The God and Father, &c.— God, even the Father, &c. There should only be a colon at the end of the verse; this solemn asseveration being introduced to give credit, not to what precedes, but to what follows; which was then known only to few, and is therefore attested in like manner, Galatians 1:20 though afterwards particularly related by St. Luke, Acts 9:25.
Inferences drawn from 2 Corinthians 11:19, &c.—This portion of scripture is the more remarkable, because it presents us with a great Apostle, engaged in an act very unusual, and, generally speaking, very unbecoming that character. It seems therefore highly necessary, in order to understand and be able to account for such a proceeding, that we consider carefully, first, the occasion, and, secondly, the manner of it; after which, such other reflections may be properly suggested, as naturally arise from the subject.
1. The occasion, as has been frequently hinted, was evidently the corruptions brought into the church of Corinth by some false teachers, who had insinuated themselves into the affections of the people by every art of subtilty and deceit. Very many of the people appear to have been caught with their guile, and to have entered into deep prejudices against St. Paul; and were grown so immoderately fond of their false teachers; that at the same time that they thought the just and gentle authority of an Apostle a yoke too heavy, the utmost vanity and insolence, the most insatiable pillaging and avarice, the most imperious tyranny and contumelious treatment, went down very contentedly, from the hands of those mercenary hypocrites.
Had this partiality been attended with no farther consequence than the lessening St. Paul's private reputation, he would not have thought it worth while so solicitously to vindicate his honour; but foreseeing that so undeserved a preference of the men, would certainly bring on a liking for their errors, and thus endanger the souls of as many as should adhere to them, charity for his brethren called for justice to himself. Accordingly, for the sake of those deluded Corinthians, and to justify the truth, he found it necessary to assert his due; to provoke his bold detractors to a comparison, and so at once to shew how much he, and how little they, were able to produce, in proof of their authority;—an authority, which he was invested with by Jesus Christ and the Holy Ghost, and exercised with lenity and temper; but which they, by dint of arrogance, assumed to themselves, and abused to the vile purposes of calumny and faction.
Such was the occasion, such the end of our Apostle's appearing here in a figure so unlike what he commonly makes in his writings; yet which, though they are so reasonable and so urgent, he manages in such a way, as to clear his humility of every suspicion that the most captious adversary could cast upon it.
2. This may better appear from the second particular,—the manner of his proceeding on this delicate occasion: in which we should observe, 1. His many apologies, or seeming condemnations of himself, in giving way so far to the provocations of those who spoke or thought against him. See 2 Corinthians 11:21; 2 Corinthians 11:23; 2 Corinthians 11:30. (and again ch. 2 Corinthians 12:1; 2 Corinthians 12:11, &c.) with other expressions to the like purpose. So cautiously does the Apostle conduct himself in a point which he rightly understood to be so nice: for, as the expatiating upon ourselves without any necessity, is of all faults in conversation the most nauseous and offensive, so the being extremely tender and officious, even in our own vindication, is seldom free from vanity. This is the case of all mankind,—but especially of the ministers of Christ, who must expect a share in calumnies and contradictions, and ought to be armed with patience to endure them, above the proportion of common men. When therefore these have influence upon their personal advantages only, it is generally better to leave the clearing of their innocence to time, and the evidence of a good conversation. Where they reflect upon their character, and by poisoning the people with ill impressions, tend to obstruct the efficacy of their labours,—the cause becomes public; their charge is concerned, and a becoming solicitude to set matters right in such circumstances, is no longer zeal for their own, but charity for other men's safety and good.
And yet even in these circumstances, St. Paul's example teaches us how careful we ought to be in warding off all the spiteful constructions which are apt to be made of the most necessary and the most modest publication of our own conduct and deservings: for, 2. The subjects upon which he chooses here to enlarge were, not the greatness of his miracles, not the power of his eloquence and arguments, not the success of his labours, or the number of converts he had won, or of the churches that he had planted, though no man could with greater right have alleged all these; but only the toils and hardships, the persecutions and afflictions in which the discharge of his ministry had engaged him. These were such privileges, as his adversaries neither had nor desired to have to boast of. They had other things in view; (2 Corinthians 11:20.) the gain of private contributions,—the command of their hearers' purses, and an absolute dominion over their persons. The grounds upon which they exalted themselves were all taken from worldly advantages, (2 Corinthians 11:21-22.) and in that respect St. Paul is content to declare himself their equal. The particulars in which he declares himself their superior, were of such a kind, that they were well enough satisfied to yield him a preference in them;—stripes and imprisonments, shipwrecks, and deaths, hard and perilous journies, cold, and hunger and thirst. These it was so far from vanity to glory in, that the Apostle found it necessary (ch. 12) to subjoin his being honoured with extraordinary visions and revelations, to prevent so great a degree and so constant a succession of sufferings from being turned into an argument of God's displeasure against one so incessantly exercised in them.
