[While this third part of Paul's epistle is directed against his enemies, it is obvious that even these are, in his estimation, divided into two classes; i. e., the leaders and the led. The apostle does not always keep these separate in his mind, yet we frequently find him, as in this section, appea... [ Continue Reading ]
For I am jealous over you with a godly jealousy: for I espoused you to one husband, that I might present you as a pure virgin to Christ.... [ Continue Reading ]
But I fear, lest by any means, as the serpent beguiled Eve in his craftiness, your minds should be corrupted from the simplicity and the purity that is toward Christ.... [ Continue Reading ]
For if he that cometh preacheth another Jesus, whom we did not preach, or if ye receive a different spirit, which ye did not receive, or a different gospel, which ye did not accept, ye do well to bear with him. [These first four verses are introductory. The apostle, seeing the effect which the self-... [ Continue Reading ]
For I reckon that I am not a whit behind the very chiefest apostles. [I can not think that you receive these rival teachers and professed apostles as so much superior to me, for I am not behind these super-apostolic apostles. Paul is not here comparing himself with the twelve, but with these spuriou... [ Continue Reading ]
But though I be rude in speech, yet am I not in knowledge; nay, in every way have we made this manifest unto you in all things. [Paul admits that one criticism of him was true. He did indeed pay little regard to the laws of rhetoric, and scorned to weaken his thought by loading it with verbal orname... [ Continue Reading ]
Or did I commit a sin in abasing myself that ye might be exalted, because I preached to you the gospel of God for nought? [A second accusation which his enemies never wearied in presenting was that he had preached the gospel in Corinth without charge. They had said that he did this because he knew t... [ Continue Reading ]
I robbed other churches [Paul again shows his emotion by the indignant hyperbole "robbed"], _taking wages of them that I might minister unto you_;... [ Continue Reading ]
and when I was present with you and was in want, I was not a burden on any man; for the brethren [i. e., Silas and Timothy, Acts 18:5], _when they came from Macedonia, supplied the measure of my want; and in everything I kept myself from being burdensome unto you, and so will I keep myself_. [Here t... [ Continue Reading ]
As the truth of Christ is in me, no man shall stop me of this glorying in the regions of Achaia.... [ Continue Reading ]
Wherefore? because I love you not? God knoweth.... [ Continue Reading ]
But what I do, that I will do, that I may cut off occasion from them that desire an occasion; that wherein they glory, they may be found even as we. [The apostle is determined that whatever he may do elsewhere he will receive no compensation for any preaching in Achaia. Knowing that they would wish... [ Continue Reading ]
For such men are false apostles, deceitful workers, fashioning themselves into apostles of Christ. [Thus he declares plainly that these men are not apostles, that they maintained their false position by imposture, and that they assumed the name and office of apostles, though never having been called... [ Continue Reading ]
And no marvel; for even Satan fashioneth himself into an angel of light.... [ Continue Reading ]
It is no great thing therefore if his ministers also fashion themselves as ministers of righteousness; whose end shall be according to their works. [The apostle says that no one need stand aghast at such awful presumption, for Satan himself sets an example in this respect and his ministers may be ex... [ Continue Reading ]
[In this section the apostle draws a comparison between himself and the false apostles, showing how he excelled them in labors, revelations, signs, etc.] _I say again_ [having twice swerved from the distasteful task, Paul unwillingly resumes his apparent boasting], _Let no man think me foolish; but... [ Continue Reading ]
That which I speak, I speak not after the Lord, but as in foolishness, in this confidence of glorying. [Let no man think that I am foolish enough to boast wittingly of my own accord, but if any one does so think, let him, nevertheless, bear with me a little while in my boasting, since my adversaries... [ Continue Reading ]
Seeing that many glory after the flesh, I will glory also. [I am about to follow the carnal example of the boasters, that I may defeat them with their own weapon.]... [ Continue Reading ]
For ye bear with the foolish gladly, being wise yourselves.... [ Continue Reading ]
For ye bear with a man, if he bringeth you into bondage, if he devoureth you, if he taketh you captive, if he exalteth himself, if he smiteth you on the face.... [ Continue Reading ]
I speak by way of disparagement, as though we had been weak. Yet whereinsoever any is bold (I speak in foolishness), I am bold also. [You encourage me to talk foolishly, for it pleaseth you to indulge fools that ye may thereby flatter yourselves with a show of superiority, and by your recent conduct... [ Continue Reading ]
Are they Hebrews? so am I. Are they Israelites? so am I. Are they the seed of Abraham? so am I. [This verse shows clearly that Paul's enemies were Judaizing Jews. They had evidently boasted of their race, nationality, etc., to the disparagement of Paul. They probably urged that Paul was greatly infe... [ Continue Reading ]
Are they ministers of Christ? (I speak as one beside himself) I more; in labors more abundantly [1 Corinthians 15:10], _in prisons more abundantly, in stripes above measure, in deaths oft_. [1 Corinthians 15:31. On Jewish grounds Paul claimed equality, but as a minister of Christ, superiority. Knowi... [ Continue Reading ]
Of the Jews five times received I forty stripes save one. [Deuteronomy 25:2. The law limited all beatings to forty stripes; but one stripe was omitted lest the law should be accidentally broken through careless counting. Such a scourging inflicted the agony of death, and generally resulted in it. No... [ Continue Reading ]
Thrice was I beaten with rods, once was I stoned, thrice I suffered shipwreck, a night and a day have I been in the deep [The Romans punished by using the vine rods of the soldiers or the fasces of the lictors, and no law limited the number of strokes. Such beatings often caused death. Roman citizen... [ Continue Reading ]
in journeyings often, in perils of rivers, in perils of robbers, in perils from my countrymen, in perils from the Gentiles, in perils in the city, in perils in the wilderness, in perils in the sea, in perils among false brethren [Disasters at sea remind Paul of similar trials by land, and the eightf... [ Continue Reading ]
in labor and travail, in watchings often, in hunger and thirst, in fastings often, in cold and nakedness. [The apostle here tells how he labored until labor became a pain; how he sacrificed his sleep that he might teach, preach and pray (Acts 20:31; 1 Thessalonians 3:10); how his journeyings often t... [ Continue Reading ]
Besides those things that are without, there is that which presseth upon me daily, anxiety for all the churches. [Besides the things which I have already mentioned--trials which come from external circumstances--there are others which attack me daily; I mean the wranglings, disputes, backslidings an... [ Continue Reading ]
Who is weak, and I am not weak? who is caused to stumble, and I burn not? [In this verse Paul shows what the care of the churches meant to him. It was an excessive drain upon his sympathies. If any weak one suffered through the rash selfishness of a brother who abused his liberty by eating in an ido... [ Continue Reading ]
If I must needs glory, I will glory of the things that concern my weakness. [If my enemies force upon me the moral necessity of boasting, I will at least not boast of my exploits, but of those things which others might regard as matters of shame. Thus the apostle shows how impossible it was for him... [ Continue Reading ]
The God and Father of the Lord Jesus, he who is blessed for evermore knoweth that I lie not. [This solemn asseveration is not to be restricted to the statements contained in the next two verses, but applies to all he has said or is about to say in this entire section. No doubt in the apostle's own m... [ Continue Reading ]
In Damascus the governor under Aretas the king guarded the city of the Damascenes in order to take me:... [ Continue Reading ]
and through a window was I let down in a basket by the wall, and escaped his hands. [In the walled cities of the Orient, houses were often built against the walls so that the windows projected over them. No doubt in Paul's mind an apostle in a basket seemed the depth of humiliation. Aretas was king... [ Continue Reading ]