trusted to him, vs. 20. 21. With those akeady mentioned he sent another brother of approved character and great zeal, v. 22. Therefore if any one inquired who Titus was, they might answer. He was Paul's comi^anion and fellow-labourer ; or who those brethren were, they might say, They were the messen- gers of the churches, and the glory of Christ. Let the church therefore prove their love and justify his boasting of them, vs. 23. 24.
1. Moreover, brethren, we do you to wit of the grace of God bestowed on the churches of Macedonia.
Moreover (Se) marks the transition to a new subject. We do you to wit^ (yvwpt^o/xcv,) 'we cause you to know.' The •word to icit^ (Anglo-Saxon, Witcm; German, Wisse7i,) to know, and the cognate words. Wis and Wot, are nearly obso- lete, although they occur frequently in our version. The grace of God^ the divine favour. The liberality of the Corin- thians was due to the operation of the grace of God. The sacred writers constantly recognize the fact that the freest and most spontaneous acts of men, their inward states and the outward manifestations of those states, when good, are due to the secret influence of the Spirit of God, which eludes our consciousness. The believer is most truly self-de- termined, when determined by the grace of God. Bestowed 0)1, [SSoixivrjv eV,) " given in," i. e. given so that it is in. See 1, 22. " Given the earnest of the Spirit in our hearts." In v. 16 of this chapter, SlSovtl iv is rendered "jt:)i^^ m^o." The churches of Macedonia. Under the Romans Macedonia in- cluded the whole of the northern provinces of Greece. The churches of that region founded by the apostle were those of Philippi, Thessalonica, and Beroea. Of the extraordinary liberality of those churches the epistles of Paul furnish numer- ous intimations. 11, 9. Phil. 2, 25. 4, 15. 18.
2. How that, in a great trial of affliction, the abun- dance of their joy, and their deep poverty, abounded unto the riches of their Uberahty.
A somewhat condensed sentence, meaning, as some say, that in the midst of their afilictions their joy, and in the midst of their poverty, their liberality abounded. But this brings into view two graces, joy in affliction, and liberality in poverty,