2 Corinthians · Chapter 6

V. 1. We then not only beseech, but as fellow-labourers with you, who are working out your own salvation, do also exhort you, not to receive the grace of God-Which we have been now describing.

In vain-We receive it by faith; and not in vain, if we add to this, persevering holiness.

Verse 1. We then, as workers together with him] sunergountev de kai parakaloumen. The two last words, with him, are not in the text, and some supply the place thus: we then, as workers together WITH YOU, and the Armenian version seems to have read it so; but no MS. has this reading, and no other version. For my own part I see nothing wanting in the text if we only suppose the term apostles; we, (i.e. apostles,) being fellow workers, also entreat you not to receive the grace of God in vain. By the grace of God, thn carin tou qeou, this grace or benefit of God, the apostle certainly means the grand sacrificial offering of Christ for the sin of the world, which he had just before mentioned in speaking of the ministry of reconciliation. We learn, therefore, that it was possible to receive the grace of God and not ultimately benefit by it; or, in other words, to begin in the Spirit and end in the flesh. Should any one say that it is the ministry of reconciliation, that is, the benefit of apostolic preaching, that they might receive in vain; I answer, that the apostolic preaching, and the whole ministry of reconciliation, could be no benefit to any man farther than it might have been a means of conveying to him the salvation of God. And it is most evident that the apostle has in view that grace or benefit that reconciles us to God, and makes us Divinely righteous. And this, and all other benefits of the death of Christ, may be received in vain.

Verses 1, 2. We then, as workers together with him — Being employed by God in such an important embassy, we prosecute it, and beseech you that ye receive not the gospel of the grace of God — Which announces such glad tidings of salvation; or the free, unmerited favour and Spirit of God, offered and pressed upon you in the gospel; in vain — Which they do in whom this divine grace does not answer the end for which it was designed; does not render them godly and righteous, wise, good, and holy, in this present world, Titus 2:11-13. For he saith — (Isaiah 49:8,) where God the Father speaks to the Messiah, and engages to give him the Gentiles as an accession to his church, and a reward of his mediatorial undertaking; I have heard — Or, I will hear thee, in the days of thy flesh, when thou shalt offer up prayers and supplications with strong crying and tears, (Hebrews 5:7,) though not so as to deliver thee from death, yet so as to support thee under thy sufferings, and give a blessed success to thy labours. And in the day of salvation — In the time which I have appointed for effecting man’s redemption and salvation; have I succoured — Or, will I succour and assist thee in thy work. Thus the Messiah says, (Isaiah 50:7,) The Lord God will help me, therefore shall I not be confounded. Behold now, says the apostle, is the accepted time — There spoken of, wherein such a rich treasure of saving grace is dispensed to the church, whether consisting of Jews or Gentiles, and offered to all: therefore, as if he had said, Lose not this gracious season, but improve it by accepting the offered blessings, and using them to the glory of the great and glorious Giver. This verse must be read as a parenthesis, the next being connected with the first.

Verse 1. We then as workers together with the Lord, who has by himself purged our sins, and reconciled all things to himself on the cross, and has commissioned us to continue the ministry of reconciliation — we beseech you also that ye receive not the grace of God in vain. That is, the unspeakable gift of Christ, and his gospel, “the grace of God which brings salvation to all men,” and which demands corresponding returns of repentance, faith, and holiness. For if this gospel do not bring a full salvation by faith, but on the contrary if there be in any of you an evil heart of unbelief, it will prove the ministry of death to the unbelieving and disobedient.

1. We—Apostles. The statement of the gospel-appeal to men (2 Corinthians 5:20-6:2) is here continued. Workers together—Co-operators here, as ambassadors in 2 Corinthians 5:20. With him—In italics, as being supplied by the translators. Commentators differ whether it should be with him, God, or with you, Corinthians, or with Christ, or with the apostles all conjointly. But the parallelism with 2 Corinthians 5:20 indicates with God. Beseech—As in 2 Corinthians 5:20, Receive not—Past tense. We beseech you that you shall not have received. Erasmus, quoted by Meyer, renders, “That ye may not so transgress as that, having once been exempted from your sins, ye may, by relapsing into your former life, have received the grace of God in vain.” In vain—By damnation because of total apostasy.

Ver. 1. After saying what God has done for man’s salvation, Paul adds what he and his colleagues are doing for the same object. Working together with Him: not with Christ, but with Him who gave Christ to be sin for us. So 1 Corinthians 3:9. For in 2 Corinthians 5:18ff we read of the activity of the Father rather than of the Son. Paul works with God by urging men to accept, and make good use of, the favor of God.

Accept the grace of God: claim by faith the various spiritual benefits which God in undeserved favor offers us.

Not in vain, or not for an empty thing: Galatians 2:2; Philippians 2:16: put prominently forward as the special matter of Paul’s exhortation. If we fail to put to practical use in the details of life the spiritual benefits received by the favor of God, even His favor becomes to us a useless and empty thing. An unread Bible, a wasted Sunday, and such knowledge of the truth as does not mold our life, are the grace of God received in vain. Paul bids his readers so to lay hold of the grace of God that it shall not be in vain. He thus sums up the whole matter of his teaching to believers.

V. 2. For he saith-The sense is, As of old there was a particular time wherein God was pleased to pour out his peculiar blessing, so there is now. And this is the particular time: this is a time of peculiar blessing. Isaiah 49:8.

Verse 2. For he saith] That is, God hath said it, by the prophet Isaiah, Isaiah 49:8; which place the apostle quotes verbatim et literatim from the Septuagint. And from this we may at once see what is the accepted time, and what the day of salvation. The advent of the Messiah was the ˆwxr ty eth ratson, the time of God’s pleasure or benevolence, of which all the faithful were in expectation; and the day of salvation, שועה יום yom yeshuah, was the time in which this salvation should be manifested and applied. The apostle therefore informs them that this is the time predicted by the prophet; and the ministry of reconciliation being exercised in full force is a proof that the prophecy is fulfilled; and therefore the apostle confidently asserts, Behold, NOW is this accepted time, NOW the Messiah reigns, NOW is the Gospel dispensation, and therefore NOW is the day of salvation; that is, the very time in which the power of God is present to heal, and in which every sinner believing on the Lord Jesus may be saved.

I rather think that this second verse should be read immediately after the last verse of the preceding chapter; as where it now stands it greatly disturbs the connection between the first and the third verses. I will set down the whole in the order in which I think they should stand. 2 Corinthians 5:20: Now then we are ambassadors for Christ; as though God did beseech you by us, we pray you in Christ’s stead, to be reconciled to God. For he hath made him a sin-offering for us, who knew no sin, that we might be made the righteousness of God in him: for he saith, “I have heard thee in a time accepted, and in the day of salvation have I succoured thee.” Behold, now is the accepted time; behold, now is the day of salvation. Immediately after this, the sixth chapter will very properly commence, and we shall see that the connection will be then undisturbed:—

We then, as fellow workers, beseech you also, that ye receive not this grace of God in vain, giving no offence in any thing, that this ministry be not blamed. This change of the place of the second verse, which every one allows must, if it stand here, be read in a parenthesis, preserves the whole connection of the apostle’s discourse, and certainly sets his argument before us in a stronger light. Let us review the whole: 1. God was in Christ, reconciling the world to himself, 2 Corinthians 5:18. 2. He appointed the apostles to proclaim to mankind the doctrine of reconciliation, 2 Corinthians 5:19. 3. The apostles, in consequence, proclaim this doctrine; and show that Christ was a sacrifice for sin, and that through him we may be perfectly saved, 2 Corinthians 5:20, 21. 4. They show also that all this was agreeable to the declaration of God by the prophet Isaiah, Isaiah 49:8, where he predicts the days of the Messiah, and the grace then to be communicated, 2 Corinthians 6:2. 5. The apostle then, speaking in the person of all his fellow labourers, who had this ministry of reconciliation intrusted to them, exhorts them not to receive such a benefit of God in vain, 2 Corinthians 6:1. 6. He exhorts those who had embraced the Gospel not to put a stumbling block in the way of others, by acting irreligiously, lest this ministry of reconciliation should be reproached on their account, 2 Corinthians 6:3. 7. He shows what conscientious and scrupulous care he and his fellow apostles took to preach and walk so that this ministry might have its full effect, 2 Corinthians 6:4, &c.

This view of the subject, if I mistake not, shows a beautiful consistency throughout the whole.

Verses 1, 2. We then, as workers together with him — Being employed by God in such an important embassy, we prosecute it, and beseech you that ye receive not the gospel of the grace of God — Which announces such glad tidings of salvation; or the free, unmerited favour and Spirit of God, offered and pressed upon you in the gospel; in vain — Which they do in whom this divine grace does not answer the end for which it was designed; does not render them godly and righteous, wise, good, and holy, in this present world, Titus 2:11-13. For he saith — (Isaiah 49:8,) where God the Father speaks to the Messiah, and engages to give him the Gentiles as an accession to his church, and a reward of his mediatorial undertaking; I have heard — Or, I will hear thee, in the days of thy flesh, when thou shalt offer up prayers and supplications with strong crying and tears, (Hebrews 5:7,) though not so as to deliver thee from death, yet so as to support thee under thy sufferings, and give a blessed success to thy labours. And in the day of salvation — In the time which I have appointed for effecting man’s redemption and salvation; have I succoured — Or, will I succour and assist thee in thy work. Thus the Messiah says, (Isaiah 50:7,) The Lord God will help me, therefore shall I not be confounded. Behold now, says the apostle, is the accepted time — There spoken of, wherein such a rich treasure of saving grace is dispensed to the church, whether consisting of Jews or Gentiles, and offered to all: therefore, as if he had said, Lose not this gracious season, but improve it by accepting the offered blessings, and using them to the glory of the great and glorious Giver. This verse must be read as a parenthesis, the next being connected with the first.

Ver. 2. For he saith, on promising the gentile nations to the Saviour, Isaiah 49:8, I have heard thee in a time accepted, and will give thee the heathen for thine inheritance. The time accepted is called by the prophets “the last days, or the acceptable year of the Lord;” or the fulness of time appointed of the Father to turn the nations from darkness to light, and from the power of Satan unto God. On applying this passage to the Greeks, Paul says, “Behold now is the accepted time,” for the nations to rush into the kingdom of God. In him they find the great salvation from all their sins, and a renovation of the life and image of God.

2. He—God, in the previous verse, who offers the grace. Saith—In Isaiah 49:8; nearly according to the Septuagint. It is in Isaiah a clearly Messianic passage; but the thee addressed by Jehovah is the Messiah himself. God promises him (by a Hebraism in the past tense) an accepted day for the work of redemption. Paul quotes it to his readers as proof that the day, the now, is the time for them to avail themselves of that redemption. Heard thee—See John 11:41, 42, with notes. Day of salvation—The period when, redemption’s work being wrought, it is offered to men. Behold—The apostle’s earnest comment repeated, calling attention to the fact that the offer is but for a period, and that period now. Not, as Meyer, that the period is brief by the supposed immediate advent to judgment; but that during this our Messianic age each man’s share of the acceptable period is short—but a day. Accepted—The above word accepted, repeated with a strengthening prefix, well-accepted. Accepted—That is, by God himself as the time of mercy-giving.

6. Such appeals to men for reconciliation are sustained by a living example of purity amid calumny, 3-10.

Ver. 2. A quotation of Isaiah 49:8, word for word from the LXX., supporting the exhortation of 2 Corinthians 6:1. The prophet says, “Thus says Jehovah, in a time of favour I have heard thee: and in a day of salvation I have helped thee”; and thus proclaims a definite time coming when God will listen with favor to His people and save them. His words are evidently fulfilled in the Gospel. The change from “time of favour” to acceptable season, is unimportant. And the Gospel was announced to the world at a time which God thought fit to accept for this purpose. Cp. Isaiah 59:2, quoted in Luke 4:19.

Behold now etc.: Paul’s comment on the words of Isaiah.

Well-accepted: stronger than acceptable. Paul supports his exhortation in 2 Corinthians 6:1 by reminding his readers that they lived in a time looked forward to by the ancient prophets with bright expectation. The quotation was prompted by a consciousness of the great privilege of living in gospel days, in that time which from the beginning of the world God chose for His great salvation.

V. 3. Giving, as far as in us lies, no offence, that the ministry be not blamed on our account.

Verse 3. Giving no offence] The word proskoph, read proskomma, Romans 14:13, signifies a stumbling block in general, or any thing over which a man stumbles or falls; and here means any transgression or scandal that might take place among the ministers, or the Christians themselves, whereby either Jews or Gentiles might take occasion of offence, and vilify the Gospel of Christ.

