For this thing I besought the Lord thrice, that it might depart from me. I besought the Lord - That is, Christ, as the next verse absolutely proves, and the Socinians themselves confess. And if Christ be an object of prayer in such a case as this, or indeed in any case, it is a sure proof of his divinity; for only an omniscient Being can be made an object of prayer.
Thrice - Several suppose this to be a certain number for an uncertain; as if he had said, I often besought Christ to deliver me from this tormentor: or, which is perhaps more likely, the apostle may refer to three solemn, fixed, and fervent applications made to Christ at different times; at the last of which he received the answer which he immediately subjoins. It is worthy of remark, that our Lord in his agony acted in the same way: at three different times he applied to God that the cup might depart from him; and in each application he spoke the same words, Matthew 26:39-44. There is, therefore, a manifest allusion to our Lord's conduct in these words of the apostle.