The Pulpit Commentary — 2 Corinthians — Section 12

HOMILIES BY VARIOUS AUTHORS. Vers. 1, 2.-Saluta,tion. It is a greeting from Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus, and from "'l'imothy our brother," instead of Sosthenes, as in the First Epistle. It is to the Church of God at Corinth, with all the saints in the whole of Achaia, all connected in the province with the central Church at Corinth. "Beginning at Jerusalem "-the holy city was to be the starting-point. Antioch, Cresarea, Thessalonica, Corinth, Ephesus, Rome, were to be early reached by the gospel. Community-centres were to become Church-centres, so' that the social idea of Christianity should have prompt and impres- sive development. As usual with St. Paul, " Grace be to you and peace," opening and closing with the word so comprehensive, so precious, "grace."-L. Vers. 3-11.-Thanksgiving in the midst of tri'bulation; uses of sorrow; C()mjorting others; personal references. '£he ascription begins with "blessed," the strongest term the apostle could employ as representing the highest and strongest emotions, the head- word in the vocabulary of gratitude and praise, found in the Old and New Scriptures, and common to Jews and Gentile Christians. "Blessed;" the best in us acknowledging the God of grace, an anthem in a single utterance, and embodying the whole nature of man in reverence and adoration. "Blessed be God, even the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ;" not only God, but the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, and a Father to us in him. What significance Christ gave to the word "father" we all know. It is the root-word of the Lord's Prayer, every ascription and every petition being but an offshoot from "Our Father which art in heaven," , So of the entire Sermon on the Mount; it is the motive to trust Providence, the reason to be like God, the ground of brotherhootl, the inducement to forgive. those who offend us, the inspiration of each duty, each sacrifice, and the joy and strength of each beatitude. So of the last conversations anJ. discourse-all of the Father and of the Son iu him, and the disciples in the Son. So after the Resurrection, "My Father and your Father." St. Paul rejoiced in the word. Nor did he hesitate to use on Mars' Hill the quotation,!" We are also bis offspring," and from this point of view expose the error and sin of idolatry. And wherever he comes to give it the fulness of its import, as in Rom. viii., his heart overflows with feeliug. Here (ver. 3) he is also the "]father of mercies, and the God of all comfort," and no matter bow the mercies reach us and what their nature and connections, they are from the Father as the God of all comfort. Physical and spiritual blessings, a visit from Stephanas, the return of Titus, good news from Corinth,-all alike are mercies from the Father, the God of all comfort. One may lose himself in the omnipresence of Jehovah and be overwhelmed by its sublimity, but it is a very practical doctrine with the apostle, a constant reality, and he feels it deeply because he feels it always. "Not far from every one of us." How ,can he be, when "we live and move and have our being" in him? Vve say these great words, but with what little consciousness.of their massive import I Reason tries in vain to comprehend omnipresence; imagination labours and sinks under its images; while the humble and docile heart accepts the grandeur of God's presence in immensity as the grandeur of his nearness in all the aITairs of life. " God of all comfort" because " Father of mercies;" the mercies very welcome to him just then in that sore emergency, and the fatherhood of God in Christ unspeakably dear. It enlivened the sense of special providence in his soul; it was the Comforter whom Christ had promised as more than a compensation for his absence, and while this Com- forter was never taken from him, yet, as occasion demanded, his Divine manifestations were augmented. Just as we need human sympathy, assurances of human friendship and love, more at some times th;m at others, so need we the Consoler, and to this varying want he adapts himself in the infinitude of his power and tenderness. No soul is saved, we iµny suppose, on an unvarying plan; no soul is cheered and strengthened by n rigid monotony of spiritual influence. "'.i.'he wind bloweth where it lis[eth," a zephyr, a breeze, a gale, but in all the wind. "So is every one that is born of the Spirit." "Blessed be God," not only for "mercies" and "comfort," but for them in particular adaptations to seasons and experiences that doubly endear the gracious offices of the Paraclotc. Now, these words of praise naturally lead us·to expect a justificatioa of their special utkrancr, aml we have it immerl.intely, "Who comforteth us in all our tribLtla-  12 THE SECOND EPISTLE '1'0 THE CORINTHIANS. [on. 1.1-24,