The Pulpit Commentary — 2 Corinthians — Section 287

II. AN EXPl,ANATION OF BOl[E MYSTERIES; l; The powet' of temptation, Men fre• quently fall before white temptations rather than black ones. Satan is an adept at whitewRshing the sepulchre, The voice that calls us to sin sounds often more like tho Yoicc of an angel than the voice of a deviL 'l'he great adversary traniforms his temp- tatiMl.s as well as himself. 2. That wron,g often seems 1nuch lik6 right. Satan is a clever editor. 3. That folly often Sflems wisdom. A most dexterous counsel is the de,·il ; BI" we listen to him, folly is evidently wisdom, a.nd wisdom certainly folly. His splendid intellect overmasters ours when we cope with him a.lone. III. AN IMPRESSIVE WARNING. 1. To ever be on oor gua,·d. We need have our wits about us whilst we have such an enemy about us. To be careless in such peril would be suicidal. Onr guard should be severe; none should be admitted within the gates but proved friends. 2. Not to judge by appeai·ances. Our tendency is to do so, and there- fore the devil transforms himself. " 'l'here is a way which seemeth right unto a man, but the end thereof are the ways of death" (Prov. xiv. 12). We must get below the surface of things. We must take pains to e.scertain the right and the good. Every trap is baited, and the fool who concludes that there can be no difference between a bait and a meal, is soon caught. 3. To seek trw wisdom and discernment. Conceit in our own unaided powers is just what delights the devil, and he often preaches to us 1an angelic discourse upon the pleasing theme of our wonderful faculties, before demonstrat~ ing our unutterable folly and weakness. We need know that we are know~nothings. Self-distrust baulks Satan. When a man is on the pinnacle of pride,he can easily deal with him, but when he is in the valley of humility and self-abnegation the enemy gets sorely perplexed. Let us empty ourselves of the wind of conceit and self- sufficiency, that God may fill us with his own wisdom. 4. To ever abide with Ghrist. Thus alone can we be truly safe. Here alone shall we secure the victory. Christ over- came the devil when he spake least like a devil, a.nd, if we are truly with Ghrist, no disguise of Satan shall deceive us, and no might of his shall overthrow us. The cross of Christ is Ithuriel's spear, which, touching the tempter, reveals him in his true character.-H. Vers. 23--33.-.Apostolic experieneei; on earth. I. THESE EXPERIENCES, AS NARRATED HEBE, ABStJldE A GLOOMY CIIARACTEB. 1. Painful. (1) Bodily sufferin,g. Excessive toil, prison privations, scourgings, stoning, shipwrecks, a night and day in the deep, sleeplessness, coldness, foodlessness, nakedness. (2) Mental suffering. (a) Persecution from Jews as well as Gentiles. His "own countrymen" hated him more fiercely than any. (b) Hostility of false brethren. Peculiarly painful to such a noble nature as Paul's. (c) Anxieties respecting the nu.merons Churches. (d) Acute sympathy with the weak and hindered ones (ver. 29). 2. Perilous. What a catalogue of perils in ver. 26 ! bow extreme the one instanced in vers. 32, 33 ! how pathetic and suggestive the expression, "in deaths oft" (ver. 23) ! Paul lived on the margin of the next world. Of him was it peculiarly true that he knew not what a day would bring forth. lL :MUCH OF THE PAINFUL AND PERILOUS EXPERIENCE OF THE APOSTLE A.BOBE FBOH HIS IIURVELLOUB ZEAL AND ENTERPRISE, He might have avoided not a little by: L Being only moderat,ely active. That delightful "mean " coveted by so many- it was too mean for Paul ! 2. Being more compUant. If he had been· a man of expediency, and not, as he was, a man of principle. If he had bent to the storm; but he intended that the storm should bend to him, or rather to those God-truths which he proclaimed. 3. Pl,acing G~s honour in tM second place. The. servant was persecuted so vindictively because he would talk so much of his Master. It wa.s not Pa,d that Jew and Gentile hated so much, but Christ; but where Paul was there men could hear of nothing but the contemned Nazarene. 4. Loving himself more than iJ perishing worl,d. It was a question which should suffer, Paul or tha world? Paul said, "I will" In Ms sphere he thus imitated his Lord, who, though he was rich, for our sake.s became poor. llI. No SU11'l"EBING OB PBBll, SUCCEEDED IN DAHPING THE .APOSTOLIC ARDOUR. How keen must have been his love for Christ and for his fellow-men I Ever before him be had. the future exaltation of Christ and the "saving some." We have here a marvellous triumph of mind over matter, and a still more marvellous one of spirituality over carnality, The life of the apostle was ao vigorous that he could bear ~ die daily, Oil, XI. 1-33.] 'fHE SECOND EPISTLE 'ro 'l'HE CORINTHfANS. 287