And so what afflictions soever befall us, there is no reason you should be startled or discouraged in your Christian course by that means; for sure it is for your advantage that we are so. Our afflictions are matter of comfort to you; viz. that you can fall under no persecutions yourselves but what ye see us endure before you; and those merely for our doing you good, preaching the gospel to you, endeavouring to bring you to repentance and to bliss; which is not ordinarily to be come to, but by suffering after my example. And then the refreshments and extraordinary reliefs that Christ afforded me in all my sufferings, those sure will be matter of comfort to you also, as a pledge of assurance that Christ will afford you the like refreshments here, and reward hereafter. And of this I make no doubt, but that as you have your parts in the afflictions, so ye shall also of the reliefs and advantages by suffering. All this I say by way of preface to this advertisement which I desire to give you of the sharp persecutions that I lately met with at Ephesus, the chief metropolis of Asia, Acts xix., (see note [d] 1 Cor. xv,) where I had like to have been brought out to the theatre to be devoured by the wild beasts, and indeed had no human means to avert, nor consequently to escape it. And this advantage I had of it, that the more I believed I should be put to death, the more I might be engaged by my deliverance never to depend on any worldly trust, but only on God, who can rescue from the greatest extremity, even from the grave and death itself. Even that God who hath actually delivered me out of that imminent danger, and so still continues to deliver me, and I verily believe will yet longer continue preservations to me. To which purpose I suppose it will much conduce, that you will earnestly pray for me; for as the ⁴ upon us abound, εἰς ἡμᾶς περισσεύει. ⁵ wrought by, ἐνεργουμένης ἐν. ⁶ for, ὑπέρ. ⁷ you are. ⁸ we ourselves, αὐτοί. ⁹ also yet, καὶ ἔτι. ¹⁰ the favour conferred on us for the sakes of many, may by many be thankfully acknowledged, ἐκ πολλῶν προσώπων τὸ εἰς ἡμᾶς χάρισμα διὰ πολλῶν εὐχαριστηθῇ. M 2 [a] by the means of many persons] The Greek πρόσωπον is ordinarily parallel and proportionable to the Hebrew פנים, facies, which coming from פנה, respexit, signifies oftentimes respectus, and so מפני, de facie, signifies for or in respect of; and agreeable thereto, ἐκ προσώπων πολλῶν, of or from many faces, here signifies in respect of many, in relation to many, for the sakes of many, or in any of those forms of speech by which מפני would be rendered. For of this I can say with joy and comfort, that my conscience gives me a cheerful testimony in all my actions that I have had no ends or designs of my own, but in a pious simplicity and sincerity of heart, not as worldly wisdom would direct, but according to the gospel rules (see note [d] Heb. xiii.), we have behaved ourselves toward all men, but toward you beyond all others. For my writings to you are perfectly agreeable to the doctrine preached by me, and by you received, when I was among you; what in my epistles you read, you cannot but acknowledge to be that which ye have been taught, and I hope you will never be drawn away from that acknowledgment. This I say, because though since these divisions came in among you I have been rejected and vilified by some, yet some others of you have acknowledged yourselves to take joy and comfort in me, as I profess to do in you, and am confident I shall do when Christ comes to reward his faithful servants. And with this affection of kindness to you, and persuasion of your kindness to me, I did design to come to you, that thereby you might be confirmed in that faith, and grow in that knowledge which was first preached to you. This I first meant to do in my way to Macedonia, and being hindered from doing it then, (and going another way, viz. by Troas, ch. ii. 12,) I have had a second resolution of visiting you, at my going from Macedonia into Greece, Acts xx. 16. 2, that so I might have been conducted by some of you toward Judaea, whither I am a going with contributions to the poor Christians there. And though I did not come, yet have my calumniators nothing to lay to my charge for this, as [b] yea yea, and nay nay] The meaning of yea and nay, or of yea yea, and nay nay, is distinctly this, when we do not agree, or are inconstant to ourselves, now yea and anon nay, in our words or actions. Whence is that old word naucus, for "a light or frivolous person," from ναι οὐχί, as it is deduced by Festus. The difference of this from the ἤτω ὑμῶν τὸ ναι ναι, καὶ τὸ οὐ οὔ, James v. 12, is cleared by the construction, Let your yea be yea, and your nay be nay, that is, Let your words and actions accord; so that the second yea and the second nay is not joined with the first, as here, but as the predicate affirmed of it, whereas here the two yeas being all one, (and so indeed expressed by a single yea, ver. 18,) are the subject of the speech, and the two nays, being all one again, the predicate. To this agrees that proverb of the Jews, The just man's yea is yea, and his nay nay. A third expression II. 12. p. 1173. No, I assure you, as God is faithful, there was no levity or inconstancy in my resolution. As little as there was in our preaching of Christ Jesus the Son of God among you, which is also calumniated by some, as if it were light, uncertain, liable to inconstancy; but that most unjustly; for what was preached by us there among you was confirmed by Christ himself, that is, by miracles wrought by his power among you. For as all the promises of God proposed by him are undoubtedly true, so accordingly in this particular he gave us power to confirm by miracles what we taught from him; and this I hope hath and will tend to the glory of God by our ministry. Now he that confirms both you and us in the truth acknowledged by us, and which hath given us such testimony for the proof and confirmation of the gospel (see note [e] Acts x.), is God; Who hath as it were set his seal or signature upon us, marked and secured us, sealed us up for his own, and already given an assurance of his future dealing with us, by giving us his Spirit, the gifts and graces thereof, a pledge of the full promise which shall after be performed: (see note [f] Ephes. iv.) As for that of my not performing my first resolution of coming to you in my way to Macedonia, ver. 17, and