The Second Epistle of Paul the Apostle to the Corinthians
2 Corinthians 1
Chapter I · Vol. IV, pp. 371–372
3 The apostle encourageth them against troubles, by the comforts and deliverances which God had given him, as in all his afflictions, 8 so particularly in his late danger in Asia: 12 and calling both his own conscience and theirs to witness of his sincere manner of preaching the immutable truth of the gospel, 15 he excuseth his 'not coming to them, as proceeding not of lightness, but of his lenity towards them.
1 Paul,a an apostle of Jesus Christ by the will of God, and bTimothy our brother, unto cthe church of God which is at Corinth, with dall the saints which are in all Achaia:
2 Gracee be to you, and peace,1 from God our Father, and from the Lord Jesus Christ.
e Ro. 1. 7. 1 Co. 1. 3. Ga.1.2. Ep.1.2. Phi.1.2. Col.1.2. 1 Th.1.1. 2 Th.1.2. 1 Pe.1.2. Jude 2. 1 Ti.1.2. 2 Ti.1.2.
1 Is it possible that 'grace and peace' should, as in this passage, be equally supplicated from the Father and the Son, unless the Son and the Father were one in co-equal Godhead? Dare any one pray for 'grace and peace' from JEHOVAH and Moses! or from JEHOVAH and an angel! No true Christian would dare to offer such a composite petition. God alone can answer prayer, and to him alone may a Christian's prayer be addressed.—C.
3 Blessedg be God, even the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, hthe Father of mercies, and the God of all comfort;
4 Whoi comforteth us in all our tribulation, that we may be able to comfort them which are in any trouble, by the comfort wherewith we ourselves are comforted of God.
i Ro.15.5. 2 Th.2.16. Is.51.3,12.
5 For jas the sufferings of Christ abound in us, so our consolation also aboundeth by Christ.
j Ac.9.4. Col.1.24. ch.4.9,10; 11.3. Ps.34.19,20; 94.18,19.
6 Andk whether we be afflicted, it is for your consolation and salvation, which is effectual2 in the enduring of the same sufferings which we also suffer: or whether we be comforted, it is for your consolation and salvation.
k ver. 4; ch. 4.15,17,18. Ro.8.18,28. 2 Ti.2.10-12; 1.8.
2 Or, is wrought.
7 And our hope of you is steadfast, lknowing, that as ye are partakers of the sufferings, so shall ye be also of the consolation.
8 For we would not, brethren, have you ignorant nof our trouble which came to us in Asia,3 that we were pressed out of measure, above strength, insomuch that we despaired even of life:
9 But we had the sentence4 of death in ourselves, that owe should not trust in ourselves, but in God which raiseth the dead:
4 Or, answer.
o ch.4.7. Je.17.5,7. Ro.4.17-20.
10 Whop delivered us from so great a death, and doth deliver: in whom we trust that he will yet deliver us;
p 2 Pe.2.9. Job 5.17-23. Ps.34.19,20. Is.41.10-16; 46.3,4. 1 Co.15.31,32. ch.11.23. 1 Sa.17.37. 2 Ti.4.17.
11 Yeq also helping together by prayer for us, that for the gift5 bestowed upon us by the means of many persons, thanks may be given by many on our behalf.
* The gift, not of apostleship—for that was not of man, nor by man—but the gift of deliverance and life, for which he professes himself indebted to the prayers of the churches.—Note, God alone is the giver of 'every good gift, and every perfect gift,' but the prayers of believers are the means by which his gifts are administered. Let believers thankfully observe each others' graces, and pray that they may be increased; let them tenderly mark each others' errors and defects, and pray that they may be corrected and remedied; and let them sympathetically consider each others' temptations, sufferings, and dangers; and pray for patience and deliverance to those that are tried.—C.
q Ro.15.30. ch.4.15. Phi.1.19. Phile.22. Is.45.11. Ja.5.16-18. Phi.4.6. 1 Pe.5.7. Ac.12.5.
5 See note * in first column.
12 Forr our rejoicing is this, the testimony of our conscience, that in simplicity and godly sincerity, not with fleshly wisdom, but by the grace of God, we have had our conversation in the world, and more abundantly to you-ward.Cited in WCF 18.2
13 For we write none other things unto you, than what ye read or acknowledge; and I trust ye shall acknowledge even to the end;
14 As also ye have acknowledged us in part, thats we are your rejoicing, even as ye also are ours in the day of the Lord Jesus.
A.M. cir. 4064. A.D. cir. 60.
s ch.5.12. Phi.2.16;4.1. 1 Th.2.19,20.
15 Andt in this confidence I was minded to come unto you before, that ye might have a second benefit;6
16 And to pass by you into Macedonia, and to come again out of Macedonia unto you, and of you to be brought on umy way toward Judea.
u Ac.21.5.
