The Pulpit Commentary — 2 Corinthians — Section 150

rind "ot lenst in this thy day" (Luke xix. Cmse.roo were mbseqwmt to this Epistle. In 12). tumults. Those were e. uormrd incident of Vor. 9.-0iving no oft'enoe in anything. St. Po.ul's life, both up to this time and for An undor-ourront of neccsea.ry self-defence yee.rs afterwards (Acts xiii. 50; xiv. l!); runs through Bt. Pa.ul's cxhorta.tion. Tho xvi. 22; xvii. 4, 5; xviii. 12; xix. 28, 29; pnrtioiple is, like " fcllow-workere," e. xxi. 27-39; xxii. 22, 23; xxiii. 9, 10; nominntive to "we exhort you" in ver. 1. xxvii. 42, etc.) The word al<ata8ta,iai might O.ffenoe. 'l'he word here is not 8kandalon, also mean "insecurities," i.e. homelessnes8, which is so often rendered "offence," but we.nderings, uncertainties (comp. l Cor. iv. prosltope, which occurs here a.lone in the 11); but New Testo.ment usage seems de- New 'festoment, e.nd is not found in the cisive In favour of the former meaning (eh. LXX. It means "e. cnuee of stumbling." xii. 20; 1 Cor. xiv. 33; Jo.a. iii. 15). In Proslcomma, a stumbling-block, is used in labours (eh. xi. 28; 1 Cor. iv. 12; xv. 10; 1 Cor. viii. 9. lie not blamed. When ouy Act.a xx. 34; 1 Thess. ii. 9; 2 Thess. iii. 8). just blame con be attached to the minister, In watchings. " Spells of sleeplessness" the force of the minietry of reconciliation ill were e. necessary incident of such a. life; fatnlly weakened. (For the word, see eh. and nn eminently nervous nature like that viii. 1!0.) of St. Paul is rarely capo.ble of the ha.bitua.l Ver. 4.-Approving ourselves; rather, relief of sound sleep. Hence be again refers commending ourselves. He ill ngain refer- to this in eh. xL 27. His "sleeplessness" ring to the insinuation, which he.d evidently wns sometimes the necessary result of labours ea.used him deep pain, the.I he we.s not •• night and day" (Acts xx. 31; 1 Thess. iL authorized to preach, as his Judaic op- 9, etc.). In fastings. St. Paul never incul- ponents were, by "letters of commendation" cates the practice of voluntary fa.sting as a (eh. iii. 1-3) from James or from tile duty (for the reading in 1 Cor. vii. 5 is elders at Jerusalem. His credentials co.me more than dubious); but it is probable that from God, who had enabled him to be so he foU.Dd it personally useful at times (Acts faithful As the ministers of God (1 Cor. xiii. 2, 3 ; xiv. 23; ix. 9). The nine forms iv. 1). The article should be omitted. In of suffering hitherto mentioned-tllree muoh patienoe. Obrist had forewarned his general, three specific, a.nd three voluntary- apostles the.t they would have much to are all physical sufferings borne with "much endure, e.nd had strengthened them by the endurance." promise that "be that endureth to the end Ver. 6.-By pureneu; rather, in Tureness, sl:ell be so.ved" (Me.tt. x. 22). In affliotions. as the preposition ill the same. He now This wo1·d, ea we have seen, is one of the gives six instances of special gifts o.nd haunting words in eh. i. 4--11. In neoes- virtues. The " pureness" is not only" chas- sities. St. Pe.ul we.a poor, and was often in tity," but absolute sincerity (1 John iii. 3; we.nt (Acts xx. 34). In distresses. The eh. iv. 2; 1 Thess. ii.10). llyknowledge. so.me word· which occurs in eh. iv. 8. It The knowledge is the true knowledge of the mee.ns "extreme pressure" Oiterally, nar- gospel in its fulness (Eph. iii. 4). lu his rowness of space), e.nd is a clinlax of tho depth of insight into the truth St. Paul was other words. speoio.lly gifted. The word gnosis had not Ver. 5.-In stripes (comp. oh. xi. 23- yet acquired the fato.l connotations which 28). The stripes were of two kinds-from afterwa.r1ls discredited it. lly long-suffering Jewish whips o.nd Rome.n rods. But of the (2 Tim. iii. 10; iv. 2). The patient endur- five ecourgings with Jewish whips not one unce of insults, of which St. Pe.ul shows e. is mentioned in the Acts, and only oue of practical specimen in this Epistle, a.nd still the three ecourgings with Romo.n rods more in Phil. i.15-18. lly kindness. "Lovo (Acts xvi. 23). Nothing, therefore, is more suffereth long, u.nd ill kind" (1 Cor. xiii. 4); clern tbe.n the.t the Acts only furnillhes us "Long-suffering, kindness" (Gal. v. 22). :By with a fre.gmentary o.nd incomplete record, . the Roly Ghost. To the special gift of the in which, e.s we gather from the Epistles, Spirit St. Paul attriLuted all his success either the agonies of St. Pe.ul's lifelong (1 Thess. i. 5; Rom. xv. 18, 19). lly love martyrdom are for some reason iutentione.lly unfeigned; which ill the surest !i'_uit of ~e minimized, or else (which is, perhaps, more Spirit, and the best_.?f e.11 -~-pmtunl gif~_s probable) St. Paul we.a, as hill rule e.nd ( ob. xii. 15; 1 Cor. vm. 1; xlll.; Rom. xu. be.bit, so reticent a.bout his own sufferings in 9, 1;tc.). the co.use of Ghrist that St. Luke wo.s only Ver. 7.-By the word of truth. St. Paul vaguely, if at e.11, o.wnre of many scenes of now passes to the more specific .?ndow~ents trial through whioh be ho.d possed. In im- of the true tencher (comp. eh. 11. 17: 1v. 2; prisolllllents. St. Pou! was frequently in 1 Cor. ii. 4; Gal. ii. 5). lly the power of prison, but St. Luke only tells us of one of God; literally, in power of God (~h. iv. 7; these ocoeaions (Acts xvi. 2!)--at Philippi; 1 Cor. ii. '1; iv. 20). "For the kLDgdom of the Rome.n imprisonment e.nd th11t e.t God is not [only] in word, but in power." II. OOBmTBIANB, j. 146 THE SEOOND EPISTLE TO THE CORIN1'HIANS. [oa, v1. 1-18,