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TEXT.

13 For we write none other things unto you, than what you read, or acknowledge, and I trust you shall acknowledge even to the

end.

14 As also you have acknowledged us in part, that we are your rejoicing, even as ye also are ours, in the day of the Lord Jesus.

PARAPHRASE.

13 towards you. For I have no design, no meaning, in what I write to you, but what lies open, and is legible, in what you read: and you yourselves cannot but acknowledge it to be so; and I hope you shall always ac14 knowledge it to the end. As part of you have already acknowledged that I am your glory; as you will be mine, at the day of judgment, when, being my scholars and converts, ye shall be saved.

NOTE.

14 f " That I am your glory;" whereby he signifies that part of them which stuck to him, and owned him as their teacher: in which sense, glorying" "is much used, in these epistles to the corinthians, upon the occasion of the several partisans boasting, some, that they were of Paul; and others, of Apollos.

SECT. II. N°. 2.

CHAP. I. 15.—II. 17.

CONTENTS.

THE next thing St. Paul justifies, is, his not coming to them. St. Paul had promised to call on the corinthians, in his way to Macedonia; but failed. This his opposers would have to be from levity in him; or a mind, that regulated itself wholly by carnal interest; vid. ver. 17. To which he answers, that God himself, having confirmed him amongst them, by the unction and earnest of his Spirit, in the ministry of the gospel of his Son, whom he, Paul, had preached to them steadily, the same, without any the least variation, or unsaying any thing, he liad at any time delivered; they

could have no ground to suspect him to be an unstable, uncertain man, that would play fast and loose with them, and could not be depended on, in what he said to them. This is what he says, ch. i. 15-22.

In the next place, he, with a solemn asseveration, professes, that it was to spare them, that he came not to them. This he explains, ch. i. 23, and ii. 2, 3.

He gives another reason, chap. ii. 12, 13, why he went on to Macedonia, without coming to Corinth, as he had purposed; and that was the uncertainty he was in, by the not coming of Titus, what temper they were in, at Corinth. Having mentioned his journey to Macedonia, he takes notice of the success, which God gave to him there, and every where, declaring of what consequence his preaching was, both to the salvation, and condemnation, of those, who received, or rejected it; professing again his sincerity and disinterestedness, not without a severe reflection on their false apostle. All which we find in the following verses, viz. ch. ii. 14—17, and is all very suitable, and pursuant to his design in this epistle, which was to establish his authority and credit amongst the corinthians.

TEXT.

15 And, in this confidence, I was minded to come unto you before, that you might have a second benefit;

16 And to pass by you into Macedonia, and to come again, out of Macedonia, unto you; and, of you, to be brought on my way, towards Judea.

PARAPHRASE.

15 Having this persuasion, (viz.) of your love and esteem of me, I purposed to come unto you ere this, that you might 16 have a second gratification; And to take you in my way to Macedonia, and from thence return to you again, and,

NOTE.

grace,"

15 By the word xapir, which our Bibles translate "benefit," or " it is plain the apostle means his being present among them a second time, without giving them any grief or displeasure. He had been with them before, almost two years together, with satisfaction and kindness. He intended them another visit; but it was, he says, that they might have the like gratification, i. e. the like satisfaction in his company a second time, which is the same he says, 2 Cor. ii, 1.

TEXT.

17 When I, therefore, was thus minded, did I use lightness? Or the things that I purpose, do I purpose according to the flesh, that with me these should be yea, yea, and nay, nay?

18 But, as God is true, our word toward you was not yea and nay. 19 For the Son of God, Jesus Christ, who was preached among you, by us, even by me, and Silvanus, and Timotheus, was not yea and nay; but in him was yea.

20 For all the promises of God in him are yea, and in him amen, unto the glory of God, by us.

21 Now he, which establisheth us with you, in Christ, and hath anointed us, is God:

22 Who hath also scaled us, and given the earnest of the Spirit, in our hearts.

PARAPHRASE.

17 by you, be brought on in my way to Judea. If this fell not out so, as I purposed, am I, therefore, to be condemned of fickleness? Or am I to be thought an uncertain man, that talks forwards and backwards, one that has no regard to his word, any farther than may suit his 18 carnal interest? But God is my witness, that what you

have heard from me, has not been uncertain, deceitful, 19 or variable. For Jesus Christ, the Son of God, who was preached among you, by me, and Silvanus, and Timotheus, was not sometimes one thing, and sometimes another; but has been shown to be uniformly one and the 20 same, in the counsel, or revelation of God. (For the

promises of God do all consent, and stand firm, in him) 21 to the glory of God, by my preaching. Now it is God, who establishes me with you, for the preaching of the 22 gospel, who has anointed, And also sealed me, and given me the earnest of his Spirit, in my heart.

NOTES.

21 b "Anointed," i. e. set apart to be an apostle, by an extraordinary call. Priests and prophets were set apart, by anointing, as well as kings.

22 "Sealed," i. e. by the miraculous gifts of the Holy Ghost; which are an evidence of the truths he brings from God, as a seal is of a letter.

