        
• Key
Chapter 13
The apostle again says that this is the third time he
has purposed to come and see them; and threatens that
he will, by the power of Christ, punish every
incorrigible sinner, 1-4.
Exhorts them to examine
themselves, whether they be in the faith, 5,6.
Prays that they may do no evil, 7.
And shows how
ardently he wished their complete restoration to unity
and purity, 8,9.
Tells them for what reason he writes
to them, 10.
Bids them farewell, 11,
Gives them
some directions, and concludes with his apostolical
benediction, 12-14.
Notes on Chapter 13
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Verse 1. This is the third time
I am coming to you.
These words are
nearly the same with those 2 Corinthians
12:14; and probably refer to the purpose which he had
twice before formed of seeing them. But the latter
clause seems to attach a different meaning to the passage; at
least so it has been understood by some learned men.
Schoettgen thus interprets the whole: the
first coming of the apostle to Corinth was when he
personally visited them, and there founded the
Christian Church. By his second coming we are to
understand his first epistle to them; and, by his being now
ready to come to them the third time, we are to
understand this second epistle, which he was then going
to send them. These were the two witnesses, and the
apostle the third, which he gave to the Corinthians
concerning the truth of his own ministry, or the falsity of
the ministry of the pretended apostle.
Calmet contends that the apostle had been
twice before at Corinth, and that he now purposed to go
a third time; and that these visits were the two
or three witnesses to which the apostle appeals.
Dr. Lightfoot thinks that the two or three witnesses
were Stephanas, Fortunatus, and Achaicus, sent
to assure them of his coming. But this opinion cannot be
supported.
With respect to the two or three witnesses
establishing the subject, Dr. Whitby says. "Though
these words seem to be cited from Deuteronomy
19:15, rather than from ; Matthew
18:16, it being rare to find this apostle citing any thing
from the New Testament, without calling it an ordinance of
the Lord, yet it is probable that he here alludes to the
practice there prescribed for the reclaiming of offenders. And
then his first epistle being written with this
introduction: Paul an apostle, and Sosthenes; his
second thus: Paul and Timotheus; may pass for
two or three witnesses; and his presence the
third time in person, to exercise his censures
on those offenders, before the body of the Church, may bear a
fair resemblance to our Lord's prescription in the above case:
If thy brother offend," Whitby. See
Clarke on Matthew
18:16.
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Verse 2. I
told you before, Calmet maintains that Paul had
already been twice at Corinth, it is well to hear his
reasons: "St. Paul came to Corinth the latter end of the year
of our Lord 52, and remained there eighteen months, Acts
18:1, came there a second time in the year 55, but
stayed only a short time, as he had to return speedily to
Ephesus, 1 Corinthians
16:7; hence it is that St. Luke makes no mention of this
second journey in the Acts. Finally he determined to
visit them a third time; as in effect he did about the
year 57. Of his second voyage to Corinth, which is not
mentioned in the Acts, he speaks expressly in this verse."
I do not see sufficient evidence to induce me to subscribe
to this opinion of Calmet. I believe the apostle had been but
once before at Corinth; and this matter is set in a
clear point of view by Dr. Paley. See the Introduction,
sec. xi.
I will not spare
I will inflict the proper punishment on every incorrigible
offender. It does appear, from all the apostle's
threatenings, that he was possessed of a miraculous power, by
which he could inflict punishment on offenders; that he
could deliver the body to Satan for the destruction of the
flesh, that the spirit might be saved in the day of the
Lord Jesus, 1 Corinthians
4:21;; 5:5.
What he says he told them before probably relates to 1 Corinthians
4:21: Shall I come with a rod,
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Verse 3. Since ye seek a proof of
Christ
The conversion of the Corinthians
was to themselves a solid proof that Christ spoke by the
apostle; and therefore he could, with great propriety, say
that this power of Christ, far from being weak,
was mighty among them.
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Verse 4. For though he was crucified
through weakness
It is true Christ was
crucified, and his crucifixion appeared to be the effect of
his weakness; yet even this was not so; he gave up his
life, none could take it away from him; and in his last
struggle, had he even been deficient in power, he could have
had more than twelve legions of angels to support him against
the high priest's mob, Matthew
26:53; but how then could the Scripture be fulfilled? And
had he not died, how could the human race have been
saved?
Yet he liveth by the power of
God.
