II. 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 hearts," means in Paul's heart ; and TTpo? (fxDTio-fjiov (for the light) is equivalent to 7rpo9 t6 ^oort'Cetv, to diffuse the light. Second, it may be understood to state the reason why Paul preached Christ. ' We preach not our- selves, but Christ Jesus the Lord, ort, because in him is re- vealed the glory of God.' In this case the connection is with the first clause of v. 5, and not with the last ; " in our hearts " means in the hearts of believers; and Trpos cftomcriJiov (for light) means, as our version expresses it, to give us the light. The end or design of God's shining into our hearts is that we should apprehend the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. The latter of these interpretations is adopted by Calvin, the former by Luther and by almost all the modern commenta- tors. With regard to the former it must be admitted that the sense is good and consistent with the meaning of the words. It accords also with Gal. 1, 16, where the apostle says that God had revealed his Son in him that he might preach him among the Gentiles. The following considera- tions, however, are in favour of the other view of the passage. 1. The connection is better. The main idea of the context is that Paul preached Christ, and therefore it is more natural to understand him to give the reason for so doing, than why he served the Corinthians, which is a subordinate matter. 2. The phrase " in our hearts " is much more naturally under- stood to mean " in the hearts of believers " than in Paul's own heart. It is indeed possible that here, as in 3, 2, the plural (hearts) may be used in reference to the apostle himself. Still this is admissible only when the context requires it. Had Paul meant himself he would probably have said "in our heart," as in the parallel passage in Galatians 1, 16 he says, ev ifjLOL, 171 me. To explain the plural form here by assuming that Paul means himself and Timothy is contrary to his uni- form habit of speaking for himself. His epistles are his and not Timothy's. 3. The former interpretation supposes cfioma-- /xds to have a different meaning here from what it has in v. 4. There it means lights here it is made to mean the act of com- municating light. But if cficoTLarixo? tov evayyeAtov means the light which flows from the gospel (or the gospel itself as lumi-