath grieved not
me, but in part (that I may not press heavily) all of
you. 6 Sufficient to such an one [is] this rebuke, which
[is] by the many ; 7 so that, on the contrary, ye should
rather forgive and comfort, lest somehow such an one
be swallowed up with excessive grief. " Wherefore I
exhort you to ratify love toward him. ' For I wrote
also for this, and that I might know the proof of
you, whether as to all things ye are obedient. 10 But to
whom ye forgive anything, I also ; for I too, what I
have forgiven, if I have forgiven anything, [do so] for
your sake in Christ's person, nthat we might not be
overreached by Satan, for we are not ignorant of his
devices. u Now when I came unto the Troad for the gospel of
Christ, a door being opened to me in [the] Lord, u I
had no rest in my spirit at not finding Titus, my bro
ther ; but, having taken leave of them, I went forth into
Macedonia. " But thanks [be] to God that always
leadeth us in triumph in Christ, and maketh manifest
the odour of his knowledge through us in every place.
"Because we are a sweet odour of Christ to God in
those to be saved, and in those that perish : u to the
one an odour from death unto death, but to the others
an odour from life unto life ; and who [is] sufficient for
these things ? " For we are not as the many, corrupt-

Yl D OOBINTHIANS.
ing [lit. retailing] the word of God ; but as ot sincerity,
but as of God, before God, we speak in Christ.
III. Begin we again to commend ourselves ? or need
we, as some, recommendatory epistles unto yon or from
you ? * Ye are our epistle inscribed in our hearts,
known and read by all men, 8 being manifested that ye
are Christ's epistle ministered by us, having been in
scribed, not with ink, but [the] Spirit of [the] living
God, not on tables of stone, but on fleshy tables of [the]
heart [or, hearts]. ' And such confidence have we
through the Christ toward God ; ° not that we are
competent from ourselves to reckon anything as of
ourselves, but our competency [is] of God, ° who also
made us competent [as] servants of a new cove
nant, not of letter but of spirit, for the letter killeth
but the spirit quickeneth.
(7 But if the ministry of death in letter, graven on
stones, came with glory, so that the sons of Israel
could not look intently toward the face of Moses for the
glory of his face, that was to be done away, e how shall
not the ministry of the Spirit rather be in glory ? * For
if the ministry of condemnation [have] glory, much
more doth the ministry of righteousness abound in
glory. 10 For even that which hath been glorified hath
not been glorified in this respect on account of the
surpassing glory. u For if that to be done away [was]
with glory, much more what abideth [is] in glory.
u Having then such hope we use much openness of
speech: w and not as Moses used to put a veil on his own
face, that the sons of Israel should not look stedfastly
unto the end of that to be done away. " But their
thoughts were darkened [lit. hardened] ; for until this
very day the same veil at the reading of the old cove
nant abideth unlifted [lit. not unveiled], which in Christ

CHAPTER IV. VU
is done away. u But unto this day, when Moses is being
read, a veil Heth upon their heart. M But whenever it
shall turn to the Lord, the veil is taken off.)
17 Now the Lord is the spirit, but where the Spirit
of the Lord [is, there is] liberty ; w but we all, behold
ing the glory of the Lord with unveiled face, are being
transformed into the same image from glory to glory,
even as from [the] Lord [the] Spirit.
IY. On this account, having this ministry, according
as we obtained mercy, we faint not, ' but refused the
bidden things of shame, not walking in deceit, nor
guilefully using the word of God, but by the manifesta
tion of the truth commending ourselves to every con
science of men in the sight of God. ° But if even our
gospel is veiled, in those that perish it is veiled, *in
whom the god of this age blinded the minds [or
thoughts] of the faithless, that the illumination of the
gospel of the glory of Christ, who is [the] image of
God, should not shine forth. * For not ourselves do
we preach, but Jesus Christ as Lord, and ourselves
your bondmen for Jesus' sake," because it is the God
that bade light shine ont of darkness, who shone in
our hearts for the illumination of the knowledge
of the glory of God in the faoe of Jesus Christ.
'But we have this treasure in earthenware vessels,
that the surpassingness of the power may be God's,
and not of us, 8 in everything being afflicted, yet not
straitened, sorely yet not utterly perplexed, * persecuted
yet not forsaken, east down yet not destroyed,10 always
bearing about in the body the dying [or, putting to
death] of Jesus, that the life also of Jesus may be
manifested in oar body. u For we that live are ever
being delivered up unto death for Jesns' sake, that the
life also of Jesus may be manifested in our mortal

viii n CORINTHIANS.
flesh. a So that death worketh in us, but life in you.
* But having the same spirit of faith, according to that
which is written, I believed wherefore [also] I spake :
we also believe, wherefore also we speak ; M knowing
that he that raised up the Lord Jesus shall raise up us
also with Jesus, and shall present [us] with you. u For
all things [are] for your sakes, that the grace having
multiplied through the greater number might make the
thanksgiving abound to the glory of God.
16 Wherefore we fail not ; but even if our outer man
is consuming, yet the inner is being renewed day by
day. ITFor the momentary lightness of our affliction
worketh out for us in surpassing measure an eternal
weight of glory : a while we have the eye not on the
things that are seen, but on those not seen, for the
things seen [are] temporary, but those not seen, eternal.
V. For we know that if our earthly tabernacle-house
be dissolved, we have a building from God, a house not
made with hands, everlasting in the heavens. 'For
also in this we groan, longing to clothe ourselves with
our dwelling which is from heaven, 'if indeed also
when clothed we shall not be found naked. * For
also we that are in the tabernacle groan, being
burdened, because we desire not to be unclothed but
elothed upon, that what is mortal may be swallowed
np of life. "Now he that wrought us for this very
thing [is] God, that gave us the earnest of the Spirit.
•Therefore being always oonfident, and knowing that,
while present in the body, we are absent from the
Lord ('for we walk by faith, not by appearance [or,
sight]), 8 we are confident and well pleased rather to be
absent from the body and to be present with the Lord.
•Wherefore also we are zealous that, whether present
or absent, we may be agreeable to him.

CHAPTER VI. iX
10For we must all be manifested before the judgment-
seat of Christ, that each may receive the things [done]
in [literally, by] the body according to what he did,
whether good or evil. u Knowing therefore the terror
of the Lord we persuade men ; but we have been mani
fested to God, and I hope also to have been manifested
in your consciences. 12 For we are not again commend
ing ourselves to you, but giving you occasion to boast
on our behalf, that ye may have [it] with those boast
ing in face and not in heart. M For whether we were
beside ourselves, [it is] to God ; or are sober, [it is]
for you. "For the love of Christ constraineth us,
having judged this, that if one died for all, then they
all were dead [or, died] ; "and he died for all, that
those who live should no longer Live to themselves,
but to him who for them died and rose. w So that
wo henoeforth know no one as to flesh : if we have
even known Christ as to flesh, yet now are we no
longer knowing [him] ; " so that, if one [is] in Christ,
[there is] a new creation ; the old things passed
away ; behold, they [or, all things] are become new.
18 And they all [are] of God that reconciled us to
himself by Christ and gave to us the ministry of the
reconciliation : w how that it was God in Christ recon
ciling [the] world to himself, not reckoning to them
their offences, and putting in us the word of the recon
ciliation. 20 For Christ then we are ambassadors, God
as it were beseeching by us, we entreat for Christ, Be
reconciled to God : 21 him that knew not sin he made
sin for us, that we might become God's righteousness
in him. ^
VI. And working together we also beseech that ye
receive not in vain the grace of God (2 for he saith, In
an acceptable season I listened to thee, and in a day of
b

X n CORINTHIANS.
salvation I helped thee : behold, now a right acceptable
season, behold, now a day of salvation), 'giving none
offence in anything that the ministry be not blamed.
•But in everything as ministers of God commending
ourselves, in much patience, in affliction, in necessities,
in straits, 'in stripes, in prisons, in tumults, in labours,
in watchings, in fastings, 'in pureness, in knowledge,
in long-suffering, in kindness, in [the] Holy Ghost, in
love unfeigned, 'in [the] word of truth, in [the] power
of God. Through [or, with] the arms of righteousness
on the right and left, 8 through glory and dishonour,
through ill report and good report, as deceivers and
true, 'as unknown and well known, as dying and, be
hold, we live, as chastened and not put to death, "as
grieved but always rejoicing, as poor but enriching
many, as having nothing and possessing all things.
14 Be not diversely yoked with unbelievers : for what
partnership [is there] for righteousness and lawless
ness ? or what fellowship [hath] light with darkness ?
"and what consent of Christ with Beliar? or what
part for a believer with an unbeliever? "and what
agreement for God's temple with idols ? For ye are
[the] living God's temple, even as God said, I will
dwell and walk among them, and will be their God,
and they shall be my people. B Wherefore come out
from the midst of them and be separated, saith [the]
Lord, and touch no unclean thing ; and I will receive
you "and will be to you for Father, and ye shall be to
me for sons and daughters, saith [the] Lord Almighty.
VH. Having therefore these promises, beloved, let as
purify ourselves from every pollution of flesh and spirit,
perfecting holiness in God's fear. j
' Beceive us ; we wronged none, we corrupted none,
we overreached none. 'For eondemnation I do not

CHAPTER VH. XI
speak ; for I hare said before that ye are in our hearts
to die with and to live with. ' Great [is] my openness
toward you, great my boasting in respect of you : I am
filled with encouragement, I am overflowing with joy
in all our affliction. 'For also when we came into
Macedonia, oar flesh had no rest, but [we were]
afflicted in every way ; without fightings, within fears.
* But he that encourageth the lowly, God, encouraged
as by the coming of Titus, 'and not by bis coming
only but also by the encouragement with which he was
encouraged in your case, declaring to us your longing
desire, your mourning, your zeal for me, so that I the
more rejoiced. ' Because if even I grieved you in the
letter, I do not regret, if even I did regret ; for I see
that that letter if even for a time grieved you. * Now
I rejoice, not that ye were grieved but that ye were
grieved unto repentance, for ye were grieved according
to God that in nothing ye might suffer damage from us.
10 For grief according to God worketh repentance to
salvation not to be regretted: but the grief of the
world worketh out death. uFor, behold, this very
thing that ye were grieved according to God, how much
diligence it wrought out in you, nay self-clearing, nay
indignation, nay fear, nay longing desire, nay zeal, nay
avenging 1 In everything did ye prove yourselves to
be pure in the matter. u Wherefore, if also I wrote,
[it was] not for the sake of him that wronged, nor for
his sake that was wronged, but for the sake of your
diligence for as (or, oars for you) being manifested
onto you before God. ™ On this account we have been
encouraged ; bat in our comfort we rejoiced the more
exceedingly over the joy of Titus, because his spirit
hath been refreshed by you all. " Because if I have
boasted to him anything of you, I was not put to

XU II CORINTHIANS.
shame ; but as we speak all things to you in truth, so
also our boasting of you to Titus was truth. " And
his affections are more exceedingly toward you, calling
to mind the obedience of you all, how with fear and
trembling ye received him. MI rejoice that in every
thing I am confident in you.
VIH. Now we make known to you, brethren, the
grace of God that is given in [or, among] the assem
blies of Macedonia ; a that in much trial of affliction the
abundance of their joy and their deep poverty abounded
unto the riches of their liberality ; 8 because according
to power [I bear witness] and beyond power [they
gave] of their own accord, • asking of us with
much entreaty the grace and the fellowship of the
ministering unto the saints ; • and this not as we hoped,
but their own selves they gave first to the Lord and to
us by the will of God ; " so that we exhorted Titus,
that, even as he before began, so he would also com
plete as to you this grace also ; ' but as ye abound in
everything, faith and word and knowledge and all dili
gence and love from you to us, [see] that ye abound in
this grace also. 8 1 speak not by way of commandment,
but through the diligence of others proving the genuine
ness of your love also.
•For ye know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ,
that for your sakes he being rich became poor, in order
that ye by his poverty might become rich. 10 And I
give an opinion in this, for this is profitable for you
who began before not only the doing, but also to be
willing a year ago. u But now also complete the doing,
that even as the readiness of the willing [was there],
so also the completing [may be] out of what ye have.
"For if the readiness be there, [one is] accepted ac
cording to what he may have, not according to what he

CHAPTER IX. X1H
hath not. "For [it is] not that others [should have]
ease and you distress, "but on equality : at the present
time your abundance for their lack, that their abun
dance also should be for your lack, so that there should
be equality ; " as it is written, He that [gathered] much
had nothing over, and he that [gathered] little had no
lack. "But thanks to God that giveth the same zeal for
you in the heart of Titus, " in that he received indeed
the exhortation, but being very zealous of his own
accord he set out unto you.. M But we sent together
with him the brother whose praise in the gospel [is]
through all the assemblies, M and not only [so] but also
chosen by the assemblies our fellow-traveller with this
grace that is being administered by us unto the glory
of the Lord [himself] and our readiness; *° guarding
against this, lest any should blame us in this abun
dance that is being administered by us, a for we pro
vide things honourable not only before [the] Lord but
also before men. fflAnd we have sent with them our
brother whom we proved to be zealous many times in
many things, but now much more zealous by great con
fidence that [he hath] in you. " Whether as regards
Titus, [he is] my partner and fellow-labourer toward
you ; whether our brethren, [they are] messengers of
assemblies, Christ's glory. The shewing forth then of
your love and of our boasting for you shew forth unto
them in the face of the assemblies.
IX. For about the ministration of the saints it is
superfluous for me to write to you. "For I know your
readiness unto which I boast of you to Macedonians that
Achaia hath been prepared a year ago, and your zeal
stimulated the many. • Yet I sent the brethren in order
that our boasting of you may not be made vain in this

XIV n CORINTHIANS.
respect, that (as I said) ye may be prepared; 'lest
haply, if Macedonians come with me and find you on-
prepared, we may be ashamed, that we say not ye, in
this confidence. * I thought it necessary therefore to
exhort the brethren that they would go before unto
you and complete beforehand your blessing promised
before, that it be ready thus as blessing, not as covet-
ousness. ' But this [I say], he that soweth sparingly
shall reap also sparingly ; and he that soweth in bless
ings shall reap also in blessings ; ' each as he hath
purposed in his heart, not of sorrow or of necessity ;
for God loveth a cheerful giver. 8 And God is able to
make every grace abound onto you; that ye,
always having all sufficiency in every [thing], may
abound unto every good work ; 'as it is written,
He scattered, he gave to the poor : his righteousness
remaineth for ever. "But he that supplieth seed
to the sower and bread for eating will supply and
multiply your sowing and increase the fruits of your
righteousness ; u ye being enriched in everything
onto all liberality which worketh oat through us
thanksgiving to God. "Because the ministration of
the service is not only filling up the wants of the saints,
but also abounding through many thanksgivings to
God; "through the proof of this service glorifying
God for the subjection of your confession unto the
gospel of Christ and liberality of fellowship toward
them and toward all ; " and in their supplication for
you, while longing for you, on account of the surpass
ing grace of God [bestowed] on you. " Thanks to
God for his unspeakable gift.
X. But I myself Paul entreat you by the meekness
and gentleness of the Christ, [I] who face to face [am]
mean among you but absent am bold toward you — * but

CHAPTER X. XV
I beseech that I present may not be bold with the con
fidence with which I think to be daring against some
that think of us as walking according to flesh. " For
walking in flesh we do not war according to flesh.
'For the arms of our warfare [are] not fleshly but
powerful with God to the pulling down of strongholds,
•pulling down reasonings and every height thatexalteth
itself against the knowledge of God, and leading cap
tive every thought unto the obedience of Christ, • and
being ready to avenge every disobedience when your
obedience shall have been fulfilled.
' Do ye look on things according to appearance ? If
any one hath trust in himself that he is of Christ, let
him of himself consider this again, that even as he [is]
of Christ, so also we. 'For even if I should boast
somewhat more abundantly of our authority which the
Lord gave for building up and not for your overthrow
ing, I shall not be ashamed ; * that I seem not as it were
to terrify you by letters : "because his letters, saith one,
[are] weighty and strong, but the presence of the body
weak and the speech ccntemptible. u Let such an one
consider this, that such as we are in word by letters
when absent, such also in deed when present. " For
we dare not class or compare ourselves with some of
those that commend themselves ; but they, measuring
themselves among themselves and comparing them
selves with themselves, are unintelligent [or, mis
understand]. "We however will not boast as to things un
measured, but according to the measure of the rule
which God distributed to us, a measure to reach as far
even as you. " For we do not, as though not reaching
unto you, overstretch ourselves, for even as far as you
we advanced in the gospel of Christ, u not boastintr as

XVI II CORINTHIANS.
to things unmeasured in another's toils, but having
hope while your faith increaseth, to be enlarged among
you according to our rule unto abundance, " to preach
the gospel unto the [quarters] beyond you, not to boast
in another's rule as to things made ready. " But he
that boasteth, in the Lord let him boast ; " for not he
that commendeth himself is approved, but whom the
Lord commendeth.
XI. Would that ye might bear with me in some little
folly ; but even bear with me. * For I am jealous as
to you with a jealousy of God; for I betrothed you to
one husband to present a chaste virgin to Christ. * But
I fear lest by any means, as the serpent deceived Eve
by his craft, your thoughts should be corrupted from
the simplicity that is toward Christ. ' For if indeed
he that cometh preacheth another Jesus whom ye
preached not, or ye receive a different Spirit whom ye
received not, or a different gospel which ye accepted
not, ye might well bear with [it]. • For I reckon that
I am in nothing come short of those surpassing
apostles ; 6 but if even ordinary in speech, yet not in
knowledge, but in every [way we were] made manifest
[or, manifested it] in all things towards you. ' What !
did I commit sin in humbling myself that ye might
be exalted, because I gratuitously announced the gospel
of God to you ? 8 Other assemblies I spoiled, receiving
hire for service toward you. * And when present with
you and in want, I have not been a burden to any one
(for my want the brethren on coming from Macedonia
supplied) ; and in everything unburdensome to you I
kept and will keep myself. 10 There is Christ's truth in
me that this boasting shall not be stopped unto me in
the quarters of Achaia. u Wherefore ? Because I love
you not ? God knoweth. " But what I do I will also

CHAPTER XI. XVii
do that I may eat off the occasion of those desiring an
occasion, that wherein they boast they may be found
even as we. "For such [are] false apostles, deceitful
workers, transforming themselves into apostles of
Christ : " and no wonder, for Satan himself transformed
himself into an angel of light : " [it is] no great thing
then if his servants also transform themselves as
servants of righteousness, whose end shall be according
to their works.
"Again I say, let not one think me to be a fool ; but
if otherwise, even as a fool receive me, that I also may
boast some little. " What I speak, I speak not according
to the Lord but as in folly, in this confidence of boast
ing. " Since many boast according to flesh, I also will
boast. "For ye bear fools pleasantly, being wise.
"For ye bear if one bring you into bondage, if one de
vour you, if one reoeive, if one exalt himself, if one
beat you on the faoe. "By way of dishonour I speak, as
though we had been weak; but wherein any one is
bold (I speak in folly) I also am bold.
"Are they Hebrews ? I too. Are they Israelites ?
I too. Are they Abraham's seed ? I too. w Are they
ministers of Christ ? (Beside myself I speak) I above
measure ; in labours very abundantly, in prisons very
abundantly, in stripes exceedingly, in deaths often.
•* From Jews five times I received forty [stripes] save
one ; "thrice was I beaten with rods, once I was stoned,
thrice I suffered shipwreck, a night and a day I have
been in the deep ; "by wayfarings often, by dangers of
rivers, by dangers of robbers, by dangers from country
men, by dangers from Gentiles, by dangers in town, by
dangers in desert, by dangers at sea, by dangers among
false brethren, by toil and trouble; "in watohings
often, in hanger and thirst, in fastings often, in oold

XVIU n CORINTHIANS.
and nakedness. "Apart from things without [or,
besides], my pressing care day by day, the concern for
all the assemblies. a" Who is weak, and I am not weak?
Who is stumbled, and I burn not ? "° If I must boast,
I will boast in the matters of my infirmity. n The God
and Father of the Lord Jesus, he that is blessed for
ever, knoweth that I lie not. "In Damascus the
ethnarch [or, prefect] of Aretas the king garrisoned the
Damascenes' city to seize me ; " and through a window
I was let down in a basket by the wall and escaped his
hands. XII. Imust needs boast; though it be not profitable, yet
I will come unto visions and revelations of [the] Lord.
' I know a man in Christ, fourteen years ago (whether
in the body, I know not ; or whether out of the body,
I know not : God knoweth), such an one caught up to
the third heaven. 'And I know such a man (whether
in the body or without [or, apart from] the body, I know
not: God knoweth), 'how that he was caught up into
paradise and heard unspeakable words which [it is] not
lawful for a man to utter. 5 On behalf of such a one
I will boast, but on mine own behalf I will not boast
save in [my] weaknesses. 6 For if I should desire to
boast, I shall not be foolish, for I shall speak truth ; but
I forbear, lest any should account as to me above that
which he seeth me or heareth of me. 'And that I
should not be uplifted by the exceeding greatness of
the revelations, there was given to me thorn [or, stake]
for the flesh, a messenger of Satan to buffet me, that
I might not be uplifted overmuch. 'For this I thrice
besought the Lord that it might depart from me ; • and
he hath said to me, My grace is sufficient for thee ; for
[my] power is perfected in weakness. Most gladly
therefore will I rather boast in my weaknesses that

CHAPTER XII. XIX
the power of Christ may rest on me. "Wherefore
I take pleasure in weaknesses, in insults, in necessities,
in persecutions, in straits for Christ ; for when I am
weak, then am I strong.
11 1 am become foolish, ye compelled me ; for I ought
to have been commended by you, for in nothing was I
behind those surpassing apostles if also I am nothing.
12 The signs indeed of an apostle were wrought among
you in all patience, by both signs and wonders and
powers. "For what is there wherein ye were made
inferior to the other assemblies, unless that I myself
pressed not heavily on you ? Forgive me this wrong.
u Behold, this third time I am ready to come unto you,
and I will not press heavily, for I seek not yours, but
you : for the children ought not to lay up for the
parents, but the parents for the children. " And I most
gladly will spend and be spent for your souls, if even
more abundantly loving you I am less loved. " But be
it so : I did not myself burden you, but crafty as I am
I caught you with guile. " Did I make a gain of any of
them whom I sent unto you ? "I exhorted Titus and
sent the brother with [him] : did Titus make any gain
of you V Did we not walk in the same spirit ? [did we]
not in the same steps ?
" Ye long ago think that we excuse ourselves to you.
Before God in Christ we speak, but all things, beloved,
for your building up. "For I fear lest by any means
on coming I find yon not such as I wish, and I be
found by [or, for] you such as ye wish not ; lest by any
means [there be] strife, jealousy, wraths, feuds, slan-
derings, whisperings, swellings, confusions; alest on
mv coming again my God humble me among [or, be-
Surej you, and, bewail many of those that have
sinned heretofore and noi repented of the unclean-

XX II CORINTHIANS.
ness and fornication and indecency which they com
mitted. XLU. This third [time] I am coming unto you. At
[the] mouth of two witnesses and three shall every
word [or, matter] be established. * I have foretold and
foretell, as if present the second [ time] and now ab
sent, to them that have sinned before and to all the
rest, that if I come again I will not spare. * Since ye
seek a proof of the Christ speaking in me (who to
ward you is not weak, but is powerful in you, *for
although he was crucified in weakness, yet he liveth by
God's power ; for indeed we are weak in him, but shall
live with him by God's power toward you), 6 try your
own selves whether ye be in the faith, prove your own
selves. Or recognise ye not as to your own selves
that Jesus Christ is in you, unless indeed ye be
reprobate ? * But I hope ye shall know that we are
not reprobate. 7 But we pray unto God that ye may do
nothing evil, not that we may appear approved, but that
ye may do the right though we be as reprobate. 8 For
we can do nothing against the truth but for the truth.
• For we rejoice when we are weak and ye are strong :
this also we pray for, your perfecting. 10 For this cause
I write these things while absent, that I may not when
present deal severely according to the authority which
the Lord gave me for building up and not for casting
down. n For the rest, brethren, rejoice [or, farewell],
be perfected, be encouraged, be of one mind, live in
peace ; and the God of love and peace shall be with
you. " Salute one another with a holy kiss. "All the
saints salute you. "The grace of the Lord Jesus
Christ, and the love of God, and the communion ot tiia
Holy Spirit, [be] with you

NOTES ON THE

j^mtd dfyiatty lo ihe (^orinthiana.

LNTBODUCTION.

Very different in tone from the first Epistle, yet not
less distinctly from the same mind and heart, is the
second Epistle to the Corinthians. No writing of the
apostle bears more unequivocally the marks of all
which characterised him ; none more corresponding
with the state of those whom he addressed ; but this
in rich restorative grace and deep triumphant feeling
before God. Of all the epistles none abounds in more
rapid transitions; as indeed it flowed from profound
exercises of soul. The circumstances through which
he had passed evidently fitted him for the work in
hand, which forbids any division of orderly treatment
of subjects. This however is just what should be;
nor does any epistle afford a finer example of what is
suitable to the case in every point of view.
Personal experience, and this used for the help of
others in their trials ; the work of the Lord in all its
varieties, with the action of the Holy Ghost answer
ing to it ; the truth of God in its distinctive shape and
highest forms, or the glory of Christ contrasted with
B

2 NOTES ON II CORINTHIANS.
the spirit, in former days hidden under the letter ; the
walk and service which befit such revelations of grace ;
the affections called into action by all this in the midst
of sorrow and suffering, with evil abounding and grace
much more abounding ; the trials and wants of saints,
calling out the loving remembrance of others ; the op
position of self-seeking men, employed of the enemy
to hinder the blessing of saints and to lower the glory
of Christ, to distract the weak and give scope for un
scrupulous activity ; but on the other hand the energy
of the Holy Ghost working not only to vouchsafe
heavenly visions, and so give faith its object, but to
manifest Christ in weakness and suffering where the
power of Christ may rest, are all brought out with
remarkable foroe and fulness.
Hence the expression of feeling is far more frequent
and pronounced in the second Epistle than the first.
Not that the first fails in shewing that the apostle loved
the Corinthians, and still hoped all things. But the
second brings out still more manifestly how he bore
all, believed all, endured all. Here therefore he speaks
with far more confidence of his sure reward, in a love
which sought not his own things but theirs. Here he
explains his motives with much greater openness.
Their subjection to the rebukes of his first epistle,
their obedience to the word of the Lord which he had
charged on their consciences, left him free now to ex
plain himself. But even so he speaks with the greatest
delicacy, lest he might seem careful to vindicate him
self instead of cherishing jealousy for the Lord alone.
Their edification was the nearest object of his heart,
next to the glory of the Lord, if indeed we may even

imtroduotioh. 8
thus far sever what faith knows to be inseparable.
More than once he takes up the case of the soul under
discipline (as in the first epistle he had urged them to
act in holy jealousy for Christ), first to shew grace in
restoring him who was surcharged with grief; and
secondly to own how they in every way had proved
themselves pure in the matter.
We may in a general way regard the epistle as con
sisting of the following divisions. The first seven
chapters present a sketch of his ministry in its trials
and dangers and the conflicts of soul which the state
of the saints, of the Corinthian saints themselves above
all, occasioned, in the mighty power, glorious character
and blessed result of the service of Christ, triumphing
over all opposition, up to death itself, in love to its ob
jects ; and this not only in those ministering but also
in those ministered to, as being the working of the
Holy Ghost in the life of Christ ; and hence superior
to all that could oppose, even to death and judgment ;
but exercised in suffering and in holiness ; yet having
to do with the judgment of unholiness which grace
turns to a deeper repentance on the part, not only of
the guilty, but of all who have to do with them, so as
to bring glory to the Lord in Satan's defeat, as well as
in quickened and strengthened divine affections.
Next, in chapters viii. and ix. we have an admir
able exposition of the divine principle in giving and
receiving among Christians, combined with his call to
the Corinthian saints, whom he could now freely ex
hort, as brought baokby grace, to aboundin grace towards
the poor saints in Judea : a constant and most grave
duty, and a blessed privilege of the church towards the

4 NOTES ON II CORINTHIANS.
poor saints at all times, when they take it up in faith
of the Lord's grace, and in love towards His own, as
the apostle here lays down.
Lastly, from chapter x. we have an apologetic dis
course, in which the truest humility goes hand in hand
with burning indignation against those whom Satan
employs to oppose the glory of Christ and destroy the
blessing of the saints under cover of exposing the im
aginary faults of His servants. Nothing can exceed
the propriety, as well as profound feeling with which
the apostle handles this difficult and delicate theme ;
nothing more withering to the adversaries of grace,
whatever their pretension to light and righteousness.
To a spirit so disinterested, loving, and lowly as Paul's
it was a very great pain to speak of himself; and he
calls it his folly, as he calls on them to bear with it.
Vanity loves to speak of itself and its little doings;
true greatness, while it delights in that which is its own
source — the all-surpassing One in whom it loses thoughts
of self, can for the sake of others afford to speak of
labours and sufferings for that loved object and for all
that He loves, so as to refute these heartless detrac
tions and calumnies. And as the unworthy insinuation
of levity of purpose was dispelled by the first chapter,
so in the last those who had undermined his apostleship
he warns of the just severity which must befal them
if they persevere in a course as dishonouring to the
Lord as it was destructive of their own souls.

CHAPTER I
Restorative grace, according to the character and power
of life in Christ, is the key-note of this epistle, and that
accompanied by the deepest exercise of the heart under
the disciplinary ways of God. If the Corinthians must
learn it in a manner suited to their state, the apostle had
to do so far more profoundly, that he might be enabled
fittingly to carry on and complete the gracious work
of humbling and self-judgment begun in them by his
first epistle. The Lord called him to pass through the
severest personal trial and suffering in order the more
effectively to serve and sympathise with them, now
that their state interpreted by love admitted of unre
served affection and its free expression to them. The
influence of all this, as we may see, is very considerablo
on the style of his second letter, which abounds in the
most rapid transitions and abrupt allusions, as he tells
out for their profit his own affliction, and the faithful
ness of God, intermingling experience, doctrine, com
fort, and warning, most intimately ; yet so far from con
fusion that all helps on the great aim of bringing home
the lessons of grace to the annihilation of self-confidence
or glorying in man.
" Paul, apostle of Jesus Christ* by God's will, and
Timothy the brother to the assembly that is in Corinth,
with all the saints that are in the whole of Aohaia ;
• X. 'I-, H B M P, &c 'I. X., as in Text. Rec, A 1> E Q K L,
the masa of cursives, and most ancient versions, &o.

6 NOTES ON II CORINTHIANS.
grace to you and peace from God our Father and [our]
Lord Jesus Christ."
The opening words of the second epistle naturally
resemble those of the first, yet with well defined marks
of difference. There is no repetition here of his calling
to the apostolate, nor does he qualify the assembly at
Corinth as sanctified in Christ Jesus, and saints by the
analogous calling of God, which one cannot but judge
intrinsically calculated and intended by grace to exer
cise their consciences in the then state of things in that
city. Sosthenes was there graciously associated with
the apostle, as one known to and probably of themselves,
whom he could honour if they did not ; as here we find
Timothy from elsewhere, as to whose worthy reception
by them the first epistle shews him solicitous. But in
the first the apostle had joined the Corinthian churoh
" with all that call on the name of our Lord Jesus
Christ in every place, both theirs and ours," here " with
all the saints that are in the whole of Achaia." It
is clear that the first gives a far wider extension than
the second, and leaves room for a profession which
might not be real, as indeed the apostle evidently feared
for the Corinthians themselves in both epistles, es
pecially the first. But the direct force seems to be to
embrace, in the express address, saints here or there in
Achaia who might not be gathered into assemblies, or
such as called on the Lord's name everywhere. As it
was of moment that all these should know their heri
tage in the privileges given and revealed, and be kept
from the snare of unbelief which denies their catholi
city and continuance, so it was of moment that all the
saints throughout Achaia should know and rejoice in

CHAPTER I. 7
the grace that had wrought restorativelyin the Corinthian
assembly, whatever might remain to be desired from the
Lord. It was their common interest and profit for
others as well as those immediately concerned. If one
member suffer, all the members with it ; and if one
member is honoured, all the members rejoice with
it. In both Epistles he could not but wish them cha
racterised by " grace" the spring and by " peace" the
effect of love above evil and need, flowing richly and
freely " from God our Father and [our] Lord Jesus
Christ," the souroe and the channel of every blessing,
but here again associated with the desired grace and
peace. "Blessed [be] the God and Father of our Lord
Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies, and God of all
comfort, that comforteth us in all our tribulation, that
we may be able to comfort those that are in any tri
bulation through the comfort into which we are com
forted ourselves by God, because even as the suffer
ings of the Christ abound toward us, so through the
Christ* aboundeth also our comfort. But, whether we
are in tribulation, [it is] for your comfort and salva
tion, that worketh in endurance of the same sufferings
which we also suffer (and our hope [is] stedfast for
you) ;f or whether we are comforted, [it is] for your
• Text. Eec. on very slight authority omits tou.
t Verse 6 is in a varied order in the MSS and edd. Text, Rec.
puts xal »j 4\ir\s 0. iir. i/i. at the end, and tjji Iv. k. t. A after
rarnpias, which seems an unauthorised conjecture. Tisch. follows M
ACM, &c, In reading tin SI 0\-, vn'ep Tijs 6/iaiv ir. k. it.' eXrt ir.,
Anlp T. fyi. ir. (omitting mi <r.) rris ivepy. I follow B D F K L, &c,
except that B. omits the first nal aurjjpias.

8 NOTES ON II CORINTHIANS.
comfort and salvation, knowing that as ye are par
takers of the sufferings, so also of., the comfort."
(Vers. 8-7.)
How striking the difference as compared with the
' opening of the first epistle 1 There he thanked his
God, not indeed for the spiritual state of the Corin
thian saints — very far from it, whatever some might
but most unintelligently have inferred — but for their
rich endowments. Now he can bless the God and Father
of our Lord Jesus Christ for the grace which turns to
account all our tribulation, designating Him the Father
of compassions, and the God of all comfort. And
surely if one adore such a God, that adoration is en
hanced when one thus comes in contact with a heart
(once how far from it till purified by faith I ) which could
thus welcome any and every trouble, be it the sorest, com
forted by God so as to comfort those that were in any
conceivable trouble through the comfort with which
itself had been already comforted. It is well to look
at the operation of grace in a man of like passions,
and not only in the fulness and perfection of all, even in
Christ Himself. And certainly, if Paul was remarkable
for an energy of loving labour beyond every other, he
was yet more so for the variety and greatness of what
he suffered for Christ's name. So here he can speak of
what he had just proved afresh. The sufferings
of the Christ abounded towards us, as he says ; so
through Him did our comfort, he adds. His faith laid
hold of the Lord's way and end, and applied it to his
own circumstances, and the working of graoe in the
face of all. As love never fails, so all things work to
gether for good. And whether we are in tribulation,

CHAPTER I.

it is for your comfort and salvation. Love interprets
boldly and liberally. He had heard enough to cheer his
spirit: " whether we are comforted, it is for your com
fort and salvation, that worketh in endurance of the
same sufferings which we also suffer." Far otherwere the
sufferings of the Corinthian saints from his own. But
grace delights in sharing all it can ; and faith gives the
highest character to whatever it can discern to be of
God. In this spirit the apostle seems here to regard
the sufferings of the saints at Corinth, and to hope the
best results, " Knowing that as ye are partakers of the
suffering, so also of the comfort." /
The apostle now refers to the afflicting circumstances
into which God had been pleased to bring him, in order
the more deeply to teach, not merely him, but the Corin
thians, and indeed all saints, His ways. The process
is painful, no doubt, the profit immense to others as
well as the soul itself, and this to. God's glory. How
good is the God we adore I
" For we would not have you ignorant, brethren, as
to* our tribulation that came to pass+ in Asia, that we
were excessively pressed beyond power, so as to despair
even of our living. But we ourselves have had in our
selves the sentence of death, that we should not have
our trust in ourselves, but in God that raiseth the dead,
who delivered us from so great a death, and doth [or
will] J deliver, in whom we have hope that he will
* irepi H ACDEFGP many cursives, &c, itrcp, Text. Rec.
with B and most uncials and cursives.
t viiiv Text. Rec. with most MSS, but the oldest and best
authorities do not read " to us."
X biaerm X B C P, &c, with some of the best versions, pvirai,
Text. Rec. and most others, save A D, &c, which omit either.

10 NOTES ON II CORINTHIANS.
also yet deliver, ye also labouring together by suppli
cation for us that from many persons* the gift toward
us may by many be matter of thanksgiving for us. For
our boasting is this, the testimony of our conscience
thatinholiness-J' and sincerity before God, not in carnal
wisdom but in God's grace, we conducted ourselves in
the world, and more abundantly towards you. For no
other thing we write to you than what ye read, or even
recognise, and I hope that ye will recognise unto the end,
even as also ye recognised us in part that we are your
boast, just as ye also are ours in the day of our{ Lord
Jesus." (Vers. 8-14.)
Thus does God prove Himself rich in mercy, and
this, not in conferring objective favour only in Christ,
but in rendering His tried ones superior to all trouble,
not by exempting those He loves from suffering and
sorrow, but by giving the faith that accepts all at His
hands with confidence in His love. Here we see, not
the Holy One of God, who suffered as He was tempted
to the uttermost, sin apart, and on the cross knew not
sin indeed, but what it was for God to make Him sin ;
here we see a man of like passions with oui- elves,
strengthened with might in the inner man, and the
outer crushed in every way, yet out of the eater meat
coming forth, and out of the strong sweetness. Nor is
this all. But he had to do, as we too, with One who
knows how to order the tribulation so that its fruit, in
* The Elz. ed. of 1633 without senee inserts to before e«x- The
MSS and even edd. strangury interchange ripuiv and u^av.
tairA.<(T7jTi is the r-ading of Text. Rec. wUU the mass, ayt<$Ti)T
of the oldest.
J Text. Rec. with most omits rifxuv.

CHAPTER I. 11
divine consolation, should come out just at the right
moment for the saints that needed succour and comfort.
The apostle's mouth is opened to the Corinthians ; his
heart, which had been repelled by their evil and hard
ness, has expanded. He can now speak freely of de
liverance, that they too, humbled, if not humble, may
hear and be glad, with him magnify the God and Father
of the Lord Jesus, and exalt His name together. By
the trouble that happened in proconsular Asia he had
been pressed excessively beyond his power, so as to
despair, as he says, even of living, but grace, as suits
God always, wrought unfailingly. It was not by a
providential intervention to screen the apostle from suf
fering, still less by a miracle which might confound the
adversaries, but because he had abidingly the sentence
of death in himself. This Job had not, and so his long
struggle, as he writhed under his sorrows from without
and within ; to it, as far as could be, he was brought at
the last before his deliverance and blessing came. The
apostle bowed to it all along, and hence was above all
that Satan could do, for he has no power beyond death,
and was utterly baffled by the faith which accepted
such a sentence,* and this " in ourselves, that we should
ncit have our trust in ourselves, but in God that raiseth
the dead, who delivered us from so great a death, and
doth, or will, deliver, in whom we have our t^pe that
he will deliver." It is the power of the resurrection
brought into the present, so as not to shrink from, but
to retain, the sentence of death in himself. If Abra-

• I see no reason to doubt that not " answer" but " sentence,"
«s Hesychfus says, is the true meaning.

12 NOTES ON II CORINTHIANS.
ham learnt this in his last lesson of faith in Isaac (Heb.
xi. 17-19), the apostle declares that he had it in him
self. Such was to him the power of Life in Christ, not
ascetically, so as to exalt self after all, but finding
strength in faith, giving glory to God, the perfect and
unlimited deliverer. But his unburdened heart brings
them in also as labouring together by supplication on
his behalf that the gift of grace towards him by many
persons may be matters of thanksgiving from many on
his behalf. Thus would he by grace bind together, at
whatever cost to self, the hearts of saints in thanks
giving for him, once in danger of wanton and utter
alienation through the levity which exposed them to
Satan's wiles. How far from Christ is independence,
whether personal or ecclesiastical !
Yet is there nothing good, loving, or holy without
God, to whom conscience, as well as the heart, purified
by faith, and free, ever refers. Therefore does the
apostle next turn to the ground and proof of spiritual
integrity, though he writes for their sakes rather than
his own. " For our boasting is this, the testimony of
our conscience that in (simplicity, or rather) holi
ness and sincerity (literally of God, but in sense) before
God, not in carnal wisdom, but in God's grace, we con
ducted ourselves in the world, and more abundantly to
ward you." He could the more boldly ask and count
on their prayers from the persuasion that he had a good
conscience as to his general conversation in the world,
as before God, and especially as toward themselves.
(See Heb. xiii.) He did not seek to conciliate men to
and for himself, but as bent on pleasing God, he did
not doubt that a conscience cleared in them would ac-

CHAPTER I. 13
knowledge a conscience void of offence in himself.
Activity of self blinds the person, and genders bitter
thoughts, especially of the one whose course morally
condemns others ; if the eye be single, on the contrary,
the whole body is full of light, and love flows freely.
" For no other things we write to you than what ye
(well know, or) read, or even recognise, and I hope that
ye will recognise unto the end, even as also ye recog
nised us in part that we are your boast, as ye also are
ours in the day of the Lord Jesus."
Now that self-judgment had begun to work in the
saints at Corinth, they would not fail to see the folly of
taxing him with inconstancy, whose life as a saint and
servant of God had been one of immovable firmness
and unbending truth. There is much difference as to
the force here of ava^ivwaicen. Elsewhere in the New
Testament the meaning, beyond controversy, is to
" read," which very many hold to, like the Authorised
translation ; others, like Calvin, contend for " well
know," which is rarely if ever found save in poets.
It is a question between what they might gather from his
presence in their midst, or from his epistle. But he
writes with the calm confidence of one before God,
which fails not to tell on the conscience of saints
wherever they feel freely, apart from the heat and bias
of party ; and as he had ground to trust that they had
thus recognised him in part at least, so also he hoped
that they would to the end own that he was their boast,
even as they were his in the day of our Lord Jesus. It
was good for all to anticipate that day.
The apostle now explains circumstances which some
in Corinth we^e as quick to misunderstand as ready to

14 NOTES ON II CORINTHIANS.
turn to his advantage. He is free to explain now as
things are, but he is more anxious to turn all to the ac
count of Christ and the truth, and this in the truest
interests of the saints.
" And with this confidence I was intending previously
to come unto you, that ye might have a second favour,*
and through you to pass into Macedonia, and again
from Macedonia to come unto you, and by you to be
sent forward into Judea. Having then this intention,
did I, pray, use lightness ? Or what I purpose, + do I
purpose according to flesh, that with me may be the
yea yea and the nay nay ? Now God [is] faithful that
our word that [was] unto you isj not yea and nay.
For the Son of God, Christ Jesus, that was preached
among you by us, by me, and Silvanus, and Timothy,
became not yea and nay, but is become yea in him.
For as many as [are] God's promises, in him [is] the
yea ; wherefore also by him |] [is] the amen for glory to
God by us." (Vers. 15-20.)
The injurious impression, and even charge, of some
at Corinth against the apostle was based on the slenderest
appearances, and these severed from the action in him
of power and love and a sound mind. How opposed

* xaS^v the reading of B L &c, is not entitled to shake the com
mon x&P"'- There is more question between the received Ixirr*
or axtfrt, which last is supported by N B C &c.
f For the vulgar l3ov\ev6p.evos, the best MSS, &c, give fiov\i-
fievos. t iyirvro Text. Rec. with later witnesses, but the earlier shew
(<rrtv. || «ol iv airy Text. Rec. with some later authorities, but tib koI
Si' avrov K A B C F, &c.

CHAPTER I. 15
to the Spirit were not such thoughts in them ! The
modification of his plans in not going before to visit
them was as distinctly in subjection to the Lord, as his
actual desire to see and help them. It was not dread
of any there, still less was it from lack of moral purpose
in himself. His heart was toward them in the large
and holy activity of divine love. Blessed before to
them, he sought that they might be favoured of the
Lord again on his way to and from Macedonia for
Judea ; and their affectionate care in sending him on
to the East he valued and counted on. His true mo
tives he let them know afterwards. Those who yielded
to such surmisings proved both their own bad state, and
their ignorance of the apostle ; for character and state
are according to the object before the man. If it be
Christ in love to His own, and even to man generally,
the result follows in a walk according to God. This is
to imitate God, and serve the Lord. If there be an ab
sence of purpose on the one hand, or on the other a
planning according to flesh, in either way self governs,
and there could be for others no just ground of confi
dence. The man is as he loves, or loves not. He that
dwells in love dwells in God, and God in him. He
that lacks an object lacks character, and can only be
frivolous and inconstant ; he that seeks personal influ
ence, power, honour, money, &c, is degraded according
to what his heart is set on. What is of the flesh is worth
less, and its purpose untrustworthy. In God only is
continuance, and His Spirit alone works it in the heart
and ways, where Christ displaces self as the object.
For man otherwise is incapable of walking or serving
according to God. He is either and evidently fickle, or

16 NOTES ON II CORINTHIANS.
his planning, however positive, is without God's guid
ance and strength.
Beautifully does he turn, in a spirit of grace, from
their insinuations against himself to the doctrine he
preached. " Now God [is] faithful, that our word that
[was] unto you is not yea and nay." There is no
shift of purpose, no uncertainty, in the gospel, whatever
may be thought of the man. God Himself is pledged
to it and concerned in it. His glory and His grace are
not more hound up with it than His truth and righteous
ness. In the mighty work of redemption, all that God
is shone out as nowhere else in past or future. There
He vindicated His own nature in everlasting hatred of
sin ; there He demonstrated His love, rising above the
worst evil of the creature. Did He compromise His
word ? He accomplished it, letter and spirit, to the
full. Did He abandon His holiness ? Never was His
absolute separation from evil so manifested, nor His
righteous judgment of it ever so seen as then ; yet
then it was that every obstacle to the outflow of all-
overcoming grace toward sinners, whatever and wher
ever they might be, fell before the efficacy of the one
offering and sacrifice of Christ. And as in the work
which is its ground, so in the preaching, there is no in
consistency. On the contrary, every fact and thought,
otherwise irreconcilable, are there brought into har
mony. Our only absolute consistency is in Christ and
His cross.
Here it will be observed that the apostle associates
others with himself. For the grace and truth that came
through Jesus Christ ever enlarges the heart, and gives
enduring fellowship ; and this appears still more clearly

CHAPTER I. 17
in what follows. " For the Son of God, Christ Jesus,
that was preached among you by us, by me, and Sil-
vanus, and Timothy, became not yea and nay, but is
become yea in him." The glory of the person pro
claimed answers to the certainty guaranteed. Doubt,
difficulty, hesitation, or inconsistency can have no place
in the Son of God, now the glorified Man, who suffered
on the cross for the annulling of sin ; and the apostle
and his companions knew and preached no other doc
trine. As the truth is one, and they believed, so is the
doctrine the same which they preached. Others might
seek novelties; and it is natural to the active, restless,
spirit of man. They could not so deal with such a person,
such a work, or such a message. That divine person,
in His infinite grace, governed their minds and filled
their hearts ; and out of the abundance of their hearts
they preached the word of truth, the gospel of their
salvation, and this as consistently each with himself, as
all with each other.
Thus he declares most unequivocally that the preach
ing of him and his companions had none of the vacil
lation or conflict common to the schools of human
opinion, and this because all truth is verified in Christ's
person. It is become yea in Him. It abode the same.
Perfection is come in Him, and also as available for
others. This is far more than the witnesses' agreement
with themselves and one another, which is eclipsed by
Christ, who is personally the truth, and all is become
verified in Him. Nothing more distant from the sub
dued, hesitating, style of Greek thought and expression,
where even what was not doubted they put as opinion.
Here all is sure, and unclouded, and peremptory. The
c

18 NOTES ON II CORINTHIANS.
gospel, as Paul preached it, admits of no doubtful
answer, any more than double dealing ; and this, because
it is revealed in the Second man, who has set aside the
first, with his darkness and doubt, no less than with his
guilt and corruption.
More than this : " For how many soever [are] God's
promises, in him is the yea ; wherefore* also through
him [is] the amen to God for glory by us." Hence
it is not only that there is the affirmation of all promised
of God in Christ, and therefore in the highest way,
before the fulfilment in others, as the effect, and the out
ward display before every eye in the universe, but there
is a present application of the surest character, through
apostolic ministration, to God's glory. God is glorified
in the Son of man, as the Son of man is glorified ; but
there are results of the deepest sort which God vouch
safes now to faith, in the administration of which (not
of the kingdom merely, as Peter) our apostle had the chief
place, and the Christian is entitled to reap the blessing,
as heartily and in the Holy Spirit assenting to the truth.
So Bengel, long ago, said tersely enough, " Nae respectu
Dei promittentis, Amen respectu credentium." But to
bring the believer into the enjoyment of what God has
wrought in Christ more has to be said, and immediately
follows. Here it is the firm foundation, not God's pro
mises as of old, still less the law which proved that
man could not make them good, yet all accomplished
in Christ, but also as surely verified through Him, for
glory to God by us.
The apostle refutes yet more the insinuation of uncer-
* leal iv alrr<p Text. Rec. with some later authorities, but Sib iral
»»' tttirov N A B C F, &c.

