Commentary on 2 Corinthians

Contents

In a few places the lemma printed in a passage belongs to a neighbouring verse (the digital text misnumbers verses); the passage keeps its staged number.

Reading pages: 0.1–2.17 · 3.1–4.18 · 5.1–6.17 · 7.1–8.24 · 9.1–10.18 · 11.1–11.32 · 12.1–13.11

1. 0.1The prologue explains that Paul writes the second letter to console the Corinthians, saddened by the rebukes of the first.
2. 1.1Paul now confidently calls himself an apostle by God's will and writes with Timothy, who reported the Corinthians' willingness to be corrected.
3. 1.2The grace of God and of Christ is one gift.
4. 1.3God is called “Father of mercies” to assure the rebuked Corinthians that repentance brings not only pardon but restoration.
5. 1.4Paul distinguishes two kinds of consolation: for those persecuted for Christ and for those grieving over their sins.
6. 1.5Christ, for whom the apostles suffer, consoles them by delivering them.
7. 1.6The apostles' sufferings and deliverances are for the believers, who are tempted when they see their preachers oppressed.
8. 1.8Paul recounts his near-fatal affliction in Asia so that the Corinthians will accept rebuke from those who suffer for them, as a patient from a physician.
9. 1.9The apostles were brought so near to death that only trust in God, who raises the dead, sustained them.
10. 1.10Because the apostles suffer and are delivered for all believers, all should pray in trial and give thanks at deliverance.
11. 1.12Paul's glory is a pure conscience; he refused support from the Corinthians so as not to resemble the false preachers who preached for gain.
12. 1.13Paul's deeds confirm what he writes.
13. 1.14Paul and the Corinthians will be each other's glory at the day of judgment if they persevere.
14. 1.15Paul explains that his longing to visit springs from their amendment, and that he delayed for the sake of those still needing purification.
15. 1.17Paul's change of plan was not levity but a spiritual choice of what was useful for the Corinthians over his own wish.
16. 1.18Paul's preaching is faithful, not shifting like that of flatterers.
17. 1.19Christ's will always coincides with what is useful, and preachers should imitate this constancy.
18. 1.20God's promises are made true and manifest in Christ and preached by the apostles to God's glory.
19. 1.21Father and Son together confirm, anoint, and seal believers with the Spirit; Paul delayed his visit to spare the Corinthians, as a helper of their joy, not a lord of their faith.
20. 2.1Paul did not come so as not to sadden many by rebuking a few.
21. 2.2Paul saddens the Corinthians only so that their correction may gladden him.
22. 2.3Paul wrote beforehand so that on arrival he might rejoice in a purified people.
23. 2.4Rebuke given with grief and love shows love rather than causing mere sorrow.
24. 2.5Those saddened by the offender are the holy part of the church, and their grief weighs on the sinner.
25. 2.6The incestuous man, now grieving, should be forgiven and restored lest despair drive him back into sin; true repentance is ceasing from sin.
26. 2.8Paul asks the Corinthians to show obedience by receiving the repentant brother back into communion.
27. 2.10Paul's forgiveness of the offender, given in the person of Christ, is ratified by Christ, and the Corinthians should forgive likewise.
28. 2.11The repentant must be consoled lest the devil use their despair to drive them back to worldly pleasures.
29. 2.12At Troas Paul could not both teach the believers and resist the unbelievers without Titus, so he went on to Macedonia.
30. 2.14God triumphs through the apostles when unbelievers become believers and persecutors fail.
31. 2.15Like an unseen fragrance, God is made known through the preaching of Christ, which is a good fragrance to God when Christ is rightly proclaimed.
32. 2.16The preaching is death to unbelievers and life to believers, but the preachers who speak sincerely are free of guilt either way.
33. 2.17Unlike the false apostles who corrupted God's word, the apostles preached sincerely for God's glory.
34. 3.1Paul's self-commendation is spiritual, for the Corinthians' good, unlike the false apostles who travel the churches for honour and gain.
35. 3.2The Corinthians are written on the apostles' hearts because their salvation is always in their thoughts.
36. 3.3Christians are a letter of Christ written by the Spirit on hearts, unlike the old law written on stone tablets that Moses broke.
37. 3.4The apostles have a confidence toward God that the ministers of the old covenant lacked.
38. 3.5The apostles' sufficiency is God's gift; the letter of the Law kills transgressors, but the spirit, the law of faith, gives life through forgiveness.
39. 3.7The law of faith surpasses the law of Moses: the forgiven may now behold God's glory, as the apostles saw Christ's on the mountain.
