Verse-by-Verse Bible Commentary
2 Corinthians 1:11

Clarke's Commentary

Verse 2 Corinthians 1:11. Ye also helping together by prayer — Even an apostle felt the prayers of the Church of God necessary for his comfort and support. What innumerable blessings do the prayers of the followers of God draw down on those who are the objects of them!

The gift bestowed - by the means of many persons — The blessings communicated by means of their prayers.

Thanks may be given by many — When they who have prayed hear that their prayers are so particularly answered, then all that have prayed will feel themselves led to praise God for his gracious answers. Thus, the prayers of many obtain the gift; and the thanksgiving of many acknowledge the mercy.

The gift, or χαρισμα, which the apostle mentions, was his deliverance from the dangers and deaths to which he was exposed.

Bridgeway Bible Commentary

1:1-11 INTRODUCTION AND ENCOURAGEMENT

Paul greets the Corinthian church, along with other Christians in Achaia, in the name of the God of all comfort (1:1-3). One reason why Christians suffer all kinds of troubles is that they may know how to sympathize with and help others who are similarly troubled. Just as they share in Christ’s sufferings, so they can share in his comfort (4-5). When the Corinthians see the divine comfort Paul experiences in his sufferings, they should be encouraged to bear their own sufferings (6-7).
The troubles that Paul suffered in the province of Asia were so severe that they almost led to his death. But they also caused him to see clearly that he himself was completely helpless, and therefore he needed to trust entirely in God (8-9). This gives him the assurance that in the future God will likewise deliver him. If the believers in Corinth pray for God’s protection over him in his work, they will also have good reason to give thanks when God answers their prayers (10-11).

Coffman's Commentaries on the Bible

Ye also helping together on our behalf by your supplication; that, for the gift bestowed upon us by means of many, thanks may be given by many persons on our behalf.

Ye also helping … This is not a declaration that the Corinthians had helped, by their prayers, Paul's deliverance from the affliction in Asia, just mentioned; although, in a general sense, their constant prayers on Paul's behalf certainly had a part in it. The second clause shows that Paul expected their participation in the thanksgiving for his deliverance.

By means of many … The gift of Paul's deliverance had resulted from the participation of many people, among whom, no doubt, were Priscilla and Aquila; and it was appropriate that many people, including the Christians in Corinth, should participate in the thanksgiving.

Before leaving the record of this episode, it should be remembered that the sensational event of Paul's deliverance from the terrible affliction in Asia was reason enough, prima facie, to refute the insinuations of Paul's enemies at Corinth to the effect that his delay in visiting them was irresponsible.

Barnes' Notes on the Whole Bible

Ye also helping together by prayer for us - Tyndale renders this in connection with the close of the previous verse; “we trust that yet hereafter he will deliver us, by the help of your prayer for us.” The word rendered “helping together,” means cooperating, aiding, assisting; and the idea is, that Paul felt that his trials might be turned to good account, and give occasion for thanksgiving; and that this was to be accomplished by the aid of the prayers of his fellow Christians. He felt that the church was one, and that Christians should sympathize with one another. He evinced deep humility and tender regard for the Corinthians when he called on them to aid him by their prayers. Nothing would be better calculated to excite their tender affection and regard than thus to call on them to sympathize with him in his trials, and to pray that those trials might result in thanksgiving throughout the churches.

That for the gift bestowed upon us - The sentence which occurs here is very perplexing in the original, and the construction is difficult. But the main idea is not difficult to he seen. The “gift” here referred to (τὸ χάρισμα to charisma) means doubtless the favor shown to him in his rescue from so imminent a peril; and he felt that this was owing to the prayers of many persons on his behalf He believed that he had been remembered in the petitions of his friends and fellow Christians, and that his deliverance was owing to their supplications.

By the means of many persons - Probably meaning that the favor referred to had been imparted by means of the prayers of many individuals who had taken a deep interest in his welfare. But it may also imply perhaps that he had been directly assisted, and had been rescued from the impending danger by the interposition of many friends who had come to his relief. The usual interpretation is, however, that it was by the prayers of many in his behalf.

Thanks may be given by many on our behalf - Many may be induced also to render thanks for my deliverance. The idea is, that as he had been delivered from great peril by the prayers of many persons, it was proper also that thanksgiving should be offered by as many in his behalf, or on account of his deliverance. “Mercies that have been obtained by prayer should be acknowledged by praise” - Doddridge. God had mercifully interposed in answer to the prayers of his people; and it was proper that his mercy should be as extensively acknowledged. Paul was desirous that God should not be forgotten: and that those who had sought his deliverance should render praise to God, perhaps intimating here that those who had obtained mercies by prayer are prone to forget their obligation to return thanks to God for his gracious and merciful interposition.

Calvin's Commentary on the Bible

11.That the gift bestowed upon us through means of many persons. As there is some difficulty in Paul’s words, interpreters differ as to the meaning. I shall not spend time in setting aside the interpretations of others, nor indeed is there any need for this, provided only we are satisfied as to the true and proper meaning. He had said, that the prayers of the Corinthians would be an assistance to him. He now adds a second advantage that would accrue from it — a higher manifestation of God’s glory. “For whatever God will confer upon me,” says he, “being as it were obtained through means of many persons, will, also, by many be celebrated with praises:” or in this way — “Many will give thanks to God in my behalf, because, in affording help to me, he has favorably regarded the prayers, not merely of one but of many.” In the first place, while it is our duty to allow no favor from God to pass without rendering praise, it becomes us, nevertheless, more especially when our prayers have been favorably regarded by him, to acknowledge his mercy with thanksgiving, as he commands us to do in Psalms 50:15. Nor ought this to be merely where our own personal interest is concerned, but also where the welfare of the Church in general, or that of any one of our brethren is involved. Hence when we mutually pray one for another, and obtain our desire, the glory of God is so much the more set forth, inasmuch as we all acknowledge, with thanksgiving, God’s benefits — both those that are conferred publicly upon the whole Church, and also those that are bestowed privately upon individuals.

In this interpretation there is nothing forced; for as to the circumstance that in the Greek the article being introduced between the two clauses by many persons, and the gift conferred upon me appears to disjoin them, ⁽²⁵⁴⁾ that has no force, as it is frequently found introduced between clauses that are connected with each other. Here, however, it is with propriety introduced in place of an adversative particle; ⁽²⁵⁵⁾ for although it had come forth from many persons, it was nevertheless peculiar to Paul. To take the phrase διὰ πολλῶν (by means of many) in the neuter gender, ⁽²⁵⁶⁾ as some do, is at variance with the connection of the passage.

It may, however, be asked, why he says From many persons, rather than From many men, and what is the meaning of the term person here? I answer, it is as though he had said — With respect to many. For the favor was conferred upon Paul in such a way, that it might be given to many. Hence, as God had respect to many, he says on that account, that many persons were the cause of it. Some Greek manuscripts have ὑπὲρ ὑμῶν — on your account; and although this appears to be at variance with Paul’s design, and the connection of the words, it may, nevertheless, be explained with propriety in this manner: “When God shall have heard you in behalf of my welfare, and that too for your own welfare, thanks will be given by many on your account.”

(254) “Car à suyure l’ordre du texte Grec il y auroit ainsi mot à mot, Afin que de plusieurs personnes, à nous le don conferé, par plusieurs soit recognu en action de graces pour nous;” — “For, following the order of the Greek text, it would be literally thus: In order that from many persons the gift conferred upon us, may by many be acknowledged with thanksgiving on our account.”

(255) “En lieu de quelque article aduersative qu’on appelle, comme Toutesfois ou Neantmoins;” — “In place of some adversative particle, as it is called, as for example, Notwithstanding or Nevertheless.”

(256) “De rapporter ce mot Par plusieurs, aux choses;” — “To take this phrase, By means of many, as referring to things. ”

Smith's Bible Commentary

Tonight let's turn to 2 Corinthians, chapter 1.

The church of Corinth had been a divided church. There was a lot of carnality, a lot of problems in their doctrines that prompted Paul's first epistle, which is a rather stern epistle, and was a corrective epistle seeking to correct a lot of the doctrinal errors that did exist, seeking to bring them from their carnality into a real spiritual walk. A mark of their carnality, one of the marks of their carnality, was the party spirit that existed. For some were saying, "I am Baptist." And others were saying, "I am Presbyterian." And others were saying, "I'm Nazarene." Or they were actually saying, "I'm of Apollos. I'm of Cephus. I'm of Paul. I'm of Christ." And these little party spirits dividing the body of Christ.

And so, Paul wrote to rebuke this party spirit. He wrote to correct their carnality, their doctrinal errors. But the affect of his first epistle was sort of a polarizing of the people. And there were those who did repent and were corrected. They really came along after receiving Paul's epistle, but there were others that turned more firmly against Paul. And it seemed to be those who were the Judeaizers, or perhaps those who said, "We are of Christ," and were teaching basically from the Sermon on the Mount and had not really accepted the grace of God that Paul shared that has come to us through Jesus Christ.

They began to speak despairingly of Paul, began to challenge his claim of apostleship, and thus, speaking to them with authority. And it would seem that Timothy probably delivered the first epistle, and brought back to Paul the initial reaction toward the epistle. Titus had stayed there for a while and was to meet Paul in Troas, and to give Paul a full report on the Corinthian church.

When Paul got to Troas, Titus had not shown up. And God opened for Paul an effectual door of ministry in Troas, however, he was so upset in his spirit about the possible offense that the Corinthians might have for him, rather than staying in Troas and ministering in that effectual door, he journeyed on over to Macedonia, where Titus did meet him and gave to him news of the church in Corinth which encouraged Paul. But he also heard of this faction that had set themselves against Paul, were challenging his apostleship. And so, Paul learned from Titus, now, the condition of the church in Corinth.

Timothy had been with Paul when Paul first ministered in Corinth. And so, Paul joins Timothy with him in his salutation to the Corinthian church. In verse 2 Corinthians 1:1 , notice Paul, first of all, asserts,

Paul, an apostle of Jesus Christ by the will of God ( 2 Corinthians 1:1 ),

There were those who were challenging his apostleship, saying that he, you know, just took that title on himself. But here, he lays claim to the fact that he is an apostle by the will of God.

Now, when Paul was writing his first epistle to the Corinthians, in chapter 12, he said, "Are all apostles? Are all evangelists? Do all work miracles?" And the answer is obviously no, because it's a rhetorical-type question. So, "Paul, an apostle by the will of God." However, God hasn't called all to be apostles.

Now the question is, "What has God called you to be?" If I were writing to the church, I would have to write, "Chuck, a pastor/teacher by the will of God." I couldn't really write, "Chuck, an apostle of Jesus Christ by the will of God," for that isn't my calling in the body. God has called me as a pastor/teacher. But, there are others who could write, "Frank, a mechanic by the will of God." "John, a fisherman by the will of God." "Mike, a car salesman by the will of God." For God has called men into all types of occupations. The important thing is that I am what I am by the will of God, that I am doing what God has willed for me to do. And it's marvelous when you can say concerning your life, "I am walking according to the will and the plan of God for me." That whatever it is I am, I am by the will of God. So,

Paul, an apostle by the will of God, and Timothy our brother ( 2 Corinthians 1:1 ),

Because Timothy was teaching them and ministering to them when Paul first visited the Corinthian church, he joins Timothy together in his greeting. "Timothy our brother,"

unto the church of God which is at Corinth ( 2 Corinthians 1:1 ),

And then he includes all of the area around Corinth, the area of Achaia.

Grace be to you, and peace from God our Father, and from the Lord Jesus Christ ( 2 Corinthians 1:2 ).

We recognize this as a typical Pauline salutation. He begins many of his epistles with this very similar salutation, "Grace to you," which is, of course, the typical Greek greeting of one another. "And peace," which was the typical Jewish greeting, shalom. Caras, the Greeks would greet; and shalom, the Hebrews would greet. These beautiful Siamese twins of the New Testament, coupled together.

"From God our Father, and from the Lord Jesus Christ." Again, I would like to point out that the Lord Jesus Christ is not His name. Jesus is His name. Lord is His title that signifies relationship. And too many times people think of it as first, middle, and last name, the Lord Jesus Christ. But Lord is a title. And it's an important title, which signifies my relationship to Him, which signifies that I am a servant; He is my master. And it is necessary for me to confess this to be saved. "For if thou shalt confess with thy mouth that Jesus is Lord, and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, thou shalt be saved" ( Romans 10:9 ). So, the Lord signifies the relationship.

Christ is, again, a mission, the anointed one, the mashiyach. And it speaks of the fact that He is the fulfillment of God's promised salvation.

Blessed be God, even the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies, and the God of all comfort ( 2 Corinthians 1:3 );

And again, this is so typical of Paul, "Blessed be the God and the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with all spiritual blessings in Christ and heavenly places" ( Ephesians 1:3 ). How he begins his Ephesians epistle is quite similar to this. First of all, the greeting to the people, the grace and peace to them; the acknowledgment of his mission, being what he was by the will of God, an apostle; and then the thanksgiving to God, praise be unto God. The word blessed is actually, "praise be unto God the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who is the Father of mercies and the God of comfort."

Who comforteth us in all our tribulation, that we may be able to comfort them which are in any trouble, by the comfort wherewith we ourselves are comforted of God. For as the sufferings of Christ abound in us, so our consolation also aboundeth by Christ. And whether we be afflicted, it is for your consolation and salvation, which is effectual in the enduring of the same sufferings which we also suffer: or whether we be comforted, it is for your consolation and salvation ( 2 Corinthians 1:4-6 ).

So, Paul here is speaking of the afflictions that he had experienced, the sufferings that he had experienced, and the tribulation that he had experienced. We have difficulty in our minds wondering why God would allow us to experience suffering. Why God would allow us to go through tribulation. Why God would allow us to be afflicted. Because we believe that He is a God of love, and we know that He controls the circumstances that surround our lives and that come into our lives. And it is difficult for us to understand why God would allow me to suffer if He loves me so much, why God would allow me to be afflicted.

Now, Paul declares that he experienced these things in order that in them he might also experience the comfort of God, so that he would be able to comfort others with the same comfort that he had received. So, it was for their sakes, as much as his own, that God allowed these things to happen to him, for he needed to be ministered by God in these areas so that he could minister to others in these very same areas.

