κρίτῳ, ́ ἐν λόγῳ ἀληθείας, ἐν δυνάμει θεοῦ, διὰ τῶν ὅπλων τῆς δικαιοσύνης τῶν δεξιῶν καὶ ἀριστερῶν, ὃ διὰ δόξης καὶ ἀτιμίας, διὰ δυσφημίας καὶ εὐφημίας, ὡς πλάνοι καὶ ἀλη θεῖς, 9 ὡς ἀγνοούμενοι καὶ ἐπιγινωσκόμενοι, ὡς ἀποθνήσκοντες words in the third section are held together merely by the word diá, without any regard to the sense; Sià in the case οἱ διὰ τῶν ὅπλῶν expressing the means by which he made his way, Sia without the article, in dià dóğŋs K. T. X., expressing the state through which he had to make his way. It is the same confusion of the two senses of Stá, as in 1 Pet. iii. 20.: ἐσώθησαν δι' ὕδατος. διὰ τῶν ὅπλων τῆς δικαιοσύνης δεξιῶν καὶ ἀριστερῶν. This description of his arms arises out of the mention of δυνάμει θεοῦ just before. It is the germ of the idea which had been already expressed in 1 Thess. v., and was afterwards more fully developed in Eph. vi. 11. 12. "By the arms of the Christian's life of righteousness [the word taken in its widest sense, as in v. 21.] both offensive and defensive, with the sword or spear in the right hand, and the shield in the left." The words are remarkable, as indicating what we learn also from 1 Cor. iv. 12 (Notδορούμενοι βλασφημούμενοι), — that the false suspicions and imputations under which the Apostle laboured, constituted one of his severest trials. 8. This leads him in the fourth section to expand the words "through evil report" into a long list of the contrasts between his alleged and his real character, at once showing his difficulties and his triumph. "Deceivers" (λávo). That such was alleged to be the Apostle's character is clear from ii. 17., iv. 2., and also from the expressions in the Clementines, Rom. ii. 17. 18., xi. 35., where St. Paul is expressly described as a deceiver (πλάνος), and sowing error (Tλávηv). Kaì in classical Greek (πλάνην). καὶ would have been καίτοι οι ἀλλ ̓ ὅμως. 9. "Unknown" (ayvoúμevoi) i. e. "obscure," his real power not recognised (as in x. 10.), yet amongst true believers recognised fully (as in iii. 2.). 66 Dying," i. e. his enemies. represented him as on the point καὶ ἰδοὺ ζῶμεν, ὡς παιδευόμενοι καὶ μὴ θανατούμενοι, 10 ως λυπούμενοι ἀεὶ δὲ χαίροντες, ὡς πτωχοὶ πολλοὺς δὲ πλουτί ζοντες, ὡς μηδὲν ἔχοντες καὶ πάντα κατέχοντες. of death, and so no more coming to Corinth; and yet, behold! at that very moment he is still full of life and energy. For the contrast between his apparent death and real life see iv. 10. παιδευόμενοι "chastised, perhaps in allusion to the attack upon him as under God's wrath; but also under a real sense that God was thus training him for his work: os losing the sense of "quasi" and acquiring that of "quippe." The words seem to have a reference to Ps. cxviii. 18.: παιδεύων ἐπαίδευσέ με ὁ κύριος, τῷ δὲ θανάτῳ οὐ παρέδοκέ με. Compare xii. 7-9. (the thorn in the flesh). 10. For the "perpetual cheerfulness" (asì de xaipovτES) see Rom. v. 3. "We boast in our afflictions;" and Philippians. The "poverty" probably alludes to the taunts against him for not receiving a maintenance, see on xi. 7., 1 Cor. xi. 1. The "riches " may refer to the contributions in viii. 9., but more generally to spiritual things, as in 1 Cor. iii. 22: EXOUTES, simply "having;" κaTEXOVTES, "having to the full:" see 1 Cor. vii. 29. 30.; Matt. vi. 2. "I PARAPHRASE V. 11-VI.10.-" I have spoken of the awful time when every deed done in this mortal frame will be disclosed before that great tribunal, of which the judgment seat of the highest earthly judge is a faint figure. With this conviction, I try to win over and make friends of men; but it is from no human motives that I do so. My motives are disclosed to God now, as they will be hereafter at the judgment; and they are disclosed to you also, if you consult each of you his own innermost conscience. So I speak; for even you thought before that I was commending myself to you, on my own authority. But this is not a self-commendation. This complete disclosure of all my heart to you, ought to enable you to vindicate me against those who rely on the testimony, not of their own hearts, but of commendatory letters, of lineal descent, of commanding presence. My disclosure before God shows that, if I am carried beyond the verge of soberness, it is in my zeal for Him; my disclosure before you shows that, if I restrain myself, and act as if under the dictates of worldly