And yet, these afflictions were really the most proper matter of glorying to St. Paul; because it was perfectly free from all vanity and self-seeking; for his were not sufferings in pursuit of his own emolument or gratification; not industriously courted, nor ostentatiously magnified, in order to turn them into gain—And still more, because to all who duly considered them, they were proofs of that abundant grace which supported him under them; of that unparallelled sincerity and zeal which, through the blessing of God, disposed him so cheerfully to persevere in encountering with them; and of the truth of that doctrine, which, by the ministry of one so wondrously oppressed and ill treated, could yet gain so much ground, and triumph over all opposition.
The passage thus explained offers to us the following useful considerations:
1. The instance before us shews, how far we ought to be from reckoning what we endure for God's cause, (when it really is GOD'S) as matter of sorrow or shame to us. St. Paul, in comparison of the rest of the Apostles, was a labourer called in at the eleventh hour; and as he taught the Philippians to esteem it, so he thought it,—a peculiar grace, that it was given him not only to believe in Jesus, but also to suffer for his name. The fervency of his charity and zeal made up what was wanting in point of time.
2. When St. Paul, to all his other sufferings, adds the care of all the churches, and his zealous compassion over those who were afflicted or in danger of falling: this shews us the abundance of his charity, and instructs us what ought to be the measure of ours—not to neglect, or think ourselves excused from a tender concern for the afflictions or dangers of our brethren, upon the account of any sufferings of our own. Be our other circumstances what they will, yet still they are members of Christ's body, and while that relation continues, all the duties resulting from it must do so too. So indispensable and perpetual a duty indeed is charity, for the souls of others especially, that those hardships, which lie outward and open to the view of others, are far from being the most sensible part of what the genuine ministers of the Gospel endure.
Lastly, The methods used for exercising St. Paul's patience, holiness, and virtue, teach us plainly, that the way in which God would be served by Christians, but especially by his ministers, is that of constancy, of indefatigable diligence, and of diffusive love: that ease and idleness, that luxury and an effeminate declining of trouble for the public good, are by no means agreeable to the character of a disciple of Christ Jesus. So strenuously does this great Apostle, by his own example, encourage and prepare us for the like discipline, if called to it, that no one who professes himself the servant of Christ can plead exemption from a similar perseverance and fortitude. One great and evident design of these sharp conflicts of St. Paul was, doubtless, to stimulate every future Christian to reduce the softness of a nature generally too indulgent of flesh and blood, and to enure him to suffer hardships like a good soldier, under the common Captain of our salvation. In which warfare the less we spare our own persons, the more we may depend upon his protection and support under the conflict; the brighter trophies shall we raise to his glory, to the honour of religion, and the unspeakable advantage both of body and soul, in that day of triumph and eternal joy! Amen.
REFLECTIONS.—1st. The Apostle begins, 1. With an apology for what he was about to say; Would to God ye could bear with me a little in my folly; and indeed bear with me, compelled reluctantly to speak in my own commendation.
2. He gives the reasons for what he was about to say. It was,
[1.] Out of jealousy for them. For I am jealous over you with godly jealousy: for I have espoused you to one husband, that I may present you as a chaste virgin to Christ, true to your solemn engagements, and faithful in all your conduct to this heavenly Bridegroom of souls. But I fear, knowing the wiles of the false teachers, lest by any means, as the serpent beguiled Eve through his subtilty, so your minds should be corrupted from the simplicity that is in Christ; perverted from the principles, or seduced from the practice, of the gospel.
[2.] Out of justice to himself. For if he that cometh preacheth another Jesus, whom we have not preached, or if ye receive another Spirit, which ye have not received, or another gospel, which ye have not accepted, ye might well bear with him: but since there is but one Jesus, one Spirit, one gospel, it was shrewdly to be suspected that the person who pretended to preach another Jesus, boasted of a better Spirit, and a more excellent gospel, than that by which they had at first been converted to the faith, was a deceiver, and, instead of being connived at, or caressed, should be rejected with abhorrence.
2nd, Constrained by the insinuations which had been cast out against him, the blessed Paul,
1. Asserts his equality with the very chief of the apostles. Though rude in speech, my elocution being not so graceful as that of some others, yet my knowledge of the gospel mysteries is inferior to none. But we have been thoroughly made manifest among you in all things; your consciences have borne witness to the efficacy of our preaching; and our conversation among you, as you know, has been most unblameable.