according to my promise, 1 Cor. xvi. 5, I shall tell you the clear reason of it, (besides or over and above that of the Spirit's disposing me otherwise, contrary to my resolution intimated, ver. 17, see Theophylact): I had heard of such enormities among you, that if I had then come, I must have been forced to use a great deal of severity among you, in case my former epistle were not obeyed, of which I had not particular knowledge till I met with Titus, ch. ii. 13, which was at my coming to Macedonia. And that was then the only reason of my forbearing, that I might not be forced to exercise that apostolical sharpness against you. (As for the other, the reason of the change of his resolution is plain, Acts xx. 3.) That severity of discipline, I mean, that must ¹⁷ by, ℣. ¹⁸ are in him yea, ℣v αὐτῷ τὸ γαί. for the King's MS. reads διὰ καὶ δι' αὐτοῦ τὸ ἀμήν. δόξαν. ²¹ into, iis. ²² gives, δοὺς dominion, δι' κυριεῖομεν— ¹⁹ Or, therefore through him are Amen: ²⁰ to God for his glory, Θεῷ πρὸς ²³ But, Δέ. ²⁴ that we exercise And now that instead of coming I write again, I was resolved to defer it so long till I should hear of some reformation among you, that so this might not be, as formerly my letters were, to punish, to afflict, to censure you: (see note [c] 1 Cor. v.) For when you are checked or censured by me, this is so far from being pleasant to me, that it is indeed at the same time matter of such grief that I cannot be comforted by any thing but by the same you, by seeing that the censures have wrought some good on you, caused the reformation of that in you for which I had meant them to you. And this severity of proceeding, ver. 1, which now I speak of, I did rather choose to send you in a letter, 1 Cor. v, than to defer it till my coming, in hope to find your faults amended, to have all the sorrowful matter, that of censure, past before that time, that so I might have nothing to do then but to absolve and receive penitents, and so to rejoice among you, (not to inflict censures upon you,) and that I was confident would also be most acceptable to you all. For that which I wrote with some sharpness, and was matter of grief to you, was so much more to me at the very writing of it, was a most heavy pressure upon my heart, and fetched abundance of tears from me; by which you may know that what I did was not out of any pleasure that I take to censure or afflict you, but as an effect of the greatest love to you all which could be imagined. 5, 6. But for the incestuous person, the author of all this sadness and severity, (sadness not to me alone, but in some measure, that I say no worse, to all you,) it is now sufficient which he hath suffered ²⁵ have stood, ἰστήκατε— 1 this very thing did I write, ἔγραψα τοῦτο αὐτό. 2 made sorry, λυπηθῆτε. 3 but in part, that I may not lay weight upon all you. [a] he hath not grieved me] The sense affixed to these words in this paraphrase (very distant from that which the words, as they are ordinarily read and rendered, sound) is taken distinctly from the scholion of Theophylact, who resolving it the apostle's meaning, in both these verses, to have his charity to the incestuous person expressed, and to give order for his absolution, thinks this way of rendering it most proper, that joining them with himself in the dislike and sorrow, and consequently infliction of censures for the sin, he might engage them jointly with himself in the absolving the transgressor; "and this," saith he, "most wisely disposed by him, that they who had so lately been commanded by the apostle to avoid him, as a detestable person, should not now upon his giving orders for his absolution be scandalized at him, ὡς πολυμβόλῳ, as inconstant and mutable." This, saith he, is the reason that he takes them in, as partakers with him of the sorrow and censures, that he might have them his willing partners in the absolution and joy of that. And so this, saith he, is the sense of the words, οὐ γὰρ ἐμί— For he hath not, saith St. Paul, grieved me alone, but all you in part, that is, a little, or in some degree, that I may not say, he hath altogether grieved you, lest I should lay overmuch weight upon him; or in plain words, the truth is, he hath grieved you in like manner as me, but yet, that I may not overburden him that was guilty of that incest, or aggravate the matter against him, all that I say is, that in part, or in some measure, ye were grieved by him. This is a very commodious sense, and necessarily requires some small change of the punctuation, (though the printed text in Theophylact have not observed it,) partly by including in a parenthesis the latter part of this 5th verse, from οὐκ ἐμί— to the end of it, partly by putting a comma after ἐπιβαρῶ, that so πάντας ὑμᾶς may connect with ἀπὸ μέρους, thus, ver. 5: But if any have caused grief he hath not grieved me, but in part (that I may not aggravate, or lay weight on him) you all: ver. 6. Sufficient to such a man—. And this is a plain sense, and agrees very well with all that follows of their joint and cheerful proceeding to the absolution of the incestuous. [b] punishment, which was inflicted of many] What is here meant by ἐπιτιμία ἡ ὑπὸ τῶν πλειόνων, the punishment which was inflicted under the many, will appear by 1 Cor. v. 4, where, concerning the incestuous person, and such as he, order is distinctly given, that he shall be delivered up to Satan for the destruction of the flesh, or bringing corporal inflictions upon him, which is certainly the ἐπιτιμία, punishment, here mentioned, and that συναχθέντων ὑμῶν, you being gathered together, that is, in the presence of the whole congregation, to add the greater solemnity to it: and that is all one with the ὑπὸ πλειόνων here, under, or in the presence of the many. Meanwhile, as there the sentence was St. Paul's, κέκρικα, ver. 3, I have judged as present, and ver. 4, when ye are gathered together and my spirit, with the power of the Lord Jesus Christ, (bestowed on the apostle and rulers of the church,) so here it must be And it is now more than time that he be absolved by the church, and forgiven the offence committed against it, and by absolution be cheered up again, lest the continuance of such sharp punishments should not have a benign but noxious influence upon him. And therefore my present counsel is, that by prayers for his release you express your reconciliation to him, and so absolve him from the censures. And