The Pulpit Commentary — 2 Corinthians — Section 266

They were "raise npoetlee" (Rev. ii. 2), (1 Pet. v. 2, 3), domineering (3 ,John 9). bocanee a true apoetlo delivers the moeeage and even personally violent and insulting of another, while these co.red only for eelf cbnre.cter of these teachen ; w horn yet, (Rom. xvi. 18). Deoeitful workers. Work• strange to so.y, tho Corinthi,ms seem to t11ke mon who obellt their employers (eh. ii. 17; at their own estimate, and to tolerate any iv, 2). Transforming themeelvea. The verb extreme of insolence from them. while they is the B1Lme ns in 1 Cor, iv. 6 nnd Phil. were jealously saepicious of the disinterested, iii. 21, e.nd doee not occur elsewhere in the gentle, and humble apostle. It a man New Teete.ment. devour you. As the Pharisees " devoured " Ver. 14.-Even Satan . . . angel of light. widows' houses (M 0 tt. uiii. H). Take or Thie is one of Se.tlln's devices (eh. ii. ll). you; rather, seize you,; makes you his 'rhe allusion may be to the temptation captives. The verb is the same as" can"'ht (M&tt. iv. 8, 9): or to the appearances you," in eh. xii. 16. Smite you on the r::ce. of So.tan with the angels before God . in They must have brought their insolence the Book of Job (ii. 1): or perhaJ'iB to the with them from Jerusalem, where, as we see, Jewish hagadah, thllt the "e.ngel" who not only from the details of our Lord's wrestled with Jacob was in reality Se.tan. various mockeries, but from the accounts of Ver. 15.-Whoae end ahe.ll be according the piiests in Josephus and the Talmud, the to their worka. Whatever their fashion priests made free use of their fists and (schema), they shall be judged, not by whnt staves I The fa.et that so many of the con- they seem, but by what they are, as shown verts were downtrodden slaves and artisans by their works. would make them less likely to resent con- Vere. 16-33.-.A.pnlogy by contras!. duct to which they were daily accustomed Ver. 16.-I say again, St. Pan! evidently among the heathen. Neither Greeks nor feels nn almost invincible repugnance to Orientals felt to anything like the same begin to speak of his own works. He hns extent as ourselves the disgrace of a blow. twice swerved away from the task (eh. x. 8; That sense of disgrace rises from the freedom xi. 1, 6) to speak of collnteral topics. Now which Christianity has gradually wrought at last he begins, but only (to our grievous fur us, and the deep sense of the dignity of loss) to break off abruptly in ver. 33, before human nature, which it has inspired. Christ the story of his past sufferings has been had been eo smitten, and so was Paul himself much more than begun. A fool ••. boast. long afterwards (Acts xxiii. 2), and be b:i.d Here, ago.in, we have the two haunting to tea.eh even Christian bishops that they words of this section (see note on ver. 1: must be "no strikers " (1 Tim. iii. 3 ; 1 Cor. xv. 36: xiii. 3). "Boast" occurs Titus i. 7). The "syllogism of violence" sixteen times in these three chapters alone. has, alas I been in familiar use among re- That I; rather, that I also. ligions teachers in all ages (1 Kings xxii. Ver.17.-Note.ftertheLord. "Boasting," 2i: Neh. xiii. 25; Isa. !viii. 4; Matt. v. 39; or what might be stigmatized as such, may Luke xxii. 64; 1 Cor. iv. 11). become a sort of painful necessity, necessi- Ver. 21.-I speak as oonoerni.ng reproach, tated by human baseness : but in itself it as though we had been weak. The sense cannot be "after the Lord." There is no- is uncertain, but if with the Revised Version thing Christ-like in it. It is human, not we render it, "I speak by way of disparage- Divine: an earthly necessity, not a heavenly ment," the verse may be understood as an example : a sword of the giant Philistine, ironical admission that, if (lbsence from these which yet Do.vid may be forced to use. violent and self-assertive proceedings be a Conftdenoe; hypostasis, as in eh. ix. 4, where sign of weakness, he bas been weak. He exactly the same phrase occurs. proceeds to correct the ironical admission in Ver. 18.-After the flesh (see note eh. x. the next clause. The meaning can hanlly be, ll : comp. Phil. iii. 4). I will glory also. " I admit the disgraces I have suffered" But, as Robertson admirably observes, he (comp. eh. vi. 8), because he is speaking of "does not glory in what he has done, but the Corinthians, not of himself. I am bold in wb(lt be bas borne." also. If they derive their right to this Ver. 19.-Seeing you yourselves are wise; audacious and overweening line of conduct ye gladly tolerate the senseless, being intellec- from any privileges of theirs, there is not tual (comp. 1 Cor. iv. 10). The irony would be one of these privileges which I too may not very scathing to those whose minds and con- claim. sciences were.suffioieutly humble o.nd deli- Ver. 22.-Hebrews. In the strictest sense cate to feel it. those who still understood and spoke Ara- Ver. 20.-l!'or ye su1fer, if a mo.n bring maic, not Hellenists of the dispersion, who yon into bondage. The verse gives ns o.u no lunger knew the sacred languuge. (For unexpected and painful glimpse of the the use of the word, see Acts vi. 1; Phil. iii. ene!t1Ving (Gal. ii. 4), groed-loving (Matt. 4.) Israelites. Jews, not only by n,ttion, but xx.iii. H: Rom. xvi. 18), gain-hunting in heart and feeling (see John i. 48; Acte !i.  266 THE SECOND EPISTLE 'l'O THE CORIN'l'HIANS. [en, xt. 1-33.