As I look at my own life, I realize that God has allowed a lot of difficult experiences to happen to me so that I can truly understand and sympathize and minister to those who are going through the similar or the same kind of difficulties. Had I never gone through them myself, I wouldn't have understanding of that person's need, where they're coming from. But having experienced the tragic death of my father and brother, having experienced the suffering of my mother by cancer, having experienced being broke, not knowing where money was going to come from for dinner, I understand when people are going through these kind of experiences. And I can minister to them with that same comfort whereby I have been comforted by the Spirit of God when I was going through these things. And so, it's always good to say, "I know what you feel. I've been there. I went through it."

And so, Paul could say, "Hey, I know the sufferings. I know the afflictions. I know the tribulation. I've been there." And he could comfort them. While I was there though, God proved His faithfulness to me. God saw me through. God provided the strength. God provided for me that comfort that I needed, and I am able to comfort with the comfort whereby I was comforted. And so Paul said, "Therefore, it was for your sakes, really, that I might be able to give this kind of consolation to you, the consolation that I myself received."

And whether we be afflicted [so if we are afflicted], it is for your consolation and salvation, which is effectual in the enduring of the same sufferings which we also suffer: or whether we be comforted, it is for your consolation and salvation. And our hope of you is steadfast, knowing, that as ye are partakers of the sufferings, so shall ye be also of the consolation ( 2 Corinthians 1:6-7 ).

"I know that God is faithful, and even as you have suffered as I have suffered, I know that you will come forth victoriously, as I came forth victoriously." And so, he is able to encourage them in the victory that they were going to experience, because, "I was there, and God brought me through in victory, and I know he'll bring you through victoriously."

For we would not, brethren, have you ignorant of our trouble which came to us in Asia ( 2 Corinthians 1:8 ),

Now, it is felt that Paul wrote this right after that experience that he had in Ephesus, which is recorded in the 19th chapter of the book of Acts, the latter portion, where Paul was in Ephesus, and many people were turning to Christ. And so Demetrius, the silversmith, called together all of those of his trade, and he said, "Fellows, do you realize that this new sect that is being preached here in Ephesus is destroying our business? We've made our livelihood selling all of these relics of the goddess Diana. Now they are teaching that Diana isn't a goddess. Our business is suffering. Our profits are down. If this gospel continues to spread, we could be out of business. We've got to do something."

And so they grabbed a couple of the disciples who had been working with Paul, who were from Macedonia. And they drug them into the big arena there in Ephesus, and they began to sort of riot and carry on. And one of these fellas from Macedonia attempted to speak to the crowd. And they all began, for the space of two hours, to chant, "Great is Diana of the Ephesians." And Paul the apostle, when he heard of it, he wanted to go in, but some of the leaders of the city who loved Paul said, "Don't do it. They'll tear you apart. You know, it's a mob frenzy. And if you go in there, it's the end for you."

Well, Paul, as the result, had to flee from Ephesus. His life was in jeopardy. And so, he left from there and went over to Macedonia. And it is thought that while he was then at Troas or Macedonia, that he wrote this epistle, probably in Macedonia. He could have started it in Troas and finished it in Macedonia. That he wrote this epistle right after this harrowing experience in Ephesus where his life was really threatened. In fact, he thought he had had it. The crowd was in such a frenzy, Paul really thought that this is it, this is the end. But he was ready to go in and face them anyhow.

For we would not, brethren, have you ignorant of our trouble which came to us in Asia, that we were pressed out of measure, above strength, insomuch that we despaired even of life ( 2 Corinthians 1:8 ):

It was just too much. It was beyond my ability to handle. I really despaired of my life; I really felt this was the end.

But we had the sentence of death in ourselves, that we should not trust in ourselves, but in God which raiseth the dead ( 2 Corinthians 1:9 ):

I believe that many times, in many different areas, God brings us to the end of our own resources, emotional, physical, perhaps financial, that we get right to the end. There's no place else to go. Where we actually give up, and we just say, "I've had it; I can't do anything else. I've had it." Now, God's brought me to that place many times, where I thought, "This is it. This is the end, the end of my strength, the end of my abilities." Where I have given up. And I don't give up easily. That's one of my problems in my spiritual walk is that I keep trying, until I have tried everything before I really turn it over to God. But God brings me to that place where, having tried everything, I now have given up. And you know, I discover something, that many times when I get to that point of just giving up, that that is the point were I experience the power of God and the work of God in my life. Not until I have run out of my strength and my resources.

A classic example comes to us from the Old Testament and that fellow Jacob, who received his name at his birth because of an incident that took place at his birth. He was the second of twins that were born, and when his mother Rachel was expecting these twins, of course they didn't have sonograms and things in that day. They couldn't get two heartbeats. They didn't know, or she didn't know that she was carrying twins. But all she knew, it was a miserable pregnancy. I mean, it was just really bad, and she said, "Lord, what's going on? This is horrible." And God said, "There are two nations in your womb, and they're different from each other." They were not identical twins; they were fraternal twins. "Two nations in your womb, diverse from each other, and they're fighting each other." Poor Rachel, these two brothers going at it against each other in the womb, wailing away. And when they were born, the first brother was born all covered with hair, and so they called him Harry -- Esau. And when the twin was born, he was ready to continue the fight, because the first thing he did is reached out and grabbed Esau's heal. And they said, "Look at that little rascal. He's a heal catcher." And so, he got the name Jacob, which is literally heal catcher, which being translated a little more loosely would be dirty, rotten thief or dirty, sneaky thief, which, of course, would be a tough name to be tagged with. You go to school and the teacher says, "And what is your name?" And you say, "Dirty Sneaky Thief." They call roll, and they call, "Dirty Sneaky Thief?" "Here."

This conflict between the brothers continued through their lifetime. Dirty Sneaky Thief tricked his brother, or took advantage of his brother, and bought the birth right from him. And then later, deceived his father and stole the blessing, the family blessing, which should have gone to the elder brother. And when the older brother Esau found out that Jacob had stolen the blessing, he said, "My dad's about ready to die, and as soon as he's dead, I am going to kill that rat. I've had it with him. I'm going to kill him." And Jacob was more the tender sort, a momma's boy, whereas Esau was a man of the fields, a hunter, rugged, outdoor individualist. "I'm gonna kill him. Soon as Dad's dead, I'm gonna kill him. I swear I'm gonna kill him."

So, his mother heard the brother's threats, and she said, "Son, you better take off. Your dad's not doing very well and your brother has vowed to kill you. So you better take off and go stay with my brother for a while over in Heron about eight hundred miles away." And so Jacob took off. And he went to his mother's brother Laban, who was just about as crooked as he was, and he was a dirty, sneaky thief. He fell in love with one of Laban's daughters, said, "I want to marry your daughter, but I don't have any dowry to give to you." So Laban says, "Well, that's fine son, just be my slave for seven years and that can be the dowry. You can marry her." So, he became the slave of Laban for seven years, and he loved Laban's daughter so much. He loved Rachel so much that it was just like a moment's time. So, the day of the marriage came, the marriage ceremony. And of course, according to custom, the bride was veiled and all. So, they went into their tent, spent the night together. In the morning, when the veil was removed, it wasn't Rachel at all, but her older, ugly sister Leah. And Jacob went storming out of the tent, got hold of Laban and said, "What have you done? That isn't the deal that I made with you." "Sorry son, it's just the custom. The older sister has to be married first according to our customs. If you want to work another seven years, then you can have the other one, too."

So you see, Laban was quite a match for Jacob. But in the end, Jacob won out. After seventeen years, stripping Laban of practically everything he had, he saw that things weren't going too well anymore. They weren't smiling at the table anymore when they looked at him. And he realized, "I gotta get out of here." And so, he left with all of the flocks and the herds and all that he had gained from his service to Laban. And now he's on his way back home. And he comes to the border of the land, and he fords the stream of Jabbok. Set's things up, because suddenly, he gets word from the scouts going ahead, "Your brother Esau is coming with two hundred warriors." "Oh, ho, ho, ho, man! The last time I saw this guy he had threatened to kill me. And I ran because, you know, he was going to kill me. Now he's coming with two hundred men. What am I gonna do? I can't go back." Because he and Laban had drawn a line, and Laban says, "Don't you cross over this line; if you do, you've had it." And Jacob said, "Don't you cross over to me, or you've had it, you know." And so, they put a line of, you know, don't cross over. He couldn't go back, but he was afraid to go forward.

Hey, Jacob was one of the most resourceful persons in the world, naturally. He was a resourceful guy. Always had an angle. Could always get the best of the other person. Totally resourceful. But now he's cornered. In the morning, Esau will be coming over the hill with two hundred men. He can't go back. And so, he seeks to set things up, and then beds down for the night, get a good night's rest. "I'm going to need all the strength I can in the morning." But the Lord had other ideas. And there wrestled with him an angel of the Lord all night long. So, rather than getting a good night's rest to face a heavy day, he finds himself wrestling all night with an angel of the Lord until the day began to break. And the angel had not prevailed against him.

Many people believe that the angel was none other than the Lord. I do believe this. It was Jesus Christ that wrestled with him. He called the name of the place Penuel, for he said, "I have seen God face to face." But it is said the angel of the Lord touched him in the thigh, and he became a cripple. Hey, what it took to get this guy to the end of himself. Because he was so clever and resourceful, God had to really deal with him in a heavy way. He's got a line; he can't go back. His brother's coming with two hundred men. Now he's been wrestling all night, he's tired. And beyond that, now the angel touches him and he becomes a cripple. The muscle shriveled up, painful cripple.

Now at that point, he had had it. He was finally defeated. The resourcefulness, it's all over. "I've had it." And so, he began to weep and cry, and he said to the angel, "Don't leave me without blessing me."

Now according to the scripture, if you ask for a blessing, you are acknowledging the superiority of the other party, as the lesser is always blessed by the greater. You've read that in scripture. So, when he is asking for a blessing, he is admitting defeat. "I've had it. I'm defeated. Please bless me." And the angel of the Lord said, "What is your name?" And he said, "Dirty Sneaky Thief." And he said, "You won't be Dirty Sneaky Thief anymore, but you will be a man governed by God, Israel, a man of God."

He was brought to the end of himself, but he was brought to the beginning of a whole new dimension of life. What a glorious day of victory that was for Jacob, when he was brought to the end of himself. The end of his natural cunning craftiness, and he turned his life over to God, and he became from that point, a man governed by God. So, the place of defeat was actually the place of the beginning of a life of victory.

As we so often discover in ourselves, the place where we give up, where we are forced to give up, where we despair ourselves of ever coming out of it, "This is it. I've had it. This is the end, and I just give up." That is the place where God then has the opportunities of working. It's not a scripture; it's a poem. But it has so much truth in it, it could be a scripture, and that is, "Man's extremities are God's opportunities." When I come to the extremity of my own self and I can't go any further, that is the place that God has the opportunity to work in my life. And I find that God often brings me to that place in order that He might work.

Now, because of my nature, God often has to bring me to that place before He can work. Because He knows that I am basically a pretty self-confident person. Feel that I can handle a situation. And if He let me just go ahead and handle it, then I would say, "Well, I faced that." But I, you know, I just set myself and gritted my teeth and said, "I'm gonna make it, you know. And I went through." And God knows I'm that kind of a person. I'll try and go through. And so God lets me try and try and try until I'm beat, until I come to the end of myself, and I say, "God, I can't go through. I've had it." And then God opens the door. I say, "Oh God, why am I so stupid? Why did I wait so long? Why did I go through so much suffering before just turning it over to you?"

You see, the place of our defeat is often the place of the greatest victory, because we come to the end of ourselves and we turn it over to God at that point. So many people, when they get to that place, "At last, I've had it. This is the end." No, it's the beginning of a whole new experience, the experience of God's power working in your life.

So, Paul came to that place, and Paul's the same kind of guy. He was the kind of guy, "Hey, let's go for it," you know. A will that wouldn't quit. So God brought him to the despairing of life. "I was pressed beyond my measure, beyond my strength, so that I despaired of life. I thought, 'This is it.' And we had the sentence of death in ourselves, that we should not trust ourselves." And that is always the purpose for God bringing you to the end of yourself, is that you won't trust yourself, but you'll learn to trust in God who can raise the dead.

Who delivered us from so great a death, and doth deliver us: in whom we trust that he will yet deliver us ( 2 Corinthians 1:10 );

The past, present, future. "He did deliver us. Right now He is continuing to deliver us, and I just trust He is going to deliver us." You see, the future victories are assured by the past victories. God's faithfulness in the past is a testimony to me of His continued faithfulness in the future. God was faithful; He delivered me. God is faithful; He is delivering me. And thus, my faith and trust grows, and I know that God will be faithful, and shall deliver me. The past becomes a prophesy of the future and the basis for my trust and faith for the future.

Ye also helping together by prayer for us ( 2 Corinthians 1:11 ),

And so Paul is acknowledging his gratefulness to them because their prayers had an important part in that work of God.

that for the gift bestowed upon us by the means of many persons thanks may be given by many on our behalf ( 2 Corinthians 1:11 ).

So I thank you for your prayers and your gifts for us.

For our rejoicing is this, the testimony of our conscience, that in simplicity and godly sincerity, not with fleshly wisdom, but by the grace of God, we have had our conversation [manner of life] in the world, and more abundantly to youward ( 2 Corinthians 1:12 ).

So, Paul describes the way he lived with them and before them. It was in simplicity and godly sincerity. And that should be the case of every minister of God. That they learn to live a simple life in all sincerity before people. That they not be caught up with fancy clothes and fancy fashions and high-fashioned or high-life kind of a thing, but they live a simple life. And also that they live a very sincere life, that they are not one thing in the pulpit and they preach one thing, and live another. But their life is sincere before the people, and they are the same out of the pulpit as they are in the pulpit. They're the same in the home as they are in the church, a life of sincerity.

Of course, you know the origin of that word sincere in English. It comes from Latin sini cere, and literally, it means without wax. Now, of course, in the time of Rome and the Roman kingdom, because people didn't have much to do there were a lot of men who just sat around and chiseled on marble and made statues, bust, and so forth of different persons. And if you look at the work of these artists, it's remarkable. It's really outstanding. I've been through the museum in Greece and in Rome, and have seen a lot of the work that goes back to that period. But you know, even an artist can sometimes make a mistake. And you might be trying to get just the right curve on the nose and the hammer slip, and wham; the nose pops off of this bit of marble. Well, these fellas became very clever. They had learned how to take wax and mix it with marble to where it looked just like marble. And so, they would patch up this broken nose with wax. And you would buy this beautiful statue, not knowing that the nose was wax. And come summertime, on those hot days, you'd walk into your family room and look at your beautiful statue that you've paid so much for, and the nose had melted and run down the face. And so the word sincerity, without wax.