40. 3.9The ministry of righteousness is more glorious than that of condemnation, since saving brings God more praise than condemning.
41. 3.10The glory of Moses' face bore no fruit for sinners, whereas the glory of grace lets the purified see Christ's glory.
42. 3.11Moses' glory was a passing figure; Christ's is the abiding reality, as the sun eclipses the stars.
43. 3.12Believers hope to see Christ's surpassing glory and should respond with love and good works, for they will see as much as they believe.
44. 3.13Moses veiled his face because of the people's sin; when sin is removed by faith, God's glory can be seen.
45. 3.14Unbelief dulls the mind and veils the reading of the old covenant; faith in Christ removes the veil.
46. 3.15When Moses is read, the sentence on those under the Law is recited and the veil remains on their hearts.
47. 3.16Turning to the Lord by faith in Christ removes the veil, cancelling the sentence of the Law.
48. 3.17The law of the Spirit, given through Christ, gives freedom and asks only faith in things unseen.
49. 3.18Believers, beholding Christ's glory by faith, are being transformed into his image, with the Spirit as the pledge of future glory.
50. 4.1Paul does not lose heart in his ministry because of God's mercy, which washes, justifies, and adopts believers.
51. 4.2Paul renounces shameful secrets, both moral and doctrinal, and does not falsify God's word, which God confirms by signs.
52. 4.3God blinds the minds of those who wilfully reject the gospel, granting them what they wish, as Isaiah foretold.
53. 4.5The apostles preach Christ, not themselves, and serve the churches for Christ's sake as he came to serve.
54. 4.6God who made light shine in darkness enlightened the apostles to make known his glory in Christ to the nations.
55. 4.7The mystery of God is entrusted to weak human preachers so that the power may be seen to be God's.
56. 4.8God never let the apostles be crushed or left destitute in their afflictions.
57. 4.9God protected the apostles in persecution, as when Paul and Silas sang hymns in the stocks.
58. 4.10The sufferings of martyrs and confessors are Christ's sufferings and show merit for the life he promised.
59. 4.11The apostles accept death for Jesus' sake because of the promised resurrection, and their dying brings life to the churches.
60. 4.13Sharing the spirit of faith, Paul speaks and suffers in hope of the resurrection, which Christ's rising guarantees for all believers together.
61. 4.14Paul endures dangers so that God's gift may reach many and abound in thanksgiving to God's glory.
62. 4.16Though afflictions wear out the body, the soul is renewed daily by hope and gains merit for the body's future immortality.
63. 4.17Present light afflictions earn an eternal and immeasurable glory.
64. 4.18Seen things are temporal figures of the eternal unseen realities, so the righteous do not fear to leave this world.
65. 5.1Believers need not fear death, for an immortal body, already shown in the risen Lord, awaits them in heaven.
66. 5.2Believers pray to be clothed with heavenly glory at the resurrection; those who keep their baptism, having put on Christ, will not be found naked.
67. 5.4Believers pray to persevere so that at the resurrection they may be clothed with immortality and glory, which is to be swallowed up by life.
68. 5.5God, who gave the Spirit as pledge and seal of adoption, will fulfil the believers' hope at the judgment.
69. 5.6Though God is everywhere, believers on earth are abroad from him because they do not yet see him.
70. 5.8Trusting God's promise, the apostles would rather leave the body and rest under God's altar until the resurrection.
71. 5.9Believers should strive by good works to please Christ in this life and at his judgment.
72. 5.10All will be judged in the body before Christ, so Paul persuades people to a good life, his sincerity being known to God and to the Corinthians.
73. 5.12Paul's self-defence gives the Corinthians grounds to answer those who boast of being taught by the original apostles.
74. 5.13If Paul's words seem boastful, God judges them; if understood rightly, they serve the Corinthians.
75. 5.14Moved by Christ's love in dying for all, the apostles speak of their ministry not to boast but to draw people to Christ.
76. 5.15Christ died for all to free them from the second death, so the living should live for him.
77. 5.16After the resurrection Christ is known no longer by his weakness but as God, and is to be served accordingly.
78. 5.17In Christ all is made new as he is recognized as God and the world turns from many gods to worship one God in the Trinity.
79. 5.18Though Christ redeemed us, all things come from God the Father, whose person is put first.
80. 5.19God the Father was in Christ, one with him in substance, reconciling the world, and gave the apostles the ministry of reconciliation in Christ's place.
81. 5.21God made the sinless Christ “sin” by incarnation and as a sin offering, so that sinners might be justified; his death, plotted by Satan, emptied the underworld.
