_Do we begin again_ While we thus speak and avow our integrity; _to
commend_ Or recommend; _ourselves_ As some insinuate we do? Is it
needful to do so? have we nothing but our own word to recommend us?
St. Paul chiefly here intends himself, though not excluding Timothy,
Titus, and Silvanus: _or need... [ Continue Reading ]
_Forasmuch as ye_ Some of whom were once so immoral, but who are now
so pious and virtuous; _are manifestly declared to be the epistle of
Christ_ Which he has formed and published to the world; _ministered by
us_ Whom he has used herein as his instruments; therefore ye are our
letter also; _written,... [ Continue Reading ]
_Not that we are sufficient of ourselves_ For this great work of
converting sinners, and creating them anew; or so much as _to think
any thing as of ourselves_ To form even right views of the gospel and
divine things, much less to communicate such views to others, and less
still to render them effec... [ Continue Reading ]
_But_ The apostle having signified that he and the other true servants
of Christ were intrusted with the ministry of the new covenant, in
opposition to the old, proceeds now to show the great superiority of
their dispensation to that which had preceded it. This he does in
three important particulars... [ Continue Reading ]
_If_, &c. The apostle now proceeds to the second particular; _the
ministration of condemnation be glorious_ Attended with such great
glory. The law, whether moral or ceremonial, however glorious, was, to
sinful and guilty, weak and depraved man, in his fallen state, no more
than a _ministration of c... [ Continue Reading ]
_Even that which was made glorious_ The law, especially at its first
dispensation; _had no glory in this respect_, &c. That is, none in
comparison of the gospel, which has such a transcendent glory in it.
The greater light swallows up the less. _For if that which is done
away_ The law, and the whole... [ Continue Reading ]
_Seeing then_ Upon these grounds spoken of from 2 Corinthians 3:5;
_that we have such hope_ Such confidence of the excellence of our
ministry, or such an assurance that the gospel excels the law in its
nature and tendency, in its glory and duration; _we use great
plainness of speech_ In discoursing... [ Continue Reading ]
_Now the Lord_ Christ _is that Spirit_ Of the law of which I spake
before, to whom the letter of it was intended to lead; and it is the
office of the Spirit of God, as the great agent in his kingdom, to
direct the minds of men to it. _And where the Spirit of the Lord is_
Enlightening and renewing me... [ Continue Reading ]