For they themselves shew of us what manner of entering in we had unto you, and how ye turned to God from idols to serve the living and true God;
Ver. 9. What manner of entering in, &c.] The pastor hath his part and share in the people's commendation. If they grow famous, he cannot lie obscured.
Ye turned to God from idols] They gave not the half turn only from east to south, but the whole turn, from the east to west, from idols to God, Hosea 6:4. Ephraim shall say, "What have I to do any more with idols?" Hosea 14:8; those Balaam blocks, those mawmets and monuments of idolatry, those images of jealousy? Ephraim is now no longer as a cake half-baked, as a speckled bird, Jeremiah 12:9. Better be a Papist than an atheist, a gross idolater than a profligate professor, a carnal gospeller.