"Earnest" of eternal life; for of that the Spirit is mentioned, as a pledge, in more places than one, vid. 2 Cor. v. 5, Eph. i. 13, 14. All these are arguments to satify the corinthians, that St. Paul was not, nor could be, a shuffling man, that minded not what he said, but as it served his turn.

The reasoning of St. Paul, ver. 18-22, whereby he would convince the corinthians, that he was not a fickle, unsteady man, that says or unsays, as may quit his humour or interest, being a little obscure, by reason of the shortnews

TEXT.

23 Moreover, I call God for a record upon my soul, that to spare you, I came not as yet unto Corinth.

24 Not for that we have dominion over your faith, but are helpers of your joy; for, by faith, ye stand.

II. 1 But I determined this with myself, that I would not come again to you in heaviness.

PARAPHRASE.

23 Moreover, I call God to witness, and may I die if it is not so, that it was to spare you, that I came not yet to 24 Corinth. Not that I pretend to such a dominion over your faith, as to require you to believe what I have taught you, without coming to you, when I am expected there, to maintain and make it good; for it is by that faith you stand: but I forbore to come, as one concerned to preserve and help forward your joy, which I am tender of, and therefore declined coming to you, whilst I thought you in an estate, that would require severity from me, II. I that would trouble you. I purposed in myself, it is true, to come to you again, but I resolved too, it should

NOTES.

of his style here, which has left many things to be supplied by the reader, to connect the parts of the argumentation, and make the deduction clear; I hope I shall be pardoned, if I endeavour to set it in its clear light, for the sake of ordinary readers

"God hath set me apart, to the ministry of the gospel, by an extraordinary "call; has attested my mission, by the miraculous gifts of the Holy Ghost, and "given me the earnest of eternal life, in my heart, by his Spirit; and hath "confirmed me, amongst you, in preaching the gospel, which is all uniform, "and of a piece, as I have preached it to you, without tripping in the least: "and there, to the glory of God, have shown that all the promises concur, and "are unalterably certain in Christ. I, therefore, having never faultered in "any thing I have said to you, and having all these attestation, of being under "the special direction and guidance of God himself, who is unalterably true, "cannot be suspected of dealing doubly with you, in any thing, relating to "my ministry."

24 It is plain, St. Paul's doctrine had been opposed by some of them at Corinth, vid. 1 Cor. xv. 12. His apostleship questioned, 1 Cor. ix. 1, 2, 2 Cor. xiii. 3. He himself triumphed over, as it he durst not come, 1 Cor. iv. 18, they saying "his letters were weighty and powerful, but his bodily "presence weak, and his speech contemptible;" 2 Cor. x. 10. This being the state his reputation was then in, at Corinth, and he having promised to come to them, 1 Cor. xvi. 5, he could not but think it necessary to excuse his failing them, by reasons, that should be both convincing and kind; such as are con tained in this verse, in the sense given of it.

TEXT.

2 For if I make you sorry, who is he, then, that maketh me glad, but the same which is made sorry by me?

3 And I wrote this same unto you, lest, when I came, I should have sorrow from them, of whom I ought to rejoice; having confidence in you all, that my joy is the joy of you all.

4 For, out of much affliction and anguish of heart, I wrote unto you with many tears; not that you should be grieved, but that ye might know the love, which I have more abundantly unto you.

5 But, if any have caused grief, he hath not grieved me, but in part; that I may not overcharge you all.

PARAPHRASE.

2 be, without bringing sorrow with me. For if I grieve you, who is there, when I am with you, to comfort me, but those very persons, whom I have discomposed with 3 grief? And this very things, which made you sad, I writ to you, not coming myself; on purpose that, when I came, I might not have sorrow from those, from whom I ought to receive comfort: having this belief and confidence in you all, that you, all of you, make my joy and satisfaction so much your own, that you would remove all cause of 4 disturbance, before I came. For I writ unto you with great sadness of heart and many tears; not with an intention to grieve you, but that you might know the overflow of tenderness and affection, which I have for you. 5. But if the fornicator has been the cause of grief, I do not say, he has been so to me, but in some degree to you all;

NOTES.

1 f That this is the meaning of this verse, and not that he would not come to them, in sorrow, a second time, is past doubt, since he had never been with them in sorrow a first time. Vid. 2 Cor. i. 15.

3 8 Καὶ έγραψα ὑμῖν τῦτο αὐτὸ, “ and I writ to you this very thing.” That έγραψα, "I writ," relates, here, to the first epistle to the corinthians, is evident, because it is so used, in the very next verse, and again a little lower, ver 9. What, therefore, is it in his first epistle, which he here calls Teto avrò, “this very thing," which he had writ to them? I answer, The punishment of the fornicator. This is plain by what follows here, to ver. 11, especially, if it be compared with 1 Cor. iv. 21, and v. 8. For there he writes to them, to punish that person; whom, if he, St. Paul, had come himself, before it was done, he must have come, as he calls it, with a rod, and have himself chastised: but now, that he knows that the corinthians had punished him, in compliance to his letter; and he had had this trial of their obedience; he is so far from continuing the severity, that he writes to them to forgive him, and take him again into their affection.

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