Against the false Apostles, who had reviled the weakness of his person and bodily presence, the Apostle setteth out the spiritual might and authority with which he is armed against all adverse powers; assuring them, that at his coming he will be found as mighty in word as he is now in writing, being absent: and withal taxing them for reaching out themselves beyond their compass, and pressing themselves into other men's labours.
Anno Domini 58.
HITHERTO St. Paul's discourse was chiefly directed to those at Corinth who acknowledged his apostleship, and who had obeyed his orders, signified to them in his former letter. But in this and the remainingChapter s he principally addressed the false teacher himself, and such of the faction as still adhered to him, speaking to them with great authority, and threatening to punish them by his miraculous power, if they did not immediately repent. The different characters, therefore, of the two sorts of persons who composed the Corinthian church, must be carefully attended to; otherwise this part of the epistle will appear a direct contradiction to what goes before.
The false teacher, it seems, and the faction, ridiculing the Apostle's threatenings in his former letter, had said, that he was all meekness and humility when present among them, but exceeding bold by letters when absent. This they represented as wise carnal policy. For, said they, being conscious of his own weakness, he does not choose, when present, to provoke us to make too narrow a search into his character, lest it should lead to disagreeable discoveries. The Apostle, therefore, in answer to that sarcasm, began his address to the faction with telling them, in irony, that the very same Paul himself, who in presence was humble among them, but bold when absent, did not now when absent speakboldly, but humbly besought them; not, however, by his own meekness, which they ridiculed, but by the meekness and gentleness of Christ. And what he besought of them was, that he might not be obliged to be bold, in the manner he had resolved to be bold against some, who, on account of his meekness when present with them, had calumniated him as a person who walked after the flesh, 2 Corinthians 10:1-2.—But though he was in the flesh, he assured them he did not war against idolaters and unbelievers with fleshly weapons, but with weapons far more powerful, bestowed on him by God, for the purpose of calling down all the bulwarks raised up by worldly policy, for the defence of idolatry and infidelity. These mighty weapons were, the miraculous powers and spiritual gifts which Christ had conferred on him as his Apostle, 2 Corinthians 10:4-5.—He farther told them, that, although he seldom used his miraculous power in punishing unbelievers, he had that power in readiness for punishing all disobedience in them who professed to be the disciples of Christ, and particularlyfor punishing such of the Corinthians as called his apostleship in question, 2 Corinthians 10:6.—He cautioned them, therefore, against estimating things according to their outward appearance; and toldthem, if the false teacher believed himself to be Christ's minister, he ought, from the proofs which St. Paul had given of his apostleship, to have concluded that even he was Christ's Apostle, notwithstanding the meanness of his outward appearance, 2 Corinthians 10:7.—For which reason, said he, if I should now boast somewhat more than I have hitherto done, of the power which Christ hath given me as an apostle, I am sure when that power is tried, I shall not be put to shame by its failing me, 2 Corinthians 10:8.—Then, in holy contempt of the false teacher, who had said that he was bold towards them by letters when absent, he added, in the highest strain of irony, but I must forbear boasting of my power, that I may not seem as if I would terrify you by letters, 2 Corinthians 10:9-10.—And because the false teacher was a great pretender to reasoning, the Apostle desired him, by reasoning from the effects of his power, already shewn in the punishment of the incestuous person, to conclude that such as he was in speech by letters when absent, the same also he would be in deed when present, 2 Corinthians 10:11.
Having thus threatened to punish the false teacher and his adherents, the Apostle told them, ironically, that to be sure he durst not rank and compare himself with their learned teacher, who was so full of his own praise. It seems that impostor had boasted among the Corinthians of his great natural talents, and acquired accomplishments. But the Apostle told them, that his high opinion of himself proceeded from his measuring himself onlywith himself, and from his comparing himselfwithhimself;bywhich method of measuring himself, notwithstanding his great wisdom, he did not understand himself, 2 Corinthians 10:12.—Next, because the false teacher boasted of the great things he had done at Corinth, the Apostle told them that, for his part, he would not boast of things done out of the bounds prescribed to him by God; but would only say, that according to these bounds he had come to Corinth, in an orderly course of preaching the gospel to persons who had never heard it before, 2 Corinthians 10:13-14.—So that when he boasted of things which he had done among the Corinthians, he did not boast of other men's labours, like the false teacher, who had intruded himself into a church planted by another; and therefore, agreeably to the rule prescribed by God, the Apostle hoped, when their faith was increased, to be by them enlarged with respect to his bounds, 2 Corinthians 10:15.—so as to preach the gospel in the regions beyond them, where no other person had ever preached, 2 Corinthians 10:16.—Lastly, to shew the folly of the false teacher more fully, the Apostle concluded this part of his discourse with observing, that the preacher of the gospel who boasts, should boast only in this, that he preaches in the manner the Lord allows, 2 Corinthians 10:17.—Because not he who commendeth himself is the approved teacher, but he whom the Lord commendeth, 2 Corinthians 10:18.
From this passage we learn two things; first, that the Apostles were specially appointed to preach the gospel in countries where it had not been preached before. This work was particularly assigned to them, not only because they enjoyed the higher degree of inspiration, and possessed the greatest miraculous powers for confirming the gospel, but because they had especially the power of conferring the spiritual gifts, wherebytheir converts were enabled, in their absence, to edify themselves and others, and by the means thereof, through the grace of God accompanying them, to convert greatmultitudesof unbelievers.—Secondly, That in preaching the gospel the Apostles were not to pass by or neglect any nation that lay in their way, where the gospel had not been preached before; but were to proceed in an orderly course, from one country to another, preaching in each successively, that the light of the gospel might be imparted to all. According to this rule, the false teacher who had come from Judea to Corinth, not in the orderly course of preaching in countries where the gospel had not been preached before, but by a direct and speedy journey, perhaps in the expectation of becoming rich by preaching in such a populous and wealthy city as Corinth, shewed himself tobe no minister of Christ: and having intruded himself into a church which had been planted by St. Paul, he had not the least reason to boast of his labours among the Corinthians.