is the motive which is to determine our endeavours to purify ourselves. It is not regard to the good of others, nor our ovra happiness, but reverence for God. We are to be holy, be- cause he is holy.
2. Receive us ; we have wronged no man, we have corrupted no man, we have defrauded no man.
deceive us ; literally, make room for ics, i. e. in your heart. It is a repetition or resumption of the request, " Be ye also enlarged," contained in 6, 13. Then follow the reasons, at least those of a negative kind, why they should thus receive the apostle. We have icroiiged no man^ {rjStK-qa-aixev^) ice have treated no one unjustly. The expression is perfectly general. It may refer either to his conduct as a man, or to the exercise of his apostolical authority. There is nothing to limit it, or to determine the kind of injustice which had been laid to his charge, or which he here had specially in view. We have cor- rupted no man. The word c^^eipw, rendered to corrupt^ means to injure or destroy, either in a moral or physical sense. It is used in a moral sense, 11, 3. 1 Cor. 15, 33. Eph. 4, 22, and in 1 Cor. 3, 17, it is used first in the one sense and then in the other. *' If any defile the temple of God, him shall God de- stroy." Which sense should be adopted here is uncertain. Paul may mean to say that he had coi'rupted no one's morals by his example or arts of seduction ; or that he had corrupted no man's faith by his false teaching ; or that he had ruined no man as to his estate. The only reason for preferring the lat- ter interpretation is that the other words with which it is as- sociated express external injuries. There is no ground for the assumption that Paul refers to his former letter and intends to vindicate himself from the charge of injustice or undue severi- ty in his treatment of the incestuous person. That matter he has not yet adverted to ; and the expressions here used are too general, and the last (" we have defrauded no man ") is inapplicable to that case. By defrauding he probably means acting unfairly in pecuniary affairs. The word TrAeovcKrecu, in the New Testament, means either to have or take advan- tage of any one, 2, 11, or, to make gain of to defraud. The usage of the word and of its cognates is in favour of the latter sense. 12, 17. 18. 1 Cor. 5, 10. 6, 10. Paul was special- ly careful to avoid all occasion of susj^icion as to the disposi- tion of the money which he raised from the churches for the 8*