2 Corinthians 1

2 Corinthians 1:6

And so what afflictions soever befall us, there is no reason you should be startled or discouraged in your Christian course by that means; for sure it is for your advantage that we are so. Our afflictions are matter of comfort to you; viz. that you can fall under no persecutions yourselves but what ye see us endure before you; and those merely for our doing you good, preaching the gospel to you, endeavouring to bring you to repentance and to bliss; which is not ordinarily to be come to, but by suffering after my example. And then the refreshments and extraordinary reliefs that Christ afforded me in all my sufferings, those sure will be matter of comfort to you also, as a pledge of assurance that Christ will afford you the like refreshments here, and reward hereafter.

2 Corinthians 1:7

And of this I make no doubt, but that as you have your parts in the afflictions, so ye shall also of the reliefs and advantages by suffering.

2 Corinthians 1:8

All this I say by way of preface to this advertisement which I desire to give you of the sharp persecutions that I lately met with at Ephesus, the chief metropolis of Asia, Acts xix., (see note [d] 1 Cor. xv,) where I had like to have been brought out to the theatre to be devoured by the wild beasts, and indeed had no human means to avert, nor consequently to escape it.

2 Corinthians 1:9

And this advantage I had of it, that the more I believed I should be put to death, the more I might be engaged by my deliverance never to depend on any worldly trust, but only on God, who can rescue from the greatest extremity, even from the grave and death itself.

2 Corinthians 1:10

Even that God who hath actually delivered me out of that imminent danger, and so still continues to deliver me, and I verily believe will yet longer continue preservations to me.

2 Corinthians 1:11

To which purpose I suppose it will much conduce, that you will earnestly pray for me; for as the

⁴ upon us abound, εἰς ἡμᾶς περισσεύει. ⁵ wrought by, ἐνεργουμένης ἐν. ⁶ for, ὑπέρ.

⁷ you are. ⁸ we ourselves, αὐτοί. ⁹ also yet, καὶ ἔτι. ¹⁰ the favour conferred on us

for the sakes of many, may by many be thankfully acknowledged, ἐκ πολλῶν προσώπων τὸ εἰς

ἡμᾶς χάρισμα διὰ πολλῶν εὐχαριστηθῇ. M 2

[a] by the means of many persons] The Greek πρόσωπον is ordinarily parallel and proportionable to the Hebrew פנים, facies, which coming from פנה, respexit, signifies oftentimes respectus, and so מפני, de facie, signifies for or in respect of; and agreeable thereto, ἐκ προσώπων πολλῶν, of or from many faces, here signifies in respect of many, in relation to many, for the sakes of many, or in any of those forms of speech by which מפני would be rendered.

2 Corinthians 1:12

For of this I can say with joy and comfort, that my conscience gives me a cheerful testimony in all my actions that I have had no ends or designs of my own, but in a pious simplicity and sincerity of heart, not as worldly wisdom would direct, but according to the gospel rules (see note [d] Heb. xiii.), we have behaved ourselves toward all men, but toward you beyond all others.

2 Corinthians 1:13

For my writings to you are perfectly agreeable to the doctrine preached by me, and by you received, when I was among you; what in my epistles you read, you cannot but acknowledge to be that which ye have been taught, and I hope you will never be drawn away from that acknowledgment.

2 Corinthians 1:14

This I say, because though since these divisions came in among you I have been rejected and vilified by some, yet some others of you have acknowledged yourselves to take joy and comfort in me, as I profess to do in you, and am confident I shall do when Christ comes to reward his faithful servants.

2 Corinthians 1:15

And with this affection of kindness to you, and persuasion of your kindness to me, I did design to come to you, that thereby you might be confirmed in that faith, and grow in that knowledge which was first preached to you.

2 Corinthians 1:16

This I first meant to do in my way to Macedonia, and being hindered from doing it then, (and going another way, viz. by Troas, ch. ii. 12,) I have had a second resolution of visiting you, at my going from Macedonia into Greece, Acts xx. 16. 2, that so I might have been conducted by some of you toward Judaea, whither I am a going with contributions to the poor Christians there.

2 Corinthians 1:17

And though I did not come, yet have my calumniators nothing to lay to my charge for this, as

[b] yea yea, and nay nay] The meaning of yea and nay, or of yea yea, and nay nay, is distinctly this, when we do not agree, or are inconstant to ourselves, now yea and anon nay, in our words or actions. Whence is that old word naucus, for “a light or frivolous person,” from ναι οὐχί, as it is deduced by Festus. The difference of this from the ἤτω ὑμῶν τὸ ναι ναι, καὶ τὸ οὐ οὔ, James v. 12, is cleared by the construction, Let your yea be yea, and your nay be nay, that is, Let your words and actions accord; so that the second yea and the second nay is not joined with the first, as here, but as the predicate affirmed of it, whereas here the two yeas being all one, (and so indeed expressed by a single yea, ver. 18,) are the subject of the speech, and the two nays, being all one again, the predicate. To this agrees that proverb of the Jews, The just man’s yea is yea, and his nay nay. A third expression

II. 12. p. 1173.

2 Corinthians 1:18

No, I assure you, as God is faithful, there was no levity or inconstancy in my resolution.

2 Corinthians 1:19

As little as there was in our preaching of Christ Jesus the Son of God among you, which is also calumniated by some, as if it were light, uncertain, liable to inconstancy; but that most unjustly; for what was preached by us there among you was confirmed by Christ himself, that is, by miracles wrought by his power among you.

2 Corinthians 1:20

For as all the promises of God proposed by him are undoubtedly true, so accordingly in this particular he gave us power to confirm by miracles what we taught from him; and this I hope hath and will tend to the glory of God by our ministry.

2 Corinthians 1:21

Now he that confirms both you and us in the truth acknowledged by us, and which hath given us such testimony for the proof and confirmation of the gospel (see note [e] Acts x.), is God;

2 Corinthians 1:22

Who hath as it were set his seal or signature upon us, marked and secured us, sealed us up for his own, and already given an assurance of his future dealing with us, by giving us his Spirit, the gifts and graces thereof, a pledge of the full promise which shall after be performed: (see note [f] Ephes. iv.)

2 Corinthians 1:23

As for that of my not performing my first resolution of coming to you in my way to Macedonia, ver. 17, and according to my promise, 1 Cor. xvi. 5, I shall tell you the clear reason of it, (besides or over and above that of the Spirit’s disposing me otherwise, contrary to my resolution intimated, ver. 17, see Theophylact): I had heard of such enormities among you, that if I had then come, I must have been forced to use a great deal of severity among you, in case my former epistle were not obeyed, of which I had not particular knowledge till I met with Titus, ch. ii. 13, which was at my coming to Macedonia. And that was then the only reason of my forbearing, that I might not be forced to exercise that apostolical sharpness against you. (As for the other, the reason of the change of his resolution is plain, Acts xx. 3.)

2 Corinthians 1:24

That severity of discipline, I mean, that must ¹⁷ by, ℣. ¹⁸ are in him yea, ℣v αὐτῷ τὸ γαί. for the King’s MS. reads διὰ καὶ δι’ αὐτοῦ τὸ ἀμήν. δόξαν. ²¹ into, iis. ²² gives, δοὺς dominion, δι’ κυριεῖομεν— ¹⁹ Or, therefore through him are Amen: ²⁰ to God for his glory, Θεῷ πρὸς ²³ But, Δέ. ²⁴ that we exercise