The Pulpit Commentary — 2 Corinthians — Section 7

"yee ; " ntter which be ei..l)hins to them the ~t thte_nd_ of pr~ise an~ prayer. But as the renson whv he decided not to come to them ' yea. 1s 1n Christ, so 1t 1s only through him until he hnd first visited Macedonia, and that we 6an receive the grace to utter a.right so to give them one visit, not two. the "Amen" to the glory of God. Ver. 18.-But ns God is true; rather, but Ver. 21.-Now he that sta.blisheth u. God isfaill,jul, whatever roan~mn.y be (l Cor. They will have seen, then, that steadrastp.ees i. 9; x. 13; 1 Thess. v. 24; 2 Thess. iiL 3; I not levity, immutability not vacillation, has John i. 9). Our word towards you, eto. The been the subject of their tc-'nching. Who is verse should be rendered, But God is faithful, the _Source of thnt steadfastness? God, who because (faithful herein, thi.t) our preacldng anointed us and confirmed us, a.nd you with tn you proved i&!elf to be not yea and riay. us, into unity with his Anointed. With you. Whatever you may say of my plans and my We partake alike of this Christiim etend- conduct, there was one thing which involved fastuess ; to impugn mine is to nullify your 1\11 indubitable "yea," namely, my preaching own. In Christ; rather, into Christ, ao ae to to you. In that, at any rate, there was no- be one with him. They a.re already "in thing co. pricious, nothing Yarii.ble, nothing Christo;'' they would aim more and more to vacillating. St. Paul, in a roi.nner character- be established " in Christurn." Who anointed istic to his moods of deepest emotion, "goes us. Every Christian is a king and priest to off at a word." The Corinthians talked of God, and has 1·eceived an unction from the his "yea" and " nay" as though one wns Holy Ono (1 John ii. 20, 27). • • little better thi.n the other, and neither could Ver. 22.-Who hath also sealed us, We be depended on ; well, at any rate, one thing, co.nnot be deconsecrated, disanointed. Still and that the most essential, was as sure as lees can the confirming see.I ba broken. He the faithfulness of God. continues to dwell on the conceptio11 of the Ver.19.-For. This isa proof of what he unchangeableness of God a.nd of the gospel has just si.id. Hi, preaching was as firm as into which be ho.d been incidentally lecl by a rock ; for, tried by time, it bad proved it- the charge of "lightness." The earnest of self a changeless" yeo.," being a preaching of the Spirit. Tho promises which we have Christ, the s6I!le yesterday, to-day, and for received are not mere promises, they are ever. By me and Silva.nus and Timotheus. already so for fulfilled to us nnd in us as to They are mentioned because they had been guarantee herea.rter their plenary fruition. his companions in the first visit to Corinth ·Just ns in money bi.rgains "earnest money," (Acts xviii. 5), and he wishes to show t~at "money on account," is given, in pledge his preaching- of Christ bad never wavered. t.hnt the wholo will be ultimately discharged, "Silvanus" (I These. i. l ; 2 These. i. 1) is eo we have" the earnest of the Spirit" (eh. the " Silas" of .Acts xv. 22. He disappears v: 5), "the firetfruite of the Spirit " (Rom. from the New Testament in this verse, unless viii. 23), which are to ue " the earnest" or be be the "Silvanne" of 1 Pet. v. 12. Was pledge money that we shall hereafter enter not yea. and nay, but in him was yea.. "Became upon the purchased possession (Eph. i.13, 14). not (proved not to be) yea and no (in one We now see the meaning of the " and." It breath, e.s it were, and therefore utterly un- involves e. climax-the promise is much; trustworthy), but in him there has been a the unction more; the seal a still further yea." The perfect, "has become," means that eecurity (Eph. iv. 30; 2 Tim. ii. 19); but iu liim the everlasting" yes" baa proved it- beyond all this we have already a pa.rt self valid, and still continues to be a change- payment in the indwelling of the Present less affirmation (Heh. xiii. 8). of God (Rom. v.. 5; viii. 9 ; Gal. iv. 6). '.l'he Ver. 20.-For all the promises of God in word arrabon, ren~erecl " earnest," hae an him are yea ; rather, For so many as be the interesting history. It is very ancient, for promises of God, in liim is the yea. All the it is found (]i:i-;,p,) in Gen. xxxviii. 17, 18, promises of God find in him their unchange- and comes from e. root meaning "to pledge." able fulfilment. He was "a minister to con- It seems to be a Phrenician word, which firm the promises" alike to the J ewe and the had been introduced into various languages Gentiles (Rom. xv. 8, 9); and "the promise by the universality of Pbcnnician commerce. of tl,e eternal inheritance" can only be ful- In cle.ssical Latin it is shortened into arrha, filled in him (Hob. ix. 15). And in him and it still exists in Italian as arra, iu Amen. The true reading is, " Wherefore by ·French e.e arrhes. The equivale11t Hebrew l1im also is the .Amen to God, uttered by us figure is "flrstfruits" (Rom. viii. 23). tn his glory" (tt, A, B, C, F, G, etc.). In Ver. 23.-Moreover I call God for a re- Clu~st is the" yea." of immutable promise and cord ; rather, But I call God for a witness. absolute fulfilment; the Church utters the At this point, to eh. ii. 4, he enters for the ".A.men" of perfect faith and grateful adora- first time on the• kindly reasons which hu<l tion. Here, as in I Cor. xiv. 16, we have a led him to forego his intended earlier visit, proof of the ancientness of the custom by Ho u-.es a similar adjuration in eh. xi. 31; which the congregation utters the "Amen" oud although these appeals (corup. l Cor. xv. orr. 1. 1-2'1.J '!'HE SECOND EPISTLE TO THE CORINTHIANS. 7