PUBLIC-DOMAIN CHRISTIAN BOOK
An Exposition of the Second Epistle to the Corinthians
Hodge, Charles, 1797–1878 · 138,725 words · 304 reading sections
II. CORINTHIANS S, 13. 67
obscurely in order that he might not be understood ? Some endeavour to obviate this difficulty by saying that -n-pos rb /xr) drc^to-at expresses the result and not the design. ' He put a veil over his face, so that (not, m order that) the children of Israel did not see the end of that which is abolished.' Or, to drop t…
472 wordsSECTION 6268 II. COKINTHIANS 3, 14.
might not see the transient nature of that brightness. There is no inconsistency between the two accounts. The veiling had both eifects ; it cabned the fears of the people, and it pre- vented their seeing how fleeting the brightness was. As both effects followed, both were intended. Paul in this epistle as- signs in di…
885 wordsSECTION 6310 II. CORINTHIANS 3, 14.
contained, is perfectly familiar to our ears, as we are accus- tomed to call the two great divisions of the Scriptures the Old and New Testaments or covenants ; but this is the only in- stance of this use of the word in the New Testament. The English version does not in this passage follow the order of the Greek, which…
470 wordsSECTION 64TI. CORINTHIANS 3, 15.16. 71
The Old Testament Scriptures are intelligible only when un- derstood as predicting and prefiguring Christ. The present Karapydrat {is done aicciy) is used as expressing the certain consequence. The knowledge of Christ, as a matter of fact and as a matter of course, removes the veil from the Old Testament. 15. But even…
403 wordsSECTION 6572 II. CORINTHIANS 3, 17.
wore a veil ; when he turned to the Lord he removed the veil. To this allusion seems to be here made. So long as the peojDle were turned from the Lord, the veil was on their heart ; they could not understand the Scriptures; as soon as they turn to the Lord, the veil is removed, and all is bright and intelligible. W/ie?…
476 wordsSECTION 66II. CORINTHIANS 3, 17. 13
the former, then it is designed to show why turning to the Lord secures the removal of the veil from the heart. It is because the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit is, there is liberty, freedom from the law, from its bondage and ob- scurities. If the latter, then the idea is, that since the veil is removed by tu…
510 wordsSECTION 67U II. CORINTHIANS 3, 17.
cle TO before Tn^cv/xa, the Spirit, but also to the connection, as Paul is speaking of Christ's office rather than of his na- ture. It is not his object to say that Christ is a spii'itual be- ing. Neither is the idea that he is replenished with the Holy Spirit, so as to be in that sense and on that account called the S…
481 wordsSECTION 68II. CORINTHIANS 3, 17. 15
in the Bible recognized as the source of all life, truth, power, holiness, blessedness and glory. The apostle, however, had in the context sjDoken of Christ as the source of life, as deliver- ing from the death and bondage of the law. He is and does this because he and the Spirit are one ; and therefor^ wher- ' ever Ch…
498 wordsSECTION 6916 II. CORINTHIAKS 3, 18.
man in this life is perfectly and at all times filled with the Spirit of Christ, he is never in this life a partaker of the full liberty of which Christ is the author. 18. But we all, with open face beholding as in a glass the glory of the Lord, are changed into the same image from glory to glory, (even) as by the Spi…
441 wordsSECTION 70II. CORINTHIANS 3, IS. 77
constantly and clearly manifested in them and by them. They reflect his image wherever they go. But, in the first place, this explanation is inconsistent with the signification of the word, which never means to reflect ; secondly, it is con- trary to the context. The contrast is not between Moses and Christians, but be…
474 wordsSECTION 7118 II. CORINTHIAKS 3, 18.
T'J^v avTr]v elKova ixcTaiJiop(f)ov}X€^a^ toe are transformed into the same image. The verb is commonly construed with ck, into^ or Kara, after ^ but sometimes, as here, with the simple accusative. 2he same image^ that is, the same w^hich we are by the Spirit enabled to behold. ' Beholding we are trans- formed ; ' ther…
480 wordsSECTION 72II. CORINTHIANS 3, 18. 79
is the more unnatural here because in the immediately pre- ceding verse the apostle had said to irvevfjia Kvptov, /Spirit of the Lord ; he would therefore hardly express the same idea in the same connection by Kv^iiov Trvci'/xaros. Others render the words the Lord Spirit^ i. e. the Spirit who is Lord. We have in tlie O…
498 wordsSECTION 7380 II. CORINTHIANS 4.
