VINDICATION OF HIS APOSTOLIC AUTHORITY AGAINST TRADUCERS. The tone of these concluding Chapter s is so very different from that of all that precedes them, that though it is impossible to doubt that both came from the same pen (only two or three of the wildest critics have ever alleged the contrary),... [ Continue Reading ]
2 Corinthians 13:1. THIS IS THE THIRD TIME I AM COMING TO YOU. It is surprising that in face of so explicit a statement, repeated at 2 Corinthians 13:2, and of the one at 2 Corinthians 12:14, Paley _(Hor. Paul._ iv. 11) and other excellent critics should maintain that the apostle paid only two visit... [ Continue Reading ]
2 Corinthians 13:2. I HAVE SAID BEFOREHAND (at my former visit), AND I DO SAY BEFOREHAND, AS WHEN I WAS PRESENT THE SECOND TIME, SO NOW BEING ABSENT, THAT IF I COME AGAIN, I WILL NOT SPARE. ‘The time for leniency towards convicted offenders is past.'... [ Continue Reading ]
2 Corinthians 13:3. SEEING THAT YE SEEK A PROOF OF CHRIST THAT SPEAKETH IN ME ‘since there are those among you who question my apostolic authority, and demand proof of it, they shall have it,' WHO TO YOU-WARD IS NOT WEAK, BUT IS MIGHTY IN YOU ‘Ye are yourselves witnesses of what the Christ that is... [ Continue Reading ]
2 Corinthians 13:4. FOR [1] HE WAS CRUCIFIED THROUGH WEAKNESS, YET HE LIVETH THROUGH THE POWER OF GOD. There was a great principle involved in the death of Christ, over and above its more immediate object. All that preceded and led to His death was a manifestation of voluntary weakness, culminating... [ Continue Reading ]
2 Corinthians 13:5. TRY YOUR OWN SELVES: ‘Ye talk of trying me, but ye do well to try your own selves,' WHETHER YE BE IN THE FAITH or are Christians in name only; PROVE YOUR OWN SELVES. WHAT? [1] KNOW YE NOT YOUR OWN SELVES, THAT JESUS CHRIST IS IN YOU? dwelling in you to very different results than... [ Continue Reading ]
2 Corinthians 13:6. BUT I HOPE THAT YE SHALL KNOW THAT WE ARE NOT REPROBATE that whether in making known the Gospel or in the exercise of faithful discipline we, at least, are straightforward and true to our Master.... [ Continue Reading ]
2 Corinthians 13:7. NOW WE PRAY TO GOD THAT YE DO NO EVIL; NOT THAT WE MAY APPEAR APPROVED, BUT THAT YE MAY DO THAT WHICH IS HONOURABLE, THOUGH WE BE AS REPROBATE: ‘My prayer is, that when I come I may find no occasion for the exercise of discipline at all, but may find you walking consistently and... [ Continue Reading ]
2 Corinthians 13:8. FOR WE CAN DO NOTHING AGAINST THE TRUTH, BUT FOR THE TRUTH: ‘For our one object is to promote and establish the truth; and that end attained, if with the exercise of discipline, all the better; for not to display our apostolic authority do we live, but to see the truth triumphant... [ Continue Reading ]
2 Corinthians 13:9. FOR WE REJOICE WHEN WE ARE WEAK, AND YE ARE STRONG when-in consequence of your strength in grace and well-doing as a church we have no occasion to put forth our strength among you, but in all our own weakness look on, “joying and beholding your order and the steadfastness of your... [ Continue Reading ]
2 Corinthians 13:10. FOR THIS CAUSE I WRITE THESE THINGS WHILE ABSENT, THAT I MAY NOT WHEN PRESENT DEAL SHARPLY, ACCORDING TO THE AUTHORITY WHICH THE LORD GAVE ME FOR BUILDING UP, AND NOT FOR CASTING DOWN. He will not close without reaffirming his divinely-bestowed apostolic authority; but is carefu... [ Continue Reading ]
2 Corinthians 13:11. FINALLY, BRETHREN, FAREWELL. BE PERFECT (‘perfected'). The word ‘adjusted' (as a net put in order for casting), ‘thoroughly furnished,' BE OF GOOD COMFORT (‘comforted'); BE OF ONE MIND, the want of which was the first thing he complained of in his First Epistle (2 Corinthians 1:... [ Continue Reading ]
2 Corinthians 13:12. SALUTE ONE ANOTHER WITH A HOLY KISS. Such a form of salutation is the common Eastern practice, but the word holy is designed to mark its Christian meaning, as the expression of that holy unity which their common oneness with Christ imparted. It long continued in the Eastern Chur... [ Continue Reading ]
2 Corinthians 13:14. THE GRACE OF THE LORD JESUS CHRIST, AND THE LOVE OF GOD, AND THE COMMUNION OF THE HOLY GHOST, BE WITH YOU ALL. [1] [1] The amen is not genuine here. Remarkable it is that an Epistle written under a tempest of conflicting emotions, breathing in some places indignation, reproach,... [ Continue Reading ]