_IN HIS ASSURED HOPE OF IMMORTAL GLORY, AND IN EXPECTANCE OF IT, AND OF THE GENERAL JUDGMENT, THE APOSTLE LABOURETH TO KEEP A GOOD CONSCIENCE; NOT THAT HE MAY HEREIN BOAST OF HIMSELF, BUT AS ONE THAT, HAVING RECEIVED LIFE FROM CHRIST, ENDEAVOURETH TO LIVE AS A NEW CREATURE TO CHRIST ONLY, AND BY HIS... [ Continue Reading ]
FOR WE KNOW, &C.— We, as has been said but now, having eternal glory in view, do not droop in our work, nor faint under our manifold afflictions: for we are not only persuaded, upon the testimony of God in his word, that there is a rest provided for his faithful people, but by the witness of his Spi... [ Continue Reading ]
FOR IN THIS WE GROAN,— The following seems the best and most unexceptionable exposition of the very difficult passage before us: "And in this view we groan, through that intenseness of spirit with which we are earnestly and perpetually desiring to be clothed upon with our house which is from heaven;... [ Continue Reading ]
NOW HE THAT HATH WROUGHT US, &C.— "To these noble views and sublime desires." This is a most emphatical manner of speaking; not only asserting that God is the author of it, but ascribing Deity to the author. As if he had said, "None but God could have raised us to such a temper." The _Spirit_ is fre... [ Continue Reading ]
WE ARE ALWAYS CONFIDENT— _Undaunted,—of good courage:_ and so 2 Corinthians 5:8. The original here, and in 2 Corinthians 5:8 implies the same with _we faint not,_ ch. 2 Corinthians 4:1; 2 Corinthians 4:16. "I go on undauntedly without fainting, preaching the gospel with sincerity and direct plainnes... [ Continue Reading ]
FOR WE WALK BY FAITH, &C.— "We now walk and conduct ourselves in the whole course of our life, by the faith of objects as yet unseen, and not by the sight of those glories, or by a regard to those things which we can see." Comp. Galatians 3:11.Hebrews 10:38.... [ Continue Reading ]
AND WILLING RATHER TO BE ABSENT, &C.— This may be understood as spoken with respect to death; and then it will imply, that a Christian, as soon as he dies, is present with Christ: or it may mean, that he wished for Christ's coming, that his whole man might be translated from this state of absence. S... [ Continue Reading ]
WHEREFORE WE LABOUR,— _We make it the height of our ambition,_ Φιλοτιμουμεθα, _whether staying in the body, or going out of it:_ that is, "Whether I am to stay longer here, or suddenly to depart." The foregoing verse leads us to this sense. From ch. 2 Corinthians 4:12 to this place, St. Paul, to con... [ Continue Reading ]
KNOWING THEREFORE THE TERROR OF THE LORD, WE PERSUADE, &C.— "We convince men, and persuade them to be Christians, through divine grace, and by that means are manifested to God as his servants, and to your consciences." Mr. Locke's paraphrase is, "Knowing therefore this terrible judgment of the Lord,... [ Continue Reading ]
FOR WE COMMEND NOT OURSELVES AGAIN— From this place, and several others in the epistle, it cannot be doubted but that St. Paul's speaking well of himself had been objected to him as a fault; and in this lay his great difficulty, how to deal with this people. If he answered nothing to what was talked... [ Continue Reading ]
WHETHER WE BE BESIDE OURSELVES,— From this verse to ch. 2 Corinthians 6:12. St. Paul gives another reason for his disinterested carriage in preaching the gospel; and that is, his love to Christ, who by his death having given him life, who was dead, he concludes, that in gratitude he ought not to liv... [ Continue Reading ]
CONSTRAINETH US;— _"Bears us away,_ like a strong and resistless torrent." Thus much is implied by the original word συνεχει. See Philippians 1:23.... [ Continue Reading ]
HENCEFORTH KNOW WE NO MAN, &C.— "From this time we have no longer any partial regard to the Jew more than to the Gentile, on account of the descent of the former. We do not now esteem any one for the advantages of this world, riches, learning, or eloquence; and even they who have seen and conversed... [ Continue Reading ]
THEREFORE, IF ANY MAN BE IN CHRIST, &C.— Galatians 6:14 may give some light to this place. To connect this and the preceding verse with St. Paul's discourse here, they must be understood in reference to the false apostle, against whom St. Paul is here justifying himself;making it a grand point, in t... [ Continue Reading ]
AND ALL THINGS, &C.— _Now,_ &c.... [ Continue Reading ]
TO WIT, THAT GOD WAS IN CHRIST,— _Namely,_ &c. Doddridge. _For God was in Christ,_ &c. Heylin.... [ Continue Reading ]
WE ARE AMBASSADORS FOR CHRIST,— The Apostles were so in a peculiar sense; but if it be the will of Christ that ministers, in all ages, should press men to accept the treaty of reconciliation established in him, then it is evident they may be called _his ambassadors,_ even though such a phrase had ne... [ Continue Reading ]
MADE TO BE SIN, &C.— _"A sin-offering_ for us, that, by the sacrifice of himself, he might expiate the guilt of our transgressions, and that so we might be made accepted in him, and furnished with a plea as prevalent for our justification and admission into the divine favour, as if we had retained o... [ Continue Reading ]