^€ov irarpo^^ from Gocl who is Father^ Gal. 1, 3 ; and secondly, the authority of v. 17. There the apostle had said, ' The Lord is the Spirit,' and here he says, the transforming power by which we are made like Christ flows from ' the Lord who is the Spirit.' The former passage determines the meaning of the latter. The…
94 wordsSECTION 74CHAPTER IV.
la vs. 1-6 the apostle resumes the theme of 3, 12, viz. the open and faithful manner in which he preached the gospel. In vs. 7-15 he shows that his own personal insufficiency and suffering served to manifest more clearly the power of God, who rendered such a feeble instrument the means of producing so great effects. Th…
293 wordsSECTION 75II. CORINTHIANS 4, 1. 81
who so orders events as to niake his power apjDarent. I am so perplexed, persecuted, down-trodden and exposed to death, as to render it evident that a divine power is exercised in my preservation and continued efficiency. My continuing to Hve and labour with success is a proof that Jesus lives. This he tells the Corint…
440 wordsSECTION 7682 II. CORINTHIANS 4, 2.
2. But have renounced the hidden things of dis- honesty, not walking in craftiness, nor handhng the word of God deceitfully ; but by manifestation of the truth commending ourselves to every man's conscience in the sight of God. JBut^ aXkd^ on the contrary^ i. e. so far from proving recre- ant to his duty as a minister…
425 wordsSECTION 77II. CORINTHIANS 4, 3. 83
which false teachers are wont to exercise when they would seduce the unwary into heresy. Eph. 4, 14. All such cunning, all such sly and secret ways of accomplishing his purposes Paul renounced. Kor handling the icord of God deceitfully. The word SoXoo) means not only to deceive^ but also to falsify. The latter is its m…
430 wordsSECTION 7884 II. CORINTHIANS 4, 4
cause of this fact was not to be sought either in the nature of the gospel, or in the mode of its exhibition, but in the state and character of those who rejected it. The sun does not cease to be the sun although the blind do not see it. And if any man cannot see the sun on a clear day at noon, he must be blind. So Pau…
457 wordsSECTION 79II. CORINTHIANS 4, 4. 85
In this verse the apostle assigns the reason why those who are lost do not see the truth and excellence of the gospel. It is that the god of this world hath blinded their minds. In ichoni (iv oh). The relative is used here as implying a cause or reason. ' Our gospel is hid to them who are lost, because in them,' &g. Se…
498 wordsSECTION 8086 II. CORINTHIAN'S 4, 4.
the influence of one created intellect over another in other cases, and therefore is perfectly consistent with free agency and responsibility. It should, however, make us feel our dan- ger and need of divine assistance, seeing that we have to con- tend not only against the influence of evil men, but against the far mor…
458 wordsSECTION 81II. CORINTJIIANS 1, 5. 87
in the Septuagint, Ps. 44, 3, in the phrase rendered, " in the light of thy countenance," and Ps. 78, 14, "He led them all night Avith a light of fire." The word therefore signifies the brightness emitted by a radiant body. Of the glorious gospel of Christy literally, the gospel of the glory of Christy i. e. that gospe…
468 wordsSECTION 8288 II. CORINTHIANS 4
the Messiah ; and further that he is Lord in that sense in which every tongue in heaven, and on earth, and under the earth shall confess that he is Lord. The great end of Paul's preaching, therefore, was to bring men to receive and ac- knowledge Jesus of Nazareth as the Messiah and as the su- preme Lord, the maker of h…
433 wordsSECTION 83II. CORINTHIANS 4, 6. 89
Paul was the servant of the Corinthians. He devoted himself to their service, because God had revealed to him the knowl- edge of Christ, in order that he might communicate that knowledge to others. According to this view the connection is with the last clause of v. 5. "I am your servant, on, &e- cai<S6," &c. ; " in our…
480 wordsSECTION 8490 II. CORINTHIANS 4, 6;
nous), then <ji(iiTL(Tix6<: t?)? yvwa-cco? means tlie light of which the knowledge of Christ is the source, (or that knowledge as light.) In V. 4, it is said that Satan hath blinded the eyes of unbelievers so that they cannot see the hght of the gospel of the glory of Christ. Here it is said that God has enlightened us…
475 wordsSECTION 85II. CORINTHIANS 4, T. 91
Christ ; the position of these words and the sense require that they should be connected with the word glory^ notwith- standing the omission in the Greek of the connecting article (t^s). It is the glory of God as revealed in Christ that men are by the illumination of the Holy Ghost enabled to see. There are two importa…
422 wordsSECTION 8692 II. CORINTHIANS 4, 8.9.
