2 Corinthians 7:3

and tempers in the soul; and under the same influence we may avoid every act of iniquity; for even Satan himself cannot, by any power he has, constrain us to commit uncleanness, robbery, drunkenness, murder, etc. These are things in which both body and soul must consent. But still withholding the eye, the ear, the hand, and the body in general, from sights, reports, and acts of evil, will not purify a fallen spirit; it is the grace and Spirit of Christ alone, powerfully applied for this very purpose, that can purify the conscience and the heart from all dead works. But if we do not withhold the food by which the man of sin is nourished and supported, we cannot expect God to purify our hearts. While we are striving against sin, we may expect the Spirit of God to purify us by his inspiration from all unrighteousness, that we may perfectly love and magnify our Maker. How can those expect God to purify their hearts who are continually indulging their eyes, ears, and hands in what is forbidden, and in what tends to increase and bring into action all the evil propensities of the soul? Perfecting holiness - Getting the whole mind of Christ brought into the soul. This is the grand object of a genuine Christian's pursuit. The means of accomplishing this are, 1. Resisting and avoiding sin, in all its inviting and seducing forms. 2. Setting the fear of God before our eyes, that we may dread his displeasure, and abhor whatever might excite it, and whatever might provoke him to withhold his manna from our mouth. We see, therefore, that there is a strong and orthodox sense in which we may cleanse ourselves from all filthiness of the flesh and of the spirit, and thus perfect holiness in the fear of God. Verse 2 Receive us - Χωρησατε ἡμας. This address is variously understood. Receive us into your affections - love us as we love you. Receive us as your apostles and teachers; we have given you full proof that God hath both sent and owned us. Receive, comprehend, what we now say to you, and carefully mark it. We have wronged no man - We have never acted contrary to the strictest justice. We have corrupted no man - With any false doctrine or pernicious opinion. We have defrauded no man - Of any part of his property. But what have your false teachers done? They have beguiled you from the simplicity of the truth, and thus corrupted your minds. 2Cor 11:3 . They have brought you into bondage; they have taken of you; devoured you; exalted themselves against you, and ye have patiently suffered all this. 2Cor 11:20 . It is plain that he refers here to the false apostle or teacher which they had among them. Verse 3 I speak not this to condemn you - I do not speak to reproach but to correct you. I wish you to open your eyes and see how you are corrupted, spoiled, and impoverished by those whom ye have incautiously preferred to the true apostles of Jesus Christ. I have said before, that ye are in our hearts - He has in effect and substance said this, 2Cor 1:6-8 (note); 2Cor 2:4 (note), 2Cor 2:12 (note); 2Cor 3:2 (note), and 2Cor 3:13 (note); where see the passages at length, and the notes. To die and live with you - An expression which points out the strongest affection, as in cases where love blinds us to the faults of those whom we love, and causes us to prefer them to all others; like that in Horace: - Quanquam sidere pulchrior llle est, tu levior cortice, et improbo Iracundior Adria. Tecum vivere amem, tecum obeam tibens. Odar. lib. iii. Od. ix. ver. 21. "Though he exceed in beauty far The rising lustre of a star; Though light as cork thy fancy strays, Thy passions wild as angry seas When vex'd with storms; yet gladly I With thee would live, with thee would die." Francis. From all appearance there never was a Church less worthy of an apostle's affections than this Church was at this time; and yet no one ever more beloved. The above quotation applies to this case in full force. Verse 4 Great is my boldness of speech - He seems to refer to the manner in which he spoke of them to others. Great is my glorying of you - They had probably been very loving and affectionate previously to the time in which they were perverted by their false apostle. He therefore had boasted of them in all the Churches. I am filled with comfort - My affection for you has still the most powerful ascendancy in my soul. Here we may see the affection of the most tender father to his children. I am exceeding joyful - Ὑπερπερισσευομαι· I superabound in joy; I have a joy beyond expression. Ὑπερπερισσευω is an extremely rare verb. I have not met with it in any Greek author; and it occurs no where in the New Testament but here and in Rom 5:20 . In all our tribulation - Perhaps επι here should be rendered under instead of in, as it signifies, Mar 2:26 ; Luk 3:2 ; Act 11:28 . Under all our tribulations, I feel inexpressible joy on your account. Verse 5 When we were come into Macedonia - St. Paul, having left Ephesus, came to Troas, where he stopped some time; afterwards he came to Macedonia, whence he wrote this epistle, Our flesh had no rest - So exceedingly anxious was he to know the success of his first epistle to them. Without were fightings - The oppositions of pagans, Jews, and false brethren. Within were fears - Uncertain conjectures relative to the success of his epistle; fears lest the severity of it should alienate their affections utterly from him; fears lest the party of the incestuous person should have prevailed; fears lest the teaching of the false apostle should have perverted their minds from the simplicity of the truth; all was uncertainty, all apprehension; and the Spirit of