He declareth how he hath used all sincerity and faithful diligence in preaching the Gospel; and how the troubles and persecutions which he daily endured for the same, did redound to the praise of God's power, to the benefit of the church, and to the Apostle's own eternal glory.
Anno Domini 58.
HAVING in the preceding chapter described the excellency of the dispensation of the Spirit, and the transcendant honour and authority which the ministers of that dispensation possessed by virtue of their office, and the abiding inspiration of the Spirit with which they were endowed, the Apostle told the Corinthians, that the considerationofthesethingsanimatedhimandhis brethren to diligence in performing the duties of their ministry, 2 Corinthians 4:1.—and also to faithfulness. For using no craft or deceit in preaching, but plainly and fully manifesting the true doctrines and precepts of the Gospel, they recommended themselves to every man's conscience, 2 Corinthians 4:2.—And therefore if their Gospel was veiled to any to whom it was preached, it was veiled only to those who destroyed themselves by hearkening to their own prejudices and lusts, and of whom, rejecting the Gospel, the devil made use in blinding the minds of others by their sophistry, 2 Corinthians 4:3-4.—Farther, notwithstanding the Apostles possessed such authority and miraculous powers, they did not preach themselves, but Christ, as Lord or Author of the spiritual dispensation of the Gospel; being sensible that they shone upon the world, only with a light borrowed from him, 2 Corinthians 4:5-6.—Lest, however, the low birth and mean station of the Apostles, with their want of literature, should be thought inconsistent with the high dignity which they claimed as images of Christ, St. Paul told the Corinthians, that God chose men of their character and station to be Apostles, and committed the treasure of the light of the knowledge of God, to them as to earthen vessels, to shew, that the excellency of the power, by which the world was converted from idolatry; and the preachers of the Gospel preserved amid the evils which pressed them on every side, did not proceed from themselves, but from God, 2 Corinthians 4:1.—So that the dignity of the ministry of the Gospel, instead of being diminished, was greatly increased by the low birth of the Apostles, and by the evils which they sustained while executing that ministry; since thereby they had an opportunity of displaying their faith, their fortitude, and their benevolence to mankind, 2 Corinthians 4:2-7.—To illustrate this sentiment, the Apostle gave an affecting description of the sufferings to which he and the rest were exposed, and of the extraordinary support which they received while pressed with these evils, and of their surmounting them all through the assistance of God, 2 Corinthians 4:8-14.
Next, to shew the Corinthians how much they, and the whole body of the faithful, were interested in the sufferings of the Apostles, he assured them that they endured all the evils which he had mentioned, for the sake of the persons to whom they preached, that by convincing them of their sincerity, God might be glorified through their conversion, 2 Corinthians 4:15.—And therefore they did not flag in their work, although their outward man was daily wasting through the labours and sufferings which they were enduring, 2 Corinthians 4:16.—Besides, they knew that their afflictions fully wrought out for them a most exceeding and eternal weight of glory, 2 Corinthians 4:17.—which was the reason that in discharging the duties of their ministry, they did not aim at obtaining the seen things of the present world, which are all temporal, but at obtaining the unseen things of the world to come, which are eternal, 2 Corinthians 4:18.