2. He asserts his disinterested conduct, and vindicates himself from the cavils of his adversaries, who suggested that he had acted below the apostolic character, in not receiving his maintenance from the church at Corinth. Have I committed an offence in abasing myself, to work for my subsistence, that ye might be exalted to the participation of the gospel privileges; because I preached to you the gospel of God freely, that no prejudice might obstruct your receiving our word, which such disinterested zeal could not but recommend? I robbed other churches, taking wages of them to do you service; not really plundering them, but living upon their voluntary contributions; when the Corinthians, so much richer, could much easier have afforded him a maintenance. However, he neither had been, nor would be a burden to them; his former wants the Macedonians had supplied; and he was firmly resolved that none in all Achaia, in any future time, should have reason to reproach him on this behalf, to stop his glorying of having preached to them the gospel freely.
Wherefore do I this? out of pride or disgust, as the false teachers would insinuate, and because I love you not? No; God knoweth that these were not my motives. But I have thus acted, and will continue so to do, that I may cut off occasion from them which desire occasion, and would be ready to catch at any handle to fleece you, if I received any thing from you. Therefore I would wish that wherein they glory, they may be found even as we, and as free from every mercenary view: for in truth such are false apostles, assuming a character to which they have not the least title; deceitful workers, corrupting the word of God; transforming themselves into the apostles of Christ, appearing under the most specious professions. And no marvel; for Satan himself is transformed into an angel of light, as he appeared when he came to seduce Eve from her integrity: therefore it is no great thing if his ministers also be transformed as the ministers of righteousness, whose end shall be according to their works, and the issue be their everlasting destruction.
3rdly, The Apostle, with reluctance, enters upon the subject of his own vindication. I say again, let no man think me a fool; if otherwise, yet as a fool receive me, that I may boast myself a little, such boasts, in general, being indeed the indications of a vain mind. That which I speak, I speak it not after the Lord, but as it were foolishly in this confidence of boasting; but since I am compelled, by the unhappy circumstances in which I stand, and seeing that many glory after the flesh, in their external privileges, I will glory also. For ye suffer fools gladly, and caress the vain boasters among you, seeing ye yourselves are wise. Probably the words are spoken ironically: Wise men indeed ye are, to be dupes to such ostentatious deceivers. For ye suffer if a man bring you into bondage, tyrannizing over your consciences; if a man devour you under the specious pretences of religion; if a man take of you, or seize from you your possessions: if a man exalt himself, and treat you with lordly contempt; if a man smite you on the face, submissive to every insult. I speak as concerning reproach, as though we had been weak, and had no right to assert such authority as they pretend to claim: howbeit, whereinsoever any is bold, (I speak foolishly) I am bold also, and can produce as long a catalogue of privileges as the chief of these arrogant men.
1. As to external Jewish privileges of descent. Are they Hebrews? so am I, by both my parents, (Philippians 3:5.) are they Israelites? the sons of Jacob, so Amos 1 : are they the seed Abraham? so am I, a true descendant of this eminent patriarch.
2. As to gospel privileges. Are they the ministers of Christ? commissioned by him? (I speak as a fool,) admitting their plea, though false, to be true, I am more, having a more extraordinary commission, more eminent endowments, and suffering for the cause more than any of them: in labours more abundant; in stripes above measure, unmercifully beaten; in prisons more frequent; in deaths oft, exposed to the most imminent dangers, a short enumeration of which will prove what I assert. Of the Jews five times received I forty stripes, save one. Thrice was I beaten with rods, by the Roman lictors; once was I stoned, and left for dead; thrice I suffered shipwreck; a night and a day I have been in the deep, tossed on the foaming waves, and every moment ready to be swallowed up by them: in journeyings often, in perils of waters, in fording rivers, or by land-floods; in perils of robbers; in perils by mine own countrymen, who lay in wait for me; in perils by the heathen; in perils in the city, from dangerous insurrections; in perils in the wilderness, during my travels; in perils in the sea; in perils among false brethren, the most dangerous of all enemies: in weariness and painfulness, under the most fatiguing labours; in watchings often, my rest being broken; in hunger and thirst, for want of needful refreshments; in fastings often, voluntary, or necessitated by mere want; in cold and nakedness, exposed to the inclemency of the weather, and without sufficient cloathing to keep me warm. Beside those things which affect my body, a heavier load of cares lies upon my mind, that which cometh upon me daily, the care of all the churches, to advance their purity and peace, rectify their disorders, and guard them against seducers. Who is weak, and I am not weak? sympathizing with him in his infirmity of body or mind? who is offended, and I burn not with jealousy for the offence, and zeal to restore him? If I must needs glory, I will glory of the things which concern mine infirmities, and rather mention my sufferings and hardships than my privileges. The God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, which is blessed for evermore, knoweth that I lie not. In Damascus, the governor under Aretas the king kept the city of the Damascenes with a garrison, desirous to apprehend me: and through a window in a basket was I let down by the wall, and escaped his hands, snatched as it were from inevitable death. Such a glorious course marked, indeed, the great Apostle: such sufferings for righteousness' sake are the highest honour.