ceived, and of which he had spoken in such exalted terms. It was a ministration of life, of power, and of glory. It revealed the grandest truths. It produced the most astonishing effects. It freed men from the condemnation and power of sin; it transformed them into the image of Christ ; it delivered them from the power…
421 wordsSECTION 87II. CORINTHIANS 4, 10. 93
These words belong to aU the clauses, and not merely to the first. He was not only troubled, but perplexed and persecut- ed, ev Trai/Tt, in every icay. Trouhled^ but not distressed^ ^Xi- (36jxevoL, aXX ov (TTcvoxoipovixevoL, " pressed for room, but still having room." The figure is that of a combatant sore pressed by h…
415 wordsSECTION 8894 II. CORINTHIANS 4, 10.
ings, and not to his internal anxieties and sorrows. The dy- ing of [the L#rd] Jesus. The word KvpLov, of the JOord, is not found in the majority of the ancient manuscripts, and is therefore omitted in the later editions of the Greek Testa- ment. If this word be left out, the two clauses more nearly correspond. The dyi…
478 wordsSECTION 89II. CORINTHIANS 4, 11. 95
ciimcision, the same was mighty in me towards the Gentiles." As the hfe of every believer is a manifestation of the life of Christ, (for it is not we that live, but Christ liveth in us, Gal. 2, 20,) so also was the apostolic life of Paul. As the life of Christ, however, is not only manifested in the spiritual life of h…
459 wordsSECTION 9096 II. CORINTHIANS 4, 12.13.
That the life also of Jesus might he made m^anifest in our mortal flesh. The only variation between this and the cor- responding clause of the preceding verse is, that here the phrase in our mortal flesh is substituted for in our body. The word body does not of itself involve the idea of weakness and mortality, but the…
429 wordsSECTION 91II. CORINTHIANS 4, 13. 97
as it is written, I believed, and therefore have I spoken ; we also believe, and therefore speak. The afflictions and dangers to which the apostle was ex- posed, were adapted to discourage and even to drive him to desj^air. He, however, was not discouraged ; but ha^ ing the same faith which of old animated the Psalmis…
452 wordsSECTION 9298 II. CORINTHIANS 4, 14.
and of his own participation of its benefits. This clause, "we also believe," depends on the participle at the beginning of the verse. ' Having the Holy Spirit, the author of faith, we speak.' The interpretation here given of this passage is the common one. Calvin and many other commentators take a very different view.…
406 wordsSECTION 93II. CORINTHIANS 4, 14. 99
sent fi'om the body and to be present with the Lord ; as he said to the Philippians, at a later period of his career, that he had a desire to depart and to be with Christ. Again, it is said that according to the true reading of the passage, Paul says he knows we shall be raised up xcith (not hy) Christ, and therefore h…
492 wordsSECTION 94100 II. CORINTHIANS 4, 14.
this congenidity and conformity are included in the idea which is expressed by saying, we shall be raised up with him, i. e. in his fellowship and likeness. The resurrection, there- fore, was the one great, all-absorbing object of anticipation and desire to the early Christians, and should be to us. It is then that we …
490 wordsSECTION 95II. CORINTHIANS 4, 15. 101
Jesus has promised to raise his followers, but because of the union between him and them. They are in him in such a sense as to be partakers of his life, so that his life of necessity- secures theirs. If he lives, they shall live also. Now as the fact of Christ's resurrection was no more doubted by the apostles, who ha…
431 wordsSECTION 96102 II. CORINTHIANS 4, 16.
