2 Corinthians

THE SECOND EPISTLE OF PAUL THE APOSTLE TO THE CORINTHIANS

THE ARGUMENT AND ANALYSIS

The occasion of writing this second epistle was, to vindicate his ministry from contempt, and his person from divers imputations laid upon him, by the false apostles: and to this end, he professes his sincere affection to the Corinthians, and faithful carriage in the whole course of his ministry; and being enforced thereunto, he relates at large both his sufferings for Christ, and the visions and revelations he received from him.

The epistle consists of:

1. An excuse of himself for not coming to them according to promise, chap. 1.

2. A deprecation for the incestuous person, (who had been excommunicated) that he might be restored again to the church, chap. 2.

3. A justification of his ministry against the calumnies of false teachers, chap. 3, 4, 5.

4. An exhortation to Christian duties in general, chap. 7, and in particular, to a liberal contribution to the poor saints at Jerusalem, chap. 8, 9.

5. A contestation with his emulous adversaries, and a commemoration of his manifold trials, and the happy issue of them, chap. 10, 11, 12.

6. A denunciation of severity, and the power of his apostleship against obstinate sinners, chap. 13.

CHAPTER 1

Verse 1. {And Timothy our brother} Not according to the flesh, for we read not that Timothy was of kin to St. Paul; but brother in Christ in the profession of the gospel, and brother also in the ministry of the word, being St. Paul's companion, and fellow laborer in the office of an apostle and evangelist.

{at Corinth} Gr. in Corinth.

{with all the Saints} All who embrace the holy profession of Christians, who were admitted into the church which is the communion of saints, who attend upon the holy ordinances of God, and follow after peace and holiness, without which no man shall see God. The Greek scholiast notes, that he uses not the word, ὁσίοις, but ἁγίοις, ἐμφαίνων ὅτι πᾶς γηώδης ἐκτὸς ἐστὶ ταύτης τῆς προσηγορίας, not holy, but unearthly, whereby all those among the Corinthians that were earthly minded, and sought not the things that are above, but the things that are below, are excluded out of the apostle's salutation.

V. 3. {blessed be God} See Ephes. 1.3. 1 Pet. 1.3. God is essentially blessed, and cannot be made blessed or happy by us: this phrase therefore signifies no more than praised be God: in the original, εὐλογητός, that is word for word, let God be well spoken of. God blesses us really, but we bless God but verbally, by lauding and magnifying him: or at the most, mentally. For as the kingly prophet professes, Psal. 16.2, our goodness extends not to him. The apostle here begins with thanksgiving, which notwithstanding otherwise than he was wont, he applies to himself; beginning his epistle with the setting forth of the dignity of his apostleship, constrained as it should seem thereunto by their importunity, who took occasion to despise him, by reason of his great crosses and afflictions: but he answers, that he is not so afflicted, but that his comforts do exceed his afflictions, showing the ground of them, even the mercy of God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.

{the Father of mercies} Though judgments proceed from God, as well as mercies, yet he is not in Scripture anywhere called the Father of judgments, as he is here, the Father of mercies: because mercy and compassion arises merely from himself, and he delights in it, Mich. 7.18. But our sins are the cause why he inflicts any judgments upon us. And it is further here to be noted, for the comfort of all those that groan under any heavy cross, or suffer conflicts with desperation itself, that the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ is the Father also of mercy, and not of mercy only in the singular number, but of mercies in the plural, and which is yet more, the God of all consolation.

V. 4. {Who comforteth us in all our tribulation} He says not, who suffers us not to be afflicted: for he knows that it is good for us to be afflicted, as the holy prophet David professes; and Christ himself says, As many as I love, I rebuke and chasten: Rev. 3.19, but who comforts us in our afflictions.

{that we may be able to comfort them} Oecumenius out of this passage rightly observes the singular modesty of the apostle, who says not, that he received comfort from God in those tribulations which he suffered for the gospel, for his own sake, because his patience or diligence in his ministry deserved any such consolation; but that God afforded him those comforts for the good of others, that he might be the better enabled to comfort them by those cordials, which he received by the hand of his heavenly Physician.

V. 5. {For as the sufferings of Christ abound in us} Gr. unto us. The afflictions and calamities which we suffer for Christ, or Christ suffers in us his members.

V. 6. {which is effectual in the enduring of the same sufferings} Or, is wrought. Although salvation be given us freely: yet because there is a way appointed to us, whereby we must come to it, which is the race of an innocent and upright life, which we must run, therefore we are said to work our salvation: Phil. 2.12, and because it is God only that of his free good will works all things in us, therefore is he said to work this salvation in us by the selfsame things, by which we must pass to everlasting life, after that we have once overcome all encumbrances.

V. 8. {For we would not, brethren, have you ignorant} He witnesses, that he is not only not ashamed of his afflictions, but that he desires also to have all men know the greatness of them, as also his delivery from them, although it be not yet perfect.

{which came to us in Asia} Whether he mean by this affliction, the great opposition he found by those many adversaries mentioned by him, 1 Cor. 16.9, or the great tumult at Ephesus by Demetrius and his fellow craftsmen, Acts 19, or some very dangerous sickness wherewith he was visited, it is not certain: but here he thought good to acquaint them with it, partly to show his great love to them, in that he concealed nothing from them, which befell him: partly to stir them up to give God thanks for his great deliverance.

V. 9. {the sentence of death in ourselves} Or, answer. We resolved in ourselves to die, or we gave ourselves for dead, we were not only past hope in other men's judgments, but even in our own.

V. 10. {so great a death} He says not, out of so great a danger, but so great a death, because the danger was so great, that it was past man's help, or hope of delivery. He takes the word death, as elsewhere, in deaths often. (2 Cor. 11.23.) either for such sickness, or persecutions in which there appeared no hope of escaping with life, or such torments as were equivalent to the pangs of death.

V. 11. {You also helping together by prayer for us} Gr. Tec. we also helping together by prayer for you. See Rom. 15.30. That he may not seem to boast himself, he attributes all to God, and withal acknowledges himself to be much indebted to them for their prayers for him.

{thanks may be given} The end of the afflictions of the saints is the glory of God, and therefore they ought to be precious unto us.

V. 12. {that in simplicity} Gr. Tec. purity. Here he puts away another slander, to wit, that he was a light man, and inconstant, seeing that he promised to come unto them, but broke his word and came not: and first he speaks of the simplicity of his mind, and plain and open dealing, which they knew by his speech when he was present, and they ought also to acknowledge it in his letters being absent; and moreover he protests that he will never be otherwise.

{and godly sincerity} Gr. and sincerity of God. In the original, it is the sincerity of God, that is, such sincerity as is in the God of truth, who is always constant and immutable; or, sincerity before God, or in the sight of God, not feigned or hypocritical.

{with fleshly} Gr. in fleshly.

{by the grace} Or, in the grace.

V. 13. {or} Gr. Tec. and.

V. 14. {that we are your rejoicing} Paul's rejoicing in the Lord, was that he had gained the Corinthians to the Lord, and they themselves rejoiced, that they had such an apostle to be their instructor, who taught them so purely and sincerely.

V. 15. {a second benefit} Or, grace. Some render a double joy, but the word is not, χαράν, but χάριν: and the apostle's meaning is, that they might reap a double fruit, both of his letters and of his presence.

V. 17. {purpose} Or, consult.

{be yea, yea, and nay, nay} Christ commands, Matt. 5.37, that our communication be yea, yea, and nay, nay; neither does the apostle here contradict it, but his meaning is, that with him there was not yea, and nay, concerning the same thing, that he was not light and inconstant in his words, as those who affirm and deny with a breath, promising and not performing, and changing their purpose at every turning of the hand, but according to the saying of the Hebrews; etiam justorum est etiam, & eorum non est non, so his yea, was always yea, and his nay, nay; not his yea now, his nay at another time, nor his nay yea.

V. 18. {true} Gr. faithful.

{word} Or, preaching.

{was not} Gr. Tec. is not.

V. 20. {For all the promises of God in him are yea} God purposing to be glorified and perfectly acknowledged for his truth, in the accomplishment of his promises in Christ, preached by us, has withal given unto us the apostles, such an infallible guidance of his Spirit, that the truth of our preaching might answer to the truth of Christ his practice, even as himself did answer exactly by his performance unto the promises of God.

{and in him Amen} Gr. Tec. therefore also they are by him Amen. As Christ is the same in God's promises which are unchangeable, so are all such promises touching our salvation, yea, that is, truth; and Amen, that is, assurance. For so much as God in the new covenant makes no promises of salvation, nor fulfills any but in Christ, and by Christ.

{unto the glory of God by us} Gr. to God for glory by us.

V. 21. {hath anointed us} With the grace of his Holy Spirit. So St. John also speaks, 1 John 2.27. But the anointing which you have received of him abideth in you, and the same anointing teacheth you of all things.

V. 22. {Who hath also sealed us} He wrought the same in us, in regard of our apostleship, by the virtue of the same Spirit, that ratifies both in us and in all his faithful children, his vocation and election, by the grace of regeneration, signing us for his as with a seal, 2 Tim. 2.19, and as by a pledge assuring us of our future inheritance.

{earnest of the Spirit} That is, the Holy Spirit, which is unto us as an earnest, whereby God assures us, that he will pay us at length the whole sum of his promises. For an earnest is as a pledge, whereby we confirm a bargain, or a piece of money, whereby we assure the payment of the whole. The first gift therefore of the Spirit, and of life, is a pledge of our whole inheritance; insomuch, that this anointing, sealing, and pledging, all serve to one and the same end.

V. 23. {I call God for a record upon my soul} That is, against myself, and to the danger of my own life. So the Hebrews say, to carry our soul in our hands, and Xenarchus in Athenæus uses the same phrase, ἐν τῇ χειρὶ τὴν ψυχὴν ἔχειν, whereby they signify that the life is in great danger. This is then a deep adjuration, whereby the apostle assures them even by oath, that he did not only not change his purpose of coming to them out of levity, but rather that he came not to them for this cause, that he might not be constrained to deal more sharply with them being present, than he would.

V. 24. {Not for that we have dominion} He removes all suspicion of arrogancy, declaring that he speaks not what he said before as a lord over them, but as a servant appointed of God to comfort them.

{but are helpers of your joy} He sets the joy and peace of conscience, which God is the author of, against tyrannous fear, and withal shows the end of the gospel, which is peace and joy in the Holy Ghost.

CHAPTER 2

Verse 1. {In heaviness} Causing grief amongst you, which he should have done, if he had come unto them before they had repented them.

V. 4. {not that you should be grieved} The apostle in sharply reproving them, though he could not but make them sorry, yet that was not his intent, but to show his affectionate love towards them, and care of their salvation; that by sorrowing after a godly manner they might receive spiritual consolation. For as worldly joy ends in sorrow, so godly sorrow ends in joy: whence is that exhortation of St. Jerome to the penitent, Doleat & de dolore gaudeat; Let him grieve, and rejoice for such grief.

V. 5. {But in part: that I may not overcharge you all} Gr. overburthen. The words may carry different interpretations, either he has not grieved me in my own particular, but as a part and member of the church, whom that incestuous person has offended: or he has not wholly grieved me, as if you were all delinquents. For although before I knew of your detestation of his crime, I wrote unto you in general terms, 1 Cor. 5.2, Ye are puffed up, and have not rather sorrowed, that he which hath done this thing might be put from among you. Yet now since I have proof of your love and obedience, and you have cleared yourselves by excommunicating him, I have cause to sorrow but in part, only for his sake who was guilty, nor for you all, who have cleared yourselves that you are no upholders or maintainers of him.

V. 6. {punishment} Or, censure.

{of many} Gr. by.

V. 7. {to forgive him, and comfort him} Or, gratifie. Release him of the sentence of excommunication, and receive him again into the church, and upon his unfeigned tokens of repentance, minister a word of comfort to him, that he be not swallowed up in the gulf of despair.

V. 8. {confirm your love towards him} That at my entreaty you would declare by the consent of the whole church, that you take him again for a brother.

V. 10. {forgive any thing} Or, grant any thing of favour; or, freely give.

{to whom I forgave it} Gr. Tec. what I forgave.

{in the person of Christ} Or, in the sight. Although Ferrandus the Deacon, in his epistle to Egippius, takes the person of Christ for the hypostasis, which is one in Christ, though he consist of two natures, saying, Si quid donavi, donavi propter vos in persona Christi, vult probare unitatem personæ, nam melius personas diceret si vellet in Christo significare duas substantias: yet Oecumenius his interpretation is more agreeable to the scope of the apostle in this place, ὡς τοῦ Χριστοῦ κελεύοντος, in the person of Christ, that is, in stead of Christ, or by Christ's authority and command, who said, As my Father sent me, I send you: whose sins ye remit, they are remitted, John 20.23.