What you see is what you get. That you are the same, that you live a very sincere life. And thus, Paul expressed his life, his manner of living before them in simplicity and godly sincerity, not in fleshly wisdom, but by the grace of God.

For we write none other things unto you, than what ye read or acknowledge; and I trust ye shall acknowledge even to the end ( 2 Corinthians 1:13 );

In other words, "I'm not two-faced; I'm just straight. And the things I write to you, I'm not thinking something else. There isn't a double meaning in what I am saying."

I had a woman in the church that I pastored one time that was always looking for a secondary meaning. And she would call me up on the phone on a Monday morning, and she would say, "Now Pastor Smith, last night when you said 'good night' to me, what did you really mean by that?" And always, you know, "What do you really mean? What are you really trying to say to me?" Well, for one thing, I'm too stupid to, you know, have hidden kind of cryptic messages in what I say. I say what I mean, and I mean what I say.

And so, Paul is declaring the same thing about himself, "What I acknowledge to you is the same. You know, it's what you read and acknowledge. I don't have any other writing, that's what I feel towards you, that's what it is."

As also ye have acknowledged us in part, that we are your rejoicing, even as ye also are ours in the day of the Lord Jesus. And in this confidence I was minded to come unto you before, that ye might have a second benefit ( 2 Corinthians 1:14-15 );

Now, "I really intended to come." What Paul had said, he had written earlier and said he was coming to them, and then he didn't show up. And so, those detractors of Paul were saying, "Oh, the guy's fickle. You can't take him for his word. He just said that, but he really didn't mean it." And so Paul here is bearing witness to the fact that he was sincere when he wrote the things and acknowledged the things, that's what he was intending to do. He was sincere in it. "And I was intending to come unto you."

And to pass by you into Macedonia, and to come again out of Macedonia unto you, and of you to be brought on my way toward Judea ( 2 Corinthians 1:16 ).

I was, really. That was what I had in mind.

When I therefore was thus minded, did I use lightness? ( 2 Corinthians 1:17 )

Or the Greek word is fickleness. Was I fickle when I said that?

or the things that I purpose, do I purpose according to the flesh, that with me there should be yea, yea, and nay, nay? ( 2 Corinthians 1:17 )

He says "yes," but he really means "no." He says "no," but he really means "yes." Now Jesus said, "Let your yes be yes and let your no be no. Be a man of your word" ( Matthew 5:37 ). They were accusing Paul of violating this. "He is not a man of his word. He said he was going to come; he didn't come. He never intended to come in the first place, you see." And they were using the fact that he didn't show up as a tool against him. But Paul is saying, "Hey, I was sincere. I'm not fickle."

But as God is true, our word toward you was not yea and nay ( 2 Corinthians 1:18 ).

"I was really intending to do it; it was in my mind to do."

For the Son of God, Jesus Christ, who was preached among you by us, even by me and Silvanus and Timotheus ( 2 Corinthians 1:19 ),

So Timothy was there, and Silvanus was with Paul when he first preached in Corinth.

was not yea and nay, but in him was yea ( 2 Corinthians 1:19 ).

The gospel that we preached was a positive gospel. It was straightforward. It wasn't a two-faced thing. And then he declares,

For all the promises of God in him are yea ( 2 Corinthians 1:20 ),

In other words, "All of the promises of God to us have been fulfilled in Jesus."

and in him Amen, unto the glory of God by us ( 2 Corinthians 1:20 ).

Jesus is the assurance to us that God's promises are all true. And all of God's promises to you are wrapped up in Christ. God has promised to give you life, that life that is in Jesus. This is the record God has given to us eternal life, and this life is in the Son. God has promised to give you peace, but that peace is in Jesus. God has promised mercies to you, but those mercies are coming to you in Jesus. All of the promises in Him are yes, or are fulfilled in Him to us, and the fact that God sent His Son is the assurance to us that God is going to keep all of His word and all of His promises that He has made to us of that eternal kingdom and the glory that we shall share with Him, world without end. Jesus is the affirmation to you that God has meant what He said and that He will keep all of the promises that He has made of the coming kingdom and the glory of that kingdom that shall be yours when you live with Him in His kingdom forever.

So, Paul is declaring here, Jesus, the assurance. He is the yes of God to us.

Now he who has stablisheth us with you in Christ, and hath anointed us, is God ( 2 Corinthians 1:21 );

It is God's work. Paul is acknowledging the One that has established us with you in Christ and has anointed our lives.

Who hath also sealed us, and given the earnest of the Spirit in our hearts ( 2 Corinthians 1:22 ).

The earnest, the word there is a Greek word, which is like our word deposit or down payment. Paul tells us in Ephesians chapter 1 that God has given to us, "He has sealed us with the Holy Spirit, which is the earnest of our inheritance until the redemption of the purchased possession" ( Ephesians 1:13-14 ). God has purchased you that you might be His forever, that you might share in the glory of His eternal kingdom.

Now, to show you that He is sincere, He has given you a down payment. "Yes, I really intend to complete my redemption of you. To show you that I am sincere, I'll give you a deposit, a down payment: the Holy Spirit, sealed. Sealed with the Holy Spirit." Of course, the idea of the seal was a stamp of ownership. "You're mine. I claim you. Here's the down payment, and one day I'll redeem your body and bring you into glory. But in the meantime, I'm sincere. Here's the Holy Spirit to prove My sincerity. He is the earnest." And so, God has given to us the Spirit, sealed us, given us the earnest of the Spirit in our hearts.

Moreover I call God for a record upon my soul, that to spare you I came not as yet unto Corinth ( 2 Corinthians 1:23 ).

The first word that Paul got back from Corinth wasn't so encouraging. And he was upset, and was going to come and just take off into them, you know, just really go at it as the natural man would. And he was patient, waiting to hear the full word from Titus before coming. And so, "It was really to spare you that I didn't come."

Not for that we have dominion over your faith, but are helpers of your joy: for by faith ye stand ( 2 Corinthians 1:24 ).

Paul's glory is additive. "I didn't want to come and have dominion over you." There are many people, many pastors today that want to have dominion over the people. "Now don't you dare go to another fellowship. Don't you dare do this or that." And they want to have dominion over the people. Paul said, "I don't want to have dominion over your faith. I want to just share in the joys. Great position to be in, for by faith you stand. I just want to help you to experience the full joy in the Lord."

I was in a church for so many years where they exercised dominion, that I was almost afraid of going to another church. I'd surely, you know . . . "Well, if you go to another church, you pray the rapture doesn't happen while you're there. Because they're not as spiritual or righteous or all as we are, you know." And it was terrible to feel so bound. And that's why I think that I've always ministered with such liberty. I've always felt that if you have to tie someone to keep them, you don't have them anyhow. You better let them go than have them there screaming because of their bondage.

"

Contending for the Faith

Ye also helping together by prayer for us, that for the gift bestowed upon us by the means of many persons thanks may be given by many on our behalf.

Ye also helping together by prayer for us: Paul acknowledges that the Corinthians assist him by praying for him. Prayer was an important part of Paul’s life. He often requested others to pray for him. In writing to the church of the Thessalonians, Paul simply says, "Brethren, pray for us" (1 Thessalonians 5:25). In his second letter to the Thessalonians, he says, "Finally, brethren, pray for us, that the word of the Lord may have free course, and be glorified, even as it is with you:" (2 Thessalonians 3:1). In his letter to the Christians in Rome, he begs for prayer for several areas of his life, saying:

Now I beseech you, brethren, for the Lord Jesus Christ’s sake, and for the love of the Spirit, that ye strive together with me in your prayers to God for me; That I may be delivered from them that do not believe in Judaea; and that my service which I have for Jerusalem may be accepted of the saints; That I may come unto you with joy by the will of God, and may with you be refreshed (Romans 15:30-32).

Paul clearly believes in prayer and knows that the Corinthians’ praying for him will further the work he does among them and other churches.

that for the gift bestowed upon us by the means of many persons thanks may be given by many on our behalf: The word "that" (hina) means "in order that" or "inasmuch as what follows is not the thing prayed for, but the purpose of the prayer" (Ezra P. Gould 153). The "gift" (kharismah) is his deliverance from death. Thayer says the "gift" is the "deliverance from great peril to life" (Thayer 667-1-5486). The word "persons" (prosopon) means the "countenance" (Thayer 551-2-4383) of many faces as the people turned toward God to pray for him.

Paul refers to three actions:

1.    Many people pray for Paul during his time of persecution.

2.    God answers the prayers offered for Paul and blesses him.

3.    Other people offer prayers of thanksgiving for God’s blessing Paul by delivering him from his oppressors.

Dr. Constable's Expository Notes

I. INTRODUCTION 1:1-11

Like most of Paul’s epistles, this one begins with a salutation to the recipients and than words of thanksgiving to God for His encouraging comfort.

Dr. Constable's Expository Notes

B. Thanksgiving for comfort in affliction 1:3-11

In this pericope Paul gave thanks to God for the comfort (2 Corinthians 1:3-7) and deliverance (2 Corinthians 1:8-11) that he had experienced recently. He wanted to enable his readers to appreciate what he as an apostle had endured for Christ and the super-abounding comfort God supplies to compensate for all afflictions suffered for His sake.

"It [this section] is no mere amiable preamble intended only to cushion the sterner matters which the Apostle is shortly to broach. On the contrary, it is very much of a piece with the major theme of the opening portion of this epistle, namely, Paul’s vindication of his own integrity." [Note: Hughes, p. 9.]

Paul’s main concern in this section was that his readers learn the values of his experiences, not just the facts concerning what had happened to him. Consequently he dealt with these first. He shared the effects of his experiences (2 Corinthians 1:3-7), and then told them of one experience (2 Corinthians 1:8-11).

Paul’s almost invariable practice of following salutation with thanksgiving in his epistles was a common feature of secular letters in his day. [Note: Plummer, p. 5.] Compared with his other epistles, however, there is some difference in this thanksgiving.

"St. Paul usually thanks God for some grace bestowed on those whom he addresses, and hence his omission of the Thanksgiving in the stern letter to the Galatians; here and in 1 Timothy 1:12 he gives thanks for benefits bestowed on himself. But his readers are not forgotten (2 Corinthians 1:6-7); it is largely on their account that he is so thankful." [Note: Ibid.]

Dr. Constable's Expository Notes

2. Thanksgiving for deliverance 1:8-11

Paul’s thanksgiving continues, but its focus shifts from the reason for thanksgiving to details of the situation that provided the occasion for it.

Dr. Constable's Expository Notes

Paul seems to have had no doubt that his brothers and sisters in Corinth would continue to pray for him.

". . . the Apostle is as secure of the intercession of the Corinthians as he is of God’s protection, and the one will contribute to the other." [Note: Plummer, p. 20.]

"Joining in helping" is the translation of a Greek word used only here in the New Testament: synypourgounton. It consists of three words meaning "with," "under," and "work." It paints a picture of laborers bowed down under some heavy burden that they are working hard together to lift.

"Intercessory prayer has great power, otherwise Paul would not so often solicit it on his own behalf, and enjoin the duty on his readers." [Note: Hodge, p. 12.]

"There is no limit to the power of intercessory prayer; and though the display of God’s mercy does not depend on it, we may be sure that He desires nothing more than that His people should be united in mutual intercession offered in the name of His Son. When such prayer is answered, it results in an outburst of praise and thanksgiving which redounds greatly to God’s glory." [Note: R. V. G. Tasker, The Second Epistle of Paul to the Corinthians, p. 44.]

"In prayer, human impotence casts itself at the feet of divine omnipotence." [Note: Hughes, p. 23.]

"My heart always rejoices when anyone writes or says to me, ’I am praying for you,’ for I need to be prayed for. I am so forgetful about prayer myself; so many times when I should be praying I am busy at something else, and often if there is any power at all in my messages I know it is because somebody at home or in the audience is praying for me. One owes so much to the prayers of God’s beloved people." [Note: Ironside, pp. 33-34.]

"Persons" (Gr. prosopon) is literally "faces." A literal rendering presents the attractive picture of many faces turned upward toward heaven offering thanks to God for His answers to the united prayers of Paul and his readers. This is doubtless the figure Paul wanted us to visualize in this verse.

From this introduction hopefully we have learned a greater appreciation of the comfort of God and the afflictions He allows us to experience in our service for Him.

"The Arabs have a proverb, ’All sunshine makes a desert.’" [Note: Barclay, p. 192.]

"In this beautiful introduction Paul found occasion to be thankful in the most trying circumstances. Even suffering has benefits. It provides the occasion to experience God’s comfort, to watch Him answer prayer, and to observe how believers can be strengthened in their Christian walk and witness by another’s circumstances." [Note: Kent, p. 34.]

"Comfort is the great word, comfort from God, comfort for others. So he prepared for whatever he had to say presently of rebuke, by a revelation of great tenderness. He called them to sympathize with him, and he assured them that God had sympathized with him, and that He would sympathize with them as they are asked to sympathize with him. It is the sympathy of sharing the activity of God, Who is the God of all comfort." [Note: Morgan, p. 229.]

Barclay's Daily Study Bible

Chapter 1

COMFORTED TO COMFORT ( 2 Corinthians 1:1-7 )

1:1-7 Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus through God's will, and Timothy, the brother you all know, send this letter to the Church of God which is at Corinth, together with all God's dedicated people who are in the whole of Achaea. Grace be to you and peace from God our Father, and from the Lord Jesus Christ.

Behind this passage there is a kind of summary of the Christian life.

(i) Paul writes as a man who knows trouble to those who are in trouble. The word that he uses for affliction is thlipsis ( G2347) . In ordinary Greek this word always describes actual physical pressure on a man. R. C. Trench writes, "When, according to the ancient law of England, those who wilfully refused to plead had heavy weights placed on their breasts, and were so pressed and crushed to death, this was literally thlipsis ( G2347) ."

Sometimes there falls upon a man's spirit the burden and the mystery of this unintelligible world. In the early years of Christianity the man who chose to become a Christian chose to face trouble. There might well come to him abandonment by his own family, hostility from his heathen neighbours, and persecution from the official powers. Samuel Rutherford wrote to one of his friends, "God has called you to Christ's side, and the wind is now in Christ's face in this land: and seeing ye are with him ye cannot expect the lee-side or the sunny side of the brae." It is always a costly thing to be a real Christian, for there can be no Christianity without its cross.

