While we look not at, &c.— Or, while we aim not at. This is the exact signification of the Greek word σκοπουντων; and our English word "scope," or "mark aimed at," is derived from the same Greek word.
Inferences.—How great is their mercy, who are put into the gospel ministry, qualified for it, and faithful in it; and who, notwithstanding all opposition and reproach, hold on their way without fainting, and seek to be approved of God, and recommended to the consciences of their hearers, by an open publication of the truth, without sinister views, and without craft or guile! They do not preach themselves, but Christ Jesus the Lord in all his characters, and take pleasure in serving the spiritual and eternal interests of the church, for his sake. And O how excellent is the evangelical treasure, which is put into such weak, despicable, and mortal creatures, for the enriching of others, as well as of their own souls, that all the good found in them, and done by them, may the better appear to be entirely of God, and not at all of themselves! If any, that enjoy a clear ministration of the Gospel, continue to be ignorant of its important truths, and unimpressed by them; it is because they are wilfully wandering in the lost state of nature, under the power of the prince of darkness, whose great business and design is to keep them stupid and blind, lest he should lose his vassals, through the illumination of their minds, by the glorious gospel of Christ, who is both the essential and representative image of God the Father: but O with what convincing evidence, power, and advantage, does this blessed Gospel appear, when God by his Spirit unveils its glory and sheds its illustrious, amiable, and penetrating light, in the hearts of his faithful servants and people! They may indeed be in deep distress, but they shall not be utterly overwhelmed: they may resemble their great Lord and Master in sufferings for his sake; but, by their holy fellowship with him in his death, they shall be supported under them, and carried through them; and the powerful life of Christ shall be manifested in their preservation, till at length, like their exalted Head and Saviour, they shall be raised up, in high favour and acceptance with God, to a blessed immortality, together with the whole multitude of persevering believers, that glory may redound to his name, through their united praises. They that are fully persuaded of these things by the faith of the operation of his Spirit, which, for substance, is the same in ministers and private Christians, and in Old and New Testament-saints, will neither be ashamed to speak of them, nor faint under any difficulties or discouragements that surround themselves. O how invaluable are the spiritual improvements and final issues of all our present tribulations, when, as the outward man perishes, the inward man is daily renewed, and grace is ripening apace for glory! And how light and momentary are all the afflictions of this life, compared with that superabounding and eternal weight of glory, which lies beyond them; and for the highest enjoyment of which God, in the riches of his free favour and love, through Jesus Christ, prepares the faithful by means of what they endure in the body! Experience will help our faith, with respect to these real and vast importances, whilst our governing views and rewards are, not to the transitory things of this visible world, but to the infinite, though unseen felicities of the heavenly state, which abide the same, without diminution or allay, for ever.
REFLECTIONS.—1st. The Apostle, having shewn the excellence of the Gospel above the law, passes on to give an account of the diligence and sincerity with which he and his companions discharged their ministry.
1. They laboured with perseverance and fidelity. Therefore seeing we have this ministry from the Lord, as we have received mercy, and support under all our infirmities, we faint not, amidst our greatest trials cheerfully holding on unwearied in our glorious course; but have renounced the hidden things of dishonesty, abhorring every thing scandalous or reproachful; using no cover or concealment, not walking in craftiness, to beguile unstable souls by any mean arts; nor handling the word of God deceitfully, corrupting the pure truth by any base alloy of our own, or attempting to accommodate it to the taste of our hearers; but by manifestation of the truth, commending ourselves to every man's conscience in the sight of God, in all plainness of speech applying the Gospel to men's hearts, under a deep sense of the solemn account we must shortly give of our ministry. Note; (1.) The business of ministers is not to adapt their words to men's humours, but to strike at their hearts. (2.) They who lay their hands to the gospel plough, must never faint, or look back, whatever trials they may meet with in the discharge of their office.
2. He obviates an objection, How, if he spoke so plainly, the truth was yet received by so few comparatively. But if our Gospel, after all the pains we take, be hid, it is hid to them that are lost, who wilfully persist in their impenitence and unbelief, and wilfully reject the counsel of God against their own souls; in whom the god of this world, the devil, hath blinded the minds of them which believe not, increasing and confirming, by his malignant influence, the native hardness and darkness their hearts, by his allurements or discouragements keeping them safe under his dominion, lest the light of the glorious gospel of Christ, who is the image of God, the brightness of his glory and the express image of his person, should shine unto them, enlighten their darkness, and convince and convert their souls—and they wilfully submit to all this! Note; (1.) The devil has the general sway in this world; and is, though men in general perceive it not, the real object of their worship. (2.) The way in which Satan's kingdom is maintained in the world is by the prejudices that he raises against the glorious gospel of Christ.