Though he appeared to be crucified
through his own weakness, yet he now liveth by the power of
God; exerting an almighty energy by which all things are
subject to him.
We also are weak in
him
Because we are on Christ's side we
appear to you as weak as he did to the
Jews; but it is not so, for we live with
him-under the same influence, and partaking of the same
life; manifesting by our preaching and miracles the
power of God towards you. While I do not use the
rod, I appear to you weak; I will use it, and
then you shall find me to be strong.
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Verse 5. Examine yourselves, whether
ye be in the faith
εαυτουςπειραζετε. Try
yourselves; pierce your hearts; bore yourselves
throughout; try yourselves by what I have written, and see
whether ye retain the true faith of the Gospel.
Prove your own
selves.
εαυτουςδοκιμαζετε. Put
yourselves to the test, as you would try
gold or silver suspected of adulteration.
No more take that for Gospel which is not so, than you
would take adulterated money for sterling coin.
This is a metaphor taken from testing or
assaying adulterated metals.
Know ye not your own
selves
Are ye not full of wisdom and
understanding? And is it not as easy to find out a
spurious faith as it is to detect a base coin?
There is an assay and touchstone for both. If
base metal be mixed with the pure you can
readily detect it; and as easily may you know that you are
in the faith as you can know that base metal is
mixed with the pure. Does Jesus Christ dwell in you?
You have his Spirit, his power, his mind, if ye be
Christians; and the Spirit of Christ bears witness with your
spirit that ye are the children of God. And this is the case
except ye be reprobates; αδοκιμοι, base counterfeit
coin; mongrel Christians. This metaphor holds excellently
here. They had a Judaizing Christian among them; such,
presumptively, was the false apostle: they had
received his Judaico-Christian doctrine, and were what
the prophet said of some of the Israelites in his time.
Reprobate silver, adulterated coin, shall men call
them, Jeremiah
6:30. And thus, when they were brought to the test,
they were found reprobate; that is, adulterated with this
mixture of bad doctrine. There is no other kind of reprobation
mentioned here than that which refers to the trial and
rejection of adulterated coin; and, by way of metaphor, to the
detection of false Christianity. This reprobation came of the
people themselves: they, not God, adulterated the pure metal.
Man pollutes himself; then God reprobates the polluted.
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Verse 6. Ye shall know that we are
not reprobates.
Ye have had, and ye shall
have, the fullest proof that I have preached the true faith
among you; and that God has confirmed it by his testimony; and
thus that I am proved and manifested to be what I ought to be,
and shown to be approved of God.
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Verse 7. I pray to God that ye do no
evil
That ye do not persist in that course
which will oblige me to use the power of Christ, with which I
am endued, to punish you. Some apply this prayer to the
apostle himself: Now I pray to God that I may do YOU
no evil-that I may not be obliged to use my apostolic
rod, and inflict evil upon you.
Not that we should appear
approved
We do not wish to give this proof
that we are approved of God, by inflicting this punishment on
the transgressors.
But that ye should do that which
is honest
That ye may do that which is
right and seemly, τοκαλον, though we
should be, in consequence of that, as
reprobates-as persons not approved of God; because
your reformation will prevent the exercise of this
power, which would otherwise have given an awful proof
that we are approved of God.
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Verse 8. For we can do nothing
against the truth, but for the truth.
As we are the apostles of God, we cannot bring to you any
false doctrine; and, as we profess to be under the
influence of God's Spirit, we cannot do any thing that is
opposed to that truth, or which might be prejudicial to it. On
the contrary, what we say and do is for that
truth, to propagate and establish it. The Gospel of
Jesus is truth; and my testimony concerning it is truth also.
In my coming, and in my rod, you have nothing to fear,
if you retain and abide in this truth.
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Verse 9. For we are glad, when we
are weak
It will give me indescribable
pleasure that I should still appear to be poor,
despicable, and destitute of this extraordinary
power with which God has clothed me, so that you be
strong in all the gifts and graces of the Holy Spirit.
And this also we wish, even
your perfection.
We cannot be satisfied
that persons, with such eminent endowments, and who have once
received the truth as it is in Jesus, should be deficient in
any of the graces that constitute the mind of Christ; such as
brotherly love, charity, harmony, unity, and order. I have
given the above paraphrase to this verse, because of the last
term καταρτισιν, which we render perfection.