82. 6.1Paul serves both God's providence and people's salvation by urging them not to receive grace in vain.
83. 6.2Quoting Isaiah, Paul teaches that God predestined his grace to abound in Christ's time for all who ask in Christ's name.
84. 6.3Now is the time of salvation, and the apostles guard against giving offence by living what they teach.
85. 6.4Paul commends himself as God's minister by patience and endurance in afflictions, necessities, and distresses.
86. 6.5Paul's beatings, imprisonments, labours, vigils, and fasts show his devotion to his ministry.
87. 6.6Paul's chastity, knowledge, magnanimity, kindness, sincerity in the Spirit, and unfeigned love show him a true minister.
88. 6.7Paul's ministry was marked by the word of truth, God's power, and the weapons of righteousness.
89. 6.8Whether honoured or slandered, called deceivers or truthful, the apostles remained faithful ministers.
90. 6.9The apostles seemed near death but were kept alive by Christ, and tried without being overcome.
91. 6.10Poor and sorrowful in appearance, the apostles were rich in joy and possessed all things, as the believers laid everything at their feet.
92. 6.11A pure conscience opens Paul's mouth and enlarges his heart in hope of reward.
93. 6.12If the Corinthians turn out badly the fault is theirs, since their teachers have spoken; each receives his own reward.
94. 6.14Paul urges the Corinthians to be enlarged in heart and to separate from unbelievers' evil works.
95. 6.15Righteousness and iniquity, Christ and Belial, God's temple and idols are opposites, so believers must flee idolatry and unbelief.
96. 6.17The promises of God's dwelling and fatherhood are Christ's words; Christ, almighty like the Father, calls believers to purity so as to receive them as sons.
97. 7.1Believers must cleanse themselves from every fleshly vice in God's fear; virtue without faith in Christ is not holiness before God.
98. 7.2Paul, who wronged no one, asks to be received in contrast to the false apostles who corrupted and exploited the Corinthians.
99. 7.3Paul's rebuke is not condemnation, for he holds the Corinthians in his heart to die and live together.
100. 7.4The Corinthians' acceptance of rebuke fills Paul with confidence and joy amid affliction.
101. 7.5Paul recounts the beatings and imprisonment at Philippi; his fears were for the new believers, and he overcame them by hope.
102. 7.6God consoled Paul in his troubles by sending Titus.
103. 7.7Titus's report of the Corinthians' longing, tears, and zeal made Paul forget his sufferings and give thanks.
104. 7.8Paul does not regret the severe first letter, since it bore fruit.
105. 7.9Paul rejoices that his letter saddened the Corinthians to repentance, with shame rather than anger.
106. 7.10Godly sorrow over sin leads to repentance and salvation; worldly sorrow, fearing only punishment, leads to death.
107. 7.11The Corinthians' godly sorrow produced earnestness, confession, fear, longing, zeal, and self-punishment.
108. 7.12Paul wrote not for the sake of the offender or the wronged but out of care for the whole church.
109. 7.13Paul is consoled by the Corinthians' repentance and still more by Titus's joyful report of it.
110. 7.14Paul's boasting about the Corinthians proved true, and their amendment confirms the truth of his rebuke.
111. 7.15Titus loves the Corinthians for the fearful obedience with which they received him as Paul's envoy.
112. 7.16Paul rejoices in the Corinthians' good works of amendment.
113. 8.1The Macedonian churches, tested by affliction and poor, gave generously with joy and pure conscience.
114. 8.3The Macedonians gave beyond their means because they had given themselves wholly to God.
115. 8.4The Macedonians begged with tears to share in the collection, and their gift was accepted because of their faith.
116. 8.5The Macedonians first gave themselves to God by amending their lives, then gave to the saints, an example for the Corinthians.
117. 8.6Paul sends Titus to complete the collection at Corinth, since the Corinthians trust and obey him.
118. 8.7The Corinthians' readiness to give will prove their amendment.
119. 8.8Paul exhorts rather than commands the Corinthians to give.
120. 8.9Christ became poor by becoming man to make humans sharers in divinity; so the Corinthians should complete their gift according to their means.
121. 8.12Giving is acceptable according to one's means and willingness, not under compulsion.
122. 8.13Giving should bring equality: believers with means support the saints now, and the saints will repay them in the age to come.
123. 8.15The manna law of Exodus illustrates the equality by which the saints' prayers will enrich those who support them now.
124. 8.16God moved Titus, consoled by the Corinthians' progress, to go to them of his own accord.
125. 8.18Paul commends the brother sent with Titus, whose being sent shows the Corinthians' good reputation.