Verses 3-7. Giving, as far as in us lies, no offence in any thing, that the ministry be not blamed — On our account. But in all things — Or in every respect; approving ourselves — To our Divine Master and his church; as the ministers of God, in much patience — Shown, 1st, In afflictions, necessities, distresses — All which are general terms. 2d, In stripes, imprisonments, tumults — Which are particular sorts of affliction, necessity, distress. 3d, In labours, watchings, fastings — Voluntarily endured. All these are expressed in the plural number, to denote a variety of them. The first word, qliyeiv, Dr. Whitby understands to mean affliction in general: the second, anagkai, necessities, as signifying more grievous and unavoidable troubles; the third, stenocwriai, distresses, such pressures as reduce us to the greatest straits. In the first, several ways to escape may appear, though none without difficulty: in the second, one way only, and that a difficult one: in the last, none at all appears. In tumults — The Greek word, akatastasiai, implies such attacks as a man cannot stand against; but which bear him hither and thither by violence. In labours — Incessantly pursued, either in our ministerial work, or in those secular callings by which we are often obliged to earn our daily bread. In watchings — When, in the prosecution of our various employments, the hours of the night are added to those of the day: in fastings — To which, besides those which devotion chooses, we are often obliged to submit, for want of proper supplies of food. By pureness — Of conduct, and by keeping ourselves unspotted from the world; or by purity of the motives which animate us. By knowledge — Of those divine truths, which it is our great business to teach others. Or, as some render the expression, by prudence; namely, that which is spiritual and divine: not that which the world terms so. Worldly prudence is the practical use of worldly wisdom: divine prudence, of spiritual understanding. By long-suffering — Under affronts and injuries from the people of the world, and amid the weaknesses, failings, and faults of the people of God. By kindness — Crhstothti, gentleness, or goodness of disposition. By the Holy Ghost — Directing, strengthening, supporting, as well as sanctifying us, and by the exercise of his miraculous gifts. By love unfeigned — To God and man, manifested in all our words and actions. By the word of truth — That sword of the Spirit, whereby we repel the tempter; or by preaching the gospel faithfully and zealously. By the power of God — Attesting that word by divers miraculous operations, and rendering it effectual to the conviction and conversion of sinners; and which we know will render it finally victorious over all opposition. By the armour of righteousness — The shield of faith, the helmet of hope, as well as the breastplate of righteousness; on the right hand and on the left — On all sides; the panoply, or whole armour of God, even all Christian virtues. This is said in allusion to the armour of the ancients. For soldiers carried bucklers in their left hands, and swords and javelins in their right. The former were their defensive, the latter their offensive arms. Wherefore the apostle’s expression denotes all the branches of righteousness whereby, in those difficult times, the ministers of the gospel were as effectually enabled to defend themselves, and overcome their enemies, as soldiers were to defend their bodies, and vanquish their foes, by the offensive and defensive armour which they wore.

Ver. 3. Giving no offence, that the ministry be not blamed. Christ and his ambassadors form but one court, and one church. A minister captivated by concupiscence, operating in any ignoble passion, dishonours the gospel, as a gospel that cannot save, and by inference dishonours the Lord. Ministers must be what they are called, the glory of Christ, and the stars in his right hand.

3. Giving—Overleaping verse second as parenthetic, this participle coordinates with beseech in verse 1, and 2 Corinthians 5:20. The ministry—The preacher’s rank and office. Care less for the men than for the saving power of their apostleship.

Verse 3.-4a. No cause of stumbling: Romans 9:32; 1 Corinthians 8:9: anything which might overthrow a man’s faith. In nothing: in no part of his work and life so acting as to cause others to fall. For an example, see 1 Corinthians 9:12.

The ministry: the important office held by Paul and his companions. See under Romans 12:7. He felt that the influence of Christianity upon the world depended very much upon the collective impression made by its prominent advocates; and that this impression would be determined in no small measure by his own personal conduct. He was therefore careful so to act in everything as to cause no spiritual injury to any one, lest such injury might lessen the collective influence of the leaders of the church. But in everything: positive counterpart of in nothing giving etc. In everything they so act as to claim respect; remembering that they are God’s ministers.

V. 4. But approving ourselves as the ministers of God-Such as his ministers ought to be.

In much patience-Shown,

1. In afflictions, necessities, distresses-All which are general terms.

2. In stripes, imprisonments, tumults-Which are particular sorts of affliction, necessity, distress

3. In labours, watchings, fastings-Voluntarily endured. All these are expressed in the plural number, to denote a variety of them. In afflictions, several ways to escape may appear, though none without difficulty in necessities, one only, and that a difficult one; in distresses, none at all appears.

Verse 4. But in all things approving ourselves] The apostle now proceeds to show how conscientiously himself and his fellow labourers acted, in order to render the ministry of reconciliation effectual to the salvation of men. They not only gave no offence in any thing, but they laboured to manifest themselves to be the genuine ministers of God, in much patience-bearing calmly up under the most painful and oppressive afflictions.

In afflictions] en fliyesin. This may signify the series of persecutions and distresses in general; the state of cruel suffering in which the Church of God and the apostles then existed.

In necessities] en anagkaiv. Straits and difficulties; including all that want and affliction which arose from the impoverished state of the Church. In distresses] en stenocwriaiv. Such straits and difficulties as were absolutely unavoidable and insurmountable. The word implies, being reduced to a narrow place, driven to a corner, hemmed in on every side, as the Israelites were at the Red Sea; the sea before them, Pharaoh and his host behind them, and Egyptian fortresses on either hand. God alone could bring them out of such difficulties, when their enemies themselves saw that the wilderness had shut them in. So was it often with the apostles; all human help failed, and their deliverance came from God alone.

Verses 3-7. Giving, as far as in us lies, no offence in any thing, that the ministry be not blamed — On our account. But in all things — Or in every respect; approving ourselves — To our Divine Master and his church; as the ministers of God, in much patience — Shown, 1st, In afflictions, necessities, distresses — All which are general terms. 2d, In stripes, imprisonments, tumults — Which are particular sorts of affliction, necessity, distress. 3d, In labours, watchings, fastings — Voluntarily endured. All these are expressed in the plural number, to denote a variety of them. The first word, qliyeiv, Dr. Whitby understands to mean affliction in general: the second, anagkai, necessities, as signifying more grievous and unavoidable troubles; the third, stenocwriai, distresses, such pressures as reduce us to the greatest straits. In the first, several ways to escape may appear, though none without difficulty: in the second, one way only, and that a difficult one: in the last, none at all appears. In tumults — The Greek word, akatastasiai, implies such attacks as a man cannot stand against; but which bear him hither and thither by violence. In labours — Incessantly pursued, either in our ministerial work, or in those secular callings by which we are often obliged to earn our daily bread. In watchings — When, in the prosecution of our various employments, the hours of the night are added to those of the day: in fastings — To which, besides those which devotion chooses, we are often obliged to submit, for want of proper supplies of food. By pureness — Of conduct, and by keeping ourselves unspotted from the world; or by purity of the motives which animate us. By knowledge — Of those divine truths, which it is our great business to teach others. Or, as some render the expression, by prudence; namely, that which is spiritual and divine: not that which the world terms so. Worldly prudence is the practical use of worldly wisdom: divine prudence, of spiritual understanding. By long-suffering — Under affronts and injuries from the people of the world, and amid the weaknesses, failings, and faults of the people of God. By kindness — Crhstothti, gentleness, or goodness of disposition. By the Holy Ghost — Directing, strengthening, supporting, as well as sanctifying us, and by the exercise of his miraculous gifts. By love unfeigned — To God and man, manifested in all our words and actions. By the word of truth — That sword of the Spirit, whereby we repel the tempter; or by preaching the gospel faithfully and zealously. By the power of God — Attesting that word by divers miraculous operations, and rendering it effectual to the conviction and conversion of sinners; and which we know will render it finally victorious over all opposition. By the armour of righteousness — The shield of faith, the helmet of hope, as well as the breastplate of righteousness; on the right hand and on the left — On all sides; the panoply, or whole armour of God, even all Christian virtues. This is said in allusion to the armour of the ancients. For soldiers carried bucklers in their left hands, and swords and javelins in their right. The former were their defensive, the latter their offensive arms. Wherefore the apostle’s expression denotes all the branches of righteousness whereby, in those difficult times, the ministers of the gospel were as effectually enabled to defend themselves, and overcome their enemies, as soldiers were to defend their bodies, and vanquish their foes, by the offensive and defensive armour which they wore.

Ver. 4. Approving ourselves as the ministers of God. This epistle was primarily addressed to the preachers at Corinth, and through them to the people. This part seems wholly to belong to ministers, who are expected to shine with a constellation of passive and active graces. Thirty of those virtues are named here, and all the other adornings of the sanctuary are understood.

In much patience, a passive grace, nourished by the love of God, and the hope of glory, to endure all things for the elect’s sake, and in the hope of an encreasing number of converts. In afflictions, both of body and mind, arising from the opposition of wicked men, and from griefs and troubles in the infant church. In necessities and distresses, arising from want of food and raiment; not so much in Corinth, as in going through the provinces.

4. Ministers—In the nominative. As ministers approving ourselves. This passage, in parallelism with 2 Corinthians 4:8-12, and 2 Corinthians 11:23-27, furnishes strikingly detailed pictures of apostolic sufferings, more or less applicable to St. Paul and his personal coadjutors, exhibited either as single points, or still more, doubled in contrasts. Paul’s pre-eminence, as stated in the latest of the three, is his certificate of apostleship. The present list is a fervent climax, beginning in particulars, and rising until it bursts forth in the apostrophe of ver. 11, which becomes a turning point in the epistle. The climax is also a triad. First, a list of external endurances, vv. 4, 5; then a series of internal traits and endowments, vv. 6, 7; finally, antithetic contrasts of depreciations and excellences meeting in the apostolic characters, vv. 8-10, and rising in fervour of description. Much patience—Much endurance, much firm undergoing, Afflictions—By persecution and oppression. Necessities— Compulsions against will. Distresses—Compressions into narrownesses and straits. The tenor of this list, thus far, is that of hard pressures. The following are of more active sufferings.

Ver. 4b.-5. In much endurance: see under Romans 2:7: amid much hardship they pursue their course, and thus claim respect. In afflictions etc.: nine points, describing the variety of these hardships. Helplessness: as in 2 Corinthians 4:8.

Necessities: as in 1 Corinthians 7:26.

Beatings, prisons, tumults: three specific cases all coming under each of the three foregoing general descriptions, and caused by enemies. Examples are found in Acts 16:19-23; 21:28-32, etc. Cp. 2 Corinthians 11:23ff.

Toils, watchings, fastings: three more specific hardships, not necessarily caused by enemies.

Toils: 2 Corinthians 11:23: in preaching the word; and in Paul’s labor to support himself and his companions, 1 Corinthians 4:12; 1 Thessalonians 2:9; 2 Thessalonians 3:8; Acts 20:34. Watchings: absence of sleep, through bread-winning or evangelical labor continued into the night.

Fastings: 2 Corinthians 11:27: want of food, as in Matthew 15:32. For it is unlikely that Paul would enumerate voluntary abstinence for his own spiritual good among the apostolic hardships mentioned here: whereas want of food is naturally suggested by want of sleep. Cp. 1 Corinthians 4:11. By the accidents of travel or through sheer want Paul may have been occasionally without food: and, if so, this was the climax of his hardships.

V. 5. In tumults-The Greek word implies such attacks as a man cannot stand against, but which bear him hither and thither by violence.

Verse 5. In stripes, in imprisonments] Of these the history of the Acts of the Apostles gives ample testimony; and there were doubtless many instances of persecution in various forms which are not on record. In tumults] akatastasiaiv. Insurrections raised against them because of the Gospel. It is more natural to understand the word thus, than of agitations, or tossings to and fRomans in consequence of their unsettled state of life; or because of persecution, which obliged them to flee from place to place.

In labours] Both with our own hands to provide for ourselves the necessaries of life, that we might not be chargeable to others; and in labours to spread the Gospel of God through all countries where his providence opened our way.

In watchings] Passing many nights without sleep or rest. In fastings] Partly constrained through want of food; and partly voluntary, as a means of obtaining an increase of grace both for ourselves and for the Churches.

Verses 3-7. Giving, as far as in us lies, no offence in any thing, that the ministry be not blamed — On our account. But in all things — Or in every respect; approving ourselves — To our Divine Master and his church; as the ministers of God, in much patience — Shown, 1st, In afflictions, necessities, distresses — All which are general terms. 2d, In stripes, imprisonments, tumults — Which are particular sorts of affliction, necessity, distress. 3d, In labours, watchings, fastings — Voluntarily endured. All these are expressed in the plural number, to denote a variety of them. The first word, qliyeiv, Dr. Whitby understands to mean affliction in general: the second, anagkai, necessities, as signifying more grievous and unavoidable troubles; the third, stenocwriai, distresses, such pressures as reduce us to the greatest straits. In the first, several ways to escape may appear, though none without difficulty: in the second, one way only, and that a difficult one: in the last, none at all appears. In tumults — The Greek word, akatastasiai, implies such attacks as a man cannot stand against; but which bear him hither and thither by violence. In labours — Incessantly pursued, either in our ministerial work, or in those secular callings by which we are often obliged to earn our daily bread. In watchings — When, in the prosecution of our various employments, the hours of the night are added to those of the day: in fastings — To which, besides those which devotion chooses, we are often obliged to submit, for want of proper supplies of food. By pureness — Of conduct, and by keeping ourselves unspotted from the world; or by purity of the motives which animate us. By knowledge — Of those divine truths, which it is our great business to teach others. Or, as some render the expression, by prudence; namely, that which is spiritual and divine: not that which the world terms so. Worldly prudence is the practical use of worldly wisdom: divine prudence, of spiritual understanding. By long-suffering — Under affronts and injuries from the people of the world, and amid the weaknesses, failings, and faults of the people of God. By kindness — Crhstothti, gentleness, or goodness of disposition. By the Holy Ghost — Directing, strengthening, supporting, as well as sanctifying us, and by the exercise of his miraculous gifts. By love unfeigned — To God and man, manifested in all our words and actions. By the word of truth — That sword of the Spirit, whereby we repel the tempter; or by preaching the gospel faithfully and zealously. By the power of God — Attesting that word by divers miraculous operations, and rendering it effectual to the conviction and conversion of sinners; and which we know will render it finally victorious over all opposition. By the armour of righteousness — The shield of faith, the helmet of hope, as well as the breastplate of righteousness; on the right hand and on the left — On all sides; the panoply, or whole armour of God, even all Christian virtues. This is said in allusion to the armour of the ancients. For soldiers carried bucklers in their left hands, and swords and javelins in their right. The former were their defensive, the latter their offensive arms. Wherefore the apostle’s expression denotes all the branches of righteousness whereby, in those difficult times, the ministers of the gospel were as effectually enabled to defend themselves, and overcome their enemies, as soldiers were to defend their bodies, and vanquish their foes, by the offensive and defensive armour which they wore.

Ver. 5. In stripes, castigations in the synagogues; from the beatings of rioters, and the rod of the magistrates, connected with frequent imprisonments. In watchings, in fastings, when we, or our brethren are suffering under the bonds of cruel afflictions. Acts 12:5.

