2 Corinthians 10

Chap. X. Ver. 1—18. Paul defends himself against the insinuations of his enemies.—In this and the following chapters our apostle defends himself against the charges and insinuations of the false teachers and their adherents, who reproached him for the meanness of his personal appearance, and his deficiency in respect to those arts of rhetoric and elocution which were admired and studied by men who aspired to much applause: at the same time they admit his Epistles to be weighty in authority, and powerful in expression; but then, say they, “his bodily presence is weak, and his speech con-

Notes on the verses

Chap. X. Ver. 1. In presence base among you.—Nicephorus Calistus, a Greek historian of the 14th Spo S (ib. ii. cap. 37,) who probably combined all the traditionary information he could collect, speaks of our apostle as “small of stature, stooping, and rather inclinable to crookedness; pale faced, of an elderly look, bald on the head. His eyes lively, keen, and cheerful; shaded in part by his eyebrows, which hung a little over. His nose rather long, and not ungracefully bent. His beard pretty thick of hair, and of a sufficient length, and, like his locks, peeps with gray. Ver. 3. In the flesh—i. e. in the earthly house of this tabernacle. See (2 Corinthians 5:1-2), and notes ——After—according to—the flesh—Always means in a carnal, worldly manner.