Having therefore these promises, beloved, let us cleanse ourselves from all defilement of flesh and spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of God. [By an appeal to the prophets the apostle shows how it was God's design that his people should avoid all fellowship with unrighteous people in their unr... [ Continue Reading ]
[In this section the apostle appeals to the Corinthians to accept him as a true apostle and minister of Christ, and as persuasive to this end he sets forth his affection for them, his anxiety concerning them, and his joy at learning of their loyalty to him.] _Open your hearts to us: we wronged no ma... [ Continue Reading ]
I say it not to condemn you: for I have said before, that ye are in our hearts to die together and live together. [I do not say these things as though I would complain of you that you are so ungrateful and unjust as to accuse me of them. I am merely defending myself and not condemning you. I have no... [ Continue Reading ]
Great is my boldness of speech toward you, great is my glorying on your behalf: I am filled with comfort, I overflow with joy in all our affliction. [This verse tells of Paul's restored confidence in the Corinthians, and his consequent freedom of speech and joyfulness of heart. The next few verses s... [ Continue Reading ]
For even when we were come into Macedonia our flesh had no relief, but we were afflicted on every side; without were fightings, within were fears. [The apostle here resumes the thread of his narrative begun at 2 Corinthians 2:12-13. For the connection see the comment on those verses. He here tells u... [ Continue Reading ]
Nevertheless he that comforteth the lowly, even God, comforted us by the coming of Titus;... [ Continue Reading ]
and not by his coming only, but also by the comfort wherewith he was comforted in you, while he told us your longing, your mourning, your zeal for me; so that I rejoiced yet more. [The apostle was not only refreshed by the presence of Titus, and the report which he brought, but he was more especiall... [ Continue Reading ]
For though I made you sorry with my epistle, I do not regret it: though I did regret it (for I see that that epistle made you sorry, though but for a season),... [ Continue Reading ]
I now rejoice, not that ye were made sorry, but that ye were made sorry unto repentance; for ye were made sorry after a godly sort, that ye might suffer loss by us in nothing. [In his first epistle to the Corinthians Paul had sternly rebuked them. Though recognizing that the rebuke was well deserved... [ Continue Reading ]
For godly sorrow worketh repentance unto salvation, a repentance which bringeth no regret: but the sorrow of the world worketh death. [Godly sorrow results in repentance, and repentance results in salvation, and this result is never to be regretted, either by those who attain it, or by those who hav... [ Continue Reading ]
For behold, this selfsame thing, that ye were made sorry after a godly sort, what earnest care it wrought in you, yea what clearing of yourselves, yea what indignation, yea what fear, yea what longing, yea what zeal, yea what avenging! In everything ye approved yourselves to be pure in the matter. ... [ Continue Reading ]
So although I wrote unto you [for what he had written, see 1 Corinthians 5:1-5], _I wrote not for his cause that did the wrong_ [i. e., the incestuous son], _nor for his cause that suffered the wrong_ [i. e., the injured father], _but that your earnest core for us might be made manifest unto you in... [ Continue Reading ]
Therefore we have been comforted: and in our comfort we joyed the more exceedingly for the joy of Titus, because his spirit hath been refreshed by you all. [Therefore, as we have said before, our anxiety has been removed, and we have been comforted when we have seen how you have obeyed us, and stood... [ Continue Reading ]
For if in anything I have gloried to him on your behalf, I was not put to shame; but as we spake all things to you in truth, so our glorying also which I made before Titus was found to be truth. [Paul had evidently told Titus that he would find the Corinthians true and loyal, and ready to obey the a... [ Continue Reading ]
And his affection is more abundantly toward you, while he remembereth the obedience of you all, how with fear and trembling ye received him.... [ Continue Reading ]
I rejoice that in everything I am of good courage concerning you. [The affections which the Corinthians had awakened in the heart of Titus, who had come among them and had been received as Paul's messenger, greatly established the confidence of the apostle in that church, as he here tells them. Havi... [ Continue Reading ]