5. Stripes—See note 11:24. Imprisonments—As at Philippi; narrated in Acts. Alford says: “He may have been imprisoned in Antioch in Pisidia, Acts 13:50; and at Lystra, 14:19; and at Corinth, 18:12, 14; and we cannot tell what may have befallen him during his journeys, Acts 15:41; 16:6; 18:23.” Tumults—Excitements and mobs raised against him. Luke’s history in Acts abounds with narratives of such movements wherever Paul went. Labours—The travellings, the toils for self-support, and the arduous preachings and cares for the Churches. Watchings—Sleeplessnesses. Fastings—Not voluntary religious fastings—for he is here enumerating severities necessarily suffered—but compulsory hungers. The thus far enumerated sufferings Alford holds to be properly embraced under the term patience, or endurance, with which the catalogue commences.

Ver. 4b.-5. In much endurance: see under Romans 2:7: amid much hardship they pursue their course, and thus claim respect. In afflictions etc.: nine points, describing the variety of these hardships. Helplessness: as in 2 Corinthians 4:8.

Necessities: as in 1 Corinthians 7:26.

Beatings, prisons, tumults: three specific cases all coming under each of the three foregoing general descriptions, and caused by enemies. Examples are found in Acts 16:19-23; 21:28-32, etc. Cp. 2 Corinthians 11:23ff.

Toils, watchings, fastings: three more specific hardships, not necessarily caused by enemies.

Toils: 2 Corinthians 11:23: in preaching the word; and in Paul’s labor to support himself and his companions, 1 Corinthians 4:12; 1 Thessalonians 2:9; 2 Thessalonians 3:8; Acts 20:34. Watchings: absence of sleep, through bread-winning or evangelical labor continued into the night.

Fastings: 2 Corinthians 11:27: want of food, as in Matthew 15:32. For it is unlikely that Paul would enumerate voluntary abstinence for his own spiritual good among the apostolic hardships mentioned here: whereas want of food is naturally suggested by want of sleep. Cp. 1 Corinthians 4:11. By the accidents of travel or through sheer want Paul may have been occasionally without food: and, if so, this was the climax of his hardships.

V. 6. By prudence-Spiritual divine; not what the world terms so. Worldly prudence is the practical use of worldly wisdom: divine prudence is the due exercise of grace, making spiritual understanding go as far as possible. By love unfeigned-The chief fruit of the Spirit.

Verse 6. By pureness] en agnothti. In simplicity of intention, and purity of affection; together with that chastity and holiness of life which the Gospel enjoins.

By knowledge] Of the Divine mysteries.

By long-suffering] Under all provocations.

By kindness] To our most virulent persecutors, and to all men. By the Holy Ghost] There are doubts among learned men whether the apostle here means that SPIRIT who is called the third person of the holy TRINITY; or some grace, disposition, or quality of the soul, which was thus denominated, as implying a spirit wholly purified, and fitted to be a habitation of God.

Schoettgen quotes a passage from Rabbi Bechai, in which it appears to him to have this latter meaning: “Rabbi Pinchas, the son of Jair, said: Reflection leads to sedulity; sedulity to innocence; innocence to abstinence; abstinence to cleanness; cleanness to sanctity; sanctity to the fear of sin; fear of sin to humility; humility to piety; and piety to the Holy Spirit. Of these ten virtues five are external, or belong to the body; and five internal, or belonging to the soul; but all men prefer the tenth, which is vdqh jwr ruach haktodesh, the Holy Spirit.” Even allowing Rabbi Pinchas to be a person on whose judgment we could rely, and whose authority was decisive, there does not appear to me any reason why we should depart from the usual meaning of the term from any thing that is said here. It appears to me plain enough that the rabbi means the constant indwelling of the Holy Spirit; and St. Paul, in this place, may have the same thing in view, and with it the various gifts of the Holy Spirit by which he was enabled to work miracles.

By love unfeigned] en agaph anupokritw. Love without hypocrisy; such as disposed us at all times to lay down our life for the brethren, and to spend and be spent for the glory of God and the good of mankind.

Verses 3-7. Giving, as far as in us lies, no offence in any thing, that the ministry be not blamed — On our account. But in all things — Or in every respect; approving ourselves — To our Divine Master and his church; as the ministers of God, in much patience — Shown, 1st, In afflictions, necessities, distresses — All which are general terms. 2d, In stripes, imprisonments, tumults — Which are particular sorts of affliction, necessity, distress. 3d, In labours, watchings, fastings — Voluntarily endured. All these are expressed in the plural number, to denote a variety of them. The first word, qliyeiv, Dr. Whitby understands to mean affliction in general: the second, anagkai, necessities, as signifying more grievous and unavoidable troubles; the third, stenocwriai, distresses, such pressures as reduce us to the greatest straits. In the first, several ways to escape may appear, though none without difficulty: in the second, one way only, and that a difficult one: in the last, none at all appears. In tumults — The Greek word, akatastasiai, implies such attacks as a man cannot stand against; but which bear him hither and thither by violence. In labours — Incessantly pursued, either in our ministerial work, or in those secular callings by which we are often obliged to earn our daily bread. In watchings — When, in the prosecution of our various employments, the hours of the night are added to those of the day: in fastings — To which, besides those which devotion chooses, we are often obliged to submit, for want of proper supplies of food. By pureness — Of conduct, and by keeping ourselves unspotted from the world; or by purity of the motives which animate us. By knowledge — Of those divine truths, which it is our great business to teach others. Or, as some render the expression, by prudence; namely, that which is spiritual and divine: not that which the world terms so. Worldly prudence is the practical use of worldly wisdom: divine prudence, of spiritual understanding. By long-suffering — Under affronts and injuries from the people of the world, and amid the weaknesses, failings, and faults of the people of God. By kindness — Crhstothti, gentleness, or goodness of disposition. By the Holy Ghost — Directing, strengthening, supporting, as well as sanctifying us, and by the exercise of his miraculous gifts. By love unfeigned — To God and man, manifested in all our words and actions. By the word of truth — That sword of the Spirit, whereby we repel the tempter; or by preaching the gospel faithfully and zealously. By the power of God — Attesting that word by divers miraculous operations, and rendering it effectual to the conviction and conversion of sinners; and which we know will render it finally victorious over all opposition. By the armour of righteousness — The shield of faith, the helmet of hope, as well as the breastplate of righteousness; on the right hand and on the left — On all sides; the panoply, or whole armour of God, even all Christian virtues. This is said in allusion to the armour of the ancients. For soldiers carried bucklers in their left hands, and swords and javelins in their right. The former were their defensive, the latter their offensive arms. Wherefore the apostle’s expression denotes all the branches of righteousness whereby, in those difficult times, the ministers of the gospel were as effectually enabled to defend themselves, and overcome their enemies, as soldiers were to defend their bodies, and vanquish their foes, by the offensive and defensive armour which they wore.

Ver. 6. By pureness of conscience. By knowledge of the holy scriptures, of human nature, and all associate elements of science. A bishop must not be a novice, but an ornament to religion, and the joy of the church. By longsuffering, cultivating a lenient and parental temper. By kindness, like the lovingkindness of the Lord, reigning in all the brotherhood of the church. By the Holy Ghost, in the special exercise of charity, or the love of God. This divine influence is the source of all moral excellence, and communicates its fragrance to all around.

6. The high qualities of the men who thus suffer, by which they entitle themselves to acceptance, are now enumerated. Pureness—From all false deeds or motives. Knowledge—Full possession of the Christ-history, with all the truths embraced in it. Holy Ghost—Whose indwelling is manifested by our sanctity of spirit. With this verse closes the list of subjective traits. Next comes a manifestive list.

Ver. 6.-8. Further specification of matters in which Paul claims respect, viz. four personal characteristics, followed by their divine source and their one foundation excellence.

Purity: absence of sin and selfishness.

Knowledge: acquaintance with the things of God.

Longsuffering, kindness: as in 1 Corinthians 13:4. The Holy Spirit: whose presence was revealed in his conduct. Love-without-hypocrisy: Romans 12:9: the human, as the Holy Spirit was the divine, source of his actions. After these delineations of personal character, the word of truth and power of God direct us to his work as an evangelist. By speaking words which men felt to be true, (2 Corinthians 4:2,) and which were accompanied by the power of God sometimes working miracles to confirm them and always working results in men’s hearts, Paul and his colleagues claimed respect and acted as ministers of God.

With the weapons etc.: further description of the apostle’s work, looked upon as a warfare. So 2 Corinthians 10:3.

The righteousness: in Paul’s usual sense of righteousness by faith, as in 2 Corinthians 5:21. Cp. Ephesians 6:14, “breastplate of righteousness.” This great doctrine gave to Paul, as to Luther, powerful weapons with which to fight for God.

On the right hand and left: complete equipment on both sides. With a sword in his right hand the soldier struck his foe: with a shield in his left he defended himself. Justification by faith is to the preacher both sword and shield.

With (or amid) glory etc.: see under Romans 1:21; 3:23. Both by the approbation which his conduct evokes in good men, and by the dishonor it provokes from the bad, Paul recommends himself. For the approval of the good and the hostility of the bad alike proved that he was doing God’s work. This last point, Paul develops into the climax of 2 Corinthians 6:9, 10; for which he prepares a way by the exact antithesis good report and bad report.

V. 7. By the convincing and converting power of God-Accompanying his word; and also attesting it by divers miracles. By the armour of righteousness on the right hand and the left-That is, on all sides; the panoply or whole armour of God.

Verse 7. By the word of truth] The doctrine of truth received immediately from God, and faithfully and affectionately preached to men. By the power of God] Confirming this doctrine, not only by the miracles which we were enabled to work, but also by the application of that truth to the souls of the people by the energy of God.

By the armour of righteousness] Such as that described by the apostle, Ephesians 6:13-17, which he calls there the whole armour of God, consisting of the following pieces: the girdle of truth, the breastplate of righteousness, the shoes of the Gospel of peace, the shield of faith, the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit.

On the right hand and on the left] Particularly, the shield and the sword; the former on the left arm, the latter in the right hand. We have the doctrine of truth, and the power of God, as an armour to protect us on all sides, every where, and on all occasions.

It seems far-fetched to understand the right hand as signifying prosperity, and the left as signifying adversity; as if the apostle had said: We have this armour to defend us both in prosperity and adversity. By the doctrine of the Gospel, and by the power of God, the apostles were furnished with offensive and defensive weapons; they could ever defend themselves, and discomfit their foes.

Verses 3-7. Giving, as far as in us lies, no offence in any thing, that the ministry be not blamed — On our account. But in all things — Or in every respect; approving ourselves — To our Divine Master and his church; as the ministers of God, in much patience — Shown, 1st, In afflictions, necessities, distresses — All which are general terms. 2d, In stripes, imprisonments, tumults — Which are particular sorts of affliction, necessity, distress. 3d, In labours, watchings, fastings — Voluntarily endured. All these are expressed in the plural number, to denote a variety of them. The first word, qliyeiv, Dr. Whitby understands to mean affliction in general: the second, anagkai, necessities, as signifying more grievous and unavoidable troubles; the third, stenocwriai, distresses, such pressures as reduce us to the greatest straits. In the first, several ways to escape may appear, though none without difficulty: in the second, one way only, and that a difficult one: in the last, none at all appears. In tumults — The Greek word, akatastasiai, implies such attacks as a man cannot stand against; but which bear him hither and thither by violence. In labours — Incessantly pursued, either in our ministerial work, or in those secular callings by which we are often obliged to earn our daily bread. In watchings — When, in the prosecution of our various employments, the hours of the night are added to those of the day: in fastings — To which, besides those which devotion chooses, we are often obliged to submit, for want of proper supplies of food. By pureness — Of conduct, and by keeping ourselves unspotted from the world; or by purity of the motives which animate us. By knowledge — Of those divine truths, which it is our great business to teach others. Or, as some render the expression, by prudence; namely, that which is spiritual and divine: not that which the world terms so. Worldly prudence is the practical use of worldly wisdom: divine prudence, of spiritual understanding. By long-suffering — Under affronts and injuries from the people of the world, and amid the weaknesses, failings, and faults of the people of God. By kindness — Crhstothti, gentleness, or goodness of disposition. By the Holy Ghost — Directing, strengthening, supporting, as well as sanctifying us, and by the exercise of his miraculous gifts. By love unfeigned — To God and man, manifested in all our words and actions. By the word of truth — That sword of the Spirit, whereby we repel the tempter; or by preaching the gospel faithfully and zealously. By the power of God — Attesting that word by divers miraculous operations, and rendering it effectual to the conviction and conversion of sinners; and which we know will render it finally victorious over all opposition. By the armour of righteousness — The shield of faith, the helmet of hope, as well as the breastplate of righteousness; on the right hand and on the left — On all sides; the panoply, or whole armour of God, even all Christian virtues. This is said in allusion to the armour of the ancients. For soldiers carried bucklers in their left hands, and swords and javelins in their right. The former were their defensive, the latter their offensive arms. Wherefore the apostle’s expression denotes all the branches of righteousness whereby, in those difficult times, the ministers of the gospel were as effectually enabled to defend themselves, and overcome their enemies, as soldiers were to defend their bodies, and vanquish their foes, by the offensive and defensive armour which they wore.

Ver. 7. By the word of truth, the gospel of God, which is by way of eminence the truth, the substance of all the promises. By the power of God, the warmth and fervour of preaching, and the unction of the Spirit, which accompanies the word. By the armour of righteousness, having the sword in the right hand, and the shield in the left, as described in the sixth of Ephesians. What is the world around us but columns of hostile foes, that must be vanquished and overcome.

7. Word preached, of gospel truth. Power of God—Supernatural efficiency both in word and deed; prophecy and miracle. In the two following verses (8, 9) we have the contradictions, meeting in the persons of the apostles, between the views taken by their enemies and the views taken by their own self-knowledge. In verse 10 we have the opposite sides as truly seen by themselves.

