We suffer it, i. e. we patiently submit to it without resistance or complaint. JBemg defamed, i. e. having evil deeds or mo- tives ascribed to us. We entreat (TrapaKakovixev), we exhort. That is, we endeavour to meet with kindness such injurious imputations, instead of repelling them with anger and indig- nation. In all this the apostle followed the example of his di- vine master, who when he was reviled, reviled not again ; when he suffered, he threatened not, but committed himself to him who judgeth righteously, 1 Peter 2, 23.
We are made as the filth of the earth, or rather of the world {Koa-fxov). That is, we are regarded as the filthiest of mankind. And the off-scouring of all things, or of all men. That is, as the refuse of society. The words {ir^piKaJ^apixa and TrepLil/rjjxa) rendered filth and off-scouring, signify, the former, what is carried off by rinsing, and the latter, what is scraped off. They both express the general idea of refuse. This is all the context demands or suggests. The apostle sums up all he had previously said, by saying, ' We are regarded as the dregs or refuse of the world.' As both of these words, how- ever, and especially the former, are used of \dctims chosen from the lowest class of the people, who in times of calamity were offered in sacrifice to the gods, it is very generally as- sumed that Paul here refers to that custom ; and means to say that he was regarded as one of those who were considered only fit to be put to death for the good of others. This brings out the same idea in a different form. It is not probable, however, that any such allusion is here intended ; because the custom was not so common as to be familiar to his readers generally, and because the word commonly used for such sacrifices was not irepiKaSapixa, which Paul uses, but Ka^apfxa. In Prov. 21, 18, however, it is said, The Avicked is a ransom (TT^ptKaSapfia) for the righteous. Paul certainly did not con- sider himself or his sufferings as a propitiation for other men. The point of comparison, if there be any allusion to the custom in question, is to the vileness of such victims, which were always chosen from the worthless and despised. This and other pas- sages of Paul's wi-itings (comp. 2 Cor. 11, 23-27) present in a very strong light the indignities and sufferings which he en- dured in the service of Christ, and may well put us to shame, as well as the self-satisfied and self-indulgent Corinthians. What are we doing for him for whom Paul did and suffered 80 much ?