CHAPTER I. 19
tainty in bis preaching, by the drawing out, not merely
of the verification of the truth, and accomplishment of
ail God's promises in Christ, but of our firm association
with it all in Him.
" Now he that establisheth us with you* in Christ,
and anointed us is [God], whof also sealed us, and
gave the earnest of the Spirit in our hearts." (Ver. 21.)
It is not man's own will or effort that is able to secure
us Christward, nor, consequently, is it a mere question
of his fickleness, feebleness, or failure in any way. He
that binds us fast to Christ is God ; and the emphasis is
all the greater, because God is expressed, not objectively,
but as a predicate. It is truly surprising, then, that a
professed commentator, and a distinguished scholar,
should have said that o Si fief} .... ^uae is the (pre
fixed) predicate, and 0eog the subject ; for this is to re
verse all that is certain in the language, and to lose the
true force of what is here insisted on. Had o Se ft.
.... r/fiae been affixed to Bed?, instead of prefixed,
the sense had been the same, the order of the words in
a sentence affecting it only as a matter of emphasis,
and in no way disturbing the relation of the subject to
the predicate, which it is the chief function of the
article to distinguish. Compare chapter v. 5, where a
precisely similar construction occurs. Nor is this a
casual mistake, for it re-appears no less distinctly in
the comment on Hebrews iii. 4, where 0e6g is said to
be the subject, and o vdvia Karaoiceviaac the predicate,
• SokADEFGKLOP, most cursives, and Text. Rec. C, fek,
iftas ahv tiimv, B and another the absurdity of ip.as oiv ip.1v.
t So Kc0"' B Cco"- D E L 0, &c, Text. Ree. } F G, &c., kb1 », but
„p.m. a 0"--K P, &c., omit the article.

20 NOTES ON II CORINTHIANS.
though it is allowed that the ancient expositors, almost
without exception, take 0. as predicate, and 6 w. k. as a
designation of Christ, thus making the passage a proof
of His deity. It ought not to be disputed that in all these,
or the like, instances, the object before the mind, or sub
ject of each proposition, designated as operating in the way
described, as to either the saints or the universe, is de
clared to be God. Man is excluded by the nature of
the case, as in Hebrews ; or He that is said so to act is
affirmed to be God, for the confirmation of the saints,
as here. Had it been o 0. in these cases, the proposi
tions would have been reciprocal, and either might
have been viewed as subject or as predicate. But the
effect of the absenoe of the article is to characterise
Him who works as is described in each instance. He
is divine, is God: a very different statement from
saying that God so works.
Here, then, it is laid down that He who firmly
attaches us to Christ is God, as elsewhere we are de
clared to be in Him. Man is weak and vacillating, and
yet more in deed than in word ; but He who binds fast
unto Christ is God, and this, not the strong only, but
the weakest, as needing most such securing grace and
power. Hence, in a love that rises above all that wounds
the spirit, the apostle adds, as coupling the saints in
Corinth with himself and Timothy, "He that esta
blished us with you." Christ for both was the impreg
nable fortress, the rock that never can be moved.
But more than this follows : we are " anointed " as be
lievers, we receive the unction from the Holy One,
whereby, as John says, we know all things. God
anointed with the Holy Spirit and with power the Lord

CHAPTER I. 21
Jesus, who went about doing good and healing all that
were oppressed by the devil. (See Luke iv. 18 ; Acts x.
88.) To us who believe it is rather energy of com
munion with His revealed mind ; still the Spirit given
is of power, and love, and a sound mind ; and He that
anointed us is not man, but God. Hence, as the apostle
with the last hour before his eyes says, the unction as
surely abides as it teaches us of all things. It is no
transient display of power over Satan outwardly, no
qualification of apostles only, as some have thought. It
is the permanent privilege of the Christian for his own
soul's entrance into the revealed mind of God ; and
" the babes" (rat iraiSia) have it as truly, if not so mani
festly, as the most mature. The apostles and prophets
of the New Testament received, of course, gift or
energy for their work ; but they are never said to be
" anointed" as such.
But our apostle tells us that God also " sealed us, and
gave the earnest of the Spirit in our hearts." Not as
if the Spirit were given at so many distinct epochs
according to the difference of His operation. The gift
of the Spirit to us, as believing in Christ and resting
on His redemption, is really the powerful source of all.
He that establishes us in Christ, and anointed us, as
we have seen, also sealed us, and gave us the earnest.
The Father, even God, sealed the Son of man. This,
we can easily understand, was only meet, for He was
not only from eternity but as man His Son, the con
stant and perfect object of His delight. But how
could we be sealed who were in sin and wretchedness,
the marked contrast of the Lord Jesus ? His redemp tion
completely delivers us from Satan's thraldom, and we

28 NOTES ON II CORINTHIANS.
are not only born of God and His sons, but washed
from our sins in His blood, and sin in the flesh is con
demned in His death as a sacrifice, as truly as our
selves forgiven. Hence, in virtue of that work, God
also sealed us, and gave the " earnest of the Spirit in
our hearts." The Holy Spirit is not only the seal of
redemption, but the pledge of the inheritance. The
meaning is in no way the Spirit given in measure as
the earnest of more. He is the witness of what has
been done and accepted on our behalf; He is also the
foretaste of the glory that is assuredly to follow. And
all things are of "God, who sent first His Son, that
every promise should be verified, and then His Spirit,
that we who believe should be brought into the security,
knowledge, and enjoyment of all this blessedness, past,
present, or to come, in Christ our Lord.
Having thus turned in grace the Corinthian dis
paragement of his own word to the praise of the gospel,
the apostle next passes, with great solemnity, to ex
plain his real motive for not coming before to their city.
" But I call God as witness upon my soul, that to spare
you I did not yet come unto Corinth ; not that we rule
over your faith, but are fellow- workers of your joy, for
by faith ye stand." (Vers. 23, 24.) Had he come be
fore, it must have been with a rod. (Cf. 1 Cor. iv. 21.)
Desirous of uniting them in love, and in a spirit of
meekness, he had deferred his coming till grace had
wrought self-judgment among them. The delay, and
turning elsewhere meanwhile, furnished the occasion
for unworthy insinuations, already touched on. It was
really as sparing them he did not come ; but he care
fully gr.ards against the charge of assuming undue

CHAPTER I. 23
authority ; " not that we rule over your faith, but are
fellow- workers of your joy." Nothing is truly done
that is not in the soul before God. Even an apostle
like Paul or John sought not for a moment to step be
tween the faithful and God. The apostles communicated
His mind, that the saints might have the same assurance
of it as themselves, and so their joy be full. " For by
faith ye stand." So it must be in order to please God.
Without faith it is impossible. It is not by the fear
or favour of men, however blessed, that the saints
stand, but by faith. A fellow-helper of their joy, he
would rather expose himself to the charge of changing
his mind, if any were low enough so to think and
speak of him, than to deal harshly with them, as he
in faithfulness must, had he come as he first purposed.
He waited, that the word of God might work its salu
tary aim, mixed with faith in those who heard it. He
wished to do his work with joy, and not groaning, for
this would be unprofitable for them. Was this to lord
it over them, as proud men might allege ? It was to
further their joy of faith, as their servant for Jesus'
ea.lie.

CHAPTER H.
The apostle now explains more fully his motive for not
going before to Corinth. They ought, from 1 Corin
thians iv., to have gathered plainly enough why it was.
But the flesh never appreciates motives of the Spirit ;
and the enemy takes pleasure in embroiling the saints,
if he fail with those that serve them for Jesus' sake.
Now, however, that grace had begun to work in the
Corinthians, the language is modified accordingly. The
apostle had then asked if he was to come with a rod,
or in love and a spirit of meekness. Here, as he had
already stated that it was to spare them he had not as
yet come to Corinth, he follows up with words that
shew how far from him it was to lord it over their
faith, as some might have drawn from his threat of a
rod. " But I judged this for myself not to come again [or
back] unto you in grief.* For if I grieve you, who
then [is] he that gladdeneth me, if not he that is grieved
by me ? And I wrotef this very thing, that I might
not on coming have grief from those from whom I
ought to have joy, having trust in you all that my joy
is [that] of you all. For out of much tribulation and
distress of heart I wrote to vou with many tears, not
that ye should be grieved, but mat ye may know the
* The true order is ira\iv iv xinji rpbs i/iat i\6(7v with the
best and most MSS.
f There is no ip.iv in np* A, B, Op-"*- 0, P, &e.

CHAPTER II. 25
love that I have very [lit. more] abundantly unto you."
(Vers. 1-4.)
It is a mistake that these words imply a former visit
in grief, and therefore a second intermediate and unre
corded one, distinct from the first. The work began,
as described in Acts xviii. The next visit of which
scripture speaks was in Acts xx. 2, 8, after both epistles
were written — the first from Ephesus (1 Cor. xvi. 8),
the second from Macedonia — but whether from Philippi
(as is the traditional idea), or from some other place,
as Thessalonica, does not appear. Tradition is certainly
wrong in asserting that the first also issued from Philippi,
as it may be about tbe second. 2 Corinthians xii. 14,
21 ; xiii. 1, in no way indicate the fact, but the in
tention of a second visit, put off because of their
state, and in the hope that the delay might give
occasion to the intervention of grace, and thus the
need of judicial severity be spared, on the apostle's
part, toward many in the assembly. Indeed chapter
xiii. 2 seems plainly to indicate that he had not really
been a second time : "I have declared beforehand, and
say beforehand, as present the second time, and now
absent," &c.
There is no evidence, in my judgment, that he had
gone once to correct abuses, and to exercise discipline.
He was anxious to avoid any such necessity, and there
fore, instead of going as intended, he went to meet
Titus, spite of work most attractive to him, that he
might know how his first letter had fared at Corinth.
Actually he had not been ; this was the third time
he had the purpose of going ; and it was the putting
off the visit when intended which gave rise to the

26 NOTES ON II CORINTHIANS.
charge of light-mindedness. The change was due to
their failure, and in no sense to his. On the contrary,
he preferred in love to them to be grossly misconstrued,
and so, instead of explaining to others, he decided
this for or with himself, not to come baok to them in
grief. At that time his visit would have been sorrow all
round — to him certainly — at the sight of the saints,
divided by party zeal, entangled by fleshly lusts,
dabbling with the world, tampering with idolatry, un
worthily communicating, disorderly in the assembly,
and denying — implicitly at least — fundamental doc
trine, and not less surely to them, if he convicted their
consciences, and dealt with their state as it deserved.
Graciously, therefore, had he deferred his visit till the
issue of his first letter appeared, wherein he had
brought the light of God to bear on all these evils and
more, of which report mainly, not a fresh visit, had
apprised him. The good news he had received of the
effect produced by his letters opened his heart, and let
out the deep affection he had for them, spite of their
grievous faults. For he is convinced that their grief was
his, as also that his joy was theirs. What a wondrous
power there is in Christ to produce communion in grief
over evil, in the joy of grace, above self and its
divisive oharacter and consequences I His desire was
the happiness of the saints. No wonder, then, he
shrank from going where and when his visit must be
one of grief. "For if I grieve you, who then is it
that is to gladden me, if not he that is grieved by me ?"
That is, none but they could satisfy his heart. What
love, and delicacy too I He individualises the saints in

CHAPTER n. 27
this phrase : " And I wrote this very thing, that I
might not on coming have grief from those front whom
I ought to have joy : having trust in yon all that my
joy is [that] of you all."
It is clear thence that it is not only inflicting, but
receiving, grief of which the apostle speaks, as indeed
it is always according to God in His church, whatever
it be in the world. His motive in writing was the re
moval of what ought to pain them as it did him, that
he and they might at his coming rejoice together, Christ
being the spring, who can tolerate nothing offensive to
God in His temple, which the saints are. And the cir
cumstances, as well as inward feelings of the apostle,
were eminently adapted to bring about the result.
" For out of much tribulation and distress of heart I
wrote to you with many tears, not that ye should be
grieved, but that ye may know the love which I have
very abundantly unto you." It was very abundant
love, but hardly more than to others, as some con
ceive. There is, perhaps, no place where the delicacy, as
well as faithfulness, of the apostle appears more than in
dealing with the case which had so deeply pained his
heart, in view of the dishonour done to the Lord at
Corinth. For if it betrayed how low the unjudged
flesh of a Christian might carry him, it had also dis
covered the low state of the assembly, and made it a
special trial to him who loved them, and a special
danger for those who were otherwise alienated. Never
theless, the grace and truth which came in Christ
wrought so mightily by the Holy Spirit in this blessed
servant, that even the light-minded Corinthians were

28 NOTES ON II CORINTHIANS.
roused to repentance quite as decidedly as to activity
in discipline ; and so far communion was restored
between them and the apostle. It ought to be doubted
that, as he commanded them to put away the wicked
person from among themselves, they could not but bow,
purging out the old leaven, that they might be a new
lump, as they were unleavened. The paschal sacrifice
of Christ is inseparable from the feast of unleavened
bread we have to celebrate here below. We cannot
shirk the responsibility, if we enjoy the privilege. Sin
cerity and truth must characterise the believer.
But if the saints in Corinth were only of late awak
ened to feel and act with honour and holy resentment
at such an outrage in God's temple, there was danger
now of a strong reaction. Severity is as little accord
ing to Christ as laxity or indifference ; and those who
needed such a powerful appeal to arouse them to vindi
cate the injured name of the Lord, were now disposed
to an extreme of judicial sternness, as far from the grace
of the apostle, as before from his care for holiness.
Thus fellowship of heart was imperilled from the oppo
site side.
The apostle, however, seizes on what was good,
through the action of the Spirit in them, to labour for
still more and better. Recovery from a low state is
rarely immediate. Correction is needed there, as well
as here ; and the very fact that the call to righteousness
is again heard, may, for the time, so pre-occupy the
soul, that love cannot yet act freely. So it was at
Corinth, till he who so blessedly represented the Master
laid his hands again upon their eyes, which as yet saw
men like trees walking, that, restored fully, they might

CHAPTER n. 29
look on all clearly. He had written oat of much tribu
lation and distress of heart to them, with many tears,
which refuted the charge of either levity or self-exalta
tion ; not that they might be grieved, but that they
might know his very abundant love toward them. Now
he turns to the one in question, who had grieved him
from the first tidings of the sin, since the first epistle
had been used to put his and their sin in the light of
God before their consciences.
" But if any one hath grieved, he hath grieved not
me, but in part (that I may not press heavily) all of
you. Sufficient to such an one [is] this rebuke, which
[is] by the many ; so that, on the contrary, ye should
rather forgive and comfort, lest somehow such an one
be swallowed up with excessive grief. Wherefore I
exhort you to ratify love toward him. For I wrote
also for this, and that I might know the proof of
you, whether as to all things ye are obedient. But to
whom ye forgive anything, I also ; for I too, what I
have forgiven, if I have forgiven anything, [do so] for
your sake, in Christ's person, that we might not be over
reached by Satan, for we are not ignorant of his de
vices." (Vers. 5-11.)
The sorrow which had filled the apostle's heart had,
more or less, overspread the assembly ; and such is the
feeling which becomes it. If the godly Israelite so
took up and confessed the sins of the people, how
much more those in a far nearer relation to the Lord ?
Yet we see it deeply in Moses and Joshua, in Heze-
kiah and Josiah, in Daniel and Ezra. So now grace
had communicated to the saints, in measure, the apostle's
grief at the Corinthian scandal : not that they, if any,

80 NOTES ON II CORINTHIANS.
felt so deeply as he, but that he could speak of them
all as affected similarly with himself. Thus the hearts
of all would be conciliated, and even he that had caused
the grief would feel that there was in the apostle
anything but the wish to overwhelm him. He adds
that the rebuke or punishment already inflicted of the
many was enough. This would not have been so if
the sentence of excision had not been carried out. Not
a word intimates that a mere reproof short of it had
arrested the evil, and brought the evil-doer to repent
ance. The notion, therefore, of the French Reformers
(Calvin, Beza, &c), or others, to this effect is not only
unfounded but unworthy also ; for as the first epistle
had peremptorily insisted on putting away the offender,
the second is equally plain that mutual confidence was
in measure restored by their deoision and self-judgment
in this very case. Verse 9, in particular, is incon
sistent with anything less, not to speak of verses 7, 8,
and indeed others elsewhere. Nor does verse 6 fairly
bear the meaning that he is distinguishing another sort
of censure which the Corinthians had administered from
the excommunication he had himself enjoined ; but that
what was already done in accordance with inspired in
junctions had effected its purpose, and should not last
longer. This is entirely confirmed by the call that
follows, rather to forgive and comfort, lest perhaps if
he continued under so terrible a sentenoe, broken down
as he was, he should be swallowed up with excessive
grief. Wherefore he beseeches the saints to ratify
love, as they had already testified abhorrence of the sin,
by a formal act of the assembly. Thus too would the
saints prove their obedience in all respects, in gracious

CHAPTER II. 81
restoration of the penitent, as before in solemn judg
ment of his heinous sin ; and the apostle also had all
this in view when he wrote both epistles.
But it is of deep moment to mark and learn that,
though he has to awaken the assembly both to judge
and to restore, for they had failed in both respects,
he will have them to feel and act aright, joining them in
their acts, and in no way acting for them. Hence he
does not at all speak as a spiritual dictator, however real
and great the authority given him of the Lord, as he
takes pains to allege in both doctrine and discipline.
" But to whom ye forgive anything, I also [forgive] ;
for also I, what I have forgiven, if I have forgiven any
thing, [do so] for your sake in Christ's person, that we
should not be overreached by Satan, for we are not
ignorant of his thoughts." It would have been no
adequate healing of the assembly to have forgiven the
Corinthian offender because the apostle had done so,
and commanded it. When the flagrant evil was not
judged, he did command excommunication ; but when
grace had wrought all round in estimating as well as
dealing with what was so humbling, he will have them
to forgive, and go with them in it. It is not, therefore,
" whom I forgive, ye also," but to whom ye forgive
anything, I also." He is most careful to press their
own place of ratifying love, even when apostolically
laying down their duty, that he might have fellowship
with them throughout. In the prerogative of mercy
he would follow, and what he had forgiven, if he had
forgiven aught, do it on their account in Christ's
person. How blessed the seal of authority, and how
gracious the sanction t May we cherish such a scene

82 NOTES ON II CORINTHIANS.
of divine affections in presence of good and of evil.
Our weakness is immense, the difficulty as various as
humanly insuperable, the danger from Satan's wiles
constant ; but greater is He that is in the saints than
he that is in the world; and we know that the
enemy's thoughts and designs are levelled pre
eminently at God's assembly, the only divine society
on earth.
The apostle resumes for a moment the account of his
course, but the aim is to testify his affectionate con
cern for the Corinthian saints who misjudged him,
and, failing in love themselves, saw not his love which
spared them, as much as it sought their blessing to the
Lord's glory.
" Now when I came unto the Troad for the gospel of
Christ, a door being opened to me in [the] Lord, I had
no rest in my spirit at not finding Titus, my brother ;
but having taken leave of them, I went forth unto
Macedonia. But thanks [be] to God that always
leadeth us in triumph in Christ, and maketh manifest
the odour of his knowlodge through us in every place.
Because we are a sweet odour of Christ to God in those
to be saved, and in those that perish : to the one an
odour from* death unto death, but to the others an
odour from* life unto life ; and who [is] sufficient for
these things ? For we are not as the many, retailing
the word of God ; but as of sincerity, but as of God,
before God, we speak in Christ." (Vers. 12-17.)
We see two things here : the apostle's deep value for
the gospel ; his still deeper value for the saints as in
danger of compromising Christ. Hence, whatever his
* in twice (k A B C, &c), with the genitive.

CHAPTER II.
purpose in coming into a new region, and in the face of
a distinct opening for the work of reaching souls out
side, he could not rest without hearing of those souls,
so dear to him for the Lord's sake, and so exposed to
Satan's wiles. He had hoped to have heard news of
Corinth through Titus ; but Titus he did not find ; and
so, turning his back on those on the eastern side
where he then was, he repairs to Macedonia. His
heart was on the saints. Anxiety for the assembly
decided him to abandon for the time even so promising
a field for the gospel. The church has the nearest
claim, and the apostle acts on it. It was not only that
the letter he had written bore witness of his love for
them, and grief over the grave circumstances of the
Corinthian assembly, but also his relinquishment of the
gospel work he so valued, and this spite of the opening
of a door in the Lord. His heart was tried greatly,
as he thought of the saints and of his own letter.
Would they accept it as of God, and judge themselves
by the light ? Would they resent his plain and search
ing, however affectionate, appeals ? The situation
was most critical. Taking leave, then, of the saints in
Troas, he goes forth where he hoped to hear the most
speedy and authentic tidings of their state, and the
effect of his own letter.
But, instead of stopping to describe the intelligence
conveyed by Titus, the apostle breaks forth into a burst
of praise and thanksgiving. It was, no doubt, charac
teristic of his deep feeling and immediate appreciation
that he should thus turn from the human instrument
to His grace who had wrought such a happy result,
where things were so painful and perilous ; but no
D

84 NOTES ON 11 CORINTHIANS.
means can be conceived more admirably adapted to ex
press at once what grace had effected in the Corinthian
saints, nor any more becoming a servant of Christ.
There is thus the complete absence of self- vindication,
and there is no credit taken for superior wisdom.
The gracious power o± God is celebrated immediately
as His victory. Not merely is every means attributed
to Him, and the blessing from Him, which piety would
always feel and utter gladly, but he speaks in the most
forcible way of God always leading us in triumph in
the Christ. The bost proof of its peculiarity is that so
many commentators, Protestant and Catholic alike, pare
down and alter the meaning. Among the rest, our own
Authorised translation was so affected by this impres
sion, that they rendered Opia/ipeveiv, "to cause to tri
umph," instead of lead in triumph, as they should. The
other has been attempted to be sustained by the Hellen
istic causative USageof fia6T)Teveti>,f3aoi\eveiv,icaTrri\.eveiv,
and yopeveiv, even in classical Greek. But the usage
of the apostle in Colossians ii. 5 is adverse, nor am I
aware of a single instance in which it can be proved to
be ever thus employed. Besides, it really weakens, if
it does not destroy, the beauty of the apostle's image,
and makes it to be his triumph rather than God's. The
one would be a rather unseasonable, and perhaps gall
ing, reminder to the Corinthians that he was as right
as they were wrong; the other, a singularly beautiful,
though bold, prediction of a divine victory, in which
he has part as a willing captive, or part of the train.
There is no over-colouring of the figure, no repre
sentation of himself as humbled and conquered, still
less any reference to their fighting against God or His

CHAPTER II. 35
servant. But he turns his joy over their being brought
to repentance, and a recognition of his apostohc
authority, as well as of his loving services, into a
thanksgiving to God, who, instead of letting him feel
his abandonment of evangelistic work, always leads us
in triumph in the Christ, and makes manifest the odour
of His knowledge through us in every place. The allu
sion is to aRoman triumph, where aromatics were burnt
profusely ; and on this, too, he seizes to illustrate the
going forth everywhere around of his testimony to
Christ in the gospel. But the sweet perfumes in a tri
umphal procession were accompanied by life to some of
the captives, and by death to others ; and this is as
naturally as powerfully turned to point the twofold
issues of the gospel.
The unbelieving Jew or Gentile saw no more in Jesus
crucified than a dead man ; how could the message
founded on Him be of power to such ? They might not
deny the gracious words of it, any more than of Christ
in the synagogue of Nazareth, where He announced
His mission in the wondrous citation from Isaiah lxi. ;
yet they saw not, heard not, God in either. But as
God delighted in His Son, a Saviour, so He pronounced
beautiful the feet of those that announced glad tidings
of peace, of those that announce glad tidings of good
things ; and so, too, He smells a savour of rest sweeter
than that of Noah's offering, or any other. " Because,"
says the apostle, " we are a sweet odour of Christ to
God in those to be saved, and in those that perish ;"
and this he explains carefully: "to the one an odour
from death unto death," which we have seen ; " but to
the other an odour from life unto life." Such is the

86 NOTES ON II CORINTHIANS.
message where it is mixed with faith; for faith sees and
hears Him as the Son of God, yet Son of man, who
died for man, for sins, but rose in the power of an end
less life, that we might Live also, and Live of His life,
where sin can never enter, nor death have dominion
more. No wonder, as the apostle weighs the responsibility
of a service so blessed on the one side, so tremendous
on the other, that he exclaims, " And who [is] sufficient
for these things ?" For if the gospel is a word of de
livering grace, it causes the truth to shine out so as to
intensify the servant's estimate of responsibility. This
is just what should be — full liberty imparted, instead
of bondage; but solemn responsibility, realised as it
never was before, and could not be in any other way.
But here the mass of the Corinthians sadly fell short,
not the apostle, whom they had slighted in their self-
sufficient folly. " For we are not, as the many, retail
ing (or, adulterating) the word of God; but as of
sincerity, but as of God, before God, we speak in
Christ." He did not, like the many, traffic in the word
of God ; but as of transparency, nor this only, but as
of God, and this too with a present sense of having
to do with Him, as all must later, " before God," " we
speak in Christ," which is far more intimate and forcible
than merely of Him. Yet even such solemn words
did not hinder men, and even saints, too soon and
down to our day, to make the ministry of the gospel
a stepping-stone to earthly gain and worldly honour, in
manifest discord with the cross of Christ, and to the
utter eclipse of His heavenly glory, not to speak of the
grievous loss of all concerned.

CHAPTER HI.
From this the apostle turns in a peculiarly touching
way to the saints at Corinth. His spirit felt that his
last allusions to a triumph, in contrast with those who
trafficked in truth (never then given out with genuine
purity), might expose to unkind personality. He there
fore, in disclaiming the need of human commendation
in any form, lets out what grace forms in the heart be
fore contrasting the law with the gospel.
"Begin we again to commend ourselves? or* need we,
as some, recommendatory epistles unto you or j from
you ? Ye are our epistle inscribed in our J hearts,
known and read by all men, being manifested that ye
are Christ's epistle ministered by us, having been in
scribed, not with ink, but [the] Spirit of [the] living
God, not on tables of stone, but n fleshy tables of [the]
heart (or, hearts) § . And such confidence have we through
the Christ toward God; not that we are competent
• If (not f I as A K L P, &c, which follows) ^nBCDETG,
Ac. The Auth. V. here rejects Er. GompL St. Be. for the reading
of Colinaeus and the Vulg.
t The second avarixrucav added in Text. Bee following most MSS
b rejected by the best witnesses.
{ K, half a dozen cursives, and versions too, exhibit the strange
blunder of ipav for jjp. "in your hearts."
§ KapSiais " hearts" in apposition with *A., " tablets," is read by
high authority (kABGDEGLP, five and twenty cursives, &c.) j
the common reading xapSias "of the heart," by F K, moBt cur
sives, and almost all ancient versions, See.

88 NOTES ON II CORINTHIANS.
from ourselves to reckon anything as of ourselves, but
our competency [is] of God, who also made us compe
tent [as] servants of [the] new covenant, not of letter
but of spirit, for the letter killeth but the spirit
quickeneth." (Vers. 1-6.)
It is plain that there was then, as now, the practice
of giving and receiving letters in commending stranger
brethren to the assemblies. And a valuable means of
introduction as well as guard it is, provided we hold it
in spirit, not in letter : otherwise we might fail doubly,
in refusing those who ought to be received, where cir
cumstances have hindered the requisite voucher, and in
receiving those who, being deceivers, can supply them
selves with any letter which may the more effectually
mislead. The aim of all such provisions is to afford
adequate testimony to the assembly of God, which is
in no way bound to a form however excellent, if want
ing, provided perchance other means of godly satisfac
tion leave no reasonable hesitation to those who judge
fairly and in love. It is mischievous when that which
God uses for our mutual comfort is perverted by legal
ism into an instrument of spiritual torture, as may be
sometimes the lack of a commendatory note, or some
kindred informality.
But the apostle turns, from the supposed imputation
of seeking to commend himself, to foster in the Corinthian
saints somewhat of the love which burned so warmly in
his own bosom. If he, if an apostle, could be supposed
to need a commendatory epistle, surely not Paul to or
from the assembly in Corinth I As he adds, with as
much beauty as affection, " Ye are our epistle," not in
process of being " written," but this already done and

CHAPTER III. 39
abidingly (i^rfeiypa/i/ievij) " in our hearts," whereas it
was but becoming "known and read by all men," as
was also their manifestation that they were Christ's
epistle, " ministered" as a past fact {SmKovr)0etaa) by us,
•* written" as it has been and was (i^eypa/ifiev^) " not
with ink, but the living God's Spirit," not on tablets
of stone, but on fleshy tablets — hearts, or of the
heart. It was a wonderful thing to call any company of
saints in this world Paul's epistle, that which set
forth his mind and heart, the fruit of his testimony in
the Spirit to the world. Such he declares the Corin
thian assembly to be, no mere tongue-work this, but
" written in our hearts," yet without doubt intended
for men generally to learn by, as he says, " known and
read by all men." Such is the church, not a thing of
creedisrn, or a subscription to paper-and-ink articles,
however pure in their place, but an epistle to set forth
livingly what the apostle taught and felt. Here he
goes farther still ; for even of those saints, who had
caused him such shame and pain, but now consola
tion and joy, he does not hesitate to say that they were
manifestly shewing themselves to be Christ's epistle
ministered by him. Paul might be the means, but
Christ was the end ; and just as God wrote the law on
stone for Israel, so now does the Spirit grave Christ on
the fleshy tablets of the Christian's heart, that the
world may read Christ in the church. It will be
noticed too, that this epistle says they are ; it is no mere
question of a duty, but of a positive relationship which
is the ground of the duty. If we are Christ's epistle,
as the apostle declares to the Corinthians, we should

40 NOTES ON II CORINTHIANS.
assuredly convey His mind and affections truly and
Without blot. The truth abides for us, which wrought
on them ; and so does the Spirit of the living God ;
and thus we are inexcusable in our failure. At least
may we own and feel it, that grace may work in us as
in those who had fallen so short !
" And such confidence have we through the Christ
toward God." Christianity not only excludes despair
but gives assurance, and this on the firmest ground
with God, even Christ, whose work puts the believer
into the same acceptance, nearness, and favour as our
Lord enjoyed through His own personal relationship
and perfection as man. This is the meaning, aim, and
effect of a Saviour such as He is : less than this would
be to slight Him and His work, and the new creation
and relationships which are the fruit of it. But here
the apostle speaks of confidence as regards his ministry,
which is no less true and flows from the same grace.
For it is all the expression of God's love in Christ to us
and to Christ in the delight of His glorification of God ;
and in the power of one so able to give it effect as the
Holy Spirit. Therefore the apostle could not doubt, but
cherishes a confidence, measured by God's estimate of
what was due to Christ whom He had sent to testify and
prove His love, and now had glorified on high in wit
ness of the perfection of His work. But along with it
goes the most earnest disclaimer of any intrinsic com
petency, while owning it given of God to serve in new
covenant order, but even here of spirit, not of letter.
For literally it remains to be applied to the houses of
Israel and of Judah, though the blood is shed and ac
cepted, on which its efficacy rests But this only the

CHAPTER m. 41
more suits the genius of Christianity, where the prin
ciples stand out in the light, and the truth is told
plainly as here : "for the letter killeth, but the spirit
[that is, the mind of God couched under the forms
which unbelief never seizes] quickeneth." And this
is universally true ; for if the letter were more glaringly
perilous of old, there is always the danger of deserting
the spirit for it, even under the gospel.
The apostle proceeds next, in a long parenthesis (7-16)
to contrast the respective services of the law and of the
gospel, the ever rising debate wherever Christ is named
and known. And no wonder, for sovereign grace is
not natural to the heart, though it alone reveals God
fully. The believer himself never keeps grace fresh,
pure, or even true, save as consciously in God's pre
sence, with Christ before him. As in Christ thus, it is
simple and appreciated as the one principle and power
which suits either God on the one hand, or those He
saves on the other. Grace alone puts each in the place
which befits them. But the effect or assumption of the
mind even in the believer to take up grace and reason it
out, apart from present dependence, is as bad or worse
than misuse of the law ; for conscience answers to the
law when it condemns every evil way, but faith is
needed for grace. Outside God's presence it is but al
lowance of sin. In His presence grace deals with sin far
more overwhelmingly than law, as is evident in the cross
of Christ. Only there can the believer enjoy grace
safely, happily, and hohly : and there is no possibility
of having peace in His presence but through grace-
grace reigning through righteousness unto eternal life
by Jesus Christ our Lord.

42 NOTES ON II CORINTHIANS.
" But if the ministry of death in letter,* graven on
stones, came in with glory, so that the sons of Israel
could not look intently toward the face of Moses for the
glory of his face, that was to be done away, how shall
not the ministry of the Spirit more be in glory ? For
if the ministry of condemnation [have]'!' glory, much
more doth the ministry of righteousness abound in
glory. For even that which hath been glorified, hath not J
been glorified in this respect on account of the surpass
ing glory. For if that to be done away [was] with
glory, much more what abideth [is] in glory. "
It is of moment to notice that the apostle reasons
here on Exodus xxxiv., not on Exodus xx. as in He
brews xii. It is a question, not of law pure and simple,
when God's voice shook the earth, with a sight of terror
which caused even Moses to be full of trembling ; but
of law when given the second time, accompanied by
the mercy which not only forgave but accepted media
tion. It was a mixture of law with grace, and precisely
what people now conceive to be Christianity. But
this is what is designated the ministry of death in
letter, engraven on stones. For on the second time, not
on the first, it was introduced with glory {i^evr)ei] iv
ho^tj), and then, not before, was there any difficulty for
the sons of Israel steadily to gaze at his face. Only
then are we told that the skin of the face of Moses
* ypap.p.wri (sing.) BDFG, Pesch., Arm. ; ypdp.p.aatv (plur.)
in much the more numerous copies, and versions, and all the
fathers. t if 8. M A C Dp.m. F G, Syrr., &c. ; but $ S. most MSS., ver
sions, &c.
I oi the best MSS . and versions and Fathers ; oiti Text. Rec. fol
lowing many cursives, tie.

chapter in. 49
shone (Ex. xxxiv.), and that the Israelites were afraid
to come nigh him. It was the glory of Jehovah which
caused his face thus to shine, an effect entirely peculiar to
the second occasion. Nevertheless this is styled "the
ministry of death." The mercy which had spared
Israel did not alter its character, nor did the glory
which shone in the Mediator's face. How different is
that which the Spirit now ministers in a dead, risen,
and glorified Christ ! The reflection of glory in Moses'
case was but a passing fact : it was neither intrinsio
nor permanent, but to be done away. Not so Christ's.
Here all that is the fruit of His work abides. It has
everlasting value. It is no question of letter, nor of
graving on stones, but of a divine Saviour yet a man,
who has glorified God atoningly as to sin, not in living
obedience only but up to death, the death of the cross,
and is thereon glorified in heaven, yea, in God Himself,
and gives the believer, once a wretched, guilty, and lost
sinner, now washed, sanctified and justified, a righteous
title to stand in perfect grace, to be with Him in glory,
one with Him even now by the Holy Ghost sent
down from heaven. This is the gospel, this the
ministry of the Spirit which abides and is assuredly
abundant "in glory."
But the law requires righteousness, and man being a
sinner cannot yield it. The law is necessarily, therefore,
a ministry of death (ver. 7), and the more brightly God's
goodness shines, the worse it is for the sinner, for he is
only the more proved worthless and guilty. In the gos
pel righteousness is revealed to faith, not required : for
Christ Himself is the righteousness of the believer, and
the work was done and accepted before God sent out

44 NOTES ON n CORINTHIANS.
the gospel of His grace to man. The Spirit, therefore,
testifies to a man at God's right hand, who suffered
once for sins on the cross, and declared that by Him all
that believe are justified from all things, from which
they could not be justified by the law of Moses. Hence
the Holy Spirit, as He sealed Christ the righteous One
without blood when on earth, now seals us when washed
from our sins in His blood, and rests on us as the Spirit of
glory and of God. (Ver. 8.) We are put, therefore,
in association with Christ on high and await His coming
to bring us there. The law, on the contrary, not only
kills but condemns ; it brings sense of guilt on the
conscience, and God as a judge of the evil actually done.
Hence it can only be a ministry of condemnation (ver.
9), as well as of death, whatever the glory that marked
its enactment ; whereas the gospel is the ministry of
righteousness already accomplished in Christ and the
portion of the believer ; and that righteousness abides
nnchanged and glorious in Christ above. Hence the
ministry of the Spirit is also that of righteousness.
As the righteousness is a fact of free grace in One who
loves us perfectly, so has the glory the same attraction,
unlike the glory which alarmed Israel, even in the face
of Moses. The light which shines from Christ glori
fied speaks of the efficacy of His sacrifice ; the brighter
the light, the clearer the proof that our every sin is
cleansed away by His blood. It is the light of divine
glory, doubtless, but flowing from redemption His
title to be in heaven is not His person only, but the work
which God His Father gave Him to do, that as surely
as we know Him in the Father, we should also know
that we are in Him and He in us. Most wondrous I

CHAPTER III. 45
yet the simple truth of Christ and the Christian. Bat
what is so wonderful as the truth ? Yet Christ accounts
for it all, and His work brings us who believe into it all.
Such is grace in the ministry of the Spirit by right
eousness. And as the glory of God's grace in Christ completely
dims by excess of brightness His glory in the law
(ver. 10), so also does the transitory or temporary
character of the latter proclaim its incomparable in
feriority to the former which abides (ver. 15), as indeed
it ought ; inasmuch as it flows from and expresses the
will of God, while the other only condemns and executes
sentence on the evil of man already fallen and dis
obedient. A few details may be useful in helping the reader to
appreciate the remarkably compressed phraseology of
these verses. iyevrjOr) iv Soj-rj means that the law was
introduced in or with glory, rather than that it existed
in glory. The verb is changed when we come to the
Spirit and His ministry, subsisting in glory. It is an
error, however, to suppose that the future Sanu is one of
time ; it is rather of inference. There is no allusion
here to the coming glory. The apostle points emphatic
ally to what the Spirit is ministering now. It is hard
to express, but important to bear in mind, the abstract
nature of the contrast, to Karap^ovfievov and to /uvov,
the present participle of character, apart from time, not of
actual fact.
Lastly, it is at best oversight to affirm that &i&
I6j-i)* and iv Soty present a mere variation of ex
pressions without a difference of meaning. Never does
scripture thus change words without a fresh thought

46 NOTES ON II CORINTHIANS.
and a distinct purpose. iv S. is admirably adapted when
connected (not with i^/evrj0ri, but) with fuivov, to set
forth permanence of glory ; o\a S. a mere accompanying
condition of what was to pass away. Romans iii. 30,
v. 10, prove difference, not sameness, of force, whatever
Winer may say (Moulton's edition, pp. 453, 512), or
the commentators misled by such laxity, as Alford,
Hodge, &c,
This leads the apostle in the Spirit to apply the
incident of Moses with and without a veil, as before
of the glory of his face. He glories that in the gospel
all is open. It is no longer the unhappy though whole-
come detection of sin in man, but the plain revelation
of good from God in Christ, and this righteously
through His cross, yea, gloriously in His place at God's
right hand in heaven : the ground of our association
with heaven now, and of glory there not in spirit only
but in body at His coming. In Judaism man could not
bear to hear the truth, which was the sentence of death
to flesh ; in Gentilism all was doubt or deception. In
the gospel we can speak plainly : it is God's good news
of His Son. There is no reason or motive for reserve,
but just the contrary. We cannot be too open. So
the love of God who gave such a treasure would have
it. Leave darkness to Rabbis and philosophers, who
love it rather than light.
" Having then such hope we use much openness of
speech : and not as Moses used to put a veil on his own
face, that the sons of Israel should not look stedfastly
onto the end of that to be done away. But their
thoughts were darkened [lit. hardened] ; for until this
very day the same veil at the reading of the old cove-

chapter in. 47
nant abideth unremoved [lit. unveiled], which in Christ
is done away.* But unto this day when Moses is read,
a veil lieth upon their heart. But whenever it shall
turn to the Lord, the veil is taken off." (Ver. 12-16.)
Christianity is no system of restraint on evil in the
first man, with ordinances suited to the flesh in the
world, and God afar off in the dark, but founded on the
grace of Christ, who, after establishing righteousness by
the cross, is gone up into heavenly glory, and is min
istered by the Holy Ghost in power. Hence the un
seen, the future, and the everlasting converge on the
believer now ; and having suoh a hope one can be
thoroughly outspoken : there are the strongest motives
for openness in everyway, in contrast with the dimness,
distance, and reserve of the law. Not only did God in
Christ come down to man, but, now that his evil has
been judicially and conclusively dealt with in the cross,
man can go up — nay, has already sat down at His right
hand — in the person of our Saviour and Head. The
accomplishment of redemption, as it closed the ministry
of death, opened the way and became the basis of the
ministry of the Spirit, to abide in glory. The previous
state of concealment, where man had such reason to
dread the sight of glory according to the law, is set
forth in Moses putting a veil on his face when he spoke
with the children of Israel outside, \ whereas he, in-
* Or, It not being unveiled (that ia, revealed) that (or, because)
in Christ it is done away.
f I am aware that the late Dean Alford affirms in his Greek
Testament (ii. 645, Sth ed., 1866) that " a mistake has been made
with regard to the history in Exodus xxxiv. 33-35 which has
considerably obscured the understanding of the verse [13]. It il

48 NOTES ON n CORINTHIANS.
variably put it off whenever he went in before
Jehovah. The christian position is in the fullest contrast with
that of Israel, to which tradition and human thoughts
of unbelief would ever in principle reduce us. It
suits reason and conscience guided by it, and our es
timate of self as well as of God, where Christ and His
work have no distinctive and commanding place. Hence
not only do the utmost extremes meet here, popish and
puritanical, but also that via media, which pleases the
moderate men of all parties, rationalist or nonconfor
mist, who on the one hand rightly venerate the law as
clothed with God's authority, but on the other see not
the wholly new position grace has placed us in by re
demption, answering to Christ glorified on high, who
commonly assumed that Moses spoke to the Israelites, having the veil
on his face ; and this is implied in our version — ' Till Moses had
done speaking with them, he put a veil on his face.' But the
LXX (and Heb.) gave a different account : na\ i-netti}/ KaTeiravatv
XaXQsv irpbs alrrois, iireBriteev iirl rb irg6aunrov avrov Ka.Avp.pia. He
spoke to them without the veil, with his face shining and glorified;—
when he had done speaking, he placed the veil on his face : and that
not because they were afraid to look on him, but as here, that they
might not look on the end, or the fading of that transitory glory," &c.
But the mistake is in Dean A. following the Septuagint and at most
the letter of the Heb. in verse 33, so as to contradict or neutralise
the plain force of the context, and especially verse 35. The mean
ing ought never to have been questioned, that, while Moses talked
to the people without, he covered his face, but removed the veil
when he went in to speak with Jehovah. Verse 30 is clear that,
because his face shone, the people were afraid to come nigh, and he
therefore put on the veil which he took off when he went in before
Jehovah till he came out. The Vulgate, like the Sept. , sacrifices
the sense to the letter ; and the two have misled many.