Ver. 6.-8. Further specification of matters in which Paul claims respect, viz. four personal characteristics, followed by their divine source and their one foundation excellence.

Purity: absence of sin and selfishness.

Knowledge: acquaintance with the things of God.

Longsuffering, kindness: as in 1 Corinthians 13:4. The Holy Spirit: whose presence was revealed in his conduct. Love-without-hypocrisy: Romans 12:9: the human, as the Holy Spirit was the divine, source of his actions. After these delineations of personal character, the word of truth and power of God direct us to his work as an evangelist. By speaking words which men felt to be true, (2 Corinthians 4:2,) and which were accompanied by the power of God sometimes working miracles to confirm them and always working results in men’s hearts, Paul and his colleagues claimed respect and acted as ministers of God.

With the weapons etc.: further description of the apostle’s work, looked upon as a warfare. So 2 Corinthians 10:3.

The righteousness: in Paul’s usual sense of righteousness by faith, as in 2 Corinthians 5:21. Cp. Ephesians 6:14, “breastplate of righteousness.” This great doctrine gave to Paul, as to Luther, powerful weapons with which to fight for God.

On the right hand and left: complete equipment on both sides. With a sword in his right hand the soldier struck his foe: with a shield in his left he defended himself. Justification by faith is to the preacher both sword and shield.

With (or amid) glory etc.: see under Romans 1:21; 3:23. Both by the approbation which his conduct evokes in good men, and by the dishonor it provokes from the bad, Paul recommends himself. For the approval of the good and the hostility of the bad alike proved that he was doing God’s work. This last point, Paul develops into the climax of 2 Corinthians 6:9, 10; for which he prepares a way by the exact antithesis good report and bad report.

V. 8. By honour and dishonour-When we are present. By evil report and good report-When we are absent. Who could bear honour and good report, were it not balanced by dishonour? As deceivers-Artful, designing men. So the world represents all true ministers of Christ.

Yet true-Upright, sincere, in the sight of God.

Verse 8. By honour and dishonour] By going through both; sometimes respected, sometimes despised.

By evil report and good report] Sometimes praised, at other times calumniated.

As deceivers] Said to carry about a false doctrine for our secular emolument.

And yet true] Demonstrated by the nature of the doctrine, as well as by our life and conversation, that we are true men; having nothing in view but God’s glory and the salvation of the world.

Verses 8-10. By honour and dishonour — When we are present; by evil report and good report — When we are absent. Who could bear honour and good report, were they not balanced by dishonour and evil report? As deceivers — Artful, designing men. So the world represents all true ministers of Christ; yet true — Upright, sincere, in the sight of God. As unknown — For the world knoweth us not, as it knew him not: yet well known — To God, and to those who are the seals of our ministry. As dying, yet behold — Suddenly, unexpectedly, God interposes, and we live — Seeing the apostle, in this description of the behaviour proper to ministers of the gospel, in the various circumstances in which they may be placed, and under the various sufferings to which they may be exposed, doubtless included himself, we may suppose that he here alludes partly to his being stoned to death at Lystra, and his afterward reviving and walking into the city. Acts 14:20. As sorrowful — For our manifold imperfections, and for the sins and sufferings of mankind, especially of our brethren in Christ; yet always rejoicing — In present peace, love, and power over sin; in assurances of the divine favour, and a lively hope of future eternal glory. As poor — In this world, having neither silver nor gold, nor houses nor lands; yet making many rich — With treasures which they would not part with for all the revenues of princes and kings; as having nothing — That we can call our own; and yet possessing all things — For all are ours if we are Christ’s.

8. By honour—From God and the Christian world. And dishonour— From heathendom, Judaism, and Jewish Christianity.

Ver. 6.-8. Further specification of matters in which Paul claims respect, viz. four personal characteristics, followed by their divine source and their one foundation excellence.

Purity: absence of sin and selfishness.

Knowledge: acquaintance with the things of God.

Longsuffering, kindness: as in 1 Corinthians 13:4. The Holy Spirit: whose presence was revealed in his conduct. Love-without-hypocrisy: Romans 12:9: the human, as the Holy Spirit was the divine, source of his actions. After these delineations of personal character, the word of truth and power of God direct us to his work as an evangelist. By speaking words which men felt to be true, (2 Corinthians 4:2,) and which were accompanied by the power of God sometimes working miracles to confirm them and always working results in men’s hearts, Paul and his colleagues claimed respect and acted as ministers of God.

With the weapons etc.: further description of the apostle’s work, looked upon as a warfare. So 2 Corinthians 10:3.

The righteousness: in Paul’s usual sense of righteousness by faith, as in 2 Corinthians 5:21. Cp. Ephesians 6:14, “breastplate of righteousness.” This great doctrine gave to Paul, as to Luther, powerful weapons with which to fight for God.

On the right hand and left: complete equipment on both sides. With a sword in his right hand the soldier struck his foe: with a shield in his left he defended himself. Justification by faith is to the preacher both sword and shield.

With (or amid) glory etc.: see under Romans 1:21; 3:23. Both by the approbation which his conduct evokes in good men, and by the dishonor it provokes from the bad, Paul recommends himself. For the approval of the good and the hostility of the bad alike proved that he was doing God’s work. This last point, Paul develops into the climax of 2 Corinthians 6:9, 10; for which he prepares a way by the exact antithesis good report and bad report.

V. 9. As unknown-For the world knoweth us not, as it knew him not. Yet well known-To God, and to those who are the seals of our ministry. As dying, yet behold-Suddenly, unexpectedly, God interposes, and we live.

Verse 9. As unknown] Persons who are to be suspected as harbouring dark designs; persons of neither birth, parentage, nor respectable connections in life;

And yet well known] Proved by our whole conduct to have no such designs, and demonstrated to be holy, upright, and useful, by the whole train of our peregrinations, through which we can be readily traced from place to place; having preached openly, and done nothing in a corner. As dying] Through continual dangers, fatigues, and persecutions; And, behold, we live] We are preserved by the mighty power of God in the greatest dangers and deaths.

As chastened] As though we were disobedient children;

And not killed] Though we continue in the very same line of conduct that is supposed to bring on us those chastisements, and which, if it were criminal, would justly expose us to death for incorrigible obstinacy; but our preservation is a proof that we please God.

Verses 8-10. By honour and dishonour — When we are present; by evil report and good report — When we are absent. Who could bear honour and good report, were they not balanced by dishonour and evil report? As deceivers — Artful, designing men. So the world represents all true ministers of Christ; yet true — Upright, sincere, in the sight of God. As unknown — For the world knoweth us not, as it knew him not: yet well known — To God, and to those who are the seals of our ministry. As dying, yet behold — Suddenly, unexpectedly, God interposes, and we live — Seeing the apostle, in this description of the behaviour proper to ministers of the gospel, in the various circumstances in which they may be placed, and under the various sufferings to which they may be exposed, doubtless included himself, we may suppose that he here alludes partly to his being stoned to death at Lystra, and his afterward reviving and walking into the city. Acts 14:20. As sorrowful — For our manifold imperfections, and for the sins and sufferings of mankind, especially of our brethren in Christ; yet always rejoicing — In present peace, love, and power over sin; in assurances of the divine favour, and a lively hope of future eternal glory. As poor — In this world, having neither silver nor gold, nor houses nor lands; yet making many rich — With treasures which they would not part with for all the revenues of princes and kings; as having nothing — That we can call our own; and yet possessing all things — For all are ours if we are Christ’s.

9. As unknown—Ignored and un-recognised. Yet well known—To those who have accepted the gospel, and every-where spoken against by those who ignore us. Behold, we live—A triumphant retort; we are not so dead as you think us. Chastened—Chastised; whipped, but not to death.

Ver. 9.-10. Exposition of this antithesis. After developing in 2 Corinthians 6:4b-7a “in everything” of 2 Corinthians 6:4a, Paul now develops “as God’s ministers.” Between these, 2 Corinthians 6:7b, 8 are a connecting link. In the evil report of their enemies they are deceivers: and good men know that they are true. It is objected that they are obscure and unknown. And really they are daily becoming well-known, and the principles of their conduct are day by day better understood. So great is their peril that they seem to be actually falling into the grave. Cp. 2 Corinthians 4:11; 1 Corinthians 15:31; Romans 8:36. Yet, in the moment of apparent destruction, suddenly comes deliverance. And behold we live: graphic picture, retaining even the exclamation of wonder at unexpected rescue.

As chastised: to some men they seem to be put by God under special discipline. So seemed a more illustrious Sufferer: Isaiah 53:4. But the chastisement does not come to the extreme form of death.

As sorrowful: examples in 2 Corinthians 2:4; Romans 9:1. This sorrow might be made a reproach, as though their lot were wretched. But under their sorrow shone a changeless rejoicing, kindled by the brightness of the coming glory and the brightness of their Father’s smile. Poor: toiling for a living and sometimes (2 Corinthians 11:8) in want. Enriching many: by making them heirs of the wealth of heaven. Thus Paul followed the example of Christ: 2 Corinthians 8:9. Having nothing: stronger than poor.

All things: as in Romans 8:32; 1 Corinthians 3:22. The whole wealth of God is theirs, and will be their eternal enjoyment. Wonderful climax, and counterpart to the picture in 2 Corinthians 6:4, 5. Each side of these contrasts commends the apostles as ministers of God. That men whom some decry as deceivers are found to be true, that men set aside as unknown become day by day more fully known, that men who seem to be in the jaws of death are rescued and men apparently smitten by God live still, that underneath visible sorrow there is constant joy, and that utter poverty is but a mask hiding infinite wealth, is abundant proof that they in whom these contradictions meet are indeed servants of God. Thus amid many and various hardships, in a spotless and kindly life animated by the Holy Spirit and by sincere love to men, and armed with a word which commends itself as the truth and is confirmed by the manifested power of God, in everything Paul and his companions claim respect and act as becomes ministers of God.

FROM THIS POINT we will review 4-8, which contain Paul’s exposition and defence of his apostolic ministry, and are thus the kernel of DIV. I. and of the whole Epistle. This exposition was suggested by thoughts about his deadly peril in Asia and about the anxiety which drove him from Troas and gave him no rest even on his arrival in Macedonia. But it was written under the influence of a wonderful rescue from peril, and of his joyful meeting with Titus who brought good news about the Corinthian church. Consequently, the exposition begins and ends with an outburst of triumph. Paul praises God that his weary toil, among both good and bad men, makes Christ known and is a pleasant perfume to God. His readers’ spiritual life proves to them that he is a servant of God. And, as imparting a life-giving Spirit instead of a death-bringing Law, his ministry is more glorious than that of Moses. Yet, in spite of Paul’s unreserved proclamation of it, the Gospel remains hidden to many, both Jews and Gentiles. But this only proves that their hearts are veiled or blinded. The grandeur of the Apostle’s work is not lessened by the deadly perils amid which it is performed, and which are every moment ready to destroy him. For these perils do but reveal the power of Him who ever provides a way of escape. And they cannot silence the preachers: for moved by the Spirit, they believe God; and therefore know that death will be followed by resurrection, and indeed by immediate entrance into the presence of Christ, and that beyond death due reward awaits them. Their efforts to save men are prompted by the love manifested in the death of Christ, and by their commission as ambassadors of God. With this commission their whole life accords. More than once (2 Corinthians 3:1; 5:12) Paul tells his readers that it is not they whom he seeks to convince-for this is needless: they are themselves as proof of what he says-but that he is giving them a weapon which he takes for granted they will use to defend him against others. Also, throughout the whole, the words we and us imply that his dignity, peril, and faithfulness, as ambassador for Christ, are shared by others. He certainly includes Timothy, his fellow-laborer in founding the church at Corinth and a faithful companion in peril and toil, and joint-author of the Epistle; and probably Titus (2 Corinthians 12:18) and other similar helpers.

V. 10. As sorrowing-For our own manifold imperfections, and for the sins and sufferings of our brethren.

Yet always rejoicing-In present peace, love, power, and a sure hope of future glory.

As having nothing, yet possessing all things-For all things are ours, if we are Christ's. What a magnificence of thought is this!

Verse 10. As sorrowful] Considerate men supposing, from our persecuted state and laborious occupation, (often destitute of the necessaries of life; seldom enjoying its conveniences; and scarcely ever, its comforts,) that we must be the most miserable of all men.

Yet alway rejoicing] Having the consolation of God’s Spirit at all times, and a glorious prospect of a blessed immortality.

As poor] Destitute of all worldly good and secular interest, Yet making many rich] By dispensing to them the treasures of salvation; making them rich in faith, and heirs of the kingdom.

The Gospel, when faithfully preached, and fully received, betters the condition of the poor. It makes them sober; so they save what before they profusely and riotously spent. It makes them diligent; and thus they employ time to useful purposes which they before squandered away. They therefore both save and gain by religion; and these must lead to an increase of property. Therefore they are made rich; at least in comparison with that sinful, profligate state in which they were before they received the truth of the Gospel.

As having nothing] Being the most abject of the poor,

And yet possessing all things.] That are really necessary to the preservation of our lives. For the wants under which we labour for a time are supplied again by a bountiful Providence. The man who possesses a contented spirit possesses all things; for he is satisfied with every dispensation of the providence of God; and “a contented mind is a continual feast.”

Verses 8-10. By honour and dishonour — When we are present; by evil report and good report — When we are absent. Who could bear honour and good report, were they not balanced by dishonour and evil report? As deceivers — Artful, designing men. So the world represents all true ministers of Christ; yet true — Upright, sincere, in the sight of God. As unknown — For the world knoweth us not, as it knew him not: yet well known — To God, and to those who are the seals of our ministry. As dying, yet behold — Suddenly, unexpectedly, God interposes, and we live — Seeing the apostle, in this description of the behaviour proper to ministers of the gospel, in the various circumstances in which they may be placed, and under the various sufferings to which they may be exposed, doubtless included himself, we may suppose that he here alludes partly to his being stoned to death at Lystra, and his afterward reviving and walking into the city. Acts 14:20. As sorrowful — For our manifold imperfections, and for the sins and sufferings of mankind, especially of our brethren in Christ; yet always rejoicing — In present peace, love, and power over sin; in assurances of the divine favour, and a lively hope of future eternal glory. As poor — In this world, having neither silver nor gold, nor houses nor lands; yet making many rich — With treasures which they would not part with for all the revenues of princes and kings; as having nothing — That we can call our own; and yet possessing all things — For all are ours if we are Christ’s.