this I now write, that I may see whether you are as ready upon my appointment to restore penitents as to inflict punishments upon offenders, which is another branch of your Christian charity. Whom you are willing to have restored from excommunication (as being satisfied with his penance and expression of repentance) I appoint or give leave to do it; (for if I have absolved any man, I have done it by the authority I have from Christ, but yet in respect unto you, or with consideration of what may be best for you, that is, for your whole church.) That the too long continuance of the punishments upon the penitent offender may not be made use of by Satan to the hurt and ruin of the church, either by swallowing him up by desperation, ver. 7, or by heightening your zeal against sin into an unreconcilableness with the sinner, ver. 9; for Satan hath many hidden secret arts to mischief souls which we think not of. when, Acts xx. 1, (see note on the title of this epistle) I came to Troas to preach the gospel of Christ, and my preaching had a very happy reception there, and brought many to the faith, I was much troubled in mind that I could hear no tidings of Titus, by him to be advertised of the success of my epistle among you, and in pursuit of him I left that city and went into Macedonia, in hope that I might find him there. And having met with him, he hath given me the good news of the happy success of my epistle among you, and that obligeth me to bless that God who hath hitherto prospered us exceedingly (see note [f] Mark xiv.) in the propagating of the gospel, Why should I again be forced to mention the uprightness of my dealing toward you, the orthodox-ness and purity of my doctrine, after the manner that is usual in the church in commending from one church to another those that are strangers to them? have I any need of commendations to you, or from you to other men? [a] epistles of commendation] Συστατικαὶ ἐπιστολαί, and γράμματα, in this place, are an intimation of an ancient custom in the apostolical primitive church, which ordinarily gave their testimonies to all Chris- DO we begin again to commend ourselves? or need we, as some others, [a] epistles of commendation to you, or letters of commendation from you? Now Christ is, besides his human nature, indued with a divine Spirit, and the gospel of Christ is called the Spirit, ver. 6, and where the Spirit of Christ or the gospel is, there is freedom, and conse- ¹² was not so much as glorious, οὐδὲ δεδάξασται. glory, ἐν δόξῃ. ¹⁸ looked not, μὴ ἀτεινίσω. ¹³ put, ἐτίβει. ¹⁶ his own, ἑαυτοῦ. ¹⁷ so that, πρὸς τὰ. ¹⁹ Or, face: for the King's MS. reads τὸ πρόσωπον. [c] corrupt] That λόγος Θεοῦ, the word of God, signifies the gospel here, as it was by St. Paul made known unto men, the Christian religion preached by him, there can be no doubt. All the difficulty is, what is meant by κατηλεύειν, not that there can be any question of the native proper signification of that word, for it certainly signifies doing as κάπηλοι do, and those are little peddling merchants, that buy and sell to get gain; but because it is possible it may refer to some practices which such merchants are vulgarly guilty of, mixing, and dashing their commodities, and so deceiving others, that they may enrich themselves. But though the word may possibly by a figure signify this, yet the genuine proper notion, being very agreeable to the context, is in all reason to be preferred. We are not, saith St. Paul, ὡς οἱ πολλοὶ, as the many. This sure refers to the false teachers of his time, and those, we know, were the Gnostics, who, as they are said to serve their belly, to love the world, and to love pleasures, and so generally to design themselves advantages by their profession, and of all things hated the cross, renounced Christianity when it was persecuted, and brought any dangers or losses upon them; so they are particularly marked out, 1 Tim. vi. 5, (that chapter where the Gnostics are named, ver. 20, and their character particularly set down,) to be such as deem godliness gain, think the Christian profession brings men secular advantages of liberty, &c., and so cannot be so single-hearted, so wholly bent to approve themselves to God, as St. Paul here professeth to be. To this interpretation of the place I am inclined by two passages in the Epistles of Ignatius, which though they are omitted in the Laurentian copy are yet constantly to be found in others; and if they were put in by any interpolator, they may yet be of good use to us in this matter, there being no reason to suspect the hand that inserted them of any ill design, nor yet of ignorance either of the Gnostic heresy or of the use of the word. The former place is in the Epistle ad Magnessianos, where, speaking of the Gnostic Judaizers, "enemies of the cross, whose god is their belly, minding earthly things, lovers of pleasures, and not lovers of God, having a form of godliness, but denying the power thereof," he adds, οἱ Χριστέμποροι, τὸν λόγον κατηλεύοντες, καὶ τὸν Ἰησοῦν πωλοῦντες, "merchants of Christ, huckstering the word, selling Jesus," going on to other parts of the character of the Gnostics, "corrupters of women, coveting what belongs to others, χρηματολαίλαπες, greedy lovers of money." The second place is agreeable in Ep. ad Trall. "There are," saith he, "some vain speakers and impostors," οἱ Χριστιανοὶ ἀλλὰ Χριστέμποροι, ἀπάτη περιφέροντες τὸ ὄνομα τοῦ Χριστοῦ, καὶ κατηλεύοντες τὸν λόγον τοῦ εὐαγγελίου—"not Christians, but merchants of Christ, carrying the name of Christ for deceit, huckstering the word of the gospel;" and who these are, he specifies in the process of that Epistle; "Simon the firstborn of Satan, Menander, Basilides, the unclean Nicolaitans, τοὺς ψευδωνύμους, those that are falsely named, that is, the Gnostics," &c. The works of conversion that we have wrought among you, of which our own conscience gives us testimony, will serve us abundantly instead of letters commendatory from you to all others, who cannot but have heard the fame of it. And you (that is, your faith) are most conspicuously an epistle of Christ, of the writing of which we have only been the instruments, the Spirit of God supplying the place of ink, and your hearts of the writing tables, and by this epistle, this testimony, Thus confident am I by the strength of Christ to speak boldly, and in a manner to boast of my behaviour and happy success in my