Again, think ye that we excuse ourselves That I say all this to insinuate myself into your esteem for any secular ends? We speak before God in Christ As if he had said, I have a higher end in view, namely, the glory of God, in whose presence I speak it; for we do all things for your edifying Your edification is the end I have in view, in this and all other things that I do concerning you. For I fear And have I not reason so to do? lest when I come With a heart full of Christian tenderness, and with all imaginable readiness to do every thing in my power to comfort and refresh your spirits; I shall not find you such as I would Namely, truly reformed persons; and that I should be found unto you By inflicting necessary censures and punishments upon you; such as ye would not I should be. I fear I shall have some work before me of a very unpleasant kind, and which I would desire, if possible, by this admonition to prevent. Lest there should be debates Ερεις, contentions; envyings Or emulations, as ζηλοι also signifies; wraths
For injuries received; strifes Arising from a clashing either of opinions or secular interests; backbitings Speaking evil of the absent; whisperings Insinuations uttered secretly against others; swellings Vain boastings, by which proud and ambitious men endeavour to make themselves look big in the eyes of their fellows; tumults Factions, disorderly parties raised against me, and your proper authorized ministers; lest when I come my God will humble me By showing me your church, which I planted, corrupted with many vices; and I shall bewail Shall mourn over; many who have sinned, and have not repented Notwithstanding my many admonitions. The incestuous person was not of this number; for he had repented, 2 Corinthians 2:7-8. Those of whom the apostle speaks, were probably such as had not refrained from partaking in the idolatrous sacrifices of the heathen, and from the lewd practices connected with idolatry, to which, by their former customs and habits, they were still addicted. Of the uncleanness, &c., which they have committed By uncleanness, Estius thinks the apostle meant those sins of the flesh, which are against nature; by fornication The conjunction of male and female out of marriage; lasciviousness He says, consists in lustful looks, touches, motions, and other things of that kind. But by lasciviousness, Bengelius understands sodomy, bestiality, and other vices contrary to nature. But, says Macknight, “although some of the faction at Corinth may have been guilty of uncleanness, fornication, and lasciviousness, in the ordinary sense of these words, fancying, through the prejudices of their education, that these things were no sins, I scarcely think that any of them, after their conversion, would continue in the commission of the unnatural crimes mentioned by Estius and Bengelius.” One thing is evident: in the absence of the apostle, the exercise of a proper Christian discipline must have been awfully neglected in this church, otherwise such scandalous sinners would have been excluded from it.