God did not think proper to remove the causes of these apprehensions in any extraordinary way. Verse 6 Comforted us by the coming of Titus - Who brought him a most satisfactory account of the success of his epistle, and the good state of the Corinthian Church. Verse 7 He told us your earnest desire - To see me, and correct what was amiss among yourselves. Your mourning - Because you had sinned. Your fervent mind - The zeal you felt to testify your affectionate regard for me. Verse 8 I do not repent, though I did repent - Though I had many doubts in my mind concerning the success of my letter; and though I grieved that I was obliged to write with so much severity, the case absolutely requiring it; yet now I am not sorry that I have written that letter, because I find it has completely answered the end for which it was sent. Verse 9 Ye sorrowed to repentance - Ye had such a sorrow as produced a complete change of mind and conduct. We see that a man may sorrow, and yet not repent. Made sorry after a godly manner - It was not a sorrow because ye were found out, and thus solemnly reprehended, but a sorrow because ye had sinned against God, and which consideration caused you to grieve more than the apprehension of any punishment. Damage by us in nothing - Your repentance prevented that exercise of my apostolic duty, which would have consigned your bodies to destruction, that your souls might be saved in the day of the Lord Jesus. Verse 10 For godly sorrow - That which has the breach of God's holy law for its object. Worketh repentance - A thorough change of mind unto salvation, because the person who feels it cannot rest till he finds pardon through the mercy of God. But the sorrow of the world worketh death - Sorrow for lost goods, lost friends, death of relatives, etc., when it is poignant and deep, produces diseases, increases those that already exist, and often leads men to lay desperate hands on themselves. This sorrow leads to destruction, the other leads to salvation; the one leads to heaven, the other to hell. Verse 11 What carefulness it wrought in you - Carefulness of obeying my directions, 2Cor 7:15 ; yea, what clearing of yourselves from guilt by inflicting censures on the guilty person, and putting away evil from among you, 1Cor 5:13 ; yea, what indignation against him who had dishonored his profession, and defiled the Church; yea, what fear of my displeasure, and the rod which I threatened, 1Cor 4:21 ; yea, what vehement desire to rectify what was amiss in this matter, 2Cor 7:7 ; yea, what zeal for me; yea, what revenge in punishing the delinquent. See Whitby. In all things, etc. - In the whole of your conduct in this affair since ye have received my letter, ye have approved yourselves to be clear, ἁγνους; not only to be clear of contumacy and obstinate persistence in your former conduct, but to have done all in the compass of your power to rectify the abuses which had crept in among you. The Corinthians were not clear, i.e. innocent or void of blame in the fact, but they were clear of all blame in their endeavors to remove the evil. Verse 12 Not for his cause that had done the wrong - viz. the incestuous person. Nor for his cause that suffered wrong - Some think the apostle means himself; others, that he means the Church at Corinth, the singular being put for the plural; others, the family of the incestuous person; and others, the father of the incestuous person. If this latter opinion be adopted, it would seem to intimate that the father of this person was yet alive, which would make the transgression more flagrant; but these words might be spoken in reference to the father, if dead, whose cause should be vindicated; as his injured honor might be considered, like Abel's blood, to be crying from the earth. But that our care for you - might appear - It was not to get the delinquent punished, nor merely to do justice to those who had suffered in this business, that the apostle wrote his epistle to them, but that they might have the fullest proof of his fatherly affection for them, and his concern for the honor of God; and that they might thereby see how unnatural their opposition to him was, and what cause they had to prefer him, who was ready to give up his life in their service, to that false apostle or teacher who was corrupting their minds, leading them from the simplicity of the truth, and making a gain of them. Verse 13 For the joy of Titus - Titus, who had now met St. Paul in Macedonia, gave him the most flattering accounts of the improved state of the Corinthian Church; and indeed their kind usage of Titus was a full proof of their affection for St. Paul. Verse 14 For if I have boasted - The apostle had given Titus a very high character of this Church, and of their attachment to himself; and doubtless this was the case previously to the evil teacher getting among them, who had succeeded in changing their conduct, and changing in a great measure their character also; but now they return to themselves, resume their lost ground, so that the good character which the apostle gave them before, and which they had for a time forfeited, is now as applicable to them as ever. Therefore his boasting of them is still found a truth. Verse 15 And his inward affection - Τα σπλαγχνα αυτου· Those bowels of his - his most tender affection. For the meaning of this word see the note on Mat 9:36 . Whilst he remembereth the obedience of you all - This is a very natural picture; he represents Titus as overjoyed even while he is delivering his account of the Corinthian Church. He expatiated on it with extreme delight, and thereby showed at once both his love