(ii) The answer to this suffering lies in endurance. The Greek word for this endurance is hupomone ( G5281) . The keynote of hupomone is not grim, bleak acceptance of trouble but triumph. It describes the spirit which can not only accept suffering but triumph over it. Someone once said to a sufferer, "Suffering colours life, doesn't it?" The sufferer replied, "Yes, but I propose to choose the colours" As the silver comes purer from the fire, so the Christian can emerge finer and stronger from hard days. The Christian is the athlete of God whose spiritual muscles become stronger from the discipline of difficulties.

(iii) But we are not left to face this trial and to provide this endurance alone. There comes to us the comfort of God. Between 2 Corinthians 1:3 and 2 Corinthians 1:7 the noun comfort or the verb to comfort occurs no fewer than nine times. Comfort in the New Testament always means far more than soothing sympathy. Always it is true to its root meaning, for its root is the Latin fortis and fortis means brave. Christian comfort is the comfort which brings courage and enables a man to cope with all that life can do to him. Paul was quite sure that God never sends a man a vision without the power to work it out and never sends him a task without the strength to do it.

Even apart from that, there is always a certain inspiration in any suffering which a man's Christianity may incur, for such suffering, as Paul puts it, is the overflow of Christ's suffering reaching to us. It is a sharing in the suffering of Christ. In the old days of chivalry, the knights used to come demanding some specially difficult task, in order that they might show their devotion to the lady whom they loved. To suffer for Christ is a privilege. When the hard thing comes, the Christian can say, as Polycarp, the aged Bishop of Smyrna, said when they bound him to the stake, "I thank thee that thou hast judged me worthy of this hour."

(iv) The supreme result of all this is that we gain the power to comfort others who are going through it. Paul claims that the things which have happened to him and the comfort which he has received have made him able to be a source of comfort to others. Barrie tells how his mother lost her dearest son, and then he says, "That is where my mother got her soft eyes and why other mothers ran to her when they had lost a child." It was said of Jesus, "Because he himself has gone through it, he is able to help others who are going through it." ( Hebrews 2:18). It is worth while experiencing suffering and sorrow if that experience will enable us to help others struggling with life's billows.

DRIVEN BACK ON GOD ( 2 Corinthians 1:8-11 )

1:8-11 I want you to know, brothers, about the terrible experience which happened to us in Asia, an experience in which we were excessively weighted down till it was beyond bearing, so that we despaired even of life. The only verdict we could give on our condition was the verdict of death; but this happened in order that we should not trust in ourselves but in the God who raises the dead. It was he who rescued us from so terrible a death, and who will rescue us. We hope in him that he will continue to rescue us, while you lend the help of your prayers for us, so that thanks on our behalf will be given from many faces and through many people for the gift of God's grace which came to us.

The most extraordinary thing about this passage is that we have no information at all about this terrible experience which Paul went through at Ephesus. Something happened to him which was almost beyond bearing. He was in such danger that he believed that sentence of death had been passed on him and that there was no escape, and yet, beyond this passing reference and some others like it in these letters, we have no account of what happened.

There is a very human tendency to make the most of anything that we have to go through. Often a person who has undergone a quite simple operation will make it a subject of conversation for a long time to come. H. L. Gee tells of two men who met to transact some business in days of war. The one was full of how the train in which he had travelled had been attacked from the air. He would not stop talking about the excitement, the danger, the narrow escape. The other in the end said quietly, "Well, let's get on with our business now. I'd like to get away fairly early because my house was demolished by a bomb last night."

People who have really suffered usually do not talk about it very much. King George the Fifth had as one of his rules of life, "If I have to suffer let me be like a well-bred animal and go and suffer in silence and alone." Paul made no parade of his sufferings, and we who have so much less to suffer should follow his example.

But Paul saw that the terrifying experience he had gone through had had one tremendous use--it had driven him back to God and demonstrated to him his utter dependence on him. The Arabs have a proverb, "All sunshine makes a desert." The danger of prosperity is that it encourages a false independence; it makes us think that we are well able to handle life alone. For every one prayer that rises to God in days of prosperity, ten thousand rise in days of adversity. As Lincoln had it, "I have often been driven to my knees in prayer because I had nowhere else to go." It is often in misfortune that a man finds out who are his true friends, and it often needs some time of adversity to show us how much we need God.

The outcome was that Paul had an unshakable confidence in God. He knew now beyond all argument what he could do for him. If God could bring him through that, he could bring him through anything. The joyful cry of the Psalmist is, "Thou hast delivered my soul from death, my eyes from tears, my feet from stumbling." ( Psalms 116:8.) What really converted John Bunyan was when he heard some old women sitting in the sun "talking about what God had done for their souls." The confidence of the Christian in God is not a thing of theory and speculation; it is a thing of fact and experience. He knows what God has done for him and therefore he is not afraid.

Finally, Paul asks for the prayers of the Corinthians. As we have noted before, the greatest of the saints is not ashamed to ask for the prayers of the least of the brethren. We may have very little to give our friends; but, however little of this world's goods we possess, we may give them the priceless treasure of our prayers.

OUR ONLY BOAST ( 2 Corinthians 1:12-14 )

1:12-14 The only boast we make is this--and it is backed by the witness of our conscience--that in the world we have behaved ourselves with the holiness and the purity of God, not with a wisdom dominated by human motives, but with the grace of God, and especially so towards you. We have written no other things to you than those which you read and understand, and I hope that you will go on to understand even their deepest meanings and significances, just as you have already understood them at least in part, because we are your boast, as you are ours, in the day of Christ.

Here we begin to catch the undertones of the accusations that the Corinthians were levelling against Paul and of the slanders with which they were trying to besmirch him.

(i) They must have been saying that there was more in Paul's conduct than met the eye. His answer is that he has lived with the holiness and the purity of God. There were no hidden actions in Paul's life. We might well add a new beatitude to the list, "Blessed is the man who has nothing to hide." It is an old jest to tell of how a man went from door to door saying, "Flee! All is discovered!" and how the most unlikely people fled. It is said that once an architect offered to build a Greek philosopher a house so constructed that it would be impossible to see into it. "I will give you double your fee," said the philosopher, "if you will build me a house into every room of which everyone can see." The word Paul uses for purity (eilikrineia, G1505) is most interesting. It may describe something which can bear the test of being held up to the light of the sun and looked at with the sun shining through it. Happy is the man whose every action will bear the light of day and who, like Paul, can claim that there are no hidden actions in his life.

(ii) There were those who were attributing hidden motives to Paul. His answer is that his whole conduct is dominated, not by calculating shrewdness, but by the grace of God. There were no hidden motives in Paul's life. Burns in another connection points out the difficulty of discovering "the moving why they did it." If we are honest, we will have to admit that we seldom do anything with absolutely unmixed motives. Even when we do something fine, there may be entangled with it motives of prudence, of prestige, of self-display, of fear, of calculation. Men may never see these motives, but, as Thomas Aquinas said, "Man regardeth the deed but God seeth the intention." Purity of action may be difficult, but purity of motive is still more difficult. Such purity can come to us only when we too can say that our old self has died and Christ lives in us.

(iii) There were those who said that Paul in his letters did not quite mean what he said. His answer was that there were no hidden meanings in his words. Words are odd things. A man may use them to reveal his thoughts or equally to conceal them. Few of us can honestly say that we mean to the full every word we say. We may say a thing because it is the right thing to say; we may say it for the sake of being agreeable; we may say it for the sake of avoiding trouble. James, who saw the dangers of the tongue more clearly than any man, said, "If any one makes no mistakes in what he says he is a perfect man." ( James 3:2.)

In Paul's life there were no hidden actions, no hidden motives and no hidden meanings. That is indeed something to aim at.

GOD'S YES IN JESUS CHRIST ( 2 Corinthians 1:15-22 )

1:15-22 It was with this confidence that I previously planned to visit you, that I might bring you pleasure for the second time, and so go on to Macedonia by way of you, and be sped by you on my way to Judaea. So then, when I made this plan, surely you cannot think that I did so with a fickle intention? Or can you really think that when I make plans I make them as a worldly man might make them, so that I say yes and no at one and the same time? You can rely on God. You can be quite sure that the message we brought to you does not vacillate between yes and no. For God's Son, Jesus Christ, he who was proclaimed among you through myself and Silvanus and Timothy, was not one who vacillated between yes and no. It was always yes with him. He is the yes to all the promises of God. That is why we can say, "Amen," through him when we speak it to the glory of God. But it is God who guarantees you with us for Christ, the God who has anointed us and sealed us, and who has given us the Holy Spirit in our hearts as the first instalment and pledge of the life that shall be.

At first sight this is a difficult passage. Behind it lies another accusation and slander against Paul. Paul had said that he would visit the Corinthians, but the situation had become so bitter that he postponed his visit so as not to give them pain ( 2 Corinthians 1:23). His enemies had promptly accused him of being the kind of man who made frivolous promises with a fickle intention and could not be pinned down to a definite yes or no. That was bad enough, but they went on to argue, "If we cannot trust Paul's everyday promises, how can we trust the things he told us about God?" Paul's answer is that we can rely on God and that there is no vacillation in Jesus between yes and no.

Then he puts the matter in a vivid phrase--"Jesus is the yes to every promise of God." He means this--had Jesus never come we might have doubted the tremendous promises of God, might have argued that they were too good to be true. But a God who loves us so much that he gave us his Son is quite certain to fulfil every promise that he ever made. He is the personal guarantee of God that the greatest and the least of his promises are all true.

Although the Corinthians were slandering Paul, there remains this salutary truth--the trustworthiness of the messenger affects the trustworthiness of the message. Preaching is always "truth through personality." And if a man cannot trust the preacher, he is not likely to trust the preacher's message. Amongst the Jewish regulations regarding the conduct and character of a teacher, it is laid down that he must never promise anything to a class which be cannot or will not do. This would be to accustom the class to falsehood. Here is a warning that promises should never be lightly given, for they may well be as lightly broken. Before a man gives a promise, he should count the cost of keeping it and make sure that he is able and willing to pay it.

Paul goes on to say two great things.

(i) It is through Jesus that we say "Amen" to the promises of God. We finish our prayers by saying, "through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen." When we have read scripture we frequently conclude it by saying, "Amen." Amen means So let it be, and the great truth is that it is not just a formality and a bit of ritual; it is the word that expresses our confidence that we can offer our prayers with every confidence to God and can appropriate with confidence all his great promises, because Jesus is the guarantee that our prayers will be heard and that all the great promises are true.

(ii) Finally, Paul speaks about what the King James Version calls the earnest of the Spirit. The Greek word is arrabon ( G728) . And an arrabon was the first instalment of a payment, paid as a guarantee that the rest was sure to follow. It is a common word in Greek legal documents. A woman selling a cow receives 1,000 drachmae as arrabon ( G728) that the rest of the purchase price will be paid. Some dancing girls being engaged for a village festival receive so much as arrabon ( G728) , which will be included in the final payment, but which is a present guarantee that the contract will be honoured and the full money paid. A certain man writes to his master that he has paid Lampon, the mouse-catcher, an arrabon of 8 drachmae so that he will start work and catch the mice while they are still with young. It was the first instalment and the guarantee that the rest would be paid. Everyone knew this word. It is the same idea as is in the Scots word arles which was a token payment made when a man was employed or a house bought, and a guarantee that the full contract would be honoured. When Paul speaks of the Holy Spirit as an arrabon ( G728) given us by God, he means that the kind of life we live by the help of the Holy Spirit is the first instalment of the life of heaven and the guarantee that the fullness of that life will some day open upon us. The gift of the Holy Spirit is God's token and pledge of still greater things to come.

WHEN A SAINT REBUKES ( 2 Corinthians 1:23-24 ; 2 Corinthians 2:1-4 )

1:23-24 I call God to witness against my soul that it was because I wished to spare you that I did not come again to Corinth. I am not saying this because we have any desire to domineer over your faith, but because we desire to labour with you to produce joy. As far as faith is concerned, you stand firm. But for my own peace of mind I came to this decision--not to come to you again in grief. For, if I grieve you, who then is there to make me glad, except him who is grieved by what I have done? I write this very letter so that when I do come I may not incur grief at the hands of those from whom I ought to have joy, for I have never lost my confidence in every one of you, and I am still sure that my joy and the joy of all of you are one and the same thing. So I wrote you a letter out of much affliction and anguish of heart, it was through my tears I wrote it, not that I wanted you to be grieved, but that I wanted you to know the love I bear especially to you.

Here is the echo of unhappy things. As we have seen in the introduction, the sequence of events must have been this. The situation in Corinth had gone from bad to worse. The Church was tom with party divisions and there were those who denied the authority of Paul. Seeking to mend matters, Paul had paid a flying visit to Corinth. So far from mending things, that visit had exacerbated them and had nearly broken his heart. In consequence he had written a very severe letter of rebuke, written with a sore heart and through tears. It was just for that very reason that he had not fulfilled his promise to visit them again, for, as things were, the visit could only have hurt him and them.

Behind this passage lies the whole heart of Paul when he had to deal in severity with those he loved.

(i) He used severity and rebuke very unwillingly. He used them only when he was driven to use them and there was nothing else left to do. There are some people whose eyes are always focussed to find fault, whose tongues are always tuned to criticize, in whose voice there is always a rasp and an edge. Paul was not like that. In this he was wise. If we are constantly critical and fault-finding, if we are habitually angry and harsh, if we rebuke far more than we praise, the plain fact is that even our severity loses its effect. It is discounted because it is so constant. The more seldom a man rebukes, the more effective it is when he does. In any event, the eyes of a truly Christian man seek ever for things to praise and not for things to condemn.

(ii) When Paul did rebuke, he did it in love. He never spoke merely to hurt. There can be sadistic pleasure in seeing someone wince at a sharp and cruel word. But Paul was not like that. He never rebuked to cause pain; he always rebuked to restore joy. When John Knox was on his deathbed he said, "God knows that my mind was always void of hatred to the persons of those against whom I thundered my severest judgments." It is possible to hate the sin but love the sinner. The effective rebuke is that given with the arm of love round the other person. The rebuke of blazing anger may hurt and even terrify; but the rebuke of hurt and sorrowing love alone can break the heart.

(iii) When Paul rebuked, the last thing he wanted was to domineer. In a modern novel, a father says to his son, "I'll beat the fear of the loving God into you." The great danger which the preacher and the teacher ever incur is of coming to think that our duty is to compel others to think exactly as we do and to insist that if they do not see things as we see them, they must be wrong. The duty of the teacher is not to impose beliefs on other people, but to enable and to encourage them to think out their own beliefs. The aim is not to produce a pale copy of oneself, but to create an independent human being. One who was taught by that great teacher, A. B. Bruce, said, "He cut the cables and gave us a glimpse of the blue waters." Paul knew that as a teacher he must never domineer, although he must discipline and guide.