126. 8.20Paul takes care with the collection so as not to be blamed, having agreed with the apostles to remember the poor.
127. 8.21Paul seeks to be upright before God and people by sending trustworthy men to manage the collection.
128. 8.22Paul sends a third tested brother with Titus, his fellow bishop, and the envoys of the churches.
129. 8.24The Corinthians should honour Paul's envoys to prove before the churches the good reported of them.
130. 9.1Paul writes though it seems superfluous, as Christ thrice asked Peter, to spur the Corinthians, whose zeal has stirred other churches.
131. 9.3Paul sends the brothers so that his boasting about the Corinthians' readiness will not prove empty.
132. 9.4If the Corinthians are unprepared, both Paul and they will be shamed before the Macedonians.
133. 9.5Paul sends the brothers ahead so the promised gift may be ready as a willing blessing, not an extortion.
134. 9.6Generous and cheerful giving, not grudging or compelled, will be rewarded by God.
135. 9.8God's grace lets believers keep what suffices and give the rest; like the widow's mite, gifts are measured by means and intention.
136. 9.9Giving to the poor, and still more to the saints devoted to prayer, is righteousness, since God gave the earth's goods to all.
137. 9.10God multiplies the means of those who give to the saints, provided they give simply and do not seek to make the saints subject to them.
138. 9.12The collection not only supplies the saints' needs but produces thanksgiving and prayer to God from many.
139. 10.1Paul, the same present or absent, appeals by Christ's gentleness so that he need not be severe in person.
140. 10.2Paul hopes not to use against the disobedient the authority Christ gave him, which some despise as fleshly.
141. 10.3Living in the body, the apostles fight spiritually by doing what pleases God.
142. 10.4The apostles' weapons are spiritual and incorruptible, used by Christ to defend faith in the one God.
143. 10.5The truth of the faith overthrows the spiritual powers that raise thoughts against God, and leads opponents captive to obey Christ.
144. 10.6Paul punishes disobedience by bringing the disobedient to faith.
145. 10.7Paul humbly asks those confident of belonging to Christ to recognize that he belongs to Christ no less.
146. 10.8Paul could boast of his God-given authority without shame, yet humbles himself, as his rivals should all the more.
147. 10.9Paul is not one who threatens only by letter for lack of authority.
148. 10.10Because his authority is from the Lord, Paul is the same in person as in his letters.
149. 10.12Paul will not compare himself with unsent preachers who claim authority for themselves.
150. 10.13Paul boasts only within the measure God assigned him: the churches he himself founded, like Corinth.
151. 10.14Paul came to Corinth sent by God within his assigned measure, so the Corinthians should obey him.
152. 10.15Paul boasts only in his own labour, having founded the Corinthians, and hopes to be magnified as their faith grows.
153. 10.16Paul hopes to preach beyond Corinth where Christ is not yet known, not to boast in others' work.
154. 10.17All boasting in the ministry belongs to the Lord, who gives its authority.
155. 10.18Only the preacher sent by the Lord is approved; one who sends himself is presumptuous.
156. 11.1Paul calls his self-praise foolishness, compelled by those who think unworthily of him.
157. 11.2Paul wants the Corinthians kept as a virgin bride for Christ, undefiled by corrupt teaching; virginity here means purity of faith, since most apostles were married.
158. 11.3Paul fears that false preachers, like the serpent with Eve, will corrupt the Corinthians' faith.
159. 11.4Since no greater Christ or gospel exists than what Paul preached, there is no reason to rank him below other preachers.
160. 11.5Paul is not inferior to the original apostles, his calling having been attested and the Lord having appeared to him.
161. 11.6Paul's plainness of speech is no fault, since what matters is the knowledge of God and the power that confirms the faith.
162. 11.7Paul refused the Corinthians' support, though owed it, so as not to resemble the false apostles and to keep his freedom to rebuke.
163. 11.8Paul supported his work at Corinth with gifts from other churches, putting the Corinthians in his debt.
164. 11.9Paul accepted help from the amended Macedonians but not from the Corinthians, so as not to hinder their correction.
165. 11.10Paul swears by Christ's truth that he will never accept support in Achaia.
166. 11.11Paul's refusal of support comes from love, as God knows.
167. 11.12By refusing pay, Paul denies the false apostles a precedent for their greed.
168. 11.13The false apostles preach for greed, unsent, usurping the apostolic name.
169. 11.14Satan disguises himself as an angel of light, which is why Joshua and Peter tested apparitions.
170. 11.15Satan's ministers pose as apostles for their belly's sake and will perish as their works do.