apostleship, ch. ii. 14, &c. Not that we are able to do, or so much as to think or enter upon any thing of this nature, in order to the conversion of men, of ourselves, as by our own strength; but whatever we are able to do, it is of God, whose title that is, Isaiah xiii. 6, to be Shaddai, almighty or sufficient. And that sufficiency of his he hath expressed in the powers and methods with which he hath furnished and to which directed us the preachers and dispensers of the new covenant, (see note on the title of these books,) that is, not of the law (see note [g] Matt. v.), written and brought down in tables by Moses, but of the gospel, called by this title of the Spirit, first, because it comes near to the soul, and requires purity there; secondly, because the Holy Ghost came down both on Christ and on the disciples to confirm this new way; thirdly, because grace is a gift of the Spirit, and now is joined to the gospel, but was not to the law: which administration of the Spirit and annexation of it to the word under the gospel, gives men means to attain eternal life, when the law is the occasion, and by accident the cause of death to them, in denouncing judgment against sinners, and yet not giving strength to obey. And if the delivery of the law, which brought nothing but death with it, when it was written in tables of stone, (see note [g] Matt. v.) was with the appearance of angels, and a bright shining which cast such a splendour on Moses's face that it would dazzle any man's eyes to look on it, and yet now that glory and that law so gloriously delivered is done away: How much rather shall the preaching of the gospel be matter of reverence to all? (See note [g] Matt. v.) For if the delivery of the law, which could help men to condemnation, but could not absolve any man, were in so much glory, God by his angels appearing For the law, though otherwise glorious, yet being compared with the gospel hath no glory at all in it, (as the moon compared with the sun is so utterly outshined by it, that it appears not in the presence thereof.) For if that which was itself to be abolished, being but the cover that contained the true jewel under it, were yet delivered dreadfully and by a glorious appearance; then much more shall that which endureth for ever, that jewel itself, the gospel or substance contained under those coverings or shadows, and so which is never like to be abolished, and hath a durable fruit belonging to it, (grace, which the other had not,) deserve to be esteemed glorious. Upon these grounds, I say, (mentioned from ver. 5. to this verse,) I cannot but speak boldly and confidently to you in vindication of my apostleship, ver. 4. Having no need to imitate Moses, who veiled his face, which was a type of the dark, not clear proposing of the gospel, (which is the end or principal part of the law, and the jewel contained under that covering,) to them of old. And accordingly so it continues remarkable to this present; the Jews see not Christ in the reading of the Old Testament, and so the cover still remains upon Moses's face, as it were; but by the Christian clear doctrine, or by faith, is removed.) For by our preaching the gospel we perform a very acceptable service to God, and bring in glory to his name, offer up a sweet-smelling sacrifice unto him among all sort of people, both among the penitent believers, which receive the faith and live according to it, and the impenitent unbelievers, that receive it not. And so though they have heard it over and over many times, yet still they do not understand the true sense of the law. For though this sweet perfume to the obstinate impenitent hath been the most perfect poison, (as high perfumes sometimes are,) they have grown the worse for the gospel's coming among them; yet to all that have forsaken their old courses of sin, and obeyed this call to a new life, it hath been the most comfortable vital savour that ever came to them. This is a weighty employment, and unless God did particularly enable us, we could never be fit for it. But when Israel, ver. 13, or their heart, ver. 15, shall accept of the gospel of Christ, then they shall see and understand plainly what now is so obscure to them. This we are sure of, that we have not designed any secular advantage to ourselves in preaching the gospel, as the Gnostic heretical teachers are observed to do, 1 Tim. vi. 5, but have sincerely revealed to you what we have been taught by Christ, without any other aim, God knows, than that we may perform faithful service to him. Being therefore intrusted by God with so honourable a charge, the preaching of this divine and glorious gospel of Christ, ch. iii. 4. and 18, we have been diligent in attendance on our work; And have been far from using any of those vile arts which shame might make us disguise and conceal, but dealt simply and plainly, mixing nothing of our own with the word of Christ, but contenting ourselves with so much of the approbation of men as the making known the truth of God unto men sincerely and uprightly will help us to. Which we have done so plainly, that if the gospel of Christ preached by us be yet obscure, it is so only among obdurate obstinate unbelievers, ver. 4: see ch. ii. 15: Such as have their eyes so blinded by Satan or their own worldly advantages, that the gospel of Christ most powerfully and plainly revealed by him, and shining forth in our preaching since his departure from the earth, (and this most certainly the revelation of the immutable will of God, whom Christ represents to us, not as an ordinary picture doth the body, but as a real substantial image of him,) is not permitted to have any impression or influence on their hearts, they will not see, be it never so illustriously visible. Certainly nothing but this can obstruct men's minds against the gospel as it is delivered by us, being preached so as not to design any thing of honour to ourselves, but only unto Christ, and for ourselves, only to offer men our service, to do them all the humblest offices of Christian charity imaginable. ¹ grow not sluggish, or, cowardly, οὐκ ἑκακοῦμεν. ² shame, αἰσχύνης. ³ in, &c. ⁴ among, &c. ⁵ so that the illumination of the gospel of the glory of Christ hath not shined to them, εἰς τὸ μὴ αὐγάσαι αὐτοῖς τὸν φωτισμὸν τοῦ ἐναγγελίου τῆς δόξης τοῦ Χριστοῦ. For it is not any worldly consideration that hath put us upon this employment, but that God that by his word created