for St. Paul and his love for them. He loved them because they so loved the apostle; and he loved them because they had shown such kindness to himself; and he loved them because he found so many excellent and rare gifts, joined to so much humility, producing such an exemplary and holy life. With fear and trembling ye received him - Ye reverenced his authority; ye were obedient to his directions; and ye dreaded lest any thing should be undone or ill done which he had delivered to you in the name of God. Verse 16 I have confidence in you, in all things - It appears that the apostle was now fully persuaded, from the accounts given by Titus, that every scandal had been put away from this Church; that the faction which had long distracted and divided them was nearly broken; that all was on the eve of being restored to its primitive purity and excellence; and that their character was now so firmly fixed, that there was no reason to apprehend that they should be again tossed to and fro with every wind of doctrine. 1. Thus a happy termination was put to an affair that seemed likely to ruin the Christian Church, not only at Corinth, but through all Greece; for, if this bad man, who had been chief in opposing the apostle's authority, bringing in licentious doctrines, and denying the resurrection of the dead, had ultimately succeeded at Corinth, his doctrine and influence might soon have extended over Greece and Asia Minor, and the great work of God which had been wrought in those parts would have been totally destroyed. This one consideration is sufficient to account for the apostle's great anxiety and distress on account of the divisions and heresies at Corinth. He knew it was a most pernicious leaven; and, unless destroyed, must destroy the work of God. The loss of the affections of the Church at Corinth, however much it might affect the tender, fatherly heart of the apostle, cannot account for the awful apprehensions, poignant distress, and deep anguish, which he, in different parts of these epistles, so feelingly describes; and which he describes as having been invariably his portion from the time that he heard of their perversion, till he was assured of their restoration by the account brought by Titus. 2. A scandal or heresy in the Church of God is ruinous at all times, but particularly so when the cause is in its infancy; and therefore the messengers of God cannot be too careful to lay the foundation well in doctrine, to establish the strictest discipline, and to be very cautious whom they admit and accredit as members of the Church of Christ. It is certain that the door should be opened wide to admit penitent sinners; but the watchman should ever stand by, to see that no improper person enter in. Christian prudence should ever be connected with Christian zeal. It is a great work to bring sinners to Christ; it is a greater work to preserve them in the faith; and it requires much grace and much wisdom to keep the Church of Christ pure, not only by not permitting the unholy to enter, but by casting out those who apostatize or work iniquity. Slackness in discipline generally precedes corruption of doctrine; the former generating the latter. Introduction The apostle stirs them up to make a collection for the poor Christians at Jerusalem, by the very liberal contributions of the people of Macedonia for the same purpose, who were comparatively a poor people, 2Cor 8:1-5 . He tells them that he had desired Titus to finish this good work among them which he had begun; hoping that as they abounded in many excellent gifts and graces, they would abound in this also, 2Cor 8:6-8 . He exhorts them to this by the example of Jesus Christ, who, though rich, subjected himself to voluntary poverty, that they might be enriched, 2Cor 8:9 . He shows them that this contribution, which had been long ago begun, should have been long since finished, 2Cor 8:10 . And that they should do every thing with a ready and willing mind, according to the ability which God had given them; that abundance should not prevail on one hand, while pinching poverty ruled on the other; but that there should be an equality, 2Cor 8:11-14 . He shows from the distribution of the manna in the wilderness, that the design of God was, that every member of his spiritual household should have the necessaries of life, 2Cor 8:15 . He tells them that he had now sent Titus, and another with him, to Corinth, to complete this great work, 2Cor 8:16-22 . The character which he gives of Titus and the others employed in this business, 2Cor 8:23 , 2Cor 8:24 . Verse 1 Moreover, brethren, we do you to wit - In all our dignified version very few ill-constructed sentences can be found; however here is one, and the worst in the book. We do you to wit is in the original γνωριζομεν δε ὑμιν, we make known unto you. This is plain and intelligible, the other is not so; and the form is now obsolete. The grace of God bestowed - Dr. Whitby has made it fully evident that the χαρις Θεου signifies the charitable contribution made by the Churches in Macedonia, to which they were excited by the grace or influence of