καταρτισις, from κατα, intensive, and αρτιζω, to
fit or adapt, signifies the reducing of a
dislocated limb to its proper place; and hence, as
Beza says on this passage: "The apostle's meaning is,
that whereas the members of the Church were all, as it
were, dislocated and out of joint, they should
be joined together in love; and they should endeavour
to make perfect what was amiss among them, either in
faith or morals."
It is a metaphor, also, taken from a building; the
several stones and timbers being all put in
their proper places and situations, so that the whole building
might be complete, and be a proper habitation
for the owner. The same figure, though not in the same
terms, the apostle uses, Ephesians
2:20-22.
The perfection or rejointing which the
apostle wishes is that which refers to the state of the
Church in its fellowship, unity, order,
perfection in the soul is the same, in reference
to it, as perfection in the Church is to its order and
unity. The perfection or rejointing of the soul implies its
purification, and placing every faculty, passion, and
appetite in its proper place; so that the original
order, harmony, unity, and purity of the soul may be restored;
and the whole builded up to be a habitation of God through the
Spirit, Ephesians
2:22.
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Verse 10. Therefore I write these
things
I only threaten you now, by this
epistle, to put you on your guard, and lead you to reformation
before I visit you that I may not then have to use
sharpness, αποτομια, a cutting off, employing
thus my apostolical authority to inflict punishment; a
power which God has given me, rather to be
employed in your edification than in your
destruction.
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Verse 11. Finally
δοιπον. All that remains for me now to write is, to
wish you all manner of happiness, and so to take my leave.
Farewell.
A
good wish, from our old mother tongue, compounded of
{Anglo-Saxon}, to go, and {Anglo-Saxon}, fairly,
properly, or {Anglo-Saxon}, with felicity; go on
prosperously! This is the spirit of this good wish.
The Greek χαιρετε signifies nearly the same thing. χαιρω
means to be very joyous; χαιρετε, be joyous and
happy, be ever prosperous; this was among the last
words which Cyrus, when dying, spoke to his friends.
Be perfect
καταρτιζεσθε. Be compact; get into joint
again; let unity and harmony be restored.
See Clarke on 2 Corinthians
13:9.
Be of good comfort
παρακαλεισθε. Receive admonition; for παρακαλεω
signifies to admonish, beg, entreat, and also to
comfort. Receive admonition, that ye may
receive comfort. If ye take my advice, ye shall
have consolation; if ye do not, ye will have
nothing but misery and wo.
Be of one mind
τοαυτοφρονειτε. Think the same; let there be no
dissensions among you. Be of the same creed, and let disputes
about that religion which should be the bond of
peace for ever subside.
Live in peace
ειρηνευετε. Cultivate peace; or, as he says
elsewhere, Follow peace, and pursue it, Hebrews
12:14. Cultivate a peaceable disposition, and
neither say nor do any thing which has a tendency to irritate
each other.
And the God of love and peace
shall be with you.
While ye are full of
contentions, dissensions, and discord, peace can have
no place among you; and as to love, the fulfilling of
the law, that worketh no ill to its neighbour, it has
necessarily taken its flight. Love cannot live, neither
exist, where there are brawls, contentions, and divisions. And
where neither peace nor love is to be found,
there God cannot be. And if HE be not there, yourselves
and the devil make the whole assembly.
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Verse 12. Greet one another with a
holy kiss.
Use every means by which a
good understanding may be brought about. Let the
spirit of friendship live among you, and
encourage its continuance by every friendly act. See
Clarke on Romans
16:16.
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Verse 13. All the
saints
The Christians of
Macedonia or Philippi, from which he wrote this
epistle. In the primitive Church a saint and a
Christian were the same thing; for the Christian
religion calls every man to be holy.
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Verse 14. The grace of the Lord
Jesus Christ
All the favour and
beneficence that come from and through
the Redeemer of the world; as the LORD, the ruler and
governor of all things; as JESUS, the Saviour of
all men by his passion and death; as Christ, the
distributer of all that Divine unction which
enlightens, comforts, harmonizes, and purifies the mind. May
this most exalted, glorious, and all-sufficient Saviour, be
ever with you!