(iv) Finally, for all his reluctance to rebuke, for all his desire to see the best in others, for all the love that was in his heart, Paul nonetheless does rebuke when rebuke becomes necessary. When John Knox rebuked Queen Mary for her proposed marriage to Don Carlos, at first she tried anger and outraged majesty and then she tried "tears in abundance." Knox's answer was, "I never delighted in the weeping of any of God's creatures. I can scarcely well abide the tears of my own boys, whom my own hand correcteth, much less can I rejoice in Your Majesty's weeping. But I must sustain, albeit unwillingly, Your Majesty's tears rather than I dare hurt my conscience, or betray my commonwealth through my silence." Not seldom we refrain from rebuke because of mistaken kindness, or because of the desire to avoid trouble. But there is a time when to avoid trouble is to store up trouble and when to seek for a lazy or cowardly peace is to court a still greater danger. If we are guided by love and by consideration, not for our own pride but for the ultimate good of others, we will know the time to speak and the time to be silent.

-Barclay's Daily Study Bible (NT)

Gann's Commentary on the Bible

2 Corinthians 2:11

help us by prayer -- Paul often requested the prayers of the recipients of his letters. Paul had a deep conviction of the efficacy of intercessory prayer (Romans 15:30-31; Philippians 1:19; Philemon 1:22).

Paul wanted the faithful Corinthians to know he needed their prayers then and in the future (cf. Ephesians 6:18; James 5:16).

for the blessings [gift] granted us -- Paul believed the prayers of the saints for him would result in blessings to others for which they would be thankful to God.

Prayer’s duty is not to change God’s plans, but to glorify Him and give thanks for them.

given by many persons [NKJV] -- "persons” is literally “face” (prosōpon) Paul uses this term often in II Corinthians (cf. 2 Corinthians 2:10; 2 Corinthians 3:7 [twice], 2 Corinthians 3:13, 2 Corinthians 3:18; 2 Corinthians 4:6; 2 Corinthians 5:12; 2 Corinthians 8:24; 2 Corinthians 10:1, 2 Corinthians 10:7; 2 Corinthians 11:20). It may be an OT allusion to the standard physical position of prayer with head lifted, which exactly fits this context. - Utley

Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible

You also helping together by prayer for us,.... Though the apostle ascribes their deliverance solely to God, as the author and efficient cause of it; yet he takes notice of the prayers of the saints for them, as helping causes or means of their obtaining it. It was a very laudable practice in the churches, and worthy of imitation, to pray for the ministers of the Gospel, and especially when under affliction and persecution; see Acts 12:5, and the prayers of those righteous ones were heard by God, and often effectual for the deliverance of them, as they were in the present case: for

by the means of many persons, who wrestled together in prayer with God,

the gift of deliverance from so great a death, which the apostle looked upon as a wonderful mercy, χαρισμα, "a free grace gift", was "bestowed upon" them, which was granted for this end,

that thanks may be given by many on our behalf; which is but reasonable, and ought to be observed; for since many were concerned in asking for, and obtaining the mercy, they ought to join in thanksgiving for it: and the apostle's view in this is to stir them up to a joint acknowledgment of the deliverance with them, which better became them than to side with the false apostles in their charge against him.

Henry's Complete Commentary on the Bible

      7 And our hope of you is stedfast, knowing, that as ye are partakers of the sufferings, so shall ye be also of the consolation.   8 For we would not, brethren, have you ignorant of our trouble which came to us in Asia, that we were pressed out of measure, above strength, insomuch that we despaired even of life:   9 But we had the sentence of death in ourselves, that we should not trust in ourselves, but in God which raiseth the dead:   10 Who delivered us from so great a death, and doth deliver: in whom we trust that he will yet deliver us;   11 Ye also helping together by prayer for us, that for the gift bestowed upon us by the means of many persons thanks may be given by many on our behalf.

      In these verses the apostle speaks for the encouragement and edification of the Corinthians; and tells them (2 Corinthians 1:7; 2 Corinthians 1:7) of his persuasion or stedfast hope that they should receive benefit by the troubles he and his companions in labour and travel had met with, that their faith should not be weakened, but their consolations increased. In order to this he tells them, 1. What their sufferings had been (2 Corinthians 1:8; 2 Corinthians 1:8): We would not have you ignorant of our trouble. It was convenient for the churches to know what were the sufferings of their ministers. It is not certain what particular troubles in Asia are here referred to; whether the tumult raised by Demetrius at Ephesus, mentioned Acts 19:24-41, or the fight with beasts at Ephesus, mentioned in the former epistle (1 Corinthians 15:32; 1 Corinthians 15:32), or some other trouble; for the apostle was in deaths often. This however is evident, that they were great tribulations. They were pushed out of measure, to a very extraordinary degree, above the common strength of men, or of ordinary Christians, to bear up under them, insomuch that they despaired even of life (2 Corinthians 1:8; 2 Corinthians 1:8), and thought they should have been killed, or have fainted away and expired. 2. What they did in their distress: They trusted in God. And they were brought to this extremity in order that they should not trust in themselves but in God,2 Corinthians 1:9; 2 Corinthians 1:9. Note, God often brings his people into great straits, that they may apprehend their own insufficiency to help themselves, and may be induced to place their trust and hope in his all-sufficiency. Our extremity is God's opportunity. In the mount will the Lord be seen; and we may safely trust in God, who raiseth the dead,2 Corinthians 1:9; 2 Corinthians 1:9. God's raising the dead is a proof of his almighty power. He that can do this can do any thing, can do all things, and is worthy to be trusted in at all times. Abraham's faith fastened upon this instance of the divine power: He believed God who quickeneth the dead,Romans 4:17. If we should be brought so low as to despair even of life, yet we may then trust in God, who can bring back not only from the gates, but from the jaws, of death. 3. What the deliverance was that they had obtained; and this was seasonable and continued. Their hope and trust were not in vain, nor shall any who trust in him be ashamed. God had delivered them, and did still deliver them, 2 Corinthians 1:10; 2 Corinthians 1:10. Having obtained help of God, they continued to that day,Acts 26:22. 4. What use they made of this deliverance: We trust that he will yet deliver us (2 Corinthians 1:10; 2 Corinthians 1:10), that God will deliver to the end, and preserve to his heavenly kingdom. Note, Past experiences are great encouragements to faith and hope, and they lay great obligations to trust in God for time to come. We reproach our experiences if we distrust God in future straits, who hath delivered as in former troubles. David, even when a young man, and when he had but a small stock of experiences, argued after the manner of the apostle here, 1 Samuel 17:37. 5. What was desired of the Corinthians upon this account: That they would help together by prayer for them (2 Corinthians 1:11; 2 Corinthians 1:11), by social prayer, agreeing and joining together in prayer on their behalf. Note, our trusting in God must not supersede the use of any proper and appointed means; and prayer is one of those means. We should pray for ourselves and for one another. The apostle had himself a great interest in the throne of grace, yet he desires the help of others' prayers. If we thus help one another by our prayers, we may hope for an occasion of giving thanks by many for answer of prayer. And it is our duty not only to help one another with prayer, but in praise and thanksgiving, and thereby to make suitable returns for benefits received.

Kelly Commentary on Books of the Bible

2 Corinthians 1:1-24. It is impossible to read the two epistles to the Corinthians with the smallest care without perceiving the strong contrast between the wounded tone of the first epistle (the heart aggrieved so much the more because it loved the saints), and now, in the second, that same heart filled with consolation about them from God. This is exceedingly assuring, and it is as evidently divine, the effectual working of God's own grace.

In human things nothing really shuts out decay. The utmost wise men essay is to put a drag on the progress of corruption, and to stave off as long as may be the too rapid inroads of death. Thanks be to God, it h not so in divine things. There is nothing which so brings out the resources of God as His supremacy over evil in grace, nothing that so manifests His tender mercy and His goodness wherever there is real faith. And spite of the painful disorders of the Corinthians, reality was there. So the apostle, though heart-broken because of their state, would confidently look up to God about them, even in his first so strongly reproving epistle; for it was the Lord Himself who had told him He had much people in that city. There was small appearance of it when he wrote the earlier letter to them; but the Lord was right, as He always is, and the apostle confided in the Lord spite of appearances. He now tastes the joyful fruit of his faith in the recovering grace of the Lord. Hence in this epistle we have not so much as in the former the evidence of their outward disorders. The apostle is not occupied as there with the regulation of the state of the church as such, but we see souls restored. There is indeed the result of that salutary dealing in the very different state of individuals, and also of the assembly; but very emphatically, whatever might be the effect on the many, to a large extent there is a blessed unfolding of life in Christ in its power and effects.

Thus our epistle reminds us to a certain extent of the epistle to the Philippians, resembling it, though not of course the same, nor by any means of so lofty a character; but nevertheless a state appears wholly different from the downward path which the first epistle had reproved. For this change God had prepared His servant; for He takes in everything in His matchless wisdom and ways. He considers not only those written to, but the one He was employing to write. Assuredly He had dealt with them, but He had also dealt with His servant Paul. It was another sort of dealing, not without humbling to them, in him withering to nature, without the shame that necessarily befell the saints at Corinth, but so much the more fitting him to go out in love toward them. As he knew what God's grace had wrought in their hearts, he could the more freely express the sympathy he felt, and, encouraged by all that had been wrought, take up what remained to be accomplished in them. But the unfailing grace of God, that works in the midst of weakness and in the face of death, and had so wrought mightily in him, made the Corinthians very dear to him, and enabled him to bring to bear on their circumstances and their state the most suited comfort that it was ever the mission of that blessed man to minister to the hearts of those that were broken down.

This he now pours forth abundantly, "Blessed be God;" for his heart, surcharged with grief when the first epistle was written, could open, "Blessed be God, even the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies, and the God of all comfort; who comforteth us in all our tribulation, that we may be able to comfort them which are in any trouble," no matter what, were it through grave faults, were it to their own deep shame and to his grief as once. But now the comfort far overcomes the sorrow, and we are enabled to "comfort them that are in any trouble, by the comfort wherewith we ourselves are comforted of God." Here with a true heart he at once brings in the sufferings of Christ: "For as the sufferings of Christ abound in us, so our consolation also aboundeth by Christ. And whether we be afflicted, it is for your consolation and salvation."

The difference in this from Philippians, to which I have referred, is remarkable. The point in hand there is, that they were working out their own salvation, the apostle being, in a certain sense, completely shut out from them. Unable from circumstances, he there lets them know that he does not mingle himself with them in the same way. Their state did not need it. Undoubtedly this is a difference; but it is only that which is owing to their manhood in grace. Here they wanted more. It was the unfolding of grace in both; but the difference was largely to the credit of His name in the Philippians. It was the proof of their excellent condition that the apostle had such perfect confidence in them, even while he was absolutely precluded from being near them. He was at a distance from them, and had but small prospect of meeting with them shortly.

To the Corinthians he could speak otherwise. He was comparatively near, and was hoping the third time, as he tells us in the latter part of the epistle, to come to them. Nevertheless he interweaves his own experience with theirs in a way which is wonderfully gracious to those who had a heart. "And whether we be afflicted," he says, "it is for your consolation and salvation, which is effectual in the enduring of the same sufferings which we also suffer: or whether we be comforted, it is for your consolation and salvation." Was it not the reckoning of grace? Whatever came on them, it was for their comfort. If affliction, the Lord would turn it to their blessing; if joy and consolation, no less to their blessing. At the same time he lets them know what trouble had come upon himself, and in the most delightful manner turns it to account. Whatever was the might of God that had sustained him when there was nothing on their part to give him comfort, but rather to add to the anguish of his spirit, now that grace was operating in their hearts, he shows how dependant he felt on their prayers. Truly beautiful is grace, and far different from the manner of man.

How blessed to have the working of God not only in Him that is absolute perfection, but in one who feels like ourselves, who had the same nature in the same state that has wrought such continual mischief towards God! At the same time, it is proved by such a one as this servant of God to be only the means of furnishing additional proof in another form that the might of God's Spirit is without limit, and can work the greatest moral wonders even in a poor human heart. Undoubtedly we should lose much if we had it not in its full perfection in Christ; but how much we should lose if we had not also the working of grace, not where human nature was itself lovely, not a spot without nor a taint of sin within, but where everything natural was evil, and nothing else; where nevertheless the power of the Holy Ghost wrought in the new man, lifting the believer completely above the flesh. This was the case with the apostle.

At the same time there was the answer of grace in their hearts, though it might be developed comparatively but little. Evidently there was a great deal that required to be set right in them; but they were on the right road. This was a joy to his heart, and so at once he encourages them, and gives them to know how little his heart had turned away from them, how he loved to link himself with them instead of standing aloof from them. "Ye also helping together by prayer for us, that for the gift bestowed upon us by the means of many persons thanks may be given by many on our behalf. For our rejoicing is this, the testimony of our conscience, that in simplicity and godly sincerity," etc. He had been charged with the contrary. Being a man of remarkable wisdom and power of discernment, he paid the penalty that this must always entail in this world. That is, they imputed it to his ability and natural penetration; and the real power of the Spirit of God was thus merely accredited to flesh.

There was also an imputation of vacillation if not dishonesty. His purpose of visiting Corinth had been set aside. First of all the apostle takes this up in a spirit of self-renunciation, bent on Christ's glory. Supposing their imputation to be true, supposing Paul had been as fickle-minded a man as his enemies insinuated, if he had said he would come and did not come after all, what then? At any rate his preaching was not thus. The word that Paul preached was not "yea and nay." In Christ it was "Yea," where there is no "nay." There is no refusal nor failure. There is everything to win, and comfort, and establish the soul in Christ. There is no negation of grace, still less of uncertainty in Christ Jesus the Lord. There is everything that can comfort the sad, attract the hard, and embolden the distrustful. Let it be the very vilest, what is there lacking that can lead on and into the highest place of blessing and enjoyment of God, not only in hope, but even now by the Spirit of God in the face of all adversaries? This was the Christ that he loved to preach. By Him came grace and truth. He at least is absolutely what He speaks. Who or what was so worthy of trust? And this is put in a most forcible way. "For," says he, "all the promises of God in him are yea, and in him Amen." It is not a bare literal accomplishment of the promises. This is not the, statement any more than the state of things which is come in now; but as to all the promises of God, it matters not what they may be, in Him is the yea, and in Him the Amen, to the glory of God by us. They have found their every verification in Christ.