CHAPTER III. 49
has sent down the Spirit that we might enjoy it to the
full, and walk accordingly. For we find our privilege
Godward typified in Moses unveiled, not with the veil
on. We behold Christ and His work in the ritualistic
system, which conveyed to the Israelite only precepts to
kill a lamb, a goat, or a bullock, with the blood brought
in before God, and to sprinkle themselves with the water
of separation, or the like. The law made nothing
perfect. It (and not the speculative thought of the
Greek, nor the political wisdom of Rome) was the true
nursery of man in his nonage, the divine pro-paedeutio,
shutting up to the faith about to be revealed.
Israel through unbelief slighted grace when shown to
them abundantly, and forgot the promises which God
had made to the fathers, which faith would have re
membered and felt the need of. They therefore doubted
not for a moment their ability to keep His law, and so
maintain their place with Him. Granted that this was
their deepest ignorance, both of God as a judge accord
ing to law, and of themselves as guilty and powerless
sinners ; and that scripture reveals their ruin under
law, that the Gentile should avoid the snare and find
their resource, strength, and blessing, all and only in
Christ by God's sovereign grace. How awful then the
darkness which has deliberately put Christendom back
into the self-same position of law, as the rule of people
to live by, after the proclamation of God's mercy ! This
is what not only the multitude believe but the doctors
have taught, Protestant no less than popish ; this is the
prevalent doctrine, alike Presbyterian and Prelatical,
Methodist or Congregational. It is the mind active
and exercised on what God used as a probationary B

50 NOTES UN II CORINTHIANS.
system, but as unable to look to the end of it as the Jew of
old, rebellious against its transitory character, and blind
to the surpassing glory of what is now revealed in Christ.
It is solemn to reflect on those once the people of
God, now Lo-Ammi, in zeal for their forms rejecting
Christ who gives them their real meaning and chief, if
not only, value. But so it is and must be. How
could the infinite gift of the Son of God, and then the
witness of the Holy Spirit sent down from heaven, in
virtue of redemption, have, if refused, any other conse
quence than utter ruin for those who have despised God ?
It is the rejection of God's fullest grace and. heavenly
glory, not merely of the law which demanded and
defined a man's duty. God would be a partner to
His own utter dishonour if He passed by the refusal of
His Son dying in love for man's sin, or despite to the
Spirit of grace who testifies of it and Him. This the
Jews did formally, before God swept them from their
land by the Romans, not because the scriptures are not
express as to Christ and His work, but because of their
own unbelief. " But unto this day, when Moses is being
read, a veil Heth upon their heart." (Ver. 15.)
It is humbling however to know that their harden
ing is but the shadow of a guiltier and incomparably
wider unbelief which is settling down on Christendom,
not profane only but even religious after the flesh, into
more and more dense delusion and self-complacency in
resistance of the Holy Spirit and an ignorant contempt of
Christ's glory as of our own portion in and with Him.
So proceeded the Jew with his darkened thoughts till
divine judgment fell on their temple and capital. Their
(it was no longer God's) house was left to them deso-

CHAPTER III. 61
late ; yet do they persist in their most ruinous infatua
tion, to be punished with a yet more awful tribulation,
not (thank God) for ever but till they say, as they will
ere long, Blessed He that cometh in the name of Je
hovah, and own in their rejected Messiah their Lord and
their God. " Whenever it shall turn to the Lord, the
veil is taken off."* (Ver. 16.) Alas I it is not so with
Babylon as with Jerusalem. For the Gentile city of
confusion there will be exterminating judgment without
hope of recovery. It behoves then all the faithful
to beware of the evils which end in such strokes from
God ; it becomes them to inquire whether they may not
have fellowship with her sins, which dishonour the
excellent name which He called upon them. To the
law and to the testimony : if men speak not according
to this word, it is because there is no light in (or morning
for) them.
" Until this very day," says the apostle, " the same veil
at the reading of the old covenant abideth unremoved,
which in Christ is done away." (Ver. 14.) So it was
* Calvin in his comment on this verse indulges in a whimsical
conceit, which ia the more singular as it is meant for correcting
other Greek and Latin writers who were in this nearer the truth
than himself. " Locus hio male hactenos versus fait : putarunt
tnim tam Graeci quam Roman! subaudiendum nomen Israelis, quum
de Mose loquatur Paulus. Dixerat velamen esse impositum Iudae-
•rum cordibus, dum legitur Moses. Continuo addit, Simulatque
•onversus fuerit ad Dominum, velamen ablatum hi Quis non vidnt
de Mose hoc dici, hoc est, de Lege ?" (I. Calv. Nov. Opera Omnia,
vii. 233, Amst. 1667.) It is quite true that the Jews in shutting
out Christ lost the truth of scripture, its aim and scope ; but the
heart of Israel is the true subject, and not Moses as representing
the law.

52 NOTES ON II CORINTHIANS.
and so it is ; but it is graver still and no less sure,
that the same veil rests on the hearts of the baptised
at the reading of the latest revelation of God, when
they refuse to submit to the righteousness of God, and
their eyes and hearts are turned away to self, or to the
church so called, from the only true Light. They do
not truly acknowledge the Son, nor own the present
efficacy of His work. The veil will envelop the heart
for them (perhaps we may say) no less than for Israel;
and what greater danger can there be than that such dark
ness should prevail where Paul is read no less, yea,
far more, than Moses ? Is it not that, though it be for
the Gentile the day of grace, their thoughts are in
creasingly darkened ? Those born of God will no doubt
come out of Babylon ; for His grace will work, and it
may be in ways we httle anticipate, to extricate souls
that they may await His Son from heaven. But there
is no revival, no restoration, for corrupted Christendom.
It is salt that has lost its savour, fit neither for land
nor for dunghill, only to be cast out, or burnt with fire,
recompensed at last as the great city recompensed
during her unrighteous career. For strong is the Lord
God that judges her.
The central portion of the chapter, from verse 7, con
tains not only the remarkable allusion to Moses veiled
and unveiled, but the contrast between the ministry
of letter in the law with that of the Spirit. The
parenthesis being closed, ho forthwith recurs to
that contrast of letter and spirit whioh preceded it,
" Now the Lord is the spirit, but where the Spirit of
the Lord [is, there is] liberty." (Ver, 17.) Scarce any
scripture shews more instructively than this the neces-

CHAPTER III. 53
sity of understanding the mind of God, in order even
to present it correctly in form. For it is an utter mis
take to give " the spirit" in the first clause a capital
letter, which would imply the Holy Ghost to be meant ;
and where would be the sense, where so much as the
orthodoxy, of identifying the Lord with the Holy
Ghost ?* To me the meaning, without doubt, is that
the Lord Jesus constitutes the spirit of the forms and
figures and other communications of the old covenant.
These, if taken in the letter, killed ; if in the spirit,
quickened. " The Lord" was their real scope ; and
now this comes out into the fullest evidence. Faith
sees in Him contrast with Adam, analogy with Abel ;
the light of which shines even on Cain and Lamech.
Yet more manifestly do we see types of Him in Joseph
and Moses, and in that vast system of sacrifice and
priesthood which, coming in by Moses, furnished those
shadows so abundantly. Unbelief never laid hold of
the coming One, faith always did ; though it might not
apprehend the bearing of all, nor perhaps fully of
* It is not denied that the Spirit is Lord, which seems to me
conveyed in verse 18. Still this, if put in the form of a proposi
tion, would be expressed by to itvivpa, nvpuSs ianv, and not in the
reciprocal form which would exclude the Father and the Son from
the same title. The fathers, therefore, who regarded this clause as
an assertion of the Holy Ghost's divinity, were as wrong grammati
cally as exegetically. Neither words nor context can admit of this
interpretation. The late Dr. Hodge amazes one, on the other hand
by saying that Christ is the Holy Spirit, in the same sense as the
Lord says, " I and the Father are one.' There is not the least
reason that the Spirit should mean the same thing in both clauses,
especially as the phrase differs (" Spirit of the Lord"), which we
have already traced in the burning, yet weighty, words of the apostle.

54 NOTES ON II CORINTHIANS.
anything, till He actually died and rose. But " the
Lord is the spirit," and the new testimony is so pre
cise, that there is no excuse for misapprehending the
old longer. " The true Light now shineth," and " we
who were once darkness are now light in the Lord."
In the hght we walk, and we ought to walk as children
of it ; and an immense help it is to our souls intelli
gently to apprehend the Lord in every part of the word.
It is this which gives the deepest interest, and truest
solemnity, and living power, to every part of the Old
Testament. Thus only have we communion with the
mind of God with positive and growing blessing to our
own souls. Now that He is revealed, all is plain.
But there is more than this, for " where the Spirit of
the Lord [is, there is] liberty." Here the truth requires
that there should be a capital, for the apostle means not
merely the true inner bearing of what was communi
cated of old, but the presence and power of the Holy
Ghost now ; and He is not a spirit of bondage unto
fear, but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind ; not
a spirit of bondage, but the Spirit of the Son, whom
God had sent into our hearts, crying, Abba, Father.
Hence the effect is liberty, not alone because it is the
Son that makes us free, but the Spirit of life in Him
risen from the dead, after the mighty work in which
God, sending Jesus in the likeness of flesh of sin, and
for sin, condemned sin in the flesh. Thus all was con
demned that could be condemned, and we by grace are
delivered — free indeed. " Where the Spirit of the
Lord [is, there is] liberty," as opposed to Gentile
license as to Jewish bondage.
It is liberty to do the will of God, " for sin shall not

chapter rn. 65
have dominion over you, for ye are not nnder law, but
nnder grace." Yet do we yield ourselves slaves for
obedience ; and having got our freedom from sin, and
become slaves to God, we have our fruit unto holiness,
and the end eternal life. We are no longer in the flesh,
and are clear from the law, so that we should serve in
newness of spirit, and not in oldness of letter. "Where
the Spirit of the Lord [is, there* is] liberty." It is not
yet the liberty of the glory of the children of God ; it is
the liberty of grace before glory dawns at Christ's coming.
But we are creatures, though a new creation in
Christ, and we need an object that we may be kept and
grow, and be formed and fashioned spiritually accord
ing to God, while here below. Without the cross of
Christ all this were vain ; yet are we not called simply
to be at the foot of the cross, or to behold no object but
Jesus Christ crucified, as men misuse the passage. Not
eo ; " but we all beholding-)- the glory of the Lord with
unveiled face, are being transformed into the same
image from glory to glory, even as from [the] Lord
[the] Spirit." Such is the present business, we may
say, of the Christian. It is alike the duty and the pri
vilege of all Christians, not the perquisite of a favoured
few who attain to it. It is not a state reached in a
moment by an act of faith, but a gradual process, which
ought to characterise every Christian all the way
through. At the coming of Christ we shall be con-
• ixti in Text. Rec. is supported by many MSS., but not N A B
C D, &c.
t Ka.Toirrpig6pi.evoi means neither " reflecting," nor " seeing in a
mirror,'' though this last be etymologically the source, but " be
holding," without reference to the mirror, as in so many words
which thus cast their primitive shell.

66 NOTES ON II CORINTHIANS.
formed to His image — that of the Son, the First-born
among many brethren. Meanwhile thus does " the
Lord the Spirit" (for such, I suppose, is the meaning
in the last clause) work in us from glory to glory, as all
that Christ is glorified on high becomes more familiar
and real to our souls by faith. We need, most assuredly,
the lowly grace which came down as a servant, obeying
to tho uttermost, even to the death of the cross, if we
would have the mind in us which was also in Christ
Jesus. But, blessed and indispensable as it is thus to
know His love, faith in the Christian does not rest
there, nor ought it, but, holding all this fast, to look on
the glory of the Lord with unveiled face, and thus be
changed, according to the same image, from glory to
glory. For the Spirit, though Lord equally with the
Father and the Son, does not work independently of
Christ, but by presenting Him to us, from first to last.
It is scarcely needful to add, that one rejects the
translation of the closing phrase, which pleases Ols-
hausen, De Wette, Meyer, &c, "Lord of the Spirit,"
as being clearly against tho truth of scripture — a serious
fault in a subject of this kind. So Macknight, who
paraphrases it, "the Lord of the covenant of the
Spirit!" but those who expect either spiritual intelli
gence or sound scholarship from that divine, must be
bitterly and uniformly disappointed. Dr. Thomas F.
Middleton, in his able " Doctrine of the Greek Article,"
mistakes the margin of the Authorised Version, which
agrees with my view against its own text. So Luther,
Beza, &c, had rendered it. The reader may compare
otto Qeov irarpog (Gal. i. 2 ; Eph. vi. 28), and analogous
phrases in many other passages.

CHAPTER IV.
The apostle returns to the manner and spirit of his
service in the gospel. Such a hope, such glory, de
mands and by grace inspires good courage, as well as
conduct, of a divine sort. " On this account, having
this ministry, according as we obtained mercy, we faint*
not, but refused the hidden things of shame, not walk
ing in deceit, nor guilefully using the word of God,
but by the manifestation of the truth commending our
selves to every conscience of men in the sight of God.
But if even our gospel is veiled, in those that perish it
is veiled, in whom the god of this age blinded the
minds [or, thoughts] of the faithless, that the illumina
tion of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is [the]
image of God, should not shine forth." (Vers. 1-4.)

* The more ancient MSS. read (some ivit.) tyKaKovpuv, the great
mass (some old) ixx., and the critics, as well as lexicographers,
fancy a difference of reading and word, where there seems but
variety in spelling. Thus Dean Alford takes Ivk. as not " shrink
ing back," quailing, or acting cowardly ; while he assigns to inn.
the sense of " fainting." But he is not consistent, for, though he
reads iyn. in Luke xviii. 1, he rightly treats it as " fainting :" so
also in Galatians vi. 9, Ephesians iii. 18, 2 Thessalonians iii. 14.
In Polyb. iv. 19, 10 it is properly the same (not £{., but ivtitAiftiBcui),
the Lacedemonians failed to send, not that they behaved badly, &c.
They were faint-hearted about it. Liddell and Scott, as well as
Eost and Palm, should revise the words, or rather word. I see
Bishop EUicott had been before me in coming to a judgment which
I had formed independently.

58 NOTES ON II CORINTHIANS.
It was not only the surpassing and abiding excellence
of this ministry, but the possession of it, which touched
the heart with the sense of divine mercy, and took
away all disposition to be craven-hearted in presence of
the gravest difficulties, and the keenest and constant
sufferings. It is true that the Corinthians knew but
little of such experience, but therefore was it the more
needful that the apostle, who knew little else here be
low, should bring it out clearly. On the other hand,
men admire cleverness in baffling adversaries, and in
evading dangers or difficulties, alas ! too often in gloss
ing over what cannot bear the light, and in turning
aside the edge of what exposes and condemns. Here
also the saints at Corinth were not without the conta
gion of their city and its schools. Could they, like the
apostle, say that they refused the secret things of shame ?
— that they did not walk in trickery ? — that they did
not falsify the word of God ? Some among them cer
tainly gave too much appearance of being thus lacking
in the faith that counts on God, and declines secret
influence, and shrewd, if not unscrupulous, plans after
the flesh. The ways of the servant should harmonise
with His blessed service, as they did in Paul's case, leav
ing to the children of darkness all that shrinks from the
light, which it does not suit, no less than evil surmis-
ings of the good they cannot sympathise with. It is
not only what is scandalous, but all cunning, which is
abhorrent to Christ, who needs nothing that is not of
the Spirit. And if Satan lures us to the path of self-
seeking, the desire to win others soon slips from hesi
tation into a guileful handling of that word which
breathes only hght and love, like its source.

chapter rv. 59
The apostle, far from uncertainty in his own soul,
acted and spoke in the consciousness of divine au
thority, as he says, " by the manifestation of the truth"
(what a blessing in a world of darkness I) " commend
ing ourselves to every conscience of men in the sight of
God." Activity of mind, which likes to propagate its
ideas, and to produce common action, was not wanting
at Corinth ; but where was this conscious possession of
truth which formed the ways in accordance with it, and
sought no other influence, but only thus in love to ap
peal to conscience in God's sight? To shine before
men, to gain applause, to have a party, are snares to
avoid, unworthy of Christ's servants. To seek, or
even to receive, glory one of another, instead of seek
ing the glory which is from the only God, is the ruin of
faith, and wrought not in the Jewish unbeliever, but in
many a Corinthian believer. The apostle, in unwearied
love, and unquailing before difficulties, and unflinching
in candour, pressed the truth in season, out of season,
whether men heard or forbore, assured that, while he
preached as in God's presence, every conscience bowed
inwardly, even if the will were set on its own way in
defiance of God.
Moreover, the vividness of the heavenly vision, to
which he was not disobedient, reproduced itself by the
Spirit in his evangelising. All was out, without dis
guise, radiant with the light of heaven and the glory of
the Christ he had seen on high. Hence he could add,
that even if our gospel is veiled, it is veiled in the
perishing, in whose case the god of this age blinded
the minds of the faithless. He had no veil like Moses:
the gospel effectually repudiates it — at least the gospel

60 NOTES ON II CORINTHIANS.
as he and his fellows preached it. As he believed, so he
preached. There was for him no affectation of depth or
sublimity. The truth needs no arts to set it off. No
thing else is so lofty, nothing else so deep. It is Christ,
the Word, who was God and yet was made flesh, life
eternal yet dying for sinners, who descended into the
lower parts of the earth, and also ascended up above
all the heavens, that He might All all things. If such
glad tidings were veiled, they were veiled in the lost,
not by those that preached the truth. In their case,
the god of this age blinded the thoughts, or understand
ings, of the unbelieving. It was no defect in the truth,
nor obscurity in the message from God, nor insincerity
in the messenger, who gave it out as purely as he re
ceived it.
Alasl there is a subtle and energetic adversary of
God and man ; there are men who have not faith but
passions and lusts, which expose them to his influence
in blinding them to the truth. And such are all by nature
since sin ruined mankind, till grace work repentance
to acknowledgment of the truth. But men who are
feeble in owning the power of the Spirit are apt to be
slow to perceive Satan's workings ; and controversial
zeal increases this unsoriptural bias. Hence we see
that the fathers in general, early and late, Greek and
Latin, misapplied this simple and weighty statement of
scripture, and denied the devil to be meant here, con
struing it as God blinding the minds of the unbelievers
of this age I (See Cramer's Cat. Patr. Gr. v., 878, 374,
Oxon. 1844 ; Iren. Haer. iv. 392 ; Tert. advers. Maro.
11 ; Aug. c. adv. Leg. iii., vii. 29.) Hilary, in his zeal
against the Arians, and among the Greeks, Chrysostom,

CHAPTER TV. 61
would not allow Satan to be called god of this age, lest
it might tell against the deity of Christ ; and so O3ou-
menius and Theodoret, &c, down to Theophylact ; as
others, like Origen, against other early heretics, Mar-
cionites, Manicheans, &o. It is instructive as a plain
proof of patristic shallowness, where they agreed, as
they rarely did, on an interpretation. They failed to
distinguish between "God" used absolutely, and
"god" with a distinct and restricted qualification. And
as the Lord, in view of His own rejection unto death,
spoke of the devil as the prince of this world (John xii. ;
xiv.), so the apostle here designates him, with striking
propriety, as " god of this age." During the new age,
when the Lord takes the sovereignty of the world
(Rev. xi.), it will not be so ; he will be bound, and
thereby kept from his old deceits. Now he takes advan
tage of all truth to dishonour God and destroy men,
his wretched slaves, who, in doing their own will, serv*
him effectually. Thus are they blinded, that the illu
mination of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is
the image of God, should not shine forth.*
Here also it is well to notice that "the glorious
gospel," as in the Authorised Version, is not only in
adequate, but incorrect. For " the glory" is definitely
of Christ exalted to God's right hand, in virtue of not
His person only but redemption, that we who now be
lieve might see Him, and have our place in Him, there.
What enlightenment can compare with this ? It is part of
what the apostle calls " my" and " our gospel." Christ
• auTois, "unto them," is not an omission, as Dr. Bloomfield
¦ays, but rather an addition of the more recent copies, followed by
(he Text. Rec, against the oldest MSS. and versions and fatheri.

62 NOTES ON II CORINTHIANS.
was, and is, God's image, alone fully representing Him ;
but the gospel, as Paul preached it, was not of His
descent and life here only, nor of His death and resur
rection, but of His glory in heaven also. Hence the
appropriateness of the language, with which the reader
may contrast the vague platitudes of the Cat. Patr. v.
874, 875.
There is no defect, then, in " our gospel." There is
not only the firmest foundation of righteousness, but
the brightest heavenly glory in the display of that
righteousness. In Christ exalted is love with us made
perfect. How could it, indeed, go farther ? because as
He is, so are we in this world. It is the gospel of the
glory of Christ, who is God's image. We are not yet
ourselves in possession of the glory as an actual fact,
but we have it in Him in whom it shines most fully,
and through whom it shines into our hearts. No greater
proof, then, of the blinding power of Satan, than that
men should be insensible to such glory. But an evil
conscience cannot endure the light of God, whatever
the love from which the light of that glory springs.
For they cannot endure the discovery and judgment of
their sins, even though the rejection of His testimony
exposes them to everlasting ruin. They believe them
selves, or really Satan, the god of this age, rather than
the only true God ; they are lost. This is what the
gospel supposes, though it fully provides for it. But
the blessing is inseparable from faith ; for God is not
saving only, but making the saved vessels on earth to
reflect the glory of Christ in heaven.
Such pre-eminently was the apostle. He himself,
the stoutest of combatants against the name of Jesus,

CHAPTER IV. 68
was struck down in mid- career by the glory of Jesus
shining from heaven. He therefore knew, if any soul
ever did, the gospel of the glory of Christ. Lost, spite
of all that law could give or boast of; saved by sove
reign grace, spite of all that the strongest enmity could
breathe against the Lord and His own, he became the
suited witness of a Saviour and Lord on high. Where
was self now in his eyes? and what the worth of
religious authority in Israel, any more than of that
philosophy which leaves men groping in the dark, what
ever the vauntings of its several schools ? The worth-
lessness of all here below he had proved ; for him
henceforward Christ was all, as indeed He is all, and
in all.
" For not ourselves do we preach, but Christ Jesus as
Lord,* and ourselves your bondmen, for Jesus'-)- sake,
because [it is] the J God that bid light shine || out of
darkness, who shone ino ur hearts for the illumination of
the knowledge of the glory of God§ in the face of Jesus
Christ." (Vers. 5, 6. J Others might preach them-
* The MSS. fluctuate between X. 'I. K., supported by theVatt-
can, some few uncials, and most cursives, versions, &c. ; "1. X. K.
as the Sinaitic, Alex., .Rescript of Paris, and some other good
authorities; K. 1. X. with some few witnesses j and finally 'I. X. or
X. 'I. omitting K.
f The weight of authority is in favour of Sia '\ri<rovv, but the
Sinaitic and Paris Rescript, &c, read Sick 'Irioov, as some others
have Xpurr6v or XoiotoS.
J The Vatican, &c, omit 6 before 8.
|| For \,'tp<pai, as in Text. Rec. following most, the oldest read
Kafixpt. (= God that said, Out of darkness light shall shine).
§ Some MSS. (D F 6, &c.) omit 8$, as others beside (C D, Ac)
for tov t. have abroi. Most give '« X., others X. 'I., A B. &c,
(imply X.

64 NOTES ON II CORINTHIANS.
selves ; the apostle, Christ Jesus as Lord. He was
content to be servant of Christ, and, for that very
reason, of the saints, for the sake of Jesus. This alone
is true service ; anything else a snare, both to him who
serves, and to those who are served, who, in such cir
cumstances, alike serve themselves to His dishonour.
But as Christ Jesus is Lord, and the believer owns
and proclaims it according to his measure, so is He the
one true and safe motive for the ready service of His
saints. Personal interest, or honour, vanishes before
His name. And such a servant was the apostle to the
Corinthians. What a change, from the prejudiced, law-
bound, yet impassioned Jew of Tarsus I How came so
complete and sudden a revolution to be brought about
in the heart of one naturally most averse to change ?
It was, it is always, the effect of God's power in grace.
The Creator-God is the Saviour-God, through His Son.
It was as truly light spiritual from God, as that which
shone at God's bidding where darkness had reigned
before the earth was prepared for man. " Because
God, that bid light to shine out of darkness, [is he]
who shone in our hearts for [the] illumination of the
knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus
Christ." Thus, for faith does the first man give in
stant place to the Second ; and we, who were once
darkness, become light in the Lord. The apostle, no
doubt, had vividly before him the never to be forgotten
eircumstances of his own conversion, suggestive of the
light at mid-day, above the brightness of the sun shin
ing from heaven. With this he brings in the allusion
to Genesis i. 3, so as the better to contrast the light with
the previous darkness, and connect all with the power,

CHAPTER IV. 65
as well as the word, of God. But he gives both refer
ences the precision requisite to the case in hand.
It was a question here, not of an external miracle,
but of God's shining " in our hearts" — a thing, after
all, far more blessed than even the light of old which
answered the bidding of God to dispel the world's deep
gloom. If the enemy blinds the thoughts of the un
believing, grace shines in the believer's heart for the
shining forth of the knowledge of His glory in the face,
or person, of Christ. So had God operated in the
apostle's heart, not merely for his own enjoyment of
that heavenly light (though this primarily), but also
that it might shine on others, as a testimony to them
and for Christ. Grace thus identifies the two things,
as Christ gave Himself up " for us," an offering and
sacrifice " to God," for an odour of sweet savour. The
energy of the Holy Spirit alone can effect so mighty a
work in any heart, as it did most abundantly in him
for a pattern of those about to believe on Him to life
everlasting. So, when taken out from among the people
and the Gentiles, he could say that the Lord sent him
to the last, with a view to open their eyes, that they
might turn from darkness to light, and from the power
of Satan to God.
There is, therefore, in the gospel, as it reached the
apostle, a wondrous double action : not only an in-
shining of God in his own heart ; but this also with a
view to giving forth the light of the knowledge of God's
glory in Christ's face. If the law was addressed to a
people already formed, and in a definite relationship
with God, the gospel, especially as Paul knew and
preached it, went out to any, to all, to the lost. It
F

66 NOTES ON II CORINTHIANS.
was not requirement of man's duty, it was the commu
nication of the knowledge of God's glory, a glory which
shone in Christ's face, consequent on the infinite work
of redemption, whereby God could justify man in free
grace, instead of judging him for his iniquities. If
men are inexcusable who reject the gospel, no wonder
that the apostle should say, We preach such a Saviour,
blending as he does the glory of God with the salvation
of sinners. But that glory of God which is thus bound
up with salvation is seen not in the heavens, whatever
they may declare, but in the face of Jesus Christ. The
expanse shews His handy work ; the only-begotten
Son, who is in the bosom of the Father, He hath de
clared God Himself, the God whom no one has seen at
any time ; and so blessedly does He reveal the Father,
that, as He said Himself, he that had seen Him had
seen the Father.
Such then is the ministration of the Spirit and of right
eousness in Christ, the revelation of God's glory in
His face. This is the treasure which grace gives.
" But we have this treasure in earthenware vessels,
that the surpassingness of the power may be God's, and
not of us ; in everything being afflicted, yet not
straitened, sorely yet not utterly perplexed, persecuted
yet not forsaken, cast down yet not destroyed, always
bearing about in thef body the dying [or, putting to
death] of Jesus,* that the life also of Jesus may be

• Some three uncials, &c. add XP1"T0^ " Christ" as Text. Rec.
with two uncials and most cursives prefix Kvpiov u the Lord," but
the best suppurt the text followed here.
t Many authorities give " our."

CHAPTER IV. 67
maniiested in our body.* For we that live are ever
being delivered up unto death for Jesus' sake, that the
life also of Jesust may be manifested in our mortal
flesh." (Vers. 7-11.)
Thus does the apostle meet the natural thought of
men which the carnal mind among the Corinthians had
taken up against himself, to their loss and his grief.
In an apostle they had looked for a grand style of speech,
for lofty speculation and subtle argument, as well as a
dignified and attractive presence, backed up by such a
display of power as would overawe all the world.
They could not understand therefore that one who was
not a whit behind the chiefest apostles should be with
them in weakness and fear and much trembling ; and
that on principle he should forego every advantage
of intellectual ability and acquired learning, of all that
which is a matter of boast to the flesh ; nay more, that
he should glory in infirmities, and treat as his foolish
ness all reference to his devoted service and mighty deeds,
signs and wonders, with the vast and deep effects of
his preaching. He was indeed the most remarkable of
sufferers no less than of labourers ; but he insists that,
when he was weak, then was he strong. What he
gloried in was the Lord, and His strength made perfect
in weakness. Doubtless, as the apostle surpassed all
others in depth of heart and all-endurance for Christ
and the church and the gospel, so in this also, the most
abiding consciousness of weakness and insufficiency
keeping him in dependence on the Lord.

* K, &c, read odip-ao-iv " bodies."
t C gives xpimov " Christ" instead of "Jesus;" others srive both.

68 NOTES ON II CORINTHIANS.
Here he lays down the general principle. "We
have this treasure in earthenware vessels," and this
" that the snrpassingness of the power may be God's,
and not of us." The deposit was none the less pre
cious because laid up in the coarsest ware. The very
object is to make evident, by the contrast of man,
weak and fragile and suffering, that the power is God's.
On the one hand a revelation of grace and truth which
goes down into all depths of evil, and extricates so com
pletely as to put those who were once slaves of Satan
into the closest living association by the Spirit with
the Christ glorified in heaven ; on the other, the vessels
of this delivering power exposed not to an occasional
assault of the enemy, but kept up by God in the face of
constant pressure and excessive trial and extreme weak
ness, yet with blessing flowing out on every side : hard
pressed, but not straitened ; at a loss, but not abso
lutely bo ; pursued, but not abandoned ; struck down,
but not destroyed.
What was it then that the Spirit set before those who
thus held on their way ? What gave patience in a
path so strange to flesh and blood ? " Always bearing
about in the body the putting to death of Jesus, that
the life also of Jesus may be manifested in our body."
Such was the habitual oourse of the apostle himself.
He went about everywhere as one that realised Christ's
portion in the world, at all times applying death to the
body, keeping it down as dead. It is the power of the
cross applied to that which otherwise craves present
ease and enjoyment, in order " that the life also of
Jesus may be manifested in our body." For the be
liever lives of the very same life as the Saviour, in con-

CHAPTER rv. 69
trast with his old Adam life shared by all the race ; and
it is the activity of the natural life which hinders the
working and manifestation of the life of Jesus. Hence
the importance of ever applying by faith the putting to
death (veicpwoiv) of Jesus, in its moral power, to the
body, disallowing its energy by holding it for dead, that
the life of Jesus also may be shown out.
And as this is the constant bent of those who are
true to the cross practically, so God helps such souls in
fact by continuous exposure to sorrow and suffering,
difficulty, to danger, and death itself for Jesus' sake,
in order that the blessed end of manifesting the life of
Jesus may be the more effectuated. " For we that live
are ever being delivered up unto death for Jesus' sake,
that the life also of Jesus may be manifested in our
mortal flesh." A far weightier testimony, in such un
wearied and unceasing trial, to God's power with His
servant, than enduring a martyr's death through some
sudden outburst of the world's hatred, however blessed
and honourable such a death undoubtedly is.
Verse 12 is the conclusion of this part of the subject,
the service of Christ in divine love and self- abnegation
which works death to the servant as surely as life to the
saints he serves. This was true of the Master in the
fullest way ; it is verified in those who follow Him in
the labour of love, just so far as they are true to Him.
" So that* death worketh in us, but life in you. But
having the same spirit of faith, according to that which
is written, I believed, wherefore [alsojf I spoke : we

• ficv is not read by the best authorities.
t leaf "also" N FG, &c.

70 NOTES ON II CORINTHIANS.
also believe, wherefore also we speak ; knowing that he
that raised up the Lord* Jesus shall raise up us also
withf Jesus, and shall present [us] with you. For all
things [are] for your sakes, that the grace having
multiplied through the greater number might make the
thanksgiving abound unto the glory of God." (Vers.
12-15.) It is a total misapprehension of the opening words to
suppose that the least approach to a withering rebuke
lies hid here, as in 1 Corinthians iv. 8-14. Calvin and
others have thought so, but there is no real ground to
doubt that the apostle very simply states the present
effect of serving Christ when His mind and grace govern
in such a world and state as this. It is death to him
who in the work shares the affections and thoughts of
Christ. Continual exposure to trial, habitual experience
of grief, ridicule, detraction, opposition, enmity on the
one hand ; on the other, hopes, fears and disappoint
ments ; a never ceasing succession of all that can draw
out, and withal distress, the spirit cannot fail to do their
work in him who thus serves Christ and the saints for
His sake. But in the face of all, in spite of evil, and
in virtue of grace, the saints are helped, strengthened,
cleared, comforted, and blessed. " Death worketh in us,
and life in you." The apostle habitually toiling and
suffering was thoroughly content, and rejoiced in the
gain of others : if he was wearing away bodily, those
ministered to were being led on in what is imperishable.
The service of Christ truly carried out costs all here
* B, &c. omit niptov.
f abv 'I. K" ¦»¦ B C D E F G P, &c, &c, Sia 'I. a few uncials with
most cursives, &c.

CHAPTER IV. 71
below, but the blessing is commensurate even now ;
and what will be the result in glory ? Not only was
life in Christ given to those that believed, but it was fed,
exercised, and developed by ministrations of truth, of
which grace was the spring and character and power,
in presence of the deepest shame and pain and all cal
culated to dishearten, yet ever rising above the obstacles
and persevering, no matter what the weakness, not only
in view of death, but death working already.
But in Christ is the power of resurrection, now to
faith, by-and-by in fact, even as the Spirit of Christ
gave the Psalmist of old to sing in days of sorrow,
" But having the same spirit of faith, according to that
which is written, I believed, wherefore I spoke ; we
also believe, wherefore also we speak." No trial or
suffering, not death itself in view, can stop the be
liever's mouth : he confldes in God, and can speak out
and well of Him.
New Testament accomplishment also exceeds Old
Testament promise, for we can read all in the light of
Christ dead and risen. Such is our conscious know
ledge, before we too are raised and glorified. And
thus we are to be on a common principle with Jesus, in
contrast with the wicked who refuse to believe on Him,
and are only raised by divine power for judgment. It
is not so with the righteous or saints, who live of His
life, and have the Spirit of God dwelling in them since
redemption. They look to be changed at His coming,
to enjoy His glory and love in perfection of their state,
as now they do in His person. The resurrection of
those who fall asleep meanwhile is from among the
dead as His was. His resurrection declares that there

72 NOTES ON II CORINTHIANS.
is no judgment for the believer, as surely as it proclaims
its certainty for the world, as the apostle teaches in
Romans iv. 25, and Acts xvii. 81. But it is a mistake
to use Ephesians ii. 6, or Colossians ii. iii. 1, to illus
trate the critical reading avv " with" against the more
common Sta " by" or " through." For these epistles,
pre-eminently treating of our association with Christ,
insist that we are already dead and risen with Christ,
whilst our text speaks solely of the future. Perhaps
the nearest to it is 1 Thessalonians v. 10, where it is
taught that our Lord Jesus Christ died for us, that,
whether we wake or sleep, we should live together with
Him. It is in the one living the life of glory, as in
the other raising us in order to it.
And it is added that He " will present us with you."
All efforts of Meyer and others now, as of some in
former times, to lower the meaning to extrication from
dangers or difficulties, are vain. Here it is the presen
tation of all together in glory, whether the servants or
those served in grace, all being raised on a common
principle with their Master who is their life after dying
for them. What are present trials in comparison of
such a prospect ! How blessed that as nothing shall
be able to separate the saints from the love of God
which is in Christ, so God will have together in glory
those who on earth were exposed to all kinds of
divisive and destructive influence 1
" For all things [are] for your sakes, that the grace
having multiplied through the greater number might
make the thanksgiving abound unto the glory of God."
(Ver. 15.) ¦' What an answer in the apostle to the
affections of Christ 1 And certainly it was not in word

CHAPTER IV. 73
or feeling only, but in deeds and sufferings which proved
its reality and depth. It was endurance with joyfulness
in a love like its source for the saints of God. And he
looked for fruit accordingly, that if it fell to such as
himself to suffer in the service of the many, the grace
which so wrought might be the more diffused and
cause thanksgiving to go up from all that reaped
the blessing to the glory of God.
There are thus, along with the consciousness of utter
weakness and exposure, spiritual forces of the most
powerful kind, which sustain in the face of all trial
and suffering the faith of what God has already
wrought in Christ risen ; the hope of what He will do
for us who believe on Him ; and the love which bears
all for the blessing of those so precious to both the
Father and the Son.
" Wherefore we fail not ; but even if our outer man
is consuming, yet the inner is being renewed day by
day. For the momentary lightness of our affliction
worketh out for us in surpassing measure an eternal
weight of glory : while we have the eye not on the
things that are seen, but on those not seen, for the
things seen [are] temporary, but those not seen,
eternal." (Vers. 16-18.)
On such divine ground the apostle repudiates all
thoughts of succumbing, and declares for moving on
undauntedly. Enjoyment, ease, honour, are out of the
question as a present thing ; nay, pain, tribulation, de
traction, contempt, opposition, all that can wear away
the outer man are sure as the path of Christ is trodden.
But in all these things is the life of the Spirit. Grace
turns to our account by Christ, and this, even now, the

74 NOTES ON II CORINTHIANS.
things which seem most contrary to man's life in this
world. Be it that it perishes, yet the inner man is
renewed day by day. (Ver. 16.) It is not that the
saint becomes more meet for partaking of the inheritance
of the saints in light, for this rests on Christ and His
redemption ; but there is growth spiritually, a new
nature and sure judgment of things around us, there is
less value for what once attracted, and a more undi
vided deepening joy in the Lord and His objects here
as well as in heavenly things. The babe becomes not
a young man only, but a father. (1 John ii.) Christ is
more unwaveringly the attraction and the standard of
thought, feeling, conduct, everything ; while flesh and
world not only sink, but are judged unsparingly, as one
passes through all that would otherwise disappoint and
torture, now regarded with calm and even thanksgiving.
This is so true that the apostle does not hesitate to
designate so withering and pitiless a storm of trial,
ever repeating itself in fresh blows and continual grief,
as " the momentary lightness of our affliction." Yet who
ever beheld, yea conceived, such suffering, save in the
One with whom none can compare ? And His grace
it is that so works, and strengthens thus to reckon.
Lightness of affliction I in stripes above measure, in
prisons more frequent, in death often. But why recite
what no reader of feeling can have forgotten ?
Momentary 1 in him who scarce knew cessation of un
exampled perils, inflictions, and labours. Yet was he
full of good cheer. " For the momentary lightness of
our affliction worketh out for us in surpassing measure
an eternal weight of glory." (Ver. 17.) To this he
looked onward, reaping withal no small return of bless-

CHAPTER IV. 75
ing even now, and thus binding together what was
spiritual along the way with the end in the presence of
the Lord by-and-by, in words which labour for adequate
expression of the truth.
We must not lay unfounded stress on the " while"
which introduces the last verse in our tongue. It is
not here the expression of time emphatically, as if the
blessing were only going on during the soul's regard of
the things set before our faith, however important it
may be that our regard should go on unbrokenly. The
apostle says no more than that such is the due object
for our contemplation, our heed paid not to the things
that are seen, but to those that are not seen ; with the
explanation or reason assigned, " for the things that are
seen [are] temporary, but those that are not seen [are]
eternal." (Ver. 18.) Who does not own, save the
basest of sceptics, that deliverance from the present
and fleeting is true power ? Who feels as he ought
the simplicity with which Christ, as now revealed to
us, and revealing the unseen and eternal things, makes
good this mighty work in those who believe ? How ought
not the Christian to appreciate the gospel of His glory ?

CHAPTER V.
This leads the apostle to open out the power of life we
have in Christ, and its results. "For we know that if
our earthly tabernacle-house be dissolved, we have a
building from God, a house not made with hands,
everlasting in the heavens. For also in this we groan,
longing to clothe ourselves with our dwelling which is
from heaven, if indeed* also when clothed-f we shall
not be found naked." (Vers. 1-8.)
What calm and confident knowledge the apostle here
predicates of Christians as such 1 And what a contrast
with the dark uncertainty of unbelief, or with its im
pious audacity 1 The eternal things are none the less
sure in hope because they are not seen. For we know
that, if death destroy the earthly tent we live in, we
have a building of God. The body in its present state
he compares to a tabernacle to be taken down, in its
future to a building from God as the source, and to a
house not made with hands, and hence everlasting in the
heavens, its suited and purposed sphere for ever. As
we already heard, God who raised up the Lord Jesus
shall also raise up by Him those also who sleep, and
then present us all together faultless before the throne
of His glory : here details are entered into with clear-
* yt k CKLP and almost all cursives, and fathers; w*p
BDEFG, 17, 80, &c.
t int. is the strange error of D»-»- F G &c, contrary to all the
set.

CHAPTER V. 77
ness and discrimination. It is one of the few passages
which treat of the intermediate state, as well as of the
resurrection or change of the body for glory, and there
fore of the deepest interest to the faithful personally
and relatively. And in a few brief and plain words
adequate light is given, without the smallest indulgence
of irreverent curiosity, for all that concerns the family
of God after death as well as the change at Christ's
coming. One cannot conceive a communication more
worthy of God, or more characteristic of His word gene-
raly, while it bears the deep impress of His blessed
slrvant who was inspired to give it.
Of course theology is here little more than a Babel
of discordant tongues ; and even the more pious and
learned seem unable to answer with precision what is
meant by the building we have of God. Some will
have it that this house not made with hands is heaven
itself, but how then could it be said to be " in the
heavens ?" How could we be in this case said to be
clothed with our house or "dwelling which is from
heaven ?" The house and heaven itself are carefully
distinguished. Others again, with less error but with
an imperfect view of the passage as a whole, think
only of the resurrection body. But it does not follow
that the passage throws no light on the state of the
soul between death and the resurrection, or that it
treats solely of what is to happen after Christ's second
coming. The lowest and most mischievous of these interpre
tations is that of Olshausen and others who admire
petty philosophising,* and contend that the house
• It is false and anti-scriptural that " without body there is

78 NOTES ON II CORINTHIANS.
entered at death is an ethereal corporeity adapted to
the heavenly condition of the soul, either intermediate
between death and the resurrection, or (as bolder
spirits say) to the exclusion of the body which is not
to be resuscitated and changed. The intermediate and
glorified vehicle of the soul is directly at issue with the
plain and decisive language of this very passage. The
house is described not only as in the heavens, but as
" everlasting." Scripture shuts out therefore all notion
of a temporary body, for the soul in heaven before the
resurrection of the body we now have. And a man
must be a sceptical Sadducee who denies that He who
raised up Christ from the dead shall also quicken our
mortal bodies by (or, by reason of) His Spirit that
dwelleth in us. (Rom. viii. 11.) There is intermediate
blessedness for the believer apart from his body with
Christ on high ; but the resurrection from the dead
awaits His coming.
In opposition to the true bearing it is argued (1)
that heaven is often in scripture compared to a house
in which there are many mansions (John xiv. 2) ; or to
a city in which there are many houses (Heb. xi. 10, 14 ;
xiii. 14 ; Rev. xxi. 10) ; or more generally to everlasting
habitations. (Luke xvi. 9.) But we have already seen
that, whatever be the figures used of the portion of the
no soul," that " the continuance of the soul as a pure spirit
without a body is to the apostle an impossibility: the doctrine
of the soul's immortality is like the term, strange to the Bible.
And no wonder, a self-consciousness in a created being neces
sarily supposes the limit of a bodily organisation." This denies
angel and spirit reallv s>= well as what scripture teaches of the
separated soul.

CHAPTER V. 79
glorified saints in other scriptures, the house in this
passage cannot mean heaven, because it is said here to
be from heaven and in the heavens.
2. Whatever the reasoning to shew that, as the soul
now dwells in the body, heaven will be its house after
death, it is inconsistent with the thoughts and language
of the context.
3. Again, the effort to press that the discipline given
here of the house agrees with that of heaven elsewhere
is vain, if it were only because the state on which the
soul enters after death is so far from " everlasting," that
the change we await is at Christ's coming. The body
is not in. heaven now, nor is it said to be brought down
to us from heaven ; but Christ is there and is coming
thence when we shall have in power and actuality
what we have now in faith,
4. And this is the true force of ixo/iev, not in the
least as conveying that the house is one on which wo
enter immediately after death, but its certainty to faith.
That it is synchronous with death is mere assumption,
and would involve the idea, not of heaven, but of a
new vehicle for the soul which we have already seen to
be wholly inconsistent with this passage and all truth.
Hence it is not said that when our tent-house, or the
body is dissolved, but if it should be. This leaves it
equally open when, as now, the building from God is
entered, and only declares the certainty that such a
house of permanence we have. The present in Greek,
as in other languages and our own, is frequently used
(when required) to express, not merely actual time, bat
a truth apart from time in its abstract character at
certainty. This must be, from what we have observed,

80 VOTES ON II CORINTHIANS.
its force here. To give it the meaning of actual fact
now going on introduces nothing but confusion and
error. What the apostle expresses is certainty of pos
session. He speaks of incomparably better habitations,
supposing the dissolution of the present; but the time
and way of entering on it had to be learnt from other
scriptures. He does speak of being absent from the
body and present with the Lord a little farther on, but
neither of being in a new body while absent from the
body, nor of heaven being like a body meanwhile,
which seems, if possible, more absurd, as both thoughts
are alike baseless. Matthew xxii. 32 speaks only of
the resurrection. Luke xx. 38 adds that the souls of
the deceased live to God, though away from men,
before they rise. Nor is there any doubt, if we believe
Luke xvi. ; xxii. ; 2 Corinthians v. ; and Philippians i.,
that it is far better with the departed saints, and that
they are in paradise, the brightest part of heaven, with
Christ. (Cf. Heb. xii. 23.)
If death come, the resurrection body, already fully
described in 1 Corinthians xv., is sure, in all its contrast
with tent or any other building of time or of this crea
tion, crumbling to ruin as it is. And the blessedness
of what we thus have in hope is such that only the
more do "we groan in this, longing to have put on our
house which is from heaven, if indeed also when
clothed we shall not be found naked." (Vers. 2, 3.)
That is, ttte brightness of the life he now had in Christ
was so hindered by the body as it is that he could but
groan in his ardent desires after the glorified condition
with which Christ will invest him. It is the groaning
not of a disappointed sinner nor of an undelivered

CHAPTER V. 81
saint, but of those who, assured of life and victory in
Christ, feel the wretched contrast of the present with
the glory in prospect. Only he adds the cautious pro
viso, that is, supposing we are really Christ's. The
anxiety expressed more plainly at the close of 1 Corin
thians ix. is not quite gone from the beginning of
2 Corinthians v.
Hence one must reject every attempt to tamper with
the conditional rendering of verse 3. The ordinary
text ei 76 (or elfye) has excellent support, not only in
the vast majority of the manuscripts, but in the an
tiquity and goodness of some, as the Sinaitic, Rescript
of Paris, and others ; and this is adhered to by most
critics. But Lachmann and Tregelles prefer etirep with
the Vatican, Cambridge, and a few other authorities.
But the alleged distinction (of Hermann's notes on Viger)
is unfounded in the New Testament, as elsewhere also.
It has been even remarked by one of remarkable pene
tration that the converse is true, and that the true dif
ference is : flxi-p puts the case that a thing is ; efye
the possibility that it is not. E" 7e, says J. B. Lightfoot,
leaves a loophole for doubt ; e&-ep is, if anything, more
directly affirmative than e? ?/e. Assuredly this seems
rather confirmed by their distinctive origin, for as irep is
intensive, 7« is restrictive. But the usage appears to
indicate that the context must be taken into considera
tion in order to decide the true bearing. So Meyer and
EUicott confess that it is the sentence, and not the par
ticle, which determines the rectitude of the assumption.
It is utterly false that, either in or out of the New
Testament, efye as a matter of course means " since"
any more than efa-ep always expresses doubt. a

82 NOTES ON n CORINTHIANS.
The various reading iicSvadfievoi, " unclothed," in
the Clermont, Augian, and Boernerian manuscripts, &c,
accepted by many fathers and even by a few critics, is
a mere effort to get rid of difficulty. The sense may
be plainer, but it is worthless. The true reading
evSvaa/ievoi is most pertinent and forcible, unless in
deed we translate eft/e " since," which reduces the
clause to a platitude : " since when clothed we shall
not be found naked," or " seeing that we shall verily
be found clothed, not naked," which is a poor tautology
unworthy of scripture, and as far from Pauline as pos
sible. Translate it, " if at least, even when clothed, we
shall be found not naked," and the propriety is as great
as its strength. For the solemn fact is, that there is a
resurrection of unjust no less than just. All therefore
are to be clothed. An hour is coming when all that
are in the tombs shall hear the voice of the Son, and
shall go forth, those that have praotised good to a re
surrection of life, and those that have done evil to a
resurrection of judgment. The resurrection of the
body for all will be the clothing of all, though not of
all at the same time nor with like result, but with the
most marked contrasts and unchanging issues. For
when the wicked are raised, they may and shall be
clothed indeed, but shall be found naked. They have
not the wedding robe, they have no righteousness be
fore God ; they rejected, despised, or did without Christ •
they have nothing but sins, and cannot escape everlast
ing judgment. Whilst in the body here, they might
pass muster ; when clothed with the resurrection body
(for all must rise), those who here lived and died without
Christ will be found naked. The apostle therefore

OHAPTEB V. 88
solemnly warns, in this passage of the riehest comfort
for the true, that some might prove false. The ever
lasting and heavenly glory will be for us at the resur
rection, if at least when clothed we shall be found not
naked : a seeming paradox, but not more startling than
true. Blessed they, and they only, who now have and
have put on Christ.
The words " clothed" or " unclothed" refer to the
being in or out of the body ; " naked" to being desti
tute of Christ. This distinction was overlooked by
Calvin, as it has been by others since. They conceive
that the idea was to restrict the clothing to the right
eous ; and hence that the wicked are, stript of their
bodies, to appear naked before God ; whereas believers,
elothed with Christ's righteousness, are to be invested
with a glorious nature of immortality. Had it been
observed that " not naked" alone refers to the putting
on Christ now with its everlasting consequences, the con
fusion would have been avoided. The apostle speaks
of the common portion we have in Christ (in presence
of death, as by-and-by of the judgment-seat), of the
triumph assured in His life who died but is risen and
alive again for evermore ; but this in no way hinders
a passing and grave caution to such as might boast of
gifts without grace or conscience.
Other speculations, such as of Grotius, are hardly
worth a notice ; and that of Meyer followed by Alford ("if,
as is certain, we in fact shall be found clothed, not
naked") demands no more words, having been disposed
of already. Nor need we discuss at greater length
Hodge's attempt from the same rendering to sustain
his notion that the apostle here refers not to the risen

84 NOTES ON II CORINTHIANS.
body but to a mansion in heaven. The simple but
profound truth of God delivers from every mist of
error. Having given so solemn a word of warning for con
science, the apostle returns to the groaning and the long
ing spoken of in verse 2 in order to clear the truth
more fully.
" For also We that are in the* tabernacle groan,
being burdened, becausef we desire not to be unclothed
but clothed upon, that what is mortal should be swal
lowed up of life. Now he that wrought^ us for this
very thing [is] God, that gave§ us the earnest of the
Spirit." (Vers. 4, 5.)
The true knowledge of the living possession of
Christ, far from neutralising one's sense of the groan
ing creation, deeply increases it. Peace and joy in
believing there is most really and to the full ; but it is
in Him who suffered here and is glorified above the
sorrow and death that He tasted and the sins which He
bore in His own body on the tree. Our body is the
tabernacle in which we are, a part itself of the creation
made subject to vanity ; and we who are in it groan
under the oppressive sense of its utter ruin, not because
we are not delivered in Christ, but the rather because
we are and feel deeply therefore what is under the
bondage of corruption. We know that deliverance is
* D E F G, &c, with many versions and fathers read roirrtp
" this," contrary to H B C K L P and the great majority.
t iveiSii St. (not Elz.) with a few juniors.
t DBFG &c, KarepyagSpievos " worketh."
| Kai is added by some uncials and most cursives, contrary to the
best authorities.

