Imatges de pàgina
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318

I WOULD NOT COME IN HEAVINESS. [II. COR.

CHAP. II.

a

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

BUT

a ch. i. 23. & xii. 20, 21. & xiii. 10.

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

1. "But I determined." So N, A., C., D., E., F., G., K., L., O., P., most Cursives, d, e, f, g, Vulg., &c.; but B., 17, 37, Copt., read, "for" (yàp).

"I would not come again to you in heaviness." So some Cursives; but most authorities, x, A., B., C., D., E., F., G., K., L., O., P., most Cursives, Ital., Vulg., read, "I would not again in heaviness come to you."

1. "But I determined this with myself, that I would not come again to you in heaviness." This verse depends for its meaning on the position of the word "again." If we read it according to the authorized, it signifies that he would not come again, i.e., a second time in heaviness. This implies that he had come but once to them, i.e., at his first visit, and that his second visit should be deferred till he could come with more satisfaction than at present. If however we put the word "again" (πáλ) before "come," it seems to favour the idea that he had before this made a short visit to them, which, on account of their conduct, had been a bitter one; and that he would now try the effect of letters, such as the one which has been lost (1 Corinth. v. 9), and the first Epistle (ie., the canonical first Epistle). The effect of these (coupled with the visit of Titus) we shall see was that he could again visit them with some degree of joy.

2. "For if I make you sorry, who is he then that maketh me glad, but," &c. Some suppose that "he that maketh me glad," is general in its application, and signifies any one whom he had brought to repentance by his letters; others suppose that he alludes particularly to the incestuous person who above all others was made sorry ("ye ought rather to forgive him and comfort him lest such an one should be swallowed up," &c.), but in whose repentance the Apostle now the more rejoiced as a signal triumph of the grace af God. I think the latter the true meaning.

CHAP. II.]

MUCH AFFLICTION AND ANGUISH.

319

3 And I wrote this same unto you, lest, when I came, I should have sorrow from them of whom I b ch, xii. 21. ought to rejoice; having confidence in you all, & viii. 22. that my joy is the joy of you all.

с

4 For out of much affliction and anguish of

c ch. vii, 16.

Gal. v. 10.

12.

heart I wrote unto you with many tears; not d ch. vii. 8, 9, that ye should be grieved, but that ye might

know the love which I have more abundantly

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3. "And I wrote this same unto you, lest, when I came, I should have," &c. "This same," i.e., the severe words of the first Epistle (and perhaps of the lost Epistle), such, for instance, as "I could not speak unto you as unto spiritual, but as unto carnal”—“Ye are yet carnal"-"As my beloved sons I warn you"-" Some are puffed up," ,"—"Shall I come to you with the rod ?"—"That one should have his father's wife," and "ye are puffed up "Your glorying is not good," &c. &c. He wrote this and much more to bring them to their senses, so that he should not be grieved with those over whom he ought to rejoice.

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'Having confidence in you all, that my joy is the joy of you all." "I have confidence in the reality of the Christianity which ye possess, which will make my joy the joy of you all. I rejoice when I know that our Lord has brought back a wandering sheep in His arms unto His fold, and I am sure that because of your love of Christ, and of the souls for which He died, you will rejoice with the same joy."

4. "For out of much affliction and anguish of heart I wrote unto you," &c. "What more tenderly affectioned than this man's spirit is; for he showed himself to have been not less pained than they who had sinned, but even much more. For he said not out of affliction merely but out of much, nor with tears, but with many tears and anguish of heart, that is, I was suffocated, I was choked with despondency; and when I could no longer endure the cloud of despondency, I wrote unto you, not that ye should be grieved, but "that ye might know the love," saith he," which I have more abundantly unto you." And yet what naturally followed was to say, "not that ye might be grieved, but that ye might be corrected, for with this purpose he wrote. This, however, he doth not say,

320

YE OUGHT TO FORGIVE HIM.

[II. COR.

5 But if any have caused grief, he hath not 'grieved me,

e 1 Cor. v. 1. but in part: that I may not overcharge you all.

f Gal. iv. 12.
| Or, censure.

g 1 Cor. v. 4,

5. 1 Tim. v. 20.

h Gal. vi. 1.

1

6 Sufficient to such a man is this || punishment, which was inflicted of many.

h

g

7 So that contrariwise ye ought rather to forgive him, and comfort him, lest perhaps such a one should be swallowed up with overmuch sorrow.

but more to sweeten his words, and win them to a greater love, he puts this forit, showing that he doth all from love." (Chrysostom.) Notice how little fear the Apostle had that they should take advantage of his expressions of love and turn haughtily or sulkily upon him, and proudly assert their right to do as they liked, as many sinners do to their pastors, when they have begun to fall away, resolving to carry it with a high hand. St. Paul was not afraid of this; he had confidence in the work of the Spirit within them, that they would show a better mind.