Was eternal life promised? In Him was eternal life in its highest form. For what will be eternal life in the millennial day compared with that which was and now is in Jesus? It will be a most real introduction and outshining of eternal life in that day; but still in Christ the believer has it now, and in its absolute perfection. Take, again, remission of sins. Will that display of divine mercy, so needed by and precious to the guilty sinner, be known in the millennium at all comparably with what God has brought in and sends out now in Christ? Take what you please, say heavenly glory; and is not Christ in it in all perfection? It does not matter, therefore, what may be looked at, "whatever be the promises of God, in him is the yea, and in him the Amen." It is not said in us. Evidently there are many promises not yet accomplished as regards us. Satan has not lost but acquired, in the dominion of the world, a higher place by the crucifixion of the Lord Jesus Christ; but faith can see in that very act by which he acquired it his eternal downfall. Now is the judgment of the world. The prince of the world is judged, but the sentence is not executed yet. Instead of being dethroned by the cross, he has thereby gained in the world that remarkable place and title. But for all that, whatever the apparent success of the devil, and whatever the delay as to "the promises of God, in Him is the yea, and in Him the Amen, unto the glory of God by us."

But further, the apostle is not content with this alone. He would have them know, having thus described the word which he preached, that which was infinitely dearer to him than his own character. Now he tells them that it was to spare them he had not come to Corinth. This ought to have been a reproof; and it is given in the most delicate manner. It was the sweet result of divine love in his heart. He preferred to tarry or turn aside, rather than to visit the Corinthians in their then condition. Had he come at all, he must have come with a rod, and this he could not endure. He wished to come with nothing but kindness, to blame nobody, to speak of nothing painful and humiliating to them (albeit, in truth, more humiliating to him, for he loved them). And as a parent would be ashamed in his child's shame far more than the child is capable of feeling, so precisely the apostle had this feeling about those he had begotten in the gospel. He loved the Corinthians dearly, spite of all their faults, and he would rather bear their unworthy suggestions of a fickle mind because he did not visit them at once, than come to censure them in their evil and proud state. He wished to give them time, that he might come with joy.

In 2 Corinthians 2:1-17 this is entered into a little more, and the deep anxiety of his heart is shown about them. We may easily gather what an open door for evangelizing is to one who was a great preacher of the gospel, as well as an apostle and a teacher of the Gentiles. Although such an opportunity now offered itself, and was, no doubt, a strong impelling cause to work there, still he had no rest for his spirit. His heart was disturbed about the state of Corinth, and the case that tried him most in their midst. It seemed as if he felt nothing else, as if there was no sufficient call to occupy him in other quarters. He could turn from that most animating and immediate reward to any labourer in this world. Whatever might be the preciousness of presenting Christ to those who knew Him not, to see the manifestation of the glory of Christ in those that did know Him, to see it restored where it was obscured was something even nearer to his heart. The one would be, no doubt, great joy to wretched souls, and the spread of the glory of the Lord in the regions beyond; but here the glory of the Lord had been tarnished in those that bore His name before men; and how could Paul feel this lightly? What pressed so urgently on him? Hence it was that no attraction of gospel service, no promise of work, however fair, that called him elsewhere, could detain him. He felt the deepest affliction about the saints, as he says here, and had no rest in his spirit, because he found not Titus his brother, who had been to see them.

Then, again, among the particular instances which most pressed on him was, his exceeding trouble about the man he had ordered them to put away. For this he had authority from God, and the responsibility of heeding it abides, I need not say, in its entirety for us. We are just as much under that authority as they were. But now that God had wrought in the man who was the chief and grossest evidence of the power of Satan in the assembly, what a comfort to his heart! This sin, unknown even among the Gentiles, and the more shameful as being where the name of the Lord Jesus had been confessed and the Spirit dwelt, became the occasion of the most salutary instruction for all their souls, for they had learnt what becomes God's assembly under such humiliating circumstances. And they had responded to the solemn call pressed on them in the name of the Lord, and had purged out the evil leaven from the midst of their paschal feast. Only now they were in danger on the judicial side. They were disposed to be as over-severe as they had been previously unexercised and lax. Paul would infuse the same spirit of grace towards the penitent offender that filled himself. They had realised at length the shame that had been done to the Lord's glory, and were indignant with themselves as parties to identifying His name, not to speak of themselves, with such scandals. Thus they were slow to forgive the man that had wrought such a wrong, and Satan sought in an opposite way to separate them in heart from the blessed apostle, who had roused them to just feelings after their too long slumber. Just as Paul was horrified at their indifference to sin at first, so now it was impossible but that he must be concerned, lest there should be a failure in grace as a little before in righteousness. But there is nothing like a manifestation of grace to call out grace; and he lets them know what was his own feeling, not merely about the wrong-doer, but about themselves. "To whom ye forgive anything, I forgive also; for if I forgave anything, to whom I forgave it, for your sakes forgave I it in the person of Christ; lest Satan should gain an advantage over us: for we are not ignorant of his devices." This is his spirit. It is no longer a command, but a trust reposed in the saints; and when we think of that which is afterwards to appear in this epistle, what was still at work among them as well as what had been, it is certainly a most blessed and beautiful proof of the reality of grace, and of the effects which can be, as they have been, produced by it in the heart of a saint here below. What do we not owe to Jesus?

After having disposed of this matter for the present (for he recurs to it afterwards), he turns to speak of the way in which he was led of God through trial, no matter of what character. let the question be of the man who had wandered so far astray, but was now restored really to the Lord, and to whom he desired that his brethren should publicly confirm their love; or let it be that he is turned aside from gospel work because of his anxiety on their account, he now tells them of the triumph which the Lord gave him to prove everywhere.

This leads in2 Corinthians 3:1-18; 2 Corinthians 3:1-18 to an unfolding of righteousness in Christ, but in a style considerably different from what we found in the Epistle to the Romans. There the broad and deep, foundations were exposed to view, as well as the Spirit's power and liberty consequent on the soul's submission to Christ's work. The proposition was God just and the justifier, not by blood only, but in that resurrection power in which Christ rose from among the dead. According to no less a work of such a Saviour we are justified.

But in this chapter the Spirit goes higher still. He connects righteousness with heavenly glory, while at the same time this righteousness and glory are shown to be perfectly in grace as regards us. It is not in the slightest degree glory without love (as sometimes people might think of glory as a cold thing); and if it withers up man from before it, the fleshly nature no doubt, it is only with a view to the enjoyment of greater vigour, through the power of Christ resting on us in our detected and felt weakness.

The chapter opens with an allusion to the habit so familiar to God's church of sending and requiring a letter of commendation. "Do we begin again to commend ourselves? or need we, as some others, epistles of commendation to you, or letters of commendation from you?" Not at all. And what then is his letter of commendation? Themselves. What confidence he must have had in the gracious power of God, that his letter of commendation could be the Corinthian saints! He does not look around to choose the most striking instances of those converted by him. He takes what was perhaps the most humiliating scene that he had ever experienced, and he points even to these saints as a letter of commendation. And why so? Because he knew the power of life in Christ. He was reassured. In the darkest day he had looked up to God with confidence about it, when any other heart had failed utterly; but now that light was beginning to dawn upon them, yet still but dawned so to speak afresh, he could boldly say that they were not merely his, but Christ's, letter. Bolder and bolder evidently he becomes as he thinks of the name of the Lord and of that enjoyment which he had found, and found afresh, in the midst of all his troubles. Hence he says, "Ye are our epistle written in our hearts, known and read of all men: forasmuch as ye are manifestly declared to be the epistle of Christ ministered by us, written not with ink, but with the Spirit of the living God; not in tables of stone, but in fleshy tables of the heart." There were not wanting there those that endeavoured to impose legal principles on the Corinthians. Not that here it was the strongest or subtlest effort of the enemy. There was more of Sadduceeism at work among them than of Pharisaism; but still not infrequently Satan finds room for both, or a link between both. His ministry was emphatically not that which could find its type in any form of the law, or in what was written upon stone, but on the fleshy table of the heart by the Spirit of the living God. Accordingly this gives rise to a most striking contrast of the letter that kills and of the spirit that gives life. As is said here, "Not that we are sufficient of ourselves to think anything as of ourselves; but our sufficiency is of God; who also hath made us able ministers of the new covenant." Then lest any should conceive that this was the accomplishment of the Old Testament, he lets us know it is no more than the spirit of that covenant, not the letter. The covenant itself in its express terms awaits both houses of Israel in a day not yet arrived; but meanwhile Christ in glory anticipates for us that day, and this is, of course, "not of the letter, but of the spirit: for the letter killeth, but the spirit giveth life."

Next, we find a long parenthesis; for the true connection of the end of verse 6 is with verse 17, and all between properly forms a digression. I shall read the words outside the parenthesis, in order to make this manifest. He had said that "the spirit giveth life." Now the Lord (he adds) "is that spirit;" which last word ought to be printed with a small "s," not a capital. Some Bibles have this, I dare say, correctly; but others, like the one in my hand, incorrectly. "That spirit" does not mean the Holy Ghost, though it is He alone that could enable a soul to seize the spirit under the letter. But the apostle, I believe, means that the Lord Jesus is the spirit of the different forms that are found in the law. Thus he turns aside in a remarkable but characteristic manner; and as he intimates in what sense he was the minister of the new covenant (i.e. not in a mere literal fashion but in the spirit of it), so he connects this spirit with the forms of the law all through. There is a distinct divine purpose or idea couched under the legal forms, as their inner spirit, and this, he lets us know, is really Christ the Lord "Now the Lord is that spirit." This it is that ran through the whole legal system in its different types and shadows.

Then he brings in the Holy Ghost, "and where" (not simply "that spirit," but) "the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty." There is a notable difference between the two expressions. "The Spirit of the Lord" is the Holy Spirit that characterizes Christianity; but underneath the letter of the Jewish system, faith seized "the spirit" that referred to Christ. There was the outward ritual and commandment with which flesh made itself content; but faith always looked to the Lord, and saw Him, however dimly, beyond the letter in which God marked indelibly, and now makes known by ever accumulating proofs, that He from the first pointed to the One that was coming. A greater than anything then manifested was there; underneath the Moseses and the Aarons, the Davids and the Solomons, underneath what was said and done, signs and tokens converged on One that was promised, even Christ.

And now "where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty." This was unknown under the Levitical order of things. There was a veiled form of truth, and now it is manifest. The Holy Ghost brings us into the power and enjoyment of this as a present thing. Where He is, there is liberty.

But looking back for a moment at the parenthesis, we see that the direct effect of the law (no matter what may be the mercy of God that sustained, spite of its curse) is in itself a ministration of death. Law can only condemn; it can but enforce death as on God's part. It never was in any sense the intention of God by the law to introduce either righteousness or life. Nor these only, but the Spirit He now brings in through Christ. "If the ministration of death, written and engraven in stones, was glorious, so that the children of Israel could not stedfastly behold the face of Moses for the glory of his countenance; which glory was to be done away," it was not at all an abiding thing, but merely temporary in its own nature, "how shall not the ministration of the Spirit be, rather glorious? For if the ministration of condemnation" (another point after the ministration of death; if it then) "be glory, much more doth the ministration of righteousness exceed in glory." It is not simply the mercy of God, you observe, but the ministration of righteousness. When the Lord was here below, what was the character of His ministration? It was grace; not yet a ministration of righteousness. Of course, He was emphatically righteous, and everything He did was perfectly consistent with the character of the Righteous. Never was there the smallest deflection from righteousness in aught He ever did or said. Grace and truth came by Jesus Christ. But when He went up to heaven on the footing of redemption through His blood, He had put away sin by the sacrifice of Himself: the ministration was not of grace merely, but of righteousness. In short, righteousness without redemption must destroy, not save; grace before redemption could not deliver, but at most forbear to judge; but righteousness founded on redemption provides the stablest possible basis for the believer.

Whatever the mercy displayed to us now, it is perfectly righteous in God to show it. He is vindicated in everything. Salvation is no stretch of His prerogative. Its language is not, "The person is guilty; but I will let him off; I will not execute the sentence against him." The Christian is now admitted to a place before God according to the acceptance of Christ Himself. Being altogether by Christ, it brings nothing but glory to God, because Christ who died was God's own Son, given of His own love for this very purpose, and there in the midst of all wrongs, of everything out of course here below, while the evil still remains unremoved, and death ravages still, and Satan has acquired all possible power of place as god and prince of this world, this deepest manifestation of God's own glory is given, bringing souls which were once the guiltiest and the vilest out of it, not only before God, but in their own souls, and in the knowledge and enjoyment of it, and all righteously through Christ's redemption. This is what the apostle triumphs in here. So he calls it not the ministration of life indeed; for there was always the new birth or nature through the mercy of God; but now he brings in a far fuller name of blessing, that of the Spirit, because the ministration of the Spirit is over and above life. It supposes life, but moreover also the gift and presence of the Holy Ghost. The great mistake now is when saints cling to the old things, lingering among, the ruins of death when God has given them a title flowing from grace, but abundant in righteousness, and a ministration not merely of life, but of the Spirit.

So he goes on farther, and says that "that which was made glorious had no glory in this respect, by reason of the glory that excelleth. For if that which is done away was glorious, much more that which remaineth is glorious." This again is another quality that he speaks of. We come to what abides to what never can be shaken, as he puts it to the Hebrews later. To this permanence of blessing we are come in Christ, no matter what else may come. Death may come for us; judgment certainly will for the world for man at least. The complete passing away of this creation is at hand. But we are already arrived at that which remains, and no destruction of earth can possibly affect its security; no removal to heaven will have any other effect than to bring out its lustre and abidingness. So he says, "Seeing then that we have such hope, we use great plainness of speech: and not as Moses, which put a veil over his face."