wisdom, it is in my regard for you. And the reason of this is, that if you read my heart, you will find that I am pressed forward by one irresistible motive, the sense of the love which Christ has shown to all the world. That love drives me to the conclusion that if He, singly and alone, laid down His life in behalf of all, then all for whom He so laid down Iis life, have forfeited all claim to their lives. The very object of His laying down His life in their behalf was, that all who live through Him, or who are alive in any sense, should devote their lives to Him who, whether in His death or in His present life, did all in their behalf. "The consequence of this feeling is, that a complete separation is made by the Christian faith between the present and the past. Whatever others may think, or I myself may once have thought, I cannot now rely оп any outward or local association even with Christ Himself my union now can never be, like that of my opponents, a lineal or natural connexion, but only moral and spiritual. And this is true, not only of myself, but of all. If any one has entered into fellowship with Christ, a new world has at once opened upon him; an old world has passed away, and he looks out as in the first beginning of creation, as in the days after the flood, as in the final dissolution of all things, on a new creation; and that new creation descends, not merely from Christ, but from God Himself, to whom the whole reconciliation is due, of which I am at once the chief example and the chief servant. For in that single life and death of Christ, was contained no less than a revelation of the Eternal God working out the reconciliation of a whole world to Himself. Therefore it is that to them He forbears to impute their offences; to me he entrusted the utterance of the message of reconciliation, and it is in the fulfilment of this duty that I address this message to you. I come as an ambassador from Christ. I come as the instrument through which God exhorts you to come to Him; and the words which I utter as from Him are, Be Reconciled to God.' The object for which He devoted the Sinless One to the world of sin was, that I, and you with me, might, through and with that Sinless One, be drawn into the world of righteousness. It is in pursuance of this exhortation that I add my efforts to the efforts of God, and exhort you not to allow the goodness which He has shown to you to pass away without effort. Receive Him, for He, as we read in the Prophet Isaiah, has received and heard and blessed you; and the time of this reception and salvation is this very present moment. And it is my great object to prevent any reproach being cast on this task which I have undertaken, and to show that it has been entrusted to me, not by commendations from others, but by the commendations of my own deeds: by the endurance of calamities which press me closer and closer in on every side, by flagellations, imprisonments, wild uproars; by toils and sleepless nights and hunger: by the moral force of pure character and deep knowledge, the winning effects of patience and gentleness, the holiness of the Spirit, and the reality of the Spirit's greatest gift, Love: by the preternatural Power of miracles, and the simple utterance of truth, through the shield and sword of righteousness which God has placed in my hands, through all the obstacles of misunderstanding and suspicion, the triumph over which makes the last and chief testimony to my career, by showing, that in spite of my alleged dishonesty I am honest, in spite of my obscurity I am famous, in spite of my death I live, in spite of chastisement I prosper, in spite of sorrow I am cheerful, in spite of poverty I am rich, in spite of destitution I am powerful." As the previous Section of the Epistle has in all ages ministered to the wants and feelings of individuals, so this Section has ministered to the wants and feelings of the Church at large. It contains one of the clearest statements in the Apostle's writings of the effect of Christ's death. That effect is here described to be The Reconciliation of Man to God. In later times this has been expressed in various modes, some of which have fallen below, some gone beyond, the Apostle's statement. But it is only necessary here to observe the precise force and intention of the words as originally written. |