I. (1) TIMOTHY OUR BROTHER. — Literally, _Timothy the brother._ The word is used obviously in its wider sense as meaning a fellow-Christian. The opening words of the Epistle are nearly identical with those of 1 Corinthians 1:1. Timotheus, however, takes the place of Sosthenes, having apparently lef... [ Continue Reading ]
GRACE BE TO YOU. — See Romans 1:7; 1 Corinthians 1:3.... [ Continue Reading ]
BLESSED BE GOD... THE FATHER OF MERCIES. — The opening words are spoken out of the fulness of the Apostle’s heart. He has had a comfort which he recognises as having come from God. The nature of that comfort, as of the previous sorrow, is hardly stated definitely till we come to 2 Corinthians 2:13;... [ Continue Reading ]
WHO COMFORTETH US. — For the writer, the name “God of all comfort” was the outcome of a living personal experience. He had felt that ever-continuing comfort flowing into his soul, and he knew that it had not been given to him for his own profit only, but that it might flow forth to others. Heathen p... [ Continue Reading ]
ABOUND IN US. — Better, _overflow to us._ The sufferings of Christ, as in 1 Peter 4:13; 1 Peter 5:1 (the Greek in 1 Peter 1:11 expresses a different thought), are those which He endured on earth; those which, in His mysterious union with His Church, are thought as passing from Him to every member of... [ Continue Reading ]
AND WHETHER WE BE AFFLICTED... — The better MSS. present some variations in the order of the clauses, some of them giving the words “and our hope of you is steadfast” after “which we also suffer” in this verse. The variation hardly affects the sense in any appreciable degree. That sense is that each... [ Continue Reading ]
AND OUR HOPE OF YOU IS STEDFAST. — Better, _our hope on behalf of you._ The sentence is brought in as a kind of parenthesis connected with the word “enduring.” He had not used that word lightly, still less as a tacit reproach, as though they were wanting in endurance. His hope for them, for their sa... [ Continue Reading ]
WE WOULD NOT, BRETHREN, HAVE YOU IGNORANT. — From the generalised language of the previous verses he passes to something more specific. The phrase by which he calls attention to the importance of what he is about to write is characteristic of the Epistles of this period (Romans 1:13; 1 Corinthians 1... [ Continue Reading ]
WE HAD THE SENTENCE OF DEATH IN OURSELVES. — The word translated “sentence” (_apokrima_) does not occur elsewhere in the New Testament, nor indeed in the LXX. Literally, it means _answer,_ and was probably a half-technical term, used in medical practice, which St. Paul may have adopted from St. Luke... [ Continue Reading ]
WHO DELIVERED US FROM SO GREAT A DEATH. — Death in itself seems hardly to admit of such a qualifying adjective, but the words appear to have been used to represent the incidents of the death which seemed so near, the bodily anguish, the sense of prostration, almost, one might venture to say, the ver... [ Continue Reading ]
YE ALSO HELPING TOGETHER BY PRAYER... — They too to whom he writes can help him as he helps them. Indirectly he asks their prayers for him, but he does so with a refined delicacy of feeling, by assuming that they are already praying, and that their prayers are helpful. THAT FOR THE GIFT BESTOWED UPO... [ Continue Reading ]
FOR OUR REJOICING IS THIS.... — Better, _our boast,_ as in Romans 3:17; Romans 15:17; 1 Corinthians 15:31. With the feeling of jubilant thankfulness which has hitherto characterised his language there mingles another of a different character. It had, perhaps, been in the background of his thoughts a... [ Continue Reading ]
FOR WE WRITE NONE OTHER THINGS... — The Greek presents a play on the two words “read” (_ana-ginoskein_) and “acknowledge,” or “know fully” (_epiginoskein_)_,_ which it is impossible to reproduce in English. It is as though he said: “I have no hidden meaning in what I write and you read. What you rea... [ Continue Reading ]
AS ALSO YE HAVE ACKNOWLEDGED. — The parenthetical clause (better, _ye did acknowledge_) comes in to qualify the fear which had been partly veiled by the hope. They had done him some, though not adequate, justice. The phrase “in part” may be noted as specially characteristic of the Epistles of this p... [ Continue Reading ]
AND IN THIS CONFIDENCE. — What has been said hitherto paves the way for the explanation of his apparent change of purpose which he is anxious to give, though he will not formally plead at the bar of the tribunal of those who accused or suspected him. It was because he trusted that they would judge h... [ Continue Reading ]
TO BE BROUGHT ON MY WAY. — The change of word is significant. He did not intend merely to go from Corinth to Judaea. He expected the Corinthians to further his intentions, to help him on, to escort him solemnly to the ship in which he was to sail, perhaps to accompany him to Asia. (Comp. the use of... [ Continue Reading ]
DID I USE LIGHTNESS? — This, then, was the charge which he is anxious to refute. The question meets us, however, When had the Corinthians heard of the plan thus detailed? It had been already abandoned, as we have seen, before the first Epistle was despatched. Had it been communicated in a lost lette... [ Continue Reading ]
AS GOD IS TRUE. — Literally, _as God is faithful._ The words were one of St. Paul’s usual formulæ of assertion. (Comp. 1 Corinthians 1:9; 1 Corinthians 10:13; 2 Thessalonians 3:3.) In other instances it is followed commonly by a statement as to some act or attribute of God. Here it is more of the na... [ Continue Reading ]
BY ME AND SILVANUS AND TIMOTHEUS. — We note an undesigned coincidence with Acts 18:5, where Silas (whose identity with Silvanus is thus proved) is related to have come with Timotheus to join St. Paul at Corinth. The three names are joined together in the same order in 1 Thessalonians 1:1, and 2 Thes... [ Continue Reading ]
ALL THE PROMISES OF GOD... — Literally, _as many as are the promises of God._ Many of the better MSS. give a different reading: “In him is the Yea, wherefore also by him is the Amen to God for glory by our means.” The thought in either case is the same. The promises of God have been fulfilled and ra... [ Continue Reading ]
HE WHICH STABLISHETH US WITH YOU... — For a moment the thought of an _apology_ for his own conduct is merged in the higher thought of the greatness of his mission. The word “stablisheth,” or “confirmed,” as in 1 Corinthians 1:8, is connected with the previous “Amen” as the emphatic formula of ratifi... [ Continue Reading ]
WHO HATH ALSO SEALED US. — Better, _who also sealed us._ The thought thus expressed is that the gift of the Spirit, following on baptism or the laying on of hands, is as the seal of the covenant which God makes with His people, attesting its validity. (Comp. Ephesians 1:13; Ephesians 4:30; and, for... [ Continue Reading ]
I CALL GOD FOR A RECORD. — Better, _I call upon God as a witness against my soul._ The thought seems to come across St. Paul’s mind that the Corinthians will require a more specific explanation of his change of plan, and he finds this in what had been in part suggested in 1 Corinthians 4:21. Had he... [ Continue Reading ]
NOT FOR THAT WE HAVE DOMINION OVER YOUR FAITH. — Better, _are lording it over._ He has scarcely written, or uttered, the words which imply authority, when the thought comes to him that he may seem to claim too much. He shrinks from “lording it over God’s heritage” (1 Peter 5:3), and half apologises... [ Continue Reading ]