Progressive Holiness. ( a. d. 57.) 1 Having therefore these promises, dearly beloved, let us cleanse ourselves from all filthiness of the flesh and spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of God. 2 Receive us; we have wronged no man, we have corrupted no man, we have defrauded no man. 3 I speak not this to condemn you: for I have said before, that ye are in our hearts to die and live with you. 4 Great is my boldness of speech toward you, great is my glorying of you: I am filled with comfort, I am exceeding joyful in all our tribulation. These verses contain a double exhortation:— I. To make a progress in holiness, or to perfect holiness in the fear of God, v. 1 . This exhortation is given with most tender affection to those who were dearly beloved, and enforced by strong arguments, even the consideration of those exceedingly great and precious promises which were mentioned in the former chapter, and which the Corinthians had an interest in and a title to. The promises of God are strong inducements to sanctification, in both the branches thereof; namely, 1. The dying unto sin, or mortifying our lusts and corruptions: we must cleanse ourselves from all filthiness of flesh and spirit. Sin is filthiness, and there are defilements of body and mind. There are sins of the flesh, that are committed with the body, and sins of the spirit, spiritual wickednesses; and we must cleanse ourselves from the filthiness of both, for God is to be glorified both with body and soul. 2. The living unto righteousness and holiness. If we hope God is our Father, we must endeavour to be partakers of his holiness, to be holy as he is holy, and perfect as our Father in heaven is perfect. We must be still perfecting holiness, and not be contented with sincerity (which is our gospel perfection), without aiming at sinless perfection, though we shall always come short of it while we are in this world; and this we must do in the fear of God, which is the root and principle of all religion, and there is no holiness without it. Note, Faith and hope in the promises of God must not destroy our fear of God, who taketh pleasure in those that fear him and hope in his mercy. II. To show a due regard to the ministers of the gospel: Receive us, v. 2 . Those who labour in the word and doctrine should be had in reputation, and be highly esteemed for their work's sake: and this would be a help to making progress in holiness. If the ministers of the gospel are thought contemptible because of their office, there is danger lest the gospel itself be contemned also. The apostle did not think it any disparagement to court the favour of the Corinthians; and, though we must flatter none, yet we must be gentle towards all. He tells them, 1. He had done nothing to forfeit their esteem and good-will, but was cautious not to do any thing to deserve their ill-will ( v. 2 ): " We have wronged no man: we have done you no harm, but always designed your good." I have coveted no man's silver, nor gold, nor apparel, said he to the elders of Ephesus, Acts xx. 33 . " We have corrupted no man, by false doctrines or flattering speeches. We have defrauded no man; we have not sought ourselves, nor to promote our own secular interests by crafty and greedy measures, to the damage of any persons." This is an appeal like that of Samuel, 1 Sam. xii . Note, Then may ministers the more confidently expect esteem and favour from the people when they can safely appeal to them that they are guilty of nothing that deserves disesteem or displeasure. 2. He did not herein reflect upon them for want of affection to him, v. 3, 4 . So tenderly and cautiously did the apostle deal with the Corinthians, among whom there were some who would be glad of any occasion to reproach him, and prejudice the minds of others against him. To prevent any insinuations against him on account of what he had said, as if he intended to charge them with wronging him, or unjust accusations of him for having wronged them, he assures them again of his great affection to them, insomuch that he could spend his last breath at Corinth, and live and die with them, if his business with other churches, and his work as an apostle (which was not to be confined to one place only), would permit him to do so. An he adds it was his great affection to them that made him use such boldness or freedom of speech towards them, and caused him to glory, or make his boast of them, in all places, and upon all occasions, being filled with comfort, and exceedingly joyful in all their tribulations.

I speak not to condemn you - Not as if I accused you of laying this to my charge. I am so far from thinking so unkindly of you, that ye are in our hearts, to live and die with you - That is, I could rejoice to spend all my days with you.

. I do not speak this with any desire to reproach you. I do not complain of you for the purpose of condemning, or because I have a desire to find fault, though I am competed to speak, in some respect of your want of affection and liberality towards me. It is not because I have no love for you, and wish to have occasion to use words implying complaint and condemnation. For I have said before. 2Cor 7:11,12. That ye are in our hearts. That is, we are so much attached to you; or you have such a place in our affections. To die and live with you. If it were the will of God, we would be glad to spend our lives among you, and to die with you: an expression denoting most tender attachment. A similar well-known expression occurs in Horace: Tecum vivere amem, teeurn obeam l ibens. Odes, B. III. IX. 24 With the world I live, with the world I die. This was an expression of the tenderest attachment. It was true that the Corinthians had not shown themselves remarkably worthy of the affections of Paul, but from the beginning he had felt towards them the tenderest attachment. And if it had been the will of God that he should cease to travel, and to expose himself to perils by sea and land to spread the knowledge of the Saviour, he would gladly have confined his labours to them, and there have ended his days. (b) "said before" 2Cor 6:11,12 Verse 4. Great is my boldness of speech t