_Paul, an apostle_ Here it was necessary for Paul to assert his authority, otherwise he is very modest in the use of this title. He seldom mentions it when he joins others with himself in the salutations, as in the epistles to the Philippians and Thessalonians; or when he writes about secular affair... [ Continue Reading ]
_Who gave himself for our sins_ See on 1 Corinthians 15:3; _that he might deliver us from this present evil world_ From the ignorance and folly, sinfulness and guilt, corruption and misery, wherein it is involved, and from its vain and foolish customs and pleasures, that friendship and society with... [ Continue Reading ]
_I marvel that ye are so soon_ After my leaving you; _removed from him that called you into the grace_ Or rather, _by_, or through the grace; _of Christ_ His gracious gospel, and his gracious power. God is generally said to _call_ men into the grace of Christ, but the phraseology seems here to point... [ Continue Reading ]
_For_ He here adds the reason why he speaks so confidently; _do I now persuade_, or satisfy, _men_ Is this what I aim at in preaching or writing? _or God?_ Do I endeavour, in my ministry, to ingratiate myself with men, or to approve myself to God? _Or do I seek to please men_ By a compliance with th... [ Continue Reading ]
_But I certify you, brethren_ He does not, till now, give them even this appellation; _that the gospel which was preached by me_ Among you; _is not after man_ Of mere human authority and invention; is not from man, not by man, nor suited to the taste of man; _for I neither received it of man_ From t... [ Continue Reading ]
_For ye have heard of my conversation in time past_ As if he said, To convince you that I received the knowledge of the gospel by immediate revelation from Christ, I appeal to my behaviour, both before and after I was made an apostle; _in the Jewish religion_ Εν τω Ιουδαισμω, _in Judaism._ The expre... [ Continue Reading ]
_When it pleased God_ He ascribes nothing to his own merits, endeavours, or sincerity; _who separated me from my mother's womb_ Set me apart for an apostle, as he did Jeremiah for a prophet, (Jeremiah 1:5,) and ordered my education with a view to that office. Such an unconditional predestination as... [ Continue Reading ]
_Then, after three years_ Wherein I had given full proof of my apostleship; _I went up to Jerusalem to see Peter_ And converse with him; _and abode with him fifteen days_ During which they doubtless discoursed at large together on the mutual success of their ministry. “This being Paul's first visit... [ Continue Reading ]
_Now the things which I write unto you_ With respect to all these circumstances of them; _I lie not_ As I affirm before God, who searcheth the heart, and from whom nothing is hid. _Afterward_ Departing from Jerusalem; _I went into the regions of Syria and Cilicia_ To exercise my ministry there, and,... [ Continue Reading ]