lest being present I should use sharpness, according to the poAver which the Lord hath given me to edification, and not to destruction.
Therefore^ i. e. because I desire your good, and because I prefer to appear dSoKi/xo?, loitliout ^JToof^ so far as the proof of my apostleship consists in the exercise of my power to punisii. This is the reason Avhy the apostle wrote these exhortations and warnings, lest being prese7it I should use sharjmess, i. a. be obhged to exercise severity in dealing with ofienders. The expression is ttTroro/xoos xPW^H-"-'-f where vixlv must be sup- plied, 'lest I should use you sharply.' According to the power. The word is e^ofcrtav, which includes the ideas of abihty and authority or right. Paul was invested both with the authority to punish ofienders and with the power to carry his judgments into efiect. W7iich the Lord hath given me. His autliority Avas not self-assumed, and his power was not derived from himself. They were the gifts of the Lord, the only source of either in the church. The Lord is of course Christ, whose divine power and omnipresence are taken for granted. Paul everywhere as much assumes that the Lord Jesus is invested with divine attributes and entitled to divine worship, as God himself. Nothing can be more foreign to the whole spirit of the New Testament than tlie idea, that Christ, having linished his work on earth as a teacher and witness, has passed away so as to be no longer present with his people. The whole Scriptui-es, on the contrary, assume that he is everywhere present in knowledge and power, the source of all grace, strength and consolation, the object of the rehgious aftections, and of the acts of religious worship. For edification^ and not for destruction. This not only expresses the design witli which Paul was invested and endowed with apostohc i^ower, but it teaches that the j^ower itself could be exercised only for good. Christ would not sanction an unjust decision, or clothe the arm of man with supernatural power to inflict unmerited punishment. The apostles could not strike a saint with blindness nor deliver a child of God unto Satan. The church and its ministers are in the same ])redicament still. They are powerful only for good. Their mistaken decisions or unrighteous judgments are of no avail. They affect the standing of the true believer in the sight of God no more than the judgments of the Jewish synagogues when they cast out the early disciples as evil. Truth and holhiess are a sure
II. coRlNTiiiAisrs m, n. sii
defence against all ecclesiastical power. Ko one can harm ns, ifwc be followers of that which is good. 1 Peter o, 13.
11. Finally, brethren, farcvv'ell. Be perfect, be of good comfort, be of one mind, live in peace ; and the God of love and peace shall be with you.
The severe rebukes contained in the preceding chapters, are softened down by the parental and apostolic tone assumed \n these concluding verses. Ho addresses them as brethren, members of the Ihmily of God and of the body of Christ. Farewell^ x^'/'^^^j hterally, rejoice^ ^^'')joy to you. It is used often in salutations, as Plail ! On accoimt of what follows it is better to take it as an exhortation to spiritual joy. Mejolce^ i. e. in the Lord. In Phil. 3, 1 and 4, 4 we have the same ex- liortation, x^tperc Iv Kvptio. Joy in redemption, rejoicing in our union and communion with the Lord is one of our highest duties. Blessings so iniinite as these should not be received with indiirerence. Joy is the atmosphere of heaven, and the more we have of it on earth, the more heavenly shall we be ui character and temper. JBe perfect^ Kapri^ecr^e, reform your- selves ; correct the evils which prevail within and among you. Be of good comfort^ irapaKaXua^c^ which may be rendered, exhort one another. This latter interpretation is perhaps preferable, because more distmct from the precedmg com- mand. The exhortation to rejoice includes that to be of good comfort. Be of one mind, to airb (/>poi'etrc, be united in Ihith in feeling, and in object. Cognate with this is the exhorta- tion, Bive in peace. One of the greatest evils prevaiimg in Cormth, as we learn fi'om 1 Cor. 1, 10-12, was the contentions of the various parties into which the church was divided. And the God of love andpeace, i. e. God is the author of love and of peace, shcdl he xclth you. The existence of love and peace is the condition of the presence of the God of peace. He withdraws the manifestations of his presence from the soul disturbed by angry passions, and from a community torn by dissensions. We have hero the familiar Christian paradox. God's presence produces love and peace, and we riir.st have love and peace in order to have his presence. God gives what he commands. God gives, but we must cherish his gifts. His agency does not supersede ours, but mingles with it and becomes one with it in our consciousness. AVe work . 14