dounds the more to the glory of God, because others besides himself are led to giv^e thanks for it. This supposes that in the Greek, 8ta tmv ttX^lovwv, k.t.X. are to be connected with TTcpLcrcrevcrr], might aboimcl through. Those words, however, may be connected with TrXeovacrao-a, the grace rendered ahund- ant hy many…
417 wordsSECTION 97II. CORINTHIANS 4, 17. 103
not of renewed supplies of animal spirits or of intellectual vigour that the apostle speaks, but of the renewal of spiritual strengjth to do and suffer. This constant renewal of streno^th is opposed to fainting. ' We faint not, but are renewed day hy day^ W^P^ '^^' W^P^' This is a Hebraism, Gen. 39, 10. Ps. 68, 19, fam…
406 wordsSECTION 98104 II. CORINTHIANS 4, 17.
into comparison with eternal glory that they dwindled into insignificance. So also when the apostle says that his afflic- tions were for a moment, it is only when compared with eter- nity. They were not momentary so far as the present life was concerned. They lasted from his conversion to his mar- tyrdom. His Christian…
453 wordsSECTION 99II. CORINTHIANS 4, 18. 105
the impotency of language to express his conceptions,) may- be taken as an adjective qualification of ySapos 60^179, weight of glory. This is the explanation acloj^ted by our translators, who render the phrase, "far more exceeding, and eternal weight of glory." There is, however, no Kai {cmd) in the text. If this view …
419 wordsSECTION 100106 II. CORINTHIANS 5.
the things which pertain to that state which is to us now in- visible. The reason why the latter, and not the former class of objects do thus engross the believer, is that the things seen are temporal^ or rather, temporary^ lasting only for a time ; whereas the things unseen are eternal. Few passages in Paul's writings…
287 wordsSECTION 101CHAPTER V.
The confidence expressed in the preceding chapter is justified by showing that the apostle was assured of a habitation in heaven, even if his earthly tabernacle should be destroyed, vs. 1-10. His object in what he had said of himself was not sclf-cominendation. lie laboured only for the good of the church, impelled by …
103 wordsSECTION 102II. CORINTHIANS 5, 1. 107
had a house in heaven — not like the present perishable taber- nacle, but one not made with hands, and eternal, v. 1. He looked forward to the things unseen, because in his present tabernacle he groaned, desiring to enter his heavenly habita- tion. He longed to be unclothed that he might be clothed upon with his house …
433 wordsSECTION 103108 II. CORINTHIANS 5, 1.
resurrection body. If this be the correct view, then the pas- sage throws no light on the state of the soul between death and the resurrection. It treats solely of what is to happen after Christ's second coming. 3. The third opinion is, that the house into which the soul enters at death is, so to speak, an intermediate…
441 wordsSECTION 104II. CORINTHIANS 5, 1. 109
departed sj^irits is very obscure — a mere dreamy state of ex- istence ; and secondly, that it must be assumed that a relation continues between the soul and the elements of its decaying body in the grave. This is a perfect collapse of the theory. If it involves either of these consequences, that the soul is un- consci…
1,458 wordsSECTION 105112 II. CORINTHIANS 5, 1.
are told that when Lazarus died he was carried by angels into Abraham's bosom, i. e. to heaven. On the mount of trans- figuration, Moses and Elias appeared talking with Christ. Our Lord said to the dying thief, "This day shalt thou be with me in paradise," and paradise, as we learn from 2 Cor. 12, 2 and 4, is the third…
491 wordsSECTION 106II. CORINTHIANS 5, 1. 113
at death. It does not sink into a state of unconsciousness. It does not go into purgatory ; but, being made perfect in ho- liness, it does immediately pass into glory. As soon as it is absent from the body, it is present with the Lord. This is all that is revealed, and this is enough. What Paul learnt more than this wh…
480 wordsSECTION 107114 II. CORINTHIANS 5, 2.
(exo/xev) ice have. * If our earthly house be dissolved, we have in heaven a house of God, not made with hands, and eternal.' 2. For in this we groan, earnestly desiring to be clothed upon with our house which is from heaven. This verse must, from the force of the connecting particle (yap) for, be a confirmation of w…
471 wordsSECTION 108II. CORINTHIANS 5, 2. 115
dwelling which is c/c yr}?, of the earth. 1 Cor. 15, 47. It is not "of this building," rauVr^s t^s KTt(T€w<;, Heb. 9, 11. Those who understand this whole passage to treat of the change which is to take place in those believers who shall be alive when the Lord comes, and which is described in 1 Cor. 15, 51-54, lay- spec…
497 wordsSECTION 109116 II. CORINTHIANS 5, 3.