10. Sorrowful… rejoicing—An antithesis true on both sides. Poor in pennies; making… rich in something better than money. Having nothing for this world; possessing all things for the world to come. As the climax of this description, stroke after stroke, rises, the glow of the apostle’s feeling rises, and his heart, and mouth too, being full to overflowing, he breaks out in the following apostrophe, and that starts an entire new strain of the epistle.

PART SECOND.

THE EXHORTATION — TO UNITE IN HIS COLLECTIONS FOR JERUSALEM, 2 Corinthians 6:11-9:16.

1. Direct exhortation to largeness, separateness, and sanctification, 2 Corinthians 6:11-7:1.

With a soul swelling with his survey of the gospel of reconciliation as given in 2 Corinthians 5:13-6:2, and of his recital of the history of his struggles to bring that gospel to them, Paul calls upon his Corinthians to fall back upon the grandeur and purity of that gospel. His special assailants are out of view. He addresses the Corinthians as being the unit he had once left them, and seeks to rally them back to first principles. He conjures them to as large a heart as his own, vv. 11-13; to separate from all their old unrighteous associations, and to become, according to the blessed promise, the true sons and daughters of the Lord Almighty, vv. 14-18; nay, to claim the higher promises, and rise to a perfected holiness, 2 Corinthians 7:1. Corinthians—An emphatic and joyous vocative. By pronouncing their name he would aim to reach their hearts. Twice elsewhere Paul thus calls, out of the regular address, his audience by name; the Galatians indignantly, the Philippians affectionately. Galatians 3:1; Philippians 4:15. Mouth… open—Being filled by the fulness of our heart. In the recital of our sufferings in your behalf we are aroused to a freedom of boundless utterance to your very souls. Heart is enlarged—Is broadened in its area, so as to admit you through its wide doors into its roomy home.

Ver. 9.-10. Exposition of this antithesis. After developing in 2 Corinthians 6:4b-7a “in everything” of 2 Corinthians 6:4a, Paul now develops “as God’s ministers.” Between these, 2 Corinthians 6:7b, 8 are a connecting link. In the evil report of their enemies they are deceivers: and good men know that they are true. It is objected that they are obscure and unknown. And really they are daily becoming well-known, and the principles of their conduct are day by day better understood. So great is their peril that they seem to be actually falling into the grave. Cp. 2 Corinthians 4:11; 1 Corinthians 15:31; Romans 8:36. Yet, in the moment of apparent destruction, suddenly comes deliverance. And behold we live: graphic picture, retaining even the exclamation of wonder at unexpected rescue.

As chastised: to some men they seem to be put by God under special discipline. So seemed a more illustrious Sufferer: Isaiah 53:4. But the chastisement does not come to the extreme form of death.

As sorrowful: examples in 2 Corinthians 2:4; Romans 9:1. This sorrow might be made a reproach, as though their lot were wretched. But under their sorrow shone a changeless rejoicing, kindled by the brightness of the coming glory and the brightness of their Father’s smile. Poor: toiling for a living and sometimes (2 Corinthians 11:8) in want. Enriching many: by making them heirs of the wealth of heaven. Thus Paul followed the example of Christ: 2 Corinthians 8:9. Having nothing: stronger than poor.

All things: as in Romans 8:32; 1 Corinthians 3:22. The whole wealth of God is theirs, and will be their eternal enjoyment. Wonderful climax, and counterpart to the picture in 2 Corinthians 6:4, 5. Each side of these contrasts commends the apostles as ministers of God. That men whom some decry as deceivers are found to be true, that men set aside as unknown become day by day more fully known, that men who seem to be in the jaws of death are rescued and men apparently smitten by God live still, that underneath visible sorrow there is constant joy, and that utter poverty is but a mask hiding infinite wealth, is abundant proof that they in whom these contradictions meet are indeed servants of God. Thus amid many and various hardships, in a spotless and kindly life animated by the Holy Spirit and by sincere love to men, and armed with a word which commends itself as the truth and is confirmed by the manifested power of God, in everything Paul and his companions claim respect and act as becomes ministers of God.

FROM THIS POINT we will review 4-8, which contain Paul’s exposition and defence of his apostolic ministry, and are thus the kernel of DIV. I. and of the whole Epistle. This exposition was suggested by thoughts about his deadly peril in Asia and about the anxiety which drove him from Troas and gave him no rest even on his arrival in Macedonia. But it was written under the influence of a wonderful rescue from peril, and of his joyful meeting with Titus who brought good news about the Corinthian church. Consequently, the exposition begins and ends with an outburst of triumph. Paul praises God that his weary toil, among both good and bad men, makes Christ known and is a pleasant perfume to God. His readers’ spiritual life proves to them that he is a servant of God. And, as imparting a life-giving Spirit instead of a death-bringing Law, his ministry is more glorious than that of Moses. Yet, in spite of Paul’s unreserved proclamation of it, the Gospel remains hidden to many, both Jews and Gentiles. But this only proves that their hearts are veiled or blinded. The grandeur of the Apostle’s work is not lessened by the deadly perils amid which it is performed, and which are every moment ready to destroy him. For these perils do but reveal the power of Him who ever provides a way of escape. And they cannot silence the preachers: for moved by the Spirit, they believe God; and therefore know that death will be followed by resurrection, and indeed by immediate entrance into the presence of Christ, and that beyond death due reward awaits them. Their efforts to save men are prompted by the love manifested in the death of Christ, and by their commission as ambassadors of God. With this commission their whole life accords. More than once (2 Corinthians 3:1; 5:12) Paul tells his readers that it is not they whom he seeks to convince-for this is needless: they are themselves as proof of what he says-but that he is giving them a weapon which he takes for granted they will use to defend him against others. Also, throughout the whole, the words we and us imply that his dignity, peril, and faithfulness, as ambassador for Christ, are shared by others. He certainly includes Timothy, his fellow-laborer in founding the church at Corinth and a faithful companion in peril and toil, and joint-author of the Epistle; and probably Titus (2 Corinthians 12:18) and other similar helpers.

V. 11. From the praise of the Christian ministry, which he began 2 Corinthians 2:14, he now draws his affectionate exhortation. O ye Corinthians-He seldom uses this appellation. But it has here a peculiar force.

Our mouth is opened toward you-With uncommon freedom, because our heart is enlarged-In tenderness.

Verse 11. O ye Corinthians, our mouth is open unto you] I speak to you with the utmost freedom and fluency, because of my affection for you. Our heart is enlarged.] It is expanded to take you and all your interests in; and to keep you in the most affectionate remembrance. The preceding verses contain a very fine specimen of a very powerful and commanding eloquence.

Verses 11-13. From the praise of the Christian ministry, which he began chapter 2:14, he now draws his affectionate exhortation. O ye Corinthians — He seldom uses this appellation; but it has here a peculiar force. Our mouth is opened unto you — With uncommon freedom, because our heart is enlarged — In tenderness, which neither words nor tears can sufficiently express. Ye are not straitened in us — Our heart is wide enough to receive you all; and all that we can do for your comfort and happiness ye may safely promise yourselves. But ye are straitened in your own bowels — Your hearts are contracted and shut up, and so not capable of receiving the blessings ye might enjoy. Now, for a recompense of the same — Of my paternal tenderness; (I speak as to my children — I ask nothing hard or grievous;) be ye also enlarged — Open your hearts first to God, and then to us, (see 2 Corinthians 8:5,) that God may dwell in you, (2 Corinthians 6:16; 7:1,) and that ye may receive us, 2 Corinthians 7:2.

Ver. 11. Oh ye Corinthians, our mouth is open unto you. While writing, a vista of divine light opened on the apostle’s mind; and the exuberance of his thoughts clothed themselves in that figure of rhetoric, called the antithesis; yea, a climax of of antitheses, forming a beauty in eloquence not equalled by any heathen writer.

II CORINTHIANS

SECTION 9. — PAUL BEGS THAT HIS LOVE TO

THE CORINTHIANS BE RETURNED: AND

EXHORTS THEM TO SEPARATE THEMSELVES

FROM ALL DEFILEMENT. CH. 6:11-7:1.

Our mouth is opened to you, Corinthians; our heart is enlarged. You are not narrowed in us: but you are narrowed in your hearts. The same recompense-as to children I say it, be you also enlarged. Do not become differently yoked to unbelievers. For what partnership is there for righteousness and lawlessness? Or, what fellowship for light with darkness? And what concord of Christ with Beliar? Or, what portion for a believer with an unbeliever? And what agreement for God’s temple with idols? For we are the temple of the living God, according as God said, “I will dwell among them and walk among them, and I will be their God and they shall be my people.” (Leviticus 26:11.) For which cause “Come forth out of the midst of them and be separated,” says the Lord, “and touch not an unclean thing” (Isaiah 52:11). And I will receive you and will be to you for a father and you shall be to me for sons and daughters, says the Lord Almighty. These promises then having, Beloved ones, let us cleanse ourselves from all defilement of flesh and of spirit, accomplishing holiness in the fear of God.

After completing his long exposition of his apostolic work, its credentials, grandeur, encouragements, and motives, by a graphic picture of the circumstances in which he performs it, Paul turns suddenly to his readers and addresses to them a tender (2 Corinthians 6:11-13) and solemn (2 Corinthians 6:14-7:1) appeal.

Ver. 11.-13. Our mouth: of Paul and Timothy, writers of the Epistle. Is opened: Ezekiel 33:22; Matthew 13:35; Acts 18:14; Ephesians 6:19, etc.: more graphic than “we have begun to speak to you.” It is Paul’s contemplation of his own bold words. Cp. Genesis 18:27.

Corinthians: a loving appeal, like Philippians 4:15. The heart is enlarged when its thoughts, emotions, purposes, increase in depth and breadth and height. Cp. Psalm 119:32; Isaiah 60:5. Paul refers evidently to his great love for his readers. While speaking to them he has become conscious of its intensity.

Narrowed: cognate to the word I have rendered “helplessness” in 2 Corinthians 4:8; 6:4; 12:10; Romans 2:9; 8:35; and used here in its simple sense of being shut up in narrow space. From this is easily derived its frequent sense of being in extreme difficulty and almost without way of escape. It is the exact opposite of enlargement. No narrow place in the hearts (2 Corinthians 7:3; Philippians 1:7) of Paul and Timothy do the Corinthians occupy.

But you are narrowed etc.: sad and earnest rebuke. The word rendered in the A.V. “bowels,” in the R.V. “affections,” denotes, not specially the lower viscera, but (cp. Acts 1:18) the inward parts generally, heart lungs, etc. It is used for the seat of the emotions, and in the Bible especially for love and compassion. Cp. 2 Corinthians 7:15; Luke 1:78; Philippians 1:8. We have no better English rendering than heart. The Corinthians were thrust into a narrow place, not in Paul’s affection for them which was deep and broad, but in their own affection for him. They were narrow-hearted. For littleness of love towards those who deserve our love is a mark of a defective nature. Paul asks for the same affection, as a recompense for his affection towards them.

As to children: 2 Corinthians 12:14; 1 Corinthians 4:14; 1 Thessalonians 2:7.

Be you also enlarged: make a large place for me in your hearts, and thus yourselves become nobler.

As Paul speaks to his readers, he feels how great is his love to them. Not in this do they fall short; but in their own affection to him. He asks therefore as a recompense, speaking to his own children in Christ, that they will cherish for him a love like his for them, and thus themselves be ennobled. Ver. 14.-7:1. Do not become: milder than “be not,” as suggesting that they are not yet joined to unbelievers. Cp. 1 Corinthians 7:23. Differently-yoked to unbelievers: like an ass joined to an ox by being put under its yoke. It recalls the prohibition of Deuteronomy 22:10. The suddenness of this warning, and the earnest questions and quotations supporting it, prove that Paul had in view real defect or danger at Corinth. And the question of 2 Corinthians 6:16, following a question equivalent to this warning, proves that Paul refers here specially to participation in idol rites; as in 1 Corinthians 10:14ff, where we have similar words. And this agrees with the worldly spirit betrayed in 1 Corinthians 3:3; 6:1; 8:10. But his words simply forbid such alliances with unbelievers as imply common aims and sympathies. There is no hint that Paul refers here specially to marriage. But this most intimate of all human alliances is certainly included in his prohibition. Those already married to heathens, Paul deals with in 1 Corinthians 7:12, as a special case: and he does not forbid (1 Corinthians 5:10) all intercourse with bad men. The practical application of his words must be left to each man’s own spiritual discernment.

V. 12. Ye are not straitened in us-Our heart is wide enough to receive you all.

But ye are straitened in your own bowels-Your hearts are shut up, and so not capable of the blessings ye might enjoy.

Verse 12. Ye are not straitened in us] That is, Ye have not a narrow place in our affections: the metaphor here is taken from the case of a person pent up in a small or narrow place, where there is scarcely room to breathe.

Ye are straitened in your own bowels.] I have not the same place in your affections which you have in mine. The bowels are used in Scripture to denote the most tender affections. See Clarke’s note on “Matthew 9:36”.

Verses 11-13. From the praise of the Christian ministry, which he began chapter 2:14, he now draws his affectionate exhortation. O ye Corinthians — He seldom uses this appellation; but it has here a peculiar force. Our mouth is opened unto you — With uncommon freedom, because our heart is enlarged — In tenderness, which neither words nor tears can sufficiently express. Ye are not straitened in us — Our heart is wide enough to receive you all; and all that we can do for your comfort and happiness ye may safely promise yourselves. But ye are straitened in your own bowels — Your hearts are contracted and shut up, and so not capable of receiving the blessings ye might enjoy. Now, for a recompense of the same — Of my paternal tenderness; (I speak as to my children — I ask nothing hard or grievous;) be ye also enlarged — Open your hearts first to God, and then to us, (see 2 Corinthians 8:5,) that God may dwell in you, (2 Corinthians 6:16; 7:1,) and that ye may receive us, 2 Corinthians 7:2.