This characterized the dealings of the law, that there never was the bringing God and man, so to speak, face to face. Such a meeting could not yet be. But now it is. Not only has God come down to man face to face, but man is brought to look in where God is in His own glory, and without a veil between. It is not the condescension of the Word made flesh coming down to where man is, but the triumph of accomplished righteousness and glory, because the Spirit comes down from Christ in heaven. It is the ministration of the Spirit, who comes down from the exalted man in glory, and has given us the assurance that this is our portion, now to look into it, soon to be with Him. Hence he says it is "not as Moses, which put a veil over his face, that the children of Israel could not stedfastly look to the end of that which is abolished: but their minds were blinded: for until this day remaineth the same veil untaken away in the reading of the Old Testament; which veil is done away in Christ." This is as in Christ when known to us. So "even unto this day, when Moses is read, the veil is upon their heart. Nevertheless when it shall turn to the Lord, the veil shall be taken away." But then we do not wait here for their turning to the Lord, which will be their portion by-and-by. Meanwhile the Lord has turned to us, turning us to Himself, in His great grace, and brought us into righteousness, peace, as well as glory in hope yea, in present communion, through redemption. The consequence is, all evil is gone for us, and all blessedness secured, and known to be so, in Christ; and, as he says here, "where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty." Then, he adds further, "We all, with open [unveiled] face, beholding ["as in a glass" is uncalled for] the glory of the Lord, are changed into the same image from glory to glory, even as by the Spirit of the Lord." Thus the effect of the triumph of our Lord Jesus, and of the testimony of the Holy Ghost, is to put us into present association with the glory of the Lord as the object before our souls; and this is what transforms us according to its own heavenly character.

In 2 Corinthians 4:1-18 the apostle takes into account the vessel that contains the heavenly treasure. He shows that as "we have this ministry, and "have received mercy" therefore to the uttermost, "we faint not; but have renounced the hidden things of dishonesty, not walking in craftiness, nor handling the word of God deceitfully; but by manifestation of the truth commending ourselves to every man's conscience in the sight of God. But if our gospel be hid, it is bid to them that are lost." Such is the solemn conclusion: "In whom the god of this world hath blinded the minds of them which believe not, lest the light of the glorious gospel of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine unto them. For we preach not ourselves, but Christ Jesus the Lord; and ourselves your servants for Jesus' sake. For God, who commanded the light to shine out of darkness, hath shined in our hearts, to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ."

This is the gospel of the glory of Christ. It is not merely that we have the heavenly title, as we are taught in 1 Corinthians 15:1-58. The utmost on this subject brought before us there was, that we are designated "heavenly," and are destined to bear the image of the heavenly One by-and-by. The second epistle comes between the two points of title and destiny, with the transforming effect of occupation with Christ in His glory on high. Thus space is left for practice and experience between our calling and our glorification. But then this course between is by no means sparing to nature; for, as he shows here, "we have this treasure in earthen vessels, that the excellency of the power may be of God, and not of us." God makes us feel this, and helps on the practical transformation; and by what means? By bringing us into every kind of trouble and sorrow, so as to make nothing of flesh. For it is the allowed liveliness of nature that hinders the manifestation of the treasure; whereas its judgment leaves room for the light to shine out. This, then, is what God carries on. It explained much in the apostle's path which they had not been in a state to comprehend; and it contributed, where received and applied in the Spirit, to advance God's objects as regards them. "Death worketh in us, but life in you." What grace, and how blessed the truth! But see the way in which the process is carried on, "We are troubled on every side, yet not distressed; we are perplexed, but not in despair; persecuted, but not forsaken; cast down, but not destroyed; always bearing about in the body the dying of the Lord Jesus, that the life also of Jesus might be made manifest in our body. For we which live are alway delivered unto death." He speaks of the actualisation: all helps the great object, even such circumstances as seemed the most disastrous possible. God exposed His servant to death. This was only carrying out more effectually the breaking down that was always going on. "So then death worketh in us, but life in you. We having the same spirit of faith, according as it is written, I believed, and therefore have I spoken; we also believe, and therefore speak; knowing that he which raised up the Lord Jesus shall raise up us also by Jesus, and shall present us with you. For all things are for your sakes." And thus then, if there was the endurance of affliction, he would encourage their hearts, calling, as he felt it, "light affliction." He knew well what trial was. "Our light affliction, which is but for a moment, worketh for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory; while we look not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen: for the things which are seen are temporal; but the things which are not seen are eternal."

This introduces the Christian's estimate of both death and judgment as measured by Christ. He looks now steadily at all that can possibly appal the natural heart. Death the Christian may pass through. Judgment will never be for the Christian. Nevertheless his sense of judgment, as it really will come, although not for himself, is most influential and for others too. There may be a mighty effect on the soul, and a deep spring of worship, and a powerful lever in service, through that which does not concern us at all. The sense of what it is may be all the more felt because we are delivered from its weight; and we can thus more thoroughly, because more calmly, contemplate it in the light of God, seeing its inevitable approach and overwhelming power for those that have not Christ. Accordingly he says, "We know that if our earthly house of this tabernacle were dissolved, we have a building of God, an house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens. For in this we groan, earnestly desiring to be clothed upon with our house which is from heaven."

But let us not forget that he takes care (for his heart was not relieved as to every individual in Corinth) to add solemnly, "If so be that being clothed we shall not be found naked." He was not quite sure but that some there might be found exposed, because devoid of a Saviour. There are those who give this a very different turn, and make it to be a verse of consolation instead of warning; but such a view deprives us of the true scope of the clause. The common version and natural interpretation appears to me quite correct. It does not mean "since being clothed we shall not be found naked," which has no worthy lesson to convey to any soul. The readings differ, but that which answers to the common version I believe to be correct. The apostle would warn every soul that, although every one will be clothed in the day that is coming (namely, at the resurrection of the body, when souls are no longer found without the body but clothed), nevertheless some, even in spite of that clothing, shall be found naked. The wicked are then to be clothed no less than the saints, who will have been already raised or changed; their bodies shall be raised from the dead just as truly as those of the righteous; but when the unrighteous stand in resurrection before the great white throne, how, bare will they appear? What will it be in that day to have no Christ to clothe us?

After so salutary a caution to such as made too much of knowledge in the neglect of conscience, the apostle turns to that fulness of comfort which he was communicating to the saints. "We," he says, "that are in this tabernacle do groan, being burdened." He has no wish to deny the sorrow and weakness. He knew what it is to suffer and be sorrowful far better than any of them. "We that are in this tabernacle do groan, being burdened: not for that we would be unclothed." Thus there is no mere wish to get away from the present scene with its sadness and trial. It is never allowed one to be impatient. To desire to be with Christ is right; but to be restive under that which connects us with shame and pain is not of Christ. "Not for," then, "that we would be unclothed, but clothed upon." This was his ardent wish, to be "clothed upon, that mortality might be swallowed up of life." It is not that he might die, but the very reverse, that the mortality already working in him might be swallowed up by Him who is eternal life, and our life.

He that hath wrought us for the self-same thing is God." It is not here wrought something for us, but "wrought us." This is a remarkable expression of the grace of God in associating with His unfailing purpose in Christ. "He that hath wrought us for the self-same thing is God, who also hath given unto us the earnest of the Spirit;" given us, therefore, even now a taste of the blessedness and glory that are in store for us. "Therefore we are always confident." Think of such language! Think of it as the apostle's words describing, our portion, and in full view of both death and judgment! "We are always confident." We can easily understand one whose eye was simply on Christ and His love, saying, "We are confident," though turning to look at that which might well tax the stoutest heart. Certainly it were madness not to be overwhelmed by it, unless there were such a ministration of the Spirit as the apostle was then enjoying in its fruits in his soul. But he did enjoy it profoundly; and, what is more, he puts it as the common enjoyment of all Christians. It is not alone a question of his own individual feelings, but of that which God gave him to share now with the saints of God as such. "Therefore," says he, "we are always confident, knowing that, whilst we are at home in the body, we are absent from the Lord: for we walk by faith, not by sight: we are confident, I say, and willing rather to be absent from the body, and to be present with the Lord. Wherefore we labour, that, whether present or absent, we may be accepted of him. For we must all appear before the judgment-seat of Christ."

This, again, is a very important truth indeed in its own place, and the effect is most striking; namely, deep anxiety about the lost, and the consciousness of our own manifestation to God now. Not that I mean by this that we shall not be manifested by-and-by; for we shall be perfectly. But if we are manifest in conscience before God now, it is evident that there is nothing that can cause the slightest uneasiness in our being manifested before Christ's tribunal. The truth is, so far is the manifestation before our Lord a source of alarm to the saint (though it should surely solemnise the heart), that I am persuaded the soul would lose a positive and substantial blessing, if it could by any possibility escape being manifested there. Nor does it matter what the degree of manifestation may now be in conscience. Still, it can never be perfect till then; and our God would give us perfection in this as in all else. It is now hindered by various causes, as far as we are concerned. There is the working of self-love in the hearts of the saints; there is that which has cast a film over the eye which dulls our souls. Alas! we know it too well.

The effect of our manifestation before the tribunal of Christ is, that we shall know as we are known. That is, it will be carrying out in absolute perfection what we now know in the measure of our spirituality. Now, what is the effect of one's arriving at a better knowledge of himself, and a deeper consciousness of the Christian's place in Christ? Always a real blessing, and a means of greater enjoyment of Christ. Is it not much to have a lowlier feeling about ourselves? to esteem others better than ourselves? and thus to deepen daily in the grace of the Lord Jesus? And are not these things the result? And will the perfect knowledge of ourselves be a loss, and not a gain?

At the same time, it is solemn assuredly for every secret to be spread out between the Lord and ourselves. It is solemn for all to be set in the light in which we may have been misled now, and which may have caused trouble and grief to others, casting reproach on the name of the Lord, in itself an affecting and afflicting thing. Never should we be deceived by Satan. He may accuse the saints, but they ought in no case to be deceived by him. He deceives the world, and accuses the brethren. Alas! we know, in point of fact, that we are liable through unwatchfulness to his wiles; but this does not make it less a humiliation for us, and a temporary advantage for Satan when we fall into his trap. We are not ignorant of his devices; but this will not always, nor in itself in any case, preserve us. There are defeats. The judgment-seat of Christ will disclose all; where each hidden thing will be clear; where nothing but the fruit of the Spirit shall stand for ever.

Nevertheless the sight of that judgment-seat brings at once before his eye, not the saints, but the perishing world; and so complete is the peace of his own spirit, so rich and sure the deliverance Christ has accomplished for all the saints, that the expressed effect is to kindle his heart about those that are braving everlasting destruction those on whom the judgment-seat can bring nothing but hopeless exclusion from God and His glory.

For we say here by the way, that we must be all manifested, whether saints or sinners. There is a peculiarity in the phrase which is, to my thinking, quite decisive as to its not meaning saints only. As to the objection to this founded on the word "we," there is no force in it at all. "We" is no doubt commonly used in the apostolic epistles for saints, but not for them exclusively. Context decides. Be assured that all such rules are quite fallacious. What intelligent Christian ever understood from scripture all the canons of criticism in the world? They are not to be trusted for a moment. Why have confidence in anything of the sort? Mere traditional formulas or human technicalities will not do for the ascertainment of God's word. The moment men rest on general laws by which to interpret scripture, I confess they seem to me on the brink of error, or doomed to wander in a desert of ignorance. We must be disciplined if we would learn indeed; and we need to read and hear things as God writes them; but we do well and wisely to eschew all human byways and short-cuts for deciding the sense of what God has revealed. It is not only the students of medieval divinity, or of modem speculation, who are in danger. None of us is beyond the need of jealousy over self, and of simple-hearted looking to the lord.

Here, indeed, the apostle's reasoning, and the nicety of language, furnish demonstrative evidence in the passage (that is, both in the spirit and in the letter), that we must all, whether saints or sinners, be manifested before Christ; not at the same time nor for the same end, but all before His judgment-seat at some time. Had the language been, "we must all be judged," the "we" must have been there limited to the unconverted. While they only come into judgment, believer and unbeliever must alike be manifested. The effect of manifestation for the believer will be the fulness of rest and delight in the ways of God. The effect of the manifestation for the unbeliever will be the total withering up of every excuse or pretence that had deceived him here below. No flesh shall glory in His presence, and man must stand self-convicted before the Judge of all. Thus the choice of language is, as usual in scripture, absolutely perfect, and to my mind quite decisive that the manifestation here is universal. This acts on the servant of Christ, who knows what the terror of the Lord is, and calls him out to "persuade men." What is meant by this? It is really to preach the gospel to men at large.

At the same time the apostle adds, "We commend not ourselves again unto you, but give you occasion to glory on our behalf." For he had expressed his trust of being made manifest to their consciences, as well as stated how absolutely we are manifested to God. "For whether we be beside ourselves, it is to God: or whether we be sober, it is for your cause." Then he brings in the constraining power of the love of Christ, and why? Because, as he looked round him, he saw nothing but death written on man, and all that pertains to him here below. The whole scene was one vast grave. Of course, he was not thinking of the saints of God, but, contrariwise, in the midst of this universal death, as far as man is concerned, he rejoices to see some alive. I understand, therefore, that when he says, "If one die for all, then were all dead," he means those who had really died by sin, and because of the contrast it seems to me plain "He died for all, that they which live" (these are the saints, the objects of God's favour) "should not henceforth live unto themselves, but unto him which died for them, and rose again." What was the effect of this? That having thus before his soul, not the universal death of all only, but some who by grace were alive, through the death and resurrection of Christ, he now brings out, not the contrast of the new creation with all that went before yea, the contrast of the Messianic hopes as such with that higher glory which he was now asserting. Even a living Messiah could not satisfy what his soul had learnt to be in accordance with the glory of God. Not, of course, that he did not delight in the hope of his nation. It is one thing to value what God will do for the earth by-and-by, it is quite another to fail in appreciating that which God has now created and revealed in a risen Christ above, once rejected and dying for us. Accordingly it is one glory that will display the promises and ways of God triumphing over man and Satan; it is another and far surpassing glory which He who is the Messiah, but much more, and now the heavenly man, reveals. His death is the judgment of our sins in God's grace, and an end of the whole scene for us, and hence perfect deliverance from man and from present things yea, even from the best hopes for the earth.

What can be better than a Messiah come to bless man in this world? But the Christian is not occupied with this at all. According to the Old Testament he looked at it, but now that the Messiah is seen dead and risen, now that He is passed into heavenly glory through death, this is the glory for the Christian. "Henceforth know we no man after the flesh:" this puts the saints in a common position of knowledge. "Henceforth know we no man after the flesh: yea, though we have known Christ after the flesh." As for a living Messiah, and all the expectations that were bound up with Him and His coming here below, all this is passed away for the Christian. It is not that the Messiah will not return as such; but as for the sphere and character of our own relations, they are founded on death and resurrection, and seen on high. Such is the way the apostle treats it. He looks at Christ in His relationship with us as One that has passed out of this earth and the lower creation into heavenly places. It is there and thus we know Him. By knowing Him he means the special form of the truth with which we are concerned, the manner in which we are put into positive, living association with Him. That which we know as our centre of union, as the object of our souls, is Christ risen and glorified. In any other point of view, however bright and glorious, "now henceforth know we him no more. Therefore if any man be in Christ," etc.

