This chapter 2 Corinthians 1 consists of the following parts, or subjects: 1. The usual salutation and benediction in the introduction of the Epistle, 2 Corinthians 1:1. This is found in all the epistles of Paul, and was at once an affectionate salutation and an appropriate expression of his intere... [ Continue Reading ]
PAUL AN APOSTLE ... - ; see the Romans 1:1 note, and 1 Corinthians 1:1 note. BY THE WILL OF GOD - Through, or agreeably to the will of God; note, 1 Corinthians 1:1. AND TIMOTHY OUR BROTHER - Paul was accustomed to associate some other person or persons with him in writing his epistles. Thus, in the... [ Continue Reading ]
GRACE BE TO YOU ... - This is the usual Christian salutation; see the Romans 1:7 note; 1 Corinthians 1:3 note.... [ Continue Reading ]
BLESSED BE GOD - This is the commencement properly of the Epistle, and it is the language of a heart that is full of joy, and that bursts forth with gratitude in view of mercy. It may have been excited by the recollection that he had formerly written to them, and that during the interval which had e... [ Continue Reading ]
WHO COMFORTETH US - Paul here doubtless refers primarily to himself and his fellow apostles as having been filled with comfort in their trials; to the support which the promises of God gave; to the influences of the Holy Spirit, the Comforter; and to the hopes of eternal life through the gospel of t... [ Continue Reading ]
FOR AS THE SUFFERINGS OF CHRIST ABOUND IN US - As we are called to experience the same sufferings which Christ endured; as we are called to suffer in his cause, and in the promotion of the same object. The sufferings which they endured were in the cause of Christ and his gospel; were endured in ende... [ Continue Reading ]
AND WHETHER WE BE AFFLICTED - If we are afflicted; or, our affliction is for this purpose. This verse is designed to show one of the reasons of the sufferings which the apostles had endured; and it is a happy specimen of Paul’s skill in his epistles. He shows that all his trials were for their welfa... [ Continue Reading ]
AND OUR HOPE OF YOU IS STEADFAST - We have a firm and unshaken hope in regard to you; we have a confident expectation that you will be saved. We believe that you will be enabled so to bear trial as to show that you are sustained by the Christian hope; and so as to advance your own piety, and confirm... [ Continue Reading ]
FOR WE WOULD NOT HAVE YOU IGNORANT - We wish you to be fully informed; see the notes, 1 Corinthians 10:1; 1 Corinthians 12:1. The object of Paul here is, to give a full explanation of the nature of his trials, to which he had referred in 2 Corinthians 1:4. He presumed that the Corinthians would feel... [ Continue Reading ]
BUT WE HAD THE SENTENCE OF DEATH IN OURSELVES - Margin, “answer.” The word rendered “sentence” (ἀπόκριμα apokrima) means properly an answer, judicial response, or sentence; and is here synonymous with verdict. It means that Paul felt that he was condemned to die; that he felt as if he were under s... [ Continue Reading ]
WHO DELIVERED US FROM SO GREAT A DEATH - From a death so terrible, and from a prospect so alarming. It is intimated here by the word which Paul uses, that the death which he apprehended was one of a character especially terrific - probably a death by wild beasts; note, 2 Corinthians 1:8. He was near... [ Continue Reading ]
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... [ Continue Reading ]
FOR OUR REJOICING IS THIS - The source or cause of our rejoicing. “I have a just cause of rejoicing, and it is, that I have endeavored to live a life of simplicity and godly sincerity, and have not been actuated by the principles of worldly wisdom.” The connection here is not very obvious, and it is... [ Continue Reading ]
FOR WE WRITE NONE OTHER THINGS ... - There has been much variety in the interpretation of this passage; and much difficulty felt in determining what it means. The sense seems to me to be this. Paul had just declared that he had been actuated by pure intentions and by entire sincerity, and had in all... [ Continue Reading ]
AS ALSO YE HAVE ACKNOWLEDGED US - You have had occasion to admit my singleness of aim, and purity of intention and of life by your former acquaintance with me; and you have cheerfully done it. “In part” (ἀπὸ μέρους apo merous). Tyndale renders this: “as ye have found us partly.” The sense seems t... [ Continue Reading ]
AND IN HIS CONFIDENCE - In this confidence of my integrity, and that you had this favorable opinion of me, and appreciated the principles of my conduct. I did not doubt that you would receive me kindly, and would give me again the tokens of your affection and regard. In this Paul shows that however... [ Continue Reading ]
AND TO PASS BY YOU - Through δι ̓ di' you; that is, through your city, or province; or to take them, as we say, in his way. His design was to pass through Corinth and Achaia on his journey. This was not the direct way from Ephesus to Macedonia. An inspection of a map will show at one view that the d... [ Continue Reading ]
WHEN I THEREFORE WAS THUS MINDED - When I formed this purpose; when I willed this, and expressed this intention. DID I USE LIGHTNESS? - The word ἐλαφρια elaphria (from ἐλαφρός elaphros) means properly lightness in weight. Here it is used in reference to the mind; and in a sense similar to our wo... [ Continue Reading ]
BUT AS GOD IS TRUE - Tyndale renders this in accordance more literally with the Greek, “God is faithful; for our preaching unto you was not yea and nay.” The phrase seems to have the form of an oath, or to be a solemn appeal to God as a Witness, and to be equivalent to the expression “the Lord livet... [ Continue Reading ]
FOR THE SON OF GOD - In this verse, and the following, Paul states that he felt himself bound to maintain the strictest veracity for two reasons; the one, that Jesus Christ always evinced the strictest veracity 2 Corinthians 1:19; the other, God was always true to all the promises that He made 2 Cor... [ Continue Reading ]
FOR ALL THE PROMISES OF GOD IN HIM - All the promises which God has made through him. This is another reason why Paul felt himself bound to maintain a character of the strictest veracity. The reason was, that God always evinced that; and that since none of His promises failed, he felt himself sacred... [ Continue Reading ]
NOW HE WHICH STABLISHETH US - He who makes us firm (ὁ βέβαιῶν ἡμᾶς ho bebaiōn hēmas); that is, he who has confirmed us in the hopes of the gospel, and who gives us grace to be faithful, and firm in our promises. The object of this is to trace all to God, and to prevent the appearance of self-... [ Continue Reading ]
WHO HATH ALSO SEALED US - The word used here (from σφραγίζω sphragizō) means to seal up; to close and make fast with a seal, or signet; as, e. g., books, letters, etc. that they may not be read. It is also used in the sense of setting a mark on anything, or a seal, to denote that it is genuine, au... [ Continue Reading ]
MOREOVER, I CALL GOD FOR A RECORD UPON MY SOUL - It is well remarked by Rosenmuller, that the second chapter should have commenced here, since there is here a transition in the subject more distinct than where the second chapter is actually made to begin. Here Tyndale commences the second chapter. T... [ Continue Reading ]
NOT FOR THAT WE HAVE DOMINION ... - The sense of this passage I take to be this: “The course which we have pursued has been chosen not because we wish to lord it over your faith, to control your belief, but because we desired to promote your happiness. Had the former been our object, had we wished t... [ Continue Reading ]