the light when there was nothing but darkness in the world, hath in a like wonderful manner imparted this light to us, in sending down his own Son to shine in our hearts, to reveal his will unto us; and this on purpose that we might reveal it to others, instruct them in the knowledge of those glorious mysteries, (see note [c] 2 Peter i,) so illustrious in themselves and advantageous to us, which God hath revealed to us by Christ. [a] face of Jesus] This phrase πρόσωπον Ἰησοῦ, the face of Jesus, and this whole verse, refers to the story of Moses, desiring to see the glory of God, Exod. xxxiii. For there God in his own glorious nature could not be seen, ver. 20, the lustre was so great; but with that sight that was afforded him, though but of an angel sustaining the person of God, Moses's face was enlightened, and shone, and became glorious, (to which the apostle had before referred, ch. iii. 7.) And so here the glory of God, that is, the revelation of his most divine counsels for the saving of men under the gospel, is by God communicated to Christ, and by that means he, as he is the Son of man, and executes this prophetic office upon earth, is much more shining and glorious than Moses's face was; and then we, to whom the gospel is now preached, look upon this face of his, though the Israelites could not on Moses's, and are illuminated thereby, receive the knowledge of these counsels of God, whensoever we look on him. But we that are intrusted with this great treasure of the gospel are not so fine and precious ourselves; we carry bodies about us subject to all manner of opposition, and pressures, and afflictions; and this on purpose designed by God also, that all the good success we have in our apostleship may be imputed to Christ, and not to us; as it would be, if we came with any secular power or grandeur to plant the gospel. 8, 9. The way which God rather saw fit to choose, was to permit us to wrestle with all difficulties, and then to sustain us by his own invisible assistance, not by any secular human means, and carry us through all, and give good success to our preaching by these very means; [b] earthen vessels] Σκιῦος signifies any of the utensils about an house, Matt. xii. 29, Mark xi. 6, (see note [b] on Matt. xxi,) a dish, a cup, &c. Of these some are testacea, "made of shells of fishes," and they are here ὀστράκινα, as 2 Tim. ii. 20, (the only other place where the word is used in the New Testament,) and this agrees very well with the matter in hand, it being ordinary to lay up those things we value in shells or boxes, or cabinets made of such; and those, in respect of the brittleness, and of the nature of them, (as the shells are the outsides of fishes,) very fit to resemble our bodies, wherein our souls do inhabit. And accordingly the Platouists, making two bodies of a man, one, that which carries the soul in it, ὄχημα ψυχῆς, the chariot of the soul, the other, that which we touch, and see the grosser carnal part, call that second ὀστράκινον, that which is the same to us which the shell is to the fish, which hath another finer body within it. The word ὄστρακον, testa, signifies not only "a shell," (from whence those kinds of fishes are [c] troubled on every side—] These two verses in every word refer to the ancient heathen customs in the agones, of which somewhat hath been said, note on 1 Cor. ix. 24. St. Chrysostom explains them so in common, (ἀλγοῦμεν καὶ ἀποτυγχάνομεν, ἀλλ' οὐχ οὕτως, ὥστε ἐκπεσεῖν τῶν προκειμένων, εἰς γυμνασίαν, οὐκ εἰς ἥτταν, "We are cold," &c., as Horace of the racer, sudavit et alstit, "he sweats and freezes,") but he applies them not severally to the particular exercises. This, I suppose, may fitly be done, by accommodating three of the pairs to the customs of wrestling; one to that of running in the race, θλίβεσθαι belongs clearly to πάλη, wrestling, so saith Aristotle Rhet. l. 1. c. 5, (see the anonymous Scholiast on that place,) ὁ μὲν δυνάμενος θλίβειν καὶ κατέχειν, παλαιστικός, "He that can gripe his adversary, and take him up, is good at wrestling," there being two dexterities in that exercise, comprimere antagonistam, et substernere, "to gripe, and throw down," which Hesychius also calls ὠθεῖν and κρατεῖν: the first of these is here mentioned, and expressed by θλίβεσθαι, pressure, to which is here opposed, as in a higher degree, στενοχωρεῖσθαι, ad angustias redigi, "to be brought to distress," as when we can neither get out of his hands, nor make any resistance against him; so Isa. xxviii. 20, στενοχωρούμενοι οὐ δυνάμεθα μάχεσθαι, being brought to such extremities, we can fight no longer. So again, ἀπορεῖσθαι, perplexity, is fit for the wrestler, who, being shrewdly put to it, knows not what to do; so saith Theophylact, though we fall, εἰς ἀμηχανίας, to such a condition that "we know not what to do;" so in Hesychius, Ἀποροῦντες, ἀμηχανοῦντες, they that are not able to do or attempt any thing, yet are not ἑξαπορούμενοι, miscarry not finally, ὀρθοὶ ἱστάμενοι, stand after all upright, οὐκ ἀπογινώσκοντες, καὶ ἡττώμενοι, despair ¹ Περ. φυσ. ἄρθρ. ²⁰ Tom. 6. p. 855. l. 10. Carrying about us the cross and sufferings of Christ, daily suffering after him, that so the saving effects of his resurrection, in turning men from their evil ways, (converting infidels by our preaching,) might through our suffering in this employment be more conspicuous. For we apostles, that are looked on by some with envy, are continually ready to be put to death for the gospel, that the vital power of Christ in raising up sinners to a new life may, through the dangers by us undergone in preaching the gospel, be shewed forth among our auditors that receive the faith from us. And so truly we are not any extraordinary gainers by our employment, as to the eye of the world; the death of Christ, ver. 10, is wrought, perfected in us; we fill up his sufferings, Col. i. 24, by suffering after him; but the resurrection and vital [b] end of that which is abolished] If the reading be τέλος, then must Christ, (which is the end of the law,) that is, the Christian precepts and promises typified by the Mosaical rites and shadows, be meant by it; but if the reading be πρόσωπον, then will the ἀνταπόδοσις, or second part of the resemblance, be more perfectly answerable to the former; thus, Moses put a veil over his own face, to signify that the Israelites would not see the face (that is, discern clearly the most eminent and principal part) of the law, which is now abolished, that is, of the ceremonial law. For certainly the principal part of that was the inward purity and piety signified and adumbrated by those ceremonies, and now taught by Christ more distinctly and plainly, and so that covering taken away, ver. 14, only the Jews will not see it, but as yet their understandings are blinded, in the beginning of the verse. [d] weight of glory] The Hebrew כבד signifies primarily two things, weight and plenty, and from thence two things more, either glory or riches. From hence it comes, that βαρύ is in the Greek of the Old Testament taken for multitude or greatness, that is applied to a train or host, 1 Kings x. 2, and 2 Kings vi. 14, and xviii. 