The Pulpit Commentary — 2 Corinthians — Section 317

lnflrrnities, the defects of pr,rsonal appcamnce, his conscientious avoid:.ncc of the least worldly art in his miniBtry, hBd been used to his r.isadvantage. C.:rart, falsehood, m11liguity, had fpllowml him with persistent steps. Neither his private nor public life had csc11ped prymg oyes and slanderous tongues. A man in feeble health, his strength constantly over-taxed, infirmities growing beyond his years aa well as with his years, labouring to support himself, and thus making heavy drarts on his bodily powers, he had thes11 ills daily augmented by annoyances and vexations from those who sought to come between him and his Churches. 'l'o undo his work was their aim and ambition. 'l'hey hated him officially, they despised him personally, nor could they rest while he had friends to cheer him on in hie labours. What is most noticeable is the utter blind- ness of these persecutors to the wonderful tokens of God's presence with him. It is to this fact he alludes in the words, "Since ye seek a proof of Christ speaking in me." Remember, it was in this Corinth, where these turbulent spirits were most industrious to overthrow him, that Christ had given the most numerous and remarkable evidences of the favour bestowed on his apostle as the apostle of the Gentiles. "Seek a. proof," to our ears sounds most strangely. "Signs and wonders and mighty deeds," and yet "seek a proof of Christ speaking in me" I It is well that there was an antecedent history, a fourfold history but one biography, and that this biography of the Lord Jesus opens to us a full view of man's capacity to disbelieve where Divine manifestations are concerned. , " If they have persecuted me, they will also persecute you." So the Lord Jesus had foretold; so St. Paul had realized. And now, in the closing hour of writing this Epistle, the apostle identifies his condition with that of Christ in the days of the flesh. Years before, the great fact had occurred of which these recent facts were no more, than exemplifications. 'l'aking upon himself the lowly form of a servant and submitting to every kind of privation and sorrow, putting himself as to his circum- stances in extreme contrast with his power and never exercising this power except under the agency of the Holy Ghost, men treated him, Son of God, Son of man, as one in their hands, over whom o.nd his earthly destiny they had entire control. " He was crucified through weakness." .He could have been crucified in no other way. The sole condition unde,r which, this event was possible is here stated, viz. weakness. 'l'he weakness was assumed voluntarily by him because it was necessary to the work of redemption. "Yet he liveth by the power of God.n Even in the grave his body was treated as though men had it under mastery. Roman procurator and Jewish Sanhedrim held it as their own, and sta,tioned II military guard at the sepulchre where his corpse, still their prisoner, lay till the third day ended the mystery of his weakness. Then came the triumph "of the power of God." Authority felt it and was abased. To its degra~ation it added the infamy of .a lie, and to the lie the infamy of a money bribe. Guilt f~lt it and acknowledged its impending curse in the return of .innocent blood as vengeance 9,n its head. Sad as this hour was to St. Paul, his faith was never firmer. Had he not. said just before, that if he should have to" bewail many which have sinned already, and ):i.aye not repented," he should accept the humiliation as a holy discipline? " My God will humble• me among you." One had gone before him in weakness. But his Le<1.der in trial would be his Leader in. triumph. " For we also are weak in him." It is not our w~a,kness. It wears a human look, speaks human words, trembles with. human sensibility, sighs with human pathos, yearns for relief with human desires. Nevertheless it is a fact, "we also are weak in him." The weakness we share is that of the God-Man, the weakness of the Divine incarnation, so that we walk according to our small measure in the footsteps of him who" himself took our infirmities and bare our sicknesses." "But we shall live," not in tbe resurrection, but in the day when we come to Corinth and vindicate our authority," we shall live with him by the power of God toward you!' 'l'hea, indeed, you who have taunted us as "weak and contemp- tible," shall see and know that this risen and exalted Christ is Christ in us, " the power of God toward you." Do yon then "seek I\ proof of Christ speaking in me"? I shall come with " the power of God" and the "proof" shall be given.-L. Vera, 5-10.-Selfaea:amination recommended; supremacy of Divine truth. Proof of bis apostleship )lad been the demand of the disaffected portion of the Corinthians: "but prove your own selves" is St. Paul's exhortation. "Examine not me, but your- selves, whether you are truly in the faith, put younJelves w the pr1,,of conceruiur·  !318 THE SECOND EPISTLE TO THE CORINTHIANS. [cu. xm. 1-14.