V. 11. {Lest Satan should get advantage of us} Lest Satan overreach us. The Greek word, πλεονεκτέω, signifies to have more than belongs to one, and it is commonly used of the covetous: the comparison is taken from the greedy merchant, that seeks and takes all opportunities to beguile and deceive others. The meaning then is, that we give not Satan an occasion by our immoderate rigor to snatch away from us, or ruin any member of the church, to make the gospel and the ministry thereof more hateful, and to pervert the holy use of discipline, which consists in the temper of charity, and has no other end than the salvation of the sinner.

{ignorant of his devices} Or, plots, or, machinations. Machinations or stratagems, of which Acontius has written a singular book: The particular wiles to which the apostle here points seem to be these, whereby he endeavors to gain upon the church both ways, both by remissness of church discipline, and too much severity: by remissness to rock the sinner asleep in security, and by too much severity to plunge him in despair.

V. 12. {was opened} Gr. being.

V. 14. {Now} Or, But.

{causeth us to triumph} It is word for word, Θριαμβεύει ἡμᾶς, triumphs us, that is, subdues us to the gospel, and makes us obedient thereunto. So says Livy, Triumphavit Mummius Achæos, Mummius triumphed the Acheans, that is, triumphed over those of Achaia. Or, triumphare facit, causes us to triumph over the world, the flesh, and the devil; or gives us conquest in every place where we preach his word, to bring all countries to the obedience of faith.

{the savour of his knowledge} He alludes to the ointment of the priests and the sweet incense they offered: and withal intimates the far spreading of the gospel, which like a sweet odor was blown by the breath of the apostles, preaching unto all parts of the world.

V. 15. {unto God a sweet savour of Christ} That is, pleasing and acceptable to God, in regard that by us is made manifest the mercy of God.

{in them that are saved, &c.} The gospel is preached indifferently to all manner of persons, but it works in a very different manner: forasmuch as being received by the faithful, it produces in them life and salvation, as containing all the causes thereof in itself, but being rejected by unbelievers, it becomes in them the occasion of a greater condemnation, and makes their perdition inevitable. As the same light of the sun, says Chrysostom, offends weak eyes, but recreates and comforts the strong sighted; and as the same star is to some φωσφόρος, to others ἕσπερος, to some a morning star bringing light and day, and to others an evening star bringing darkness and night: so the gospel is a comfort to some, and a terror to others, bringing eternal life and salvation to some, but by accident, everlasting darkness and damnation to others, according to the prophecy of Simeon, Luke 2.34. Behold, this childe is set for the fall and rising again of many in Israel.

V. 16. {savour of death unto death} Gr. Tec. out of. A deadly savor: not as if the gospel of its own nature breathed out death to any; for it is the ministry of life, 2 Cor. 3.6, 7, and the power of God to salvation unto all believers, Rom. 1.16, but by reason that unbelievers and impenitent sinners willfully set themselves against it, and thereby draw upon themselves the heavier judgment of God, John 3.36. 1 Pet. 2.7, 8.

{of life} Gr. Tec. out of.

{sufficient} Or, fit.

V. 17. {which corrupt the word of God} Or, deal deceitfully with. See chap. 4.2. Word for word, καπηλεύοντες, play the hucksters with the word of God; so Ennius says elegantly, cauponari bellum; and Herodian, cauponari pacem; and Plato, καπηλεύειν τὰ μαθήματα, and Nazianzen calls deceitful teachers, χριστοκαπήλους, and Ignatius χριστεμπόρους. By this phrase he taxes the false apostles with two grievous crimes: first, that they adulterated and sophisticated the word of God by mingling philosophical errors or human traditions with it, as crafty merchants sophisticate their wines by mingling them with water or other liquors: secondly, that they set the word of God as it were to sale, and handled it craftily and covetously, not sincerely as they ought to have done in the sight of God.

CHAPTER 3

Verse 2. {Ye are our epistle} As elsewhere he calls them the seal of his apostleship, so here his commendatory epistle, δεῖγμα γὰρ ἀρετῆς τοῦ διδασκάλου ἡ τῶν μαθητῶν εὐδοκίμησις, the profiting of the scholar is a commendation of his teacher. What need then the apostle commendatory letters to the Corinthians, who themselves are his commendatory letters to all churches, by their great growth in grace, and knowledge of Jesus Christ?

V. 3. {are manifestly} Gr. being manifestly.

{to be the epistle} Gr. that ye are the epistle.

{written not with ink, but with the Spirit} The tables were not written with ink, but with the finger of God. In this part therefore of the verse, he opposes not the epistle of Christ to the writing in the tables of stone, but to ordinary letters which are written with ink.

{not in tables of stone} He alludes by the way to the comparison of the outward ministry of the priesthood of Levi with the ministry of the gospel, which he handles afterwards more at large.

V. 4. {And such trust} This boldness we show, and thus deservedly may we boast of the fruit and worthiness of our ministry.

V. 5. {to think any thing} Or, to reason, or, conclude. Rom. 3.28. Anything which belongs to the way of piety and true worship of God, as St. Augustine expounds, Libro de dono Persever. c. 13, or as the Greek scholiast expounds, We are not sufficient of ourselves, so much as to apprehend and conceive the worth of the ministry of the gospel; much less to sound the bottom of the deep mysteries of salvation: Without me, says Christ, John 15.5, ye can do nothing: so far are we from doing any good work of ourselves, that we cannot think a good thought.

{but our sufficiency is of God} In that we are fit and meet to make other men partakers of so great a grace.

V. 6. {made us able Ministers} Or, fit, or, meet. He amplifies his ministry, that is, the ministry of the gospel, comparing it with the ministry of the law, which he considers in the person of Moses, by whom the law was given, against whom he sets Christ the author of the gospel. Now the comparison is taken from the very substance of the ministry. The law is, as it were, a writing of itself dead and without efficacy, but the gospel a new covenant, as it were the very virtue of God, in renewing, justifying and saving of men. The law propounds death, accusing all men of unrighteousness; the gospel offers and gives righteousness and life. The governance of the law served for a time, the gospel remaining to the end of the world; and therefore what is the glory of that in comparison of the majesty of this?

{not of the letter} That is, which does not only consist in words and writing, without imparting any inward and spiritual virtue to effect and work the same in men, which it does represent to them; but has really joined with it the virtue of the Holy Spirit, working in the heart, and there ratifying and lively imprinting what the same propounds and promises.

{the letter killeth} Though the law showed the way to life, yet the letter thereof is said here to kill, because it does not communicate ability to corrupt man to keep the same, nor makes any promise to forgive the sin to him that trespasses, but curses every one that abides not in all things which are written in the law; convincing us of our transgression, and consequently of our guilt of death, which is threatened to the transgressors; for which cause it is also called, The ministry of condemnation.

{but the Spirit giveth life} Or, quickeneth. The gospel does not only show the way to life and salvation by faith in Jesus Christ, but is likewise accompanied with the power of the Holy Spirit, whereby faith is wrought and kept in the elect, and they themselves are raised up from the death of sin, and quickened to the life of holiness.

V. 7. {ministration} Or, ministery.

{written} Gr. in letters.

{glorious} Gr. in glory.

{for the glory of his countenance} The word glory, betokens here a brightness, which was bodily in Moses, but is spiritually in Christ.

V. 8. {the ministration of the Spirit} Or, ministery. That is, of the gospel, whereby God offers, yea, and gives his Spirit, not as a dead thing, but as a quickening Spirit, working life.

{glorious} Gr. in glory.

V. 9. {ministration} Or, ministery.

{ministration of righteousness} Or, ministery. Viz. of Christ, which being imputed to us as our own, we are not only not condemned, but also we are crowned as righteous.

V. 10. {had no glory in this respect} That is, had not glory comparatively; as silver is not precious in comparison of gold, nor precious stones bright in comparison of the stars, nor the light of the moon in comparison of the sun. As, says Oecumenius, the light of a candle seems more bright in the night, but in the midday is so obscured, that it deserves not the name of a light; so is the light of the law obscured in such sort by the light of the gospel, that it seems to have no light or glory at all.

{respect} Gr. part.

V. 11. {was glorious} Gr. by glory.

{is glorious} Gr. is in glory.

V. 12. {plainness} Or, boldness, or, freedom.

V. 13. {And not as Moses, &c.} See Exod. 34.33. He expounds by the way the allegory of Moses his covering, which was a token of the darkness and weakness that is in men, whose eyes were rather dazzled by the bright shining of the law than lightened: which covering was taken away by the coming of Christ, who lightens the hearts, and turns them to the Lord, that we may be brought from the slavery of this blindness, and set in the liberty of the light, by the virtue of Christ's Spirit.

{to the end of that which is abolished} Gr. Tec. the face, or sight. Could not see the mark and main scope of Moses, or dive into the bottom of his ministry.

V. 14. {But their minds were blinded} This is an answer to a secret objection, whence it comes that the people of Israel do not now believe the manifestation of the end of the law, made by the gospel: Why do they see nothing in the gospel, which is so clear? The apostle answers, that there is a veil hanging over, not the gospel, but their hearts, by a malicious and willful obduration, John 9.39. Rom. 11.7, 25. As if he should say, the light shines indeed, but those that should behold it shut their eyelids against it.

{which vail is done away in Christ} The veil is taken away by the knowledge and Spirit of Christ, and when they shall be converted into Christ, they shall likewise be brought to the right understanding of the law; and be fully convinced in their hearts, that the law was given to no such end, but that they must seek the righteousness by faith in Christ, without themselves, Rom. 10.4. Gal. 3.24.

V. 15. {is upon} Gr. lyeth upon.

V. 17. {Now the Lord is that Spirit} Or, But. Christ is that Spirit which takes away that covering, by his working in our hearts, whereunto also the law itself called us, though in vain, because it speaks to dead men till the Spirit quicken us.

{where} Gr. Tec. to whom.

{there is liberty} From the yoke and burden of the ceremonial, and curse also of the moral.

V. 18. {But we all with open face, &c.} Gr. uncovered. Going forwards in the allegory of the covering, he compares the gospel to a glass, which though it be most bright and radiant, yet it does not only not dazzle their eyes that look on it, as the law did, but also transforms them with its beams, so that they be also partakers of the glory and shining of it to lighten others; as Christ said to his disciples, Ye are the light of the world, Matt. 5.14.

{are changed into the same image} As, says Oecumenius, silver set against the sun, by the beams thereof cast upon it, becomes itself radiant; so we being enlightened by the Spirit, cast light upon others. Now that in stead of the veil of those mosaical figures, God has given to his church the clear glass of his gospel, all the faithful do freely behold there by faith the glorious light of his mercy, truth, and the rest of his divine attributes; and by means thereof they are made like unto him in the glory of holiness, and in newness of life. Moses put away the veil that hung over his face, when he appeared before the Lord, and by this beholding of God had his face lightened, and shining with beams; so have we now a free access unto God by the gospel, which is not as a dark veil, but a pure resplendent glass wherein the glorious countenance of God is seen by us, and we are thereby renewed, and as it were glorified in our minds according to the same image of God.

{from glory to glory, even as by the Spirit of the Lord} Or, of the Lord the Spirit. By the Spirit of the Lord, or by the Lord the Spirit, by the Spirit who is the Lord; that is, one of the same being and substance with the Father and the Son. This Spirit works in us by degrees, and this work of his is still in progress here in this life, until we attain to the perfection of the life to come; and as we grow from grace to grace, by this Spirit of sanctification in us, so also from glory to glory, till we be perfectly renewed, according to the image of God, in holiness and righteousness.

CHAPTER 4

Verse 1. {Seeing we have this ministry} Gr. having this ministery.

{we faint not} Gr. we shrink not back; or, grow weary and slothfull. Though we are broken in pieces with heart-griefs and calamities, yet we yield not, notwithstanding all the discouragements we find in the world, we slack not our pace, nor remit anything of our zeal for God's glory, which like fire, is kindled more, and not at all quenched by the blasts of opposition.

V. 2. {hidden things of dishonesty} Gr. shame. All secret underhand dealing, all lurking holes to hide shameless practices. As we preach the clear and evident truth of the gospel, so our carriage is open and fair, not hating the light, as they who do evil.

{nor handling the word of God deceitfully} They handle the word deceitfully, who either corrupt it by mingling false doctrines or human traditions with it; or those who preach the pure and sincere truth, but not sincerely seeking by the preaching thereof their own glory or gain, as did the false apostles, Phil. 1.15, 16.