CHAPTER V. 85
at hand, not merely for our body but for all that is now
travailing in pain, and that Christ will have the glory,
as all creation will have the joy in that day.
Difficulties have been made about the phrase, which
opens the next clause ; but it seems rather needlessly,
for 10' w, the true reading, is not uncommon in our
apostle, whose use of it quite falls in with its regular
application in all correct Greek to express the condition,
or occasion, under which a thing or person is characte
rised, and maybe rendered "for," "seeing," "in that,"
or " because" — qualifying what precedes. Compare
Romans v. 12, Philippians iii. . 12, iv. 10, with the
clause before us, in all of which may be found a like
sense substantially, though modified by a different con
text. " Wherefore," or " in which," seems as feeble as
misleading. The fact is that it is but a special case of
its general sense as the ground, condition, or occasion
of anything — the term on which a thing is based.
Here the apostle qualifies our burdened groaning in
the tabernacle, as no selfish desire to escape trial,
however aggravated. Yet no man experienced this so
deeply, variously, or unremittingly as himself; none
therefore was so exposed to wish that such a path
should be closed by departure to be with the Lord.
But this he depreoates for the saints as well as himself,
not for that we wish to be unclothed but clothed upon,
that what is mortal should be swallowed up by life.
He is contrasting the power of hfe in Christ at His
coming with going to Him in the separate state. No
doubt this is better, far better, for us than abiding here
in sorrow and suffering. But the apostle thought of
Christ's glory in this scripture, as of the need of souls

86 NOTES ON II CORINTHIANS.
in Philippians i. Hence in the latter he lesognised
the value of his staying for their help, and that so it
would be. Here he expresses the exceeding blessed
ness of bringing the body under the power of that life
which he already knew for his inner man in Christ.
Nothing less than this therefore could satisfy him.
To be " unclothed" is to be rid of the body by death
when the believer goes to be with Christ. But this is
expressly what he did not wish, however blessed in
itself, for the very reason that the blessing was only
for himself in His presence. What he desired was
fresh glory to Christ when He comes ; for then and only
then is the believer " clothed upon." He resumes the
body then, no longer like the first Adam, but like the
Last, once having borne the image of the earthy, thence
forward bearing that of the Heavenly. We will have
put on our house which is from heaven, according to
our longing desire. For it is not even necessary to be
" unclothed," that is, to put off the body by dying. All
turns on the coming of Christ who is our life in all its
fulness. If He tarry and call us meanwhile to be with
Him, we shall of course be " unclothed ;" but if He
come while we wait for Him here, we shall be " clothed"
upon without the putting off of our tabernacle. For from
the heavens we await Him as Saviour, who shall trans
form our body of humiliation into conformity to His
body of glory according to the power which He has even
to subdue all things to Himself. We shall not all sleep,
bat we shall all be changed in an instant, in the
twinkling of an eye, at the last trump ; for the trumpet
shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible,
and we shall be changed. Hence it is said here " that

CHAPTHB V. 87
what is mortal shall be swallowed np by life," not
merely raised up out of death, but the mortal in us
yielding to the superior and all-transforming power of
the life in Christ, the body no longer as it was in Adam,
but as in the Second man coming again from heaven.
The New Testament apostle goes considerably and
characteristically beyond the Old Testament prophet,
though both statements be true and one writer be in
spired as really as the other. Yet the truth is not quite
the same ; for Isaiah speaks of Jehovah swallowing up
" death" in victory [or, for ever], and this will be veri
fied ex abundanti at Christ's coming, when there will be
not only the raising of the dead in Christ but the arrest
of mortality in the living saints, or, as it is here figura
tively designated, the swallowing up of what is mortal
by life. Even such a resurrection of the faithful
would be a manifest triumph of gracious power over
utter ruin : how much more that mortality should never
work out into death, but be absorbed by the all con
quering power of hfe in Christ I
Nor does the apostle allow the smallest uncertainty
in the hope before the believer ; nay, he affirms an
actual and divine pledge which cannot fail. "Now he
that wrought us for this very thing [is] God that gave us
the earnest of the Spirit." (Ver. 5.) How blessed to have
come under the operation of His grace, even while here
we groan in the tabernacle I But so it is. We have life
in Christ, yea, everlasting life, and everlasting redemp
tion. God, who cannot fail, does not begin to leave
His work an unfinished thing; He that wrought us
for this very thing, the swallowing up of the mortal by
the life which triumphs for ever, the self-same portion

88 NOTES ON II CORINTHIANS.
as Christ, is God, as indeed He only would have thought
of it or could have so wrought ; nor this only, for He
gave us the earnest of the Spirit that we might taste
the joy of coming glory, having its pledge even in our
utter weakness. It is not the " anointing" us here as
elsewhere, which has a larger force, not yet the " seal
ing" us, but that aspect of the Spirit given to us which
is in relation to Christ's coming again, and our entering
on the inheritance with Him. It is " the earnest of the
Spirit" given in our hearts, that we might not rest
here, vainly contenting ourselves with what is present,
or groaning without a divine taste of that which we
shall share with Christ, as even hope maketh not
ashamed, because the love of God is shed abroad in
our hearts by the Holy Ghost that was given to us.
It is instructive to notice how the coming of the
Lord is not only urged continually in the scriptures as
the constant and proximate expectation of the saints,
but underlies all and accounts for much even where not
a word is said about it directly or openly as here. It is
the failure of the divines, and even of commentators,
in perceiving this which has exposed them to such
poverty (if not perversity) of interpretation in speak
ing of this momentous passage, which ought not to pre
sent a difficulty to a single believer, but to be the cheer
of every christian heart, as evidently intended of God.
Had the coming of the Lord been a practical truth
living in the souls of good men like Dr. John Guyse
and the mass of even orthodox and godly Protestants,
could they have applied these words to that which is
immediately after their death, merely allowing that, as
the happiness of the soul in heaven will be followed

CHAPTER V. 89
and completed by the resurrection of the body, the
apostle might also have that in his ultimate view ? No,
it is not true, (whatever the happiness of the separate
state with Christ, of which we shall hear anon,) that he
is here treating of " the transcendent undefiled feli
cities of an immortal life, which the soul shall enter
upon as soon as ever it is separated from the body,"
but of the resurrection or change when Christ comes.
Of this theology stops short ; and hardly any other
cause has produced wider or deeper effects on saints in
Christendom than such habitual and systematic forget-
fulness of our proper hope. On the other hand, no
thing has contributed more than its recovery to awaken
the faithful by self-judgment to their past low estate
and their true posture of waiting for the Lord, yea,
going out to meet Him, according to His own parabolic
prediction. Such then is the power of hfe in Christ which we
possess now. We look for glory even for the body if
it were dissolved, for mortality to vanish before it if
Christ came, without any need of death, which was
already vanquished. God has wrought us for this very
thing, the same glory as Christ, and meanwhile has
given us the earnest of the Spirit.
" Therefore being always confident, and knowing
that, while present in the body, we are absent from the
Lord (for we walk by faith, not by appearance [or,
sight] ), we are confident and well pleased rather to be
absent from the body and to be present with the Lord.
Wherefore also we are zealous that, whether present or
absent, we may be agreeable to him." (Vers. 6-9.)
The good courage of the Christian is unbroken by

90 NOTES ON II CORINTHIANS.
death, though he looks not for death as a man does.
His confidence is founded on Christ, he knows God for
him, and he has the Spirit as earnest of all he hopes
for. All things are sure, and among them life or death :
but Christ governs all, and we are Christ's, and Christ
is God's. Neither death nor life nor any other crea
ture shall be able to separate as from the love of God
which is in Christ Jesus our Lord. We are courageous
then at all times, whatever the way of God with as
meanwhile, and know that, while at home in the body,
we are abroad from the Lord. This is not oar rest, it
is polluted. He is not here but risen and in glory, and
our hearts are with Him where He is, and we look for
Him to be like Him as well as with Him. But this ia
not all. We know that, while sojourning in the body
as now, we are away from the Lord. This is neither
the ground of our confidence, as Calvin most strangely
misconceived,1*1 nor is it an exception to it as Romanists
and Rationalists have thought. It accompanies oar
good oheer and falls in with it as a part of our christian
knowledge, and it accounts for our readiness of mind
to quit the body when summoned, and to go home with
the Lord. The connection of eiWes is both gram
matically and logically with tvSoKov/tev, though after
wards resumed in another shape.
The wisdom of God is apparent in this. For hen
we have one of the few scriptures which give as the
* Thus he writes (Comm. In loco, ed. A. Tholuck, Halls Sax., 1
469), " Copula quae mox seqnitnr, resolvi debet in cansalem particu-
lam, hoc modo : Bono animo sumus quia scimus nos peregrihari a
eorpore, etc. Nam haeo eognitio nostrae tranqnillitatU et fiduciu
causa est."

CHAPTER V. 91
light of God on the intermediate state of the Christian :
and it is of great moment that the immense blessed
ness of the final victory should not eloud that state
of bliss which intervenes.
There is on the one hand no excuse for the unbelief
which makes everything of going to be with Christ
after death and stops short of the only adequate answer
in our resurrection and change at Christ's coming by the
power of His resurrection. But on the other it is a
real slight of God's grace and of Christ's redemption
to darken the condition of the disembodied soul in
order to heighten the splendour of the resurrection
morn. It is not true that the apostle when looking to
the dissolution of his earthly tabernacle was comforted
only by the building of God not made with hands,
eternal in the heavens; for in this very context he
shews that we choose rather to be absent from the
body and present with the Lord. And in fact inability
to look at death or Satan in the face is a proof of weak
ness, not strength, of faith. The apostle does exactly
the right thing in the Holy Ghost : for while he does
present in the forefront the full triumph of life in
Christ, he does not misrepresent departure to be with
Him as bare and ghastly, or the state as airy, shadowy,
or fantastical. It is of course unworldly, bat not
therefore inert ; for it is to be with Christ which is far
better than remaining in the flesh, though far short of
the triumph we shall share when He comes. Never
does the apostle treat it as sepulchral gloom and pale
moonlight, which is the mere depreciation of the human
spirit vexed with the perversity of such as blot the
glorious hope of resurrection from their Bibles. Again,

92 NOTES ON II CORINTHIANS.
leaving out Christ, death is a parting, not a meeting }
but is it a sorrowful parting if we go to be with Him in
paradise ? No doubt it is not our one hope ; but is it
then the cheerless parting, the sorrow without hope,
which unbelief makes it ? Such exaggeration is mis
chievous, most of all in those who call on the saints to
wait for Christ's coming ; for what is false in their
statements acts powerfully to discredit what is true,
and thus to hinder souls instead of helping them. The
balance of truth is lost, and such as on scripture
warrant look for the blessedness of those with Christ
who fall asleep are stumbled by the doubt cast on it
and indisposed to receive what may be doubtless truly
said of the triumphant result of His coming.
As death then will own itself vanquished in every
saint, yea, mortality itself in the living saints be swal
lowed up of life when Christ comes, so even now
death itself in no way hinders the saint from enjoying
the presence of the Lord. Both truths are clearly re
vealed here and in this order. They are due to Him
and the redemption He has accomplished for us ; they
are of the utmost moment for the heart of every saint.
It is ignorance to overlook either ; it is of the enemy
to misuse one to destroy or enfeeble the other.
The parenthetic verse 7 has given much trouble to
scholars, though the general sense is plain enough. But
*7&og in the New Testament, as in ordinary Greek
authors, seems rarely if ever used like o^-ts for sight,
but for " appearance" (as in Luke ix. 29), or "form"
(as in Luke iii. 22 ; John v. 82, as also derivatively in
an ethical sense in 1 Thess. v. 22). Every intelligent
reader of Plato and Aristotle knows its philosophic

CHAPTER V. 93
bearing as modified by their respective theories. Bat
" species," or " sort," or " form," cannot be meant
here. We are shut up therefore by New Testament
usage to the alternative " appearance," unless we admit
the sense of " sight" with our authorised translators,
though its occurrence in this subjective meaning seems
doubtful in any author, sacred- or profane. The sub
stantial meaning however amounts to the same. We
walk by faith, not by appearance, being absent from
the Lord and heaven. If we look at the unseen and
eternal, it is by faith, not on the things or persons
themselves, as we shall when actually there.
Hence the apostle sums up with a somewhat irregu
lar but all the more forcible emphasis, Sd being used
like our " well," or " why," or " nay." " We are confi
dent and well pleased rather to be absent from the
body and present with the Lord." (Ver. 8.) Granted,
that it is a state imperfect for man, and short of the
glorious consummation according to the counsels of
God. But grace has intervened even now ; and as the
God who spake light to shine out of darkness, shone in
our hearts here below for the shining forth of the
knowledge of His glory in the face of Jesus Christ, so
our departure is, if we value His presence, incompar
able accession of enjoyment. For we go to no abode
of dimness unworthy of Him and His blood, but to the
brightest realms of heaven where He is in everlasting
joy and glory. The Lord Jesus receives our spirits ;
as it is to be with Him. No wonder we are pleased
rather to go from oar home in the body, and to come
to our home with the Lord.
" Wherefore also we are zealous, whether present or

94 NOTES ON II CORINTHIANS.
absent, to be agreeable to him." (Ver. 9.) The com
mon version conveys an utterly misleading idea, which
if fully received would destroy the gospel; and the
more so as <pi\,orif*otfieOa is rendered " we labour" or
" endeavour," and etdpetrrot " accepted," to the danger
of insinuating salvation by works in the most bare
faced manner. Already accepted in the Beloved (Eph. i.)
we aspire — it is our zealous aim — to serve Him well,
whether present or absent. This is in His hands, and
our confidence either way is unbroken ; but our ambi
tion, if we have any in the Holy Ghost, is to be
agreeable to Him. As His favour is better than life,
so would we devote ourselves to His pleasure who
delights only in what is good, holy, true, lowly and
loving. The apostle now introduces the very solemn consi
deration, not exactly of judgment, but of the judgment-
seat of Christ. Judgment of course is included, bat
the judgment-seat embraces more, as we shall see.
" For we must all be manifested before the judgment-
seat of Christ, that each may receive the things [done]
in [literally, by] the body according to what he did,
whether good or evil. Knowing therefore the terror of
the Lord we persuade men ; but we have been mani
fested to God, and I hope also to have been manifested
in your consciences." (Vers. 10, 11.)
Grace is not at variance with righteousness, but on
the contrary reigns through righteousness unto eternal
hfe by Jesus Christ our Lord. Nor can any truth be
more indisputable or universally applicable than the
manifestation of every man, saint or sinner, before the
Lord. There is the utmost precision in the language

v CHAPTER V. 96
as always in scripture. Never is it written that we
must all be judged. Indeed this would contradict the
clear declaration of our Lord in John v. that the be
liever has eternal life and does not come into judgment
(eh Kplatv obtc epx"7"). It is appointed unto men
once to die, but after this the judgment ; whereas we,
believers, are not all to die, bat all to be changed : in
fact, none of us alive when Christ comes shall fall
asleep but be clothed upon with our house which is
from heaven without passing through death, mortality
being swallowed up of Life. Bat if no believers shall
be judged, all must be manifested, saint no less than
sinner, that each may receive the things [done] by the
body (or, as the Authorised Version says, done in it),
according to what he did, whether good or bad.
Hence it may be noticed that the form of the phrase
favours the universality of the manifestation. In
2 Corinthians iii. 18, where no more is meant than all of
as Christians, it is yfuit Si ravne, whereas here it is
rovs <yap ravTat f//iac, which lays greater stress on the
totality, and makes it thus absolute. Accordingly the
language suits the aim of comprehending Christians
within an area which has no exception.
So again it is not a question of rewarding service as
in 1 Corinthians iii. 8, 14, but of retribution in the
righteous government of God according to what each
did whether good or bad. This covers all, just or on-
just. It is for the divine glory that every work done
by man should appear as it really is before Him who is
ordained by God Judge of living and dead. Only as
the believer is by grace exempted from judgment botfe
as a partaker of everlasting life and as having in Jesus

96 NOTES ON H CORINTHIANS.
a perfectly efficacious Saviour, his standing before the
judgment-seat assumes the character of manifestation,
and in no way of a trial with the awful possibility of
destruction. There is not the smallest compromise of
the salvation he now enjoys by faith ; and he is ac
cordingly glorified before he stands there. He will
give account of himself to God and be manifested ; but
there is no condemnation depending on the issue then,
as there is none now to those that are in Christ. This
may not be reasonable in man's eyes, but it suits the
God of all grace and is due to the glory and suffering
of the Son of God, and harmonises with the testimony
of the Holy Spirit, whose seal will not be broken or
dishonoured in that day. And as it is for God's glory,
so it is for the perfect blessing of the believer that
everything should stand out in the light and he himself
should know even as he is known.
Nothing will blind the eye then, no unsuspected mo
tive warp the heart or mind before the judgment-seat of
Christ. The meroiful care, the overruling power, of
God in all our ways will appear in their astonishing
wisdom and goodness, no longer concealed by the mists
of this life. We shall know perfectly what debtors we
were to grace, and the resources and activity of that
g e in our chequered history and experience even as
sawcs, and the boundless patience of God to the last,
as well as His rich mercy at the first. Even now what
a comfort for as to have renounced the dishonesty of
the natural heart, to judge ourselves unsparingly in
presence of love that never fails, to be in the light of
God, and have no guile in our spirit as those who know
Him who by redemption can and will impute nothing

CHAPTER V. 97
to us I And this is true to faith now that we believe in
Him who suffered once for us that He might bring us
to God : not a cloud above, not a spot within. The
blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanses us from
all sin. Perfect love casts out fear. We love Him
who first loved us, and shirk not but welcome the
light which makes everything manifest. " We have
been — we are — manifested to God." It is the mighty
and abiding effect of Christ's work, which made us
meet for sharing the inheritance of the saints in light.
We no longer walk in darkness as once when we had on
true knowledge of God ; we walk in the light as He is
in the light.
Yet are there times when what is always true in
principle is applied powerfully in fact to the Christian
whom God gives in quiet retirement, often in a sick
chamber, to review his ways and examine himself alone
with God, when energy or self-love or flattery do not
enfeeble a holy self-judgment ; and all the more deeply,
as he firmly holds to the assurance of God's change
less favour. What is thus verified in a high degree by
the way will be complete and perfect at that day, when
we already caught up and glorified in the body shall be
manifested before the judgment-seat without a trace of
the shame that either hides or with pain confesses. It
is great gain to have such times on earth, though the
process be but imperfect, greater still the more it ap
proaches an habitual state. How full the blessing
when all is absolutely out in love and light with
Christ I
But, as we have seen, the manifestation has an end
here described, that each may receive the things [done]
i?

98 NOTES ON II CORINTHIANS.
in [or, by] the body, good or bad. Even in the saints
all had not been good ; and all has its result, though
not to jeopard the grace that saved by Christ. But as
God is not unrighteous to forget the work of faith and
labour of love, so failure and wrong entail loss ; and
the soul itself will in full intelligence and unmurmur
ing adoration bow and bless Him who orders the place
of each in the kingdom, and who (while never aban
doning His own sovereignty) will take note of the
greater or less fidelity and devotedness of each in
service or ways.
Thus will God be vindicated, displayed and enjoyed
in all that He is and does ; and thus will the saint have
perfect communion with all, in not a single detail any
more than as a whole missing the joy and blessedness
of what He is to all His own and to each for ever.
But the manifestation of the wicked, as it will be at
a considerably later time, so it will have a wholly dif
ferent character and effect. The judgment-seat in this
case will be the judgment of the great white throne
after the reign of the thousand years, as for the righteous
it will be before that, when the dead small and great are
(not manifested only but) judged each according to
their works. (Rev. xx.) They refused the Saviour ;
they stood in their own righteousness or were indif
ferent about the lack of it, thinking nothing of God or
counting Him like themselves. They had no life, as no
faith, in Christ ; they rise to a resurrection not of life
but of judgment, for God will judge all who believe
not by Him whom they despised. And if the righteous
be saved with difficulty, with a difficulty which nothing
but sovereign graoe in Christ could surmount, where

CHAPTER V. 9tf
shall the ungodly and sinner appear? It is eternal
judgment dealing with evil, and the issues are as sure
as awful and endless.
" Knowing therefore the terror of the Lord we per
suade men ; but we have been manifested to God, and
I hope also to have been manifested in your con
sciences." (Ver. 11.)
The language here again confirms and necessitates
the universality of the manifestation already noticed.
For as there is no reason to soften down " the terror
of the Lord," so there seems no force in our persuad
ing men if it does not mean the heart of the saint
urged in love by the tremendous sense of divine judg
ment impending on the heedless yet guilty sinner.
How deep and loud and constant the call for those who
believe to arouse those who believe not, while the day
of grace lingers, that they may not unwarned brave
that judgment which will be their irremediable ruin —
to " persuade men" on the one hand of the wickedness,
the folly, and the danger of sin ; on the other of the real
ity and freeness, of the fulness and certainty, of salva
tion in Christ. Fearing always ourselves, no less than
knowing His love, we realise for them what unbelief
easily forgets till too late, and would be therefore the
more in earnest to call to repentance in the light of the
gospel of God's grace. And in this we are the more
free, because we have been and are manifested to God.
Our guilt is gone ; we are justified, and are children of
light, though once darkness — light in the Lord. Hence
we speak what we know and press a remedy, a deliver-
ance, we have proved. We are already manifested to
God ; so that the manifestation before the judgment,

100 NOTES ON II CORINTHIANS.
let it be ever so profound or minute, awakens no alarm
for onr selves but anxiety for " men," for all in their
natural state, who have not Christ. " Knowing there
fore the terror of the Lord we persuade men ; but we
have been manifested to God; and I hope also to
have been manifested in your consciences." A most
pressing motive was that judgment-seat, with the terror
of the Lord for men, to preach the gospel far and wide ;
and the more because consciously before God, as he
humbly but not without a reproof adds, " and I hope
also to have been manifested in your consciences." Of
the former he was sure and speaks absolutely ; of the
other he could only say " I hope also," not because it
ought to have been doubtful, but because their state
was not all he could desire. And a state that is not
good is apt to suspect evil in those who reprove it.
The Corinthian saints, though in a measure restored
and restoring, had not dealt with the apostle as became
them. Love ought always to be able to count on
love ; but he had to say of them that, the more abund
antly he loved them, the less he was loved.
The apostle felt, as we have seen, that he could appeal
to their consciences, now that self-judgment was begun
in the Corinthians. We have been and are manifested
to God ; and I hope also to have been manifested in your
consciences. This might have seemed, to ill-disposed
men, savouring of self-complacency. It is really what
every saint walking in the truth with integrity of heart
is entitled to say, whatever an enemy might insinuate :
a blessed state and statement doubtless ; but what does
not grace give to and effect in the Christian? And
when strife and party-feeling are rebuked and hashed,

CHAPTER V. 101
conscience cannot but approve what is of God, even in
those most defamed like the apostle. In this confidence
of love he had written, and quickly guards the sheep
Irom any misleading shaft ; and this for their sakes
rather than his own. A calumny indeed injures not the
assailed, but those who are influenced by it.
" For we are not again commending ourselves to you,
but giving you occasion to boast on our behalf, that ye
may have [it] with those boasting in face and not in
heart. For whether we are beside ourselves, [it is] to
God ; or are sober, [it is] for you. For the love of
Christ constraineth us, having judged this, that if*
one died for all, then the all were dead [or, died] ; and
he died for all, that those who live should no longer
live to themselves, but to him who for them died and
rose." (Vers. 12-15.)
Nothing can be conceived more admirably than the
apostle's delicacy, as far from indifference to the saints
as from lording it over them, and equally far from the
arts of those who, while ingratiating themselves with
the Corinthian assembly, in order to exalt their own
reputation and lower the apostle, were blinded by the
enemy to attribute to him their own unscrupulous
ways. He loved the saints with an unsullied conscience
and an unselfish heart, and he counted on their confi
dence, now that grace had begun to work restoratively.
As he did not seek to commend himself by what he
said of his ministry, so neither did he again by appeal-
* The mass of authority and of the highest character omits «f
"if," which Text. Rec. has with Kcor" C, &c. Vulg., Cop. and
Arm. and many fathers.- It seems a mere slip to omit it, because
Of the th following.

102 NOTES ON II CORINTHIANS.
ing to their consciences as to his ways. He was but af
fording them occasion for boast, as he says, " on our
behalf, that ye may have [it] with those that boast in face
[or person], and not in heart." (Ver. 12.) For, on the
one hand, holiness and truth go together, care for
God's glory, and love of His children ; and, on the
other, those who however fair in his presence aimed
at undermining the apostle, were serving not the Master
but their own belly.
But was he not inconsistent and capricious, at one
time so ecstatic that none could follow his transports, at
another so sedate as to chill his brethren and abridge their
liberty ? Not so ; " For whether we are* beside our
selves, [it is] to God ; or are sober, [it is] for you."
(Ver. 18.) Cold is the heart that knows no rapture
before God as one thinks of His grace in Christ. Such
certainly was not St. Paul's case, as we may see in
many a doxology which interrupts a chain of closest
reasoning, and yet more when the love of Christ or the
counsels of God are before his eyes. But the same
Paul can come down to the most ordinary questions of
daily walk, can regulate the relations of husband and
wife, or of master and slave, can prescribe for a weakly
man, and check a woman's taste for dress. There is
one name, and but one, which draws out and accounts
for both feelings, raising the heart above all that is seen
and temporal, yet giving the most lively interest in the
smallest detail of the life that now is. And He who
• The Five Clergymen, like others, argue for "have been beside
ourselves," but while there is a propriety in the aorist as transient,
our English idiom seems to require a present here, as in many other
cases. The sobriety was continuous.

CHAPTER Y. 108
bears that name is both God and man in one
person. "For the love of Christ constraineth as, having
judged this, that, if one died for all, then the all were
dead [or, died] ; and he died for all, that those who live
should no longer live to themselves, but to him who for
them died and rose." (Vers. 14, 15.)
If transported when turning to God, the need of
saints and desire for the Lord's glory in them awoke
sober thoughts ; nor this only, for the love of Christ
urged his soul toward men, sinners no less than saints,
in loving service and faithful testimony of the truth.
If there was the solemnity of manifestation before the
judgment- seat of Christ, there was the constraining
energy of His love. There was no vain conceit of
man's improveableness, no crying up of intellectual
culture, nor even the most distant hope of good from
further moral training. He had judged this that," if
one died for all, then the all died or were dead. Christ's
death for all is the proof that it was all over with man
kind. If He went down in grace to the grave, it was
just because men were already there, and none other
wise could be delivered. In this way of death is
Christ here known, not a living Messiah to reign over
the quick, but One who died for all, for all were under
death ; and it is a question of man universally, not of
Israel only, and of the power and triumph of life in
Christ over death.
Hence, if nothing short of this is the judgment of
the Christian as of the apostle, if there is no slighting
of the fatal effects of sin, if death is seen and owned
to be written on all, the death of Christ, though so

104 NOTES ON II CORINTHIANS.
unsparing in its import becomes the ground of deliver*
ance ; for we have judged also that He died for all,
that those who live should no longer live to themselves.
There is then life in Him risen, and this not in Him
only, but for those who believe. He is our life. And
such is the meaning of " those who live ;" not merely
those alive on earth (though this be implied, of course)
but living of His life, in contrast with " all dead."
It is contended, as I am aware, that airiOavov can
only mean " died," andnof'are" or "were dead." But
this is an oversight from pressing too technically the
aoristic force, so as to clash with English idiom. We
may see how harsh it would be to absolutely reduce
us to the English preterite by a glance at the same
or a kindred word in the case of Jairus' daughter.
Even the most servile of translators gives us Mat
thew ix. 18 as " My daughter is just dead " (apn
irekevTrjoev), though he represents verse 24, " For the
maid did not die but is sleeping" (oi> r/ap airi0avev) ; and
Mark v. as "My daughter is dead" (ver. 35), but
" The child did not die" (ver. 39) ; and Luke viii.,
" She did not die." Is it not evident that the nature
of the case modifies the aorist ? Although strictly
diri0avev expresses only the fact that one died,
still, death being for the present final, it may be used
for, as it implies, the condition of death : if one died,
one is dead. But where express precision is intended,
the perfect appears as in Luke viii. 49, " My daughter
is dead," re'cVi^ey. Yet in verses 52, 53, it is in both
cases airi0avev. To say here " She did not die," and
" she did die," is mere pedantry, not good English ; and
in this connection the Authorised Version more fit-

CHAPTER V. 105
tingly gives " she is not dead," and " she was dead."
It is not that the aorist is ever used with impropriety,
or confounded with the perfect ; but that the fact in
Greek is enough, where English gives the state.
The same thing is no less appropriate here, where
death spiritually, not physically, is in question. Gram
mar does not touch the question, whether the death is
of all men as such, or of the saints ; airiOavov might be
nsed either of death by sin or of death to sin. There
was intention, it seems, in retaining the same word for
all as for Christ, though a different expression for men
might have been used, as in Ephesians ii. But this
would have interfered with the aim, which is as much
as possible to link His death in grace with theirs in sin.*
" If one died for all, then the all died," or " were dead."
And that this is the universal condition of mankind, is
made the more apparent by the further judgment that
He died for all, that those who live, &c. It is not £&v™%
88 including all for whom He died, but ol gtupTec as
some out of all, " those that live" in contradistinction to
all dead. It is the solemn judgment of faith that all are
dead, whatever appearances may say ; it is its no less
sure but happy judgment that Christ died for all, that
those who live should no longer live to themselves, but
to Him who for ithem died and rose. What men call a
judgment of charity is Satan's cheat, and as far from
the truth as from real love. It is the delusion of
trusting appearance and feeling and reason against
• Chrysostom takes the Greek thus without hesitation, and ne surely
must have known his own tongue. Ow/coS? &s v&vrav airoXofiivuv,
fqotv. 04 yap iv, t\ pvh rdvrtt ar4$avov, iirtp ravruv Aw
Havtv. Horn. xi. in 2 Corinth, torn. iii. 127 : ed. Field, Oxon. 1646

106 NOTES ON II CORINTHIANS.
God's word. True love according to God owns that all
are dead, but in the faith of Christ's death seeks that
others too might believe and live, and that those who
live should live to Christ.
The reader will observe that Christ's resurrection is
associated only with " those who live." This again
confirms the special class of the living, as only in
cluded in, and not identical with, all for whom He
died. Those who would narrow the all for whom He
died to the elect, lose the first truth ; those who see the
special blessedness but responsibility of the saints,
those that live, lose the second. He died for all ; He
was raised again for the justifying of those who believe,
and who consequently had life in Him; that they might
live no longer to themselves, as of old in their sinful
folly, but to their dead and risen Saviour. It was not
only " the terror of the Lord" that acted on the
apostle's soul, but the constraining love of Christ.
His outgoings of heart, and labours of love were not
bounded by the church, however dear to him ; as we
saw, he would not only feed the flock, but " persuade
men." He knew what the judgment-seat must be to
sinful man, but he knew also the efficacy of Christ's
death, and the power of His resurreotion. If Christ
died for all, he earnestly sought all, and preached to
all, urgent in season and out of season. The judg
ment which faith gave him seems therefore, like the
context before and after, to take in all men, no less
than the saints ; whereas another line is brought in,
out of harmony with what we have, if we speak of death
to sin only, limiting the range of the first clause to
the elect, instead of seeing its universality.

CHAPTER V. 107
Thus the apostle sees death come in for all, and
judgment awaiting men as such ; and, because this was
the fact for all, Christ dead for all. Promises avail not,
nor the kingdom : so complete is man's ruin. Else a
living Messiah would have sufficed. But no 1 only a
Saviour that died could meet the case ; and He died for
all, that they who live should no longer live to them
selves, but to Him who for them died and rose. This
closes the door, not for Him only who died, but for
those that by and in Him live, on the world and man.
Not " all" alas ! but only " those who live," really live
to Him who died and rose for them. All outside Him and
them is death ; and they, now living, are called to live
to Him : how could those who rejecting Him have not
life? This is practical Christianity. They are bound, as
they owe all, to the Saviour, but to Him not in this
world, but gone out of it as dead and risen for them.
It is Christ who determines and characterises all for the
Christian. It is not Christ as He was when coming
into the world on this side of the grave ; nor Christ as
He will govern the world by-and-by in power and
glory, but Christ who for them died and rose. Thus
is He known to the Christian, and thus is the Christian
to live. Nor is it, as sense and tradition reckon, that
in the midst of life we are in death, or exposed to it,
but that now in the midst of death we by grace live,
but would live and own our obligation to live to Him
who dead and risen is in a new sphere, to which we
too belong, though still on earth, as the apostle pro
ceeds to set forth, man as well as self being done with
to faith, and ourselves belonging to Him. Thus He

108 NOTES ON II CORINTHIANS.
who is the source of life is also the object of life to
the Christian ; and this in His full character of death
and resurrection, so as to act the more on the affec
tions. For if He died for us in grace, He rose for us
in power, that we might devote ourselves thus set free
to His service and glory.
The sin of Adam ruined creation here below. It fell
in its head. Not less but more, as is due to the sur
passing glory of His person, has the death and resur
rection of Christ changed all gloriously for faith. The
apostle draws the consequence for the present charac
teristic knowledge of the Christian.
" So that we henceforth know no one as to flesh :*
if we have even known Christ as to flesh, yet now are
no longer knowing [him] ; so that, if one [is] in Christ,
[there is] a new creation ; the old things passed ; be
hold, they [or, all things]! are become new." (Vers.
16, 17.)
Man as he is in his present life, with all its objects,
pursuits, and interests, is morally judged in the cross of
Christ, where alone God is glorified as to sin. Where
are earthly rank, grandeur and power? Where are in
tellectual activity and learned attainment ? Where is
mental acuteness or far-reaching all-embracing thought?
Where the wisdom of the wise, or the understanding
of the prudent ? Where even are moral exercise, and
reverence in religion? All are closed in death, all
• Text. Rec. adds Si " but" with the majority, but not •*»•¦¦ B D,
tee. F G, &c, and in koI «, " and if j" as some also add Kara o*.
h as to flesh" at the end of the verse.
f Text. Bee. with most adds to irarrabefore or after*., but not
"B C D*""" F G nor most of the very ancient versions.

' CHAPTER V. 109
proved worthless in presence of perfect holiness and
most lowly love. It is no question now of thunders
and lightnings, and of Jehovah descending in fire,
and every heart quaking for fear. The same God
descended in grace, yet all that was of man cast Him
out in the person of Jesus ; and so death is stamped on
all. Man judged himself in judging Him, and proved
his own worthlessness, either with the pride of vain
knowledge, in not knowing Him who made the world,
or in receiving Him not, whom the living oracles attested
and every testimony that should have gone home if
man had not been deaf, yea, dead. Christ's death
nnder man's guilty hand proved the moral death of all ;
and as all played their part in it, so all were sentenced
before God by it.
But He is risen ; and thus by divine power and grace
a door is opened, not of hope merely, but of life and
salvation in the midst of a waste of death. Doubtless
the mass of men go on as heedless as ever, the Gen
tiles abusing their power, the Jews striving to drown
their judicial misery ; but we, if none else, by faith be
holding the dead and risen Christ, are in the secret of
God now so clearly revealed in His word ; we, perhaps
primarily the apostle and his fellow-labourers, but we
Christians also in contrast with all under death. Be
yond question Paul entered into the full truth of all
this, as no one else did ; but surely it is no apostolie
prerogative to know none according to flesh, to value
nothing before God which flows not from Him who is
risen from the dead.
The apostle goes even farther. "Bat if even we
have known Christ as to flesh, yet now no longer know

110 NOTES ON n CORINTHIANS.
we him." This is so strong that it is impossible to go be
yond it. For Christ was the just cause of every expecta
tion of blessing here below. In Him all promises
centred, not only a rod out of Jesse's stem, but a root of
Jesse, to which the Gentiles should seek. All hopes for
men living on the earth were buried in the grave of
Christ : not because of any defect of power or grace in
Him, but because man is dead Godward, and how
could He reign at God's expense ? How take pleasure
in governing a nature at enmity with God ? No ; He
died, not only as the full witness of man's state, but to
lay a righteous ground of deliverance to God's glory.
No doubt the Jews looked for Him to reign after an
earthly sort, exalting the chosen nation of whom He is
the chief. But we know Him only as a dead and risen
Christ; and if even, as the apostle adds, we have
known Him according to flesh, that is, on this side the
grave, yet now we know Him so no more. Our asso
ciation is with Him in that new and heavenly glory,
where the death through which He passed has met our
evil, and now He is risen and gone on high, and our
life is hid with Him in God. The apostle does not say
that He ever did not know the Lord thus ; but that, if
it were even so, we now only know Him as the risen
and heavenly Christ. The lustre of an earthly Messiah
was quite swallowed up in the surpassing glory of His
new place and condition. And this it is which imprints
its heavenly character on Christianity. "As is the
Heavenly, such are they also that are heavenly." Had
we been Israelites, of the tribe of Judah, of the family
of David, we know Christ now in a brightness beyond
the sun at noon- day, which utterly dims the light of

CHAPTER V. Ill
promise to which we had formerly turned fondly with
all our souls.
Nor is this all ; for there is power in Him as well as
an object that we know. It is not a question of appre
hending Christ no more as Messiah, nor even of only
knowing Him above. The life that is in Him has won
the victory for us already and entitled us to regard and
speak of ourselves according to His new estate. " So
that, if one is in Christ, [there is] a new creation : the
old things passed ; behold, they [or, all things together]
are become new." We do not wait for the kingdom,
still less the eternal state, before we know and can say
so if any are in Christ, as every Christian is. A new
creation can be predicated of such an one, Christ in
risen and heavenly glory being the Head. What is
true of Him can be said of His, as being in Him. The
old things have passed; behold, all things together
(to it.) are become new. Faith sees the end from the
beginning and looks for all the consequences according
to Christ risen. It is no question, as so many make it,
of examining ourselves within and seeing how com
pletely we are changed in principles and path as well as
spirit and end, since we believed in Christ, though there
is a vital change and self-judgment be incumbent on
us. It is what faith knows and can say, because of
being " in Christ" and knowring Him only as risen, not
connected with man on the earth, for this is closed in
His death for ever. It is true of " any one in Christ."
Whatever he may have been, Gentile or Jew matters
not ; if in Christ, there is a new creation, and from the
starting-point the end is as sure as the beginning is the
great all-including fact in Christ's person.

112 NOTES ON II CORINTHIANS.
The marginal reading, " let them be" a new creature,
was probably due to Calvin, whose notion at any rate
agrees with it ; but it destroys all the force and beauty
of the passage by making it no more than exhorta
tion. On the other hand, it is no question of mere
experience, which would reduce the language miserably.
It is faith judging and speaking according to Christ, in
whom the believer is. Thus new creation has all its
scope. But it is of all moment to be ever measuring
and forming experience by faith, and not to lower
faith by experience.
Nor is it a question of new creation alone, great as is
the power requisite for it, and precious as its exercise
is in presence of death and ruin. Man can avail no
thing. It is a question therefore of God ; and love and
righteousness would reconcile the lost and guilty foes
to God, without which His glory must be compromised.
Hence it is written, after " all things [or, they] are
become new," " And they all [are] of God that re
conciled us to himself by Christ* and gave to us the
ministry of the reconciliation : how that it was God in
Christ reconciling [the] world to himself, not reckoning
to them their offences, and putting in us the word of the
reconciliation. For Christ then we are ambassadors,
God as it were beseeching by us, we entreat for Christ,
Be reconciled to God : himf that knew not sin he made
* Text. Rec. adds " Jesus," with a few uncials and the bulk of the
enrsives, &c, against the best MSS. and all the ancient versions.
t yfy' "f°r" is added in Text. Rec, with many uncials, most
cursives, and several ancient versions ; but the weight of authority
is against it, as also yet more in favour of ytvA/ntia, instead of
the present form (yiv,).