17, and 2 Chron. ix. 1. δύναμις βαρεία, a great numerous troop of attendants or army, and 1 Macc. i. 17. ὄχλος βαρύς, a very great multitude, and 3 Macc. συμπόσιον βαρύ, a great magnificent feast. Accordingly βάρος δόξης here will be riches, plenty, and abundance of glory, the word βάρος being the rather here used in opposition to the lightness of the afflictions precedent, but not to denote the heaviness, but abundance, or riches of this, as Gen. xiii. 2, Abraham is said to be כבד, heavy, that is, plentiful, in cattle, &c., the LXXII read πλούσιος, rich, and so ch. i. כבד signifies riches. ᵃ De Art. Post. HAMMOND ANNOTT. VOL. II. M And so all we that believe in Christ have that veil done away, and do clearly, though not yet so perfectly, behold Christ, and by beholding him are changed to be like him; the doctrine of the gospel received into our hearts changeth us into other men, to such a vision of Christ here, in imitating his purity, &c. as shall be attended with eternal glory hereafter; the same Spirit of Christ which worketh the one in us being certain to produce the other also. # CHAP. IV. THEREFORE seeing we have this ministry, as we have received mercy, we ¹ faint not; For while we are in this inferior state of bodies, we are for ever unsatisfied and impatient, desiring to have those spiritual bodies, 1 Cor. xv. 44, that purer state of bliss and immortality, as an upper garment to adorn and hide the blemishes and imperfections, and keep off the cold and pressures that this body of ours is subject to. This I say upon supposition that we should never die, that we were in the number of those mentioned 1 Cor. xv. 53. and 1 Thess. iv. 15. 17, that are found alive at the last trump, at the day of doom, as some shall certainly be, and yet even those very heartily glad to be changed, to have these natural bodies spiritualized. For while we are in these bodies of clay, we are subject to weights and pressures, and those give us a great impatience and weariness; and this hath a very observable meaning in it; for it is certain we do not desire to put off these bodies, to part with them finally, how weary soever we are: this therefore is the signification of it, that there is another sort of bodies, and another sort of life, infinitely more desirable than these which we now enjoy, an eternal, immutable life of these our bodies, instead of that mortal (subject to afflictions, and death itself) which we now live, and that we are naturally a desiring, a panting, a groaning after. And the same God that hath created and framed us after this manner, with bodies subject to such pressures that we perpetually desire to change them for impassible, hath by Christ promised us that he will make this provision for us, raise us to immortal lives; and as a pledge and pawn to assure us that he will perform this promise, he hath by the preaching of the gospel sent to cleanse and purify us here in some measure, which is a kind of spiritualizing of our bodies, and a pawn and earnest of our future immortality, to which that Spirit shall raise us which raised Christ from the dead. By these considerations therefore being enabled to look cheerfully on death, as that which only brings (And which gives us that really to be enjoyed, which we have here in this life only by faith;) We make choice rather, and are infinitely better pleased, to leave this body behind us here, to go out, to die, that by this means we may come to our home, our bliss in heaven: and so the fear or expectation of death is far from being painful to us. All our ambition and design being but this, that whether we continue in this earthy body of ours or go out of it, whether living or dying, we may be acceptable to God. For there will certainly come a day, when every person that ever lived shall be judged by God, set as it were in an eminent conspicuous place, as men that are impleaded are wont to be, and every action of his life taken into consideration, that accordingly every man may be punished or rewarded, body and soul together, according to his actions, of what sort soever they be, whether good or bad, which in his lifetime he hath committed in his body and soul together. [a] receive the things done in his body] Κομίζεσθαι signifies to receive by way of reward a crown or prize, to carry it away, as ἀρπάξειν and λαμβάνειν, to snatch and take off the crown standing over the goal. Then τὰ διὰ σώματος, the things by the body, must be relative, and answerable to πρὸς ἃ ἔπραξεν that follows, τὰ without mentioning what, only πρὸς ἃ ἔπραξεν, to what he hath done, noting this agreement and proportion betwixt that which he receives and what he hath done, which is the clear sense of those other places wherein God is said to render to every man according to his works. Some MSS. and printed copies, the Complutense edition, read, instead of τὰ διὰ τοῦ σώματος, with the change of one letter, τὰ ἴδια τοῦ σώματος, the proper or peculiar things of his body, and that will be very agreeable also, Every man shall receive that which is proper to him; either as the body is the shop of action, wherein and whereby, as by the instrument, every thing is done, or as τὸ σῶμα signifies himself, by an Hebraism formerly mentioned, according to, or by way of, retribution to what he hath done, &c. [c] are ambassadors] The Hebrew שליחין, apostles, signifies legates, nuncios also, so as in the ancient formulæ missi signifies ambassadors; see Marculphi form., and Bignonius's notes on lib. 1. c. 40. And so here πρεσβεύομεν is the apostolical office, and that from God to men, offering pardon on his part, and requiring on their part reforma- Considering therefore the dreadfulness of this