12. Straitened—Narrowed; as being closely squeezed by a narrow entrance or small apartment. In us—In our hearts. The Corinthians were tightened, but not by or in the narrowness of the apostolic soul. Straitened in your own bowels—Narrowed and contracted in your own affections. The apostle is, indeed, aroused to free, bold, copious plainness of declaration. Bowels—The inwards or intestines, which, being often excited by aroused feeling, become the physical term for the feeling or its abode.

II CORINTHIANS

SECTION 9. — PAUL BEGS THAT HIS LOVE TO

THE CORINTHIANS BE RETURNED: AND

EXHORTS THEM TO SEPARATE THEMSELVES

FROM ALL DEFILEMENT. CH. 6:11-7:1.

Our mouth is opened to you, Corinthians; our heart is enlarged. You are not narrowed in us: but you are narrowed in your hearts. The same recompense-as to children I say it, be you also enlarged. Do not become differently yoked to unbelievers. For what partnership is there for righteousness and lawlessness? Or, what fellowship for light with darkness? And what concord of Christ with Beliar? Or, what portion for a believer with an unbeliever? And what agreement for God’s temple with idols? For we are the temple of the living God, according as God said, “I will dwell among them and walk among them, and I will be their God and they shall be my people.” (Leviticus 26:11.) For which cause “Come forth out of the midst of them and be separated,” says the Lord, “and touch not an unclean thing” (Isaiah 52:11). And I will receive you and will be to you for a father and you shall be to me for sons and daughters, says the Lord Almighty. These promises then having, Beloved ones, let us cleanse ourselves from all defilement of flesh and of spirit, accomplishing holiness in the fear of God.

After completing his long exposition of his apostolic work, its credentials, grandeur, encouragements, and motives, by a graphic picture of the circumstances in which he performs it, Paul turns suddenly to his readers and addresses to them a tender (2 Corinthians 6:11-13) and solemn (2 Corinthians 6:14-7:1) appeal.

Ver. 11.-13. Our mouth: of Paul and Timothy, writers of the Epistle. Is opened: Ezekiel 33:22; Matthew 13:35; Acts 18:14; Ephesians 6:19, etc.: more graphic than “we have begun to speak to you.” It is Paul’s contemplation of his own bold words. Cp. Genesis 18:27.

Corinthians: a loving appeal, like Philippians 4:15. The heart is enlarged when its thoughts, emotions, purposes, increase in depth and breadth and height. Cp. Psalm 119:32; Isaiah 60:5. Paul refers evidently to his great love for his readers. While speaking to them he has become conscious of its intensity.

Narrowed: cognate to the word I have rendered “helplessness” in 2 Corinthians 4:8; 6:4; 12:10; Romans 2:9; 8:35; and used here in its simple sense of being shut up in narrow space. From this is easily derived its frequent sense of being in extreme difficulty and almost without way of escape. It is the exact opposite of enlargement. No narrow place in the hearts (2 Corinthians 7:3; Philippians 1:7) of Paul and Timothy do the Corinthians occupy.

But you are narrowed etc.: sad and earnest rebuke. The word rendered in the A.V. “bowels,” in the R.V. “affections,” denotes, not specially the lower viscera, but (cp. Acts 1:18) the inward parts generally, heart lungs, etc. It is used for the seat of the emotions, and in the Bible especially for love and compassion. Cp. 2 Corinthians 7:15; Luke 1:78; Philippians 1:8. We have no better English rendering than heart. The Corinthians were thrust into a narrow place, not in Paul’s affection for them which was deep and broad, but in their own affection for him. They were narrow-hearted. For littleness of love towards those who deserve our love is a mark of a defective nature. Paul asks for the same affection, as a recompense for his affection towards them.

As to children: 2 Corinthians 12:14; 1 Corinthians 4:14; 1 Thessalonians 2:7.

Be you also enlarged: make a large place for me in your hearts, and thus yourselves become nobler.

As Paul speaks to his readers, he feels how great is his love to them. Not in this do they fall short; but in their own affection to him. He asks therefore as a recompense, speaking to his own children in Christ, that they will cherish for him a love like his for them, and thus themselves be ennobled. Ver. 14.-7:1. Do not become: milder than “be not,” as suggesting that they are not yet joined to unbelievers. Cp. 1 Corinthians 7:23. Differently-yoked to unbelievers: like an ass joined to an ox by being put under its yoke. It recalls the prohibition of Deuteronomy 22:10. The suddenness of this warning, and the earnest questions and quotations supporting it, prove that Paul had in view real defect or danger at Corinth. And the question of 2 Corinthians 6:16, following a question equivalent to this warning, proves that Paul refers here specially to participation in idol rites; as in 1 Corinthians 10:14ff, where we have similar words. And this agrees with the worldly spirit betrayed in 1 Corinthians 3:3; 6:1; 8:10. But his words simply forbid such alliances with unbelievers as imply common aims and sympathies. There is no hint that Paul refers here specially to marriage. But this most intimate of all human alliances is certainly included in his prohibition. Those already married to heathens, Paul deals with in 1 Corinthians 7:12, as a special case: and he does not forbid (1 Corinthians 5:10) all intercourse with bad men. The practical application of his words must be left to each man’s own spiritual discernment.

V. 13. Now for a recompence of the same-Of my parental tenderness. I speak as to my children-I ask nothing hard or grievous. Be ye also enlarged-Open your hearts, first to God, and then to us, so 2 Corinthians 8:5, that God may dwell in you, 2 Corinthians 6:16; 7:1; and that ye may receive us, 2 Corinthians 7:2.

Verse 13. Now for a recompense in the same] That you may, in some sort, repay me for my affection towards you, I speak to you as unto my children, whom I have a right to command, be ye also enlarged-love me as I love you.

Verses 11-13. From the praise of the Christian ministry, which he began chapter 2:14, he now draws his affectionate exhortation. O ye Corinthians — He seldom uses this appellation; but it has here a peculiar force. Our mouth is opened unto you — With uncommon freedom, because our heart is enlarged — In tenderness, which neither words nor tears can sufficiently express. Ye are not straitened in us — Our heart is wide enough to receive you all; and all that we can do for your comfort and happiness ye may safely promise yourselves. But ye are straitened in your own bowels — Your hearts are contracted and shut up, and so not capable of receiving the blessings ye might enjoy. Now, for a recompense of the same — Of my paternal tenderness; (I speak as to my children — I ask nothing hard or grievous;) be ye also enlarged — Open your hearts first to God, and then to us, (see 2 Corinthians 8:5,) that God may dwell in you, (2 Corinthians 6:16; 7:1,) and that ye may receive us, 2 Corinthians 7:2.

13. A recompense in the same—A reciprocity in the largeness of affection. I speak of mutuality in love as unto my children—As a parent claims the natural love of its child, so I claim your Christian love. Be… enlarged—Let a richer Christian love expand your hearts, so as to return to your founder-apostle a recompense of equal love. Let large, full heart, flow out to large, full heart.

II CORINTHIANS

SECTION 9. — PAUL BEGS THAT HIS LOVE TO

THE CORINTHIANS BE RETURNED: AND

EXHORTS THEM TO SEPARATE THEMSELVES

FROM ALL DEFILEMENT. CH. 6:11-7:1.

Our mouth is opened to you, Corinthians; our heart is enlarged. You are not narrowed in us: but you are narrowed in your hearts. The same recompense-as to children I say it, be you also enlarged. Do not become differently yoked to unbelievers. For what partnership is there for righteousness and lawlessness? Or, what fellowship for light with darkness? And what concord of Christ with Beliar? Or, what portion for a believer with an unbeliever? And what agreement for God’s temple with idols? For we are the temple of the living God, according as God said, “I will dwell among them and walk among them, and I will be their God and they shall be my people.” (Leviticus 26:11.) For which cause “Come forth out of the midst of them and be separated,” says the Lord, “and touch not an unclean thing” (Isaiah 52:11). And I will receive you and will be to you for a father and you shall be to me for sons and daughters, says the Lord Almighty. These promises then having, Beloved ones, let us cleanse ourselves from all defilement of flesh and of spirit, accomplishing holiness in the fear of God.

After completing his long exposition of his apostolic work, its credentials, grandeur, encouragements, and motives, by a graphic picture of the circumstances in which he performs it, Paul turns suddenly to his readers and addresses to them a tender (2 Corinthians 6:11-13) and solemn (2 Corinthians 6:14-7:1) appeal.

Ver. 11.-13. Our mouth: of Paul and Timothy, writers of the Epistle. Is opened: Ezekiel 33:22; Matthew 13:35; Acts 18:14; Ephesians 6:19, etc.: more graphic than “we have begun to speak to you.” It is Paul’s contemplation of his own bold words. Cp. Genesis 18:27.

Corinthians: a loving appeal, like Philippians 4:15. The heart is enlarged when its thoughts, emotions, purposes, increase in depth and breadth and height. Cp. Psalm 119:32; Isaiah 60:5. Paul refers evidently to his great love for his readers. While speaking to them he has become conscious of its intensity.

Narrowed: cognate to the word I have rendered “helplessness” in 2 Corinthians 4:8; 6:4; 12:10; Romans 2:9; 8:35; and used here in its simple sense of being shut up in narrow space. From this is easily derived its frequent sense of being in extreme difficulty and almost without way of escape. It is the exact opposite of enlargement. No narrow place in the hearts (2 Corinthians 7:3; Philippians 1:7) of Paul and Timothy do the Corinthians occupy.

But you are narrowed etc.: sad and earnest rebuke. The word rendered in the A.V. “bowels,” in the R.V. “affections,” denotes, not specially the lower viscera, but (cp. Acts 1:18) the inward parts generally, heart lungs, etc. It is used for the seat of the emotions, and in the Bible especially for love and compassion. Cp. 2 Corinthians 7:15; Luke 1:78; Philippians 1:8. We have no better English rendering than heart. The Corinthians were thrust into a narrow place, not in Paul’s affection for them which was deep and broad, but in their own affection for him. They were narrow-hearted. For littleness of love towards those who deserve our love is a mark of a defective nature. Paul asks for the same affection, as a recompense for his affection towards them.

As to children: 2 Corinthians 12:14; 1 Corinthians 4:14; 1 Thessalonians 2:7.

Be you also enlarged: make a large place for me in your hearts, and thus yourselves become nobler.

As Paul speaks to his readers, he feels how great is his love to them. Not in this do they fall short; but in their own affection to him. He asks therefore as a recompense, speaking to his own children in Christ, that they will cherish for him a love like his for them, and thus themselves be ennobled. Ver. 14.-7:1. Do not become: milder than “be not,” as suggesting that they are not yet joined to unbelievers. Cp. 1 Corinthians 7:23. Differently-yoked to unbelievers: like an ass joined to an ox by being put under its yoke. It recalls the prohibition of Deuteronomy 22:10. The suddenness of this warning, and the earnest questions and quotations supporting it, prove that Paul had in view real defect or danger at Corinth. And the question of 2 Corinthians 6:16, following a question equivalent to this warning, proves that Paul refers here specially to participation in idol rites; as in 1 Corinthians 10:14ff, where we have similar words. And this agrees with the worldly spirit betrayed in 1 Corinthians 3:3; 6:1; 8:10. But his words simply forbid such alliances with unbelievers as imply common aims and sympathies. There is no hint that Paul refers here specially to marriage. But this most intimate of all human alliances is certainly included in his prohibition. Those already married to heathens, Paul deals with in 1 Corinthians 7:12, as a special case: and he does not forbid (1 Corinthians 5:10) all intercourse with bad men. The practical application of his words must be left to each man’s own spiritual discernment.

V. 14. Be not unequally yoked with unbelievers-Christians with Jews or heathens. The apostle particularly speaks of marriage. But the reasons he urges equally hold against any needless intimacy with them. Of the five questions that follow, the three former contain the argument; the two latter, the conclusion.

Verse 14. Be ye not unequally yoked together with unbelievers] This is a military term: keep in your own ranks; do not leave the Christian community to join in that of the heathens. The verb eterozugein signifies to leave one’s own rank, place, or order, and go into another; and here it must signify not only that they should not associate with the Gentiles in their idolatrous feasts, but that they should not apostatize from Christianity; and the questions which follow show that there was a sort of fellowship that some of the Christians had formed with the heathens which was both wicked and absurd, and if not speedily checked would infallibly lead to final apostasy.

Some apply this exhortation to pious persons marrying with those who are not decidedly religious, and converted to God. That the exhortation may be thus applied I grant; but it is certainly not the meaning of the apostle in this place. Nevertheless, common sense and true piety show the absurdity of two such persons pretending to walk together in a way in which they are not agreed. A very wise and very holy man has given his judgment on this point: “A man who is truly pious, marrying with an unconverted woman, will either draw back to perdition, or have a cross during life.” The same may be said of a pious woman marrying an unconverted man. Such persons cannot say this petition of the Lord’s prayer, Lead us not into temptation. They plunge into it of their own accord.

For what fellowship, &c.] As righteousness cannot have communion with unrighteousness, and light cannot dwell with darkness; so Christ can have no concord with Belial, nor can he that believeth have any with an infidel. All these points were self-evident; how then could they keep up the profession of Christianity, or pretend to be under its influence, while they associated with the unrighteous, had communion with darkness, concord with Belial, and partook with infidels?