3. He declares their integrity. For we preach not ourselves, not our own inventions, nor seek to promote our own honour or interests, but Christ Jesus the Lord, making him the grand subject of all our discourses, his person, offices, and grace; and acknowledging ourselves to be more than your servants for Jesus' sake, whose glory we seek to advance in the salvation of your souls. For God, who commanded the light to shine out of darkness, by his almighty word at the beginning, hath shined in our hearts, dispelling the thick clouds of spiritual darkness, to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ, as it appears in that glorious gospel of which he is the sum and substance, and wherein all the divine perfections are exalted to the highest. But we have this treasure of the Gospel in earthen vessels, committed to frail, poor, and perishing worms, such as we are, that the excellency of the power may be of God, and not of us. When such weak instruments are enabled to bear up under all persecutions, and are made so amazingly successful in their labours, it must with the strongest demonstrations be evident, that the work is more than human, even of divine operation. Note; (1.) None can illumine the darkness of a fallen soul, but he that at first said, Let there be light, and there was light; but he is willing to do this for every sinner that will but yield to his grace. (2.) The weaker the instruments are, the more is the power and grace of God magnified, who worketh by them, and makes their ministry effectual to the salvation of penitent sinners.
2nd, Many were the dangers to which, for the Gospel's sake, the ministers of Christ were exposed; yet none of these things moved them.
1. Their trials were great. We are troubled on every side, with manifold afflictions in every place, yet not distressed with anxiety, or discomposed as if we had no way to escape; we are perplexed, and in doubt what step to take, but not in despair of the Lord's help and interposition; persecuted by wicked men with unrelenting malice, but not forsaken of God, so as to be given up for a prey to their teeth; cast down through the infirmity of our flesh, but not destroyed; on the contrary, comforted and supported, and triumphant over the power of evil: always bearing about in the body the dying of the Lord Jesus, carrying the marks of our sufferings, which shew that we belong to our crucified Master, who sympathizes with us and counts our griefs his own; that the life also of Jesus might be made manifest in our body, he, as the living principle within, sustaining us under all our conflicts. For we which live spiritually by his grace, and amidst our continual persecutions are still preserved, are alway delivered unto death for Jesus' sake, each day in jeopardy, and ready to be cut off for the testimony which we bear, that the life also of Jesus might be made manifest in our mortal flesh, it being evidently seen, by the protection which he vouchsafes to us, that he is risen and at the right hand of God, and that his Spirit has quickened us to newness of life; while with unshaken courage, patience, and perseverance, in the midst of our sufferings, we desire to finish our course after his example. So then death worketh in us, and we, who are Christ's ministering servants, are exposed to the greatest dangers; but life in you, who enjoy its comforts in peace: and even our sufferings, as they are a confirmation of the Gospel which we preach, are, through grace, the means of advancing your spiritual life.
2. If their trials were great, their supports were greater. (1.) They stood by faith. We having the same spirit of faith with the saints of old, which animated the divine Redeemer, and is wrought by the Holy Ghost in us and you; according as it is written, I believed, and therefore have I spoken,—we also believe, and therefore speak, fully persuaded of the heavenly doctrines which we preach, and confident that the Lord will support us in our testimony to his gospel. (2.) They were upheld by the hope of a joyful resurrection, knowing, with humble assurance, that he which raised up the Lord Jesus shall raise up us also by Jesus, in virtue of our union with him, and shall present us with you, even with all his faithful saints among you, (for the professors at Corinth were not all saints) and with all his persevering people every where, faultless before the throne of his glory; and the expectation of this raises us above all the fears of death. (3.) The consciousness that God would be glorified by the salvation of many, who would humbly accept of the offers of his grace, supported and quickened them. For all things are for your sakes; all our labours and sufferings are intended to promote your present and eternal happiness; that the abundant grace held forth in our ministrations, might, through the thanksgiving of many, redound to the glory of God, who, embracing the gospel, and made partakers of its inestimable blessings, cannot but with ceaseless praises adore and magnify that gracious God, who hath called them to his kingdom and glory, and, if they be faithful unto death, will assuredly confer it upon them. For which cause we faint not; but for your sakes, and God's glory, patiently and cheerfully persevere. (4.) Their own souls were profited by their afflictions, which was another reason why they should bear up under them. But though our outward man perish through our hardships, labours, and sufferings, yet the inward man is renewed day by day, with fresh supplies of grace, strength, and consolation, growing more meet for the eternal world to which we are going; and we may well be content with every outward cross that tends to bring us thus nearer to our crown. (5.) The near and assured prospect of glory was their grand support and comfort. For our light affliction, which is but for a moment,—so faith teaches us to judge,—our afflictions are light, compared with the weight of glory which we expect, and momentary, however long continued through life, if viewed against the eternity which succeeds to the faithful saints:—and what is more,—it worketh for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory. The words are amazingly emphatical, (Καθ' υπερβολην εις υπερβολην, αιωνιον βαρος δυξης,) and such as no translation can fully render. Steadily, therefore, we persevere, while we look not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen, the glorious objects above, which faith realizes to the soul; for the things which are seen are temporal, transitory, and momentary; but the things which are not seen are eternal, glorious beyond conception, and to be enjoyed by the faithful without measure and without end.