And the love of God
GOD, your Maker, in that infinite love which
induced him to create the world, and form man in his own image
and in his own likeness, that he might be capable of knowing,
loving, and enjoying him for ever; and God in the fullest
manifestations of that love which caused him to give his only
begotten Son, to the end that they who believe on him should
not perish, but have everlasting life. May this God of
love, and this love of God, be ever with you!
And the communion of the Holy
Ghost
May that Holy Spirit, that Divine and
eternal energy which proceeds from the Father and the Son;
that heavenly fire that gives light and
life, that purifies and refines, sublimes and exalts,
comforts and invigorates, make you all partakers with
himself!
κοινωνια, which we translate fellowship and
communion, signifies properly participation;
having things in common; partaking with each
other. This points out the astonishing privileges of true
believers: they have communion with God's Spirit; share
in all its gifts and graces; walk in its
light; through him they have the fullest
confidence that they are of God, that he is their
father and friend, and has blotted out all their iniquities:
this they know by the Spirit which he has given them. And is
it possible that a man shall be a partaker with the
Holy Ghost, and not know it! that he
shall be full of light and love, and not
know it! that he shall have the spirit of
adoption, by which he can cry, Abba! Father! and yet
know nothing of his relationship to God, but by
inference from indirect proofs! In a word, that he
shall have the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, the
love of God, and the communion of the Holy Ghost with him,
and all the while know nothing certain of the
grace, as to his portion in it; feel
nothing warming from the love, as to its part in
him; and nothing energetic from the
communion, as to his participation in the gifts
and graces of this Divine energy! This is all as absurd as it
is impossible. Every genuine Christian, who maintains a close
walk with God, may have as full an evidence of his
acceptance with God as he has of his own existence.
And the doctrine that explains away this privilege, or softens
it down to nothing, by making the most gracious and safe state
consistent with innumerable doubts and fears and
general uncertainty, is not of God. It is a spurious
gospel, which, under the show of a voluntary
humility, not only lowers, but almost
annihilates, the standard of
Christianity.
This text, as well as that, Matthew
3:16,17, and that other, Matthew
28:19, strongly marks the doctrine of the
holy TRINITY. See the note on this latter text. And had
not the apostle been convinced that there was a
personality in this ever-blessed and
undivided Trinity, he could not have expressed
himself thus. And had not our Lord intended to be understood
in this way, he would not have given such a commission
to his apostles, to baptize the nations in the name of the
Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy
Ghost. The doctrine is the teaching of God, let men make
of it what they please. And the genuine Church of God have
ever received and understood it in this way.
Amen.
This word
is wanting, as usual, in almost every MS. of authority.
Amen seems to have been anciently added at the
conclusion of books, exactly as we add the word, finis,
both merely signifying the end.
As to the inscription, it is wanting, either in
whole or in part, in almost all the ancient MSS. The principal
forms in which it exists are the following:-
To the Corinthians, the second.-The second to the
Corinthians is completed.-The second to the
Corinthians is finished.-To the Corinthians, the
second, written from Philippi.-Written from
Philippi by Titus.-Written from Philippi by Titus
and Luke.-By Titus, Barnabas, and
Luke.-The Second Epistle to the Corinthians was
written from Philippi of Macedonia, and sent by Titus,
SYRIAC.-The End of the Epistle. It was written from the
city of Philippi by Titus and Luke. Praise be to God
for ever, ARABIC.
- In the VULGATE there is no subscription; nor in
the ETHIOPIC. -Written in Philippi of Macedonia, and
sent by Titus and Luke, COPTIC.-The Second Epistle to
the Corinthians is ended; which was written from
Philippi of Macedonia, by Titus and Luke, SYR.
PHILOX.
It has been often remarked that no dependence can be placed
on many of the subscriptions to the sacred books, which are
found in MSS. and versions, because those subscriptions were
not written by the authors of those books, but were
afterwards added by the transcribers or copiers,
who followed either tradition or their own judgment. It is
generally allowed that this second epistle was written from
Macedonia; and probably from the city of
Philippi, in that province. See the introduction
and preface to this epistle.
Finished the correction for a new edition, Dec.
13th, 1831. A. C.
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Copyright Statement
The Adam Clarke Commentary is a derivative of an
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Bibliography
Information
Clarke, Adam. "Commentary
on 2 Corinthians 13". "The Adam Clarke Commentary".
<http://www.studylight.org/com/acc/view.cgi?book=2co&chapter=013>.
1832.
|
