The Pulpit Commentary — 2 Corinthians — Section 315

heart, nnd a freer breath, when be dictated the laet sentence. He was now to visit them for the third time, determined to execute the disciplfoe tha.t miaht be require<l, earnestly hoping at the same time that, when he was once more a.m~ngst them, the necessity for such discipline would not appea.r. In this concluding chapter we .find words of warning, exhortation, prayer, comfort, e.nd benedictum. I. WORDS OF WARNING. He warns them of a. chastisement which he determined to inflict upon e.11 offenders, both in doctrine e.nd conduct, against the gospel of Christ. Four things e.re suggested here concerning the discipline he intended to prosecute. I. The discipline would be righteous. "In the mouth of two or three witnesses shall every word be established." llere is e. rule quoted and endorsed by Christ (1\fatt. xviii. 16), e.n e.xiom of the Jewish Law and e. n:i.tural dictate of judicial policy. What he probably means to say, is, "I will not chastise any without proper evidence. I will not trust. to rumours or surmises; I will test every case myself, so that justice shall be c'.one. Therefore the true need not fear, the false alone need apprehend." 2. The discipline would be rigorous. " I told you before, and foretell you, as if I were prescn t, the second time; and being absent now I write to •them which heretofore have sinned, and to all other, that, if I come again, I will not spare." He had threatened this in his former letter (1 Cor. iv. 13-19), in which he had also indicated severity (1 Cor. v. 5), and spoken of 0 delivering them to Satan "-an expression which probably means not only excommunication, but the infliction of corporal suffering. The blindness of Elymas and the death of Ananiae and Sapphir~ are instances of the power of the apostles over the b_ody of men. 'l'his chastisement would be dealt, not only to the notorious inces- tuous perso~ often referred to, but to " all other;" he would "spare" none. "I will not spare." A more terrible chastisement know I not than entire excommunication from the fellowship 'of the g9od. • 3. The discip,line would demonstrate the existence of Christ in him. ,"Since.ye seek a proof of Christ !!peaking in me." "They had called in q•Jcstion his apostoHc· authority, they had demanded the evidence of his Divine commission .. He ~ays he_ would now furnish such evidence by inflicting just punish- ment on all offenders, ancl they .should have abundant proof that Christ spoke by him." _He .could hav_e given, this proof sooner, but he acted in this respect like Christ, an_d. was. c9ntent to aJ>pear "weak'' amongst them, in order that his power might be more cc;mspicuously displayed. "For though he was crucified through weak- ness, yet he liveth by the power of God. For we also are weak in him, but we shall live with hirµ_ by the .Power of G9d toward 1ou." "The thought," says Dean Plumptre, "that underlies the apparently hard sayrng is that the disciples of Christ share at once in their Lord's weakness and in his strength. We, too, are weak, says the apostle, we .have our. share in infirmities and sufferings, which are ennobled by the thought that they a.re ours because we a.re his,·but we know that we shall live in the highest sense in the activities of the spiritual life, which also we shall share with him, a.nd wp.ich comes to us by the power of God. • This life will be manifested in the exercise of our spiritual power towards you and for your good." In the case of the truly good, i11 ,all weakness there is strength, and the weakness one day will disappear and the strength be manifest. 11. WORDS OF EXHORTATION. "Examine yourselves." Self-scrutiny is at once 11 duty the most urgent and the most neglected. Hence the universal prevalence of self-ignorance. Even men who know a very great deal of the world without are ignorant of the world within, the world of worlds. 1. The momentous point to be tested in self-scrutiny. "Whether ye be in the faith." Not whether you have faith in you, for all men are more or less credulous, and have some kind of faith in them; but whether you are "in the faith." The faith here is the gospel, or rather the Christ of the gospel; whether you are in Christ, in the character of Christ. Intellectually and morally, all men a.re living in the characters of others. The grand thing is to be 111 the character of Christ, in his principles, sympathies, aims, etc. 2. The momentou,s conclusion to be reached by self-scrutiny. "Know ye not [emphatic] your own selves, how that Jesus Christ is in you, except ye be reprobates?" If you are in the faith, you iire in his character, and he is in your life; nay, your lilii itself. Should you find yo11 are not in the faith, ye are "reprobates," counterfeits, spurious, not genuine; tares, not wheat; hypoc~ites, ~lere, then, is a wol'k ~or every man to do-:-" examine" himself, introspect, scrutinize, decide, and thus know h1a real moral cond1t10D,  :rtfl '.l'B:E SEOOND EPlSTLE TO 'l'HE CORlNTlIIANS. [oit. xtu. 1-u.