appearance of God, as on one side we labour to persuade men to embrace the truth, and live as those that are thus to be judged, so we desire to approve ourselves to God, as our Judge also, who, I am confident, doth approve of our sincerity herein; and I hope you are as well satisfied also of our uprightness toward you. [b] persuade men] What πείθειν, to persuade, and peculiarly πείθειν ἀνθρώπους, to persuade men, signifies in these books, will be set down at large, note on Gal. i. 6, (see also note [e] on 1 John iii.) viz. to pacify, to propitiate, to gain in upon men, and obtain their approbation either of the cause they plead, or of themselves, whom they desire to approve to them. And though it be a very obvious and commodious sense of these words, knowing the terrors of the Lord we persuade men, that the consideration of the judgment to come is a very proper, forcible suasory to amendment of life, &c., yet the circumstances of the context rather incline it to the other notion of πείθειν, knowing the judgment to come to be so exact that it descends to every action that is done, whether good or bad, we apostles, who have a weighty task of duty lying on us to win souls to Christ, are obliged to pursue this work, to gain in upon men as much as we can, to approve ourselves to them in all things, that they may not be scandalized by any thing done by us, but cheerfully led on with a good opinion of our preaching and our persons, this being very useful toward the apostolical design of working good upon men. Agreeably to which it follows in this same verse, we are made manifest to God, and I hope also to be manifested in or to your consciences; where, to be manifested to their or in their consciences is all one with this notion of persuading them, that is, approving himself to them. And to this matter that which follows, ver. 12, pertains also, and therefore Theophylact interprets πείθομεν ἀνθρώπους, "we persuade men," by πάντα πράττομεν ὥστε μὴ σκανδαλίσαι τοὺς ἀνθρώπους, "we do all things that we may not scandalize men;" and again by σκάνδαλα θεραπεύομεν, "we cure or provide against scandals," such as may hinder men in their proficiency in the gospel. What I say, is not as if I wanted again commending to you, but that I may arm you against those false apostles that come among you and glory much of outward things, but know in their consciences that they have little cause to do so, against whom you may fortify yourselves, and make answer to them by glorying of my patience and perseverance, and performances in the gospel; and to this end only it is that I say this unto you. And what we do herein is meant for good; my speaking thus largely of myself is for the glory of God, whose grace it is that enables me to do any Wherefore now we esteem or value no man according to the outer advantages of this world, wisdom, riches, learning, &c., which are wont to set men out in the eyes of the world; and although it were true that we had familiarly conversed with Christ here, as some among you say they have, (they that say, I am of Christ, 1 Cor. i. 12,) and prefer themselves before others for that, and expect their doctrine should be received before the doctrine of others, yet now we know that he is gone from this earth, and no man can now pretend to know Christ's will (otherwise than as it was revealed at his being here) above, or any more than another, upon this bare score, because he once conversed familiarly with Christ here: all that now we have to do with Christ is, to look on him, not under any such notion as a Christ talking familiarly with us on earth, but as an heavenly King, offering and designing us a spiritual kingdom upon our obedience and fidelity, not any temporal advantage, or matter of boasting, upon our acquaintance with him here. If any man profess to have any peculiar claim to Christ, this must be the way of judging of the sincerity of his pretensions—if he think himself obliged to live a new life. The state of the gospel is a change of every thing from what it was before; more grace, promise of pardon on repentance, and sincerity for the future; more explicit promises of heaven, and And we whose office it is to labour for that for which Christ hath laid down his life, ch. v. 21, do exhort you not to frustrate all these gracious methods of God, not to permit the gospel (see note [d] Heb. xiii.) to be cast away upon you. [d] sin for us] What is meant here by the word ἀμαρτία, sin, will best appear by the notion of it in the Old Testament sometimes, and by the opposition to δικαιοσύνη, righteousness, here. In the Old Testament it is taken for a sacrifice for sin, Lev. iv. 3, 29, and v. 6, and psalm xl. 7; and so piaculum in Latin is both a sin and a sacrifice of expiation, or the person that is so sanctified. And there is nothing more ordinary in the Septuagint than for ἀμαρτία to signify a sacrifice for sin, and so in the Chaldee paraphrase also, Exod. xxix. 14, where the Hebrew reads sin, they read a sacrifice for sin: for indeed the Hebrew אטו signifies primarily two things, sin and legal uncleanness, and secondarily two things more, a sacrifice of propitiation for sin, and of purification for uncleanness; and consequently being rendered sometimes ἀμαρτία, both in the notion of sin and also of uncleanness, Lev. xii. 6, Num. vi. 2, sometimes ἱλασμός and ἐξιλασμός, propitiation, Ezek. xlv. 27, xlv. 19, and sometimes ἄγνωσμος, purifying, Num. xix. 19, ἄγνωσμος, purification, Num. viii. 7; from hence comes, that this one Greek word ἀμαρτία, as if it were of the same latitude with the Hebrew אטו, is made use of to signify all these severals. For that of sin I need not instance: for that of legal uncleanness, see Num. vi. 2, ἥμαρτε περὶ τῆς ψυχῆς, he was unclean by the touch of a dead body. For that of sacrifice of expiation, among many others, see Lev. iv. 25, the blood of the ἀμαρτία, sin, that is, sin-offering: and in the last for purification, either of a leper, or a woman after childbirth, or after the touching of a dead body, the word generally used is περὶ ἀμαρτίας, for sin: so in the New Testament, Rom. viii. 3, περὶ ἀμαρτίας, for sin, is the sacrifice of propitiation; and so Heb. x. 6, and xiii. 11, and so here ἀμαρτία, sin, without περὶ, most distinctly. Then for the opposition wherein ἀμαρτία, sin, is here set to δικαιοσύνη, righteousness, Christ made ἀμαρτία, sin, that we might be made δικαιοσύνη, righteousness, that