The Pulpit Commentary — 2 Corinthians — Section 27

Ver. 9.-" The sentence of death in ourselves." St. Paul had just recovered from a depression of spirit under which his frame, never very robust, had been bowed down aln:ost to the grave. He was no Stoic. No spidtual mail is. Regenerate life brincrs quickene~ sensibility. . The new heart is both deep and rapid in its appreciation~, and feels mtensely both Joy and sorrow. St. Paul had not 16st faith or comfort in bis distress. He trutited in the living and life-giving God. All spiritual men find that faith thrives when they have to endure hardness. If they occupy places of ease or walk on sunny heights, they look down into the sorrows of life and call them dark and dismal But when their path lies through the valley on which death-shadows fall, they lift their eyes to the hills whence help comes. '!'he hills are near arid strong, and the sky above reveals its golden stars. It is in houses of comfort that we often find doubt and discontent; but Divine serenity floats over the tried saints, and the secret prayers of God's stricken ones have the sweetest tones of hope. The reason of this is not obscure. If your chamber is full of light by night, and you look out through the window, you discern little or nothing-all is dark. But if your chamber be in darkness, and you look forth, you see the moon and stars ruling the night, the trees standing aij solemn sentinels in the valley, and the mountain casting a broad shadow on the sea. So, wheu you have worldly ease and pleasure, heavenly things .are very dim to you. But, when the world is darkened, heaven brightens, and you trust in God who raises the dead. There is a heathen conception of death which makes all vigorous life shrink and recoil. The dead are thought to go away into a mournful stillness, or move through the air and haunt lonely places, as pallid shades or ghosts. 'I'bere is also a Hebrew conception of death which sufficed in the time of the Old Testament, but falls quite short of what is now brought to light by the gospel (see Ps. cxv. 17; Isa. xxxviii. 18, 19). But Christ has delivered from the fear of death. Every believer iu Christ may enter into the consolation of St. Paul. If he is in sickne~s and has a sentence of death in himself, or sees that sentence written on the wan countenance of one whom ho loves, he is not without a strong solace. It is not the mere philosophical tenet of the immortality of the soul~ which implies an endless being, but by no means attains to the Christian doctrine of eternal life. It is faith in God who raises the dead. Father Abraham had this comfort when he strode up the hill, with the knife to slay and th~ fire to consume in sacrifice his dear son, "accounting that God was able to raise him up even from the dead; from whence also he received him in a figure." We read of certain Hebrew women who through faith "received their dead brought to life again." We remember one instance in the ministry of Elijah, and another in that of Elisha. In those times it was a::i. object to live long in the land which Jehovah God had give11 to his people; and so it was a blessed resurrection to be restored so as to prolong one's days on the earth. In the beginning of the gospel a few such cases are reported. We allude to the ruler's daughter, the widow's son, Lazarus, and 'fabitha or Dorcas. Bui the gospel being fully unfolded, and the hope laid up in heaven made known, there are no more instances of restoration to mortal life. 'I'o depart out of the world and be wit.h Christ is far better than to remain in it. So the resurrection for which we wait is that c:u. L 1-24.] THE SECOND EPISTLE 'fO 'l'ilE CORIN'l'HIANS.