Verses 14-16. Be not unequally yoked with unbelievers — Christians with Jews or heathen, godly persons with the ungodly, spiritual with such as are carnal. The apostle particularly speaks of marriage; but the reasons he urges equally hold against any needless intimacy or society with them. Of the five questions that follow, the three former contain the argument, the two latter the conclusion. For what fellowship hath righteousness with unrighteousness — The righteous can have no profitable, agreeable, or comfortable society or converse with the unrighteous. What communion hath light — That is, the state of light and knowledge, into which you are brought by divine mercy; with darkness — That deplorable state of ignorance and folly, vice and misery, in which they continue to be lost? And what concord hath Christ — Whom you serve; with Belial — To whom they belong, and who reigns in all the children of disobedience? Or what part — In time or in eternity; hath he that believeth — In Christ and his gospel, and who is a true, genuine disciple of Christ; with an infidel — Or an infidel with a believer? The union is surely, at the first view of it, too unnatural to be either agreeable, safe, or lasting. And what agreement hath the temple of God with idols — Which would by this means be, as it were, erected in it? If God would not endure idols in any part of the land where he dwelt, how much less under his own roof? He does not say, with the temple of idols; for idols do not dwell in their worshippers. This is a proper question, and a just view in which to place the matter; for ye — As a church, and as individuals; are the temple of the living God. See on Romans 8:9. As God hath said — To his ancient Church, and in them to all his Israel, in all ages; I will dwell in them — The force of the original expression cannot easily be equalled in any translation; enoikhsw en autoiv. The words, I will inhabit in them, or I will take up my indwelling in them, would nearly, though inelegantly, express the sense: and walk in them — The former expression signifies his perpetual presence; this latter, his operation. And I will be their God — In the fullest sense; manifesting my favour to them, communicating my Spirit, stamping them with mine image, and vouchsafing them communion with myself, in time and in eternity. And they shall be my people — Whom I will direct and govern, protect and save, here and hereafter. The sum this of the whole gospel covenant.

Ver. 14-16. Be ye not unequally yoked together with unbelievers, which is so strongly prohibited by the law of Moses. Deuteronomy 7:2-6. “Thou shalt make no covenant with them — they will turn away thy son from following me.” The questions are all cogent, and convey an illustration like the powerful shades of the pencil. Righteousness can have no fellowship with unrighteousness, which is hostile to order and law. Light and joy can have no communion with darkness, essential evil which shuns the light. Christ and Belial can never be seated on the same throne. Equally so is intimate associations with the infidel world, whose presence and breath is a deleterious poison to the soul of a believer. Neither can we go to the temple of idolatry, nor to the balls and theatres of the wicked, for the idol worshipped is the god of this world.

14. St. Paul trusts now, by warming the affections of his Corinthians, first to draw them into separation from sin, 2 Corinthians 6:14-7:1, and to bring them to an acceptance of himself, 2 Corinthians 7:2. Be ye not— The richer your Christian affections the easier your separation from a wicked world. As Christ, his gospel, his Church, his apostles, and holy happiness, fill your hearts with abounding satisfaction, withdrawal from earthly idols becomes spontaneous. Unequally yoked—An allusion, doubtless, to Deuteronomy 22:10, where an ox and an ass are forbidden to be yoked together. To be unequally yoked is, therefore, to be connected with an unfitting associate. There will be pulling different ways, and danger for a Christian to be pulled into danger and ruin. This unequal yoking, this binding of the Christian with the loose thinker and free liver, is a source of myriads of apostasies and destructions. Marriage is not specially indicated, but it is eminently included as the most striking instance of yoking in life. A false marriage of Christian with unbeliever is often a disaster for eternity. Righteousness with unrighteousness—This antithesis is truly, if seen with a true eye, the greatest possible contrast in the universe. There are many opposites known or conceivable, but the greatest possible of all oppositions is that between absolute right and absolute wrong. But as the eye of the ethical man is apt to be dim and dull, Paul immediately addresses another contrast, the most powerful conceivable, to the bodily eye—light with darkness. This image is known among all religions which in any degree inculcate the idea of holiness. In a series of intense questions, five in number, St. Paul arrays before the minds of the Corinthians a series of images to impress them with a vivid sense of the absolute contrariety between a pure Christianity and a world of wickedness. The images are drawn from ethics, from nature, from the antithesis of Christ and Belial, from faith, and from the sanctity of God’s temple. it is, doubtless, by a summary rehearsal of those lessons of holiness with which his preaching had often impressed these converts from heathenism, that he is here recalling them to first principles. In the five words used to designate the denied connexion between the contracted objects, namely, fellowship, communion, concord, part, agreement, Meyer sees proof of Paul’s command of copious Greek. But Stanley remarks that there is no special fitness of each to its own place; they might be interchanged.

Verse 14b.-15. Two pairs of questions, suggesting an argument in support of the foregoing warning.

Righteousness, lawlessness: practical conformity to the Law and practical disregard of it. Same contrast in Romans 6:19. The former is a designed consequence of the righteousness reckoned to all who believe, and a condition of retaining it.

Light, darkness: Acts 26:18; Colossians 1:12f; Ephesians 5:8ff; 1 Peter 2:9.

Light: a necessary condition of physical sight, and of spiritual insight. Darkness: causes ignorance of our surroundings, physical or spiritual. Cp. 1 John 2:8ff. This second contrast makes us feel the force of the first. All who keep the Law are in the light; all who disregard it, in the dark. And these cannot go together.

Beliar: evidently a name of Satan, the great opponent of Christ. Same word probably as “Belial,” 1 Samuel 1:16; 2:12, etc., a Hebrew word denoting apparently “No-good.” From the abstract contrast of light and darkness Paul rises to the personal contrast of the Sun of righteousness and the Prince of darkness. Same argument in Matthew 6:24. The 4th question brings questions 1, 2, and 3, of which no. 3 is a climax, to bear directly on the matter in hand. If conformity to the Law and disregard of it are as incompatible as light and darkness, and as utterly opposed as Christ and Satan, what in common can there be to one who by faith accepts Christ and one who tramples His word under foot? This conclusion comes to us with sudden force, because it is put in the same form as the argument from which it is drawn. The inference is treated as itself the climax of the argument.

Unbeliever; denotes here one who rejects the Gospel: for his supposed alliance with a believer implies that he has heard of it.

V. 15. What concord hath Christ-Whom ye serve. With Belial-To whom they belong.

Verses 14-16. Be not unequally yoked with unbelievers — Christians with Jews or heathen, godly persons with the ungodly, spiritual with such as are carnal. The apostle particularly speaks of marriage; but the reasons he urges equally hold against any needless intimacy or society with them. Of the five questions that follow, the three former contain the argument, the two latter the conclusion. For what fellowship hath righteousness with unrighteousness — The righteous can have no profitable, agreeable, or comfortable society or converse with the unrighteous. What communion hath light — That is, the state of light and knowledge, into which you are brought by divine mercy; with darkness — That deplorable state of ignorance and folly, vice and misery, in which they continue to be lost? And what concord hath Christ — Whom you serve; with Belial — To whom they belong, and who reigns in all the children of disobedience? Or what part — In time or in eternity; hath he that believeth — In Christ and his gospel, and who is a true, genuine disciple of Christ; with an infidel — Or an infidel with a believer? The union is surely, at the first view of it, too unnatural to be either agreeable, safe, or lasting. And what agreement hath the temple of God with idols — Which would by this means be, as it were, erected in it? If God would not endure idols in any part of the land where he dwelt, how much less under his own roof? He does not say, with the temple of idols; for idols do not dwell in their worshippers. This is a proper question, and a just view in which to place the matter; for ye — As a church, and as individuals; are the temple of the living God. See on Romans 8:9. As God hath said — To his ancient Church, and in them to all his Israel, in all ages; I will dwell in them — The force of the original expression cannot easily be equalled in any translation; enoikhsw en autoiv. The words, I will inhabit in them, or I will take up my indwelling in them, would nearly, though inelegantly, express the sense: and walk in them — The former expression signifies his perpetual presence; this latter, his operation. And I will be their God — In the fullest sense; manifesting my favour to them, communicating my Spirit, stamping them with mine image, and vouchsafing them communion with myself, in time and in eternity. And they shall be my people — Whom I will direct and govern, protect and save, here and hereafter. The sum this of the whole gospel covenant.

Ver. 14-16. Be ye not unequally yoked together with unbelievers, which is so strongly prohibited by the law of Moses. Deuteronomy 7:2-6. “Thou shalt make no covenant with them — they will turn away thy son from following me.” The questions are all cogent, and convey an illustration like the powerful shades of the pencil. Righteousness can have no fellowship with unrighteousness, which is hostile to order and law. Light and joy can have no communion with darkness, essential evil which shuns the light. Christ and Belial can never be seated on the same throne. Equally so is intimate associations with the infidel world, whose presence and breath is a deleterious poison to the soul of a believer. Neither can we go to the temple of idolatry, nor to the balls and theatres of the wicked, for the idol worshipped is the god of this world.

15. Christ with Belial—The contrast presented in its living representatives, the heads of the kingdom of light and of darkness. Belial—Used in Judges 19:22; 20:13; and 1 Samuel 25:25, where see notes. It there signifies worthlessness; but in later literature came to be an appellative for Satan. Bloomfield says: “Like the Hebrew l[y ylb, who will-do-no-one-any-good; that is, who will do evil to any one, the author of all evil, the evil spirit, the devil.” Believeth… infidel—From the head personages the contrast is now brought down to the human individuals. The great boundary line between the good and bad in the universe, between light and darkness, between Christ and Satan, cuts relentlessly between the Christian and the unchristian.

Verse 14b.-15. Two pairs of questions, suggesting an argument in support of the foregoing warning.

Righteousness, lawlessness: practical conformity to the Law and practical disregard of it. Same contrast in Romans 6:19. The former is a designed consequence of the righteousness reckoned to all who believe, and a condition of retaining it.

Light, darkness: Acts 26:18; Colossians 1:12f; Ephesians 5:8ff; 1 Peter 2:9.

Light: a necessary condition of physical sight, and of spiritual insight. Darkness: causes ignorance of our surroundings, physical or spiritual. Cp. 1 John 2:8ff. This second contrast makes us feel the force of the first. All who keep the Law are in the light; all who disregard it, in the dark. And these cannot go together.

Beliar: evidently a name of Satan, the great opponent of Christ. Same word probably as “Belial,” 1 Samuel 1:16; 2:12, etc., a Hebrew word denoting apparently “No-good.” From the abstract contrast of light and darkness Paul rises to the personal contrast of the Sun of righteousness and the Prince of darkness. Same argument in Matthew 6:24. The 4th question brings questions 1, 2, and 3, of which no. 3 is a climax, to bear directly on the matter in hand. If conformity to the Law and disregard of it are as incompatible as light and darkness, and as utterly opposed as Christ and Satan, what in common can there be to one who by faith accepts Christ and one who tramples His word under foot? This conclusion comes to us with sudden force, because it is put in the same form as the argument from which it is drawn. The inference is treated as itself the climax of the argument.

Unbeliever; denotes here one who rejects the Gospel: for his supposed alliance with a believer implies that he has heard of it.

V. 16. What agreement hath the temple of God with idols-If God would not endure idols in any part of the land wherein he dwelt, how much less, under his own roof! He does not say, with the temple of idols, for idols do not dwell in their worshippers.

As God hath said-To his ancient church, and in them to all the Israel of God.

I will dwell in them, and walk in them-The former signifying his perpetual presence; the latter, his operation.

And I will be to them a God, and they shall be to me a people-The sum of the whole gospel covenant. Leviticus 26:11, &c.

Verse 16. What agreement hath the temple of God with idols] Nothing could appear more abominable to a Jew than an idol in the temple of God: here, then, could be no agreement; the worship of the two is wholly incompatible. An idolater never worships the true God; a Christian never worships an idol. If ye join in idolatrous rites, it is impossible that ye should be Christians.

Ye are the temple of the living God] God intends to make the heart of every believer his own house.

I will dwell in them, and walk in them] The words are very emphatic: enoikhsw en autoiv. I will inhabit in them. I will not be as a wayfaring man, who turns aside to tarry as for a night, but I will take up my constant residence with them; I will dwell in and among them.

I will be their God] They shall have no other God, they shall have none besides me; and if they take me for their God, I will be to them all that an infinite, eternal, and self-sufficient Being can be to his intelligent offspring. They shall be my people.] If they take me for their GOD, their supreme and eternal GOOD, I will take them for my people; and instruct, enlighten, defend, provide for, support, and bless them, as if I had none else to care for in the creation.

Verses 14-16. Be not unequally yoked with unbelievers — Christians with Jews or heathen, godly persons with the ungodly, spiritual with such as are carnal. The apostle particularly speaks of marriage; but the reasons he urges equally hold against any needless intimacy or society with them. Of the five questions that follow, the three former contain the argument, the two latter the conclusion. For what fellowship hath righteousness with unrighteousness — The righteous can have no profitable, agreeable, or comfortable society or converse with the unrighteous. What communion hath light — That is, the state of light and knowledge, into which you are brought by divine mercy; with darkness — That deplorable state of ignorance and folly, vice and misery, in which they continue to be lost? And what concord hath Christ — Whom you serve; with Belial — To whom they belong, and who reigns in all the children of disobedience? Or what part — In time or in eternity; hath he that believeth — In Christ and his gospel, and who is a true, genuine disciple of Christ; with an infidel — Or an infidel with a believer? The union is surely, at the first view of it, too unnatural to be either agreeable, safe, or lasting. And what agreement hath the temple of God with idols — Which would by this means be, as it were, erected in it? If God would not endure idols in any part of the land where he dwelt, how much less under his own roof? He does not say, with the temple of idols; for idols do not dwell in their worshippers. This is a proper question, and a just view in which to place the matter; for ye — As a church, and as individuals; are the temple of the living God. See on Romans 8:9. As God hath said — To his ancient Church, and in them to all his Israel, in all ages; I will dwell in them — The force of the original expression cannot easily be equalled in any translation; enoikhsw en autoiv. The words, I will inhabit in them, or I will take up my indwelling in them, would nearly, though inelegantly, express the sense: and walk in them — The former expression signifies his perpetual presence; this latter, his operation. And I will be their God — In the fullest sense; manifesting my favour to them, communicating my Spirit, stamping them with mine image, and vouchsafing them communion with myself, in time and in eternity. And they shall be my people — Whom I will direct and govern, protect and save, here and hereafter. The sum this of the whole gospel covenant.