It is not merely if any man look to Christ: the Old Testament saints rejoiced to see His day; but this is a very different thing from being in Christ. There are many who take the scriptures in so crude and vague a manner that to their eyes it is all the same; but I hope such is not the case with any here. No doubt, to be in Christ as we are now is through looking, to Him. But it was not always so. Take the disciples in the days of Christ's pathway here below: were they in Christ then? Certainly not. There was the working of divine faith in them. They were unquestionably "born again;" but is this the same thing as being "in Christ"? Being in Christ means that, redemption having come in, the Holy Ghost can and does give us a conscious standing in Christ in His now risen character. To be "in Christ" describes the believer, not in Old Testament times, but now.

"Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new. And all things are of God, who hath reconciled us to himself by Jesus Christ, and hath given to us the ministry of reconciliation; to wit, that God was in Christ, reconciling the world unto himself." Thus there is a blessed and suited ministry. The law directed a people at a distance from God. It Supposed such a condition and dealt accordingly. Even if a poor brute touched the mountain, it was to be stoned. At length God came down to meet man in grace as he is; and man rejected God manifest in flesh. Redemption was thereby effected; man is brought without sin to God. Christ is the person who made both good. He brought God down to man, and He brought man in Himself up to God. Such is the position in which we stand. It is not any longer merely God coming down to man in Christ. This is neither the manner nor the measure in which He reveals Himself now. The Lord Jesus Christ is gone up to heaven; and this not as a sole individual, but as the head of a family. He would not take the place of headship until all the evil was completely gone. He would give us His own acceptance before God. He took His stand on retrieving God's moral glory by bearing our sins; yet as He came down, so He went up to God, holy and spotless. He had by His own blood blotted out the sins of others who believe in Him. It was not merely a born Messiah, the chief of Israel, but "God was in Christ."

Observe, not that God is in Christ, but that He was. It is a description of what was manifested when the Lord was here below. But if it be a mistake to read God is, it is a still greater error too common in books, old and new alike, that God has reconciled the world. This is not the meaning of the statement. The English version is perfectly right; the criticism that pretends to correct it is thoroughly wrong It is never said that the world is reconciled to God. Christ was a blessed and adequate image of God; and God was in Him manifesting Himself in the supremacy of His own grace here below. No doubt His law had its suited place; but God in grace is necessarily above the law. As man, at least as of Israel, Jesus was born under the law; but this was in not the slightest degree an abandonment of God's rights, and still less of His grace. God came near to men in love in the most attractive form, going in and out among them, taking up little children, entering into houses when asked, conversing by the way, going about doing good, and healing all that were oppressed of the devil; for God was with Him. It was not merely in quest of the lost sheep of Israel. How could such grace be restrained only to Jews? God had larger thoughts and feelings than this. Therefore let a Gentile centurion come, or a Samaritan woman, or any body else: who was not welcome? For "God was in Christ reconciling the world unto himself, not imputing their trespasses unto them."

Full of grace and truth, He would not even raise the question of this trespass or that. There was no doubt of man's guilt; but this was not the divine way of Christ. Other and more efficacious aims were in the hand of the God of all grace. He would save, but at the same time exercise the conscience more than ever. For great would be the loss for a sinner awakened, if it were possible for him not to take God's part against himself. This is the real course and effect of repentance in the soul. But God was in Christ reconciling the world for all that, yea in order to it. It was not a question of dealing with them for their trespasses. And what now that He is gone away? "He hath committed unto us the word of reconciliation." He is gone, but not the errand of mercy for which He came. The Messiah as such disappears for the time; there remains the fruit of the blessed manifestation of God in Christ in an evil world. "Now then we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God did beseech by us: we pray in Christ's stead, be reconciled to God." But how can this be? On what basis can we essay such a task! Not because the Spirit of God is in us, however true it may be, but because of the atonement. Redemption by Christ's blood is the reason. "For God hath made him. to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in him."

Then, following up this in the next chapter (2 Corinthians 6:1-18), the, true moral traits of the Christian ministry are shown, and what a price it had in his eyes. What should not be done and endured for the sake of worthily carrying out this ministration of Christ here below! What should be the practical witness to a righteousness not acquired by us, but freely given of God! Such is the character of it, according to the work of Christ before God and of His redemption; so we should "give no offence in any thing, that the ministry be not blamed: but in all things approving ourselves as the ministers of God, in much patience, in afflictions, in necessities, in distresses, in stripes, in imprisonments." In every thing crushing to nature did the apostle fulfil his mission. Is the reproach of Christ to be an apostolic perquisite? Are not His servants to share it still? Is it not true from first to last?

Again, in serving the Lord, there are two special ways in which we are apt to go astray. Some err by an undue narrowness, others by as injurious laxity. In fact, it is never right to be narrow, and always wrong to be lax. In Christ there is no license or excuse for either. But the Corinthians, like others, were in danger on both sides; for each provokes the other. Hence the appeal, "O ye Corinthians, our mouth is open unto you, our heart is enlarged. Ye are not straitened in us, but ye are straitened in your own bowels." There was the caution against a narrow heart; but now against a lax path he warns, "Be not unequally yoked together with unbelievers: for what fellowship hath righteousness with unrighteousness? and what communion hath light with darkness? and what concord hath Christ with Belial? or what part hath he that believeth with an infidel? and what agreement hath the temple of God with idols?" Thus is embraced individual responsibility as well as corporate. "For ye are the temple of the living God; as God hath said, I will dwell in them."

Thus, as in the exercise of ministry according to Christ, there was nothing that should not be endured; there was no scorn or trial, no pain or shame, but what he himself counted as nothing that Christ only should be served, and the witness of His name kept up in this world according to His grace; so now he presses on the saints what is incumbent on them as the epistle of Christ, to make good a true witness for Him in this world, steering clear of all that is hard and narrow, which is altogether alien from the grace of God, and of that laxity which is still more offensive to His nature. In the first verse of 2 Corinthians 7:1-16 the whole matter is wound up, "Having therefore these promises, dearly beloved, let us cleanse ourselves from all filthiness of the flesh and spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of God." The second verse evidently belongs to the subject succeeding. In the rest of the seventh chapter he renews (and has, I think, connected both with these words about the ministry and the responsibility of the saints) what he had alluded to already among them. He touches, with that delicate tact so characteristic of him, on their repentance. He would encourage their hearts in every way, but now ventures to go somewhat farther in the grace of Christ.

Accordingly his own feelings are told out, how exceedingly cast down he had been, and oppressed on every side, so that he had no rest. "Without were fightings, within were fears." Indeed, the fear had gone so far, that he had actually been tried as to the inspired epistle he had written. The apostle had a question raised in his mind about his own inspired epistle! Yet what writing was more certainly of God? "For though I made you sorry with the letter, I do not regret, though I did regret." How clearly we learn, whatever the working of God in man, that after all the inspiration of a vessel is far above his own will, and the fruit of the action of the Holy Ghost! As we find an unholy man might be inspired of God to bring out a new communication for example, a Balaam or a Caiaphas, so holy men of God still more. But the remarkable thing to note is the way in which a question was raised even about an epistle which God has preserved in His own book, and, without a doubt, divinely inspired. But he also mentions how glad he was now that, having sent off that letter, he had made them sorry. "For I perceive that the same epistle hath made you sorry, though it were but for a season. Now I rejoice, not that ye were made sorry, but that ye sorrowed to repentance; for ye were made sorry according to God, that ye might receive damage by us in nothing." How great is the grace! "For sorrow according to God worketh repentance to salvation not to be regretted: but the sorrow of the world worketh death. For behold this selfsame thing, that ye sorrowed according to God, what carefulness it wrought in you, yea, what clearing of yourselves, yea, what indignation, yea, what fear, yea, what vehement desire, yea, what zeal, yea, what revenge! In all things ye have approved yourselves to be clear in this matter." What a comfort to the heart that had been so profoundly touched by their state!

In 2 Corinthians 8:1-24, and 2 Corinthians 9:1-15, the subject of contributing for saints is resumed, though a great deal more fully than in 1 Corinthians 16:1-24, and with a fresh spring of joy communicated to his spirit. What an evidence is given of the exercises of his heart in this thing too! It appears he had spoken confidently about the Corinthian saints. There had been afterwards much to wound and weaken that confidence; but he now returns to the matter, and reckons with certainty that the God who had wrought in the painful matter, not of the guilty man only, but in them all about it, that His grace would also give him cause for joy in rousing their hearts into largeness of love for those that were depressed elsewhere. He had boasted of the liberality of the Corinthians, which had kindled zeal in others. On the one hand, he would have his hope of them verified, on the other he desired none to be burdened, but certainly fruit Godward both in the givers and in the receivers. How rich and enriching in His grace! Blessed be God for His unspeakable gift!

In 2 Corinthians 10:1-18, and 2 Corinthians 11:1-33 he comes to another subject his own ministry on which a few words must suffice. Enough had been cleared away to open his heart on it: he could enlarge here. It was his confidence in them that made him write. When his spirit was bound, because of there being so much to cause shame and pain, he could not be free; but now he is. Hence we have here a most blessed opening of what this servant of God felt in what was necessarily a sore distress to his spirit. For what could be more humbling than that the Corinthian saints, the fruit of his own ministry, had admitted into their hearts insinuations against him, doubts of the reality of his apostolate, all that lowering which, in other forms but not substantially unlike, we may have too often observed, and just in proportion to the importance and spiritual value of the trust reposed of God in any on the earth? The apostle knew sorrow as no other ever knew it. Not even the twelve tasted its bitterness as he did, from spirituality and from circumstances; and the manner in which he deals with it, the dignity, and at the same time the lowliness, the faith that looked right to the Lord, but at the same time the warmth of affection, grief of heart mingling with joy, furnish such a tableau as is unique even in the word of God. No such analysis appears anywhere else of the heart of one serving the saints in the midst of the greatest outrages to his love, as we recognise in this epistle. He bows to the charge of rudeness in speech; but they had used the admitted power of his letters against himself. Yet he warns lest what he is absent they may learn in him present. Others might exalt themselves through his labours; he hoped when their faith was increased to preach the gospel in the regions beyond. (2 Corinthians 10:1-18) They had exalted the other apostles in disparagement of him. They had even imputed to him selfishness. It might be true, thought they, that he had reaped no material benefit himself from them; but what about others, his friends? How much there was calculated to wound that generous heart, and, what he felt yet more, to damage his ministry! But in the midst of such sorrow and the rather as flowing from such sources, God watched over all with observant eye. Wonderfully hedged in was His servant, though to speak of himself he calls his folly. (2 Corinthians 11:1-33) But no human power or wit can protect a man of God from malice; nothing can shut out the shafts of evil speaking. In vain to look to flesh and blood for protection: were it possible, how much we should have missed in this epistle! Had his detractors been brethren of the circumcision from Jerusalem, neither the trial nor the blessing would have been anything like what it is for depth; but the fact that it came to Paul from his own children in Achaia was enough to pain him to the quick, and did prove him thoroughly.

But God sometimes lifts us up to look into the glory, as He comes down into the midst of our sorrows in pitiful mercy. This, with his own heart about it, the apostle brings before us lovingly, though it is impossible, within my limits, so much as to touch on all. He spreads before us his sorrows, dangers, and persecutions. This was the ministry of which he had boasted. He had been often whipped and stoned, had been weary, thirsty, hungry, by sea and land: these were the prizes he had received, and these the honours which the world gave him. How it all ought to have gone to their hearts, if they had any feeling at all, as indeed they had! It was good for them to feel it, for they had been taking their ease. He closes the list by telling them at last how he had been let down from the wall of a city in a basket, not a very dignified position for an apostle. It was anything but heroism thus to escape one's enemies.

But the same man who was thus let down immediately after speaks of being caught up to heaven. Now, it is this combination of the truest and most proper dignity that ever a man had in this world, for how few of the sons of man, speaking of course of Christians, that approached Paul in this respect; so on the other hand, how few since have known the dignity of being content to suffer and be nothing, of having every thought and feeling of nature thoroughly crushed, like Paul, within as well as without! So much the more as he was one who felt all most keenly, for he had a heart and mind equally capacious. Such was he who had to be thus tried as Christ's bondman. But when he comes to special wonders, he does not speak about himself; when about the basket he is open. Thus here he talks ambiguously. "I know a man" is his method of introducing the new portion. It is not I, Paul, but "a man in Christ" is taken up, who had seen such things as could not be expressed in human words, nor suited to man's present state. It is therefore left completely vague. The apostle himself says he does not know whether it was in the body, or out of the body; so completely was all removed from the ordinary experience and ken of man. But he adds what is much to be observed, "And lest I should be exalted above measure through the abundance of the revelations, there was given to me a thorn in the flesh." Thus a deeper humiliation befell him than he had ever known, "a thorn in the flesh, the messenger of Satan," the allowed counterbalance to such extraordinary experiences. It was Paul. The secret could not be hid. But Christ is here, as ever, the theme of the apostle from first to last. This was the treasure in the earthen vessel; and in order to bring about corresponding profit, God works by external means as well as by inward grace, so as to carry forward His work of enhancing always and increasingly what is in Christ, and making less and less of man.

The close of the chapter sketches, with painful truth but a loving hand, the outbreakings of that nature, crushed in him, pampered in them. For he dreaded lest God should humble him among them because of their evil ways. What love such a word bespeaks!

The final chapter (2 Corinthians 13:1-14) answers a challenge which he kept for the last place, as indeed it ill became the Corinthians above all men. What a distress to him to speak of it at all! They had actually dared to ask a proof that Christ had spoken to them by him. Had they forgotten that they owed their life and salvation in Christ to his preaching? As he put in the foreground patience as a sign of apostleship, which in him assuredly was taxed beyond measure, so now he fixes on this as the great seal of his apostleship at least, to them. What can be more touching? It is not what Jesus had said by him in books, or in what power the Spirit had wrought by him. "Since ye seek a proof of Christ speaking in me, which to you-ward is not weak, but is mighty in you . . . . . examine yourselves, whether ye be in the faith; prove your own selves." They were the living proof to themselves that he was an apostle of Christ to them. There is no allowance of a doubt in this appeal: rather the very reverse was assumed on their part, which the apostle admirably turns to the confusion of their indecorous and baseless doubts about himself. "Therefore I write these things being absent, lest being present I should use sharpness, according to the power which the Lord hath given me to edification, and not to destruction." Brief and pregnant salutations follow, with the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, the love of God, and the communion of the Holy Ghost.