17 Whenv I therefore was thus minded, did I use lightness?7 or the things that I purpose, do I purpose according to the flesh, that with me there should be yea yea, and nay nay?Cited in WLC 144
19 For the ySon of God, Jesus Christ, who was preached among you by us, even by me andz Silvanus and Timotheus, awas not yea and nay,1 but in him was yea.
20 For ball the promises of God in him are yea, and in him Amen, unto the glory of God by us.Cited in WLC 57 · HC 129
A.M. cir. 4064. A.D. cir. 60.
b Ro.15.8,9. Jn.14.6;1.14,17. Ga.3.17. Lu.24.27,44. He.9.15-17.
21 Now he cwhich stablisheth us with you in Christ, and hath anointed us, is God;Cited in WCF 18.2 · HC 1, 49, 53
c 2 Th.2.17. 1 Pe.5.10. 1 Jn.2.20,27. Re.3.18. ch.5.5.
22 Whod hath also sealed us, and given the earnest2 of the Spirit in our hearts.Cited in WLC 83 · WCF 18.2 · HC 1, 49, 53
d Ro.8.9,14-16. ch.5.5. Ep.1.13,14;4.30. 2 Ti.2.19. Re.2.17.
2 Earnest. The original is a Hebrew word signifying a 'pledge' or 'surety' given in confirmation of a covenant.—C.
Notes
Ver. 1, 2. I, Paul, whom Jesus Christ has immediately called to the high office of apostleship, according to the divinely gracious appointment of his Father; and Timothy, my beloved and faithful fellow-Christian and minister of the gospel—to all those at Corinth and the places adjacent that have accepted Christ and are regenerated and sanctified, and set apart to the holy services of Christ—wish the most abundant manifestations and fruits of God's full favour and mercy through Jesus Christ. 3. Magnified, adored, admired, loved, and praised for ever be that infinitely great and gracious JEHOVAH, who, from eternity, in an inconceivable manner, begat our Lord Jesus Christ; who constituted him our Mediator, and prepared for him his marvellous manhood; and who, in and through him, appears full of the most tender compassion, and is the author of all pardoning and relieving mercies, and bestower of all comfort, temporal, spiritual, or eternal: 4. Who, by his Word, Spirit, and providence, supports, assists, and comforts us ministers and Christians in all our painful and pressing troubles, outward or inward, particularly in such as we endure for adhering to his truths; and that not merely for our own benefit, but that we may be thereby experimentally taught, disposed, and qualified to sympathize with and administer suitable and seasonable encouragement and comfort to others in their afflictions, for animating their faith and hope to expect the like refreshment and deliverances. 5. For as we have been uncommonly troubled and persecuted for the sake of Christ, so, through union to and intimate fellowship with him, we have been proportionally filled with spiritual comforts to balance it. 6. And all these things are divinely intended and ordered for your unspeakable advantage. If we be pressed with troubles, it is that ye, beholding us enabled to bear them with Christian courage, patience, and joy, may be emboldened to persevere in your holy profession and practice unto complete salvation, and to undergo similar troubles on Christ's account. 7. And from what I have heard of my former epistle, I rest assured that, as God has made you willing to sympathize with and share in our sufferings for Christ, he will, in his rich grace and faithfulness, make you partners with us in our abundant comforts as your condition shall require it.—8. Passing over many other afflictions which we have met with, ye perhaps have heard that we were so terribly persecuted and cruelly abused for preaching the gospel in Lesser Asia, that we had scarcely any hopes of escaping with our life. 9. But God reduced us to this apparently desperate extremity that we might learn to live by faith on him, and have no dependence on our own wisdom or strength, or the favour or influence of friends, but only upon his life-giving, preserving, and restoring power, goodness, wisdom, and faithfulness, for our protection and deliverance. 10. And we firmly trust that this God who, by marvellous interpositions, did, and still does, preserve us in life amidst the greatest dangers, will continue to deliver us from doing evil ourselves, or being hurt by the wicked of others, and enable us to reach his heavenly kingdom. 11. And that, in answer to your prayers, as well as our own, such marvellous preservations and deliverances, procured by many prayers, and intended for the spiritual edification of multitudes, may issue in abundant thanksgivings of men to God. 12. For what ever reproaches and troubles I and my faithful fellow-preachers of Christ have met with, we have in our own breasts the heart-ravishing and triumphant testimony of our consciences, in every reflection upon our principles, tempers, motives, views, and conduct, that with an ingenuous undisguised sincerity and singleness of heart, and with the most upright aims to promote the glory of God—not with any cunning artifices of carnal policy, or selfish or secular designs or motives, but by a governing principle of grace which God hath wrought in our hearts, and by the gracious directions and assistance which he, in tenderness, continually affords us—we have conducted ourselves in the whole of our ministerial and personal behaviour, and in a particular manner towards you. 13, 14. What I have now hinted is nothing more than ye have read in my former letter, and which I understand ye generally acknowledge to be true; and I hope that, by the grace of God, ye shall never have occasion to think otherwise; even as the better part of you have already, with great pleasure, honourably acknowledged me and my fellow-preachers to have been the instruments of your conversion and spiritual comfort: and we have rejoiced on account of the gifts and graces bestowed upon you, and expect to see you presented, as the seals of our ministry, before our Lord Jesus Christ in the last judgment.