being suggested by others. The fact was so i^lain that it needed not to be asserted. Let him think this again^ i. e. let him consider the matter again. The last reflection will con- vince him that as he is ChrisPs^ so are we. There was no re- lationship which these false teachers could rightfully claim to Christ to which Paul was not equally entitled. They were in no resj)ect his superiors. They had no advantage which did not belong equally to him.
8. For though I should boast somewhat more of our authority, which the Lord hath given us for edifi- cation, and not for your destruction, I should not be ashamed.
Paul might have said much more than he had said in what precedes. He was not only all that his opponents claimed to be, but more. He had an authority and power to which they could make no pretensions. He therefore here says that if he had set forth higher claims, he should not be ashamed — facts would not prove those claims to be unfounded. For though^ idv T€ yap Kat, for eve?i 171 case, &g. The connection is with the words " we are Christ's." ' We are Christ's, in all the senses in which you can claim to be, for we have received more from him.' The greater includes the less. Somewhat more, -rrepLora-oTcpov tl, \. e. somewhat more than was claimed in vs. 3-6, or more than ' being in Christ,' which might be said of others as well as of the apostle. Paul had an authority which extended beyond the limits of any claim which he had yet advanced. E^oLma includes the ideas of power and au- thority. The apostle had authority (i. e. the right to rule) and he had abihty, inherent power, to enforce that authority. Which the Lord hath given (or rather, gave) to us. ^ The au- thority in question was given when he was constituted an apostle, with not only a commission to exercise dominion, but a grace, or inward gift of the Spirit, rendering him infallible as a teacher and investing him with supernatural power. The giver of this authority and power was the Lord, i. e. Christ. Christ, therefore, as the author of supernatural gifts, is a di- vine person, for to give such gifts is a prerogative of God. The design for which Paul was not endo^v'ed, was not his own exaltation, not the accomphshment of any worldly end, not, as he says, " for your destruction," i. c. not that he might be 11