V. 3. {But if our Gospel be hid} Because he had said before in the last verse of the former chapter, We with open face behold the glory of the Lord, here he prevents an objection which might be made against him, If you preach the gospel with such plainness and sincerity, delivering the naked truth nakedly, how comes it to pass that so few are enlightened by your preaching, and that the gospel is hid to so many? He answers, that the fault is not in the preachers, but in themselves, whose eyes Satan has plucked out, or blinded so, that they can see nothing, though it be never so clear and evident in itself.

{that are lost} Or, that perish.

V. 4. {the god of this world} St. Augustine in his book de Spiritu & lit. ad Marcell. understands by the god of this world, the true God, who justly blinds the minds of infidels, non infundendo malitiam, sed subtrahendo gratiam, not by infusing any malice into them, but by taking away from them, or not giving unto them enlightening grace. And true it is, that as obduration of the heart, so excecation of the understanding is in Scripture attributed to the true God, who justly inflicts them as punishments upon them, who willfully oppose the light of his truth, and not only resist, but despise the Spirit of grace; yet by comparing this text of the apostle with John 12.31, The Prince of this world is cast out, and Eph. 6.12, it should seem rather, that the apostle by the god of this world, understands Satan, who by the just judgment of God has gotten such a dominion over unbelievers, as if he were their God, and he usurps the honor and sovereignty of God, and they readily obey and serve him as their Lord and God. And it is worth our observation, that the apostle styles him not the god of the world simply, but the god of this world, vers. 12, which wholly lyeth in wickedness, 1 John 5.19.

{the light of the glorious Gospel of Christ} Gr. the light of the Gospel of the glory of Christ. Wherein is manifested the majesty of the person and reign of Christ, the sovereign excellency of his benefits, and the divine efficacy of his word and Spirit in us.

{the image of God} In whom the Father sets forth himself to be seen and beholden, who is the engraven form of his person, Heb. 1.3. And this is spoken of him, not only in regard of his divine nature, being the eternal Word and Wisdom of the Father; but also in regard that he is God, revealed in the flesh, by whom the glory and righteousness, grace, wisdom, and power of God is revealed unto us in the gospel, as in a glass, Col. 1.15.

V. 5. {we preach not ourselves} We make no ostentation of our gifts, nor in the exercising of our ministry seek our own glory, but Christ's, neither carry we ourselves as lords over your faith, but as your servants in and for him, chap. 1.24.

V. 6. {commanded} Gr. said to.

{the light of the knowledge} That being lightened of God we should in like sort give that light to others, as a candle tined gives light to the whole room.

{in the face of Jesus Christ} Or, in the person of Jesus Christ. The glory of God shined in the face of Jesus Christ; for as St. John affirms, chap. 1, ver. 14, The Word became flesh, and dwelt among us, and we saw his glory, as the glory of the only begotten Son of the Father, full of grace and truth. Or, ἐν προσώπῳ, in the person, that is, in the room, stead, name, and authority of Christ, whose ambassadors we are.

V. 7. {in earthen vessels} Or, in vessels of shell. He here takes away a stumbling block, to wit, that the apostles were vile, weak, frail and miserable men; Paul answers, that he and his fellow apostles were as it were earthen vessels of small price, and subject to many knocks and falls, yet that there was most excellent treasure of wisdom and knowledge in them. Some conceive that the apostle alludes to glass lanterns; in which lights are carried, and that he thereby intimates, that they hid not their light, but that it shined through them as a candle does through a lantern. If we render ὀστράκινον, vessel of shell, then the apostle manifestly alludes to precious pearl which is found in shells; the pearl is that rich pearl mentioned in Matt. 13.46, which the merchant sold all he had to buy; the shell or mother of pearl, are the apostles and pastors.

V. 8. {yet not distressed} In the original στενοχωρούμενος, signifies not every pressure, but to be so pressed by a throng in a narrow place, so that we cannot possibly get out; the meaning of the apostle is then, that though they were laid in wait for, and beset on all sides, and were enforced to strive and struggle with all their might, yet ever they escaped, and that God gave them an issue with the temptation how great soever it were, 1 Cor. 10.13.

{not in despair} Or, not altogether without help, or means.

V. 10. {dying of the Lord Jesus} Or, mortifying. That is, in our sufferings we represent the death and passion of Jesus Christ.

V. 11. {For we which live} Which live that life, to wit, by the Spirit of Christ among so many and so great miseries.

V. 12. {death worketh in us} A passionate conclusion: as if he should say, We die that you may live by our death; we venture into all dangers for the building of the church's sake, and cease not to confirm all the faithful by the examples of our patience; and you by all our afflictions and dangers of death are strengthened more and more in the life of the Spirit: so that even all these straits we are put unto, turn to your advantage, and are means to maintain the life of grace in you here, and further your eternal life and happiness hereafter. Or for the present I do principally prove the effects of my conformity to the death of Christ by the afflictions that I suffer in his behalf, whereof it seems you have no share, nor sense; you only partake of his life and glory, being exempted from the like calamities, and abounding in all manner of blessings; and so the latter words carry in them a close, but sharp reproof.

V. 13. {We} Gr. But, or, And.

{We having the same Spirit} He shows that he and his fellow apostles die in a certain sort to purchase life to others, but yet notwithstanding they are partakers of the same life with them, because they have the same faith by the inspiration of the same Spirit, and believe that which they propound to others to believe, to wit, that they also shall be saved together with them in Christ.

{I believed} See Psal. 116.10.

V. 15. {that the abundant grace} When it shall please God to deliver me, and restore me to you, that exceeding benefit which shall be poured upon me, shall in like sort redound to the glory of God.

{redound} Gr. abound.

V. 16. {faint not} Or, slack not. See ver. 1.

{yet the inward man is renewed day by day} That is, gathers new strength (Esa. 40.31.) that the outward man is not overcome with the miseries, which come freshly one on the neck of another, being maintained and upholden with the strength of our inward man. By the outward man he understands our bodies; or rather our persons in the natural state and condition of this life, which do decay and consume away by continual sufferances: by the inward man he understands our souls, or persons, considered according to our spiritual estate, which cannot be discerned by any bodily eye, but only by the light of the Spirit: this inward man renewed by the Spirit of God is strengthened and confirmed more by daily pressures and tribulations; as the palm-tree grows the higher, and flourishes the more, the more burdens are laid upon it; and as Antæus in his wrestling with Hercules, is said by the poets to gain new strength by every fall on the earth.

V. 17. {light affliction} Afflictions of the godly are not light in themselves, but comparatively, to the infinite and eternal weight of heavenly glory, which our affliction works for us not by any merit of ours; but out of God's mere grace for Christ his sake. Rom. 8.17, 18. Or they are called light, because they lightly and speedily pass away; or because God makes them seem light unto us by the strong support and comfort of his Spirit, Rom. 8.37.

{for us} Or, to us.

{eternal weight of glory} The apostle seems to allude to the Hebrew word, which signifies both weight and glory: to gold and precious things the weight adds to the value, as the more massive and weighty a crown is, the more it is worth; and he implies that we shall at the last be crowned with such a crown of infinite glory, which even in this world we lively apprehend by faith, and in the contemplation thereof take off all the consideration, love and esteem of all the things in this world, which are seen, our heart being fixed on the eternal things in heaven, which are not seen.

CHAPTER 5

Verse 1. {House of this Tabernacle} St. Paul who was a tentmaker elegantly compares our body to a tent, and that in many regards: 1. A tent or tabernacle is easily raised up, and as easily taken down and spoiled; so is our body by sickness and outward violence, Job 4.19. 2. A tent is an habitation proper for pilgrims or soldiers which continue not in the same place; and such are all Christians whilst they live upon earth, strangers and pilgrims, (Psal. 39.12.) and soldiers fighting under Christ's banner, Job 7.1. 3. A tent is a moveable house or habitation; so are our bodies, which are now like tents pitched upon the earth, but shall be hereafter transported into heaven. 4. Tents are foul without, and soiled with wind and weather; but have precious things within: so the body and outside of a Christian is but vile and contemptible, but his inside is most beautiful and glorious (Psal. 45.13.) with special treasures of spiritual graces; like the tents of Solomon, (Cant. 1.5.) which were most richly furnished within. 5. A tent is destroyed not by the consuming of the parts, but by taking them asunder: so the death of the body is nothing but the dissolution of the parts whereof man is composed, and taking asunder the soul from the body.

{eternal in the heavens} The grave is sometime called οἰκία αἰῶνος, domus seculi, or domus æterna, a long home, Eccles. 12.5, or house of eternity, because the bodies or something of them remains long there, even to the end of the world: but our habitation in heaven is most truly and properly called an eternal house, which though some take here for the celestial glory, wherewith our immortal bodies shall be glorified at the last day: yet seeing the apostle does here expressly speak of a building or house, which we shall have of God, after this tabernacle is dissolved, as soon as we shall go to dwell without our bodies, as appears by the 6. and 8. verses, it may as fitly be understood of the celestial glory in general, wherewith the soul is adorned and clothed as it were, as soon as she leaves off this tabernacle, and wherewith the body also shall be clothed hereafter being raised from the dead.

V. 2. {which is from heaven} He calls this house heavenly, not that the substance of it is heavenly, but for the glory of it, and because it shall be incorruptible as the celestial bodies are.

V. 3. {If so be that being clothed} Or, since that. We do not without cause desire to be clad with this heavenly house, that is, with that everlasting and immortal glory as with a garment. For when we depart hence, we shall not remain naked, having once cast off the covering of this body: but we shall take our bodies again, which shall put on as it were another garment besides; and therefore we sigh not for the weariness of this life, but for the desire of a better.

V. 4. {do groan} There is a double groan, one of nature, from the apprehension and fear of death, another of grace, out of an earnest desire of eternal life, which the Spirit kindles in us.

{being burdened} Both with the burden of sins, and of manifold heavy crosses laid upon us.

{not for that we would be unclothed, but clothed upon} Gr. for that we would not be. The saints desire so to be clothed with a celestial body, that they put not off their mortal body, but have the immortal glory put upon it, as an upper robe: which shall be their happiness, who shall live in the body till Christ come; for they shall not die, but be changed, as the apostle teaches us, 1 Cor. 15.51.

{that mortality} Or, that which is mortal.

V. 5. {wrought us for the selfsame thing} The apostle takes a metaphor from goldsmiths, who burnish gold, or carvers and engravers, who work upon wood or stone, and make it fit for that for which it is naturally unapt: so does God by his Spirit work upon us, and make us fit for that by his Spirit, of which naturally we are most incapable, to wit, an immortal and spiritual body.

V. 6. {we are always confident} Always resolved with a quiet and sober mind, to suffer what danger soever, nothing doubting but our end shall be happy.

V. 7. {For we walk by faith} The faith of those things we hope for, as not having them presently in our view.

V. 8. {we are confident} Gr. but, or, and. We are in such sort bold, and do so pass in our pilgrimage with a valiant resolution and quiet mind, that yet notwithstanding we had rather depart home to the Lord; and seeing it is so with us, we strive to live so, that both in this our pilgrimage here we may please him, and that at length we may be received home to him.

V. 9. {labour} Or, endeavour.

V. 10. {For we must all appear} See Rom. 14.10. That no man might think it indifferently to appertain unto all what he spoke of that heavenly glory, he adds that every one shall first render an account of his pilgrimage after he is departed from hence. The word in the original φανερωθῆναι, signifies more than to appear in person, as those do who are cited into a court; it implies to be laid open, and to have our whole life ripped up, and all our thoughts, words, and works disclosed and discovered before men and angels, Rom. 2.16. Rev. 2.23. and 20.12.

{done in his body} Gr. by his body. That is, in this bodily life of ours, or by the body; for whilst we live here, our soul works by the body, and seeing the body is, as Methodius speaks elegantly, σύζυγον τῆς ψυχῆς, the colleague of the soul, it is just with God that the body should be partaker with the soul, either in immortal bliss, or endless torment, according as they have both joined in this life, either in the service of God, or in the service of Satan and this wicked world.

{whether it be good or bad} Whether good, the reward of the same by grace; or bad, the recompense thereof by desert. Eccles. 12.14.

V. 11. {Knowing therefore the terror of the Lord} The dreadful tribunal of Christ, the Judge of quick and dead, before whom we must give a strict account of all our actions, speeches, yea and our inward thoughts, intentions, and affections.

V. 12. {glory on our behalf} Or, rejoyce for us.

{which glory} Or, rejoyce.

