The Pulpit Commentary — 2 Corinthians — Section 149

EXPOSITION. must bee.? fruit. (Fo1 the phrase, "in vain," CB.APTER VI. see Gal. ii 2; Phu. ii 16.) What the The methods and oonditions of an apos- grace of God is meant to effect is ekotohed t.olic ministry (vere. 1-10). Appeal to the in Titus ii. 11, 12. Corinthians t.o reciprocate his affection aud Ver. 2.-J!'or he aaith; that is, "God saith." The nominative is involved in the separate themselves from evil (vers. 11- "fellow-workers," so that this is hardly to 18). be cle.ssed with those mbbinio methods of ci- Ver. 1.-We then, u fellow-workera. tation found also in Philo, whioh deliberately Continuing the entreaty of eh. v. 20, he omit the word "God" as the speaker, and adds, "But wi [his] fellow-workers we e.lso use "He" by preference. I have heard exhort yon .., The "also" shows tllat lie does thee, eto. The quotation is from the LXX. .aot rest content with merely entreating them of Isa. xlix. 8, and is meant to express the (ko1"ll1&), but adds to the entreaty an exhorta- necessity for receiving the grace of God, not tion emphasized by a self-1111,Cl'ifiaing ministry. only efficaciously, but at once. The " thee" "Fellow-workers witli -God" (1 Cor. iii. 9). in Isaiah is the ,Servant of Jehovah," the B-11.. The word is the lillIIle as that ren- type primarily of Christ, and then of all dered" beseech" by the Authorized Version who are "in Christ." In a time aooepted; in ah. v. 20, and it should be rendered literally, in the Hebrew, in a time of favour. "exhort : " " God exhort.a you by onr means ; It is the see.son of grace, before grace hll.9 we therefore entreat you to be reconciled to been wilfully rejected, and the time for judg- God; yes. and os Ohrist's fellow-workers we ment begins (Prov. i. 24--28). The accepted exhort yolL" That ye reoeive not. The time ; literally, the taell-accepted. oppoi·tunity. word means both paBBively m :receive and St. Paul in his earnestness strengthens the actively t.o accept as a persowi.1 boon. The force of the adjective, 'fhe Mme word graoe of God. To &DI1ounoe this is the chief occnrs in eh. viii 12; Rom. xv. 16, 31. e.im of the goepel (Acts xiii 43; XL 24). In "There is e. deep niok in Time's restless vain; that is," without effect." You must wheel not only accept the teaching of God's Word, For eo.ch man's good.~ but mw.t see that it produces adequate moral (Chapman.) results. It must not, so to speak, fall "into a vo.cuum (,is 1«1161•)." "He," says Pelagilll!, Now. No doubt St. Paul meant that, as long "rt:eeives the grace of God in vain who, in as life IastP., the door of repentance is never the new covenu.11t, is not himself new." If e.hBOlutely closed; but it is probable that he you rcully ..re in Christ you must show that had specis.lly in view the nearness of the you have thereby become " a new creation " e.dvent of C.l.uiBt. Comp&re the stress laid (eh. v. 17). The branche11 of the true Vine upon the word "to-day" in Heb. iii. 7, 8 ou. v1. 1-18.J THE SECOND EPIS'rLE TO THE CORINTHIAN::!. 145