Would to God ye could bear with me a little in _my_ folly: and indeed bear with me. Ver. 1. _In my folly_] How foolish were the Pharisees, John 7:49, and after them the Gnostics, the Illuminates, and now the Jesuits, that boast themselves to be the only knowing men! Palemon the Grammarian, that bra... [ Continue Reading ]
For I am jealous over you with godly jealousy: for I have espoused you to one husband, that I may present _you as_ a chaste virgin to Christ. Ver. 2. _For I am jealous_] _q.d._ My dear love to you puts me upon thus praising myself. _ With a godly jealousy_] Gr. with a zeal of God, called the flame... [ Continue Reading ]
But I fear, lest by any means, as the serpent beguiled Eve through his subtilty, so your minds should be corrupted from the simplicity that is in Christ. Ver. 3. _But I fear_] Jealousy is made up of love, fear, and anger. _ By his subtilty_] He mustered all his forces, or rather all his frauds, to... [ Continue Reading ]
For if he that cometh preacheth another Jesus, whom we have not preached, or _if_ ye receive another spirit, which ye have not received, or another gospel, which ye have not accepted, ye might well bear with _him_. Ver. 4. _But if he that cometh_] Giddy hearers, whirred about with every novelty, ha... [ Continue Reading ]
For I suppose I was not a whit behind the very chiefest apostles. Ver. 5. _The very chiefest apostles_] Either he meaneth those pillars, Peter, James, John, &c., Galatians 2:6; or the false apostles, whom he styleth chiefest by an irony, because they sought to bear away the bell, and be counted pri... [ Continue Reading ]
But though _I be_ rude in speech, yet not in knowledge; but we have been throughly made manifest among you in all things. Ver. 6. _But though I be rude in speech_] Gr. an idiot, a plain, downright, homespun, homely spoken person. The ancients busied themselves (saith Cyril), ουκ εν ευρεσιλογια, not... [ Continue Reading ]
Have I committed an offence in abasing myself that ye might be exalted, because I have preached to you the gospel of God freely? Ver. 7. _I have preached to you freely_] Because he get his living with his hands, that he might preach gratis, they despised him as a mean mechanic. This is _merces mund... [ Continue Reading ]
I robbed other churches, taking wages _of them_, to do you service. Ver. 8. _I robbed other churches_] _Grandis metaphora, _ Great metaphor, th Piscator, I took maintenance from them (as the apostle presently expounds himself), I made a prey and prize of them, εσυλησα .... [ Continue Reading ]
And when I was present with you, and wanted, I was chargeable to no man: for that which was lacking to me the brethren which came from Macedonia supplied: and in all _things_ I have kept myself from being burdensome unto you, and _so_ will I keep _myself_. Ver. 9. _And wanted_] Gr. and was behind h... [ Continue Reading ]
As the truth of Christ is in me, no man shall stop me of this boasting in the regions of Achaia. Ver. 10. _As the truth of Christ is in me_] He confirms it with an oath, that he will not take a penny of them while he preacheth in those parts. A minister should be careful of whom he receives a kindn... [ Continue Reading ]
Wherefore? because I love you not? God knoweth. Ver. 11. _Because I lose you not?_] It should be a minister's care to preserve in the hearts of his people an opinion of his love to them. For if they once conceive an incurable prejudice against him, that he hates them, or the like, there is no good... [ Continue Reading ]
But what I do, that I will do, that I may cut off occasion from them which desire occasion; that wherein they glory, they may be found even as we. Ver. 12. _That I may cut off occasion_] There were those that waited for it, as earnestly as a dog doth for a bone, as we say. _Habuerunt suos cucullos... [ Continue Reading ]
For such _are_ false apostles, deceitful workers, transforming themselves into the apostles of Christ. Ver. 13. _Deceitful workers_] They seemed to labour, but indeed they loitered, or worse; seeking to set up themselves in the hearts of God's people. _ Transforming themselves, &c._] The Manichees... [ Continue Reading ]
And no marvel; for Satan himself is transformed into an angel of light. Ver. 14. _Satan himself is, &c._] Satan, saith one, doth not always appear in one and the same fashion, but hath as many different changes as Proteus among the poets. At Lystra he appears like a comedian, as if a scene of Plutu... [ Continue Reading ]
Therefore _it is_ no great thing if his ministers also be transformed as the ministers of righteousness; whose end shall be according to their works. Ver. 15. _As the ministers of righteousness_] _Cavete a Melampygo._ Try before you trust; sects and seducers are very subtle and insinuative; the loc... [ Continue Reading ]
I say again, Let no man think me a fool; if otherwise, yet as a fool receive me, that I may boast myself a little. Ver. 16. _Let no man think me_] There was never man, nor action, but was subject to variety of censures and misconstructions, foolish men daring to reprehend that which they do not com... [ Continue Reading ]