{which glory in appearance} Gr. in the face. In outward disguising, and that colored show of man's wisdom and eloquence, and not in true godliness which is seated in the heart; or who glory in the multitude of their followers, and applause of their hearers, but want the testimony of a good conscience.

V. 13. {whether we be besides ourselves} Either the meaning is, if we are in our ecstasies and raptures it is to God; that is, in our private devotions when we speak to him: but to you we speak always words of sobriety and in a moderate temper; or he has reference to the commendation of his apostleship. For so much as it seems to be the part of mad and foolish men to commend themselves, and then the meaning is, that if we exceed at any time, and are so transported in the contemplation in the dignity of our apostleship, that we seem to be besides ourselves, we do it not to arrogate glory to ourselves, but to maintain the glory and honor of God: and if on the other side we speak modestly of ourselves, and our ministry, it is for your good, to teach you modesty, and to condescend to your capacity, and to use all means to win you to Christ.

{sober} Or, in our right mind.

{for your cause} Gr. to you.

V. 14. {constraineth us} Or, keepeth us in.

V. 16. {know we no man after the flesh} Neither myself nor any of the apostles have any worldly or carnal affection, nor take notice of men's outward appearance, kindred, quality, honor, wisdom, or eloquence; but merely know them after the Spirit; that is, according to the spiritual power, virtue, or grace that is in them.

{known Christ after the flesh, &c.} If we have had earthly and carnal thoughts and hopes of Christ, like unto the rest of the Jews, that he as the King of Israel should begin an earthly temporal kingdom, and we enjoy all manner of earthly and carnal benefits in the same; as honor, riches, and power, &c. yet now we know him no more, we have put off all such carnal imaginations of his kingdom. To know Christ no more after the flesh, says Luther, is to seek or expect no fleshly thing with him, as the disciples did before his suffering; but to content ourselves with the word. Or the words may carry this meaning; we serve not men, nor desire to please them; but all our desire is to please Christ and him only; to whom also we stand no longer affected after any merely human, civil, or natural manner of affections, such as those bare unto him who conversed with him here in this world, but altogether in a divine and spiritual manner agreeable to the state of glory whereunto he is exalted: see John 20.17. And this the apostle mentions here, to take off the edge of that argument, whereby the false apostles sought to vilify and abase his ministry below that of the apostles, namely, that he had not been conversant with Christ in the flesh.

V. 17. {If any man be in Christ} Every true Christian inserted into the body of Christ by his Spirit, is and ought to be changed in all his senses, motions, desires, and affections: and therefore he is freed of vanity, and self-love, according as every faithful one (the general state and condition of the church being renewed by Christ) ought to participate of this newness of life.

{he is a new creature} Or, let him be. As a thing made new of God. For though a man is not newly created when God gives him the Spirit of regeneration; but only his qualities are changed: yet notwithstanding it pleases the Holy Ghost to speak so, to teach us that we must attribute all things to the glory of God: not that we are stocks and blocks, but because God creates in us both the will to will well, and the power to do well.

{old things are past away} See Isa. 43.19. Rev. 21.5.

{all things are become new} Namely, in the kingdom of Christ: and here the apostle has reference to the promise of God, Esa. 65.17. and 66.22, where this renovation of all things is promised, whereof part is now already fulfilled in all true believers, who are renewed by the Spirit of God, and the rest shall be accomplished in the life to come. See 2 Pet. 3.13. Rev. 21.5.

V. 19. {committed unto us} Gr. put in us.

V. 20. {Now then we are Ambassadors} Gr. we are therefore Ambassadours.

{beseech} Or, exhort, or perswade.

{in Christ's stead} Gr. for Christ.

V. 21. {he hath made him to be sin for us} That is, a sacrifice for sin, or he has imputed the sins of the world to Christ (who was most righteous and innocent himself) and has put upon him all the punishment and malediction due to us, that all the faithful may be reputed before God as holy and perfect as righteousness itself, by virtue of Christ's righteousness, which is given to them by God, and only is able to stand in his judgment.

{who knew no sin} That is, who knew no sin by himself, who was conscious to himself of no sin. For other ways he best knew the nature and power of sin, who bare our sins on his body on the tree.

{of God in him} In Christ, in regard that we are in him, and that his righteousness is imputed to us. Non nostra, nec in nobis. Ita Hieronym.

CHAPTER 6

Verse 1. {Workers together with him} That is, with God, mentioned in the last verse of the former chapter. Now this cooperation of the ministers with God is not only necessary before they to whom they preach have received grace, that they might be partakers of it; but also after they have received grace, that they may continue in it.

{beseech} Or, exhort.

{the grace of God in vain} By the grace of God he means the outward means of salvation in the ministry of the gospel: or enlightening grace, in the understanding, which they receive in vain, who are not thereby bettered in their life and conversation, as the earth receives seed, and the former and latter rain in vain, which is barren and bears no fruit, Heb. 6.8.

V. 2. {I have heard thee} See Isa. 49.8.

{a time accepted} That is, in a time of acceptation, wherein God will accept us, if we by faith and repentance come unto him, or in a time liked of, and made choice of by God, wherein he will open the treasures of his mercy and bounty unto us.

{time} Or, season.

V. 3. {Giving no offence} See 1 Cor. 10.32. That is, give no just occasion of offense, or scandal: for scandal or offense is rightly distinguished into scandalum datum, & scandalum acceptum; a scandal given, and a scandal taken. A scandal taken is when any out of prejudicate opinion, or ill affection willfully misconstrue any speech or action of ours, and make the worst of it; here the scandal is taken, but no way given. The giving offense, which the apostle here forbids, is when either we speak so ambiguously, or do anything so indiscreetly and unseasonably, that a good Christian, though otherwise well affected to us and our ministry, cannot but be scandalized.

V. 4. {approving ourselves} Or, commending. In the original it is, we commend ourselves, which though it be done in words, unless we be forced thereunto for the clearing of our innocency, or justifying our calling, may seem vain, quia laus propria sordet in ore: yet to do it in the apostle's sense, to commend our ministry by the effects of it, by our indefatigable labors in the gospel, and sufferings for it, is most praiseworthy and profitable.

V. 5. {in tumults} Or, in tossings to and fro. The word in the original, ἀκαταστασίαις, is ambiguous; for it may be referred either to ourselves, and then it signifies in the uncertainty of our state and abode, who have no place of rest or quietness, or to others, and then it signifies in tumults or commotions, such as were raised against St. Paul at Ephesus, and Jerusalem, and at other places.

{in labours} Either which he took in his continual travels, and perpetual preaching; or the pains he took to maintain himself in his trade of tentmaking, that he might not be any ways chargeable to the church.

V. 6. {By pureness} Gr. in. The original ἁγνότης, signifies as well chastity and purity of body, as cleanness of hands, free from blood, bribery, and corruption by receiving gifts; it is taken also sometimes for sincerity: and in all these senses St. Paul walked and conversed, ἐν ἁγνότητι, for he led both a most chaste life, and preached the gospel sincerely, and made no merchandise of the word, as he elsewhere speaks, he was also pure and clear from the blood of all men, Acts 20.26.

{by knowledge} Gr. in.

{by longsuffering} Gr. in.

{by kindness} Gr. in.

{by the Holy Ghost} Gr. in.

{by love unfeigned} Gr. in.

V. 7. {By the word of truth} Gr. in.

{by the power of God} Gr. in. Either by this power which manifested itself in my effectual and powerful ministry, or the power of God, whereby I wrought many miracles among you.

{by the armour of righteousness} Gr. by the weapons of.

{on the right hand and on the left} Some take the apostle's meaning to be, that himself was, and every good Christian ought to be, ἀμφιδέξιος or περιδέξιος, (such as was Asteropeus in Homer, Il. φ. [unclear] Ἀστεροπαῖος ἐπεὶ ἀμφιδέξιος ἦν) that is, men who could use both hands alike, and lay about them, as if both were right hands; but there is no necessity of this exposition. For all soldiers, though they fight not with both hands alike, yet they may make use of both, and they have weapons and armor on both. But the greater doubt is, what the apostle meant by right hand and left? Whereunto the Greek scholiast answers, that by the right hand he understands honor and estimation among men: and by the left hand, injuries, persecutions, and disgraces; and his meaning then is, that they are armed with righteousness or uprightness in both, in such sort that Satan cannot wound them on either side, sith they are neither puffed up with honor, abundance and prosperity, nor cast down by penury and adversity. It may be the apostle in the metaphor of right and left hand alludes to the words of the wise man, who speaks of the blessings on the right hand, and on the left, Prov. 3.16. As God gives us blessings with both hands, so Christ gives us armor for both hands, to defend us from Satan, the flesh, and the world, who lay at us on all sides.

V. 8. {By honour} Gr. glory.

{as deceivers} Not so indeed, but reputed as deceivers, or traduced for such as Christ himself was, Matt. 27.63, for this, as St. Cyprian notes, has been the practice of the devil in all ages, by his instruments to cast false and foul aspersions upon the most sincere and faithful servants of Christ, Ut qui conscientiæ suæ luce clarescunt, alienis rumoribus sordidentur.

V. 9. {well known} Gr. acknowledged.

V. 10. {having nothing, and yet possessing all things} As having nothing, re, yet possessing all things spe: or having nothing, quoad κτῆσιν, yet possessing all things, quoad χρῆσιν: having not the wealth of the world in our hands, according to the substance of the things themselves; yet having the fruit and benefit of them in the supply of our necessary wants and inward contentment: or having nothing actually in our own hands, yet possessing all things in the charity of good Christians, who think nothing too good or too much for us at our need.

V. 11. {our mouth is open unto you} The opening of the mouth and heart, betokens a most earnest affection in him that speaks, as it fares commonly with them, that are in some joy: for joy dilates the heart, as on the contrary sorrow contracts it.

V. 12. {Ye are not straitened in us} You are in my heart as in a house, and that no narrow or strait house; for I have opened my whole heart to you: but you are inwardly strait-laced to meward.

{in your own bowels} According to the phrase of the Hebrew, he calls those tender affections which rest in the heart bowels: as in the epistle to Philemon, vers. 12, he requests Philemon to receive Onesimus as his own bowels, that is, as one whom he most tenderly affected.

V. 13. {Now for a recompence in the same} Gr. for the same recompence. The apostle by this phrase understands no reward from the Corinthians, or recompense by way of satisfaction, though the Greek word ἀντιμισθία, derived from μισθός, seem to import as much; but only that as good children, they should answer their father in tender love and affection: and Bernard justly taxes those who are bankrupts in love, with ingratitude and hardness of heart, Duri est animi amorem si nolis impendere, nolle rependere.

V. 14. {unequally yoked together with unbelievers} Gr. diversly yoked: or, drawing the other part of the yoke with. Now he rebukes them boldly for taking part with infidels, and being fellows with them in outward idolatry, as if it were a thing indifferent; but such, says he, as the Lord vouchsafes the name of his children, must keep themselves pure, not only in mind, but also in body, and abstain even from all appearance of idolatry and superstition. The word in the original, ἑτεροζυγοῦντες, may be diversely interpreted, either draw not down the beam, or any way incline to the part of the infidels. So the Greek scholiast. And indeed ζυγὸς is sometimes taken pro æquilibrio lancis or trutinæ; or it may be rendered, be not unequally yoked, as when beasts of divers kinds, or of the same kind, but of diverse stature and bigness, draw together; for then the yoke cannot lie equally upon both: and in this sense the apostle may seem to touch upon their matching with infidels. Or it may be rendered, alteram jugi partem nè trahite, draw not the other part of the yoke with infidels, that is, be not any ways coupled with them.

{fellowship} Gr. participation.

V. 15. {what concord hath Christ with Belial} Belial signifies wicked, but here it is taken for Satan, as the Syriac interpreter renders it, who is wicked, κατ᾽ ἐξοχήν, in a transcendent manner, ὁ πονηρός, that wicked one, as Christ terms him.

V. 16. {ye are the temple of the living God} See 1 Cor. 3.16.

{I will dwell in them} Gr. among. See Lev. 26.12. God dwells among us, either because Christ is become God with us, or because the Spirit dwells in our hearts by faith.

V. 17. {Wherefore come out from among them} See Isa. 52.11. That is, estrange and separate yourselves from them, have no intimate conversation or communion with them, lest thereby you be induced to the imitation of their sins, and participation of their punishment.

V. 18. {And will be a Father unto you} Gr. for I will be unto them for, or instead of a Father. See Jer. 31.1.

{my sons} Gr. to me for, or instead of sons.

