_Now I Paul myself beseech you._ Hitherto I have pleaded the cause of others, the poor; now I am going to speak for myself. I beseech you to observe my admonitions and the precepts which, as your Apostle, I have given you concerning a true Christian life. _By the gentleness of Christ._ He beseeches... [ Continue Reading ]
CHAPTER 10 SYNOPSIS OF THE CHAPTER i. In this and the two next Chapter s Paul defends his apostleship against the false apostles, who held him up to contempt as vile and despicable, and accused him of over-harshness, audacity, and insolence. Paul here points out that his arms are not carnal but sp... [ Continue Reading ]
_For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal._ Carnal weapons are such as serve for carnal and bodily warfare and life, as the honours, pleasures, and power of this world. This the Apostles did not use in their task of subduing the world to Christ. Or rather, as said above, carnal weapons are huma... [ Continue Reading ]
_For his letters, say they, are weighty and powerful._ My detractors, the false apostles, say that my letters are hard and bitter, severe and threatening, but my appearance is mean, contemptible, and puny. Nicephorus (lib. ii. c. 37) thus describes the stature and form of S. Paul from tradition and... [ Continue Reading ]
_But we will not boast of things without our measure._ This is the second charge brought by S. Paul against the false Apostles. They boast so largely that one would think they have preached the Gospel in every part of the world (Theophylact). I, however, boast not falsely, or beyond my measure; I me... [ Continue Reading ]
_For we stretch not ourselves beyond our measure._ This is his third scornful charge against the false apostles. They stretch out themselves and more than that by their boastful words, but let us see what good as a matter of fact they do. Whom have they converted? What cities or countries have they... [ Continue Reading ]
_Without our measure._ The provinces not assigned us by God. This is again a blow aimed at the false apostles, who were in the habit of boasting, groundlessly of the many regions they had visited and converted. _Not boasting... of other men's labours._ A fourth charge against the false apostles, who... [ Continue Reading ]
_Not to boast in another man's line_. I do not meddle with the bounds, the provinces, and districts measured out and assigned, or occupied by other Apostles, so as to enter into things got ready by others, and to boast of other men's labours as if they were mine. He calls "made ready to his hand" th... [ Continue Reading ]
_But he that glorieth let him glory in the Lord._ Let him glory in truth as before the Lord. Secondly, and better, to glory in the Lord is to glory with the glory given by the Lord, which alone commends a man, and vouches for him by the wonders which it works through him. This is the genuine meaning... [ Continue Reading ]
_For not he that commendeth himself is approved._ How is it, then, that Saints have sometimes commended themselves, as, _e.g_., Hezekiah, in Isaiah 38:3, and S. Paul in the next chapter, and in 2 Timothy 4.? I answer, They do indeed commend themselves, but at the same time they tacitly refer all the... [ Continue Reading ]