Ver. 14-16. Be ye not unequally yoked together with unbelievers, which is so strongly prohibited by the law of Moses. Deuteronomy 7:2-6. “Thou shalt make no covenant with them — they will turn away thy son from following me.” The questions are all cogent, and convey an illustration like the powerful shades of the pencil. Righteousness can have no fellowship with unrighteousness, which is hostile to order and law. Light and joy can have no communion with darkness, essential evil which shuns the light. Christ and Belial can never be seated on the same throne. Equally so is intimate associations with the infidel world, whose presence and breath is a deleterious poison to the soul of a believer. Neither can we go to the temple of idolatry, nor to the balls and theatres of the wicked, for the idol worshipped is the god of this world.

16. Temple… idols—The contrast embraces the Church collectively, of which the temple is the structural image. St. Paul does not present the contrast as between a temple of the true God and one of idolatry; but of a holy temple with an unholy idol in it. The Jews preferred to rebel against the power of imperial Rome rather than to allow an ensign of paganism to be brought into the temple. Ye are the temple—Thus bringing emphatically home the force of the illustration. Living God—In contrast with all other temples, which are of gods that do not live. God hath said—We have the word of the very living God himself for it, as recorded in the Old Testament. In accordance with Jewish modes of quoting the Old Testament, St. Paul blends together the tenor of a number of different passages, like a painter forming a picture by dipping his brush in his colours to finish with a variety of touches. I will dwell—In this verse we have the promise; in the next, the command finishing off with promises, carried into the final verse. The words of this verse refer to Leviticus 26:11, 12, with a fragment of Ezekiel 37:26. It is the promise of God to be present with his faithful Church.

Ver. 16. Reveals the special reference of the general warning of 2 Corinthians 6:14; which, after being supported by questions 1, 2, and 3, has just been repeated in question 4. From the general matter of “unbelievers” Paul comes now to the specific matter of idolatry. Against this he warned the Corinthian Christians in 1 Corinthians 10:14ff, by referring to the Lord’s Supper: he warns them now by the great truth that believers are the temple of God. Similar argument with other purposes in 1 Corinthians 3:16; 6:19. See notes. The word we puts Paul among those he warns. They share with him this great dignity; and he with them the duty it involves.

Living God: in contrast to lifeless idols, as in 1 Thessalonians 1:9. See under 2 Corinthians 3:3. The words temple of God bring before us the inviolable sanctity of the Old Testament sanctuary, which was strictly separated from whatever was not sanctified. This absolute separation every Jew was eager to defend, even at the cost of life. Paul now says that his readers are themselves the sanctuary of Him who dwelt of old in the Tabernacle. And, that they may feel the force of this reference, he supports it by a free quotation giving the exact sense and scope, and in part the words, of God’s solemn summing up, in Leviticus 26:11 of the blessings of the Mosaic Covenant. Notice especially Leviticus 26:1. With God’s words to Israel, the words of Paul to the Corinthians accord.

I will dwell among them; implies that the essential idea of a temple is, the Dwelling-Place of God. That God might dwell in the midst of Israel, i.e. in order that day by day He might reveal Himself among them, He bade them erect the Tabernacle. Cp. Exodus 29:44-46. He was thus fulfilling His ancient promise (Genesis 17:7f) to stand in special relation to Abraham’s children as their God. Notice carefully that Paul assumes that the ancient promise, fulfilled in outward and symbolic form in the ritual of the Tabernacle, is valid now; and assures believers of the inward and spiritual presence of God in themselves. For the entire ritual was an outward symbol of the spiritual realities of the better covenant.

V. 17. Touch not the unclean person-Keep at the utmost distance from him.

And I will receive you-Into my house and family. Isaiah 52:11; Zephaniah 3:19, 20.

Verse 17. Wherefore come out from among them] Is it not plain from this and the following verse that God would be their God only on the ground of their taking him for such, and that this depended on their being separated from the works and workers of iniquity? for God could not inhabit in them if they had concord with Belial, a portion with infidels; &c. Those who will have the promises of God fulfilled to them must come under the conditions of these promises: if they are not separate-if they touch the unclean thing, God will not receive them; and therefore will not be their God, nor shall they be his people.

Verses 17, 18. Wherefore — Encouraged by this gracious promise, and that you may obtain the fulfilment of it; come out from among them — Withdraw yourselves from all intimate society with them; and be ye separate — As God’s promise of dwelling in a peculiar manner among the Israelites, obliged them to separate themselves from the converse of their heathen neighbours, that they might not be insnared with their superstitions; much more are Christians obliged, by that peculiar gracious presence of God which they enjoy, or may enjoy, to separate themselves from the society of the ungodly, and from all their sinful practices, customs, and habits. And touch not the unclean thing — Keep at the utmost distance from every person and thing whereby you might be drawn into evil, and contract guilt. And I will receive you — Into my house and family. And will be a father unto you — Will stand to you in the near relation of a father; loving you, caring and providing for you; allowing you near access to, and close intimacy with, myself. And ye shall be my sons and daughters — And therefore mine heirs, and joint-heirs with my only-begotten and beloved Son; saith the Lord Almighty — That infinitely great and omnipotent Being, who is the maker and upholder, the author and end of all things. This promise made to Solomon, (1 Chronicles 28:6,) is here applied to all believers; as the promise made particularly to Joshua is applied to them, Hebrews 13:5. Who can express the worth, who can conceive the dignity of this divine adoption? Yet it belongs to all who believe the gospel with a living, operative faith; to all who so receive Christ in his sundry offices as to be born of God, John 1:12, 13. They have access to the Almighty; such free and welcome access as a beloved child to an indulgent father. To him they may flee for aid in every difficulty, and from him obtain a supply of all their wants.

17. Wherefore—In order to secure the fulfilment of these promises they must be a faithful and not an apostate Church. Come out—The earnest warning of Jehovah (to his people to come out from Babylon) applied to the Christian Church to come out from the uncleanness of an unregenerate world. This injunction requires not hatred against the wicked as men, but avoidance of participation in their works as sinners, or in such associations with them as imply a countenancing of their sins. The unclean thing—The thing defiled with sin, by whose touch you would yourself be defiled. I will receive you—Namely, into favour and fellowship with myself, and to all the joys of my salvation.

Ver. 17.-18. For which cause: Paul’s own words, introducing a quotation from Isaiah 52:11, as an appropriate practical application of the truth asserted in the foregoing quotation. He gives the sense, and in part the words, of Isaiah.

From the midst of them: of the heathens. Isaiah says “from the midst of her,” i.e. of Babylon, the place of bondage to idolaters. Be separated; i.e. from idolaters: LXX. rendering for “be cleansed.” In prophetic vision Isaiah beholds the sacred vessels given back (by Cyrus, Ezra 1:7) to Israel; and bids the Levites lay aside the ceremonial defilement of Babylon and fit themselves to bear the vessels back to Jerusalem.

Touch not an unclean thing: Isaiah’s warning to the returning exiles not to take with them anything belonging to the idols of Babylon; repeated by Paul to those who had escaped from the idolatry of Corinth. An appropriate quotation: for all idolatry is bondage.

And I will receive you: not found in Isaiah. But the sense, viz. that those whom God leads out of the land of bondage He will Himself receive to be His own, is frequent in the Old Testament. Cp. Ezekiel 11:17-21: “And I will receive them from the nations… and I will give them to the Land of Israel.”

And I will be to you: not found word for word in the Old Testament, but reproducing the sense of many passages. It may have been suggested by 2 Samuel 7:8, 14, “These things says the Lord Almighty, (LXX.,)… I will be to him for a Father, and he shall be to me for a son”; Jeremiah 31:9. “I have become a Father to Israel, and Ephraim is my firstborn”; Isaiah 43:6, “Bring my sons from far, and my daughters from the ends of the earth.” The last two passages refer specially to return from captivity. The words sons and daughters in Isaiah 43:6 point specially to the equality of the sexes in the family of God: cp. Galatians 3:28. Almighty: and therefore able to perform His promises. Cp. Genesis 17:1.

V. 18. And ye shall be to me for sons and for daughters, saith the Lord Almighty-The promise made to Solomon, 1 Chronicles 28:6, is here applied to all believers; as the promise made particularly to Joshua is applied to them, Hebrews 13:5. Who can express the worth, who can conceive the dignity, of this divine adoption? Yet it belongs to all who believe the gospel, who have faith in Christ. They have access to the Almighty; such free and welcome access, as a beloved child to an indulgent father. To him they may fly for aid in every difficulty, and from him obtain a supply in all their wants. Isaiah 43:6.

Verse 18. Will be a Father unto you] I will act towards you as the most affectionate father can act towards his most tender and best beloved child. And ye shall be my sons and daughters] Ye shall all be of the household of God, the family of heaven; ye shall be holy, happy, and continually safe. Saith the Lord Almighty.] kuriov pantokratwrJ The Lord, the Governor of all things.

Earthly fathers, however loving and affectionate, may fail to provide for their children, because every thing is not at their disposal; they may frequently lack both the power and the means, though to will may be present with them; but the Lord who made and who governs all things can never lack will, power, nor means. The promise is sure to the children; and the children are those who take the Almighty for their God. For the promise belongs to no soul that is not separate from sinful ways, works, and men; those who touch the unclean thing, i.e. who do what God forbids, and hold communion with unrighteousness, can never stand in the endearing relation of children to God Almighty: and this is most forcibly stated by God himself, in these verses, and in the beginning of the following chapter, the first verse of which should conclude this. To the Jews the promises were originally made; they would not have God for their God, but would work iniquity. What was the consequence? God cast them off; and those who were joined to iniquity were separated from him. “Then said God, Call his name Lo-ammi; for ye are not my people, and I will not be your God.” Hosea 1:9. The Jews were therefore cast off, and the Gentiles taken in their place; but even these, under the new covenant, are taken in expressly under the same conditions as the apostle here most fully states. Those who apply these words in any other way pervert their meaning, and sin against their souls.

II CORINTHIANS

Verses 17, 18. Wherefore — Encouraged by this gracious promise, and that you may obtain the fulfilment of it; come out from among them — Withdraw yourselves from all intimate society with them; and be ye separate — As God’s promise of dwelling in a peculiar manner among the Israelites, obliged them to separate themselves from the converse of their heathen neighbours, that they might not be insnared with their superstitions; much more are Christians obliged, by that peculiar gracious presence of God which they enjoy, or may enjoy, to separate themselves from the society of the ungodly, and from all their sinful practices, customs, and habits. And touch not the unclean thing — Keep at the utmost distance from every person and thing whereby you might be drawn into evil, and contract guilt. And I will receive you — Into my house and family. And will be a father unto you — Will stand to you in the near relation of a father; loving you, caring and providing for you; allowing you near access to, and close intimacy with, myself. And ye shall be my sons and daughters — And therefore mine heirs, and joint-heirs with my only-begotten and beloved Son; saith the Lord Almighty — That infinitely great and omnipotent Being, who is the maker and upholder, the author and end of all things. This promise made to Solomon, (1 Chronicles 28:6,) is here applied to all believers; as the promise made particularly to Joshua is applied to them, Hebrews 13:5. Who can express the worth, who can conceive the dignity of this divine adoption? Yet it belongs to all who believe the gospel with a living, operative faith; to all who so receive Christ in his sundry offices as to be born of God, John 1:12, 13. They have access to the Almighty; such free and welcome access as a beloved child to an indulgent father. To him they may flee for aid in every difficulty, and from him obtain a supply of all their wants.

18. A Father—Such a fatherhood as is conditioned upon our regenerate sonship. 2 Samuel 7:14. The quotation applies the promise to David— to all the people of God. Daughters—Isaiah 43:6. Saith the Lord Almighty—In the Hebrew, 2 Samuel 7:14, it is the Lord of Hosts. On these promises St. Paul grounds his exhortation to a completed holiness in the first verse of the following chapter.

Ver. 17.-18. For which cause: Paul’s own words, introducing a quotation from Isaiah 52:11, as an appropriate practical application of the truth asserted in the foregoing quotation. He gives the sense, and in part the words, of Isaiah.

From the midst of them: of the heathens. Isaiah says “from the midst of her,” i.e. of Babylon, the place of bondage to idolaters. Be separated; i.e. from idolaters: LXX. rendering for “be cleansed.” In prophetic vision Isaiah beholds the sacred vessels given back (by Cyrus, Ezra 1:7) to Israel; and bids the Levites lay aside the ceremonial defilement of Babylon and fit themselves to bear the vessels back to Jerusalem.

Touch not an unclean thing: Isaiah’s warning to the returning exiles not to take with them anything belonging to the idols of Babylon; repeated by Paul to those who had escaped from the idolatry of Corinth. An appropriate quotation: for all idolatry is bondage.

And I will receive you: not found in Isaiah. But the sense, viz. that those whom God leads out of the land of bondage He will Himself receive to be His own, is frequent in the Old Testament. Cp. Ezekiel 11:17-21: “And I will receive them from the nations… and I will give them to the Land of Israel.”

And I will be to you: not found word for word in the Old Testament, but reproducing the sense of many passages. It may have been suggested by 2 Samuel 7:8, 14, “These things says the Lord Almighty, (LXX.,)… I will be to him for a Father, and he shall be to me for a son”; Jeremiah 31:9. “I have become a Father to Israel, and Ephraim is my firstborn”; Isaiah 43:6, “Bring my sons from far, and my daughters from the ends of the earth.” The last two passages refer specially to return from captivity. The words sons and daughters in Isaiah 43:6 point specially to the equality of the sexes in the family of God: cp. Galatians 3:28. Almighty: and therefore able to perform His promises. Cp. Genesis 17:1.