CHAPTER 7

Verse 1. {All filthiness of the flesh} Or, pollution. Because, as he showed before, the faithful are temples of the Holy Ghost, and God has promised, that he will take them for his sons and daughters; he exhorts them to cleanse themselves from all pollution of sin, that they may be fit temples for so pure a Spirit, and meet children of so holy a Father. By filthiness of the flesh, he means fornication, gluttony, and drunkenness, &c. By filthiness of the Spirit, idolatry, superstition, sects, schisms, and factions, which vices he taxed before. Or, by filthiness of the flesh, the outward acts of all manner of sin committed in, and by the body, Gal. 5.19, &c. by filthiness of the Spirit, the inward acts of sins committed in the soul, as impure thoughts, wicked desires, unsanctified conceptions and opinions of God, crafty and malicious projects, designs and purposes, or the like.

{perfecting holiness} Or, consummating. Finishing the work of sanctification, begun in our regeneration; for though regeneration, as also generation be done at once, yet sanctification is wrought in us by degrees, and every good Christian must profit in Christ's school, and grow continually, as in knowledge, so in grace, till we arrive to such perfection, as we are capable of in this life; (2 Pet. 3.18.) which as St. Augustine terms it, is but an imperfect perfection at the most; a perfection of parts, but no way of degrees.

V. 2. {Receive us} Let us have some place amongst you, that we may teach you; or, give way to my just defense; or, alluding to what he spoke before, chap. 6.13, Be ye inlarged: he now desires, that having made a room for him in their hearts and affections, they would admit and receive him thereinto.

{we have wronged no man, &c.} In clearing himself and his fellow ministers from the particular imputations following, he lays an aspersion upon the false apostles, who offended in all those kinds, wronging the Corinthians in their reputation, corrupting them in their judgments, and defrauding them in their estates; the first proceeding from detraction, the second, from flattery or heretical persuasions, the third, from covetousness.

V. 4. {my glorying of you} Gr. my rejoycing for you.

V. 5. {troubled} Gr. pressed, or, afflicted.

{without were fightings, within were fears} Persecutions from without, from infidels, who made havoc of the church; and fears from within, lest any of the members of the church should be drawn from the body by the violence of torments and persecutions. Or outward fightings with open and professed enemies, and fears within from false brethren. Or fightings without, by the continual assaults of outward temptations; and terrors within, by spiritual derelictions and conflicts with despair; for even to these the dearest children of God are subject in this life.

V. 6. {those that are cast down} Gr. humble. The word in the original is ταπεινὸς, quasi ἐδαφινὸς, cast upon the ground; either overthrown by violence, or dejected in our minds, our very hearts being cast down. The word signifies also humble or lowly; but because it is against humility to profess it in ourselves, the word here rather signifies lowliness in condition, than in affection; and the meaning of the apostle is, that God comforts us when we are very far spent with grief, and raises us when we are upon our knees, and relieves us when we are destitute of all other help or comfort.

{by} Gr. in.

V. 7. {by the coming} Gr. in the coming.

{by the consolation} Gr. in.

{in you} Or, of you.

{fervent mind toward me} Gr. zeal for me.

V. 8. {with} Gr. in.

V. 9. {not that ye were made sorry} As a good physician rejoices not in that he has ministered to his patient a bitter potion, but that thereby he has procured him much ease; neither is the surgeon glad that by lancing the sore he has put the parts ill-affected to pain, but that by this pain has healed them; in like manner, the apostle does not rejoice simply, that he had made the Corinthians sorrowful, but that by this their sorrow they gained health of their souls, and many spiritual graces, mentioned in the eleventh verse.

{after a godly manner} Or, according to God.

V. 10. {For godly sorrow} In the original κατὰ Θεὸν, a sorrow according unto God, a sorrow coming from God, pleasing to God, and bringing the sinner unto God, when his heart is truly rent for having offended God by his sins; and withal confident of the forgiveness of the same by Jesus Christ, and fully and steadfastly resolved, as far as God shall enable him, to shun and avoid all sin for the future: for as S. Ambrose has it; Ille verè plangit commissa, qui non committit plangenda; he truly bewails that which he has done, who never does that afterward which he has bewailed.

{but the sorrow of the world worketh death} By sorrow of the world he understands that which is proper to men of the world, such as are not regenerated by the Spirit of God, whose grief and sorrow is nothing but the bitter smart of their misery, without any serious and sincere repentance, or else a remorse and pricking of their consciences for their sins indeed; but without faith, and without purpose of amendment, and without conversion unto God: wherefore also all this grieving and sorrowing of theirs is nothing else but a preparation to eternal death, and a kind of beginning of the same; such as Nero felt after he had put both the apostles Peter and Paul to death, it is said of him, that he felt the torments of hell in his conscience, and ran about crying, Have I no friend or enemy that will kill me, and rid me of my pain? Or, by sorrow of the world, is meant a sorrow only for the loss of worldly things, or which is only caused from the fear of God's judgment in unbelievers, whereupon there follows commonly hardness of heart, and a reprobate sense, and after, despair and damnation itself, (as we see in Cain, Saul, Achitophel, Judas, and the like) which wastes the body, and hastens death.

V. 11. {after a godly sort} Gr. according to God.

{what carefulness} Or, diligence. Study and diligence, readily and carefully to put in practice what I commanded you, to correct your errors and neglect, in not inflicting the censure of the church upon the incestuous person.

{clearing of yourselves} That is, declaration of your innocence that you willfully offend not, which you made good upon the sight of your errors, by your severe proceeding against the guilty offender.

{what indignation} Distaste and offense which you took, both at the sin and sinner.

{what fear} That is, holy dread of the provoked judgment of God upon the whole church, by such an abominable sin committed, and not punished.

{vehement desire} Great affection to the glory of God, and my own person and ministry, and unfeigned willingness to amend what was amiss.

{what zeal} In executing that with great fervor and severity that the apostle gave them in charge, for removing and avoiding the scandal.

{what revenge} Either taken upon the incestuous person, by the censure of excommunication pronounced against him, or against yourselves, by the great grief you expressed for having been so negligent before, punishing yourselves for not punishing him.

{clear in this matter} Not indeed of all fault, for neglect of exercising ecclesiastical discipline in them was a fault, but clear from any taking part with that foul person, or giving any liking or approbation of that incestuous contract.

V. 12. {I did it not for his cause that had done the wrong, &c.} That which moved me to write unto you so sharply, was not the injury either offered by the son, or suffered by the father, but the public scandal of the church; ὡς τοῦ κοινοῦ πληγέντος καὶ τῆς ἐκκλησίας διαβληθείσης, as Saint Chrysostom well observes; though the sin were in the incestuous person only, and the particular wrong done to his father; yet in regard that this incestuous contract was tolerated among the Corinthians, and no censure inflicted upon the delinquent, the whole church received a wound in it, and the enemies of the truth took occasion to blaspheme the holy name and profession of Christians, as if such foul facts as this was, were fruits of Christian liberty, or practices allowed by the doctrine of the gospel.

V. 14. {before Titus} Or, concerning Titus.

V. 15. {inward affection} Gr. bowels.

CHAPTER 8

Verse 1. {We do you to wit of the} Or, we declare, or, make known unto you the.

{the grace of God bestowed} The bounty of the Macedonians he calls χάριν, either from χαίρω, or from χαρίζομαι, either as the word is derived from a verb signifying to rejoice, because what they bestowed upon the saints at Jerusalem, they did it most willingly and cheerfully; or as the word is derived from a verb signifying freely to give, thereby intimating, that that charity whereby we freely give to others, is a free gift of God to us. Donatur nobis, non tantum quod donamus, sed etiam ut donemus.

V. 2. {in a great trial of affliction} For those manifold afflictions wherewith the Lord tried them, did not only not slack their joyful readiness, but also made it much more excellent and famous. Affliction is as a file, whereby God brightens the graces of the Spirit in his children.

{and their deep poverty} As a dark foil sets off an orient diamond, so the great afflictions of the churches of Macedonia set off their spiritual joy, and their extreme poverty their rich liberality.

{their liberality} The original ἁπλότητος, which though it be sometimes taken for liberality, as Rom. 12.8, yet properly it signifies simplicity; that which Clemens Alexandrinus terms ἀποίκιλον καὶ ἀνεπίβουλον, singleness of heart; a virtue whereby a man is inclined to do works of mercy and bounty freely and absolutely, without any secret ends to gain anything thereby to himself; as he whom the poet taxed did, Munera magna quidem misit, sed misit in hamo, Et piscatorem piscis amare potest. He who contributes to the necessity of the poor, simply to relieve them, and in obedience of God's command, without any other motive or inducement, deserves that commendation which the apostle here gives to the Macedonians of [unclear] τῆς ἁπλότητος.

V. 5. {not as we hoped} He amplifies the forwardness of the Macedonians in this, that they also desired Paul to stir up the Corinthians to accomplish the giving of alms by sending again of Titus unto them, they were not only free of their own bounty towards the saints at Jerusalem, but also excited others to the like bounty; and as Bernard says, Major est in amore Dei, qui plures traxerit ad amorem Dei; He more loves God, or is greater in his love, who draws more to his love: so says the orator, That charity is greater, which not only relieves itself the poor, but moves others also to the like relief, and opens not only our own treasures, but the treasures of others to charitable collections.

V. 8. {I speak not by commandment} Though the apostle might have laid his command upon them in this kind, sith charity is a duty required of every Christian, who is bound to contribute to the necessity of the saints, according to his ability; yet he rather commends this duty unto them, than commands it, Philem. 8, 9, because the more willing and free our charitable contributions are, the more acceptable to God and man: As the myrrh which sweats out of the tree of its own accord, is far more precious than that which runs out after the tree is pricked or cut; Sudant sponte priusquam incidantur stacten dictam cui nulla præfertur. Plin. nat. hist.

{and to prove} Gr. and proving.

V. 9. {for your sakes he became poor} He who as God was Lord of all, yet for our sakes sustained poverty upon earth, that by his temporal poverty we might be enriched spiritually; by whose example the Corinthians ought to part with some of their temporal goods to supply the poverty of their brethren, that by their prayers they might be enriched spiritually. What should we not willingly bestow upon our poor brethren for Christ's sake, who not only bestows all graces upon us, but was also himself bestowed for us?

{rich} Gr. enriched.

V. 10. {not only to do} But also to do willingly: for he notes our ready willingness, without any enforcement by any other men, much less came it of ambition or vainglory.

{forward} Gr. willing.

V. 12. {it is accepted according to that which a man hath} Bounty is not to be esteemed according to men's wealth and the outward gifts they bestow, but according to their free heart. The two mites which the poor widow cast into the treasury, Luk. 21.3, were more in God's account, and more in her also, than two talents from some other, who might better spare two talents than she one mite.

V. 14. {that there may be equality} That is, that they and you may be charged alike; they when they are full to supply your wants; and you when you are full, to supply their wants.

V. 15. {He that had gathered much, &c.} See Exod. 16.18. Though the children of Israel in the wilderness, according to God's command, gathered manna, some more, some less; yet when they did mete it with an omer, he that gathered much, had nothing over, and he that gathered less, had no lack: this history the apostle elegantly applies to the dispensation of Christian bounty and charity, which ought to be so ordered by the discretion of the governors of the church, that they who receive more, may have no overplus, and they that receive less, may sustain no want; that as all the Israelites had according to their eating, and the number of their family, that which was sufficient; so here by a careful distribution, with an eye to the several wants of them that are to be relieved, all may be sufficiently provided for.

V. 18. {whose praise is in the Gospel} That is, either in the gospel written by him, and (if the words be taken in that sense, as Saint Jerome observes) he means St. Luke the evangelist: or in the gospel preached by him, and then he may mean some other, as Barnabas and Apollo, who were praised in all churches for their excellent gifts in preaching the gospel.

V. 19. {grace} Or, gifts.

V. 21. {Providing for honest things} It is not sufficient that we do those things which are in themselves honest and just in the sight of God; but we must so do them, that men may take no just offense at them, or suspect that we have any sinister end in doing them: As we must approve our conscience to God, so we must have an honest care of our reputation among men. See Rom. 12.17.

V. 22. {I have in you} Or, he hath.

V. 23. {Whether any do inquire of Titus} He commends those in special whom he sends to receive the collection for the saints, that the Corinthians might not doubt to put into their hands those sums of money which were given for the relief of the saints at Jerusalem: and the meaning of the whole verse is this, For Titus, if any inquire of him, that which I can say of him, is, that I so far trust him that he is my fellow and helper to you-ward; and for the other brethren, if any inquire of them, the testimony I can truly afford them is this, that they are trusted by divers churches, whose messengers they are, and their life and conversation is such, that they have gained much glory to Christ, and are an honor to the gospel.