—15. And being satisfied of our having mutual comfort in one another, I truly intended to have made you a second visit before now, that, by my preaching and conversation, ye might be further refreshed and built up in Christ, and others converted to him. 16. I intended not indeed to visit you on my way to Macedonia, as then I could have merely seen you, but to continue with you some considerable time after my return from thence, and that some of you should help me forward in my way to Judea with the collection for the saints there. 17. In forming this design, which has not yet been accomplished, I did not, as your new preachers pretend, act inconsiderately or lightly, regardless of what I said or did; nor was it a compliment to flatter and deceive you; nor did I alter my resolution without sufficient ground, or as influenced by any carnal and secular considerations; nor did I, like a wicked man regardless of his word, affirm and deny the same things by turns. 18, 19. No; I dare appeal to the infinitely true and faithful JEHOVAH, that in my whole conduct I have acted consistently with truth and sincerity, and that the subject of my own and my brethren's ministrations are the stable and unchangeable truths of God; for with uniform evidence of certainty we preached Jesus Christ, the eternal Son of God, in his person, offices, and benefits, which are for ever invariably the same. 20. For in him, the faithful and true Witness, all the great and precious promises of the new kingdom given forth by the unchangeable God, and clearly exhibited under the New Testament dispensation, are infallibly and invariably the same—all established and put in force by his death, that they may be gloriously and completely fulfilled in their proper time and order to his people, to the praise and glory of God's truth, faithfulness, and grace, by our ministrations. 21, 22. And it is this great and unchangeable God who establishes and strengthens us, ministers and people, to abide in the truth through virtue of our union to Christ, and by his Spirit furnishes us with all necessary gifts and grace; who has also graciously distinguished, marked, and blest his followers; confirmed his promise to us, assured us of our interest in it, and imprinted his holy image upon us; and has given us his Spirit to dwell and shed abroad his love and influence in our hearts, as a pledge and earnest of our eternal inheritance.—23. And I dare appeal to him in the most solemn manner that I delayed my visit to you merely from tender affection to you, that I might come, not to exercise my power in censuring and reproving you, but in kind and meek encouragement and comfort. 24. Not that I or any other minister of Christ have any right to domineer over your faith by requiring you to believe or practise anything in religion which is not required by Jesus Christ, the only Head of the church; but we are authorized by God, and sincerely desire and endeavour, to promote your spiritual comfort, by recovering you from what would hinder it, and by establishing your faith in Christ, and the promises which are confirmed in him; for it is by such a divine faith, founded on God's own authority and faithfulness, that ye have stood, and may continue to stand, in your state of grace to eternal salvation.
Ver. 13. It is not improbable that some factious members, seeing that he had not come according to his purpose, 1 Co. 4. 19, had accused him of ambiguity—of writing one thing and meaning another; or of holding some private intercourse with one party which was withheld from the others. C.
Ver. 20. 'For how many soever be the promises of God, in him (Christ) is the yea, and in him the amen.'—Yea, the answer to the question, Is it so? Amen, the declaration that the answer is truth. C.
Reflections.—An unbounded source of mercies and blessings is a reconciled God in Christ. And delightful is it to have the God and Father of Christ ours also. Faithful ministers and Christians may expect to meet with great troubles on earth. But it is enough if God proportion their comfort to their tribulations, and make all to issue in the edification of his church. Yea, thus God often delightfully prepares his ministers, by their own trials and comforts, to comfort others. It is happy to see all our troubles and comforts wisely ordered by God, to draw us off from resting in creatures to a sole dependence on himself; and to be enabled so to live amidst reproaches and persecutions as our consciences cannot but attest our uprightness and holiness.—Joint fervent prayers bring down remarkable blessings upon ministers and others. And if God answer our prayers in remarkable benefits to many, abundant thanks should be rendered to him for his kindness. Happy is it when ministers earnestly pray, faithfully preach, and prudently vindicate their own character, in order to promote the remarkable edification of the church. And wonderful is the blessed provision which God hath made in promises and spiritual influences for the instruction, comfort, establishment, end eternal salvation of all people.