CHAPTER V. 113
sin tor as, that we might become* God's righteousness
in him." (Vers. 18-21.)
One object of reconciliation, as we read in Col. i.
embraces all things in heaven and on earth. But this
is future, and awaits the appearing of Christ. Mean
while believers are already reconciled, being not only
born of God but redeemed. In virtue of the work of
Christ God can act freely, not reinstating merely but
making good their relationship, as it suits His own
nature as well as theirs, according to His love and for
His glory. Traditional orthodoxy errs in insisting on
the death of Christ to reconcile His Father to us.
Scripture never speaks thus. But if it declares that
God so loved the world that He gave His only-begotten
Son in order that the believer should not perish but
have everlasting life, it is no less peremptory that the
Son of man must be lifted up in order to the same
blessed result. (John iii. 14-16.) Still more dangerous
is the error which leaves out that God is light in the
anxiety to press that He is love. Grace reigns through
righteousness unto eternal life by Jesus Christ our
Lord. We must not let the needed expiation of our
Bins by the blood of Christ be weakened by the blessed
fact that we are also reconciled to God. The enmity
was on our side, not on His ; but what was our evil
nature, what our sins, in His eyes ? Does not God
abhor iniquity and rebelliousness, hypocritical form or
even indifference to His will ? And, if He abhor, has
• Dean Alford has no reason to identify " us" in verse 18 with
the "world" in verse 19. There is marked difference in the two
verses, and no room for the confusion of the saints with the wortf
Nor was he the worst instance of such confusion,

114 VOTES ON II CORINTHIANS.
He no majesty to vindicate, nor authority to judge t
After sin and before judgment came Christ, who gave
Himself up not only to manifest God in this world but
to suffer on the cross. Hence, instead of nothing but
righteous judgment awaiting guilty man at the end, the
Lord Jesus has so met ana even glorified God as to sin
in His death, that divine righteousness now justifies the
believer ; and the reconciliation is so complete that in
virtue of His redemption we stand in a wholly new re
lationship which derives its character from Christ risen
from the dead. In due time all things in heaven and
on earth shall be made new accordingly. Even now if
one is in Christ, it is a new creation. The rest will
follow in its season, whether for our body, or for
heaven and earth ; but for us reconciliation is a fact
now. God reconciled us to Himself by Christ, as surely
as He gave the ministry of reconciliation.
For the saving grace of God has a service suited to
itself. It does not, like the law, govern a people
already in relationship with God ; it calls, as Christ did,
not the righteous but sinners to repentance. The word
of truth it proclaims for all to hear is the gospel of
salvation ; and those who hear not only live but are
saved by grace through faith, quickened with Christ,
raised up together, and made to sit down together in
the heavenlies in Christ Jesus, that God might display
in the coming ages the exceeding riches of His grace in
kindness toward us in Christ Jesus.
Reconciliation therefore is a term of rich meaning,
and goes far beyond repentance or faith, quickening or
justification. It is, if we may borrow the figure which
lies at the root of the word, God's settlement of account

OHAPTBB ?. 115
in favour of him who, if he have nothing to pay, sub
mits to His righteousness. Divine love in Christ has
Undertaken all and has set down the enemy and lost
one, not only in deliverance, but in full favour, boast
ing in hope of God's glory, yea even now in God
Himself through our Lord Jesus Christ. It is not a
question of our dispositions and feelings only but of
relationship with God, out of which we were as sinners,
into which His grace has now brought us who believe,
not according to Adam unfallen, but according to Christ
dead, risen, and glorified, in virtue of His redemption
outside ub, though of course not without our being
born anew.
But let us follow the apostle's explanation of the
ministry of reconciliation : " How that it was God in
Christ reconciling [the] * world to himself, not reckoning
to them their offences, and having put in us the word of
the reconciliation." (Ver. 19.) By a change of form in
the participles, there appears to be intimated, first, the
continuous aspect of Christ's presence here below, and,
* There is no real ground for Bishop Middleton'i remark (Doe-
trine of the Greek Article, pp. 350, 351, Rose's ed. 1845) that
to'ap.os here and in Galatians vi. 14 is one of those words which
partake of the nature of proper names, and so dispense with the
article exceptionally in these two instances. The true reason has
nothing to do with its emphatic position, and simply is that the word
le used characteristically ia both, and hence, though we cannot so
express it in English, more forcibly than if " the" world in either
sue were presented as an objective fact. Hence the critical read
ing which drops not only i but t^i ia Galatians vi. 14 is right.
Further, it is not the fact that Plutarch (irtpl Stwik. ivavr.) omit*
the article with k6o-/ios, for it is inserted in both Reiske's ed. 1778,
jl 848, and Wyttenbach's, oxon. 1800, v. 193. The Bishop'e

116 VOTES ON II CORINTHIANS.
secondly, the gospel charge deposited in His servants
when He was no longer here. God put in us, says the
apostle, the word of the reconciliation. But what was He
doing when the Beconciler Himself was here ? It was
not the law, which forbade all approach and registered
every transgression; it was God (or, God was) in
Christ reconciling the world to Himself, not reckoning
to them their offences. This is not Christ's death, but
His living presence ; nor is it consequently that He
reconciled the believers by His death, but the bearing
of God in Him toward not Jews only but a guilty re
bellious world ; and it was reconciling — Jew or Gen
tile, it matters not, if it was God there and thus in
Christ — reconciling the world, and consequently not
reckoning to them their offences. Was it not thus He
bore Himself to the woman in Luke vii. ? to the Sama
ritans in John iv. ? But why enumerate ? It was His
special aspect in Christ here below, dealing in grace,
not law, and hence indiscriminately, not reckoning to
them their offences. On the one hand, He came to
citation was from an old edition and a badtext. Winer and T. S.
Green follow in the same wake, classing k. with many other words
like fjAiot, yr\, which may drop the article, as nearly equivalent to
proper names. This is as to all defect of analysis. They probably
misled Alford and EUicott, but not Dr. Lightfoot, who evidently
sees nothing irregular, and simply remarks that the sentence thus
(i.e., by the anarthrous form) gains in terseness. So in our passage
the entire clause is intentionally and essentially characteristic, Btht
J/v iv Xpiarai tcSfffjiov Kara\X6.ffff»v tavnp, and t6v would have
brought inyho*, which is exactly what is not intended, any more
than J)v KaraWda-attv = reconciliavit as Wetstein says. It is the
aspect or bearing of His presence in Christ, not an accomplished
fact (which is expressed bv tbe aorist part, in verse 18) .

CHAPTER ?. 117
seek and to save the lost; on the other "him that
cometh to me I will in nowise cast out." For the
bread of God is He that came down from heaven and
gives life to the world. As He was far beyond the
manna, angels' food (Ps. lxxviii. 25), so He is for the
world, not for Israel only. For this is the will of His
Father, that every one that sees the Son and believes
on Him should have life eternal, and He will raise him
up at the last day. Christ's presence, or God's in Him,
was the full proof that fallen man is irremediable. Be
fore the flood he was left to himself; and such was the
corruption and violence that God had to sweep all
away, save Noah's family in the ark. After the flood
in due time the great trial of law was carried on in the
chosen and separate nation ; but they transgressed in
every way, people and priests, judges and kings, till
there was " no remedy," even after prophet on pro
phet was sent in patience truly divine. Last of all He
sent to them His Son, saying, They will reverence My
Son. But when the husbandmen saw Him, they said
among themselves, This is the heir : come, let us kill
Him, and let us seize on His inheritance. And they
caught Him, and cast Him out of the vineyard and
slew Him. When the lord therefore of the vineyard
comes, what will He do to those husbandmen ?
Such is the divine account of human responsibility as
tested in Israel even till judgment. But the display of
grace in Christ here below is no less true and of infi
nite moment ; and man's rejection of God in grace was
as evident and complete as his total failure under law.
For though Christ was here and the fulness of graoe
and truth in Him, receiving publicans and sinner*- not

118 NOTES ON II CORINTHIANS.
reckoning to them their offences, they crucified Him as
they had forsaken Jehovah for an idol.
But where sin abounded, grace did much more abound;
and over human iniquity at its worst God triumphs in
Christ, yea in His cross. Hence, when the Son of
man was cast out of the world, when it is no longer
God in Christ reconciling the world and rising above
every offence, He put the word of the reconciliation in
chosen vessels ; and as we have had the character of
God's action in Christ in the days of His flesh, so here
follows their character as sent out to testify of Him.
" For Christ then we are ambassadors, God as it were
beseeching by us, we entreat for Christ, Be reconciled
to God : him that knew not sin he made sin for us,
that we might become God's righteousness in him."
(Vers. 20, 21.) The dignity is indeed great. They
represent, not Levites, nor priests, nor yet the high
priest, but Christ dead and risen, and this in the aspect
of divine grace, God as it were (it was not meet to
speak absolutely) beseeching by us : we entreat on be
half, or instead, of Christ, Be reconciled to God. Such
is the gospel call to the world in the name of the Lord
Jesus and by the Spirit of our God. The grace of
God and of Christ is stamped on every word; and
human assumption as wholly excluded from its nature,
as human worth or means from that new creation
where all things are of God, flowing through Christ
risen from the dead.
Calvin expounded verse 20 as the apostle addressing
himself to. believers. He declares that he brings to
them this embassy every day. Christ therefore did not
suffer that He might expiate our sins once only, nor

OHAPTEB ?. U9
was the gospel ordained merely with a view to the
pardon of those sins which we committed previously to
baptism, but that, as we daily sin, so we might also by a
daily remission be received by God into His favour.
For this is a perpetual embassy, which must be assidu
ously sounded forth in the church till the end of the
world ; and the gospel cannot be preached unless re
mission of sins is promised.* This is as great an error,
if not so pernicious, as the broad-church rationalism
which teaches that the world is reconciled to God.
The contrary of this last appears from this very verse.
The apostle exemplifies the gospel call he was commis
sioned to declare in the words, Be reconciled to God.
This exhortation does imply that they were not yet re
conciled ; and no boldness of assertion, no tortuous
reasoning, can elude the plain expression of scripture.
Not less plainly does the apostle contradict the first
error in verse 18, which states that God reconciled us
to Himself by Christ — a fact accomplished for the
believer, as other scriptures treating of the subject con
firm. It is false that the apostle is here addressing
himself to believers ; he is giving a specimen of the
true call to the unconverted. Neither here nor any
where else does he testify that he brings to the saints
such an embassy as this every day.
Another apostle, not less truly inspired of God, ex
pressly declares that Christ did once suffer for sins ; as
* ' • Observandum hie Paulo negotium esse cum fldelibus. testator w
quotidie id illos perferre hoc mandatum. non ergo passus est Chriatns
ut semel tantum peccata nostra expiaret j neqne in hoc institutmm
Evangelium ut quae ante Baptismum." *.c. I. Calv. Kov. Opera
Omnia, vii. 244,Amstel. 1671.

120 NOTES ON II CORINTHIANS.
the Epistle to the Hebrews (chap. x. 11-14) pointedly
sets aside the Judaism of a daily provision to meet
daily sins by the revelation that Christ, having offered
one sacrifice for sins, sat down in perpetuity (etc rh
Sa]veice<i) at God's right hand .... for by one offering
He has perfected in perpetuity the sanctified. It is
not denied that we need our feet washed day by day,
to use the expressive figure of our Lord ; but this is
the washing of water by the word in answer to His
advocacy, not a fresh application of blood or another
reconciliation into God's favour : strange doctrine from
the head of Calvinism. The truth is that none of the
Beformers knew the blessed comfort of Christ's having
come by water as well as blood ; and the effort to make
the blood do the work of the water also has impaired
in the minds of Protestants generally the full efficacy
of the blood that cleanses from every sin. Of Roman
ists we need not speak, as they refused to profit by the
candle of the Beformation.
It will be noticed that the critical text drops the ar
gumentative particle with which the Authorised Version
opens the last verse. The sentence is not so much a
reason for the call that precedes as an explanation
which the apostle adds in continuance, yet more en
forcing the call. Him that knew no sin — not merely is
it a fact, but no other supposition is admissible — He
[God] made sin for us, that we might become God's
righteousness in Him : a most full and blessed state
ment of the way in which grace secured its victory
when guilty man seemed to have lost the last possible
hope through' Christ, by rejecting Him even on His
errand ~f reconciling love. In that rejection to the

CHAPTER V. 121
aeath of the cross God wrought another thing, even
atonement; He made Christ sin, laying for us His
solemn unsparing judgment of sin on His holy head,
that we might become God's righteousness in Him.
Thus was our reconciliation effected by propitiation
and substitution, the two goats of atonement-day, which
find their meaning in the work of Christ on the cross,
as we may see both parts distinguished in Hebrews ix.
26-28. He became a curse for us, that the blessing
of Abraham might come to the Gentiles in Christ Jesus.
(Gal. iii. 13, 14.)
The aoristic, not present, subj. is the true form,
for "we might become," as all critics allow following
every manuscript of value. Why Scholz and others
read ^ivui/ieVa, it is hard to say, for every authority
he cites is against him. Indeed it would be hard to
shew what manuscript reads the present, not even
Matthsei or Scrivener citing a single cursive for it.
Yet Dr. Hodge also says the apostle uses the present
tense, because this justification is continuous : doctrine
and criticism equally erroneous. For Christian justifica
tion is regularly spoken of as past, e.g. in Bomans v.
as a fact, in Bomans vi. as a state. But this last is
the perfect. Where the present is used, it is abstract.
The Christian will notice the peculiar manner in
which God's righteousness is here predicated of " us."
Elsewhere it is what is revealed in the gospel, and de
clared both to vindicate His dealings with saints of old
and still more fully at this time. (Bom. i., iii.) It is
what the zealous but unbroken Jew did not submit to
(Bomans x.), losing that blessing in refusing Christ
Jesus, who of God is made onto as righteousness and

122 NOTES ON II CORINTHIANS.
all else we need. (1 Cor. i.) It is of God by faith,
in contrast with one's own. (Phil, iii.) But here
and here only are we said to become such, a fact as
truly accomplished in the believer as the incomparable
work of Him in whom He believes. Christ in virtue
of His work was set at God's right hand in heaven :
no other seat was adequate to express God's sense of
His death in which sin was judged and God for ever
glorified. Therefore did He raise Christ from the dead
and set Him in the heavenlies ; or, as the Lord said,
the Spirit should convict the world of righteousness by
His going to His Father and their seeing Him no more.
Had there been righteousness here, the world would
have received Christ to reign ; but the world proved
itself under Satan's dominion by casting Him out, as
God shewed His righteousness by receiving Him in
the highest place above ; and there, associated with
Him, we become God's righteousness in Him. His
righteousness wrought not only in thus exalting Christ
but in justifying us according to Him. Nothing can
exceed the energy of the inspired expression as to
both sin and righteousness to the Saviour's praise and
our blessedness.

CHAPTER VL
The apostle now follows up the striking specimen he
had given of the ministry of reconciliation toward the
close of chapter v. by an appeal to the Corinthians
themselves. There we saw how erroneous it is to treat
verse 20 as a call to the saints ; for he is illustrating
the word they had to preach to the world. Here the
opposite error is common through fear of compromising
the security of the believer ; and the more so, as men
like Olshausen say, It is undeniable that the apostle
assumes that grace when once received may be lost :
the scriptures know nothing of the dangerous error of
the advocates of predestination, that grace cannot be
lost ; and experience stamps it as a lie. This the more
orthodox Calvinist,like Hodge, attempts to meet by say
ing that the apostle is only exhorting men not to let
God's grace be to no purpose in making His Son sin,
as it regarded them ; that is, that a satisfaction for sin
sufficient for all and appropriate to all had been mads
and offered to all in the gospel. But this is incorrect.
It is a direct exhortation to the Corinthians, and not a
declaration of the method in which the apostle preached,
like the concluding verses of the preceding chapter.
He is not exhorting all men, but the Corinthians who
bore the Lord's name not to receive the grace of God
in vain. Were there no vpa?, "you," expressed,
it might be so argued; but there it stands, not in
chapter v. 20 but here, a distinct and effectual dis-

124 » NOTES ON II CORINTHIANS.
proof of those who would assimilate the two ; and its
reserve to the last place gives such an emphasis to the
pronoun that the only wonder is how grave and godly
men should have ignored its force. The aorist inf.
legeoOai does not necessarily imply, as Meyer alleges
in at least an early edition, a past reception of His grace,
bnt may mean the act complete and decisive irrespec
tive of time, which is thoroughly if not more consistent
with the application to the Corinthians. What the
apostle has in view is the danger of easy-going self-
satisfaction in those who already called on the name of
the Lord. So He Himself in the parabolic marriage
of the king's son had warned, first, of despising or
maltreating the messengers of the gospel ; secondly, of
indifference to what alone suits those who come, of
wearing one's own garments instead of having put on the
Lord Jesus Christ. Baptism would aggravate, not
hinder, the most condign judgment.
" And working together we also beseech that ye re
ceive not in vain the grace of God (for he saith, In an
acceptable season I listened to thee, and in a day of
salvation I helped thee : behold, now a right acceptable
season; behold, now a day of salvation), giving none
offence in anything that the ministry be not blamed."
(Vers. 1-8.)
There is no authority for inserting " with him" as in
the italics of the Authorised Version, though supported
by many commentators.* It is an unscriptural fami
liarity, if not irreverent. 1 Corinthians iii. 9 gives it
* The old interpretation is particularly objectionable, Dei enim
¦nmus adjntores. Bengel on 1 Corinthians iii. 9 put the true
thought neatly t Sumus operarii Dei et co-operarii in vicem.

CHAPTER VI. 125
no real countenance ; for the messengers are said to be,
not fellow-workers with God, but His fellow- workmen,
or journeymen together doing His work. So here, but by
and on behalf of Him they work together, and exhort
not men only to believe the gospel, but those who
already professed faith not to receive His grace in vain.
And " beseeching," while just applied to those without
in token of the incomparable goodness of God to His
enemies, is not less suitable in urging on His pro
fessing saints to beware of all inconsistent with His
grace. The security of His children is unquestionable,
not so much through their perseverance as men say,
but by His power through faith : but the Corinthians
needed and received faithful entreaty, for their ways
were not such as became the gospel. They were com
promising His glory who had called them to the fellow
ship of His Son ; and the apostle, instead o fcomforting
them with the blessed assurances at the close of Bomans
viii., would here exercise conscience as well as affec
tion in presence of God's grace.
Nor is this enfeebled but strengthened by the follow
ing verse in which Isaiah xlix. 8 is applied. It is a
quotation from that section of the prophecy in which
Jehovah arraigns the Jews not for idolatry but for re
jecting the Messiah ; and it is affirmed to be a light
thing in consequence to raise up the tribes of Jacob and
restore the preserved of Israel. Jehovah would also
give Him, thus cast off by His own people, for a light
to the Gentiles, that He might be His salvation unto
the end of the earth. If man despised and the nation
[Israel] abhorred, His glory as on earth should be se
cured among kings and princes, whereon follows tbe

126 NOTES ON II CORINTHIANS.
word here cited. It is the principle, not th*
fact, which is taken up.
There is no need of supposing in this ease that a
promise to the Messiah included at the same time His
people, though we see how strikingly this appears in
the use made of Isaiah 1. by the apostle in Bomans viii.
Here the blessing to the Gentiles is expressly men
tioned, so that it seems more akin to James's use of
Amos ix. 11, 12, in Acts xv. And this is confirmed, it
would appear, by the fact that the apostle breaks forth
into a strong expression of the grace God is now shew
ing, surpassing as it does the actual fulfilment in the
days of the kingdom, when the earth shall be raised
and tbe desolate heritage is enjoyed ; when the prisoners
shall go forth and those in darkness shew themselves;
when hunger and thirst shall be no more, and heat and
son shall not smite, but the merciful Jehovah shall
guide even by the springs of waters ; when the moon-
tains shall be made a way, and the scattered return
from every quarter under heaven ; when the heavens
themselves shall sing and the earth be joyful in Jeho
vah's mercy and comfort for His afflicted people. Yet
in presence of such an anticipation, bright as it was in
the apostle's heart, there shone a hght brighter by far
in Him who is exalted into a new and higher glory at
God's right hand, which leads him to say, "Behold
now a right acceptable season, behold now a day of
salvation:" words suggested by the prophecy, bat
designedly rising above them in strength as expressive
of God's present display of grace in the gospel.
Then, resuming the thread of his exhortation to the
Corinthians, the apostle shews how far he was from re*

CHAPTER VL 127
fusing to measure himself and his service by that
which he meted to others, " Giving none offence in
anything, that the ministry be not blamed." Who
knew better that inconsistency above all things under
mines preaching or teaching ? Christianity is real and
living, not dogmatic only, still less official: else it be
comes of all things the most contemptible; just as
when genuine it is heavenly and of the Holy Spirit, as
the moral expression of Christ in those that are His.
In Moses' chair sat the scribes and the Pharisees : it
was a duty to do and keep all things whatever they
might bid, whilst not doing according to their works ;
for they said and did not. But unreality, as it is a lie
against Christ, destroys the weight of christian teach
ing, which derives its power from the Spirit of God.
And no more eminent witness of his own words ever
lived than the apostle, not more to endure the heaviest
burdens for Christ's sake than to bear those of any or
of all others. His life, not only as a whole bat in
every detail, was a comment on his ministry; and
who so vigilant to out off occasion from those who
sought it 1
It is a right and needed thing to begin with giving no
offence in anything which might occasion blame to the
ministry. How often there is unguardedness of which
the enemy takes advantage, against not merely the
servant but the objects of his work and above all the
Master whom He serves 1 The apostle however wonld
go much farther : —
" But in everything as ministers of God commending
ourselves, in much patience, in affliction, in necessities.
in straits, in stripes, in prisons, in tumults, in labours,

128 NOTES ON II CORINTHIANS.
in watchings, in fastings, in pureness, in knowledge,
in long-suffering, in kindness, in [the"] Holy Ghost, in
love unfeigned, in [the] word of truth, in [the] power
of God." (Vers. 4-7.)
Earlier in the Epistle (chap, iii.) we have seen the
character of the ministry. In contrast with the ministry
of death and condemnation, as set out in the law
graven on stone, it is of the Spirit and of righteous
ness, the Spirit given and righteousness revealed to the
believer in virtue of Christ's redemption. Later
(chap, v.) we saw its source in the God who reconciled
us to Himself by Jesus Christ and gave to suited in
struments, called and qualified by sovereign grace, the
ministry of the reconciliation : how that it was God in
Christ, reconciling the world to Himself, not reckoning
to them their offences, and having put in us the word
of the reconciliation. And as all the thoughts and
feelings, of men fall immeasurably short of the simple
but deep truth of God here made known, so does the
apostolic statement of the spirit and manner of its ex
ercise rise above all the practices and theories of
Christendom, never so alien, never so low, as when it
indulges in the haughtiest pride. And no wonder, for
it is then most remote from Christ ; and Christ here
as everywhere alone gives us the truth. Under law
priesthood was the characteristic, the intervention of a
representative class oharged with maintaining before
God the interests of His people who could not draw
near into His holy presence for their own wants or His
blessing. Under the gospel ministry is no less cha
racteristic, as being the instrument of God's active love,
both in reeoneiling His enemies as it goes oat to the

/"

CHAPTER VI. 129
whole creation under heaven, and in building up the
faithful who in one Spirit were all baptized into one body
and were all given to drink into one Spirit. Christ is
the fullest expression of this, love in its activity both
to the world and to the saints ; and those who desire
the will and the glory of God have Him before their
eyes as the test of all.
So we know it was with the apostle ; and such is
the revelation here of the spirit in which God would
have His ministry exercised. He never meant it only
for the pulpit, as men say, nor for set occasions, nor in
a little or a larger sphere of one's own, nor as a matter
of vested rights or of personal authority. Conversion
did not of itself correct the tendency even in the
apostles toward a direction the most opposed to Christ.
" There was also a strife among them which should be
accounted the greatest. And he said unto them, The
kings of the Gentiles exercise lordship over them, and
they that exercise authority upon them are called bene
factors. But ye shall not be so ; but he that is greatest
among you, let him be as the younger ; and he that is
chief as he that doth serve. For whether is greater,
he that sitteth at meat, or he that serveth ? is not he
that sitteth at meat ? But I am among you as he that
serveth." (Luke xxii.) So here the first quality set
before us is " in everything as ministers of God com
mending ourselves ;" if not as His ministers, what are
we ? Worse than useless. And that as a fixed purpose
of the soul, not now and then, nor in specified duties
only, but in everything as God's ministers commending
ourselves. It may be noticed that in this version " as God's
\ K

130 NOTES ON II CORINTHIANS.
ministers" is placed before the participle, whereas in
Greek it follows. The reason is that our idiom does
not admit of the order which is correct in the original
because of its definite case-ending. The Authorised
Version really expresses u><> 0eov Staxdvovs which is the
reading of the Clermont manuscript, and the more ex
traordinary, because the corresponding Latin is " sicut
Di [ Dei] ministri." The Vulgate falls into the error of
translating <os 0. Sidxovoi " sicut Dei ministros." If the
same order were sought in English as in Greek, it would
necessitate, I think, the addition of " should ;" for
there is a difference of sense attaching to the difference
of construction, and the apostolic phrase expresses
precisely what the context requires. Were it the accu
sative, SiatcdvovQ, the meaning would be commending
ourselves* as competent to be God's ministers, whereas
with the nominative SiAkovoi, as it is, the force is that
in everything we in the capacity of His ministers
commend ourselves, &c.
What then is the prime quality which is looked for ?
"In much patience" or " endurance." So the apostle
in chapter xii. 12, where he sets "all endurance," or
patience, before signs and wonders and works of power
as apostolic vouchers. God Himself is called the God
of patience no less than of comfort or encouragement,
and this with a view to grant the saints to be like-
minded one toward another, according to Christ Jesus ;
nor is there a happier proof of moral power in His
servants than such constancy in the face of suffering,

* In this case the order would also differ, probably by placing
tavn&e hafore «-. so as to give the former the more emphasis.

CHAPTER VI. 181
opposition, trial and temptation. When impatient, one
is overcome of evil instead of overcoming it with good
in the lowliest form.
Then follows a threefold cord of the several ways in
which endurance is put to the proof: " in afflictions, in
necessities, in straits." "Afflictions" or tribulations
(OXiy/reu) are cases of pressure which every saint has
in the world. We are set for this, and must through
many tribulations enter into the kingdom of God.
Necessities (dvdyicai) express distresses which take
the shape of need or constraint, and so, as the early
Greek writers noticed, indicate an advance in suffering ;
as straits (<rrej>ox«V«") point to such troubles as
shut a man up without space to move or turn.*
Next come specific inflictions, " in stripes, in prisons,
in tumults." As to the first of these three, the apostle
further gives us the fact that from the Jews he five
times had received forty stripes save one, and been
scourged thrice. As to " prisons," we know of but one,
recorded minutely in Acts xvi., doubtless for its
momentous connection with the first planting of the
gospel in Philippi ; but 2 Corinthians xi. 28 speaks of
the apostle's being " in prisons more frequent," so that
we know such shame to have been abundantly his lot.
There remains " in tumults" (aKamtrraoi'aie), which some
apply to the forced changes of the apostle's unsettled
life, comparing 1 Corinthians iv. 11 with Isaiah liv. 11,
kx. And so not moderns only, but apparently Chry-
Bostom. Nevertheless New Testament usage does not
* "In preituris, complures patent viae, sed difficiles; in neceuita-
tibits, una, difficilis ; in angustiis, nulla." Beng. Gn. inJ

132 NOTES ON II CORINTHIANS.
support such a meaning, but either a "riot" in the
world or " confusion" among saints ; and here the con
text confirms the former: a trial shocking to one of
well-ordered habits. Bat we see in the Acts how often
it befell the apostle in his preachings ; and doubtless
very much more frequently than that history records.
Then we pass on from inflicted to voluntary trials,
"in labours, in watchings, in fastings," which are not
the least witness to sustained devotedness. The
language so clearly intimates one's own agency here that
it might have seemed needless to say a word more.
But scripture fares as no other book ; and this at the
hands of friends as well as foes. Dr. Bloomfield will
have it that this application to voluntary sufferings is,
not only unfounded, but devised to afford countenance
to monkish austerities ; and that k. may very well refer to
his corporal labours at his trade, a'7/1. to the abridg
ment of rest to make up by over-hours at night for
evangelising by day, and v. to the scanty fare that
must follow such a trade. But 2 Corinthians xi. is the
true parallel, and not merely 1 Corinthians iv. ; and in
the former we have " fasting" distinguished expressly
from " hunger and thirst," clearly as voluntary from
involuntary suffering. Not the apostle's "labours,
watchings, fastings," had to do with the gospel and the
churoh, as well as individual souls, and were quite
above the circumstances of trade good or bad.
But now we tarn from circumstances and sufferings
to quite another class, to qualities whioh God looks for
in His service: "in pureness, in knowledge, in long-
suffering, in kindness, in love unfeigned, in [the] Holy
Ghost, in [the] word of truth, in [the] power of God."

* CHAPTER VI. 133
There is thus not only perseverance in the face of an
tagonism and enmity, but the exercise of all that is
holy and wise, long-suffering and gracious, and all
this, not in mere amiability but in love unfeigned, yea
in the Holy Spirit, and hence in the word of truth
and in God's power, not mere human wisdom and
•bility, that its excellency might be of Him, and not
from the man though by him.
There is a slight change in the middle of verse 7 in
dicated by a difference in the preposition and beginning
with the needed arms of the christian servant. We have
i v (" in" or " by") no longer, but Std. Even the latter
cannot here, or elsewhere, be restricted to the sense
of " by means of;" for though this might suit the first
occurrence, it does not fit in with the two which follow,
but rather " through," or " with" as with the genitive
it sometimes means (as in ohap. ii. 4).
" Through [or, with] the arms of righteousness on
the right and left, through glory and dishonour, through
ill report and good report, as deceivers and true, as un
known and well-known, as dying and behold we live,
as chastened and not put to death, as grieved but
always rejoicing, as poor but enriching many, as having
nothing and possessing all things." (Vers. 7-10.)
As the Holy Ghost naturally precedes love unfeigned,
and the word of truth is accompanied by the "power of
God," so " the arms of righteousness" in full equip
ment follow. Some here as elsewhere take " righteous
ness" as that which is secured by justification before
God. But this is to mistake both the figure and the
context. As a figure it is a mistake, inasmuch as
armour is used to protect one against the assaults of

184 NOTES ON II CORINTHIANS. *-
an enemy, which God assuredly is not to the believer.
Hence, where we have details as in Ephesians vi., we
see beyond controversy that we are told to put on the
armour in order to withstand the powers and wiles of
evil ; not to stand before God, in which case we hear of
a robe, not of arms. Clearly then righteousness in
the practical sense is in question, rather than the right
eousness of God. And the context equally requires it ;
because the apostle is insisting here, not on the stand
ing of the believer, but on the avoidance of all which
could expose the ministry to reproach, and on the cul
tivation of all that should approve it to universal con
science, representing God aright in a world where
everything is opposed, and spite of a nature which is
enmity against Him, and this in an earthen vessel as
weak as the pressure of circumstances was great and
varied and constant, so as to test the workman in every
conceivable way.
Next we have a series of contrasts, not more para
doxical in appearance than strictly true. "Through
glory and dishonour, through ill report and good re
port." Who among mankind ever touched the ex
tremes of both as he who thus portrays the path of
service according to God ? Who ever served the Lord
Jesus so superior to circumstances ? Who less elated ?
Who farther from depression ? Bevered as a divine
being and afterwards stoned, now suspected of murder
and immediately after regarded as a god, he experienced
vicissitudes only less wild and rapid among the saints
themselves, and among none more remarkably than at
Corinth and in Galatia, where he had to vindicate even
his apostleship among his own children in the faith,

CHAPTER VI. 135
ready enough to bow down to arrogance and pre
tension. Then by a simple transition we come to instances of
ill or good report : " as deceivers and true, as unknown
and well-known." Never was it true of Paul, never
can it be with a thoroughly devoted and unworldly
servant of God, that all speak well of him. So did the
Jews of old to the false prophets, not to the true.
Faith loves not, but refuses, the chief place in feasts,
and greetings in the markets, and to be called of men,
Babbi, Babbi. The servant cleaves to His name whom
the world knew not, and so is unknown ; yet as with
the Master grace in service cannot but make itself,
felt in a world of need and misery — it cannot be hid.
The clauses which follow have a rather distinct cha
racter, sliding from matters of report into actual fact :
" as dying and behold we live, as chastened and not
put to death, as grieved but always rejoicing, as poor
but enriching many, as having nothing and possessing
all things." If the Lord alone, when challenged as to
who He was, could say of Himself as man here below,
Absolutely that which I also say to you, the Truth in
word and in deed, in everything and in every way;
Paul inspired of God could speak with so much the
more freedom as his heart entered into the spirit of
seeing God according to Christ with largeness and with
humility, with tenderness and with courage, with un
wearied patience and unflagging energy, with a purity
and a love, with a jealousy for Christ's glory and an
exercised conscience before God, never seen so com
bined in another. Out of all this he exhorts, feeling
all acutely yet moved by nothing, and making no

186 NOTES ON n CORINTHIANS. v.
account of hie itself, that he might finish his course
with joy and the ministry which he had received of the
Lord Jesus, not only testifying the gospel both to Jews
and Greeks, and preaching the kingdom of God, but
also announcing to the saints all the counsel of God.
What suffering did it not involve 1 What faith and
perseverance under discipline and sorrow 1 Yea, surely,
joy in the Holy Ghost was there if in any, and triumph
by grace over all seeming disadvantages. He knew, if
any servant did, the force of the Lord's word in Mark
x. 29-81, as poor but enriching many, as having no
thing but possessing all things,
Having closed the blessed sketch of christian service
from its source and power to its moral characteristics
and effects, the apostle now turns to the saints with
the expression of unhindered affection. There had
been a barrier to that expression in their state ; but God
had wrought in grace, and they had in a great measure
judged themselves, and faith working by love looked
for all that is worthy of the Lord unto all pleasing.
Hence he could say —
" Our mouth is open unto you, Corinthians, our heart
is expanded : ye are not straitened in us, but ye are
straitened in your own bowels ; now for the same re
quital be expanded also yourselves." (Vers. 11-18.)
Love was no longer driven back, for God was at
work ; and joy and thankfulness open the lips, as sorrow
isolates where sympathy fails. So he can and does
speak freely. " Our mouth is open unto you, Corin
thians." He similarly names the Galatians (chap, iii.
1), and the Philippians (chap. iv. 16) ; bui each with
a characteristic difference. The Galatians he blames

CHAPTER VI 137
severely, as senseless and bewitched, for turning aside
from faith and the Spirit to law and flesh. To the
Philippians he mentions that they alone had the privi
lege of communicating with him at the beginning of
the gospel as now when the apostle was drawing near
his close. The personal address to the Corinthians lies
between those two. He could not accord to them that
token of confidence in their spiritual simplicity and un-
worldliness which the Philippians had enjoyed first and
last ; whilst he is pouring out the fulness of his heart
on the restored condition of the Corinthians instead of
the stern censure on the Galatians. "Our heart is
expanded," he says. There can be no doubt that this
is the word and sense intended. But it is an instruc
tive fact that the two oldest and best unoials unite in a
positive and evident error. The Vatican and the
Sinaitic uncials give your, not " our." Such facts
should correct the exaggerated confidence of some in a
few very ancient copies. The context has its grave
importance where the external authorities differ. Here
there can be no doubt that the mass of other and later
authorities is right. The argument requires " our"
imperatively, if ever so many voices had pronounced
differently. There was no narrowness in the apostle. His heart
was ever large ; and now he could shew them so. It
was in their own affections the Corinthians were con
tracted. (Ver. 12.) There was free and full room in
his heart for them, bat not in theirs for him. They
had been lax, and he is about to warn them solemnly
on this head ; they were still narrow. How great an
error to count narrowness fidelity, whereas it may well

138 NOTES ON II CORINTHIANS.
go as here with laxity 1 In the apostle we see large-
heartedness with real holiness ; and they too go to
gether. Bnt the apostle counts yet more on grace, and
as he had declared how his heart was expanded, in
stead of being shut up, he adds, " and for the same
requital* (or, for requital in the same), I speak as to
children, be expanded also yourselves." (Ver. 13.)
Love never fails; and that their affections should
answer his was the only recompense he sought at their
hands. The Corinthians were not only straitened in their af
fections. They were lax in their associations. Had
Christ been the object, the new hfe had not been
hindered in either way ; for as He creates, directs,
and sustains the affections according to God, so does
He guide and guard the feet in the narrow way, His
own path outside and above the world. Where He is
not before the heart, the world in one form or another
fails not to ensnare, fair excuses which cover unholy
* Here we may notice the strange misconception of the Vulgate,
followed as nsual by Wiclif and the Rhemish, " eandem remunera-
tionem habentes," " ye that have the same reward,'' " having the
same reward." This inverts the meaning : he wanted the reward
In the same kind, not that they had it. Tyndale understood tbe
phrase as " I promyse yon lyke rewarde with me as to my children;"
and Cranmer follows in the same wake, " I promyse unto you lyke
reward, as unto children," taking the accusative as the comple
ment or direct regimen of the verb. The Geneva Version exhibits
another variety, nearer the true sense, " Now / require of you the
same recompense," &c. The Authorised Version seems best, not
applying any fresh verb, bnt taking the accusative absolutely, or
rather as in apposition with a cognate accusative supposed in th*
verb following.

CHAPTER VI. 189
alliances escape detection, and His honour somehow is
ere long compromised.
The apostle's jealousy was alive to this danger in a
love that bound together Christ and the church. Love
speaks and acts freely, though with tender considera
tion. The apostle comprehends in his wide warning not
only idolatry, but every kind of worldly association as
defiling and unworthy of the Christian, because it suits
not Christ nor the presence of God. If blessed with
Christ for eternity, you cannot without sin have rela
tions with the enemy in time.
Some have narrowed, if not perverted, the passage,
by restricting it to an exhortation against the marriage
of a believer with an unbeliever. But while the prin
ciple undoubtedly condemns the contracting of any
such union, it is clear on the face of it that, strictly
speaking, this cannot be the direct intent ; for the cor
rective insisted on is exactly what one ought not to
follow, even in so sad a case. Thus a Christian woman
who had sinned in marrying a worldly man ought not to
come out or be separate from her husband ; and she
might expect the strongest censure from God and His
children, not promised blessing, were she to act thus
rashly, whatever the purity of her motives. In fact,
1 Corinthians vii. is the true and direct weapon for the
question of marriage; our passage has a far larger
bearing. It is the prohibition of every evil connec
tion for a Christian, and it calls for thorough clearance
from all ; and no wonder, since the Christian has Christ
for his life, righteousness, and hope, even now by the
Spirit able to behold His glory without veil. It is in
congruous, it is treason, if one has taken Christ's yoke.

140 NOTES ON II CORINTHIANS. *
to accept also that of the world which rejected and
crucified Him.
"Be not diversely yoked* with unbelievers; for
what partnership [is there] for righteousness and law
lessness ? or what fellowship [hath] light with dark
ness ? and what consent of Christ with Beliarf ? or
what part for a believer with an unbeliever ? and what
agreement for God's temple with idols? for ye are}
[the] living God's temple, even as God said, I will
dwell and walk among them, and will be their God,
and they shall be my people." (Vers. 14-16.)
The figure with which the paragraph opens is
obviously taken from the law which forbade yoking
together heterogeneous animals, as the ox and the ass
in ploughing. (Dent. xxii. 10.) It is not now the Jew
severed from the Gentile, but the Christian separate
from the world in every shape and degree. Principles,
motives, interests, ways, are not only different but
opposed ; what common ground is possible ? But this is
* This opening phrase ii very compressed, being a kind of preg
nant construction, and to be resolved either with Winer as pAi ylv.
frepofuy. fro) otrms dfiof. &*¦., or more simply perhaps pdiyiv.
Jjxof . air. /col oSrais trepo^uy. The sense is plainly a heterogeneous
yoke, not another part of it as Grotius, nor a beam with diverse
weights as Theophylact.
t The MSS fluctuate as to the form of the word, ptKlak being
the nearest to the Hebrew original, corrupted through Syriac to
fltXlag which is best supported (k B C P.more than fifty cursives,
and other excellent authorities). Some give fie\tav and fie Aia/3.
X Good witnesses 0< B D L P,&c), followed by a few eminent critics,
read foih .... iopiv, "we are," for t/utt .... fori with C
0mii. BF6K, the mass of enrsives, and most of the versions and
commentators.

* CHAPTER VI. to 141
not all. Faith is the life-breath of the Christian, and
his only avowed power the Holy Ghost, whom the world
cannot receive as neither seeing nor knowing Him ; and
He works to reduce every thought to the obedience of
Christ in absolute judgment of the world and its
prince. In detail what can be stronger than the clenching
blows of every clause? First the apostle points to
the radical difference of principles, low or high, right
eousness and lawlessness, light and darkness. Next he
points to their characteristic heads, Christ and Belial.
Then he contrasts the partisans or followers, believers
and unbelievers. Lastly he closes with their joint place
as God's temple, contrasted with idols. Thus all that
forms the life outward and inward is embraced so as to
exclude alliance with the world and claim the saints
wholly for Christ apart from the world. This in no
way bars doing good to all, or especially seeking the
salvation of any. On the contrary, the truer the
separateness to Christ, the more forcibly can grace be
preached to the world as a lost thing, and Christ the
only Saviour. For righteousness was ever looked for
in a saint ; light, now that Christ was revealed, is
characteristic of a Christian.
It is not here said that the body of the saint is the
temple of God, as we see in 1 Corinthians vi., but that
the saints are His temple ; and it is added that accord
ingly God said, I will dwell among them and will walk
among [them], and will be their God, and they shall be
my people : an Old Testament promise and privilege
(Ex. xxix. ; Lev. xxvi. ; Ezek. xxxvii. 7), but better
enjoyed now, when His presence is given, not in a
«

142

NOTES ON II CORINTHIANS.

merely sensible sign as then, but in the Holy Ghost
sent down from heaven since Pentecost. Bedemption
in figure or in reality, as often observed, laid the ground
for God's dwelling thus.
With this great privilege is ever bound up the im
perative obligation of separation to God from all evil.
Holiness becomes, and must be in, the dwelling-place
of God. No doubt the beathen then as ever are charac
terised by all sorts of corruption morally : but it is
not from heathenism only but from every evil that God
calls out the believer and insists on habitual avoidance
and judgment of it.
"Wherefore come out from the midst of them and
be separated, saith [the] Lord, and touch not an un
clean thing ; and I will receive you and will be to you
for Father, and ye shall be to me for sons and daughters,
saith [the] Lord Almighty. Having therefore these
promises, beloved, let us purify ourselves from every
pollution of flesh and spirit, perfecting holiness in
God's fear." (Vers. 17, 18 ; chap. vii. 1.)
If privilege abide and be deepened since redemp
tion, more obviously moral truth is seen with increas
ing clearness and force. The conscience is purged by
blood, the heart by faith. God must have His own
holy, for He is holy ; and this not only in an inward
way, without which all would be hypocrisy, but in out
ward ways also to His own glory, unless He would be
a partner with us to His own dishonour. He will have
us clear from associations which are worldly and defi
ling; He will exercise our souls in order to freedom
from all that denies or despises His will. He would
not force others, nay He refuses not things only but

CHAPTER VI. 148
persons also that are of the world; He commands
those that believe to come out from those that believe
not, and to be separated. Indeed the union of the two
is so monstrous that it never could be defended for a
moment by a true heart ; it is only when selfish interests
or strong prejudices work that men gradually accustom
and harden themselves to disobedience so flagrant and
in every way disastrous. For as the man of the
world cannot rise to the level of Christ to be together
with His own, the Christian must descend to the level of
fallen Adam and the world. God is thus and ever more
and more put to shame in what claims to be His house,
with a loudness proportioned to its departure from His
word. Here again the Holy Spirit led the apostle to borrow
words from various parts of the Old Testament, espe
cially Isaiah Iii. ll,Ezekiel xx. 34, 2 Samuel vii. 8, 14,
Isaiah xliii. 6. Apostolic gift only enforced divine
authority, and expressed itself in terms drawn freely
from various parts of scripture. Nor could any other
way have been chosen so wise or pertinent if the aim
was to shew the will of God and His promises. It is
here to encourage individual submission to His word, as
before for the enjoyment of His presence in common.
There they were His temple in virtue of His dwelling
and walking about among them ; here He says, "I will
receive you and will be to you for Father, and ye shall
be to me for sons and daughters." It is our new rela
tionship in positive blessing and supposes the divine
nature given to us.
But there is another thing of much moment as well
as interest to observe. Jehovah as such is introduced

144 NOTES ON II CORINTHIANS.
under the Septuagintal form of " Lord" (tcvpiog) and
so without the article ; and still more " Lord Almighty."
That is, in Old Testament form Jehovah Shaddai now
brings out His New Testament relationship to those
who in the obedience of faith come out from among
the men of the world to be His sons and daughters.
For these are the great relations into which God —
Elohim — enters, as revealing Himself, first to the
fathers as Almighty (Gen. xvii. 1, xxvii. 8, xxxv. 11,
xlviii. 8), then as Jehovah to the children of Israel
(Ex. vi. 8, fie), lastly as Father, which was reserved
for the Son to declare, not only out of the fulness of
enjoyment and in testimony, but bringing us into it in
virtue of His death and resurrection (John xx. 17, &c.)
And to our souls what more instructive than the fact
everywhere patent, that those saints who cling to the
world, which is enmity against God and involves in
what is unclean at every turn, never seem to rise into
the liberty of God's sons, especially in their public
worship, but habitually drop into language more befit
ting the days when God was dealing with a nation and
dwelt in the thick darkness, instead of being revealed
as He now is in and by His Son, according to His true
nature and that relationship which is so sweet to the
believer as led by the Holy Ghost, the relationship
proper to us now, though of course He be evermore
Jehovah Shaddai ?
Clearly too the possession of these promises is the
great incentive to personal purification in practice.
Nor is anything more hateful than the position of sepa-
rateness from the world along with indifference to holi
ness. There are those who inculcate what is personal

CHAPTERS vi., vn. 1. 145
only and apologise for ecclesiastical evil as if it did not
compromise them in the Lord's dishonour ; there are
others whose zeal is solely for ecclesiastical purity and
whose personal ways are light and loose and far below
those of many a saint in humanly formed and ordered
societies. Both classes are condemned by the solemn
words before us : the first by chapter vi. 14-18, the
second by chapter vii. 1. May we, as having proved
the truth and blessing of the former, have grace to
find the constant value of the latter also, and to culti
vate purity outward and inward, perfecting holiness in
God's fear 1 We have thus a double relationship in
His grace. God dwells and walks in us as His temple,
plainly a collective blessing ; and besides, He is to us
for Father, as we are to Him for sons and daughters,
which is no less surely individual. But both are
founded on coming out in separateness to God from
among the worldly, with responsibility to touch no
unclean thing. The apologist for ecclesiastical anti-
nomianism argues that the apostle is actually speaking
of heathen impurity. Granted : it was the unclean
thing there and then ; but he was led by the Spirit to
write with such breadth and depth as to cover every
thing that defiles. Is it meant that uncleanness is now
consecrated or ignored ? Is it denied that evil is most
of all evil when coupled with the name of the Lord
Jesus ? Is not such an association the deceit, power,
and triumph of the wicked one ? To cleanse our
selves from every pollution is our clear and habitual
duty as God's temple and family.

CHAPTEB Vn.
The apostle returns to the expression of his affection
towards the Corinthians, as he desired their love.
" Beceive us : we wronged none, we corrupted
none, we overreached none. For condemnation I do
not speak ; for I have said before that ye are in our
hearts to die with and to live with. Great [is] my
frankness toward you, great my boasting in respect of
you : I am filled with encouragement, I am overflowing
with joy in all our affliction. For also when we came
into Macedonia, our flesh had no rest, but [we were]
afflicted in every way ; without fightings, within fears.
But he that encourageth the lowly, God, encouraged us
by the coming of Titus, and not by his coming only
but also by tbe encouragement with which he was en-
couragedin your case, declaring to us your longing desire,
your mourning, your zeal for me, so that I the more re
joiced. Because if also I grieved you in the letter, I do not
regret, if also I did regret;* for I see that that letter if
also for a time grieved you. Now I rejoice, not that ye
were grieved but that ye were grieved unto repentance,
for ye were grieved according to God that in nothing
ye might suffer damage from us. For grief according
to God worketht repentance to salvation not to be re
gretted ; but the grief of the world worketh out death,
* Some punctuate thus : "if also I did regret, for 1 see that that
letter grieved you if also for a time, now I rejoice," &c.
t ipyi^erai Kpm' B C D E P, &c. (tor- Text. Rec. with N«"
FG K L, and most cursives, &c.

0HAPTER VII. 147
For, behold, this very thing that ye were grieved
according to God, how much diligence it wrought out
in you, nay self-clearing, nay indignation, nay fear,
nay longing desire, nay zeal, nay avenging ! In every
thing did ye prove yourselves to be pure in the matter.
Wherefore, if also I wrote, [it was] not for the sake of
him that wronged, nor for his sake that was wronged,
but for the sake of your diligence for us (or, ours for
you)* being manifested unto you before God. On this
account we have been encouraged ; but-)- in our comfort
we rejoiced the more exceedingly over the joy of Titus,
because his spirit hath been refreshed by you all. Be
cause if I have boasted to him anything of you, I was
not put to shame ; but as we speak all things to you in
truth, so also our boasting of you to Titus was truth.
And his affections are more exceedingly toward you,
calling to mind the obedience of you all, how with fear
and trembling ye received him. I rejoice J that in every
thing I am confident in you." (Vers. 2-16.)
Thus does he call for room in their hearts : a touch
ing appeal when we reflect who and what he was, who
and what they were. The lack of love was certainly
not in him ; nor was lowliness absent from him who
deigns to repudiate the unworthy insinuations whis
pered against him, which they had better1- see whether
they might not be more applicable elsewhere : neither
* B C E K L P and a great many cursives, &c, &c. Steph.
vp.av t. vrr. ijp.av j K &c. iv. ipwv ; G, &c Tjpiav t. tiir. 7}p.av; but
Elz. with some cursives, Vulg., Gothic, &c , fipav t. bp&v
t T. Rec. omits 5e, which affects the sentence considerably, and
also reads ipiuv instead of fipiiiv.
J Elz., not Steph., adds oiv with a few cursives.

