is the glory of believers, so he is glorified by tliem. They reflect his glory. They by their holiness lead men to see the excellence of Christ whose image they bear.
24. Wherefore shew ye to them, and before the churches, the proof of your love, and of our boasting on your behalf.
In conclusion the apostle exhorts the Corinthians to prove to these messengers so worthy of their confidence their love, and the truth of the favourable testimony which he had borne to their liberality. Shoio the proof (r-qv eVSei^tv . . eVSct^aor^e) of your love. This may mean, ' your love to me ; ' or, ' your Christian love ; ' or, as is most natural, ' your love to them.' Give them evidence of your love, i. e. receive them with aftec- tionate confidence ; and let them see that my boasting of you was true. Before the churches ; that is, so that the churches, by whom these brethren were sent, may see the proof of your love. Instead of the received text, which has the imperative cVSet^ao-.^^c, Lachmann, Tischendorf, Meyer and others, after the older MSS., read IvhuKvvjxevoi. ' Exhibiting the evidence of your love, &c., (do it) in the presence of the churches.' This whole chapter proves how intimately the early Christians were bound together, not only from the intercourse here shown to exist between the several churches, but from the influence which they exerted over each other, from their brotherly love and sympathy, and from the responsibility which each is assumed to owe to the judgment of the others.