5. For when we had come into Macedonia The heaviness of his grief tends to show, how efficacious the consolation was. “I was pressed on every side,” says he, “by afflictions both internal and external. All this, however, has not prevented the joy that you have afforded me from prevailing over it, and even overflowing.” (639) When he says that he had no rest in his flesh, it is as if he had said — “As a man, I had no relief.” (640) For he excepts spiritual consolations, by which he was in the mean time sustained. He was afflicted, therefore, not merely in body, but also in mind, so that, as a man, he experienced nothing but great bitterness of afflictions.
Without were fightings By fightings he means outward assaults, with which his enemies molested him: fears he means the anxieties, that he endured on account of the internal maladies of the Church, for it was not so much by personal as by public evils, that he was disquieted. What he means, then, to say is this — that there were not merely avowed enemies that were hostile to him, but that he endured, nevertheless, much distress in consequence of domestic evils. For he saw how great was the infirmity of many, nay of almost all, and in the mean time what, and how diversified, were the machinations, by which Satan attempted to throw every thing into confusion — how few were wise, how few were sincere, how few were steadfast, and how many, on the other hand, were either mere pretenders, and worthless, or ambitious, or turbulent. Amidst these difficulties, the servants of God must of necessity feel alarmed, and be racked with anxieties; and so much the more on this account — that they are constrained to bear many things silently, that they may consult the peace of the Churches. Hence he expressed himself with propriety when he said — Without were fightings; within were fears. For faithful pastors openly set themselves in opposition to those enemies that avowedly attack Christ’s kingdom, but they are inwardly tormented, and endure secret tortures, when they see the Church afflicted with internal evils, for the exterminating of which they dare not openly sound the trumpet. (641) But although he had almost incessant conflicts, it is probable that he was at that time more severely pressed than usual. The servants of Christ, undoubtedly, have scarcely at any time exemption from fears, and Paul was seldom free from outward fightings; but as he was at that time more violently oppressed, he makes use of the plural number — fightings and fears, meaning that he required to fight in many ways, and against various enemies, and that he had at the same time many kinds of fear.
(639) Calvin here has manifestly in his eye the singularly emphatic word made use of by Paul in the preceding verse — ὑπερπερισσεύομαι, I am exceeding joyful. “The word here used occurs nowhere else in the New Testament except in Romans 5:20. It is not found in the classic writers, and is a word which Paul evidently compounded, (from ὑπὲρ and περισσεύω,) and means to superabound over, to superabound greatly, or exceedingly. It is a word which would be used only when the heart was full, and when it would be difficult to find words to express its conceptions. Paul’s heart was full of joy, and he pours forth his feelings in the most fervid and glowing language — ‘I have joy which cannot be expressed.’” — Barnes. — Ed.
(640) “ Je n’ay point eu de relasche ou soulagement;” — “I had no relief or alleviation.”
(641) “ Pour les quelles chasser et y remedier, ils n’osent pas sonner la trompette tout haut, comme on dit :” — “For putting down which evils, and remedying them, they dare not sound the trumpet aloud, as they say.”