That which I speak, I speak _it_ not after the Lord, but as it were foolishly, in this confidence of boasting. Ver. 17. _I speak it not afterthe Lord_] Neither by his command nor example, but permission only.... [ Continue Reading ]
Seeing that many glory after the flesh, I will glory also. Ver. 18. _Glory after the flesh_] Or in the flesh,Galatians 6:13, or have confidence in the flesh, Philippians 3:4 .... [ Continue Reading ]
For ye suffer fools gladly, seeing ye _yourselves_ are wise. Ver. 19. _For ye suffer fools_] _Inter indoctos etiam Corydus sonat._ (Quintilian.) Wise men hold them for fools whom fools admire for wise men. As one saith of attorneys, _Quod inter opiliones se iactitent iurisperitos, inter iurisperito... [ Continue Reading ]
For ye suffer, if a man bring you into bondage, if a man devour _you_, if a man take _of you_, if a man exalt himself, if a man smite you on the face. Ver. 20. _For ye suffer, if, &c._] As the Popish penitentiaries, those miserably misled and muzzled creatures. They write of our King Henry II, that... [ Continue Reading ]
I speak as concerning reproach, as though we had been weak. Howbeit whereinsoever any is bold, (I speak foolishly,) I am bold also. Ver. 21. _As though we had been weak_] _i.e._ Worthless and spiritless. But mistake not yourselves; I am another manner of man than you imagine me. It is said of Athan... [ Continue Reading ]
Are they Hebrews? so _am_ I. Are they Israelites? so _am_ I. Are they the seed of Abraham? so _am_ I. Ver. 22. _Are they Israelites_] God's select, peculiar. "Happy art thou, O Israel; who is like unto thee, O people!" Deuteronomy 33:29. The Jews say that those seventy souls that went with Jacob in... [ Continue Reading ]
Are they ministers of Christ? (I speak as a fool) I _am_ more; in labours more abundant, in stripes above measure, in prisons more frequent, in deaths oft. Ver. 23. _In labours more abundant_] Chrysostom calleth Paul, _Insatiabilem Dei cultorem, _ an unweariable servant of God.... [ Continue Reading ]
Of the Jews five times received I forty _stripes_ save one. Ver. 24. _Forty stripes save one_] That they might be sure not to exceed the set number of stripes, limited by the law, Deuteronomy 25:3 .... [ Continue Reading ]
Thrice was I beaten with rods, once was I stoned, thrice I suffered shipwreck, a night and a day I have been in the deep; Ver. 25. _Thrice was I beaten, &c._] By the Roman magistrates, as also the martyrs were by the Romish bishops. Thomas Hinshaw was beaten with rods by Bonner, and abode his fury... [ Continue Reading ]
_In_ journeyings often, _in_ perils of waters, _in_ perils of robbers, _in_ perils by _mine own_ countrymen, _in_ perils by the heathen, _in_ perils in the city, _in_ perils in the wilderness, _in_ perils in the sea, _in_ perils among false brethren; Ver. 26. _By mine own countrymen_] _A Gentilibus... [ Continue Reading ]
In weariness and painfulness, in watchings often, in hunger and thirst, in fastings often, in cold and nakedness. Ver. 27. _In weariness and painfulness_] Here is dainty rhetoric. Cicero calleth Aristotle's Politics, _Aureum flamen orationis, _ a golden flood of eloquence in respect of the purity o... [ Continue Reading ]
Beside those things that are without, that which cometh upon me daily, the care of all the churches. Ver. 28. _That which cometh, &c._] _Quasi agmine facto, et repetitis vicibus, _ His care came upon him, as an armed man, and gave him no rest or respite. The Greek word επισυστασις holds out the cum... [ Continue Reading ]
Who is weak, and I am not weak? who is offended, and I burn not? Ver. 29. _Who is weak_] By passion. _ And I am not weak_] By compassion. _ And I burn not_] πυρουμαι, _i.e._ am exceedingly grieved. Compare Psalms 10:2; Psalms 7:14. He hotly pursueth the poor. The apostle was even scorched and sca... [ Continue Reading ]
If I must needs glory, I will glory of the things which concern mine infirmities. Ver. 30. _I will glory of the things_] As a conqueror of his spoil, or as an old soldier of his scars. The apostle glorieth in those things that his adversaries condemned as infirm in him. The afflictions also of the... [ Continue Reading ]
The God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, which is blessed for evermore, knoweth that I lie not. Ver. 31. _Which is blessed for ever_] And therefore to be blessed, as he that is the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. This is a praise that he much stands upon, Romans 15:6. And surely if all generat... [ Continue Reading ]
In Damascus the governor under Aretas the king kept the city of the Damascenes with a garrison, desirous to apprehend me: Ver. 32. _In Damascus_] The chief city of Syria, built (say some) in the place where the blood of Abel was spilt, and thence called Damesek, _i.e._ a bag of blood. Thither Paul... [ Continue Reading ]
And through a window in a basket was I let down by the wall, and escaped his hands. Ver. 33. _And through a window, &c._] An honest shift, though against the Roman law of leaping over the walls. _Quia leges semper ad aequitatem flectendae sunt, _ saith Cicero. The sense of the law is the law, and n... [ Continue Reading ]