171. 11.16Paul, compelled, will play the fool and boast a little to show his rivals have nothing more than he.
172. 11.17Paul's boasting, though true, is not according to God but a fleshly, partial foolishness.
173. 11.18Some Jewish believers boasted of descent from Abraham; Paul shares it but says only faith saves.
174. 11.19Paul ironically notes that the 'wise' Corinthians tolerate foolish false apostles who enslave, devour, and insult them.
175. 11.21Paul, with Barnabas, is equal to the boasting Jewish believers in descent from Abraham, but counts such boasting foolish.
176. 11.23Paul, playing the fool, shows he is more a minister of Christ than others by his greater labours, imprisonments, beatings, and dangers.
177. 11.24Paul was flogged five times by the Jews under the law of Deuteronomy.
178. 11.25Paul recounts his beatings by gentiles, his stoning at Lystra, and his shipwrecks, one on the voyage to Rome.
179. 11.26Paul lists dangers from rivers, robbers, Jews, gentiles, at Damascus, in ambushes, at sea, and from Judaizing false brothers.
180. 11.27Paul's labours, vigils, hunger, fasts, and cold after shipwreck show his endurance.
181. 11.28Besides his sufferings, Paul bore the daily care of all the churches, teaching even by night.
182. 11.29Paul shares the weakness of all; by saying he burns with those who stumble in fleshly desire, he encourages them not to despair but to resist.
183. 11.30A Christian should boast in the humility of weakness, not in descent from Abraham.
184. 11.31Paul calls God to witness his truthfulness.
185. 11.32Paul recalls his escape from Damascus in a basket.
186. 12.1Paul's escape from Damascus was lawful flight in persecution, but boasting of it is not expedient, since humility and martyrdom matter more.
187. 12.2Paul's rapture to the third heaven took him beyond the visible heavens into the spiritual heavens, whether in or out of the body.
188. 12.3Paul was caught up a second time into the heavenly paradise; like John, he speaks of himself indirectly and boasts only in his weaknesses.
189. 12.6Paul could truthfully boast, but refrains lest he be thought to exceed what others see in him.
190. 12.7God permitted Satan's harassment so that Paul would not grow proud of his revelations, and to increase his reward.
191. 12.8Paul's prayer for relief was refused for his good, since Christ's grace and power are perfected in his weakness.
192. 12.10The Christian wins when he seems to lose, and rises when oppressed.
193. 12.11Paul is not inferior to the earlier apostles; priority in time does not confer rank, as Peter's primacy over Andrew shows.
194. 12.12Paul's patience and miracles among the Corinthians attest his apostleship.
195. 12.13Paul ironically asks pardon for preaching to the Corinthians free of charge.
196. 12.14Like a father providing for his children, Paul seeks the Corinthians, not their money, and will not burden them on his third visit.
197. 12.15Paul would spend himself and even die for the Corinthians, and asks for their love in return.
198. 12.16Paul rejects the suspicion that he refused small gifts in order to obtain larger ones by guile.
199. 12.17Neither Paul nor his envoys Titus and the brother sought money from the Corinthians.
200. 12.19Paul's refusal of money is not self-defence but for the Corinthians' upbuilding, keeping him free to rebuke.
201. 12.20Paul fears finding the Corinthians still divided by quarrels and pride, and himself having to come with severity.
202. 12.21Paul fears mourning the unrepentant; that some had repented of sexual sin refutes Novatian's denial of penance and readmission for such sinners.
203. 13.1Paul's third visit will serve, like the Law's two or three witnesses, to clear or condemn.
204. 13.2After two warnings, Paul will not spare the unrepentant on his next visit.
205. 13.3The Corinthians, who saw Christ's mighty works through Paul, test whether he will punish their disobedience.
206. 13.4Christ, crucified in weakness and raised by God's power, conquered death; the apostles' weakness likewise leads to life.
207. 13.5Believers should examine one another; to know Christ dwells in oneself is to know one's faith, and not to know it is to be reprobate.
208. 13.6Paul hopes the Corinthians will recognize his proven authority and so look to themselves.
209. 13.7Paul prays that the Corinthians do good, even if his authority then has no occasion to be shown.
210. 13.8Apostolic power serves only the truth; where people do good it has nothing to punish.
211. 13.9Paul is glad to be 'weak' in not using his power, and prays for the Corinthians' perfection.
212. 13.10Paul writes in advance so as not to use his upbuilding authority harshly in person.
213. 13.11Paul's closing exhortations to unity and peace end in the Trinitarian blessing, in which the love of God, grace of Christ, and fellowship of the Spirit complete salvation.