is an argument, that as our being δικαιοσύνη, righteousness, signifies our being sanctified first, and then accepted by God, justified; so his being ἀμαρτία signifies his being condemned, that is, consecrated as a sacrifice is wont to be devoted for the sins of the people. For the prophet saith in the person of God, Isa. xlix. 8, In a season which I had chosen, I have [a] salvation] What σωτηρία signifies hath been often said, (see note [c] on Rom. xiii.) God's rescuing his faithful persevering servants out of their distresses; thus it clearly signifies here, proportionably to what it had done in the prophecy here cited, Isa. xlix. 8. In an acceptable time have I heard thee, that is, in a time that God chose, and saw fit for the turn, in the day of salvation have I helped thee, and I will preserve thee, and give thee for a covenant to this people, (a kind of rainbow to the drowned world, a sign of a covenant that God will drown them no more in such afflictions,) to establish or raise up the earth, to cause to inherit the desolate heritages. And therefore when he saith, Now is the accepted time, the season that God hath pitched on, now is M 2 And one especial part of our labour and care is, to abstain strictly from all things that may avert any man from the faith, endeavouring to approve ourselves to all, that all men may look on our behaviour in the gospel with reverence, and not with censure, and so be attracted to Christian life, not deterred by us. Approving our fidelity in the discharge of our office, by all proper means: first, by the constant, patient enduring of all sort of afflictions; viz. pressures, wants, exigencies, Scourgings, imprisonments, seditions; by painstaking, denying ourselves our ordinary sleep and food; By continence; by the study of the divine law in the more secret sense (see note [c] 2 Pet. i); by longsuffering, by bounty, by the extraordinary gifts of the Spirit (prophesying, languages, &c.); by sincere charity, and zeal to the good of souls; By preaching the pure gospel of Christ; by the power of God in doing miracles, &c.; by weapons evangelical of all sorts, for the temptations of a prosperous and an adverse condition; the spears in time of prosperity, to repel the temptations of the world; resolution against all the assaults of carnality; and the shield, in order to dangers, and approach of evil, patience, constancy and perseverance, to defend us from them; Through the various fates of being contumeliously used by some, as well as reverently by others; vilified as well as commended; counted as deceivers, when yet we are most faithful dispensers of the truth of God; Esteemed and looked on by some as if they knew us not, by others owned and valued; some judging us as lost men, that by our needless zeal had Our lives pitied and looked on, as made up of nothing but sadness, whilst yet we are always cheerful, and rejoicing in the testimony of a good conscience; as poor ourselves, and yet enriching whole multitudes of men with that which is the most valuable true riches: and though we are deemed, and that truly, to have nothing, yet are we so provided for by God's good providence, as to want nothing that is necessary or useful for us. I have spoken clearly and freely to you, O Corinthians, and my heart as well as my mouth hath been enlarged to you also, so great is my kindness and affection to you. Ye are not pent up in us as in a narrow room, my whole soul is open to you, and at your service; you have no small place in my affections; but you do not retribute as ye ought, ye are somewhat straitened in your affections toward me. And truly it were but a just return, as from children to your parent, if ye would be, back again, as kind and affectionate to me, as I have been to you. Is there any reason you should be more inclinable, more favourably affected to them that are not Christians, to false prophets or teachers, than to us? Is it possible for you Christians to receive any benefit from such? doth impiety advantage justice? or darkness contribute any thing to light? [b] unequally yoked] The word ἐτεροζυγείν the Vulg. renders jugum ducere, which seems to have given occasion to Buddæus, and H. Stephanus out of him, to affirm that ἐτεροζυγείν here in this apostle is used for ὁμοζυγείν, to be in the yoke with another. But this is a mistake without any grounds, save only the equivocalness of the word ζυγός, which signifies a yoke to draw in, as well as a balance to weigh in. The word ἐτεροζυγείν is doubtless to be rendered here, as in Greek authors it signifies, among whom a pair of scales or balance, whose beam inclines or propends toward one part, is called σταθμός ἐτερόζυγος, (in opposition to ἰσόζυγος, equally inclined both ways, or whose beam stands even,) trutina alteri jugis, ἐτερορροπής, non ἰσορροπής, "a scale that weighs down one way, stands not in the equilibration." So in Phocylides, Σταθμὸν μὴ κρούειν ἐτερόζυγον, ἀλλ' ἴσον ἕλκειν, "Let the balance stand even, not inclined more to one side." And so the sense of the place will be, 'Be not more propense and inclined toward the proposals of these apostatizing Gnostics, that heresy to which your present leaders would seduce you, than you are to us the apostles of Christ, who love you so passionately:' which is the argument almost of the whole chapter. Thus in Clement's Epistle to the same Corin- What agreement of desires can Christ or a Christian have with Satan, or a lawless man? what accord a believer with an unbeliever? and such are many of those Gnostic heretics that are so followed by you. Or how can ye reconcile God's temple and the idol temples? Now ye are the temple of God, among whom he dwells, and walks, and owns you for his people, as he hath promised to do to the Jews upon condition of their obedience to him. 17, 18. This lays an obligation upon you to get out ⁶ But by way of this very recompense, τὴν δὲ αὐτὴν ἀντιμισθίαν. ⁷ Do not ye become more inclinable to. ⁸ participation is there betwixt righteousness and wickedness? what communication betwixt light and darkness? μετοχὴ δικαιοσύνη καὶ ἀνομία; τίς δὲ κοινωνία φωτὶ πρὸς σκέτος; ⁹ among, &c. ¹⁰ among. N 2 Now all these things depend on God, as the author of them, who hath used this means of making up that breach between him and us, and hath given us power and commission to give men reconciliation, peace, or pardon, or absolution, upon renewing of their lives.