2 Corinthians 1:1. PAUL... AND TIMOTHY OUR (_Gr._ ‘the') BROTHER. See on 1 Corinthians 1:1. Timothy had been sent to Corinth along with the First Epistle (1 Corinthians 4:17), and along with him Erastus (Acts 19:22), and probably Stephanas, Fortunatus, and Achaicus (1 Corinthians 16:17). Timothy had... [ Continue Reading ]
2 Corinthians 1:2. Grace, etc. See on 1 Corinthians 1:3.... [ Continue Reading ]
2 Corinthians 1:3. BLESSED _BE _ THE GOD AND FATHER, etc. not ‘Blessed _is_ God' (as Alford unnaturally and inconsistently with his own rendering of the same words in Ephesians 1:3), the FATHER OF MERCIES AND GOD OF ALL COMFORT Divine mercies of which, at the time referred to, the apostle had had sp... [ Continue Reading ]
2 Corinthians 1:5. FOR AS THE SUFFERINGS OF CHRIST ABOUND UNTO US. In what sense? Those touching words of the glorified One to Saul, on his way to Damascus, seem to furnish the answer: “Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou _Me_ I am Jesus, _Whom_ thou persecutest” (Acts 9:4-5): as if to say, ‘Whatsoever... [ Continue Reading ]
2 Corinthians 1:6. BUT WHETHER WE BE AFFLICTED, IT IS FOR YOUR COMFORT AND SALVATION; OR WHETHER WE BE COMFORTED, IT IS FOR YOUR COMFORT, WHICH WORKETH IN YOU THE PATIENT ENDURANCE OF THE SAME SUFFERINGS. What that suffering of his own was, to which he here refers and his consolation under which he... [ Continue Reading ]
2 Corinthians 1:8. FOR I WOULD NOT HAVE YOU IGNORANT CONCERNING OUR TROUBLE WHICH BEFELL _US _ IN ASIA. Proconsular Asia is meant the western part of Asia Minor, embracing Mysia, etc. The reference here is probably not to the rush that was made in Ephesus upon the apostle's party in consequence of t... [ Continue Reading ]
2 Corinthians 1:10. WHO DELIVERED US OUT OF SO GREAT A DEATH. The word points to ‘such a _kind_ of death,' rather than to its greatness, AND WILL DELIVER: IN WHOM OUR HOPE IS THAT HE WILL ALSO STILL DELIVER US so that though already delivered from that oppressive, crushing sense of impending death j... [ Continue Reading ]
2 Corinthians 1:11. YE ALSO HELPING TOGETHER ON OUR BEHALF BY YOUR SUPPLICATION delicately taking it for granted that they were doing it, and so virtually soliciting their prayers, THAT FOR THE GIFT BESTOWED UPON US BY THE MEANS OF MANY PERSONS THANKS MAY BE GIVEN BY MANY ON OUR BEHALF his preservat... [ Continue Reading ]
2 Corinthians 1:12. FOR OUR GLORYING IS THIS, THE TESTIMONY OF OUR CONSCIENCE, THAT IN HOLINESS [1] AND SINCERITY OF GOD ‘in purity of motive, and integrity of heart, as in the sight of the great Searcher of hearts,' NOT WITH (‘in') FLESHLY WISDOM, BUT WITH (‘in') THE GRACE OF GOD not even trusting... [ Continue Reading ]
2 Corinthians 1:13. FOR WE WRITE NONE OTHER THINGS UNTO YOU, THAN WHAT YE READ (in this Letter), OR EVEN ACKNOWLEDGE (without the need of our writing it), AND I HOPE YE WILL ACKNOWLEDGE UNTO THE END; [2] AS ALSO YE DID ACKNOWLEDGE US IN PART, or ‘in some degree,' as in chap. 2 Corinthians 2:5; Roman... [ Continue Reading ]
2 Corinthians 1:15. AND IN THIS CONFIDENCE of the cordial footing on which we stood to each other, I WAS MINDED TO COME UNTO YOU BEFORE before going to Macedonia, sailing direct from Ephesus to Corinth (almost in a straight course from east to west), THAT YE MIGHT HAVE A SECOND BENEFIT the benefit o... [ Continue Reading ]
2 Corinthians 1:16. AND BY YOU TO PASS INTO MACEDONIA, AND AGAIN FROM MACEDONIA TO COME UNTO YOU, AND OF YOU TO BE SET FORWARD UNTO JUDEA. This was his original plan, to pay two visits to Corinth, on his way both to and from Macedonia, including the expectation of a loving convoy from them on his wa... [ Continue Reading ]
2 Corinthians 1:17. WHEN I THEREFORE WAS THUS MINDED, DID I SHEW FICKLENESS? This shews that his original plan had somehow become known at Corinth either through Timothy (1 Corinthians 4:17), or in the letter referred to in 1 Corinthians 5:9 and that advantage had been taken of the change to his pre... [ Continue Reading ]
2 Corinthians 1:18. BUT AS GOD IS TRUE a solemn asseveration, having the force of an appeal to God, or an oath, OUR WORD TOWARD YOU IS NOT YEA AND NAY ‘the word of one not to be depended on.' No wonder that he makes such an appeal; for by such insinuations he feels his whole credit at stake.... [ Continue Reading ]
2 Corinthians 1:19. FOR THE SON OF GOD, JESUS CHRIST, WHO WAS PREACHED AMONG YOU BY US, EVEN BY ME AND SILVANUS AND TIMOTHY. It has been observed (by Paley), as an undesigned coincidence between the history in the Acts and this Epistle, that both there (Acts 18:5) and here we find both Silas (or Sil... [ Continue Reading ]
2 Corinthians 1:20. FOR HOW MANY SOEVER BE THE PROMISES OF GOD, IN HIM IS THE YEA; WHEREFORE ALSO THROUGH HIM IS THE ‘AMEN, UNTO THE GLORY OF GOD THROUGH US. This is but an expansion of the preceding statement; but deeming it too precious to be used only for his own defence, he is here drawn on to a... [ Continue Reading ]
2 Corinthians 1:21. NOW HE WHICH STABLISHETH US WITH YOU IN CHRIST _Gr._ ‘into Christ' (the pregnant sense of the Greek preposition) not only inserting us _into,_ but keeping us _in_ Christ; compare 1 Corinthians 1:30, “Of Him (God) are ye in Christ Jesus,” AND ANOINTED US, IS GOD;... [ Continue Reading ]
2 Corinthians 1:22. WHO ALSO SEALED US, AND GAVE _US _ THE EARNEST OF THE S pirit (meaning the Spirit as the earnest of future glory) IN OUR HEARTS. There is a noble climax here: ‘Our whole stability in the faith is of God; of God also it is that we “have an _anointing_ from the Holy One” (1 John 2:... [ Continue Reading ]
2 Corinthians 1:23. BUT I CALL GOD FOR A WITNESS UPON MY SOUL, THAT TO SPARE YOU (AND FOR THAT REASON ONLY) I FORBARE TO COME UNTO CORINTH. Little would they expect such an explanation, and evidently he would fain have concealed it from them; but since he must be plain with them, with such suspicion... [ Continue Reading ]
2 Corinthians 1:24. NOT THAT WE HAVE LORDSHIP OVER YOUR FAITH ‘not domineering over you in things spiritual.' This explanation SEEMS intended to qualify the words “to spare you,” lest it should be thought that the spirit in which he even yet wished to come to them was one of imperiousness; far from... [ Continue Reading ]