V. 24. {the proof of your love and of our boasting} That is, give this experiment of your love, and make good my boasting of you, that all churches may be witnesses of your godly dealing, in whose presence you are, for so much as there are with you messengers, whom they have chosen by all their consent, and sent them unto you.

CHAPTER 9

Verse 1. {Touching the ministering} He wisely meets with the suspicion which the Corinthians might conceive, as if in urging them so earnestly to contribute liberally to the poor, he should doubt of their good will and inclination of themselves to so charitable a work, therefore he professes, that he does it not to teach them that they ought to relieve the saints by their bounty, seeing that he had become surety for them to the Macedonians, but only to stir them up, who were running of themselves, to the end that all things might both be in a better readiness at his coming, and the collection more liberal.

V. 2. {Achaia was ready a year ago} Achaia is the country wherein the city of Corinth was situated, and sometimes the word is taken generally for all Greece, sometimes particularly for a part of Peloponnesus, known by that name. So Hesychius, Ἀχαιοὶ οἱ ἕλληνες κυρίως δὲ ἀχαιοὶ, οἱ κατοικοῦντες μέρος τῆς Πελοποννήσου τὴν καλουμένην ἀχαΐαν.

{your zeal hath provoked very many} Or, stirred up. The apostle in this chapter terms the bountiful contributions of the Corinthians to the saints by the name of divers virtues, Ζῆλος, ἁπλότης, χάρις, εὐλογία, and δικαιοσύνη, zeal, simplicity, grace, benediction, and righteousness. Zeal, because it proceeded out of fervent love, and so much tended to God's glory; simplicity, because they did it out of a free mind and singleness of heart, without any sinister intention, or expecting any retribution: grace, because it was the gift of God proceeding from his grace: benediction or blessing, because God's blessing enables them to it, and the poor saints bless God for this supply of their wants: lastly, righteousness, either because pious bounty is a part of that righteousness or justice in general, which comprises all virtues; ἐν δὲ δικαιοσύνῃ συλλήβδην πᾶσ᾽ ἀρετὴ ἔνι, justitia in sese virtutes continet omnes: or because we are not lords of the goods of this life, but stewards only, and he is an unjust steward who holds that wholly in his own hands, for his own advantage, which by order from his master he ought to dispense to others for their relief and sustenance.

V. 4. {in this same confident boasting} Gr. in the substance, or foundation of this boasting. The word in the original, ὑπόστασις, may either signify such a stayedness and settledness of mind, as cannot be moved with any terrors or fear, and so it shows the assured confidence Saint Paul had in them, that they would make good what he had promised in their behalf: or it may signify a ground or a foundation; and so the meaning is, that he should not be ashamed of his boasting to others of their readiness, because there was a good ground and foundation for it; either the public faith of the Corinthians, who engaged themselves to contribute liberally to the saints; or some present pledge which he saw thereof; namely some remarkable sums collected a year before.

V. 5. {make up} Or, make fit, or ready.

{bounty} Gr. blessing.

{whereof ye had notice before} Or, which hath been so much spoken of before.

{of bounty, and not as of covetousness} Gr. blessing. Or, as an advantage. The words may carry a double sense, either that the apostle would have them speedily to send this collection as being a free benevolence, and not to slack the sending it out of covetousness to make any benefit of the money of the poor so long in their hands. Or that it might be ready as a matter of bounty, that is freely coming from them and cheerfully; not as money comes out of the hands of covetous men; that is, hardly, and with much grudging, and repining.

V. 6. {He which soweth sparingly} Alms must be given neither niggardly nor unwillingly, but frankly and freely, seeing it is the sowing of that seed that will bring us a plentiful harvest both here and hereafter: other seed where we sow it, there we reap the increase of it; but of this seed we reap not only a plentiful crop where it is sowed on earth, but a much more plentiful in heaven.

{he which soweth bountifully} Gr. with blessings. Word for word it is, he which sows in benedictions or blessings shall reap in benedictions; and the apostle alludes either to Psal. 68.9, or Ezek. 34.26, in which a plentiful shower of rain is called a shower of blessing, or blessings: the apostle's meaning is, that he who contributes liberally to the poor, and sows very much seed, shall reap in blessings, that is, thereby shall receive from God's hand not one kind of blessing only, but divers, blessings of the right hand, and blessings of the left, temporal blessings, and spiritual blessings, in this life, and in the life to come.

{bountifully} Gr. with blessings.

V. 7. {God loveth a cheerful giver} See Prov. 11.25. Rom. 12.8. Eccles. 35.9. That which is extorted from a man he properly gives not; for liberality implies liberty, and necessity in this kind and liberty cannot well stand together: God loves a cheerful giver, because he gives his heart first to God, before he gives his alms to the poor; and giving that which he gives with a cheerful countenance, he more comforts the receiver, giving hope of future bounty. For what a man does cheerfully, he will do again upon a like good occasion. Pliny writes, that it was observed among the Romans, that never any good came to a man by offering a beast in sacrifice, renitentem & trahentem se ab aris; by a beast that violently drew back from the altar, and could not be brought to it but with much force: and most certain it is, that God esteems of no offering of ours which is not as free as liberal, according to our ability.

V. 8. {make all grace abound towards you} The Greek scholiast acutely observes, that the apostle here prays for the Corinthians, ἐν τοῖς σαρκικοῖς αὐτάρκειαν, ἐν τοῖς πνευματικοῖς περισσείαν, a sufficiency in temporal blessings, but an exuberancy or abounding in spiritual. For in temporals we have too much, as well as too little; and therefore Solomon prays for a mediocrity: but of spiritual blessings, especially such as appertain to our sanctification and salvation, we cannot have too great a proportion; the more we abound in them, the more happy are we.

V. 9. {He hath dispersed abroad} See Psal. 112.9.

{his righteousness} Righteousness in this place is taken for bounty, as elsewhere, Hos. 10.12. Sowe to your selves in righteousnesse; and Mal. 4.2. Christ is called the Sun of righteousness, because he freely and bountifully communicates both enlightening and sanctifying graces, as the sun does his light and his heat.

{for ever} Though the gift he bestows passes away, yet his bounty remains forever, both in the fame of his virtue, and much more in the eternal reward thereof in heaven, Quas dederis solas semper habebis opes.

V. 10. {ministereth seed to the sower} See Isa. 55.10.

V. 12. {administration of this service} Gr. oblation and service, or office, Rom. 15.16. An excellent and double fruit of liberality towards the saints is, that it gives occasion to praise God, and that our faith also is thereby made manifest. The word in the original is λειτουργία, which signifies not every service or ministry, but properly the public service and holy office of prayers and oblations to God; and thereby implies, that these their alms-deeds were rather acts of piety than liberality, because they contributed to them of Jerusalem, not only as poor, but as saints of the same profession with them, and that they sent them as a holy offering unto God for the relief of his dearest servants.

V. 13. {they glorify} Gr. glorifying.

V. 15. {Thanks be unto God for his unspeakable gift} Lest the Corinthians should be puffed up with his great commendation and praise of their pious bounty, he shuts up his exhortation with this passionate exclamation, wherein he ascribes the glory and thanksgiving not to the Corinthians, who were but the conduits of God's bounty, but to God himself, who is the fountain of all goodness, who both inclined their hearts, and furnished them with means thus liberally to supply the necessity of his saints. Some by this unspeakable gift understand Christ himself, who is called the gift of God, Joh. 4.10. Others, the gospel, which is likewise an unspeakable gift: but the coherence with the former words seems rather to refer us to the exceeding grace of God in the Corinthians mentioned in the verse immediately going before; so the plain meaning is, Thanks be unto God for his unspeakable gift, which he has bestowed upon you in filling you with his grace, and stirring up your hearts in so liberal a manner to relieve the saints at Jerusalem, whereby so much glory redounds to God, and honor to our holy profession.

CHAPTER 10

Verse 1. {Gentleness of Christ} Here he begins to vindicate his ministry from the contempt and scorn which the false apostles put upon it; and first of all he professes that he was gentle and moderate after the example of Christ: but if they continued still to despise his gentleness, he protests unto them that he will show indeed how far they are deceived, who make no other account of the office of an apostle, than they do of worldly offices, that is, according to outward appearance. The word in the original ἐπιείκεια, is derived from εἴκω, to give place, or to yield, and it signifies a condescending to the infirmity of others, and a moderating the rigor and severity of the law by equity; for summum jus est summa injuria.

{in presence} Or, in outward appearance.

{in presence am base among you} Greek lowly. This he speaks ironically: not that he was vile and base when he was present with them; or as if he carried not himself according to the dignity of his place; but as it were, by way of concession for the present, as if he had said, If my bodily presence be weak, and my speech contemptible, as the false apostles would have you believe, how mean and base soever they esteem of me in presence, yet I desire you not to provoke me to show what I am, and exercise boldly that power which Christ has given me.

V. 2. {think} Or, reckon.

{walked according to the flesh} As though I had no other aid and help than that which outwardly I seem to have. Flesh here, that is, his weak condition and state in respect of outward means, he sets against his spiritual and apostolical dignity.

V. 3. {For though we walk in the flesh} Gr. For walking in. Though we be like unto other frail men, yet we come furnished with that strength which no force of man can match: whether they resist by craft and deceit, or by force and might; because we fight with divine weapons, although we be men and live in respect of this life and the actions thereof according to the manner of other men with a great deal of weakness and meanness: yet notwithstanding in our public office, and chiefly against our adversaries who oppose the gospel, we are armed with a divine and invincible power to confront all daring boldness; and to beat down all rebellion, and to discover and confound all plots and machinations against the truth. Hereof we have an evident proof in the history of the Acts; in which the miraculous judgments of God are executed by the hands of the apostles upon the enemies of the truth; as namely, Acts 5.5, 10, and 13.11. 1 Tim. 1.20. Others do understand it of the efficacy of the apostolical preaching, by denouncing and sealing unto the wicked their condemnation, and making sensible impressions upon their consciences, whereupon there followed many remarkable judgments, Acts 8.20, 21, and 24.26. 2 Cor. 13.3.

V. 4. {the weapons of our warfare} The means we employ to defend the cause of God, and to fight against Satan and his instruments.

{are not carnal} That is, such as natural men have recourse unto, and gain authority withal, and do great things. As namely, riches, friends, honor, eloquence, favor of princes, and the like: we conquer not our enemies by any of these, but rather by the contrary; poverty, weakness, infamy, rudeness, and plainness of speech; and foolishness in the world's account. These weapons are made mighty through God's power, who in nothing more shows his glory, than by confounding glory by infamy; nor his power, than by confounding power by weakness; nor his wisdom, than by confounding wisdom by that which in the world's account is folly. 1 Cor. 1.26, 27.

{but mighty through God} Or, to God. Oecumenius will have us observe how far the apostle is from all kind of arrogancy, οὐκ εἶπεν ἡμεῖς ἐσμὲν δυνατοὶ, ἀλλὰ τὰ ὅπλα, he says not, We are mighty through God, but our weapons are mighty through God, that is, by the virtue and power which God does add thereunto, both in working of miracles, Mark 16.20, and in moving the heart and convincing the conscience by his Spirit, Acts 16.14, and in punishing those that withstand the gospel, Acts 13.11. In the original it is, δυνατὰ τῷ Θεῷ, mighty to God; that is, to accomplish his will, who is the great warrior, the Lord of hosts, that manages this war for the church.

V. 5. {imaginations} Or, reasonings.

{every high thing that} Gr. every height that.

{bringing into captivity} An amplification of the spiritual virtue of the weapons above mentioned, which in such sort conquer the enemies of the truth, be they never so crafty and mighty, that it brings some of them by repentance unto Christ, and justly punishes others that are stubbornly obstinate, separating them from others who yield obedience to the gospel.

V. 8. {for edification, and not for your destruction} Though the power of the church proves destructive unto some, namely, to such as by the censures thereof are not brought to repentance and an humble confession of their sins, and submission to the governors of the church; but stand out in their obstinacy: For they are cut off from Christ's mystical body, and from the means of grace and the communion of saints: yet this power was given for edification, and even this tends much to the edification of the church, that all scandals be removed, and those persons severed from the congregation, who would otherwise infect it with heresy, schism, or scandalous conversation.

