Commentary on 2 Corinthians 0.1–2.17

Prologue. The Apostle writes the second letter to the Corinthians, and this is its principal cause. Because in the first letter, on account of the sins of certain persons, he had above all rebuked their teachers, and they had been much saddened, he now consoles them, offering himself as an example and teaching that they ought not to take it ill that they were rebuked for the salvation of others, since he himself, for the salvation of others, is daily subject to dangers and to death. Chapter one.

“Paul, an apostle of Jesus Christ.” Now, sure of them, he confidently proclaims himself an apostle of the Lord. For in the first letter he says that he was called an apostle, yet not approved by those who had been drawn away from his teaching. “By the will of God.” To prove his apostleship valid, he says that he was made an apostle by the will of the Lord Christ; for so the Lord says to the Jews: “What is pleasing to him,” that is, to God the Father, “I do always” (John 8:29). “And Timothy our brother.” He writes with the one through whom he sent the first letter to them, that is, with Timothy, to show them that he had heard from him of their good will, by which they submitted to being corrected. “To the church that is at Corinth, with all the saints who are in Achaia.” Now he joins them to the saints of the other churches, so that they may know that they have made progress.

“Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.” Because the gift of God and of Christ is one, he therefore wishes them to be sharers in the grace of God, which is also that of Christ.

“Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.” In every letter he always hands on the order of the mystery when he is about to speak of God the Father and of his gift. “The Father of mercies and the God of all consolation.” He began from the very matter at hand; for it gives much refreshment to those who had been saddened because of rebuke. For hearing that the Lord is the father not only of all origin but also of mercies, they were lifted up by hope and made sure that they had been rebuked for this purpose: that, being converted, they might find the mercy of God. Why did he call him the father of mercies, except so that it might be recognized that through mercy he regenerates and re-forms the penitent again, so that there is not pardon alone but restoration to their former state? And he says “of mercies” because of the various sins, to console those saddened on account of their offences: that is, not to deny hope to the converted.

“Who consoles us in all our affliction.” This is what he said: the God of all consolation, who is present in every affliction; “so that we too may be able to console those who are in any affliction, through the exhortation with which we are exhorted by God.” He has introduced two kinds of consolation: one by which those are consoled who suffer affliction unjustly for the name of Christ, so that they may be delivered; the other, of those who, saddened because of their sins, receive consolation when hope is promised them if they amend, from those who, consoled by the Lord, have been rescued from affliction.

“For as the sufferings of Christ abound in us, so through Christ our consolation also abounds.” It is plain that he for whom we suffer is present to us, consoling us by deliverance, rescuing us from affliction by the intervention of his majesty.

“But whether we suffer affliction, it is for your exhortation and salvation; or whether we obtain exhortation, it is for your exhortation, which works through the patient endurance of the same sufferings that we ourselves also suffer, so that our hope for you may be sure; for we know that as you are sharers in the sufferings, so you will be also in the consolation.” He speaks generally: that just as, for the sake of believers, they suffered persecutions from the faithless, subjected to insults and beatings, so again they were delivered by the help of God for the consolation of believers, so that, having taken offence, they might not fall from the faith; because the injuries of the apostles were temptations for the believers, as it is written in the prophet Zechariah: “I will strike the shepherd, and the sheep of the flock will be scattered” (Zech 13:7). Although the faithful believe the things to come, yet in the very beginnings, affliction causes offence to new converts; for they think the promise empty if they see the preacher overpowered by force. But if the believer is already firm, he suffers with his master, trusting in the hope to come, so that he may be consoled together with him with whom he also suffers.

“For we do not want you to be ignorant, brothers, of the affliction that came upon us in Asia; for we were burdened beyond measure, beyond our strength, so that we despaired even of living.” He points out the sufferings of afflictions inflicted on them almost to the point of death, to show what evils they suffered for the sake of the Corinthians' salvation, so that they would not take it too hard if their errors were rebuked by those who endured such harsh things for them. For what physician would not rebuke a patient in his care who treats himself carelessly, so that the care of his medicine may not remain without effect?

“But we ourselves had in ourselves the answer of death, so that we should not trust in ourselves but in God, who raises the dead.” He indicates that such insolence of wickedness had risen up against the preachers of the faith that they had death before their eyes; and so, rescued from that affliction, they say they were raised again. For they had been so afflicted that they despaired of the present life. But because God does not deny his protection to those placed in need, above all to his own, he rescued them when they despaired of themselves but trusted in God. For they confessed that they would have failed under the excessive affliction had God not been present.

“Who delivered us from such great deaths, and delivers us; in whom we have hoped that he will also deliver us, your prayer for us also helping; so that the gift bestowed on us through the faces of many may be celebrated by many in thanksgiving for us.” He says this because the grace of God consoled the apostles for the sake of many, that is, of all believers, for whose sake afflictions were also laid upon them; and therefore, because it is for the sake of all, all should give thanks to God when the temptation ceases, or, when it arises, should together make supplication.

“For our glory is this, the testimony of our conscience.” He says this because they relied on their conscience, which was pure of all pretence; for this reason they did not distrust the help of God. “That in simplicity and sincerity, not in fleshly wisdom but in the grace of God, we have conducted ourselves in this world, and more abundantly toward you.” This is the glory of conscience that he spoke of: simplicity and sincerity. And because these belong to God's teaching, he added: “Not in fleshly wisdom but in the grace of God,” to show that he had shown his conscience free, not to human wisdom but to the preaching of the gospel. He rubs up past matters; for this is what he means, that in the first letter he rebuked a counterfeit preaching fitted to human understanding (1 Cor 2:4), whose preachers he accuses of fleshly wisdom in a twofold way: both because they preached according to the mind of the world, so as not easily to offend people, and because they did this for gain, devoted to their own fleshly profits. Hence the Apostle never wished to accept support from the Corinthians, so as not to give them an occasion on the ground that he was like them in this matter. This is why he says: “more abundantly toward you” he conducted himself in simplicity; because though he accepted from others, he would not accept from them, so as not to lose the authority to rebuke them.

