Spelled ' quffire.' — G.
814 COMMENTARY ON
VERSE 14.
' As also i/oti liave aclcnowlcilfjed m in part, that we are your rcjoicinfi, even as ye are ours in the day of the Lord Jesus.' You have acknowledged us in part, now since you have ropi'uted ; for when be wrote the former epistlo to them, they had many corruptions amoiif:; them in doctrine and in conversa- tion ahout the sacrament, many con-upt opinions they had ; and in ' conver- sation ' they endured the incestuous man among them, without casting of him out ; and many of them douhtcd of the resurrection. Now, when he wrote the first epistle, it took a blessed eti'ect in their hearts ; they repented, and began to acknowledge St Paul, notwithstanding they were distasted of him by reason of the bad information of some presump- tuous teachers. Saith he now again, ' You have acknowledged us in part that now we are your rejoicing,' &c. Observe this, which I touch by way of coherence,
Obs. It is a sifjn of a repentant man, of a man that liath repented of his sins, and is in a yood estate, to acknowledye liiin tliat hath told him of his sins, to acknon'Iedpe Jiis pastor.
For a false heart swells against the reproof. If the Corinthians had not been sound-hearted, they would never have endured St Paul's sharp epistles. But now he tells them their own plainly (as indeed it is a very sharp epistle in many passages), yet now they acknowledge him to be a good and gi'acioua man, a faithful teacher.
Use. Let it he a trial of your estate, can you endure a plain, a powerful, an effectual ministry 1^ More particularly, can you endure a plain, eflectual friend, that brings that which is spoken by the minister more particularly home to your hearts ? It is a sign of a good heart, of a repentant heart, that would be better. But if not, it is a sign you have a reserved love to some special sin that will be your bane ; it is a sign your souls have not repented. As you see after in another chapter of this epistle, where he sets down the fruits of repentance, vii. 9, 10. And here is one sign, ' You have acknowledged us in part,' &c.
In the words,
First, there is the thiny itself — ' acknowledgment.'
Secondly, the ohject-uiatter of it, ' that we are your rejoicing, and you are ovirs.' There is a mutual intercourse of rejoicing.
And then the time is set down, ' the day of the Lord Jesus,' the second coming of Christ.
To speak a little of ' acknowledgment.'
* Acknowledgment ' is more than knowledge ; for knowledge is a bare, naked apprehension, and acknowledgment is when the will and affections yield to the entertaining and the owning of the thing known. As a father not only knows his son, but acknowledgeth him ; a king acknowledgeth his subjects, and the subjects their piince. It is not only a knowledge of such men, but an acknowledging of them, acknowledging a relation to them. So you acknowledge us ; that is, in the relation we stand to you, to be faithful and good ministers, and good men too.
What doth St Paul mean by saying, ' You have acknowledged us ? Doth he mean himself ?
No ; not altogether ; but you have acknowledged me in my faithful preaching of Christ to you. Wheresoever the minister is acknowledged as a minister, Christ is acknowledged. For what are we ? We are but the
2 CORINTHIANS CHAP. I, VER. 14. 315
ministers of Christ, no more, nor no less. Saith St Paul, * Let a man esteem of us as of the ministers of Christ,' 1 Cor. iv. 1. If they think of us more than ministers, that we can make and coin things of our own, they think too much of us ; if they think meanly and basely of us, they think too little of us. ' Let a man think of us as of the ministers of Christ,' no more, nor no less. It is enough that they acknowledge us so as the ministers of Christ. So they are never acknowledged, but Chiist is acknowledged by them; for they have a relative office, they are the ministers of Christ.
How shall we know then whether we acknowledge the minister or no ?
If we acknowledge Christ first by him.
How shall we Imow that we acknowledge Christ '?
1. To acknowledge Christ, God-man in his natures, that we have a great deal of love to him, that he tvould be horn for iis ; and a great deal of re- verence, in. that he is God. We must not think of him but with a great deal of reverence, and meddle with nothing of him but with much love ; he is God-man, God incarnate. He ackuowledgeth Christ in his priestly office, that doth not despair, that doth believe his full satisfaction to God ; and doth not mingle other things, popish satisfaction, and purgatory for venial sins. He ackuowledgeth Christ's priestly office, that goes boldly to God through Christ's intercession in heaven, and boldly trusts in the satisfac- tion of Christ in the clamours of conscience, and the accusations of Satan. This is to acknowledge Christ a priest in our boldness and liberty to God, and confidence in our conscience of the forgiveness of sins. To acknow- ledge Christ as a King, is to yield subjection to his word, and to sufter him to rule us. To acknowledge him as a prophet, to be instructed, and guided by him.