V. 10. {his bodily presence is weak} Gr. the presence of his body is weak.

V. 11. {think this} Or, make account.

V. 12. {For we dare not make ourselves of the number} Being constrained to refell the foolish brags of the false apostles, he professes that they are able to do nothing answerable to their great brags; but that they arrogated falsely to themselves those things which they neither did, nor could do: and as for himself, though he might boast of excellent things, yet he will not pass the bounds which God has measured him out; according whereunto he came even unto them in preaching the gospel of Christ; and trusts that he shall go farther when they have so profited that he shall not need to tarry any longer amongst them to instruct them.

{measuring themselves by themselves} Gr. in. They contemn others, and measure all their actions by the line which they have drawn to themselves.

{amongst} Gr. with, or, to.

{are not wise} Or, understand not.

V. 13. {without our measure} Though the whole world were the apostles' dioceses, and they had commission to preach to all nations; yet they took their journeys into several parts, where God chalked them out the way, and they were careful as not to interrupt or hinder one another, so neither to enter upon one another's labors: on the contrary, the false apostles ranging wheresoever they list wrought upon advantage, and arrogated to themselves the conversion of those countries, where the true apostles had before planted the faith.

{rule} Or, line.

V. 15. {of other men's labours} Gr. in.

{enlarged by you} Or, magnified in you.

V. 16. {not to boast in another man's line} Or, rule. A metaphor taken from builders, who stretch their line out where they mean to build; and the apostle's meaning is, that he would not intrude into any other man's work; nor desire to sow the seed of the word in those regions and countries which other men had prepared and husbanded with the preaching of the gospel.

V. 17. {But he that glorieth, &c.} See Jer. 9.24. 1 Cor. 1.31.

{glory in the Lord} He somewhat mitigates that which he spoke of himself, and therewith also prepares the Corinthians to hear other things of the like kind, professing that he seeks nothing else but to approve himself to God whose glory he only seeks.

CHAPTER 11

Verse 1. {In my folly} Gr. of folly. He grants that after a sort he may seem to incur the censure of folly, but he adds withal, that he does it against his will for their profit, because he sees them deceived by certain cunning men through the craft and subtlety of Satan. To commend a man's self, though truly, seems to savor of folly and vainglory, yet in Saint Paul's case to speak the truth concerning the infallible testimonies of his apostleship, and to stop the mouths of the false apostles, who traduced his person, and vilified his ministry, with a sweet rhetorical insinuation and craving pardon, as he does, was a part of godly wisdom.

{bear with me} Or, you do bear with me.

V. 2. {with godly jealousy} Gr. the zeal of God. He speaks as a wooer, yet as one who seeks them not for himself, but for God.

{espoused you to one husband} The Greek word, ἡρμοσάμην, signifies, either I have fitted and prepared you, or, I have espoused you: and the apostle seems to allude to Hosea 2.19, the husband is Christ, Matth. 25.6, the virgin bride the church of Corinth in regard of her faith, yet unspotted: the contract is made in this life, but the marriage celebrated in the life to come, Apoc. 19.7.

V. 3. {through his subtilty} Gr. in.

{corrupted from the simplicity that is in Christ} As precious liquor is corrupted by mingling it with other water; so is the doctrine of the gospel, by mingling therewith either philosophical speculations, or Jewish traditions, wherewith the false apostles blended it. Chap. 2.17. Col. 2.8, 16.

V. 4. {preacheth another Jesus} A more perfect doctrine of Jesus Christ. In which words he shows that they deceive themselves, if they look to receive of any other man, either a more excellent gospel, or more excellent gifts of the Holy Ghost, than they had received by his ministry: withal in the words, he that cometh, he taxes the false apostles, Gal. 1.8, 9, who came of themselves and were not sent by God.

V. 5. {suppose} Gr. conceive, or reckon that I. Chap. 10.11.

{chiefest apostles} Gr. over and above, or, exceedingly above.

V. 6. {But though I be rude in speech} Saint Paul lacked not that kind of eloquence which was meet for an apostle of Christ, and fit for the gospel, but he willingly wanted that painted kind of speech, and affected strains which the false apostles so much bragged of. Though S. Jerome upon the third of the Epistle to the Ephes. notes certain solecisms, hyperbata, & deficiencies, in Saint Paul's manner of expressing of himself: yet S. Austin in his 4. book, De Doct. Crist. cap. 7, and S. Chrysostom in his comments, and the same Jerome, Epist. 61, highly extol Saint Paul's eloquence, to which few or none ever attained, but this eloquence proceeded not from the study of rhetoric, nor was taught him in the schools, but given him by the Spirit.

V. 7. {Have I committed an offence} Among other aspersions which the false apostles cast upon Saint Paul, this was one, that he was a poor silly man, getting his living by his handicraft, and preaching gratis, not entertained by the church, nor allowed any honorable stipend; whereunto the apostle answers, that the Corinthians in this behalf were more beholding to him, that he was content to take any pains for their sakes, and when he lacked, to travel for his living with his own hands in part, and partly also when poverty constrained him, he chose rather to make use of the benevolence of other churches, that he might not be any ways burdensome to the Corinthians.

V. 8. {I robbed other Churches} It was lawful for Saint Paul to receive a stipend for his labors in the ministry, yet because when he preached at Corinth, he received wages to defray his necessary charge from other poorer churches, he by a metaphor calls that a kind of robbing them, because he received from them that which they could not well spare, and that he ought to have received it rather from the Corinthians, with whom he then resided, and exercised his ministry, and should have had his wants supplied by them.

V. 9. {I was chargeable to no man} Or, I chill'd, or benummed none, or fainted not in any thing. See chap. 12.13. The word in the original, κατενάρκησα, as the Greek scholiast observes, signifies a fainting or slackness, chillness, or benumbedness: and the apostle's meaning is, that though he were in great want, when he preached to them, and was not supplied by them; yet his zeal was not thereby cooled, nor his industry abated, he flagged not any way in his ministry, nor solicited any of the Corinthians to afford him necessary maintenance, nor lay heavy upon them, though their bounty slackened to him.

V. 10. {no man shall stop me} Gr. this boasting shall not be stopped in me.

V. 13. {deceitful workers} Or, workmen. Who seem to labor in the Lord's vineyard, but indeed trifle out the time, and rather do hurt than good. Or, he calls them deceitful, because whatsoever mask of zeal they put upon them, as if they sought nothing but God's glory, yet indeed they sought their own gain and wrought upon advantage.

{transforming themselves into} Gr. transfigured into.

V. 14. {transformed} Or, transfigured.

{an angel of light} A good and holy one, partaking of the brightness of the celestial glory, living and dwelling in the same, whereas the evil angels are confined to everlasting darkness, Col. 1.13. 2 Pet. 2.4. Jude 6. Now Satan may be said to transform himself to an angel of light, either when he assumes unto himself a lightsome body, as if he were an angel of heaven, or when he suggests things that seem to savor of piety, zeal, and holiness, as if the motion proceeded from an holy and blessed angel: whereas these things which he suggests, as he suggests them, tend indeed and truly to the dishonor of God, and the ruin of their souls.

V. 15. {transformed} Gr. transfigured.

V. 16. {receive me} Or, suffer.

V. 17. {I speak it not after the Lord} Whatsoever Saint Paul wrote in his epistles, he wrote by divine inspiration, yet when he delivers that for which he has no express commandment from God, he says, he speaks by permission, and not by command, 1 Cor. 7.6, and verse 12, to the rest speak I, not the Lord; and so in this place, because the Spirit of God in Scripture nowhere advises to commend ourselves, or glory of our gifts, but the contrary rather; he says, he speaks not this according to the Lord, but as it were by way of folly; not by way of folly indeed, but as it were foolishly: take the words as they sound by themselves, they seem to savor of folly and vainglory, but consider upon what occasion they are spoken, and to what end, and what profitable truth is contained in them, and so they savor of nothing less than folly.

{confident of boasting} Or, ground of my boasting. See chap. 9.4.

V. 20. {bring you into bondage} Here he describes the insolent carriage of the false apostles, and touches also upon the Corinthians themselves, who persuading themselves that they were very wise men, did not mark in the mean season, how their new teachers abused their simplicity for advantage.

V. 21. {I speak foolishly} Gr. in foolishnesse.

V. 22. {so am I} See Phil. 3.5.

V. 23. {I am more} Paul being honorable indeed, not only defends his ministry openly, but magnifies it also: not for his own sake, but because they wounded the gospel through his sides, and by the vilifying of his person and office, he saw his doctrine come into hazard.

{in deaths oft} In the pangs and sorrows of death, or in danger of present death.

V. 4. {forty stripes save one} The apostle alludes to the 25. of Deuteronomie v. 3. But then it may be demanded, why in scourging Saint Paul, they abated one lash, and gave him but 39 stripes. Manahemus Ricinensis says, that the Jews inflicted 39 stripes, with a reference to the curses mentioned in the law, which were precisely 39. Others conceive that out of some pity, and that they might be sure to keep within some compass, and the number of stripes permitted by the law, they abated one. Abenezra brings their cabala or tradition for it; and most likely it is, that such a custom was among them, or else out of their hatred to the apostles, they would not in five beatings have omitted five stripes.

V. 25. {beaten with rods} See Acts 16.22.

{once was I stoned} See Acts 14.19.

{suffered shipwreck} See Acts 27.

{I have been in the deep} Some by the deep, here understand a deep dungeon whose name was Bythos, where S. Paul lay hid for a time at Lystra. Others more probably that by deep is meant the sea in which he floated, or swam after divers his shipwrecks: thus the Greek scholiast understands it: νυχθήμερον νηχόμενος μετὰ τὸ ναυάγιον, and Sulpitius epist. 1. Non minor mihi videtur Gentium prædicator quem fluctus absorbuit, & post triduum totidemque noctes emergentem ex fundo unda restituit.

V. 26. {waters} Gr. rivers.

V. 28. {that are without} The Greek word παρεκτὸς, signifies not properly the things that are without, but the things that are besides, and over and above: and the meaning is, besides those things which I have now reckoned with the rest, the care of all the churches lies upon me.

{that which cometh upon me daily} Gr. my cumberance is daily.

V. 29. {who is weak} That is, wavering in his faith, constancy, or patience, who is ready to stumble or fall, and I myself am not weak? that is, do not tremble for his sake, and for the danger of his falling? By weakness, in the second place he means not the imbecility of his own faith, or want of ghostly strength or courage, he being to comfort and strengthen them all, but a tender-taking to heart, and a compassionate care of those that are weak in the church.

{who is offended, and I burn not} Gr. scandalized, 1 Cor. 8.13. That is, who is distempered, or scandalized by any offense, imprudency, temerity of others being in danger of falling, and I burn not with sorrow and holy indignation, and with ardent zeal, for the glory of God and the salvation of those that are scandalized?

V. 30. {If I must needs glory} He turns that against the adversaries which they objected against him, as if he should say, they allege my calamities to take away my authority from me, but if I would boast myself, I would take no better argument than my sufferings for the gospel, and God himself is my witness, that I devise and forge nothing.

V. 32. {In Damascus the governor under Aretas the King} See Acts 9.24.

CHAPTER 12

Verse 1. {I will come} Gr. For I will come.

{visions and revelations} Some distinguish visions from revelations, after this manner: a vision, say they, is when something is supernaturally represented to the sight, whereof yet the party knows not the meaning and signification: such was the vision of Pharaoh and Nebuchadonosor: a revelation is, when something is supernaturally presented to the sight, and the meaning and signification thereof is made known to the party, who has such a vision, and such were the visions of the prophets. But because it is not probable that S. Paul had any vision, but withal Christ revealed unto him what that vision meant, and imported: Others with more probability distinguish visions from revelations, that visions may be without an ecstasy, as when the women saw the angels at the sepulcher they were affrighted, yet not in an ecstasy; but revelations, such as S. Paul here speaks of, were apparitions in an ecstasy, such as was that of Peter in the Acts 10.17, and S. John's, Apoc. 1.10.

V. 2. {I knew a man in Christ} Or, know. Either the meaning is, I speak this in Christ, that is, be it spoken without vainglory; for I seek nothing but Christ Jesus only: or I knew a man in Christ, that is, a Christian and believer, a man even myself, who for all that will not be accounted otherwise of, than a man, no God, no angel: thus he speaks of himself in a third person, in token of his humility, as if it were a matter that befell him without himself. The words in Christ may also carry the form of an oath, as Rom. 9.1, and so in Christ, is all one, as if he had said by Christ.