148 NOTES ON II CORINTHIANS. f
injustice nor corruption nor fraudulent gain were true
of him. He was careful to exclude even the appear
ance of these evils. But if the Holy Spirit work in
the saints, Satan is ever busy and knows how to avail
himself of all circumstances to detract and undermine,
especially where love should most abound. In speak
ing thus however the apostle is careful to guard his
words from the semblance of a condemnatory spirit.
As he had already implied in chapter vi. 11, they were
in his heart to die with and to live with. He that is
familiar with the Latin lyric may remember the well-
known line which resembles this sentiment in form —
0 how different in reality 1 " Tecum vivere amem,
tecum obeam libens." And how infinitely superior,
in strength as in purity, is this outpouring of unselfish
affection, where the Christian begins with dying to
gether, whilst the heathen can but end with it !
Far from a word to wound their spirits now restored,
he can and does speak freely and in the strongest confi
dence. " Great [is] my frankness toward you, great
my boasting in respect of you : I am filled with en
couragement, I am overflowing with joy in all our
afflictions." Sorrow closes the heart, joy opens it;
and now the apostle's gladness of heart was propor
tionate to the depth of his pain over saints bo dear in
the Lord. " For also when we came into Macedonia
our flesh had no rest, but we were afflicted in every
way: without fightings, within fears. But he that
encourageth the lowly, God, encouraged us by the coming
of Titus, and not by his coming only but also by the
encouragement with which he was encouraged in your
case, declaring to us your longing desire, your mourn-

chapter va. - 149
ing, your zeal for me, so that I the more rejoiced." It
was not only in Troas he was full of heaviness and
anxiety, but also in Macedonia whither he had gone in
the hope of hearing the latest tidings from Titus.
There he had yet more pressure of trouble till the good
news came. Deeply interesting and affecting it is to
hear the apostle opening his heart thus freely and to
know how distracted and burdened he had been by all.
" Our flesh" (ver. 5) is a peculiar expression, signify
ing (I suppose) his human weakness as such ; " afflicted
in every way" describes the circumstances (" without
fightings, within fears") inward and outward. But God
does not fail. He is the encourager of the depressed as
He resists the proud ; and He it was who now appeared to
cheer the distressed apostle by the coming of Titus,
above all by the tidings of what grace had wrought in
the Corinthians, restoration in affection, and, as we
shall see later, in conscience too.
The reason or explanation of his former severity,
given in the verses that follow, is highly interesting
and important in various respects. It is not "a" but
the letter, clearly referring to the first epistle to the
Corinthians. Did our translators wish to conceal this ?
It is not the only instance here of want of faith in men
of God ; for Calvin also shirks the truth, when he con
tends that /lerefieKdfivv " I repented" is used in the pas
sage improperly for being grieved. For (argues he) when
Paul made the Corinthians sad, he himself also shared in
the grief and in a certain way inflicted sadness on him
self at the same time. It is therefore just as if he said,
Though I unwillingly pained you, it grieved me too
that I was forced to be harsh to you ; now I cease to

150 NOTES ON n CORINTHIANS.
grieve on this account whilst I see it has been useful to
you. Otherwise if we own that Paul was concerned
at what he had written, Calvin thought it would in
volve the grave absurdity that the former epistle was
written under inconsiderate impulse rather than by the
direction of the Spirit.* So Erasmus considered that
the supposition was not the fact.f
But there is not the smallest need for toning down
or altering the language. It is indeed, however com
mon, an erroneous view of inspiration, which does in no
way preclude the working of motive as we see in Luke
i. 1-8, any more than deep exercise of mind as here.
We are bound to accept the plain words of the apostle,
which shew his anxiety after he had written an
unquestionably inspired epistle. " Because if also
I grieved you in the letter I do not regret, if also
I did regret ; for I see that that letter if also for
an hour grieved you. Now I rejoice not that ye
* " Sed quid est quod addit : etiamsi me poenituerit? Nam si
fateamur Paulo displicuisse quod scripserat, sequetur non levis
absurditas inconsiderate magis impulsu scriptam fuisse superio-
rem epistolam quam Spiritus directione. Respondeo, verbum
Poenitendi improprie hie positum pro Dolorem capere. Paulus
enim, quum moerore afficeret Corinthios, doloris partem capiebat
ipse quoque, ac sibi quodammodo tristitiam simul infligebat.
Proinde ergo est acsi diceret : Tametsi invitus vos pupugi, ac mihi
doluit quod vobis durus esse cogerer, nunc dolere ob hac causam
desino, dum video utile vobis fuisse." Calv. Opp. vii. 250.
T This seems a singular slip in an unquestionably great scholar
as to a nicety of Greek phrase; for /cal ei (when used as a compo
site, instead of the first as a mere copulative) differs from ei nat in
that the former treats the condition as itself altogether improbable,
the latter raises no doubt as to the fact, though reduced in moment
u much as possible.

OHAPTER VII. 151
were grieved but that ye were grieved unto repentance ;
for ye were grieved according to God that ye might in
nothing suffer loss from us." He recognised tbe indu
bitable fruit of the Holy Spirit's operation through the
very epistle which had harassed his spirit after he had
written and sent it off. He had no question more. It
was of God, as he was divinely convinced and reassured ;
but now in his joy at their restoration he could tell
them all his feelings freely, even a passing regret for
having written the first epistle, truly inspired of God
as it was, though joy abounded the more now for the
blessing that haj resulted.
It is a mistake to call even an inspired man infallible :
none but Christ was, and He was pleased to write
neither Gospels nor Epistles, without overlooking of
course what He commanded His servants to write in
the great and final book of the Canon. But the Spirit
of God guided and kept the vessels of His inspiration, so
that, maintaining the individuality of each writer, He
should give a result perfectly according to God. In the
first Epistle the apostle distinguishes between the fruit of
his spiritual judgment and the positive commandments
of the Lord ; but he was inspired to give us both in
chapter vii. Here he is inspired to tell us how his
spirit was agitated even about that inspired epistle,
in no way as to its absolute truth, but through his
anxiety lest the very desire to win his beloved children
back might not have estranged them for ever.
Further, we have precious light from God here as to
that great work in the awakened soul, repentance. It
is quite distinct from regret or change of mind. Even
sorrow however deep is not repentance, though sorrow

152 NOTES ON II CORINTHIANS.
according to God works it out. Again, it is not correct
to confound repentance with conversion to God, which
is surely a turning from sin with earnest desire for
holiness. Bepentance is the soul as born of God sit
ting in judgment on the old man and its acts, its words
and its ways. And as repentance for remission of sins
was to be preached in Christ's name, so He was exalted
to give both. It is not a changed mind however great
about God in Christ, which is rather what faith is and
gives ; it is the renewed mind taking account of the
man and his course according to God's word and nature.
Hence it is said to be not about God, but " toward
God" or Godward ; for the conscience then takes His
side in self-judgment before Him, and all is weighed as
in His sight. It is of course of the Spirit, not intellec
tual but moral. " Surely after that I was turned, I re
pented." It follows conversion and consequently that
application of the word which arrests the soul by faith,
though it be not yet the faith of the word of truth,
the gospel of salvation, which brings into peace.
Here of course it is the repentance of saints who had
sinned. But it is the same principle, and in contrast
with the world's grief which, knowing not God, gives
itself up to despair and works out death. However
overwhelmed may be the believer, God takes care that
there shall be enough hope in His mercy to guard from
the despairing fear which Satan wields for his deadly
purposes. And what a picture the apostle draws of God's
recent work in the repentant Corinthians I "For behold
this very thing, that ye were grieved according to God
how much diligence it wrought out in you, nay self-

CHAPTER VII. 158
clearing, nay indignation, nay fear, nay longing desire,
nay zeal, nay avenging 1 In everything did ye prove
yourselves to be pure in the matter." (Ver. 11.) Of
course its precise character was modified by the gene
rally bad state of the assembly before grace thus used
the first epistle. No indifference now, but earnest
care ; no extenuation of the evil, but thorough cleans
ing of themselves ; a burning sense of indignation,
fear, longing desire, zeal, and revenge, all had their
place ; so that he who had sternly reproved them could
say that they had proved themselves clear in the matter :
a, if not the, grand aim of the Spirit in discipline, and
not merely getting rid of the offender.
Sometimes in a case of disciplinary truth, it is a ques
tion as at Corinth of the assembly's state as a whole.
Before the first Epistle they were wholly ignorant that
all were involved in the evil which was before their
eyes, and which they did not know they were bound to
judge. When we read that they were puffed up and had
not rather mourned, we must bear in mind that they
were quite inexperienced, and that the mind of the
Lord as to dealing with wickedness in the assembly or
its members, had not yet been revealed to them. Still
as saints they ought to have felt the sin and scandal
deeply, and if they did not know how to act, they
should have betaken themselves to mourning in order
that he that had done this deed should be taken away
out of the midst of them. Spiritual instinct should
have felt thus and laid it with shame and earnest desire
before the Lord who never fails. But that epistle was
blessed of God, in dealing with their souls, not only as to
the offender, but, as to their own state, and thus gave

154 NOTES ON II CORINTHIANS.
occasion for the apostle to open his heart so painfully
burdened, and sorely agitated with all the fervour of a
real love which only overleaps its old channel because
of the temporary repression.
Where souls since then, in the face of these epistles,
have tampered with grave evil whatever it be, where
palliation has been at work, where ingenious excuses
have blunted the sense of right and wrong, as may be
at any time among Christians, it is a state of things
worse in some respects than that at Corinth. For there
ignorance of the duty of the assembly in discipline
prevailed, and we cannot wonder at it, though the sin
was appalling. The mere getting the wicked person
outside, important as it may be, is not what comforted
the apostle's heart, but the working of deep and united
moral feelings all round. " In everything ye have
proved yourselves to be pure in the matter." Where
there had been such indifference to their complicity, even
though in ignorance of their responsibility as at Corinth,
the saints had to clear themselves and prove it for the
Lord's vindication. But it is, I doubt not, a general
principle, and always incumbent. Merely to have done
with the offender would shew in others an unexercised
conscience, or but judicial hardness. The happy con
trast with all this was here manifest. They had indeed
been grieved according to God.
Hence the apostle adds that, if also he wrote to
them, it was not for the sake of the wrong-doer nor of
the one wronged, but for the manifestation to them be
fore God of their diligent zeal for them or of the apostle's
for them. (Ver. 12.) It seems passing strange that the
early clauses should seem obscure ; as to the latter in

chapter vn. 155
opposite ways the copies singularly differ, some as the
Sinaitic and the Boernerian yielding no good sense.
Whatever the adversary had wrought for a while, their
true zeal for the apostle was made plain to themselves
at last before God. This is the best supported sense.
" On this account we have been encouraged ; and in
[or in addition to] our encouragement, we rejoiced
much more abundantly at the joy of Titus, because
his spirit has been refreshed by you all." Grace had
given the happiest issue to that which fleshly energy
or ease had ruined for a time. And joy abounded not
in them only but more in Titus, most in Paul himself.
And there were other grounds beyond, though con
nected with, their present state. " Because if I have
boasted anything to him over you, I was not put to
shame ; but as we spoke all things to you in truth, so
also the boasting about you before Titus was truth ; and
more abundantly toward you are his bowels, while
calling to mind the obedience of you all, how with fear
and trembling ye received him. I rejoice that in
everything I have good courage in respect of you."
Such an allusion to his feelings towards the Corinthians,
when they must have been conscious of their tempo
rary alienation, and deplorably low state, would more
than ever seal their affection, as it proved his to have
been true from first to last. His heart was not incon
stant, nor was his tongue insincere. He loved, if also
he had blamed his beloved children at Corinth, and they
could now appreciate all better, as he could tell out
all freely, however delicately. How blessed it is when
grace thus reigns through righteousness, as it perfectly
did by Christ unto eternal life I

CHAPTEB VHI.
The apostle was now free, so far as the state of the
Corinthian saints was concerned, to introduce the great
duty of remembering the poor. Even the most
honoured servants of the Lord were forward in this
work, and not least Paul himself. This he would lay
on the heart of the Corinthians. As he sought not his
own things, he could plead for others ; and he would
draw out the affections of his children at Corinth to
ward saints suffering from poverty in Judea, whither
he was going.
Yet we may notice how the charaoter of the man
comes out. He did not like the task of appealing to
others for pecuniary help even though for others. The
directness of his language in the first epistle is there
fore in the strongest contrast with his circumlocution
in the second. The need was deeply on his own heart ;
and he has no more doubt of the generous feelings of
the Corinthians than of their ability, so far as circum
stances were concerned, to respond ; but the delicacy
with which he deals with all is most marked and in
structive. Personal influence has no place ; faith and
love are called out actively ; the cheering example of
saints where such devotedness could have been least
expected opens the way ; and Christ is brought in,
carrying it home with irresistible power for those that
knew Him.
" Now we make known to you, brethren, the grace of

chapter vm. 157
God that is given in [or, among] the assemblies of Mace
donia ; that in much trial of affliction the abundance of
their joy and their deep poverty abounded unto the
riches* of their liberality ; because acoording to power
[I bear witness] and beyond* power [they gave]
of their own accord, beseeching of us with much en
treaty! the grace and the fellowship of the ministering
unto the saints ; and this not as we hoped, but their
own selves they gave first to the Lord and to as by the
will of God ; so that we exhorted Titus, that, even as
he before began, so he would also complete as to you
this grace also ; but as ye abound in everything, faith
and word and knowledge and all diligence and love
from youj to us, that ye abound in this grace also. I
speak not by commandment, but through || the diligence
of others proving the genuineness of your love also."
(Vers. 1-8.)
How blessedly " the grace of God" changes every
thing it takes up ! And what can it not reach in its
comprehensive embrace? Where is the demand too
hard for it to entertain ? Or the evil too deep for it to
" Text. Rec, with most, reads rtv »X., but Kra' B C P &c, rt *\.
as in verse 3, titip instead of wapa. Krebs seems not to have been
aware of this last fact.
t The addition of 8l{<ur0ai rip.as in Text. Rec. is supported by
some cursives and versions, against the great mass of good authority.
X Lachmann actually adopts the strange reading of the Vatican
MS. supported by other witnesses, l( fmiiv iv 6/uv. Internal evi
dence would be decisive against this if the external evidence wen
not as strong as it is.
J D E read Sia ri)v &c, that is, on account of. Elzevir differs
from Stephens in falsely reading ft/jLtripat " our," with a few cur
sives, instead of ip, " your."

158 NOTES ON II CORINTHIANS.
fathom ? What sin is beyond forgiveness ? Whose
misery or of what sort can it not turn into an occasion
for the all-overcoming goodness of God? See here
how that which is among men but " filthy lucre," an
especial object of the covetousness which is idolatry,
becomes the means of exercising faith in love, to the
glory of God and the exceeding blessing of His chil
dren, while it draws out the wisdom of the Holy Ghost
through the apostle, who did not deem it beneath the
fullest consideration in all its details.
First, the mighty influence of example is brought to
bear on the saints in Corinth. (Ver. 1.) Nor is this
surprising ; for are they not one family with its common
interests, yea, one body with its fellowship undivided
and immediate ? Granted that the wants are in carnal
things; granted, that it is no question of pleading
rights or claims. But a relationship in the Spirit is no
less real and far more momentous than one in the flesh ;
and, if there be suffering, love feels accordingly. In
the next place God took care that the first to respond
should be saints not in the wealthy city of Corinth, but
in the long desolated and impoverished district of
Macedonia, that the work might be of God's grace, and
in no way a matter of worldly circumstances. Even in
writing to the Corinthians the apostle had reminded
them, as all experience shews, that the confessors of
Christ are for the most part from the poor and obscure
and foolish: and we know that in the Macedonian
assemblies at this time the saints were no exception to
the generally distressed condition of the country. On
the contrary, we are expressly told here of their poverty
down into the depths. They gave no gifts of super-

CHAPTER VIII. 159
fluity ; it was faith working by love, whilst they were
proving themselves a great trial of affliction. The cir
cumstances of Macedonia might have seemed eminently
unfavourable ; the reality of their liberality was the
more evidently from a divine source ; for in the face of
tribulation their joy abounded, and their deep poverty,
instead of appealing for aid to others, abounded unto
the riches of their open-hearted generosity. (Ver. 2.)
It was unselfish devotedness, loving others better than
themselves ; and as God gave them the grace that so
wrought, so the apostle names it in love to the saints in
Corinth, and, indeed we may say, to us all, that our
hearts too should go forth in no less love. For love is
as energetic and fruitful, as it is holy and free ; and
God would have not a grain of the good seed lost.
Nor does love calculate what it can spare nor what it
can effect. (Ver. 8.) The heart animated by love thinks
not of its own trials or deep poverty, but of those it
hears to be suffering in any special degree, and acts at
once. At least the apostle testifies of the Macedonian
saints, that according to means, and beyond means, they
gave of their own accord. No earthly incentives were
here ; no pressure of agents, no rivalry of donations,
no moving appeals among multitudes, no circulated
lists to shame or to stimulate, no personal or party
aims of any kind. It is the graoe of God given from
first to last ; and as God treasures it, so His servant
testifies of it so much the more because those in whom
it wrought thought nothing of it in the love that felt
only the need of its objects.
But this is not all : the Macedonian saints, far from
being solicited, were themselves the suitors of Paul and

160 NOTES ON II CORINTHIANS.
his companions, and with much entreaty begged of
them the graoe and the fellowship of the ministering
unto the saints, that is, to be allowed a share in the
grace or favour of thus caring for the suffering saints of
Judea. It will be noticed that the Authorised Version, fol
lowing the common Greek text, contains the words,
" that we would receive" (SigaoQai i/fias), which
again involves the insertion of " take upon us" in verse
4. But as the former is not warranted by the best
authorities, so the latter is needless and indeed worse ;
for both additions enfeeble and falsify the sense, which
is, that the Macedonian saints might have the grace and
fellowship of the service which was to be done the poor
saints, not the mere idea that the apostle would receive
their collection and undertake its distribution.3*'
But the apostle goes farther in his fine sketch of
Macedonian devotedness ; for it was not only sponta
neous, but beyond all expectation of himself, accus-
* Even so difficulty has been felt because of the absence of the
finite verb expressed ; but it seems plain enough, as Bengel long
ago suggested, that iSaKav, which follows in verse 5, is understood
in the earliest clause, and this removes all appearance of what has
been styled " a sentence entirely shattered in passing through the
apostle's mind." But it is no less plain that Bengel was mistaken
in supposing that X"-Sl" ani ' K0"'- depend on iSwxav, for they are un
equivocally objects of St6p.evoi, which also takes a genitive of the
person. " Hoc verbum totam periochae structuram sustinet, tali sensu:
Non modo gratiam, communionem, sive S6p.a, munus illud dederunt,
sed plane se ipsos dederunt. Ita Chrysost. Homil. xvi. in 2 Cor.
coll. maxime Homil. xvii., ubi repetit birep Sivapuv tSmiav. Gum
eodem verbo ftmcav cohaerent nominativl illi, aiBaiptroi, Se6p.tvoi,
et ab eodem pendent accusativi, %apiv Koivmviav, iavrois, sensu facili
et suavi." Gnomon in loco. ed. Stuttg. 1866.

chapter vm. 161
tomed as he was to live in the walk of faith every day.
•* And this not as we hoped, but their own selves they
gave first to the Lord and to us by the will of God."
Is not this the reflection, yea reproduction, as far as it
goes, of Christ's love in giving Himself? Doubtless
directly and necessarily there is a perfection in Christ's
offering which is altogether unique. He gave Himself
for us, an offering and a sacrifice to God for a sweet-
smelling savour ; it was all this and more to God and
for us, as nothing else could be. But these humble
and loving saints, the grace of God in whom is com
mended to the Corinthians, did not merely go beyond
their means, but beyond the apostle's hope, who did not
wish to be burdened with the wants of others those
who were themselves in the depth of poverty. And
no wonder that they thus exceeded, seeing that, as he
adds, " their own selves they gave first to the Lord,
and to us by the will of God." Had they not caught
a vivid impression of the Saviour's love, where God
always had the first place, whatever His infinite com
passion for man ? When love for the saints follows in
their case, it is qualified by that which was the constant
motive of Christ, " by the will of God." It is not only
consistency with His will, though this of course was
true, but His will was the spring of the self-sacrifice.
This acted on the heart of the apostle up to the point
of beseeching Titus to carry out what he had formerly
begun among the Corinthians when he delivered the
first epistle. (Ver. 6.) Paul's love for them was
holily jealous that their love should not slacken and
that an early promise should not wither in the bud.
And Titus was the meet instrument, as he before
if

162 NOTES ON 11 CORINTHIANS.
began, so also now to complete as to* the Corinthians
this grace also.
" But, as ye abound in everything, faith and word
and knowledge and all diligence and love from you to
us, that ye abound in this grace also." The apostle
exhorts the Corinthians too, as he had Titus. They
had their part now, and as God had enriched with
everything else, were they to fail in this grace ? Nay,
He looks that they should abound in it also. (Ver. 7.)
Yet he is careful that it should not be by injunction but of
grace. "I speak not by command, but through the
diligence of others proving the genuineness of your
love also." (Ver. 8.) What a blending of tenderness,
delicacy, and of faithfulness withal !
We have seen how powerfully the thought of the Lord
acted on the saints of Macedonia, who in spite of their
deep poverty had so exceeded the apostle's expectation.
Now he brings His grace to bear on those of Achaia
whom he had ground to believe awakened to feel
accordingly. " For ye know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ,
that for your sakes he being rich became poor, in order
that ye by his poverty might become rich. And I give
an opinion in this, for this iB profitable for you who be
gan before not only the doing, but also to be willing a
year ago. But now also complete the doing, that even
as the readiness of the willing [was there], so also the
* I see no need whatever of giving eis i/iSs so wide a render
ing as Mr. Green'B "on reaching you," or even " among you" as is
oftener done. It is not for iv ipuv but more exact as it stands. No
more is there any real ground for translating a\ki in verse 7
" therefore," as in A. V. " But" introduces a new appeal.

ohapteb vm. 163
eompleting [may be] out of what ye have. For if the
readiness be there, [one is] accepted according to what
he may have, not according to what he hath not. For
[it is] not that others [should have] ease and you dis
tress, but on equality : at the present time your abun
dance for their lack, that their abundance also should
be for your lack, so that there should be equality ; as it
is written, He that [gathered] much had nothing over,
and he that [gathered] little had no lack." (Vers. 9-15.)
The parenthesis of verse 9 is eminently instructive,
not only for that which would act powerfully on the
Corinthians as on all saints who appreciate the grace of
our Lord, bat as a sample of the way the Spirit of
God turns what was in Christ to every exigency of the
individual or of the church. Nor does any other
motive act with equal power in holiness. And it could
not be otherwise ; for who or what can compare with
Christ ? To His grace, though it be really immeasur
able, two measures are applied, the infinite glory of
His person in itself, and the depth of humiliation to
which He submitted for us. " For ye know the grace
of our Lord Jesus Christ, that for your sakes he being
rich became poor, in order that ye by his poverty might
be made rich." Wealth consists in fulness of means
and resources, and poverty in their utter lack. As a
divine person our Lord had no need for Himself, and
all things at command for others absolutely. He was
rich indeed, yet for our sakes became poor, not in the
letter only but in spirit to the uttermost. See the
picture summed up in Philippians ii., and expanded or
detailed in all the Gospels, the perfect pattern of One
who hung in dependence on His Father and never used

164 NOTES ON II CORINTHIANS.
a single thing for Himself throughout His career. He
waited on and lived on account of the Father ; it was
His meat to do His will and finish His work. He had
no motive but the one of pleasing His Father, what
ever the cost. The fast of forty days in the wilderness
was doubtless a special scene of trial which ushered in
His public ministry ; but it was His ordinary life to
count on the care of God while doing His work with
out an anxiety on the one hand, and on the other with
out independent resources. But His poverty went
down into depths unfathomable in the cross when
giving His life for the sheep. I do not speak merely of
His garments parted among them and of their casting
lots upon His vesture, image though it was of extreme
and helpless destitution. Deeper elements were there
than man's eye saw, when all forsook Him and fled.
God forsook Him too — His God. What remained
then? Nothing but the unsparing judgment of our
sins. Was He not the " poor man" then as none other
was, never morally so high, yet never so abject, and
this not circumstantially alone but in all the unspeak
able abandonment of that hour ? As He said propheti
cally in Psalm xxii., " I am a worm, and no man ; a
reproach of men and despised of the people. .... I
am poured out Like water, and all my bones are out of
joint ; my heart is like wax ; it is melted in the midst
of my bowels. My strength is dried up like a potsherd ;
and my tongue cleaveth to my jaws ; and thou hast
brought me into the dust of death."
But He was heard from the horns of the unicorns,
and in resurrection declares His Father's name unto
His brethren, in the midst of the congregation praising

CHAPTER vm. „ 165
Him. What tongue of men or ot angels can ade
quately tell the change ? None but His own when He
passed from the abyss of woe where was no standing
to the everlasting and immutable ground of divine
righteousness where the once guilty objects of graoe
are set in Him without spot or stain or charge before
God, who delights to shew them His estimate of
Christ's redemption, and gives the Holy Spirit to seal
them unto the day whieh will declare it. Yet is this bat
part of the riches of grace wherewith Christ now en
riches us who believe. And the blessing of Jehovah
is not only for us an exhaustless treasure, but it will
go forth with wide-embracing fulness when Messiah's
praise shall be " in the great congregation." Then all
the ends of the world shall remember and turn unto
Jehovah; and all the kindreds of the nations shall
worship before Him. For as surely as the Father will
surround the Son with His children in His house in
heaven, the kingdom is Jehovah's, and He is the
Governor among the nations, and the earth is to be
blessed in that day no less than the heavens be filled
with the rich harvest gathered into the granary on
high, when for the dispensation of the fulness of times
He will gather together in one all things in Christ,
both which are in heaven and which are on earth, even
in Him, in whom also we have obtained an inheritance,
being predestinated according to the purpose of Him
who worketh all things after the counsel of His own
will. Truly we by His poverty have been enriched,
though not we alone but every soul who ever has been,
and ever shall be, blessed. All they that be fat upon earth
shall eat and worship ; all they that go down to the

166 NOTES ON n CORINTHIANS.
dust shall bow before Him ; and none can keep alive
his own soul. Such is the grace, the known grace, of
our Lord Jesus Christ, and these the ways of our God,
not now only but in the ages to come for His own glory
and to His praise, whose humiliation and redemption
have wrought such wonders, as yet only seen by faith,
soon to be displayed before every eye. How sweet to
associate it with the gracious consideration of the poor
saints and the supply of their need at Jerusalem ! How
worthy of God thus to bring Christ into that which
otherwise had been but an exercise of benevolence and
compassion I
The apostle adds his judgment of its profit for the
Corinthian saints themselves (ver. 10), who began be
fore not only the doing, but also the willing a year ago.
He could therefore with the more delicate propriety
urge the completing of their purpose out of what they
had. Grace repudiates constraint, but values, en
courages, and directs readiness of mind : without this,
what is the worth of giving ? Is the gift acceptable ?
or the giver ? But if the readiness be there, one is
accepted according to what one has, not according to
what one has not. Sentiment disappears ; reality takes
its place. Truth accompanies grace; and equity
follows. For it is not that others should have ease
and the Corinthians pressure, but on equality ; and, as
the application is made, "at the present time your
abundance for their lack, that their abundance also
should be for your lack." This is fortified by God's
way and word as to the gathering of the manna of old ;
when God adjusted the supply to the demand with a
wisdom and power which precluded superfluity no less

chapter vm. 167
tnan aeficiency. He that gave the manna from heaven
measured it exactly, whatever the differing measures in
man's hands. And we have to do with the same God,
who regulates all in the assembly with assuredly no
less care and love.
In the rest of the chapter the apostle dwells on the
care taken that the administration of the bounty should
be not only beyond suspicion, but clothed with dignity
and godly confidence by the known character of those
entrusted with it. For it is not enough that the end
should be divine, but that the means also should approve
themselves to every true conscience. J£ lucre be apt
to be filthy, if covetousness be idolatry, if the love of
money be a root of all evil, the Spirit of God knows
how to bring in Christ into every detail, and to turn
both way and end into blessing to God's glory.
" But thanks to God that giveth the same zeal for
you in the heart of Titus, in that he received indeed
the exhortation, but being very zealous of his own
accord he set out unto you. But we sent together
with him the brother whose praise in the gospel [is]
through all the assemblies, and not only [so] but also
chosen by the assemblies our fellow-traveller with this
grace that is being administered by us unto the glory
of the Lord [himself]* and ourf readiness ; guarding
against this, that none should blame us in this abund
ance that is being administered by us, for we provide J
• B C DP'm" FGL many cursives and ancient versions omit
ouroB " himself."
f Text. Rec. has v/iiiv " your," contrary to the oldest and best
MSS which read fipiwv "our."
J Instead of Text. Rec. irpovooipevoi with later MSS (or bettei

168 NOTES ON II CORINTHIANS.
things honourable not only before [the] Lord but also
before men. And we have sent with them our brother
whom we proved to be zealous many times in many
things, but now much more zealous by great confidence
that [he hath] in you. Whether as regards Titus, [he
is] my partner and fellow-labourer toward you;
whether our brethren, [they are] messengers of assem
blies, Christ's glory. The shewing forth then of your
love and of our boasting for you shew forth* unto
themf in the face of the assemblies." (Vers. 16-24.)
The apostle thankfully owned the grace of God in
giving Titus to feel as he zealously felt himself about
the Corinthian saints in the matter, so that while he
met the desire, yet too zealous as he was to require it
he was ready to set out of his own accord unto them.
He speaks as if it were already done ; because in the
style adopted in letters the facts would be made good
when Titus had reached Corinth with this epistle.
How eminently suited to comfort as well as rouse to a
holy zeal the saints themselves when such a servant of
the Lord as Titus so promptly responded to the
apostle's heart, confident as both were that, whatever
appearances indicated to those who judged superficially,
grace had wrought in them, really and would yet flow
through them to God's glory abundantly 1 If Timothy
was like-minded with him to care for the state of tho
yap added as in C. &c), the best read npovoovpiv yip, •' for w»
provide." f
• For Text. Rec. ivSellturBt with many old MSS, ivStuivip.tvoi
is reaJ in B D"— E<""°- F G &c.
t The Kai " and" of the Text. Rec. has no adequate authority and
encumbers the sense.

chapter vm. 169
Philippians with genuine feeling at a later day, the
Corinthians might now learn no less, as they were
already prepared to do, how Titus shared the zeal of the
apostle in carrying out the proffered bounty of Corinth,
which had been so slow of execution as to compro
mise them.
Thoughtful too as ever that Christ's glory should be
sustained in His servants, He would not expose Titus
to unworthy, however unwarrantable, question ; and
so he associated with him in this service " the brother
whose praise in the gospel is throughout all the assem
blies." So well known was he by this description to
the Corinthians that no direct designation was needed,
though men of other times have found it so vague as
to afford grounds equally plausible for many, equally
uncertain for any one in particular. Of one thing we
may be assured that, whether or not Luke was intended,
"whose praise in the gospel" has nothing to do with
him in respect of the inspired account of our Lord
which induced many of the ancients to appropriate the
description to him, any more than to Mark. Barnabas
and Silas have been conjectured ; as also Aristarchus,
Gaius, Trophimus, &c. But none of these guesses
seems less happy than that of some speculative Ger
mans, who have applied tov &SeK(pdv to a supposed
brother (after the flesh) of Titus, not seeing the incon
gruity of such an one, if indeed he existed, for the
work in hand. The object and character of the asso
ciation would have been frustrated by selecting one
so near to Titus. But we do know the further con
sideration that, whoever he may have been, he was
ehosen by the assemblies to travel with the apostle and

170 MOTES ON II CORINTHIANS.
the rest who were to carry the offering of love from the
Gentile saints to their poor brethren in Judea.
Here we see an important principle in exact accord
ance with the direction of the twelve in Acts vi. As
the christian multitude gave the means, they were left
free to choose the administrators. This was as wise as
gracious. The apostles kept aloof from all appearance
of favouritism, and adhered to their own work with
prayer, the condition of power. They might solemnly
establish the seven over their business of serving
tables ; but they called on the disciples in general to
look out from among themselves men of good report,
full of the Holy Spirit and wisdom in whom they had
confidence. Such were the proceedings in the assem
bly of Jerusalem; and a like method was adopted among
the Gentile assemblies, where many joined their con
tributions for the need at Jerusalem as we learn in
verse 19. Where the saints gave, they chose according
to their best judgment for the due application of their
gifts, whether in one assembly, or for the special work
of many assemblies. But in no case did they meddle
with the ministers of the word. These the Lord gave,
not the church ; and the church, instead of choosing,
received those whom the Lord chose and sent, not
merely the higher ones, as apostles and prophets, but
the more ordinary, as evangelists, pastors and teachers.
For they too all rest on the same principle of the
Lord's gift, and not man's. And hence it is an utter
oonfusion to mix up two things so different as the
Lord's sole title to give and send His servants in the
word, and the assembly's title to choose those in whom
the saints have confidence to administer their bounty.

CHAPTER VIII. 171
The case before as falls under the latter. "The
brother" un-named was chosen by the assemblies
" our fellow-traveller with the graoe that is being ad
ministered by us unto the glory of the Lord [Himself]
and our readiness ;" as indeed the apostle had directed
in 1 Corinthians xvi. 8, 4. The moral reason of the
caution follows : " guarding against this, that none
should blame us in this abundance that is being ad
ministered by us, for we provide things honourable not
only before [the] Lord but before men." (Vers. 20, 21.)
It is not lack of faith, but rather faith working by love
which would cut off occasion from men, as well as
walk with pure conscience before God. The allusion
is to Proverbs iii. 4 in the LXX.
The next verse, as well as that which follows, proves
that the apostle added another brother. " And we
sent with them [i.e. with Titus and the one already
described] our brother whom we proved to be zealous
many times in many things, but now much more
zealous by great confidence that [he hath] in you."
(Ver. 22.) Still less is it possible for as to de
termine who is this second brother meant ; because we
have not even so many marks as attached to the first.
But two particulars fitting him for the work are
mentioned : the apostle's experience of his proved zeal
often and variedly ; and again the exceeding warmth of
his own zeal now by his (hardly Paul's) great confidence
in the Corinthian saints. For the margin of the
Authorised Version is more correct than the text, at
least in my judgment. None could be so unsuitable
an associate as a near relation, if the aim were, as it
was, to inspire confidence in the donors.

172 ?1 NOTES ON II CORINTHIANS.
It seems to be clear from verse 28 that Titus stood
relatively in the higher position of the three who were
to accompany the apostle: " Whether as regards Titus,
[he is] my partner and fellow-labourer toward you;
whether our brethren, [they are] messengers of assem
blies, Christ's glory." Is it not then incredible that
the apostle would have thus classified or described men
so eminent as Barnabas, Silas, Luke or Mark ? Not
to say that it was only at a later day that he expresses
his re-assurance as to the last. Could he yet write that
Mark was serviceable to him for ministry ? or that he
was among his fellow-workers for the kingdom of
God who were such as had been a consolation to him ?
Benewed confidence may be gravely doubted then,
though it caine at length ; and the apostle was glad to
say so as soon as he could to the Lord's praise.
It is well to note how the expression " messengers
[<bro<rro\o<] of assemblies " illustrates the difference of
a charge from men however delicate and weighty as
compared with a gift or charge from the Lord Like an
apostle. These brethren, while beautifully and gra
ciously styled " Christ's glory" as being active in the dis
play of His excellency, were deputed envoys of certain
churches who entrusted them with their contributions
for Judea. Not only did he decline the sole adminis
tration of the gift himself, but he directed and sanc
tioned the choice of more than one and gave their
task dignity in all eyes by associating the two brethren,
not only with Titus who shared the highest confidence
of the saints, but with himself. Our Authorised
Version, however, is qnite right in not rendering the
word " apostles " (which is appropriated to the envoys

CHAPTER VIII. 173
of the Lord in the highest rank of His work) and in
preferring "messengers" here and in Philippians ii.
25, where it is said of Epaphroditus who was the
bearer of what the Philippian saints sent at a later day
of the apostle in Borne. To translate the passage in1
our text or in Philippians ii. " apostles" can only bet
from inconsiderateness, or still worse — the desire to levels
down the apostles of Christ by levelling up the mes- '
senger or messengers of churches. The source of the
commission is the measure of their difference. To con--
found them is to degrade the Lord or to deify the church,
the great effort of the enemy by those who know not!the -
truth, however they may look in opposition to each1
other. For here it is that the highest and the lowest?
ecclesiastically meet: the one by exalting a merely
human caste of church officials to the place which the
Lord gave His apostles; the other by reducing the
apostles of the Lord to those chosen by the assemblies!
or delegates of the people. They both agree, one
superstitiously, the other rationalisticallyj in unbelief of
Christ's gracious power in providing for the perfecting
of the saints.
Having thus summed up what he had to say of his
companions, of moment for the Corinthian saints at
this time, he calls on the saints to give the proof of
their love and of his boasting about them to those
brethren in the face of the assemblies.

CHAPTER IX.
But the apostle has a good deal more to say on a sub
ject so constantly and often urgently needed in the
assembly, where the poor are apt ever to abound. He
had brought before the Corinthians the bright example
of the Macedonian believers, notwithstanding circum
stances most unpromising naturally. And this had
stirred up the apostle to urge on Titus the eompletion
of this grace also in Achaia which the Corinthians had
begun a year ago. Not that he spoke by command
ment, but through the zeal of others and proving the
genuineness of their love, while setting before them
the incomparable grace of our Lord Jesus Christ to act
on their souls. So God in giving the manna to Israel
took care that, whatever the inequality in gathering,
none should be in excess and none want : was there to
be less regard for each other in the church ? Love
desired not the ease of those, nor pressure on these,
but rather a principle of equality in mutual consider
ation of each other, and this wherever the church is
found. Then he sets forth the hearty diligence in this
matter of Titus, who had gone about what remained to
be done at Corinth with two other brethren ; for thus
had the apostle lent the contribution importance
whilst guarding it from the smallest imputation of
evil, and calling on the Corinthians to make good
their love and his own boasting of them.
" For about the ministration for the saints it is
superfluous for me to write to you. For I know your

CHAPTER IX. 175
readiness which I boast of you to Macedonians that
Achaia hath been prepared a year ago, and your* zeal
stimulated the mass. Yet I sent the brethren in order
that our boasting of you may not be made vain in this
respect, that (as I said) ye may be prepared; lest,
haply, if Macedonians come with me and find you un
prepared, we may be ashamed, that we say not ye
in this confidence.! I thought it necessary therefore
to exhort the brethren that they would go before unto
you and complete beforehand your blessing promised
before,! that it De ready thus as blessing, not as§
covetousness. But this [I say], he that soweth
sparingly shall reap also sparingly ; and he that soweth
in blessings shall reap also in blessings; each as he
hath purposed || in his heart, not of sorrow or of
necessity ; for God loveth a cheerful giver."
(Vers. 1-7.)
From Galatians ii. 11 we know how earnest our
apostle was like the rest as to the general principle,
and how in this particular case his heart went out to
the distressed saints in Jerusalem, none the less because
his part of the work was emphatically toward the
Gentiles. But his delicacy is no less striking and in
structive here, where he gives the saints in Corinth
* The common T.R. reading i i( i/t. is largely supported, but
not by the best MSS, &c, and may be taken as "seal on your
part." f T.R., with several uncials and most cursives, Ac., adds rijt
navx,t)o~z<vs " of boasting."
J irpoe-mry. has much the best support, not as in T. R. neoicevnff.
§ i>s the best MSS, not Omrtp as T.R. with a few cursives.
|| T.R. has the present, " purposeth," with most, but the ol«le»t
lead the perfect

176 NOTES ON II CORINTHIANS.
full credit for the same love which overflowed his own
heart ; " it is superfluous for me to write to you."
They had been taught it of God themselves. Why
then did he write so amply ? Not because he did not
know their ready mind ; not because they had failed to
give him ground to glory in what God had wrought
in this respect ; for as he in the last chapter boasted of
the Macedonians triumphing over their trying and
needy circumstances in their most generous remem
brance of the poor saints in Judea, so now he lets the
Corinthian saints know his haoit of boasting of them
selves to Macedonians, and very especially in their
preparation for this call a year ago.
Hence, no doubt, it is that in his zeal for them
selves and the Lord's honour in them, and seeking
the happy flow of love in every way, he speaks
(in the epistolary aorist) of sending the brethren re
ferred to in the close of the preceding chapter, in order
to guard in this particular against mishap in his boast
on their behalf. He wanted them to be prepared
beyond danger of disappointment as far as pains on his
part could secure it. How painful for him, not to say
for them, it would be if brethren came from Macedonia
and found shortcoming in the very saints, the report
of whose zeal had acted so powerfully in kindling their
own 1 What shame on all sides if this confidence in
the Corinthians should not prove well-founded 1 He
did not wish, as we know from 2 Corinthians xvi.,
that there should be collections when he came himself;
as he would guard against haste on the one hand or
personal influence on the other, or malevolent insinu
ation. But his love for them and desire for the Lord's

CHAPTER IX. 177
glory in the business made him exhort Titus and his
two companions to go on before to Corinth and pre
vious to his own arrival complete their fore-promised
blessing. Compare, for this use of "blessing," Genesis
xxxiii. 11, Judges i. 15, 2 Kings v. 15; it is love
not in word nor in tongue, but in deed and in truth,
1 John iii. 18.
The apostle's longing was, not merely that their
proposed beneficence should be ready, but in such
sort as blessing, and not as covetousness, meeting
thus the danger on both sides. As he would have it a
blessing on the givers' part, he repudiates all covetous
ness on the part of those receiving it for the poor
saints. He does not seem to limit his caution to the
former nor to allude in covetousness to a niggardly
spirit, any more than to make irX. mean " tenacity,"
instead of the desire of having more which soon runs
into tricky means to get more.
But this further he adds, a wholesome thing to re
member, being truth in God's moral government, and
of all moment in our life on earth: he that sows
sparingly shall reap also sparingly ; and he that sows
with blessings shall reap also with blessings. It is no
question of correspondence in kind, but it may be
spiritually also and so much the better. Still it is true,
and especially among God's people, as it always was.
(See Prov. xi. 24, 25.) Scripture indeed teems with
it in one form or another ; and experience is the sure
and plain commentary. God despises not what is
given to the poor saints ; but the spirit of giving is far
more important than the gift. Therefore the apostle
follows up the apothegm he had just applied : each just
N

178 NOTES ON n CORINTHIANS.
as he has pre-determined in his heart, not of sorrow or
of necessity, for God loves a cheerful giver, quoting
Prov. xxii. 8 (Alex. LXX). To grudge and grieve over
what is given is unworthy of a saint of His ; to exact
it no less unworthy of His servant. How needed
is faith here as everywhere I how energetic is love,
which is our only due spring in this as in all else
practically, whatever the encouragements God may and
does give those whom grace has called and strengthens
to walk in the path of Christ I Himself the sovereign
giver of all good, He loves to see the reflection of His
grace and blessing in His children.
The close of the apostolic exhortation on giving is
admirably in keeping with all we have had already.
Not only does God love a cheerful giver, but He is
able in His grace to see that there shall be means to
give, and not in this form only, but for every good
work. " There is that scattereth, and yet increaseth."
(Prov. xi. 24.)
"And God is able to make every grace abound unto
you ; that ye, having always all sufficiency in every
[thing], may abound unto every good work ; as it is
written, He scattered, he gave to the poor : his right
eousness remaineth for ever." (Vers. 8, 9.) No doubt
that God has now revealed Himself in Christ according
to His own nature, in view of heaven and eternity ; no
doubt He has given us life in His Son and redemption
through His blood and union with that glorified man
at His right hand, that we might glory in nought but
His cross here below, and count not life dear to serve
the Lord in His way and our measure, as we wait for
Him from heaven. But this does not hinder the

CHAPTER IX. 179
government of God and the pleasure He takes in
blessing large and generous hearts, as of old, so now.
Special privileges do not forbid His general principles,
and His power finds a way in His wisdom to harmonise
all. And the apostle, who knew better than any what
it was to suffer with Christ and for Christ, is just the
Buited one, out of his capacious mind and heart, to
communicate the assurance of these His unchanged
ways, for which he cites Psalm cxii. 9 ; the beautiful
description of man blessed in the kingdom when divine
judgment introduces it Dy-and-by. Then the fear of
Jehovah and obedience will have might on the same
side, and judgment will return to righteousness, and
wealth in no wise corrupt it, but it endures for ever
with a spirit of compassion and gracious consideration
of others. There may be judicial ways peculiar to
that day as looking on his enemies, and his horn ex
alted, &c. ; bat true righteousness, far from being hard,
dispenses with liberal hand from that which grace
supplies abundantly. Nor could it be otherwise in the
estimate of a true heart that now, in the day when
grace is vouchsafed in other and deeper ways, it should
fail in this. It is not so however ; and He who shews
ns His mercy beyond measure or thought is able to
make every graoe abound, and this that we might have
the blessed favour of imitating Him here too, or as the
apostle puts it to the Corinthian saints, " that ye, at
every time having every kind of sufficiency in every
thing, may abound unto every good work," as it is
written in the Psalms.
There is no need, we may by the way remark, of
altering the force of " righteousness" here or elsewhere.

180 NOTES ON II CORINTHIANS. *
It does not mean " benevolence" as the Geneva Version
renders it with many a commentator, but comprehends
it. (Cf. Matt. vi. 1, 2.) Bighteousness means eon-
sistency with relationship ; and what can be more con
sistent than generous remembrance of want in others,
especially in the household of faith, on the part of
those who own that all is of grace in their own case ?
But this is not all. Not only is God able thus to
do, but He, the God of all grace, acts accordingly.
" But he that supplieth seed to the sower and bread
for eating will* supply and multiply your sowing and
increase the fruits of your righteousness, [ye] being
enriched in everything unto all liberality which worketh
out through us thanksgiving to God." (Vers. 10, 11.)
It is not a wish or prayer as in the Authorised Version,
nor is it (with the same Version, the Vulgate, Luther,
Calvin, &c.) correct to construe x°PrTtf<Tal " minister"
or supply (wer » this the true form) with aprov elg f}p,
(" bread for ye ur food"). Compare Isaiah lv. 10. It
is an assurance that the God who amply provides for
ourselves loves to furnish means as well as oppor
tunities of blessing to others, as He delights in owning
and rewarding these fruits of righteousness, which are
really of His grace, as if they were ours and not of
Him by us. The form of the sentence following is
slightly irregular, the sense quite sure and plain, with
out introducing the parenthesis of the English or other
versions. God would thus increase the fruits of their
righteousness, " while ye are in everything being
enriched with every kind of liberality, which is such
* The future appears in the most ancient and best MSS, K B C
D P. fifteen cursives, in the old Latin, Vulg. Cop. Arm. Aeth., &c.

