VII. (1) HAVING THEREFORE THESE PROMISES... LET US CLEANSE OURSELVES FROM ALL FILTHINESS. — The thought is identical with that of 1 John 3:3. In each there is the contrast between the high ideal to which the believer in Christ is called and the infinite debasement into which he may possibly sink. St... [ Continue Reading ]
RECEIVE US; WE HAVE WRONGED NO MAN. — Better, _Make room for us_; _we wronged no man:_ with the same change of tense in the verbs that follow. There is an almost infinite pathos in that entreaty, uttered, we may well believe, as from the very depths of the soul — “Make room for us.” The under-curren... [ Continue Reading ]
I SPEAK NOT THIS TO CONDEMN YOU. — Better, _I do not speak as condemning._ There is no “you” in the Greek, and the form of expression seems intentionally vague, as leaving it an open question whether his words might refer to his readers or to others. We trace here a sudden revulsion of feeling. What... [ Continue Reading ]
GREAT IS MY BOLDNESS OF SPEECH. — The context shows that he is not apologising for bold and plain speaking, but uses the word as implying confidence (1 Timothy 3:13; Philemon 1:8). He can speak without reticence now, because he is going to express his comfort and joy at what had been reported to him... [ Continue Reading ]
FOR, WHEN WE WERE COME INTO MACEDONIA... — His feeling has led him back to the narrative from which he had digressed in 2 Corinthians 2:13. He had come from Troas full of anxiety and agitation. He arrived in Macedonia. Much remained the same. His body was still suffering from want of rest, even thou... [ Continue Reading ]
GOD, THAT COMFORTETH THOSE THAT ARE CAST DOWN. — The fact of his own experience seems almost to present itself to his thoughts as constituting an attribute of the divine character. In the word for “cast down” (_lowly_) we may, perhaps, trace an allusion to the same word used of him by others as a di... [ Continue Reading ]
AND NOT BY HIS COMING ONLY. — There was joy, doubtless, in seeing his true son in the faith (Titus 1:1) once again, but the great comfort was found in the news which he brought with him. On the part of the majority, at least, of those who had been present when the Epistle was read, there had been al... [ Continue Reading ]
FOR THOUGH I MADE YOU SORRY WITH A LETTER. — Better, _For even if,_ and, as the Greek has the article, _with my letter._ This Titus had told him; and commonly to have caused pain to others would have been a source of grief to him, but he cannot bring himself now to say, _I regret._ (This is, perhaps... [ Continue Reading ]
THAT YE SORROWED TO REPENTANCE. — Here the true word for “repentance” is used in all the fulness of its meaning. (See Notes on Matthew 3:2; Matthew 3:8.) There is nothing in the Greek corresponding to the variation “ye sorrowed” and “were made sorry,” the same word being used in both clauses. AFTER... [ Continue Reading ]
FOR GODLY SORROW. — Again we note the needless variation which is the easily besetting sin of the English version. Better, as before, _the sorrow which is after the will of God._ REPENTANCE TO SALVATION NOT TO BE REPENTED OF. — Here the English effaces a distinction in the original. (See Note on Ma... [ Continue Reading ]
THAT YE SORROWED AFTER A GODLY SORT. — Better, as before, _that ye sorrowed after the will of God._ The series of emotional words that follow represent the Apostle’s estimate of what he had heard from Titus. There was (1) _earnestness_ where there had been indifference to evil, or even approval of i... [ Continue Reading ]
WHEREFORE, THOUGH I WROTE UNTO YOU. — The reference to the man that had suffered wrong implies that the offender in 1 Corinthians 5:1 had married his step-mother during his father’s life. All other inter pretations — such as those which make St. Paul or the community the injured party — are fantasti... [ Continue Reading ]
THEREFORE WE WERE COMFORTED. — The tense of the Greek verb implies a different structure of the sentence: _Therefore we have been comforted: and upon_ (_i.e.,_ over and above) _our comfort we rejoiced more exceedingly at the joy of Titus._ That was to St. Paul a new source of happiness. The intense... [ Continue Reading ]
FOR IF I HAVE BOASTED ANY THING TO HIM OF YOU. — It is obviously implied that he had boasted. He had encouraged Titus, when he sent him, with the assurance that he would find many elements of good mingled with the evil which he was sent to correct. And now St. Paul can add: “_I was not shamed_” (the... [ Continue Reading ]
HIS INWARD AFFECTION. — The margin gives the literal meaning of the Greek, which is used here with the same meaning as in 2 Corinthians 6:12. Perhaps “heart,” or “feelings,” would be the best English equivalent. The recollection of what had passed at Corinth had bound him by ties of closest sympathy... [ Continue Reading ]
I REJOICE THEREFORE THAT I HAVE CONFIDENCE IN YOU IN ALL THINGS. — Most of the better MSS. omit “therefore,” which may have been inserted for the sake of connecting the verse. “I have confidence in you,” though, in one sense, a literal translation of the Greek, fails to give its exact meaning. He do... [ Continue Reading ]