{whether in the body, &c.} Whether this was brought to pass by God, framing in my soul some representation of those heavenly things without any actual separation of the soul from the body; or whether my soul was separated a while really from the body, and transported into heaven to contemplate there these marvelous things I know not; but sure I am, such things were really represented unto me. Or, the words may carry also this sense, whether I was caught up into heaven with body and soul together, or with the soul only, is unknown to me. Aquin. and other schoolmen argue, that Saint Paul was only in an ecstasy, and for a time besides himself, and that his soul was not actually severed from his body, for then he should have been dead, and when afterwards he came to himself, raised from the dead. But neither will this follow (for according to the opinion of philosophers, and some divines also, who distinguish the spirit, or reasonable soul, from the vegetative and sensitive, the reasonable soul of Saint Paul might have been actually severed from his body for a time, and yet he not dead: his sensitive soul remaining still in his body) nor can any man without presumption take upon him to determine that which the apostle himself could not resolve, such a determination how probable soever it may seem, S. Austin in his 12. book De Gen. ad lit. cap. 3, & lib. de pec. Orig. cap. 23, deservedly censures for impudent and rash.

{caught up to the third heaven} That is, into the empyreal heaven, the heaven of heavens, or seat of the blessed; it is called the third heaven, because the Scriptures speak of a threefold heaven; the aerial heaven, in which the fowls flying are called fowls of heaven, Matth. 6.26. The second, the sidereal, in which the lights are, called Stars of heaven, Gen. 15.5. The third, the uppermost of all, the empyreal, in which the angels residing are called the Angels of heaven, Mat. 24.36.

V. 3. {knew} Or, know.

V. 4. {caught up into Paradise} The rabbins distinguish paradise from heaven, affirming paradise to be the receptacle or place of abode for souls, after the separation from the body, but heaven the place where after the day of judgment the bodies and souls of the righteous shall everlastingly dwell. But neither can any such distinction be proved out of Scripture, nor if it could, can paradise be taken so in this place; for it is evident by comparing this verse with the second, that the same place is meant by paradise and heaven. If there lie any mystery in the varying of the word, and putting paradise for heaven, it seems to be this, that the apostle in this fourth verse intimates, that in this rapture, besides the contemplation of celestial mysteries, he felt unspeakable delight and pleasure, like to, or exceeding that which Adam took in the terrestrial paradise.

{unspeakable words} The Greek ἄῤῥητα, signifies words not uttered, or, not to be uttered; because either they transcend man's capacity in this life, or that Saint Paul was forbidden to utter them, they being revealed to him in particular, to strengthen him against all the difficulties he was to encounter withal in his ministry, and not for the public use of the church; for otherwise Paul has faithfully revealed the whole counsel of God to the church concerning man's salvation. See Acts the 20.27.

{lawful} Or, possible.

{thorn in the flesh, &c.} Or, sharp stake, or, splinter. See Ezek. 28.24. Some by this thorn in the flesh understand concupiscence, but neither will the words following, added by the apostle by way of explication, viz. the messenger of Satan to buffet me, well agree to concupiscence; neither is it likely that Saint Paul who spent all his time in travel or toilsome labor, watching and fasting, should be troubled with fleshly lusts, and if he had been, no doubt he would have used that remedy which he prescribed to others, affected with the like malady, 1 Cor. 7.9. Others therefore understand by it, Alexander the coppersmith, or some other instrument of Satan, who used the apostle reproachfully, and was as a thorn in his side, or Satan himself, who, through God's permission, had power to punish the apostle in his body, as he did Job, and Saint Jerome, and other saints, if we may believe ecclesiastical stories. But the remedy being spiritual, mentioned verse 9, it is not probable that the malady was corporal. It should seem therefore, that because the apostle was exalted by visions and angelical apparitions, it pleased God to humble him in the like kind, by suffering Satan, transforming himself into an angel of light, to set upon the apostle in such a furious manner, laying so hard both at his faith and his sincerity, that the apostle was much disheartened thereby. This fearful assaulting and reproaching him to his face, was a kind of browbeating or buffeting him: and because it somewhat hindered him for a while in the cheerful prosecuting of his business, it is not unfitly compared to a thorn in the foot, with which a man cannot go but lamely, and with very great pain. In which regard the apostle earnestly besought God that this Angelus Satan, or Satanæ, this evil and malignant angel might depart from him; which his request though God granted not, yet at the third asking he vouchsafed him this gracious answer, That though he would not remove this wicked angel suddenly from him, yet he would so fortify the apostle with his grace against this wicked fiend, that he should get the victory over him.

V. 9. {My grace is sufficient for thee} That is, my grace shall so strengthen you in all assaults of temptation, that you shall be more than a conqueror through me: or, content yourself with my favor and love, which neither by this nor any other affliction is taken away or impaired; therefore faithfully endure this exercise of your faith; for the more you or any of the faithful are assaulted, the more grace do I confer upon you, to conquer all temptations.

{my strength is made perfect in weakness} The strength or virtue of God can be neither increased nor diminished, yet then is it said to be perfected, when it manifests itself to the full, and demonstrates that nothing can overcome or conquer it. The greater infirmities men have, the grace of God shows itself the stronger and perfecter in supporting them in all assaults of temptation.

{glory in mine infirmities} He concludes, that he will only set his crosses and afflictions against the vain brags of the false apostles, and therewith also excuses himself, for that by their importunity he was constrained to speak so much of those things as he did: to wit, because that of his apostleship were contemned, his doctrine must needs fall to the ground.

{may rest upon me} Or, dwell. The Greek word σκηνόω, signifies to cover, or compass me as a tent, whereby men do shelter themselves from the scorching of the sun, and other injuries of the day, so the meaning is, that the power of Christ may be my only safety and protection.

V. 10. {I take pleasure in infirmities} Gr. I think, or, like well of infirmities. I do not only bear them patiently, but also take great comfort in them.

{when I am weak, then am I strong} When I am weak in myself, I am strong in Christ; or, when I am weak in the flesh, I am strong in the Spirit. When he was cast in prison, and his feet made fast in the stocks, he by his prayer caused the foundation of the prison to be shaken; when after he had suffered shipwreck, and was cast into a barbarous island, and there a viper light upon his finger, and the islanders gave him for a gone man, he not only shook off the viper without hurt, but also got great favor of the chief man in the island, by curing his father of a fever and bloody flux; and when he was brought before Nero, and all forsook him, yet even there (being a forlorn prisoner) he got the better of his potent adversaries, and was delivered out of the mouth of the lion. Thus God in his greatest infirmities and distresses strengthened and delivered him, that the history of his life made good that which he here affirms of himself.

V. 11. {for I ought to have been commended of you} You ought to have maintained the authority of my ministry, and given a testimony to the truth, how innocently I and my fellows carried ourselves among you. And here again he appeals to the consciences of the Corinthians, and makes them witnesses of those things, whereby God had sealed his apostleship among them; and again he declares by certain arguments, how far he is from all covetousness, and how tenderly and affectionately he loves them in Christ.

{for in nothing am I behind the very chiefest Apostles} Gr. was I inferiour to thee. See Chap. 21.6.

V. 12. {the signs of an Apostle} He takes not the word signs here, as afterwards in this verse, for wonders and mighty deeds, but by signs he means demonstrations à signo, evident arguments, whereby it may well appear, that he was indeed an apostle of Jesus Christ.

V. 13. {I myself was not burdensome to you} Or, was not slack, or, failed in any thing towards you. See Chap. 11.9.

V. 14. {I will not be burdensome to you} Or, slack in any thing towards you.

V. 15. {gladly spend and be spent} That is, not only bestow my pains and my estate, but also my body, and lay down my life for you. Here the Greek scholiast notes seven steps or degrees in the apostle's love; the first, he might have received maintenance from them, (Christ so commanding it, that the ministers of the gospel should live of the gospel) yet he would not. The second, he was in want, yet would not be chargeable to them any way to relieve him. The third, he preached constantly to them, though they allowed him nothing for his pains. The fourth, he was at great expense with them. The fifth, he not only gladly bestowed what he had among them, but was willing to be bestowed, and sacrifice his life for them. The sixth, this all he does for those who did but coldly affect him. The seventh, though they in no way answered him in his love, but as his love still grew hotter to them, theirs grew colder to him, yet he diminished nothing of his love to them, or care for them.

{you} Gr. your souls.

V. 19. {think you that we excuse ourselves} He concludes, that he writes not these things unto them, as though he needed to defend himself, for he is guilty of nothing that is laid against him; but because it is behoovable for them to doubt nothing of his fidelity, who was their instructor and apostle.

V. 20. {I shall be found unto you, such as you would not} Having confirmed his authority unto them, he rebukes them sharply, and threatens them also like an apostle of Christ, that he will not spare them hereafter, unless they repent, seeing that this is the third time he had warned them.

V. 21. {God will humble me} He calls the inflicting censures upon the Corinthians the abasing of himself, because as their proficiency in Christ's school and growth in grace was a great cause of exaltation and glorying to him: so their falling into enormous crimes, and continuing in them without repentance, enforcing him to use his apostolical power in censuring them, was a great heart's grief unto him, and occasion of much dejection of mind.

CHAPTER 13

Verse 1. {Coming to you} Gr. Tec. ready to come to you.

{In the mouth, &c.} See Deut. 9.15.

V. 2. {if I come again I will not spare} He threatens here that he will make use of his apostolical power, which was very great and extraordinary; for they not only inflicted spiritual censures, but also corporal: Paul struck Bar-jesus with blindness, Act. 13.11. Peter, Ananias and Saphira with death; and as was noted before, those who were delivered by them to Satan, suffered not only in soul, thereby being terrified in their conscience, but also were often tormented in their body.

V. 3. {Since ye seek a proof of Christ} A sharp reprehension; for that while they despise the apostle's admonition, they tempt Christ's own patience, and while they contemn Paul as a miserable man, they lay nothing here against him which is not common to him with Christ. If you seek a proof of Christ's speaking in me, look to yourselves, who had all your soundness from my ministry, if you have any.

V. 4. {through weakness} Saint Hilary in his ninth book de Trinitate expounds this place; through the weakness of his flesh, which was subject to all human infirmities, sin only excepted: or touching the vile form of a servant, which he took upon him when he abased himself. To clear which passage, Oecumenius farther observes that the word ἀσθένεια in Saint Paul, is taken in a threefold sense; sometimes for bodily sickness, as 1 Cor. 11.30, sometimes for imbecility and wavering in faith, Rom. 14.1, sometimes for outward persecutions, temptations, and afflictions, as it is taken in the former chapter, vers. 9, 10, and so he takes the word in this place, [unclear] μάστιγας καὶ κινδύνους καὶ ὕβριν. To infirmities painful Christ in his state of humiliation here upon earth was subject, but no ways to any infirmities that are sinful.

{in him} Or, with him.

V. 5. {Examine} Or, try.

{whether ye be in the faith} He confirms that which he spoke of God appearing in his ministry; and he gathers by the mutual relation between the people's faith and the ministers' preaching, that they must either reverence his apostleship, upon whose doctrine their faith is grounded; or they must condemn themselves of infidelity, and must confess themselves not to be of Christ's body. Whether you are in the faith, that is, in the state of faithful Christians; and whether Christ live in you by his Spirit which you received by my gospel.

{reprobates} Or, unapproved, or, rejected.

V. 6. {reprobates} Or, unapproved, or, rejected.

V. 7. {as reprobates} Or, unapproved, or, rejected. Not reprobates, but as reprobates, not so simply, but in the opinion of some. In this verse he mitigates his former sharpness, trusting that they will show themselves towards their faithful apostles, apt and willing to be taught: adding this moreover, that he passed not for his own fame and estimation, so he may any way further their salvation, which is the only mark that he shoots at.

V. 8. {we can do nothing against the truth} Though it be a true axiom, Magna est veritas & prævalebit; &, Veritas laborare potest, opprimi non potest; the truth is most strong, and cannot be subverted; yet it seems the apostle here understands not so much truth of doctrine, as truth of life, sincerity, and true piety. For he threatens to use his apostolical power in punishing, which that they might escape, he prays to God in the seventh verse, that they might do no evil; which exhortation he binds with this reason; For we cannot do any thing against the truth; that is, if you be innocent and walk in the truth, you need not fear any Anathema, or church-censure. For the power which the Lord has given us, is for the supporting of the church, and not destroying it, to uphold and maintain innocency and righteousness, true religion and virtue, and suppress the contrary.

V. 9. {even your perfection} That all things might be in good order amongst you, and the members of the church restored, which have been shaken and put out of their places.

V. 11. {Be perfect} To three principal maladies, of which the Corinthians were sick, ignorance, pusillanimity, and faction, he applies three remedies: to the first, growth in grace, and the knowledge of Christ, and a striving to perfection; saying, be ye perfect: to the second, spiritual courage; saying, be of good comfort: to the third, unity: be of one mind, live in peace.