This _is_ the third _time_ I am coming to you. In the mouth of two or three witnesses shall every word be established. Ver. 1. _Of two or three witnesses_] So he calleth his threefold admonition. God's word neglected will one day be a swift witness against the contemners. Moses shall accuse men, Jo... [ Continue Reading ]
I told you before, and foretell you, as if I were present, the second time; and being absent now I write to them which heretofore have sinned, and to all other, that, if I come again, I will not spare: Ver. 2. _I told you before_] _Sed surdo fabulam, _ no telling would serve turn. Many are so wedde... [ Continue Reading ]
Since ye seek a proof of Christ speaking in me, which to you-ward is not weak, but is mighty in you. Ver. 3. _A proof of Christ speaking in me_] The Church is _Christi docentis auditorium, _ saith Bernard, the place wherein he ordinarily teacheth, who hath his school on earth, though his chair in h... [ Continue Reading ]
For though he was crucified through weakness, yet he liveth by the power of God. For we also are weak in him, but we shall live with him by the power of God toward you. Ver. 4. _Crucified through weakness_] _i.e._ _Ex afflicto eius statu, _ as Galatians 4:14; (Aug.), as having voluntarily subjected... [ Continue Reading ]
Examine yourselves, whether ye be in the faith; prove your own selves. Know ye not your own selves, how that Jesus Christ is in you, except ye be reprobates? Ver. 5. _Examine yourselves_] The final trial of our eternal estate doth immediately and solely appertain to the court of heaven. Indeed the... [ Continue Reading ]
But I trust that ye shall know that we are not reprobates. Ver. 6. _But I trust that ye shall know_] Whereas they were ready to retort that they were no reprobates, he should well know, let him see that himself were not one. I trust ye shall know, saith he, that we are no reprobates, counterfeits,... [ Continue Reading ]
Now I pray to God that ye do no evil; not that we should appear approved, but that ye should do that which is honest, though we be as reprobates. Ver. 7. _Though we be as reprobates_] viz. In your esteem. The good heart is content to vilify, yea, nullify itself, so God may be glorified and his peop... [ Continue Reading ]
For we can do nothing against the truth, but for the truth. Ver. 8. _For we can do nothing_] A temporary may so fall away, as to persecute the truth that he once professed, and the ministry that he once admired. Never falls a saint so far in his greatest relapses. Bishop Latimer tells of one, who f... [ Continue Reading ]
For we are glad, when we are weak, and ye are strong: and this also we wish, _even_ your perfection. Ver. 9. _Even your perfection_] Or, your restoration, or joining again, καταρτισιν. His meaning is, saith Beza, that whereas the members of this Church were all, as it were, dislocated and out of jo... [ Continue Reading ]
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. Ver. 10. _And not to destruction_] Unless by accident; or, if to the destruction of the flesh, it is that the spirit mi... [ Continue Reading ]
Finally, brethren, farewell. Be perfect, be of good comfort, be of one mind, live in peace; and the God of love and peace shall be with you. Ver. 11. _Finally_] Gr. λοιπον, that which yet remains to say more, and then an end. _ Be perfect_] Or, piece again. _ Be of one mind_] For matter of opinio... [ Continue Reading ]
Greet one another with an holy kiss. Ver. 12. _With a holy kiss_] A custom proper to those times. _See Trapp on "_ Rom 16:16 _"_ _See Trapp on "_ 1Co 16:20 _"_... [ Continue Reading ]
All the saints salute you. Ver. 13. _All the saints salute you_] Sanctity is no enemy to courtesy; it doth not remove but rectify it.... [ Continue Reading ]
The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the communion of the Holy Ghost, _be_ with you all. Amen. The second epistle to the Corinthians was written from Philippi, _a city_ of Macedonia, by Titus and Lucas.>> Ver. 14. _The grace of our Lord_] A friendly valediction or fatherly b... [ Continue Reading ]