The apostle shows that he does not need to commend himself or to be com- mended by the Corinthians ; that God had qualified him for the work of a minister of the new, and not of the old covenant, vs. 1-11. He ex- ercised his ministry in accordance with the peculiar character of the new dispensation, vs. 12-18.
Proof of the Apostle's fitness for his icorJc^ and its nature.
Vs. 1-11.
Although the concluding paragraph of the preceding chap- ter contained a strong assertion of the integrity and fidelity of the apostle, he says, it was not written for the purpose of self-commendation. Pie needed no commendation from any source, v. 1. The Corinthians themselves were his commen- dation. Their conversion was an epistle of Christ authenti- cating his mission and his fidelity, w^hich all men could read, vs. 2. 3. His fitness or sufficiency for his work was due in no measure to himself, but to God, who had endowed him with the qualifications of a minister of the new covenant, vs. 4-6. This covenant and its ministry are far superior to the old covenant and the ministry of Moses, because the one was a ministry of death, the other of life ; the one was of condemna- tion, the other of righteousness ; the glory of the one was transient, the glory of the other is abiding, vs. 7-11.
1. Do we begin again to commend om*selves? or need we, as some (others), epistles of commendation to you, or (letters) of commendation from you ?
Many of the pecuharities of this epistle are due to the fact that at the time of writing it the apostle's mind was filled with conflicting feelings. On the one hand, he was filled with gratitude to God and love to the Corinthians on account of their repentance and ready obedience ; and on the other, with feelings of indignation at the perverse and wicked course adopted by the false teachers in Corinth. Hence even in the expression of the former class of feelings, he is interrupted or turned aside by the thought that his opponents were on the watch to turn every thing to his disadvantage. Thus although there Avas nothing of a spirit of self-commendation in his thank-