Chapter
II.—Praise of the Corinthians Continued.
Moreover, ye were all distinguished by humility, and
were in no respect puffed up with pride, but yielded obedience rather
than extorted it,
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and were more
willing to give than to receive.
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Content
with the provision which God
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had made for you,
and carefully attending to His words, ye were inwardly filled
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with His doctrine, and His sufferings were
before your eyes. Thus a profound and abundant peace was given to
you all, and ye had an insatiable desire for doing good, while a full
outpouring of the Holy Spirit was upon you all. Full of holy
designs, ye did, with true earnestness of mind and a godly confidence,
stretch forth your hands to God Almighty, beseeching Him to be merciful
unto you, if ye had been guilty of any involuntary transgression.
Day and night ye were anxious for the whole brotherhood,
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that the number of God’s elect might
be saved with mercy
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and a good
conscience.
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Ye were
sincere and uncorrupted, and forgetful of injuries between
one another. Every kind of faction and
schism was abominable in your sight. Ye mourned over the
transgressions of your neighbours: their deficiencies you deemed
your own. Ye never grudged any act of kindness, being
“ready to every good work.”
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Adorned by a thoroughly virtuous and
religious life, ye did all things in the fear of God. The
commandments and ordinances of the Lord were written upon the tablets
of your hearts.
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Eph. v. 21; 1 Pet. v. 5
.
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Acts xx. 35
.
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I.
Χρῖστοῦ
(Christ). In the monophysite controversy, the theologians of
Alexandria preferred to call the Lord “God” rather than
“Christ.”
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Literally, “ye
embraced it in your bowels.”
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1 Pet. ii. 17
.
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I.
δέους
(fear).
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So in the
ms.
, but many have suspected that the text is
here corrupt. Perhaps the best emendation is that which
substitutes
συναισθήσεως
“compassion,” for
συνειδήσεως
“conscience.”
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Tit. iii. 1
.
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Prov. vii. 3
.