his mud hovel and enter in that house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens. 3. If SO be that being clothed we shall not be found naked. Few verses in this epistle have been more variously ex- plained than this. In the first place the reading is doubtful. The received text has ctye, which the great majority of…
417 wordsSECTION 110II. CORINTHIANS 5, 3. 117
to make the same words have such different meanings in the same connection. In v. 2 we are said to be clothed with our house from heaven ; in v. 3 we are so clothed as not to be found naked, and in v. 4 Paul speaks of being unclothed. If in vs. 2 and 4 the word refers to a body or house, in v. 3 it cannot refer to the …
483 wordsSECTION 111118 II. CORINTHIANS 5
survived the coming of the Lord. Besides, the whole basis of this interpretation is unsound. Paul did not expect to survive the second advent, as is plain from 2 Thess. 2, 1-6. See the comment on 1 Cor. 15, 51. 3. The third interpretation assumes that the apostle refers not to the spiritual body but to a mansion in he…
421 wordsSECTION 112II. CORINTHIANS 5, 5. 119
termined by those sufferings, it is perfectly natural to under- stand him to refer to the burden of sorrow. It was because he suffered so much that he groaned to be delivered, i. e. to be absent from the body and present with the Lord. Not that vne would he unclothed. The words are €<^' w, which in Rom. 5,12 mean propt…
444 wordsSECTION 113120 II. CORINTHIANS 5, 6.
It was sometliing very heroic and grand for a poor, perse- cuted man to stand thus erect in the presence of his enemies and in the immediate prospect of death, and avow such supe- riority to all suifering, and such confidence of a glorious im- mortality. The apostle, therefore, adds that neither the elevated feelings w…
413 wordsSECTION 114II. CORINTHIANS 5, 7. 121
liave helped out by inserting the words ice are^ thus turning the i3artieiple ^appowre? into a verb. The unfinished sentence in y. 6 is resumed and completed in v. 8. Omitting the words of resumption in \. 8, the whole sentence stands thus : " Being confident and knowing that whilst at home in the body, we are absent f…
902 wordsSECTION 115II. CORINTHIANS 5, 9. 123
reference to v. 1. ' We walk by faith, not by sight, neverthe- less we are not discouraged.' We are not only not despond- ing, but are so confident as to j^refer to be absent from the body. Death is not an object of dread, but of desire. That the phrase " to be absent from the body " means to die is evi- dent, not only…
458 wordsSECTION 116124 II. CORINTHIANS 5, 10.
Wherefore^ Scb kul, wherefore also, i. e. because we desire to be with the Lord. Longing after communion with him pro- duces the desire and secures the effort to be found acceptable to him. Those who have this hope purify themselves as he is pure. 1 John 3, 3. It is impossible that those who regard the presence of Chri…
461 wordsSECTION 117II. CORINTHIANS 5, 10. 125
(done) in (liis) body, according to tliat he hath done, whether (it be) good or bad. In what precedes Paul had been speaking of himself. It was his own sufferings, hopes, and efforts which the occasion called upon him to exhibit. In all this, however, he spoke as a Christian, and therefore in the name of other Christi…
477 wordsSECTION 118126 II. CORINTHIANS 5, 10.
do7ie 171 the hochj^ because the matter is conceived of, or is here represented as an investment. - Our acts are treasures laid up for the future, whether treasures of wrath,^or treasures in heaven ; and these (Ko/xt^oyae^a) ice receive hack. ) "i^he words TO. 8ta, Tov o-w/xaros may mean tilings (done) through or hy th…
471 wordsSECTION 119II. CORINTHIANS 5, 10. 127
whether committed before or after baptism or conversion.; It is a fountain, to which we may clailj come for cleansing. He is a"'j5riest whomever lives to ~ma"E:e intercession for us, and who ever presents before God the merit of his sacrifice as a perpetual offering, typified by the morning and evening sacri- fice unde…
446 wordsSECTION 120128 II. CORINTHIANS 5, 11.
him who died for him and rose again, vs, 14. 15. Acting un- der the control of this elevated principle, he was raised above the inllucnce of external things. He did not judge of men by their external condition. He was a new creature in virtue of his union with Christ, vs. 16. 17. This great change which he had experien…
451 wordsSource & rights
Public-domain historical edition (1860). Text from OCR of an original Internet Archive scan; OCR may contain recognition errors.
Project Gutenberg source record →
Historical Christian writing; not Scripture.