ing God for causing liiin to triumph, or in tlie assertion of his sincerity, in 1, 15-17, yet he knew that his enemies would put that construction on what he had said. He seems to hear til em say, ' He is commending himself again.' It is plain from the use of the word agairi in this connection, that the charge of praising himself had before been made against the apostle, whether founded on his former epistle or what he said on other occasions, is uncertain and unimportant.
The authorities are divided as to whether r] {xtj or d fxr] is the true reading in the following clause. If the former, the sense is, "Or do we need," <fcc. ; if the latter, "Unless we need," &g. The latter gives an ironical turn to the passage. The apostle sets it forth as certain that his apostolic mission and authority were so authenticated, that he did not need, as certain people did, letters of commendation either to them or from them. These false teachers had no doubt gained access to Corinth on the strength of certain letters of recommenda- tion. They were so little known and had so Httle character, that when *they went elsewhere, they would need to be com- mended by the Corinthians. With Paul the case was dif- ferent.
2. Ye are our epistle written in our hearts, knoAvn and read of all men.
Ye are our einstle^ etc., or, The epistle ichich we have ye are. You as Christians, your conversion is, as it were, a letter from Christ himself authenticating our mission and fidelity. 'Writteii in our hearts. The plural form, our hearts^ may be explained either on the assumption that the apostle is speak- ing of Timothy as well as of himself; or on the ground that he says hearts instead of heart for the same reason that ho says We instead of jT/ or that the word is used figuratively for the affections. It is not Paul's manner to make his asso- ciates the joint authors of his letters, and in no one of his epistles docs he speak more out of the fulness of his personal feelings than he does in this. It was not Timothy who w^as accused of self-commendation, who needed no letters of com- mendation, and it was not of Timothy's mission that the con- version of the Corinthians was tlie authentication, and there- fore it was not in Timothy's lieart tliat the epistle referred to was Vv^ritten. Paul is speaking ot liimself. A thing is said to be written in the lieart when it is a matter of consciousness;