the apostle. It is not true that he was influenced in boasting by corrupt feelings; that self-conceit and the desire of ap- plause were in him, as in the false teachers, the motives which governed him in this matter. There is no necessity for sup- plying Kara aapKa after the last clause. What Paul says is, ' As many boast from unworthy motives, I also will boast.' If they did it from bad motives, he might well do it from good ones.
19. For ye suffer fools gladly, seeing ye (your- selves) are wise.
That is, '■ I will indulge in the folly of boasting, for ye are tolerant of fools.' The Corinthians had, to a degree disgrace- ful to themselves, allowed the boasting Judaizing teachers to gain an ascendency over them, and they could not, therefore, with any consistency object to the self-vindication of Paul. Seeing ye are icise. As it is the part of the wise to bear with fools, so the Corinthians in their wisdom might bear with the apostle. Of course this is said ironically and as a reproof. In the same spirit and with the same purpose he had said to them in his former epistle, 4, 8, " We are fools, but ye are wise."
20. For ye suffer, if a man bring you into bondage, if a man devour (you), if a man take (of you), if a man exalt himself, if a man smite you on the face.
They might well bear with Paul since they bore with the tyranny, the rapacity, the insolence, and the violence of the lalse teachers. The character of these troublers of the church was everywhere the same; see Gal. 1,7. They were lords over God's heritage, 1 Pet. 5, 3, not only as they endeavoured to reduce the Christians under the bondage of the law, as ap- pears from the epistle to the Galatians, but as they exercised a tyrannical authority over the people. To this the apostle here refers when lie says. If any man bring yon into bondage (KaraSoiAoi), i. e. makes slaves of you. TJiat this is not to be hmited to subjection to the Jewish law, is evident from what f<)lh)\vs, which is an amplification of the idea here expressed. These men were tyrants, and therefore they devoured, insult- ed and maltreated the people. If any 7nan devour (yoii)^ i. e. rapaciously consumes your substance, as our Lord de-