governed by the love of Christ, and acted as his ambassador ; as such he was a fellow-worker with God, and exhorted men not to fail of the grace of God, vs. 1. 2. In the exercise of this office he avoided all offence, v. 3, proving his sincerity and fidelity as a minister of God, by the patient endurance of all kinds of trials, vs. 4. 5 ; by the exercise of all the graces and gifts of the Spirit, \s. 6. 7 ; and under all circumstances, whether of honour or dishonour, prosperity or adversity, whether understood or misunderstood by his fellow men, vs. 8-10. He thus unbosomed himself to the Corinthians, be- cause his heart was enlarged. It was wide enough to take them all in. Whatever there was of the ^^ ant of love or of due appreciation between them and him, the fault was on their side, not on his, vs. 11.12. He begs them to be as large-hearted towards him as he was towards them, v. 13, and not to allow themselves to be involved in any intimate alli- ances with the wicked, vs. 13-18.
1. We then, (as) workers together (with him), be- seech (joii) also that ye receive not the grace of God in vain.
This verse is intimately connected with the preceding chapter by the j^articles Sk kul, but also. He is still describ- ing his manner of discharging his apostolic duties. He not only announced that God had made Christ sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in him, but also, as a co-worker with God, he exhorted men not to receive the grace of God in vain. In our version the apostle is made to say, " I beseech you also." This is wrong ; the also belongs to the verb — "I also beseech you." That the word awcp- yowTc<7, co-02^erating^ refers to the apostle's co-operating with God, is plain from the connection, and from the nature of the work. He had just before, 5, 20, spoken of God's beseeching them ; and now he says, Ave as co-workers beseech you. So in 1 Cor. 3, 9, he says, " We are co-workers with God." In the Vulgate the word is rendered adjuvantes, which favours the idea that he was co-operating with them, assisting them (i. e. the Corinthians) by his exhortations. Luther's version suggests the same meaning ; Wir ermahen aber euch, als Mithelfer, as joint-labourers or helpers we exhort you. Com- pare 1, 24, where the apostle says, "We are helpers (a-w^pyoi)