2 Corinthians 13
DOYLY2 Corinthians 13:2
2.—I will not spare.] It is a great confirmation of the veracity of the Apostles, that when factions were raised against them, they used none of the arts of flattery, however necessary they might seem; but depended on the force of a miraculous power to reduce offenders; which it would have been a most absurd thing to have pretended to, if they had not been really conscious to themselves that it was engaged in their favour. Bp. Burnett.
2 Corinthians 13:3
3.—which to youward is not weak, but is mighty in you.] Christ shewed his power among them, by enabling St. Paul to preach the Gospel to them “in demonstration of the Spirit and of power,” so efficaciously as to convert them to the faith, 1 Cor. ii. 4: by that variety of gifts conferred on them together with the Gospel, by which their “testimony of Christ was confirmed,” 1 Cor. i. 6; by His power, conspicuous in seconding St. Paul’s delivery of the incestuous person up to Satan, 1 Cor. v. 4, 5: and by the chastisements they suffered for communicating in the Lord’s supper unworthily. Dr. Whitby.
2 Corinthians 13:4
- For though he was crucified through weakness.] For as Christ appeared to be a weak and frail man in being crucified. Dr. Hammond.
—For we also are weak in him, &c.] So I also may appear weak, and a mere ordinary man, fit to be despised and condemned by you, but yet I shall shew that I am an Apostle of Christ, armed with power from God, which I have already evidenced by preaching and miracles, and shall evidence further by censures upon the contumacious among you. Dr. Hammond.
2 Corinthians 13:5
- Examine yourselves, whether ye be in the faith; prove your own selves.] That is, consider your condition impartially and thoroughly; try it by the rules of the Gospel; satisfy yourselves once for all, whether ye be true believers, such as God will accept. If you find that you are, resolve by His grace to continue such to your lives'
end; if you find you are not, resolve to make yourselves such as soon as possible: for nothing can be of more moment to you, than this knowledge and these resolutions. Bp. Atterbury.
—how that Jesus Christ is in you.] That is, with or among you. The words seem to allude to those spoken by the rebellious Israelites, who, after all the signs and wonders that God had shewed to them, still doubtingly impaired, “Is the Lord among us or not?” Exod. xvii. 7. So saith the Apostle: Seeing after all the miracles done among you, and the miraculous gifts received by you, you still seek a proof of Christ speaking in or by me, ask your own selves; know ye not by the gifts exercised among you, except ye be disapproved and rejected of God, that His Spirit, conveyed by my ministry, is still among you? The text speaks of Christ’s being in them by His miraculous presence; and of His being, not in any private person, but in the church of Corinth in general. Drs. Whitby and Hammond.
2 Corinthians 13:6
6.—that we are not reprobates.] That is, not disapproved of by Christ, but abundantly owned by Him. Drs. Hammond and Whitby. See the note from Parkhurst on Rom. i. 28.
2 Corinthians 13:7
- Now I pray to God that ye do no evil; &c.] The Apostle implores Almighty God, that the Corinthians might be found not doing any evil, which might expose them to his censure, and force him to exercise his apostolical power in punishing offenders. And he prayed thus, because he had rather have them good, than, by punishing their evil manners, have an occasion to testify himself to be an approved Apostle. Burkitt.
—though we be as reprobates.] That is, as destitute of the power of Christ in your eyes. Dr. Whitby. Whatsoever opinion you may have of me. Dr. Hammond.
2 Corinthians 13:8
- For we can do nothing against the truth, but for the truth.] The Apostle, assuring the Corinthians that, if they “did no evil,” they would be secure from his censure and chastisements, here assigns the reason for that assurance; signifying that his power was given to him “for edification (only,) and not for destruction,” ver. 10. Burkitt.
2 Corinthians 13:9
9.—when we are weak.] As having no occasion to manifest our power, “and ye are strong” in faith and good works. Dr. Whitby.
—your perfection.] Your reformation, or restoration to a perfect or right state. The word seems particularly to refer to their being reunited in mind; compare ver. 11. Parkhurst.
Anno DOMINI 60. Paul concludeth with an exhortation, and prayer. Anno DOMINI 66.
2 Corinthians 13:11
11.—Be perfect, &c.] Be ye careful to keep together in the united profession of the same faith; and, if there fall out any thing cross among you, support it cheerfully, be all mutually kind and peaceable, without any divisions or schisms among you, and that is the way to have that God, who so much values, and so strictly commands, love and peace among all, to be for ever among you with His grace. Dr. Hammond.
Such are the conditions, upon the performance of which we may hope for the presence of God in the midst of us. He, who “maketh men to be of one mind in a house,” delighteth to dwell in the house, where they are so. The spirit of discord resides in the world, that scene of confusion, that mystick Babel. Jerusalem is a city at unity in itself; and is therefore the habitation of “the Prince of Peace.” Bp. Horne.
2 Corinthians 13:14
- The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, &c.] We have here plainly, as in the form of baptism, Matt. xxviii. 19, the names of the sacred Trinity; and the Father and Son being mentioned in both places as distinct Persons, we have no reason to doubt of the personality of the Holy Ghost thus mentioned with them. The words contain a prayer for the highest blessings and benefits, of which the Corinthians could possibly be made partakers: all that love which doth or can flow from the Father; all that grace which was purchased by the Son; and all that fellowship and communion with the Holy Spirit, and communication from Him, which might render them meet for the service of Christ on earth, and for the full and final enjoyment of Him in heaven. Dr. Whitby, Burkitt.
Here three great blessings are wished to the Corinthians, as from three fountains, which imports that they are three different Persons, and yet equal; for though in order the Father is first, and is generally put first; yet here Christ is first named, which seems to be a strange reversing of things, if they are not equal as to their essence or substance. It is true, the second is not named here, “the Father,” as elsewhere, but only “God;” yet since He is mentioned as distinct from Christ and the Holy Ghost, it must be understood of the Father; for when the Father is named with Christ, sometimes He is called God simply, and sometimes “God the Father.” Bp. Burnett.
—the communion of the Holy Ghost.] That is, the communication of His blessings: certainly meaning, not a benefit peculiar to a few in the primitive days, but an influence from the blessed Spirit on the soul, of