5. "But if any have caused grief, he hath not grieved me, but in part." Many explanations have been given of this verse. The one that commends itself to myself is something of this sort. The incestuous person had caused grief, but not to the Apostle only, but to all the right-minded persons in the Church, who shared with the Apostle in his grief at the scandal, and the Apostle says this that he might not lay too heavy a burden upon all of them, which he would have done if he had represented himself as the only person aggrieved. On the contrary, he desired to share the scandal with the whole body of the Church.

6. "Sufficient to such a man is this punishment which was inflicted of many." That is, the solemn excommunication, and perhaps some severe bodily disorder, threatening the destruction of the flesh, and the exclusion from the society of all who were like-minded with the Apostle.

"Of many." Of the many-of the Church gathered together. 7. "So that contrariwise ye ought rather to forgive him, and comfort him, lest," &c. Is it possible that one could be too sorrow. ful for having committed so enormous a sin? Yes, if his sorrow made him despair of forgiveness. He might seek to put an end to himself; he might become morose; his mind might be unhinged;

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10 To whom ye forgive any thing, I forgive also: for if

9. "Whether ye be obedient." So N, C., D., E., F., G., K., L., O., P., &c.; but A. B., read, "wherein" or "how."

he might become incapable of performing the proper duties of his station.

8. "Wherefore I beseech you that ye would confirm your love towards him." They might "confirm their love" either by acts of private love or friendship, or by the removal of the Church's censure, but this latter, I think, was probably removed by Titus as the representative of the Apostle whose act the excommunication really was. (1 Cor. v. 3, 4, 5.) After the excommunication had been removed some might say that it was well that he should yet feel the disgrace which he had brought upon them, but the Apostle judged that the punishment had been sufficient.

9. "For to this end also did I write, that I might know the proof of you," &c. There is some difference of opinion as to whether he means what he wrote to them in his first Epistle, or what he is now writing to them. Probably the former, but the matter to be particularly noticed is the way in which he demands their submission to him as an Apostle, i.e., as the direct representative of Jesus Christ, one of those to whom the Lord said, "He that heareth you heareth me," Luke x. 16. This was one purpose of his writing, besides the measures he commanded to be taken to bring the incestuous person to repentance.

10. "To whom ye forgive any thing, I forgive also: for if I forgave any thing," &c. "To whom ye forgive any thing, I forgive also." This must refer, not to the removal of the excommunication, but to the forgiveness and comfort of verse 7, and it signifies, "I thoroughly am in accord with you in any kindness ye show him in order to reassure him ;" and this follows upon the removal of the excommunication which he now reasserts, "If I forgave any thing to whom (or wherein) I forgave it, for your sakes forgave I it in the person of Christ."

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IN THE PERSON OF CHRIST.

[II. COR.

I forgave any thing, to whom I forgave it, for your sakes forgave I it in the person of Christ;

1 Or, in the sight.

11 Lest Satan should get an advantage of us: for we are not ignorant of his devices.

10. "To whom I forgave it." So K., L., 17, most Cursives; but N, A., B., C., F., G., O., &c., read, "what I forgave" (ö xɛxápioμaι εïti xexápioμai).

The excommunication had been the action of the Apostle absent in the flesh, but present in the spirit. So 1 Cor. v. 3: “I verily, as absent in the body but present in spirit, have judged already ... in the Name of our Lord Jesus Christ when ye are gathered together, and my spirit, with the power of our Lord Jesus Christ, to deliver such an one to Satan," &c. The removal of the sentence also was his doing, “If I forgave anything, to whom I forgave it, for your sakes forgave I it in the person of Christ." This implies that he had already pronounced his absolution. Both the binding and the loosing were in the Name of Christ: and were each an assertion of that authority which the Lord had given for discipline, in the words, "Whosesoever sins ye remit, they are remitted unto them," &c. It can hardly be said that, in the retention of the sin of the incestuous person he acted with the concurrence of the Corinthian Church, for, from what we can gather from the first Epistle, they would not have stirred a finger in the matter unless he had commanded them. He could not be present personally; and so they were to do it, not of themselves, but as if he was present in spirit.

It is remarkable that this is the only account of the exercise of retaining and remitting sins in the New Testament, and it is exercised by St. Paul-not by St. Peter or St. James, but by the Apostle who is constantly quoted as the vindicator of liberty; whereas in his writings alone do we find the whole Church system either asserted or carried out in its fulness.

11. "Lest Satan should get an advantage of us; for we are not ignorant," &c. Chrysostom has a good remark: "Satan destroys even under the show of piety. For not only by leading into fornication can he destroy, but even by the contrary, the unmeasured sorrow following on the repentance of it.... Wherefore also with reason did he call it getting advantage, when he even conquereth with our own weapons. For to take by sin is his proper work: by repentance, however, is no more his: for ours not his is that weapon. When then even by this he is able to take,

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