CHAPTER Et. 181
M worueth oat through us thanksgiving to God." The
word translated "liberality" is given in Bomans xii. 8
as "simplicity," which is no doubt its literal force.
But thence, from conveying the absence of excuse for
not giving, it easily derived the sense here implied. The
apostle acknowledges the source of all they had given
that they might abound in good works, reminds them
of his own share in it whether in strengthening their
zeal or in dispensing the fruit, and anticipates the
thanksgiving of those about to be relieved by it rising
np to God.
On this last thought, the worthy conclusion of all
previously urged, the apostle dilates to the end of the
chapter. "Because the ministration of the service is
not only filling up the wants of the saints, but also
abounding through many thanksgivings to God ;
through the proof of this service [they] glorified God
for the subjection of your confession unto the gospel of
Christ and liberality of fellowship toward them and
toward all ; and their supplication for you, while longing
for you, on account of the surpassing grace of God
[bestowed] on you. ThanKs [be] to God for his unspeak
able gift." (Vers. 12-15.) Thus is shewn the true
and proper character of such a loving contribution for
the poor saints. It is an honourable service and a
ministry of love. It meets their wants, but it flows
over, and rises into many thanksgivings to God. It
draws out praise from those who reoeive it in this
subjection to His name; for why also thus liberally
remember them at all? It rouses them to prayer
with earnest longing for those who manifest such
graoe. And if suoh be the blessed effect of love

182 NOTES on n OOMNTHIAIM. '
working in the heart and the supplying the poor saints
with that which otherwise perishes in the using, what
shall we say or feel, as we think of Christ ? Thanks
to God for His undescribable gift. The reader will
agree with me that it is strong to suppose the apostle
could speak in such unmeasured terms of liberality in
earthly things, however of grace. Spoken of Christ,
of all God is to us in and by Him, what can be more
proper ? One would scarcely have deemed it needful
to make even this brief remark, if Calvin and many
others had not allowed a torn so derogatory, as it
seems to me.

CHAPTEB X.
From the exhaustive treatment of giving and receiving
according to Christ which filled the two preceding
chapters, the apostle turns to vindicate the authority
given him in the Lord. This Satan had been bringing
into question among the Corinthians, not merely to
discredit the servant, but thereby to undermine the
testimony and separate the saints from Him whose
grace and glory were interwoven with it most inti
mately. In the beginning of the epistle, now that they
had begun to judge themselves in God's sight truly,
if as yet imperfectly, he could open bis own heart
and speak of his ways and his motives which had
been so basely misconstrued ; he had just alluded to his
authority enough to indicate his possession of it with
calmness of spirit but also unwillingness to exercise it
with severity. He even appeals to God as a witness
upon his soul that it was to spare them, not through
fear or levity or any other unworthy reason, he had
not come as yet to Corinth, but with marvellous tact
and gracious skill he binds up, with his explanation of
what had been misunderstood, the divine certainty we
enjoy in Christ by God's word and the power of the
Spirit given to us. And then, just touching on the
case of discipline whioh Satan had used and was still
seeking to use to separate the Corinthians from the
apostle, not only in judgment but in affection and in

184 w NOTES ON H CORINTHIANS.
the mutual confidence which springs from it, he lets
them know how that an evangelistic door, even opened
to him in the Lord, failed to turn his loving heart from
themselves at this critical juncture ; but spite of all,
he thanks God for always leading him in triumph in
Christ, as in an ancient procession of victory where
sweet spices were being burnt, harbinger of death to
some of the captives and of life to others. This gives
occasion to the admirable setting forth of the gospel of
the glory of Christ, the ministration of the Spirit in
an earthen vessel in contrast with that of the law
which false teachers would ever mingle with it, and to
the manifestation of the superiority of life in Christ
over all that can obscure, menace, hinder or destroy,
which runs through chapters iii.-vi. 10. Thence he
returns to his relations with the Corinthian saints, but
not without exhortation to keep them clear of every
association of Satan, flesh and world, inconsistent with
Christ. After this, to the end of chapter vii., he freely
speaks of what had tended to make a practical breach
between him and them. Then in true grace and wisdom
he who took nothing for himself from the saints at
Corinth proves how his heart beat freely toward them
by informing them of the grace displayed in Macedonia
notwithstanding their well-known and deep poverty
in liberally contributing to the poor saints in Judea,
and by giving the Corinthians an opportunity of proving
the genuineness of their love, especially as they had
begun a year ago but had not yet given effect to it ; a
work in which Titus shared the gracious desires of the
apostle, not only as to the help itself for the suffering

« CHAPTER X. 186
poor but also that the saints in Corinth should not fall
behind their boasting about them. But therein he
manifests with equal strength the avoidance of all
reproach on the part of those engaged with himself in
administering the relief, and the manifold blessing of
such liberality, and God's delight in it, whether one
thinks of the saints that give or of the saints that
receive through His grace who is Himself the un
speakable gift of God.
The apostle did not love to speak of himself or even
of his authority, high as it was and most surely con
ferred by the Lord. But there was a necessity for the
Corinthians as for the Galatians ; but here he reserves
it for and pursues it to the close of the epistle ; whereas
there he could not but begin with it, the call being yet
more urgent.
" But I myself Paul entreat you by the meekness and
gentleness of the Christ, [I] who according to appear
ance [am] mean among you but absent am bold toward
you — but I beseech that present I may not be bold
with the confidence with which I count to be daring
against some that count of us as walking according to
flesh. For walking in flesh we do not war according
to flesh. For the arms of our warfare [are] not fleshly
but powerful with God to the pulling down of strong
holds, pulling down reasonings and every height that
exalteth itself against the knowledge of God, and
leading captive every thought unto the obedience of
Christ, and being in readiness [or ready] to avenge
every disobedience when your obedience shall have
been fulfilled." (Vers. 1-6.)
It seems that Paul physically had nothing of a

186 NOTES ON U CORINTHIANS.
showy presence, such as men Uke generally, most of
all perhaps Greeks. But besides his was a lowly
and gracious bearing which judged self and set it
aside, as in everything, so particularly in the delicate
task of dealing with others ; which did not suit the
Corinthian mind, nor seem in keeping with the apos
tolic office : especially as the apostle could and did to
them write severely now and then in his first epistle.
His adversaries accordingly took advantage of all this
in seeking to aggrandise themselves and to lower the
apostle and his teaching. He appears here and else
where to take up their words and meet them in the
Spirit, as one who had learnt the lesson, if ever saint
did, of death and resurrection with Christ. He there
fore introduces himself, now that they had morally
compelled it, with straightforwardness and dignity ; and
he entreats them by the meekness and gentleness of the
Christ, which had as great price in his eyes, as it
seemed to have none in theirs. Did detractors tax
him with a mean appearance, but withal boldness
when absent, that is, in his letters? Well, he says,
I beseech that I may not when present have to be bold
(0apprjaai) with the confidence with which I am (not
" reckoned," but) minded, or think to be daring
(roX/Myo-ai) against some that think of us as walking
according to flesh. Whatever the energy and fervid
zeal and depth of feeling and strength of will found in
his natural character, Paul had borne himself among the
Corinthians' with a self- forgetting humility and the for
bearance of active love. It was what he had seen in
Die Master he served, and this reproduced itself in his
adoring heart and in his-ways. Let men beware of

CHAPTER X. v 187
despising in the servant what was the fruit of the per
fection of Christ. But who also so unsparing in his
words ? Is there the least incongruity ? What can
be so outspoken as love — the love of Christ ? Did
Paul find pleasure in blaming his " beloved sons" in
the faith ? It was and must be due to their state if
he came with a rod, or in love and the spirit of meek
ness. So far from liking to censure, as enemies in
sinuated, he beseeches that he may not when present
have to exercise his authority with a power withering
to those who opposed the Lord and sought to cloak
their own carnality under such an imputation against
him. Bevelling in the graoe of God for his own soul,
it was his deepest grief to see saints misled by Satan,
forsaking their own mercies, grieving the Spirit, and
putting the Lord's name to disrepute. It was not of
Paul to lord it over the faith of any ; he was a work
man, and a fellow- workman, of their joy. And it was
his joy far more than theirs. But he was servant in
all he had received of the Lord Jesus, and responsible
to use his authority where requisite. And as he had
spoken out in his letter, so he would act when present ;
but he would rejoice if no suoh need arose. For he
sought not himself, nor his things, not theirs, but them.
" For walking in the flesh we war not according to
flesh . " All who live here below can say the former ; how
few, the latter — at least as the apostle could. But it
was because the weapons of his warfare were not fleshly
but mighty "with" God, "before," "according to," or
" for," Him.* Flesh prides itself on its own resources
* It is the dativn which admits of all these shades, of which it ii
not easv to decide which u best.

188 NOTES ON H CORINTHIANS. „
within which it entrenches itself against God, who works
in His children when dependent, least of all in His own
when independent. The enemy was seeking to bring
back again fleshly wisdom, which like all that is of the
first man attracts nature and exalts itself against the
knowledge of God, for this is inseparable from Christ,
and from Christ dead and risen. If we war not according
to flesh, it must be by pulling down reasonings and
every high thing exalted (or exalting itself thus) and
leading captive every thought unto the obedience of
the Christ. This is the object and effect of depen
dence, as wrought by the Spirit of God. For there is
nothing harder to man than contentedness with being
nothing ; nor does aught hinder the obedience of Christ
more than subtle self-seeking.
We may see in the first how the apostle employed
those arms with God to the overthrowing of strongholds,
whatever the reasoning or the high thing that was
lifted up against the knowledge of God. Take their
fleshly zeal for Paul, Apollos, or Cephas : he brings in
Christ and His cross to judge its roots, declaring that the
former were but ministering servants through whom
they themselves believed and as the Lord gave to each;
and in fact all theirs, and they Christ's and Christ
God's. It was a carnal corruption of their privileges.
Take their worldly ease: with such an unbelieving
anticipation of the day when we shall all reign together,
he contrasts the apostles set by God as the last ap
pointed to death, despised, suffering, and become as
the world's offscouring until now. Take their appeal
to law courts : he confronts the indignity of saints, who
are to judge the world and angels, prosecuting suits one

CHAPTER X. 189
against another before the unjust. Take their laxity
about temple feasts : he shews that then* boasted
intelligence about the vanity of idols was exposing
them to Satan's snare, and drawing them into commu
nion with demons. Take lastly their denial that the
dead rise: he proves that it virtually upsets the
resurrection of Christ, and consequently the gospel
with all their heavenly privileges and hope. Thus
admirably does the former epistle lead captive every
thought into the obedienoe of Christ.
But the apostle adds another word which yet more
brings out the grace and wisdom which wrought in and
by him. " And being in readiness [or, as we say, being
ready] to avenge every disobedience when your obe
dience shall have been fulfilled." (Ver. 6.) He loved
the saints, and even more Christ's glory in the church.
Therefore he could stay away and be mis-represented,
but still wait till the word was brought home by the
Spirit. This had been in part at least : the gross evil
had been not only got rid of, but the saints in Corinth
had been deeply moved in judging their own haughty
and insensible state, and were now in danger really of
veering to the opposite extreme of judicial hardness
toward the one who had not only sinned without shame
but ensnared them also. Grace becomes the church as
well as righteousness, yea it should characterise us now
as earthly righteousness was looked for in Israel. But
grace in the apostle could wait, not with indifference at
any time, but in all patience now that conscience was
working, till their obedienoe should be fulfilled, never
giving up Christ's title to punish every sort of disobe-
dienoe, and not merely what was scandalous. He

190 "* NOTES ON n CORINTHIANS. •
would have them all with himself united for the Lord
against every evil thing. The church must renounce
Christ if it sit down in quiet acceptance of what denies
His name. But grace knows how to hail a little that is
of God, and looks for all according to His will in due
time, in the solemn judgment of what is repugnant to
His nature and word.
Such is the way the apostle sets forth beseeohingly the
authority he had received in the Lord against the de
traction of adversaries who were even yet exercising
a poisonous influence over the saints. Nothing was
farther from him than the fleshly, vacillating, and
tortuous policy they attributed to him. But these are
the common tactics of the enemy. The first to brand
others with lack of spirituality, of fidelity or even in
tegrity, are those who are themselves guilty in these
very respects, and spend their breath in a restless
endeavour to imbue all they meet with their own sur-
misings; until they seem at last not only to believe
their every impression, but to be satisfied that ranoour
is true love and invective nothing but faithfulness to
Christ. The apostle, after shewing that it is one thing
to walk in flesh, another to walk according to it, de
clares that we do not war according to flesh. He
puts it not as a merely personal question of fact, but as
a matter of general christian principle and practice.
The warfare of the saint derives its character from
Christ. The liberty to whioh we are called gives no
lioence for flesh, as if violence or vituperation were
oonsecrated in His service. His name gives no just
plea to war according to flesh, but on the contrary
reproves such carnality, and ought to awaken sus-

v CHAPTER X. 191
picion of the end because of the way. The arms
of our warfare, powerful as they are with God to
overthrow flesh's strongholds, are of small value in
carnal eyes. The apostle insists on all being re
duced to the obedience of Christ, and on readiness to
avenge every disobedience when their disobedience
should have been completed. What are we here for if
not for that obedience ? Yet graoe and wisdom would
first deal with what most openly and seriously dis
honours God; and then, when conscience answers to the
word, would look for more, yea for all that is pleasing
in His sight. God is in the assembly, His dwelling,
His holy temple (however men may forget or fritter
down the solemn fact), and surely there to give effi
cacy to His own word and will, as He then was to
vindicate by His power the authority of His servant
when undermined or denied.
" Do ye look on things according to appearance ?* If
any one hath trust in himself that he is of Christ,! let
him of | himself consider this again, that even as he [is]
of Christ, so also we.|| For even§ if I should boast
somewhat more abundantly of our authority which the
Lord gaveffor building up and not for your overthrow-
• The Latins and some of the Greeks took this as an exhort
ation, not as a question. Others understand it indicatively.
f Sundry copies as Dp-"- Ep"»- F.6., See., add SoS\os, "bondman."
t itp' i. x B. L., &c, A$>" i. almost all others with Greek fathers.
Lachmann originally inclined to the first, afterwards to the last
| Most cursives with a few uncials support Xpurrod, " of Christ,"
as in the Text. Rec.
§ re even is omitted by B F G, See., as kcu. is by the beet M*
and most versions. A few also read, " I shall boast."
V iipSv " to us" Text. Rec, is not in the oldest copies.

192 ^ NOTES ON n CORINTHIANS.
ing, I shall not be ashamed ; that I seem not as it were
to terrify you by letters : because his letters, saith one,*
[are] weighty and strong, but the presence of the body
weak and the speech contemptible. Let such a one
consider this, that such as we are in word by letters
when absent, such also in deed when present. For we
dare not class or compare ourselves with some of those
that commend themselves ; but they, measuring them
selves among themselves and comparing themselvesf
with themselves, are unintelligent [or without under
standing]." (Vers. 7-12.)
It seems clear that Paul had nothing in presence or
action, any more than in rank or position, to attract the
fleshly or worldly mind. So we see elsewhere that
the heathen who were struck by the miracles wrought
called Barnabas Zeus, and Paul Hermes. Some of the
Corinthians indulged in similar depreciation. They
could not understand an apostle of such mean appear
ance, and a style of speech so little suitable to an
ambassador of Christ. In this last respect they were
much more fastidious than the Lycaonians who felt the
force of Paul's words. External manner had an
egregious over-value in Achaian eyes. The apostle at
once brings in Christ, who reduces all men and all
things to their true level." " Do ye took on things
according to appearance ? If any One hath trust in
himself that he is of Christ, let him of himself consider
* B with the Latin copies give " they say," and so Lachmann,
though Teschendorf says that he omits it.
T The critics strangely differ, as do the copies, in the last phrase,
not only as to form, but as to arrangement. The renderings pro
posed singularly differ also.

CHAPTER X. 198
which answers to it. But he goes farther. " For even
if I should boast somewhat more abundantly of our
authority which the Lord gave for building up and not
for your overthrowing, I shall not be ashamed ; that I
seem not as it were to terrify you by letters." Now he
quietly, but with firmness, lets them know how much
more he might have put forward his apostolic autho
rity. He had not talked, we may be sure, of the
blindness he had inflicted on Elymas ; he had written
in his first epistle of delivering the incestuous offender
to Satan, as well as of coming with a rod for the re
fractory in general. But he had not come, and these
vain men treated the warning as vain words. But the
Lord gave not in vain the function of acting as His
spiritual right hand on earth, though its prime aim was
for blessing, not punishment. Still the hand that can
wield the trowel can use the scourge ; and it were better
to fear for their own bold irreverence than to put him
to the proof, whether the Lord was with him now.
The apostle's call was to build up, not to cast down;
and love it is which builds up. But there was oppo
sition to the Lord quite as much or more than to Paul
in questioning the authority given him. And in order
to sap and destroy it, advantage was taken of his
words and ways to impute fickleness, vacillation, and
untruthfulness, as we gather from the first chapter ;
lack of moral courage when present and despicable
weakness in person and ministry, as we see here,
aggravated by the heroic style of his letters when
absent ; craft, guile, and self-seeking, as it would seem
from chapter xii. Self-will never did lack material for
disparaging the person, character, office and work of a

194 NOTES ON n CORINTHIANS.
servant beyond all example used, kept, and honoured
of the Lord. If he refrained then from saying more,
as he easily might and naturally would, of his autho
rity in and from the Lord, it was that he might not
seem as if he would frighten them by his letters. And
this because his letters, said one, are weighty and
strong, but his bodily presence weak and his speech of
no account. Such was the carping of his adversaries
or of one in particular. We can understand it well.
Neither spirituality nor unworldliness nor faithfulness
vaunts itself nor seeks to lower others ; but flesh
betrays thereby its pretensions and its party-spirit.
There were various parties in the Corinthians, and
some who strove to stand clear in grace and truth ; but
of all this schismatic activity the Christ-party, I should
gather, was the most obstinate. Certainly we have no
allusion in the second Epistle to any other ; but there
appears to be a trace that the spirit of those who said,
" I am of Christ," claiming a peculiar and exclusive
connection with Him, was not yet extinguished. The
root of this error is judged in chapter v., especially
verse 16. We can readily understand how it might
creep in among men boasting of having seen, heard,
and perhaps followed the Lord in the days of His
flesh. Here the apostle bids the man (who is confident
in himself that he is of Christ) of himself to think this
again, that even as he is of Christ, so is Paul. How
simple is the truth, how destructive of airy dreams
which would misuse even Christ to flatter self 1 Nor
is anything so holy or humble as the faith which
cleaves to Him. Similarly of his authority from the
Lord, as of his relationship to Hun, he bids such a

CHAPTER X. 195
detractor think [ver. 11) that " such as we are in word
by letters when absent, such also in deed [we will be]
when present."
It was the adversaries who had nothing to boast
bat words or manners, show or position. When he
eame, the apostle would know not the word of those
puffed up, but the power ; but he desired earnestly that
it might be, through self-judgment on their part, a
visit in love and in a spirit of meekness. But their
state might compel him to use a rod, as it did to speak
of himself when he would rather discourse only of
Christ. Their boastfulness about themselves, their
alienation from him, went along with real evil and
error in some who misled them, with whose vaulting
ambition he deals afterwards. For the present he
contents himself with this severe rebuke : " For we
dare not class or compare ourselves with some of those
that commend themselves ; but they, measuring them
selves by themselves and comparing themselves with
themselves, are unintelligent." With this clique of
self-satisfied men the apostle did not venture (he
severely says, though with courtesy) to rank or com
pare himself and brethren like him ; but he retires
with a Parthian shaft, for he lets them know that to
measure or compare themselves thus is the reverse
of that intelligence on which they most plumed them
selves. Another thing forgotten by his adversaries the apostle
here introduces. The sphere of work is not a question
of human choice or judgment, but of the divine will.
There were those who slighted the labours of Paul, and
their fruit at Corinth ; but as he had not entered on

196 NOTES ON n CORINTHIANS.
that field of his own will, so he had toiled in the face
of difficulty and with signal blessing guaranteed for
his encouragement from the first.
"We however will not boast as to things* un
measured, but according to the measure of the rule
which God distributed to us, a measure to reach as far
even as you. For we do not, I as though not reaching
unto you, overstretch ourselves, for even as far as you
we advanced in the gospel of Christ, not boasting as
to things unmeasured in another's toils, but having
hope, while yonr faith inoreaseth, to be enlarged
among you according to our rule unto abundance, to
preach the gospel unto the [quarters] beyond you, not
to boast in another's rule as to things made ready.
But he that boasteth, in the Lord let him boast; for
not he that commendeth himself is approved, but whom
the Lord commendeth." (Vers. 13-18.)
The saving grace of God widely as it goes forth,
even to all, falls nevertheless nnder the ordering hand
of God who has His will about the sphere as well as
the character of His service.
Others might boast immoderately. This is natural
to the flesh, especially in vain minds. But the apostle
laboured as he lived in the fear of God. Not a
thought crossed him of displaying abilities ; he was a
servant, a bondman, of Jesus Christ; and so to him it
was no question of liking or disliking, but of doing
the work assigned to him, " according to the measure
* The singular is in D F 6, and in several Latin copies,
+ Lachmann strangely follows the Vatican (B), &c, in omitting
the first and objective negative, which necessitates an interrogative
force " For do we overstretch," &c.

CHAPTER IX. 197
of the rale which God distributed to us, a measure to
reach even to you."
In truth as all the christian life is meant to be a
matter of obedience, so in particular the work of the
Lord ; else will it speedily degenerate into vain glory
or slighting others, and often better men than our
selves. So certainly it was here. The Lord had not
called them as he did Paul to Corinth. They at their
ease had followed where Paul had wrought with con
stant self-denial, and not outward labours only but
deep exercise of soul ; a labour in which grace alone
could sustain by the Holy Ghost in continual de
pendence on the Lord. And the Lord had rejoiced his
heart with much people, even in that corrupt city,
brought to the knowledge of Himself. This was a
work of divine power and goodness; but some had
risen up or entered in since the apostle's departure,
whose worldly spirit depreciated the work, and claimed
superior power. If Paul had begun, they were the
men to finish. Was he not indeed too ready to begin
and leave his work incomplete as he roved from place
to place? For their part they preferred the chiefs who
stayed and reared a statelier edifice, as in Jerusalem.
This they now strove to do at Corinth.
Such vapouring the apostle simply and thoroughly
disposes of by the great truth that God apportions the
sphere of labour. Those who venture on an enterprise
of the sort without God, must not wonder if their
service be without His honour and blessing. Happy
the man who is wont to look to God, not only for his
soul and in his walk, but also in his work. Nor does
God fail to vouchsafe His guidance in this as in all

198 NOTES ON II CORINTHIANS.
things where His servants wait on Him. It was a
new language doubtless to the self-exalting men of
Corinth, jealous of the power and authority of the
apostle. Power belongs to God, but He loves to use
it in and by those who walk by faith ; and now was the
fitting time and place to make known the secret to the
saints. It was " according to the measure of the rule
which God dealt to us, a measure to reach as far even
as you." There was no overstraining in the apostolic
word or work, as though not reaching to the Corin
thians ; " for even as far as you we advanced in the
gospel of Christ." None could deny this. The apostle
had traversed many lands, planting the standard and
proclaiming the good news of Christ in them all. He
had done so as far as Corinth to the joy of many
hearts. Let others boast then of lengths without
measure ; he and those like-minded would not boast of
anything of the sort, more especially if it were taking
advantage of other men's toils, which he was careful
to avoid. "But having hope, while your faith in-
creaseth, to be enlarged among you according to our
rule unto abundance."
Thus admirably does the apostle rise above the
pettiness of human conceit or pride in divine things,
nowhere more offensive than there, on the one hand
laying bare those cheap pretensions which turned to
selfish account the toil of others ; on the other, cherish
ing confidence in the grace of God that the faith He
had given would grow and thus afford him an oppor
tunity of being enlarged as he says among them,
instead of being chilled and straitened by having to
deal with serious and growing evils. For thus would

CHAPTER X. 199
he be set free in faot and in spirit to preach the gospel
onto the quarters beyond them, instead of boasting
in another's rule as to things made ready. This
his adversaries were doing, as we have seen, and
as the apostle here says quietly, but none the less
cuttingly. But the Christian has a just ground of boasting.
There is One in whom we may and ought to boast, not
self, but the Lord. So said the prophet of old, when
the Jews were either glorying in idols or distrustful of
Jehovah, who was laying bare their vanity and punish
ing their departure from Himself. So repeats the
apostle now to the saints at Corinth. To glory in the
Lord is due to Him and good for us ; to glory else
where is a danger as well as a delusion. It connects
more or less immediately with self; and not he that
commendeth himself is approved, but whom the Lord
commendeth.

CHAPTEE XI.
The apostle loved to spend himself in the service of
Christ or the saints, and begrudged a word about him
self even when the occasion demanded it, at least when
it might look like self-defence. His wisdom as his joy
was to testify of Christ. To speak of himself even as
His servant he counts " folly," however needful. But
it is part of the enemy's tactics to undermine and
lower, and destroy if possible a true servant of the
Lord, no less than to cry up those that serve their own
belly and by their fair speech and speciousness deceive
the hearts of the guileless. For can anything be more
calculated to frustrate testimony to Christ than to blacken
the bearer of it in his motives, ways, and aims ? Hence,
as thus the object of unceasing detraction to the saints
at Corinth by self-seeking men who were really Satan's
instruments in dishonouring Christ and corrupting the
church, the apostle addresses himself, however reluc
tantly, to the necessary tasa of vindicating His name
assailed in his own person and ministry.
" Would that ye might bear* with me in some httle*
folly ;* but even bear with me. For I am jealous as
to you with a jealousy of God ; for I betrothed you to
one husband to present a ohaste virgin to Christ. But
I fear lest by any means, as the serpent deceived Eve
* Steph. with the most and best, aveix- Biz. ^"ei'x- Dut> rightly
fwcpiv ft (for rt Steph. ) and aippoaivyt (though wrongly rris ).

CHAPTER XI. 201
by his craft,* your thoughts should be corrupted from
the simplicity* that is towards Christ. For if indeed
he that cometh preacheth another Jesus whom we
preached not, or ye receive a different spirit whom ye
received not, or a different gospel which ye accepted
not, ye might well bear with [it]. For I reckon that I
am in nothing come short of those surpassingly apostles;
but if even ordinary in speech, yet not in knowledge,
but in every [way we were] made manifest [or, mani
fested it]+ in all things towards you. What I did I
commit sin in humbling myself that ye might be ex
alted, because I gratuitously announced the gospel of
God to you ? Other churches I spoiled, receiving hire
for service towards you. And when present with you
and in want, I have not been a burden to any one (for
my want the brethren on coming from Macedonia sup
plied) ; and in everything unburdensome to you I kept
and will keep myself. There is Christ's truth in me
that this boasting shall not be stopped! unto me in the
quarters of Achaia. Wherefore ? Because I love you
not ? God knoweth. But what I do I will also do
that I may cut off the occasion of those desiring an
occasion, that wherein they boast they may be found
even as we. For such [are] false apostles, deceitful
workers, transforming themselves into apostles of
• oSrot is added by the Text. Rec. with many witnesses, bnt
not kBDFGP, &o. ; koI t5ji ayv6nyro! added by X B F G, &c.,
and so Lachmann and Alford.
t <pa.vep<&aavTes tfi'm- B Fs* G, &c. tpavepaOhirti VF*" D™"*
E H L P, &c. (pavepuBeis D"-». &c.
J atppayi. the error of a few cursives with Steph.; Six. ha*
rightly (pgayfifferat.

202 NOTES ON II CORINTHIANS.
Christ : and no wonder,* for Satan himself transformeth
himself into an angel of light : [it is] no great thing
then if his servants also transform themselves as
servants of righteousness, whose end shall be according
to their works." (Vers. 1-15.)
He apologises first of all for having to speak, not of
Christ only, but of himself. Yet if any one might be
jealous over the Corinthian saints, he surely who be
trothed them (such is his expressive figure) to one hus
band, to present in them a chaste maiden to Christ.
Such is the destiny of the saints ; they are loved,
washed, sanctified, justified, in view of this intimate
relationship to Christ, which was most real and sure to
the apostle, not so to those who lowered the standard
of future hope and present separateness and conscious
nearness in love and holiness to Christ by allowance of
ease in this life, and of association with the world in
its objects and ways, its philosophy or even religion.
It is not only that here have we no continuing city and
seek the coming one, but that we are now espoused to
one husband even Christ, and are called to judge not
conduct only but unsuitable thoughts and feelings.
And as Paul had thus espoused the saints at Corinth,
could he be otherwise than jealous at the creeping in of
so much that was inconsistent with presenting them a
chaste virgin to Christ ?
For it was not merely failure through unwatohful-
ness : false principles were being instilled, and some
relished the poison. So he continues, "I fear lest by
any means, as the serpent deceived Eve by his craft,
* Bavpia x B D F G P R. &c. for Bavpi<urr6v of Text. Rec. sup
ported by most later copies.

CHAPTER XI. 203
your thoughts should be corrupted from the simplicity
that is towards Christ." In proportion as Christ is a
living person to the soul, the reality of Satan's counter
working will be owned. Insensibility to the wiles of
the enemy as a true and active adversary to be resisted
is the awful indication of an unbelief common and
growing in Christendom. How many Christians there
are who think and talk slightingly enough of the Corin
thian saints, themselves more lax still, not in ways only,
but in faith I Satan is to them scarce more than an
abstraction, an ideal expression of the power of evil.
So far were those addressed, poor as they might be
spiritually, from such incredulity, that the apostle could
refer without hesitation to the serpent beguiling Eve.
The history of the fall in Genesis was as yet indisput
able truth to all who called on the name of the Lord ;
even the manner of the tempter's approach proved no
difficulty, as it has to many a soul since, and this to
their no small loss. Scripture recorded the simple,
sober, solemn truth, which all heathenism attests in a
traditional form more or less moulded into fable. And
the latent enemy who employed the serpent is active
still as ever, and now under Christianity is corrupting
the thoughts of saints from the simplicity of the truth
as to the Christ. For the merely professing mass the
end will be the apostasy, and the man of sin revealed,
whose coming is after the working of Satan in all power
and signs and wonders of falsehood, and in all deoeit
of unrighteousness to them that perish.
And what had they got to warrant slight or aliena
tion? "For if indeed he that cometh preacheth
another [<Z\Wj Jesus whom we preached not, or ye

204 NOTES ON II CORINTHIANS.
receive a different [erepov"] spirit which ye received
not, or a different gospel which ye accepted not, ye
might well bear with [it]." For none of these bless
ings were they indebted to any channel but the apostle ;
him they had lightly esteemed whilst ready to honour
the self-exalting men who had set up to teach on his
foundation, crying up the twelve only to depreciate Paul.
"For I reckon that I am in nothing come short of
those surpassingly apostles; but if even ordinary in
speech, yet not in knowledge, but in every way we
manifested [it, or, were made manifest] in all things
towards you." They had all had the amplest expe
rience of the apostle in everything ; and as in power so
in knowledge, they knew that he was behind none,
unless it were in the rhetoric of the schools which
the Greek mind overvalued.
But low-minded men misunderstand and despise that
humility and love of which they are themselves inca
pable ; and some there were at Corinth who cringed to
position and means as they were insensible to the
apostle's grace in working with his own hands, or at
least receiving no aid from rich Corinth. " Did I com
mit sin in humbling myself that ye might be exalted,
because I gratuitously announced the gospel of God to
you? Other churches I spoiled, receiving hire for
service towards you. And when present with you and
in want, I have not been a burden to any one (for my
want the brethren on coming from Macedonia supplied);
and in everything unbnrdensome to you I kept and
will keep myself." Beady to evangelise at all cost to
himself everywhere, the apostle in some places felt
free and happy to receive, not only from individuals

CHAPTER XI. 205
but from assemblies, going on with God in grace and
humility : when the world's spirit prevailed, he was
reserved and would receive nothing. The general
principle remained intact : " the labourer is worthy of
his hire ;" " the Lord hath ordained that those that preach
the gospel should live of the gospel." But the apostle
whilst bying down what is right could and did go be
yond it in grace, not using it for himself but for Christ
wherever His glory called for it. From the poor
Macedonian brethren he received ; from the wealthy
Corinthians nothing. 0 what a contrast is this day in
Christendom ! Nor did he thus speak to draw out
their liberality in future, for as he had kept himself, so
would he in future. " There is Christ's truth in me
that this boasting shall not be stopped unto me in the
quarters of Achaia." Was he disappointed and bitter
now ? " Wherefore ? Because I love you not ? God
knoweth." It was indeed to deny his uniform life in
Corinth and since.
His true motive he explains. " But what I do I will
also do that I may cut off the occasion of those de
siring an occasion that wherein they boast they may
be found even as we" — a cheap boast where men have
plenty and need no self-denying devotedness. " For
such [are] false apostles, deceitful workers, transform
ing themselves into apostles of Christ." The begin
ning of those evil ways was then at work which soon
formed a clerical class, dispensing even with the claims
to gift from Christ under the fabulous pretension to
apostohc succession. Such men then opposed the
apostle in person, as now they oppose his doctrine.
Is this wonderful, when, as the apostle reminds us,

206 NOTES ON II CORINTHIANS.
" Satan himself transformeth himself into an angel of
light ? It is no great thing therefore if his servants
also transform themselves as servants of righteousness,"
though he solemnly adds, their " end shall be accord
ing to their works."
Having turned aside to warn of pseudo-apostles, their
high pretensions, and their low realities, the apostle
comes back again, reluctantly as we see, to speak of
himself, his " folly" as he calls it. In truth no task
could be to him more repulsive, for he loved to speak
only of Christ and the wondrous grace of God in Him.
But what he so much disliked was a necessity ; and at
length the duty is faced of confronting their preten
sions with his own reality. If in the previous chapter
he shrank from pressing on the rich care for the poor
saints, still more did he shrink now from self- vindica
tion. But the Lord's glory was concerned and the
saints were endangered ; and so he again takes up
the disagreeable task.
" Again I say, let not one think me to be a fool ; but
if otherwise, even as a fool receive me, that I also may
boast some little. What I speak, I speak not according
to the Lord but as in folly, in this confidence of boasting.
Since many boast according to flesh, I also will boast,
For ye bear fools pleasantly, being wise. For ye bear
if one bring you into bondage, if one devour you, if
one receive, if one exalt himself, if one beat you on
the face. As to dishonour I speak, as though we had
been weak ; but wherein any one is bold (I speak in
folly) I also am bold." (Vers. 16-21.)
It was impossible to treat the assailed ministry of
Christ without speaking of himself and his service;

CHAPTER XI. 207
ana of these how could he speak to unfriendly ears
without apparent boasting? So we have effort and
apology and circuitous approach, all characteristic of
the man, but the work done thoroughly and the word
of God dealing with their consciences. Boasting was
certainly not the way of the Lord ; boasting in the
Lord is what becomes every believer ; and the apostle
shrank perhaps more sensitively than any other man
from boasting in aught else. But the false apostles
were dishonouring the Lord and damaging the saints
by putting forward their fleshly advantages ; such as a
fine personal presence, power of mind, play of fancy,
readiness of speech, rhetorical artifices, independent
fortune, family connection, social position, and the
like. Therefore does he feel it necessary to put for
ward what God had wrought according to the ability
He bestowed; and this not merely in positive spiritual
power, but in every kind of labour and suffering for
the Lord's sake. It is humbling yet instructive to
contrast the apostle's pain at having thus to speak, and
the too evident pleasure with which many a servant
of Christ goes off into personal narratives, which
seem to have no aim but to prove his own cleverness
at the expense of poor Mr. This or Mr. That, the great
sacrifices he has made for the truth, or the surpassing
excellence of his line of things in the testimony of
Christ. Indeed it is well in these days of fleshly pre
tension, which claims high and exclusive spirituality, if
our ears escape the deliberate effort to lower such as
are resolved by grace to exalt Christ only and to love
all that are His, abominating therefore all party-work,
whether in leaders or in followers.

208 NOTES ON n CORINTHIANS.
Still, he is instinctively averse to everything which
might look like self-exaltation, and which necessarily
involved speaking of himself or of his work. He
deprecates their thinking him a fool ; but if they would
not concede this to him, "Beceive me even as a fool,
that I too may boast some little." They, being deceit
ful workers, sought their own glory ; the apostle wrote
only to deliver the saints from that which undermined
the Lord and puffed up the flesh. Nevertheless it was
not Christ ; and not to be wholly occupied with Him was
distasteful. " That which I speak, I speak not after
the Lord, but as in folly, in this confidence of boasting."
He had ample matter and real substance ; still it was
not directly the Lord, and this tried him, however
necessary it might be. This seems to be the true
meaning ; not at all that he was writing as an unin
spired man, but that, by inspiration, he was writing
what was painful to a heart wholly devoted to the
Lord's glory, but indignant at the trickery of these
spurious ministers, and at the ready ear given to their
insinuations by many of the saints. And certainly the
Corinthians who permitted and enjoyed the lofty talk
of those who detracted from Paul had no right to com
plain of the rapid glance at his work and sufferings, as
well as power and office.
" Since many boast according to flesh, I also will
boast, for ye bear with fools pleasantly, being wise."
The false teachers without scruple flattered the saints,
as they flattered themselves. The irony of the apostle
is the most cutting reproof of self-complacency. Where
the folly really lay was neither doubtful, nor far to seek.
He who has Christ for his wisdom can afford to be

CHAPTER XI. 209
counted, and to count himself, a fool ; it is really the
truest wisdom, which they wholly miss, who exalt a
favourite teacher into the place of Christ, and claim
the character of obedience for such abject and perilous
folly. Among the Jews, to say "there is no God"
was to be a fool, in the worst sense of the word ;
among Christians, to set the servant practically above
the Master, to give the servant the homage due only to
Him, is real folly, and commonly as at Corinth it is
the acceptance of Satan's ministers to the disparage
ment of those who are truly serving Christ.
Nor can any sight be more remarkable than the way
in which flesh displays itself in these circumstances.
The same saints, who were restive under the authority
of a true apostle, were all submission to those who
were false. " For ye bear if one bring you into
bondage, if one devour you, if one capture, if one
exalt himself, if one beat you on the face." Such was
the degradation into which many at Corinth had
fallen, hugging the chains which they saw not ; for
flesh is blind as well as foolish, and loves its own
things, not those of Jesus Christ. It likes a director
of faith and duty— not conscience in God's presence,
subject to the word. It submits to bondage to man, if it
be allowed sometimes licence. It never really knows
and enjoys liberty in the Spirit. It ignores and
endures wrongs, through indulgence to its favourites,
to the last degree of injury and insult, as if all this
were a high degree of religious merit, instead of the
lack of faith and power which must bow down to a
human priest or pontiff. The history of Christendom
is but the filling up of the sketch the apostle has
P

210 NOTES ON n CORINTHIANS.
drawn of what Satan had wrought to a certain extent
at Corinth.
Now at length the apostle comes once again,
however slowly, to himself and his ministry. " As to
dishonour I speak as though we had been weak, but,
wherein any one is bold (I speak in folly), I also am
bold." It was the apostle's glory to be weak that the
power of Christ might rest upon him. This his
adversaries turned to his reproach, and he bowed to
it; he was far from affecting that high spirit which
imposes on the vulgar used to it in the world, and is
ever of price to the fleshly mind. But he apologises
for speaking folly, and he adds, " wherein any one is
bold, I also am bold." He was pained and ashamed
to allude to his own things, however true and blessed ;
whilst they blazoned with the utmost vanity their
advantages, however petty or really despicable in
comparison. The fleshly pretension of those who opposed the
apostle prided itself on its Jewish extraction, as cleri
calism and ecclesiastical corruptions are apt to do virtu
ally if not naturally as here. Knowing that the apostle
turned every eye to Christ in heaven as dead and risen,
they seem to have forgotten how easily he could dis
pose of such claims to superiority. " Are they Hebrews ?
I too. Are they Israelites ? I too. Are they Abra
ham's seed ? I too." (Ver. 22.) It is a climax from
the external designation of the chosen nation, through
the internal name (clearly enough distinguished in such
scriptures as 1 Sam. xiii. 8-7, 19, 20 ; xiv. 21-24), to
the name in virtue of which they inherited the pro
mises; yet each appropriated to himself with a curt-

0HAPTEB XI. 211
ness very galling to his vain-glorious rivals. It was
low ground in comparison of Christ, and the apostle
treating it with scant respect turns to a higher
claim. " Are they ministers of Christ ? (Beside myself I
speak) I above measure ;* in labours very abundantly,
in prisons very abundantly,! m stripes exceedingly, in
deaths often. From Jews five times I received fort;
[stripes] save one, thrice was I beaten with rods, once
I was stoned, thrice I suffered shipwreck, a night and
a day I have been in the deep; by wayfarings often, by
dangers of rivers, by dangers of robbers, by dangers
from countrymen, by dangers from Gentiles, by dangers
in town, by dangers in desert, by dangers at sea, by
dangers among false brethren, byj toil and trouble ; in
watchings often, in hunger and thirst, in fastings often,
in cold and nakedness. Apart from things without [or,
besides], my pressing care§ day by day, the concern for
all the churches. Who is weak, and I am not weak ?
Who is stumbled, and I burn not ? HI must
boast, I will boast in the matters of my infirmity. The
Godj| and Father of the Lord Jesus, he that is blessed
* Lachmann gives inepeyi : it is hard to say why.
+ Lachmann and Treg. follow B D E, &c. ipv\. wep. iv irA. far. ;
Tisch. prefers k'"""- Vf G, &c. »A. nep. iv <pvX. iv.
J Text. Rec. adds iv with the later uncials, enrsives, Vulg., &c;
but «»¦¦• B D E F G and Gothic do not read the preposition.
§ inlorcuris M B E F G, several cursives, &c. ; imaiaraaa Text.
Rec. supported by most of the later uncials and cursives, apparently
also by the Greek aud Latin expositors. The more ancient copies give
luti instead of the vulgar p.ov.
| Verse 31 has been strangely tampered with bv copyists. Thus

212 - NOTES ON n CORINTHIANS.
for ever, knoweth that I lie not. In Damascus the
ethnarch [or, prefect] of Aretas the king garrisoned the
Damascenes' city* to seize me; and through a
window I was let down in a basket by the wall and
escaped his hands." (Vers. 28-33.)
It is hardly exposition that is needed here, but
thanksgiving for the grace bestowed of God on a man
of like passions with ourselves, when the eye surveys
such a roll of suffering labour for Christ, when the
heart seeks to realise what it actually means so to be
poured out as a libation, as he says to Philippi, where
he could rejoice and rejoice in common with all the
saints, not as here where the folly of the Corinthians
wrung out of an outraged heart the reluctant tale, so
profitable for us and all, which we should never other
wise have had recounted. We may well be humbled as
we read that which puts our lukewarmness to shame.
Nevertheless, though the summary is as brief as it is
plain in the main, the wounded modesty of the apostle,
forced to withdraw the veil from a life of unequalled
suffering, enters on the task with apologetic words
which let out the pain it cost him to speak of his own
things. He puts the question as to his adversaries,
"Are they ministers of Christ ?" and answers, not now as
a fool {Sxppuiv) but as raving, " I above measure." The
commentators, ancient and modern, will have it to be a
comparison. This is the very thing he seems studiously
the Clermont and St Germain's (now St. Pet.) MSS. to 6 Btos add
toS 'Itrpa^A. Again they and two other uncials with very many
cursives add fin&v to r. xvplov, as still more add Xpicroi to 'Iqo-ov.
* The more ancient copies read r. Ao/u. rather than Aa/i. w. and
have no 8i\av as in Text. Rec.

CHAPTER XI. 213
to avoid by the use of the preposition used adverbially
and by other means afterwards. It is impossible to
conceive an answer more spiritually wise and conclu
sive. For he does not even notice here the extraordi
nary power which the Lord had given him in the Spirit
to deal with disease, death, or demons ; nor yet the im
mense range and success of his work in the gospel ; but
he turns from his very abundant labours to the excess of
stripes which had befallen him, his very abundant im
prisonments, and his frequent exposures to death. Those
who sought to undermine him might boast of their
learning or their originality, their logic or their
imagination, their depth of thought or their piquancy
of illustration. They might appeal to their adherents
numerous or intelligent, to their high favour with
women, to their popularity with men ; for they sought
above all to draw away the disciples after them. What
did they care for the poor and despised ? What for the
interests of Christ and the church ?
The phraseology of the apostle (as in imp e'tyii,
and also the sense of vapeicrds) may be now and then
difficult to seize or convey from the brevity and abrupt
ness of one who could not bear to dwell on such a
theme in view of unworthy; adversaries who stood high
in the esteem of many a saint. But he assuredly does
not mean that any service here was more than the
ministry of Christ, for this to him was the highest
glory ; and the Lord Himself had said that whosoever
would be great among them should be their minister,
and whosoever would be first should be slave of all.
Nor would he merely intimate that he was more de
voted and laborious than his detractors, as some have

214 NOTES ON D CORINTHIANS.
supposed. He was really comparing himself with
none ; but apologising for so speaking as contrary to a
sound mind, he could not but own himself Christ's
minister beyond measure. No doubt the comparative
occurs both with " labours" and with " prisons," and
even Bengel thought the false apostles experienced
these like Paul, but less. But it was overlooked that
the Greek tongue often uses the comparative without
any object of comparison in a merely intensitive sense,*
where we should employ the positive qualified by
" very," " rather" or the like, meaning (if we attempted
to fill up the ellipsis) " more than usual," or " ordinary,"
&c. ; and the context confirms this as well as the moral
bearing. For /ia\\ov or irXiov would have been more
natural to express comparative superiority, while virep-
/3aWdvru>e and iroKkdictc just afterwards oppose the
idea. We see in chapter x. 12 what the apostle felt of
comparing, which was their way, not his who was alto
gether above a habit so far beneath Christ or the
Christian. The apostle next glances at particulars thus far in his
course, to which others had compelled him who can have
little anticipated such an answer to their vain-glory. He
* Winer (Gr. N.T. Gr. iii. § 35, Moulton'e ed.) seems to deny
this, so far as the N.T. is concerned; bnt hardy assertion is no
proof. I do not say that it is ever used for the positive ; nor would
the superlative suit, but just what is found. Were there only the
two comparatives employed, it would be strange to depart from the
literal meaning "more abundantly." But as the context stands before
and after, and taking account of the moral considerations, as well as
the delicate dignity of the apostle, I incline to the version given as
preferable.

CHAPTER XI. 215
puts them to shame with (not miracles but) sufferings.
" From Jews five times I received forty [stripes] save
one, thrice was I beaten with rods, once I was stoned,
thrice I suffered shipwreck, a night and day I have
been in the deep." This last danger was of course,
like the three shipwrecks, previous to that which is so
graphically described in Acts xxvii., though Grotios
by a singular oversight speaks of it as if included. The
one stoning at Lystra is related in Acts xiv. Paley notices
the remarkable accuracy of the inspired historian as com
pared with the apostle's statement. There is the nearest
approach to a seeming contradiction without giving the
least real ground for it. The same chapter which gives
the case of stoning mentions at the beginning that an
assault was made on Paul and Barnabas at Iconium,
•• to use them despitefully and to stone them ; but they
were ware of it and fled unto Lystra and Derbe."
" Now had the assault been completed ; had the history
related that a stone was thrown, as it relates that pre
parations were made by Jews and Gentiles to stone
Paul and his companions ; or even had the account of
this transaction stopped, without going on to inform us
that Paul and his companions were aware of their
danger and fled, a contradiction between the history
and the apostle would have ceased. Truth is ne
cessarily consistent; but it is scarcely possible that
independent accounts, not having truth to guide them,
should thus advance to the very brink of contradiction
without falling into it." (Horae Paulinae. Works, v.
120, 121, ed. vii.) In the Acts we have but one of
the three beatings with rods, and not one of the five
scourgings by Jews.

216 NOTES ON n CORINTHIANS.
And what a picture of ceaseless, unselfish, suffering
toils is despatched in the next few words, before which
the great deeds of earth's heroes grow pale with ineffec
tual light, attended as they were with heavy blows on
others and clever schemes to screen themselves 1 " By
wayfarings often, by dangers of rivers, by dangers of
robbers, by dangers from countrymen, by dangers from
Gentiles, by dangers in towns, by dangers in desert, by
dangers at sea, by dangers among false brethren, by
toil and trouble ; in watchings often, in hunger and
thirst, in fastings often, in cold and nakedness." Yet
this is the man who deprecates it as " folly" to speak of
himself, who practised as he exhorted " but one thing I"
" Forgetting those things which are behind, and reach
ing forth unto those things which are before, I press to
ward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God
in Christ Jesus." Forget his failures, his sins, he did
not ; it is good and wholesome both for self-judgment
and as a witness of sovereign grace and faithfulness on
God's part. But his progress, his trials, his sufferings,
others only by their folly constrained him to recall, in
meekness setting right those who opposed, if God per-
adventure might sometime give them repentance to the
acknowledgment of the truth.
Yet it is not only the endurance of cruel usage from
time to time from open enemies that tests the heart ;
it is shewn out yet more by the unwearied and con
stant going out, no matter what the labour and the
danger, from country to country among strangers whom
the Jews could readily influence when they themselves
took fire at the gospel, added to the manifold trials of
the way: "in journeyings often, in perils of rivers,

CHAPTER XL 217
in perils of robbers, in perils from countrymen, in
perils from heathen, in perils in town, in perils in
desert, in perils at sea, in perils among false brethren ;
in toil and trouble, in watchings often, in hunger and
thirst, in fastings often, in cold and nakedness." How
poor the lengthy tales of the most devoted labourers in
ancient or modern times compared with these living
strokes from the heart of the great apostle t
Nor was it by any means an exhaustive account.
"Apart from the things besides" (trapeicrds, possibly
" without," as in the Vulgate, Calvin, Beza, Authorised
Version, &c), " the pressure on me day by day, the con
cern for all the churches." There is little doubt that
an early confusion crept into the text, and that the true
word here is one signifying " urgent attention," as in
Acts xxiv. 12 it is rather one signifying " faction" or
"tumultuous concourse," though the more ancient
copies support the former word (imaraais, not
imovaraoK) in both ; and they are followed in this by
Lachmann, Tischendorf, Alford, and Tregelles. Mr.
T. S. Green is one of those who fall into the opposite
extreme of reading the latter word in both. It is one
of the few instances where Scholz has in my
opinion shewn better judgment, reading " concourse"
(einava-raaiv) in Acts and " pressure of attention"
(eirioraoiQ) in the passage before us. Anxiety for all
the assemblies is the appended explanation of that care
day by day which pressed on the apostle. And of this
he give? us a sample. " Who is weak, and I am not
weak? Who is stumbled, and I [emphatic] burn
not ?'v If they were sorely troubled by scrupulosity
he could and did enter into their difficulties ; if any

218 NOTES ON n CORINTHIANS. *
one was stumbled by the unworthy bearing of others,
his soul was on fire, filled with love for Christ and
the saints, and abhorring selfishness and party with
thorough hatred.
Was this self-praise ? " H it is needful to boast, I
will boast of the matters of my infirmity. The God
and Father of the Lord Jesus, who is blessed for ever,
knoweth that I he not. At Damascus the prefect of
Aretas the king garrisoned the Damascenes' city to
seize me ; and through a window in a basket was I let
down by [or through] the wall, and escaped their
hands." No doubt, it was a remarkable escape at the
beginning of his ministry; but it was just the last
thing one who sought his own glory would have repeated
and recorded for ever. No angelio visitors opened the
bars and bolts of massive doors, nor blinded the eyes
of the garrison : the apostle was let down in a basket
through a window in the city wall. Truly he gloried,
not in the great deeds or sayings of his ministry, but
in his weakness and the Lord's grace. It is the more
remarkable from the way in which he proceeds imme
diately after to speak of his being caught up to the
third heaven.

CHAPTEB XH.
We have had the apostle glorying in what had no glory
in men's eyes. Now he turns abruptly, from being let
down in a basket to escape a Gentile governor, to being
caught np to heaven for a vision of the Lord in
paradise. " I must needs boast, though not profitable ; but I
will come* unto visions and revelations or [the] Lord.
I know a man in Christ fourteen years ago (whether
in [the] body, I know not; or whether out of the body,
I know not : God knoweth), such an one caught up
to the third heaven. And I know such a man
(whether in [the] body or withoutf [or apart from] the
body, I know not : God knoweth), how that he was caught
np into paradise and heard unspeakable words which
[it is] not lawful for a man to utter. On behalf of
such a one I will boast, but on mine own behalf I will
not boast save in [my] weaknesses. For if I should
desire to boast, I shall not be foolish, for I shall speak
truth ; but I forbear, lest any should account as to me
above that which he seeth me or hearethj of me."
(Vers. 1-6.)
The text is, from the conflict of readings, rather pre-
* For k. Si) oil oviupipei p.01, ik. yap T. R. after K M and most
cursives, &c. ; the more ancient support k. Set, oi a-ov pit, iK. W,
K D, &c, having k. Si and B 213 i\. Se koL
t B DP*m- EP"°- read x»P"> tne rest Arrrft-
X ti is added by T. R. and Lachmann .

220 NOTES ON II 0OBINTHIAN8.
carious. But the truth conveyed runs like a plough
share through all fleshly thought and feeling. Certainly
in the boast of the apostle is not one thing palatable to
nature, or exalting to himself or of profit humanly.
Grace alone characterises visions and revelations of the
Lord, and to these he would come. Yet even though
boast one must in the Lord, room for vain glory is ex
cluded. " I know a man in Christ :" not " I knew,"
as the Authorised Version so strangely misunderstands.
Still even in the form which the apostle employs to
convey the former, personal boasting is sedulously
avoided, so much so that even our translators appear to
have conceived that he was speaking not of himself but
of some other man.
How blessedly Christ meets self in its need and guilt
and ruin in order to deliver from its power, not only
by the judgment of the first man, but by identification
with the Second I It is good to be indebted to another's
grace : what is to be thus lost, if one may so say, in
the blessedness of Christ ? Undoubtedly Paul had the
marvellous experience he so vividly alludes to ; but he
puts it in a way meant to convey to any " man in
Christ" that it is his privilege substantially, as it was
his own in fact miraculously. In chapter v. we were told
that, if any man is in Christ, it is a new creation : the
old things passed, all things made new, and all of the
God who reconciled us to Himself by Jesus Christ.
Here it is one caught up to the third heaven and in
paradise hearing what it is not possible or permissible
for man to tell — unspeakable words. • The sphere he
was introduced into, though the communications were
beyond what could be conveyed now ; but it was of great

CHAPTER XII. 221
moment to have the certainty of all. And he whose
province it was to make known the counsels of God as
to Christ and His own for heaven was thus allowed to
hear, that all in Christ should know their portion by
such a chosen witness.
The entire allusion is as peculiar as wise and suited.
" I know a man in Christ fourteen years ago." Faith
does not boast of visions and revelations of the Lord,
any more than of its doings : of trials and sufferings
one may speak if compelled, and so too of that which
appertains to every man in Christ, though one alone
got the vision. So David said not a word about the
Hon and the bear which he was enabled to kill while
engaged in his lowly task, till it was needful to allay
the fears of others to God's glory ; and the apostle
only spoke many years after a wondrous experience
which others less spiritual would have talked of every
where for as many years or more. What wonld not the
Corinthians or their misleaders have made of it ?
Prophets of old have known what it is to look on
scenes outside man's experience. So Isaiah, the year
in which king Uzziah died, beheld the Lord on His
throne with the Seraphim in attendance on His glory,
that he might fittingly to the people bear witness of
their evil but of the virgin-born Jehovah-Messiah who
should establish the kingdom and deliver the people
from their sins to God's glory. Ezekiel too was lifted
up between earth and heaven and transported to Jeru
salem in the visions of God and the temple (chap, viii.—
xi.), as afterwards to Chaldea (ver. 24), and finally to
the land of Israel (ohaps. xl.-xlviii.) for the future
temple and city and division of the land. Nor is it

5SJS2 NOTES ON II CORINTHIANS.
only in the great Apocalyptic prophecy of the Kew
Testament that we trace the analogy of these ways of
the Spirit, but we see His power in catching away
Philip bodily to Azotus or Ashdod, from the neighbour
hood, one of the roads leading from Jerusalem to
Gaza. As for the apostle, he says " (whether [in the]
body, I know not ; or whether out of the body, I know
not : God knoweth), such an one caught up to the
third heaven." It was not dubious, but transcendent,
knowledge ; and God who gave it hid from the apostle
whether it was in spirit only or in bodily presence also.
Certainly, if caught up like Philip, there was left such
a sense of the glory as was too deep and bright for
human words or for present circumstances. Body there
or not, he was not hindered from feeling the glory to
be beyond the measure of man. There the glorified
will be to enjoy all with Christ at His coming, in bodies
like His own ; and there the disembodied saint goes to
be with Him ; there too Paul as a man in Christ, but
Paul actually as apostle and prophet that we might
learn now, was taken up. " And I know such a man
(whether in [the] body or apart from the body, I know
not : God knoweth), how that he was caught up into
paradise and heard unspeakable words which [it is]
not lawful for a man to utter." In the mysteries of
the old heathen there were " unspeakable words," but
they were strange forms of language to alarm and
overawe the mind. Here the things forbade commu
nication as rising completely in their nature above all
that surrounds or is natural to as.
But the apostle does boast, not exactly "of" nor
"in" bat "on behalf of such a one." God did not

chapter xn. 223
deal thus with His servant for no reason bat worthily
for Himself: and Paul was led by the Spirit in speaking
of it fourteen years after the fact to meet the exigencies
of the testimony of Christ. It was grace to give the
privilege ; it was grace not to boast of it for himself
meanwhile ; it was grace to write of it now, and to
write it in the inspired word for all saints in all time.
" On behalf of such an one I will boast, but on mine
own behalf I will not boast save in my weaknesses."
These we have had in the preceding chapter; they
were the suffering of love for Christ's sake in a weak
body with all men and things opposed, which Satan
was ever skilfully arraying against him. How beau
tiful are the feet of such heralds of good things ! Yet
philosophy and religion saw only what was despicable,
as in the Master, so in the servant. Do we know what
it is to live beyond the depreciation of our fellows ?
Let us look to it, however, that it be truly for Christ and
His glory in those that are His. Nothing is more op
posed to Christ, yet nothing more common among
Christians than a pretentious self-asserting spirit, which
will boast of the distinctive possession of the truth
which we know, even though it most condemn us. God
looks for reality in a world of shadows and untruth ;
He looks for the possession and reflection of His re
vealed light and truth where darkness reigns; He
looks for divine love where only self is found, though
in subtle forms ; He looks for the faith which reckons
on Him according to His word in the face of all diffi
culties and dangers. Assuredly the apostle thus lived
and laboured : as it is for our profit to see in these two
epistles how misunderstood is suoh a path even among

224 NOTES ON II CORINTHIANS.
saints, who are apt to welcome a high and self-exalting
spirit, even though it indulge in sufficiently contume
lious ways towards themselves. So the Israelites, who
would have a king like the nations, received one after
their own heart, who served himself, instead of ruling
them in the fear of the Lord,
" For if I should desire to boast, I shall not be
foolish, for I shall speak truth ; but I forbear, lest any
should account of me above that which he seeth me or
heareth of me." The servant was jealous of his Master's
glory, and hence his reticence as to much which would
have interested us in the highest degree. " To me," he
could say as none other since nor then nor before —
" To me to live is Christ;" and he was as vigilant as to
this in public ministry as in private walk. " On be
half of a man in Christ" he had much to say, as he does
say it elsewhere ; and so he boasts here, for here all is
of grace. " Who maketh thee to differ ? and what
hast thou that thou didst not receive ? Now if thou
didst receive, why dost thou glory as if thou didst not
receive?" But even here, though speaking truth only,
he forbears lest any should account of him beyond
what he sees or hears of him. Such is the effect of a
life spent in the faith of Christ and His love.
We have seen the spiritual power and tact with which
the apostle handles his glorying, how he blends " the
man in Christ" with that which was peculiar to him
self, so as to cut off all self or fleshly boasting, and yet to
afford every saint intelligent of his privileges the same
conscious privilege substantially as he had himself
received miraculously. Now he turns to that counter
poise which the wisdom of the Lord had bound up

chapter xn. 225
with his own experience in order to hinder the misuse
of it ; for flesh was as bad in the apostle as in any
other, and it needed His dealing no less than in the
Corinthians, though differently as to form.
" And that I should not be uplifted by the exceeding
greatness of the revelations,* there was given to me a
thorn [or stake] for the flesh, a messenger of Satan to
buffet me, that I might not be uplifted overmuch.-}- For
this I thrice besought the Lord that it might depart
from me ; and he hath said to me, My grace is sufficient
for thee ; for [my]f power is perfected in weakness.
Most gladly therefore will I rather boast in my weak
nesses that the power of Christ may rest on me
Wherefore I take pleasure in weaknesses, in insults, in
necessities, in persecutions, in straits for Christ ; for
when I am weak, then am I strong." (Vers. 7-10.)
Here at least is no ambiguity, no studied mysterious-
ness of mention. Paul boasts of nothing here below
but in his weaknesses, and indeed specifies one
especial trial, or thorn if not " stake" for the flesh,
sent to make nothing of him in the eyes of others,
rendering him contemptible, it would seem from
elsewhere in his preaching. With this goes an extraor
dinary irregularity in the very expression which it is
easier to paraphrase than to translate with any smooth-
* SiS K A B F G, &c.
t The last clause is omitted by the best MSS. »'*ADEFQ,
See., Vulg. Aeth., &c. ; bnt it can hardly be doubted that it was done
in error to correct a supposed repetition, which was meant for em
phasis. This is an instructive fact.
X fov is added in T. Rec. with many but not the highest authoritwa.
It is implied. Q

226 notes on n Corinthians.
ness, if we adopt with some Sw "wherefore" after
" revelations" and before " that."
This the Bevisers deal with ingeniously : " And by
reason of the exceeding greatness of the revelations —
wherefore, that I should not be exalted overmuch,
there was given," &c. Otherwise, accepting the word,
Lachmann was driven to make verse 6 a parenthesis,
and to connect the first clause of verse 7 with the end
of verse 5; and then the new sentence began with
St6 Tva /trj k.t.X. which of coarse, if all allowed, yields
a simple sense. In the text of Tregelles the insertion
is beyond measure harsh. Alford brackets the word,
and very oddly the last clause also, though repeatedly
affirming its propriety for emphasis or solemnity;
Tischendorf rejects it.
It will be observed that in the early part of the chapter
the allusion is to what was communion with God's
presence, not matter for communication to His chil
dren ; and in that communion the body had no part.
What he saw and heard was so outside its sphere that
he knows not whether he were in the body or out of
it. A man in Christ thus favoured he knows, but
whether in the body or apart from the body he knows
not. Could anything make him feel more distinctly
that all the power to enjoy is in God ?
Yet flesh even in a saint might work in consequence
and whisper that none before had ever been so caught
up to the third heaven. Hence, lest by the excess of
the revelations he should be uplifted, there was given
him what was alike painful and humbling. What the
thorn in the flesh was in Paul's case is purposely left on-
determined, even if one may gather more or less its

chapter xn. 227
nature; bnt its moral aim, its intended effect, cannot
be doubted. Nor is the measure of reticence without
a wise motive, for it is a general principle of divine
dealing with a form suited to each person so dealt with.
If we hear of a messenger of Satan on one side, we
hear of something given on the other. H the enemy
take pleasure in the pain of God's servant or child, He
assuredly works even by that which so distresses the
flesh for the deeper blessing of the soul.
Lessons previously not learnt at all or imperfectly
are now taught. "For this I thrice besought the
Lord that it might depart from me ; and he hath said
to me, My grace is sufficient for thee ; for [my] power
is perfected in weakness." (Vers. 8, 9.) How it re
minds as of what was still more wonderful, yea of ab
solute perfection, in that very Lord Himself when He
prayed thrice that, if the Father would, the cup might
pass from Him. Here it could not, ought not, to have
been otherwise ; for how eould He who knew His love
as the Son but deprecate unsparing judgment because
of sin ? The Lord, in that infinite suffering according
to God's will and in doing it, was alone necessarily :
bat in the case before as we have as a principle what
pertains to as and must be our position by graoe, if in
deed we are to be kept from the more humbling lesson
of what the flesh is by a positive fall like Peter's.
There are exceeding precious privileges given to the
Christian. And it is not in the soul's entrance into or
enjoyment of them that the danger lies, but in oar
natural reflection on their possession afterwards. Hence
God knows how to use in grace what Satan means for
hurt as in Job's ease. Only here it is far deepe. and

228 notes on n oorinthians.
more triumphant, as it ought to be now that Christ is
come and redemption accomplished. It is not only de
pendence on God exercised and maintained, nor is it
mere resignation to inevitable trial, but the sufficiency
of grace practically proved, and Christ's power per
fected in weakness.
Thus he who felt as soberly and profoundly as any
man ever did can say, " Most gladly therefore will I
rather boast in my weakness, that the power of Christ
may spread its tabernacle over me." This is incalcu
lably more than vanquishing mighty foes by faith and
patience. It is taking pleasure in what is most trying
and overwhelming to nature that Christ's strength may
be manifested. Where flesh might rise, it is pat down.
In such dealing with us is the life of the Spirit ; bat
Christ makes the bitter sweet, and His power can
make its dwelling in us when we acquiesce in oar
nothingness and rejoice in it if it be but to His praise
and glory. Practically there is nothing so profitable
for the soul; and the apostle was ministering in the
most effectual way while thus drawing forth from his
own deep experience the true glorying of the saint as
he knew it in his hfe before God and His ways with
him day by day. What did they know of it, who were
boasting of themselves or their leaders at Corinth and
depreciating the true path of Christ to which the apostle
clave faithfully ? They would willingly have persuaded
themselves into the idea that such devotedness and
suffering were but the eccentricities of an ill-balanced
mind, and a prejudice to the gospel rather than a true
and acceptable testimony to Christ. But, hear or for
bear, he will tell them and as undauntedly what it is to

chapter xn. 229
live Christ. "Wherefore I take pleasure in weak
nesses, in insults, in necessities, in persecutions, in
straits for Christ; for when I am weak, then am I
strong." Practical Christianity is as truly of faith as
deliverance. All is of grace, though the ways differ.
In every respect Christ is all. Only in redemption He
suffered for us ; in the path of faith we suffer with and
it may be for Him. And blessed are those who thus
suffer now, whether for righteousness' sake or for His
name. But was not the apostle speaking of himself, of what
grace had given him to suffer ? Was it not talking of
what he calls weaknesses, insults, necessities, persecu
tions and straits for Christ, but on his own part ?
"I am become foolish,* ye compelled me; for I
ought to have been commended by you, for in nothing
was I behind those surpassingly apostles if also I am
nothing. The signs indeed of an apostle were wrought
among yon in all patience, by both signs-)' and wonders
and powers. For what is there wherein ye were made
inferior to the other assemblies, unless that I myself
pressed not heavily on you ? Forgive me this wrong."
(Vers. 11-18.)
It is not irony, bat the genuine and deep feehng of
one whose heart burned with a divinely given sense of
what Christ is, and of love to the saints, forced to speak
of himself by those who should have been prompt
rather to have vindicated him and his service in love.
It was the more painful, because he is treating, not of
* Text. Rec. adds xaux^pevos on large but inferior authority.
T Good and numerous authorities support Text. Bee. ir •*., em
¦ome read re r., and MP'B* B, &c, c re.

280 notes on n oorinthians.
sin in man met by the righteousness of God in Christ,
but of utter weakness in the Christian displaced by the
strength of Christ. Even the saints in Corinth were
as to this on ground like the world, the heathen world
around them. They gloried in intellect, in learning, in
eloquence — briefly in man. They had never applied
the cross of Christ practically to judge it, save so far as
grace may have begun the work by the first epistle ;
and we need His glory on high, as this second epistle
shews, to deal with fleshly pretensions thoroughly.
(Cf. chaps, iv., v.) The weakness which some detractors
laid to his reproach he was so far from denying that
he himself insisted on it as the condition of the display
of Christ's power.
It was real and culpable ignorance therefore to
contrast him with those surpassingly apostles in this
respect. Bather was it true that in nothing was he
behind them, though as he says he was nothing, and
quite content to be so. What his heart yearned for was
Christ's glory, Christ's strength, not his own. As
later in Philippians iii. his desire was to be found in
Him, not having a righteousness of his own, that which
is of the law, but that which is through faith in Christ,
the righteousness which is of God by faith ; so here he
would not be strong in himself if he could, but weak
that he might be strong through Christ. He would
glory of a man in Christ, but in himself of nothing bat
his infirmities.
Natural power indeed is as offensive in the service
of Christ as is one's own righteousness in justifi
cation : the latter denies Christ for us, the former denies
Christ in us, or rather His power resting on us in oar

CHAPTER XII. 231
own felt weakness, yea, nothingness. Nothing can be
more opposed to the feeling and the reasoning of flesh
and blood. Human nature dislikes what is humiliating
and painful ; it loves ease or honour. To go on in dif
ficulties, dependent on nothing but the Lord, is most
trying, not delivered but enduring, that He may be
glorified and we may prove the sufficiency of His grace.
Such is the true pathway of power, and Paul trod it as
none other since, in whom the first man is apt to be
strong, the confusion or perplexities of others being
only the greater where the Second man seems also
strong, and the consequence serious for those who
accept the activity of the two Adams as the right and
desirable thing, to be admired in the Christian and the
service of Christ. How different was his experience
who took pleasure in all that made him for Christ's
sake despised before others, and crashed in himself —
when weak then strong I
Yet had he far rather have not said a word of him
self, even when speaking only of this suffering trying
path, and absolutely silent as to himself, his family, his
acquirements, or his doings. It was the Corinthians
who compelled him to speak out for their own profit,
even though it took the shape of reproof. Neither was
Paul behind the apostles, however exalted any might
be ; and none the less but the more, though (and be
cause) he was nothing ; nor were the Corinthians in
ferior to the assemblies, save in Paul being no burden to
them. And as he shews that the apostohc signs were
wrought among them in all patience by both signs and
wonders and powers, so he asks them to forgive h*
the wrong of never accepting support or favours
9

232 notes on n oorinthians.
that rich assembly. It is calm, dignified, loving bat
overwhelming, in its exposure and reprimand of their
fleshly conceit, as well as of their readiness to take up in*
sinuations against him whom they ought rather to have
defended when impugned.
" Behold, this* third time I am ready to come unto
you, and I will not press heavily,* for I seek not yours
but you; for the children ought not to lay up for the
parents but the parents for the children. And I most
gladly will spend and be spent for your souls, if event
more abundantly loving! you I am less loved." (Vers.
14, 15.)
The servant would still (if now at length he revisited
Corinth) cherish the portion of his Master, and give
rather than receive: though entitled to live of the
gospel and be cared for by the assembly, he wonld
forego his title in the midst of those who might misuse
or misunderstand it to Christ's dishonour. He would
be Uke a parent in unselfish affection to his children.
He would fare as He whose love was the more as others
hated, however pained to find the saints so Like the
world. How singularly close was Paul's " imitation"
of Christ 1
" But be it so : I did not myself burden you, bat
crafty as I am I caught you with guile. Did I make
* tovto, omitted in Text. Rec. with three uncials and most cur
sives, is attested by K A B F G, many cursives, and most ancient
versions, &c. , ipAv " on you" being added in Text. Rec. with most
but not tbe oldest
t The ml is very doubtful, being rejected by MP'"' B F G, 4a,
but given in most other authorities.
t dyarm instead of the participle in M**** A and a few other
witnesses.

chapter xn. 288
s gain of any of them whom I sent unto you ? I ex
horted Titus and sent the brother with [him]: did
Titus make any gain of you ? Walked they not in
the same spirit ? [and] not in the same steps ?" (Vers.
16-18.) Here the apostle obviates the cunningly mischievous
insinuation of any who might charge him with reap
ing advantage indirectly through his friends. Such
dishonour he repudiates. Guile like that was far from his
soul, though the accusers seemed by no means above
it if they suspected him ; for what will not malice in
the heart dare to think and say? They well knew
that Titus and his companion walked in their midst
with a self-abnegation kindred to his own. No wonder
this unwearied witness of Christ's glory abhorred from
the bottom of his heart the sickening compulsion
which drew forth such words from his pen ; but we
should profit by it all no less than those primarily
addressed. There are many saints like those in
Corinth : where the servant like him who thus pleads
for Christ and like Christ ?
Nothing can be conceived more untrue than the im
pressions which the Corinthians had received of the
one to whom they were so deeply indebted ; and this
from the rivalry of men who boasted much, and as
usual with little or nothing really to boast * So it was
even in these early days, so often halcyon days in
superficial estimation, unless indeed for eyes yet more
superficial, which, misled by theory only.look for progress
in Christendom, degrading the past to exalt the present
and speoulate on the future. Positive and weighty
and even notorious facts were utterly opposed to the

284 - .«otes on n cortnthians.
misrepresentation of his adversaries ; and none ought
to have known better than the Corinthians how un
founded was all this detraction. It would be unintelli
gible if one did not know the natural weakness of the
mass to fall nnder high-sounding words, and the subtle
activity of the enemy to take advantage of the flesh in
order to ruin the church and make it an instrument to
the Lord's shame, instead of a witness in grace to His
glory. Therefore did the apostle stoop to refute this
miserable trash. But he was jealous lest this too should
be misinterpreted, and he next proceeds to guard even
this brief notice of his slanderers.
"Ye long ago* think that we excuse ourselves to
you. Beforef God in Christ we speak, but all things,
beloved, for your building up. For I fear lest by any
means on coming I find you not such as I wish, and I
be found by [or for] you such as ye wish not ; lest by
any means [there be] strife, J jealousy, wraths, feuds,
slanderings, whisperings, swellings, confusions; lest
on my coming again my God humble me among [or
before] you, and bewail many of those that have
sinned heretofore and not repented of the uncleanness
and fornication and indecency which they committed."
(Vers. 19-21.)
There need be no question, I think, as to the reading
* Text. Rec. has wi\iv supported by tbe later uncials and most
enrsives, versions, See. ; wiKat xp-m- A B F G and most of the Latins,
Vulgate, &c.
t nartvavn on similar grounds, and rather stronger than the
received Karev&7rtov.
t There is the highest, though not the largest, authority for the
singular form, which seems to have been assimilated to the words
following.

chapter xn. 285
in verse 10. It is not " again" as in the Authorised
Version, bat "this long time," which does not suit
the interrogative form. If others sought self-justifica
tion, not bo the apostle, whatever their surmisings. For
those who are not occupied with Christ readily conceive
of others what fills their own minds. He whom they
misjudged turns to the presence of God and in His
sight speaks in Christ. His speech was not only in
the consciousness of the divine presence, bat charac
terised by Christ, not by the natural man. In His
name does not seem the thought, nor yet conformably
to His doctrine. He stooa eonswously over against the
highest tribunal, and spoke in Christ accordingly, not
in the flesh; as he thus disposed of any self-com
placency on their part in judging him, so he disclaims
as carefully all thought of self-interest or fear : " bat
all things, beloved, for your building up." Love never
fails, and it builds up. For this he spoke and toiled
and suffered.
And the more because he could not bat have tho
gravest apprehensions of not a few in Corinth, whatever
his comforting hopes of the rest. " For I fear, lest by
any means on coming I find yon not such as I wish,
and I be found by you such as ye wish not." It was
the dread of their state and its consequences for
themselves and to his own heart which had hindered
his going when he had intended ; and the delay had
exposed him to evil tongues long since. And he still
feared that the work of restoring grace meanwhile was
not so complete, but that much which was amiss remained
feebly if at all judged in many. For rather would ho
oome in love and a spirit of meekness, than with a rod

236 NOTES ON n CORINTHIANS.
which their condition might demand. If he found any
failing not in grace merely but in righteousness, those
who were thus putting the Lord to shame must be as
un welcome to His servants, as he must prove to them in
vindication of His name. The evils he hints at as still at
work are those which he had so unsparingly rebuked in
his first epistle; strife and jealousy, outbursts of angry
passion and cabals, outspoken slanderings and privy
whisperings, manifestations of proud insolence, and open
disorders. It is a long list of sad evils ; but how soon these
might characterise true believers, where there is a party
or parties to take np and spread and give effect to the
word of leaders I
Some see it hard to reconcile the warm expressions
of loving confidence found elsewhere, especially in the
central part of the Epistle, with these forebodings. They
even venture to conjecture that the latter portion from
chapter x. formed another letter written at a different
epoch, and under circumstances widely differing from
those supposed in the preceding part ; or at least that a
considerable period elapsed between the writings of the
former and the latter parts. But there is really no
special difficulty, as the apostle does not here speak of
all, but of many ; and the attentive reader will not fail
to discern, even in the earhest chapters of the first
portion, quite enough to prepare him for the solemn
anxieties which press on the apostle's spirit before he
eloses the Epistle with his parting appeals.
Indeed, it has been pre-eminently remarked of this
very chapter with truth that it contains the most
striking contrasts among those that bear the name of
the Lord. There is, on the one hand, the man in

CHAPTER xn. 287
Christ, viewed in an extraordinary measure of enjoying
the privileges of a Christian ; there is, on the other,
the most distressing exhibition of the worst possible
state of the saints practically in both violence and
corruption ; and there is between these extremes the
way of the saint, in being made nothing of, that the
power of Christ might rest on him. Thus there is
really no difficulty for those who accept God's word in
simplicity ; and the intellectual activity which musters
objections is spiritually as infirm and unintelligent, as
it also dishonours the Lord.
Verse 21 seems naturally inconsistent with the
notion of a seoomd visit as yet, though it is admitted
on all hands that the apostle had intended ere this to
have paid it. " Again" goes with coming, not with
" humble," though some prefer giving it to the entire
clause. What an expression of love lurks in the
apostle's words I To find saints thus in Bin was God
humbling him in their presence, not them in his, as it
looked as a fact. But he lelt as lie spoke " in Christ."
It was God humbling him at the evil condition of his
saints, and what it rendered necessary. And what
does he say as he thinks of the grossest forms of it ?
" And I bewail many of those who have sinned before
hand, and not repented of the uncleanness, and
fornication, and indecency which they committed." It
is not that his hand would fail to wield the rod, but it
was surely with a wounded heart which bled because
of shameless evil among those who called on the name
of the Lord. Doubtless the corruptions were charac
teristic of heathen Corinth; and old habits soon
revive, even in young converts, when the heart tarns

238 notes ox n corinthians.
from Christ to other objects. Bat what a tale is told
of feeble faith ? For faith it is that overcomes ; and
they were overcome with evil, not overooming it with
good. Nature is an important fact for the enemy ; bat
the Holy Spirit lifts above all hindrances, forming,
exercising, and strengthening the new life we have in
Christ oar Lord*

OHAPTEB XHI.
The apostle reverts to his intention of visiting the
Corinthian saints once more, and in such a way as to
give a solemn foree to the visit when it should be
accomplished. " This third [time] I am coming unto you. At [the]
mouth of two witnesses and three shall every word
[or, matter] be established. I have foretold and fore
tell, as if present the second [time] and now absent, to
them that have sinned before and to all the rest, that if
I come again I will not spare. Since ye seek a proof
of the Christ speaking in me (who toward yon is not
weak, bat is powerful in you, for although he was cru
cified in weakness, yet he liveth by God's power ; foi
indeed we are weak in him, but shall live with him bj
God's power toward you), try your own selves whethei
ye be in the faith, prove your own selves. Or recog
nise ye not as to your own selves that Jesus Christ is
in yon, unless indeed ye be reprobate ?" (Vers. 1-5.)
It had been already explained why the second visit
had fallen through. It was to spare them he had not
come. When he should revisit them, they most not
expect each forbearance. His patience had been mis
construed by some, if others had profited. Bat this
third time he was coming ; and when he did, every
thing should be estabUshed with due evidence. The
previous warnings he had given, to not only those that
had sinned heretofore bat all the rest, only strengthaned

240 NOTES ON II CORINTHIANS.
his resolve not to spare at his coming again. The
language most naturally conveys that he had not gone
to Corinth the time when he had intended his second
visit. Hence he says, " I have foretold and foretell, as
if present the second time and now absent, to them
that have sinned before and to all the rest," &c. There
is no ground apparent to my mind that this was literally
a third visit, rather on the contrary the second in fact,
though third in purpose.
It helps greatly to the understanding of what follows
to see that, whether marked externally or not, there is
a parenthesis after the first clause of the third verse
which runs through the fourth also ; so that the con
nection of the first clause of verse 3 is really with verse
6. " Since ye seek a proof of the Christ speaking in me,
.... try your own selves whether ye be in the faith,
prove your own selves." It is a final notice of and
answer to their unworthy questioning of Paul's apostle
ship. Did they demand a proof of Christ speaking in
him ? Were not they themselves proof enough ? Had
He not spoken to their souls in that servant of His who
first caused His voice to be heard in Corinth ? As
surely as they were in the faith, which they did not at
all question, he was an apostle — if not to others,
assuredly to them. The many Corinthians who, hear
ing the apostle, believed on the Lord Jesus Christ,
were the last who ought to gainsay the messenger if
they appreciated the message and Him who sent the
messenger. If they were reprobate, having oonfessed
Christ in vain, there was no force in the appeal, which
derives all its power from their confidence that Christ
was in them as the fruit of the apostle's preaching.

chapter xni. 241
This also shews how baseless is the too common
abuse of the passage, as well as of 1 Corinthians xi. 28,
to sanction a doubting self-examination, as one often
hears, not only in the practical history of souls, but in
the teaching of doctrinal schools otherwise opposed.
Here, say they, we are taught to search ourselves and
see that we be not too confident : does not the apostle
in the first Epistle to the Corinthians call on each
habitually to examine or prove himself before partaking
of the Lord's Supper ? and does he not pursue that
special call by the general exhortation in the second
Epistle to examine or try themselves whether they be
in the faith ? The truth is that an examination of the
oontext in each case dispels the error as to both — an
error which strikes directly at the peace of the believer,
if not also the truth of the gospel. For the gospel is
sent by God, founded on the personal glory and the
work of His Son, to bring the believer into communion
with the Father and the Son in full liberty of heart and
with a purged conscience. These misinterpretations,
under cover of jealousy for holiness, tend immediately
to plunge the soul into doubt through questions about
itself. What then do the passages respectively teach?
1 Corinthians xi. 28-81, the duty, need, and value of
each Christian testing himself by the solemn truth of
the Lord's death expressed and confessed and enjoyed
in His supper. How slur over sin of any kind, were
it but levity in word or deed, in presence of that death
in which it came under God's judgment unsparingly
for our salvation? Nor is it enough to confess our
faults to God or man, as the case may require ; but as

242 notes on n Corinthians.
on the one hand we discern the body, the Lord's body,
in that holy feast of which we are made free and which
we can never neglect without dishonouring Him who
thus died for as, so on the other hand are we called to
discern ourselves, scrutinising the inward springs and
motives of all, and not merely the wrong which ap
pears to others. But this intimate self-searching, to
which we are each called who partake of the Lord's
Supper, is on the express ground of faith, and has no
application whatever to an unbeliever. This last doubt
less has been mischievously helped on by the error of
" damnation" in the Authorised Version of verse 29,
which verses 80-82 clearly refute, proving that the
judgment in question is the discipline of sickness or
death which the Lord wields over careless or faulty
saints in positive contrast with the condemnation of
the world. — As for the passage in our chapter, we have
already seen that the argument derives all its force from
the certainty that those appealed to were in the faith,
not in the least that they were uncertain. That they were
in the faith through Paul's preaching ought to have been
an unanswerable proof that Christ spoke through him ;
if Christ was not in them, they were reprobate ; and
was it for such to question his apostleship ? Scripture
never calls a soul to doubt, always to believe. But
self-judgment is ever a Christian's duty ; and our pri
vileges, we being in ourselves what we are, only
deepen the importance, as representing Christ, of dealing
with ourselves truly and intimately before God, as well
as of reminding our souls habitually of the Lord's death
and of its infinite and solemn import as shewn forth
in His Supper.

chapter xni. 243
The parenthesis connects the apostle's ministry,
Christ's speaking in him, with all he had laid down be
fore as its true principle throughout the epistle, as well
as in the preceding chapter. Christ certainly had
shewn Himself toward them not weak, but powerful in
them. Let them only bethink themselves of the past,
and weigh what His grace and truth had done for them.
And if they found fault with the apostle as indifferent
to, yea, as despising and abominating, fleshly power and
worldly wisdom, let them think again of the Saviour,
who " was crucified in [lit. out of] weakness, yet he
liveth by [lit. out of] God's power." Let them judge
then who was consistent with Christ, His cross and His
resurrection — they with their natural thoughts; or the
apostle with his ministry so despicable in the eyes of
some ? " For indeed we are weak in him, but shall
live with him by God's power toward yon." Where
was dependence in faith of the crucified One ? Where
real power, as became the witness of resurrection and
glory on high? Where unselfish devotedness and
practical grace answering to Him who loved the church
and gave Himself for it ?
Thus did the apostle turn the unworthy demand of
some in Corinth as to his apostolate to their own souls'
blessing as well as to the overthrow of their argument.
So at the beginning of this epistle he had dealt with
their imputation of fickle levity if not of untruthful
ness by insisting on the immutable truth of what he
preached of Christ, and the power of God in the Holy
Ghost's blessing that confirmed it in the believers.
Not less does he here overwhelm those who, in their
anxiety to dishonour his commission from Christ, were

244 NOTES ON II CORINTHIANS.
bringing to nought their own title to Christ. Did
they seek evidence of Christ that spoke in Paul, and
that was not weak toward them but was mighty in
them ? Let them try their own selves whether they
were in the faith. The apostle was content with no
better evidence than his Corinthian converts, unless in
deed they were reprobate, which was far from the
ground they took or he. He had far rather give them,
and that they required, no proof of his apostolic power
in severe discipline.
" But I hope ye shall know that we are not repro
bate. But we pray* unto God that ye may do nothing
evil, not that we may appear approved, but that ye
may do the right though we be as reprobate. For we
can do nothing against the truth but for the truth.
Fort we rejoice when we are weak and ye are strong :
this also we pray for, your perfecting. For this cause
I write these things while absent, that I may not when
present deal severely according to the authority which
the Lord gave me for building up and not for easting
down." It is impossible to conceive a more admirable dealing
with a state of mind which must have been as grievous
as it was humiliating to the apostle. Their high-
minded ingratitude and short-sightedness only brought
out an answer oomplete and withering, yet dignified,
lowly, and loving. His heart was occupied with their
further blessing, more than with his apostolio office,
* ebx&p.*8« N A B D F G P many cursives and all the
ancient versions save the Pesch. Syr. and the Gothio, instead of the
sing. ttSx°H-aL of the Text. Rec.
t Text. Rec. adds Si contrary to the best authorities.

CHAPTER XIII. 245
which he asserted for their sakes more than his own.
To stand in doubt of him might jeopardise their own
faith rather than his apostleship, which was there to be
exercised if need were in vindication of the Lord
against their evil, as it had already been by grace in
their conversion. Bat he prayed that they might give
no each occasion, not that the validity of his claim
might appear, bat that they might do that which be
came saints, even though he might lack such proofs or
be ever so depreciated. There would then be no
occasion for the display of power, as their honourable
walk would testify for the truth ; and as for the
apostle, he oould say " we can do nothing against the
truth, but for the truth. For we rejoice when we are
weak and ye are strong." And he prayed for this too,
their perfecting.
It was reserved for the anti-church to claim irre
vocable authority along with immunity from error.
Where difference exists among the faithful, it is folly
to claim a character which attaohes only to their agree
ment in the power of the Spirit. And the apostle
disclaims what the Boman pontiff arrogates, that clavt
errant* the decision binds. The inevitable effect,
soon or late, will be destruction, not edification. It
is not Christ, bat human assumption, not to say
presumption. Whether it be an individual's assumption or an as
sembly's, or whether as in one notable theory it be the
chief along with that which represents the church as a
whole, such a claim is fictitious and destructive of the
Lord's glory. The promise is strictly conditional, not
absolute; and never was there an apparent More save

¦OTIS 0* D CORINTHIANS.
when the condition was broken, and then in very faith*
fulness the Lord gave not His sanction. To be un
conditionally true, there ought also to have been
infallibility, which belongs not even to an apostle but to
God alone. The meek will He guide in judgment,
and the meek will He teach His way ; and this now in
the church by His own guaranteed presence and lead
ing, though nothing seem harder to conceive where
the several wills of so many would naturally act di
versely. But He is there in the midst to make good
His gracious power when truly waited on, with sub
jection in the Spirit to the written word which oasts its
divine light on facts and persons ; that all without force
or fraud may act as one in the fear of God, or those
who dissent may be manifested in their self-will,
whether they be few or many.
But the taking for granted that a given sentenoe is
irrevocable, because it is the opinion of a majority or
even of a whole assembly, in the face of facts which
overthrow its truth or righteousness, is not only fanatical
(I do not say illogical only) bat wicked fighting against
God. In such a case, humbling as it is, most humbling
for an assembly to judge itself hasty and mistaken in
pretending to the mind of the Lord, where it was only
the illusive influence of prejudiced leaders or the
weakness of the mass who prefer general quiet in
floating with the stream at all cost, or both causes or
others also, the only course at all pleasing to the Lord
is, that the error when known be confessed and re
nounced as publicly as it was oommitted, being due to
Him and to the church, as well as to the individuals or
company, if there be such, more immediately eon-

chapter xm. 247
eerned. To keep up appearances in deference to men
however respected if mistaken and misleading, to give
expression to high-sounding terms or to vague begging
the question of truth and right, in order to cloak an
evident miscarriage of justice, is unworthy of Christ
or of His servants. This was far from the apostle
who, as at the beginning of this epistle he disclaimed
lording it over the faith of the saints, at the end proves
his sincere desire, even when grievously slighted, to
avoid if possible sharp dealing with those who had
afforded grave occasion, and to use the authority which
the Lord gave him for building ap and not for casting
down. "For the rest, brethren, rejoice [or, farewell], be
perfected, be encouraged, be of one mind, live in
peace ; and the God of love and peace shall be with
you. Salute one another with a holy kiss. All the
saints salute you. The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ,
and the love of God, and the communion of the Holy
Spirit [be] with you all*."
May our souls be corrected and strengthened and
refreshed by so benignant a conclusion 1 It well be
fits the epistle of restorative grace. The work of
bringing back the saints in Corinth to meet thoughts in
the Lord as to themselves and His servants, and the
apostle especially, was only begun. Much remained to
be done, both in fulfilling obedienoe and in avenging
all disobedience. But the apostle was encouraged of
God, and would comfort them on his part. He bids
them, not merely farewell, bat rejoice ; he wishes what
* Text Rec. adds dpiv with most manuscripts (not the most
early) and most ancient versions, fee.

248 notes on n Corinthians.
was lacking supplied, what was awry adjusted; he
desires them to be not discouraged by or in ocoupation
with themselves, but cheered on as they looked at his
exhortation to the Lord ; he would have them cultivate,
not crotchety points of difference, but the same mind ;
he calls them, not to indulge in questions gendering
strife, but to live in peace : and he assures them that
the God of love and peace, as one combined blessing in
the power of His presence, should be with them.
What a spring of consolation for those who in the
measure of deepening self-judgment might otherwise
have been cast down 1 Nor was it only of that divine
source of blessedness he assures them, but he calls on
the expression to one another of mutual and holy love,
as he sends it from all the saints in that part of Mace
donia whence he wrote.
The benediction that closes all has the same suit
ability which we see in each epistle, admirably adapted
to the state of the Corinthian saints, and of course not
only to all others in similar experience but instructive
and wholesome for all that believe. Yet for this very
reason one feels the unintelligenoe which turns such
pointed words of blessing into a standing invariable form
for all sorts of different occasions, as if we were re
duced to one such mode of dismissal, or that it was of
the Spirit of God to seleot that which might seem the
most comprehensive and comforting. As God gives no
licence to confusion in the assemblies, so does He not
sanotion those who walk in pride and passion, in self-
will, railing, and contention, however graciously He
may act, when they begin to judge themselves. We
need, not the word of God only, but His Spirit to apply

chapter xiii. 249
it aright : else we may unwittingly pervert even that
word to real mischief, with cheer where reproof is
rather called for, and rebuke where consolation would
be more seasonable. But what grace is told out in this
inspired servant sending under all the circumstances
such a parting message to all the saints in Corinth I
" The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of
God, and the communion of the Holy Spirit, be with
you all." Poor, weak, unworthy, what can saints lack
to help them when this is made good? and what
simple soul among the faithful would on such a warrant
doubt it ? or desire less or different for himself and
his brethren ? The free and full favour of Him who
for us died and rose; the love of that God against
whom we had without cause sinned to our utter ruin,
yet who sent the Saviour to redeem us ; the fellowship
of the Holy Ghost, the power and seal of this infinite
blessing, who gives us a common and abiding share in
it all, yea, with the Father and the Son: what a
portion to be with us all, and assured for ever !

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