“For we write nothing else to you than what you have read and know.” He says he writes things that they not only saw in his letters but had plainly before them in his works, so as to prove that he fulfils by deeds what he says; for by deeds each one's mind and purpose is learned.

“And I hope that you will know to the end, as you have also known not in part, that we are your glory, as you also are ours, in the day of our Lord Jesus Christ.” He hopes that they are making progress, from the fact that they had already begun to be better, having recognized the Apostle's affection toward them, and they gloried in him as children in a dearest father. Hence the Apostle also testifies that his own glory is seen in obedient children, and that it ought to be seen then when it is of profit, that is, in the day of God's judgment. In saying this he urges them to persevere.

“And in this confidence I had wished to come to you first, so that you might have a second grace, and to pass through you into Macedonia, and again from Macedonia to come to you, and to be sent on by you to Judea.” This confidence comes from their amended life; for he indicates that he now even longs for those whom before it was unfitting to see. They would therefore have had full grace from his coming, because a letter is an image, but presence is the reality. So it is not idle that he had wished to go and did not go; for he wants it understood that there are some among them for whose sake he did not fulfil his wish, so that, with effort applied, they might be purified.

“When I intended this, did I then use levity? Or do I intend what I intend according to the flesh, so that with me there is ‘Yes, yes’ and ‘No, no’?” Because he had said, “I had wished to come to you,” and did not go, therefore he says, “Did I use levity?” because one who says something and does not do it seems to use levity. So that they might not think this of the Apostle, he clears himself of it: that it was not lightly but with counsel that he did not carry out what he had planned. “Or do I intend,” he says, “what I intend according to the flesh?” For one who thinks according to the flesh fails to carry out what he plans when he either defers to more important persons, or is certainly overcome by gains or by splendour, which the Apostle always despised. But the spiritual person fails to carry out his plan when he considers something more providently for the salvation of the soul; as the Apostle too did not carry out what he had wished, so that by this very thing they might be made better, knowing that he had put it off because some among them had not yet purified themselves of sins. “So that with me,” he says, “there is ‘Yes, yes’ and ‘No, no.’” This means that he did nothing other than what he knew ought to be done, because usefulness is to be put before one's wish. This is the spiritual mind; but the fleshly mind is so changed that it puts its wish before usefulness.

“But God is faithful, for our word to you is not ‘Yes and no.’” This is what he also says to the Galatians: “If I build up again the very things that I tore down, I make myself a transgressor” (Gal 2:18). So he says that the preaching of God in him is faithful; for flatterers do the other thing. For they often pass over what is true so as not to offend people.

“For the Son of God, Jesus Christ, who is in you, who was preached by us, by me and Silvanus and Timothy, was not ‘Yes and no,’ but in him there was ‘Yes.’” As far as suitable preachers are concerned, it ought to be that with them there is “Yes, yes,” “No, no,” so that they do nothing other than what they know to be useful. For because we often wish something other than what is useful, so that wish may not overcome usefulness, the Apostle therefore put usefulness before his wish and did not go to them. “For in Christ Jesus there was not ‘Yes and no,’ but in him there was ‘Yes’”; because he never wished anything other than what is useful. For his will is always together with usefulness; nor was he changed so as to do unwillingly, as a man does, what is useful, or so as to waver about anything and change his will.

“For as many as are the promises of God, they are in him; and through him the Amen to God for glory through us.” It is plain that the truth is always in God, that is, the “amen,” made manifest through Christ, afterwards preached by the apostles to the glory of God, the powers of signs bearing witness that the things God promised through Christ our Lord are true. For it is the glory of God when all things are said to be from him and through him and in him.

“Now the one who confirms us with you is Christ the Lord; and the one who anointed us is God, who also sealed us and gave the pledge of the Spirit in our hearts.” He says that Christ confirms the gentiles in the faith promised to the Jews, because he is the one who made both one (Eph 2:14), that is, circumcision and uncircumcision, making peace in one new man. So the Lord confirms, and God “who anointed us,” that is, who gave royal honour, as the apostle Peter says: “For we are,” he says, “a royal race” (1 Pet 2:9), through the spiritual anointing, whose type was in the kings of the Jews. “Who also sealed us,” by giving us his Spirit as a pledge, so that we may not doubt his promises. For if he has entrusted his Spirit to us while still mortal, there is no doubt that he will add to us, once immortal, for glory. Yet he speaks of one work of the Father and the Son, for he says both that Christ confirms and that God does. For whom the Son confirms, the Father also confirms; and when the Father gives the Spirit, the Son also gives, because the Holy Spirit is of both, as he says to the Romans: “But if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he is not his” (Rom 8:9). Since, then, he has spoken of the perfecting of man, he has mentioned the Trinity in this place; for the whole sum of perfection consists in the Trinity. “But I call God as witness upon my soul that it was to spare you that I have not yet come to Corinth.” Now he makes plain why, though he had wished to go to them, he put it off: so that he might go when he would find nearly all amended. For he is now speaking to those who seemed to want to correct themselves but did not take the trouble to fulfil it. Because, then, it was necessary to rebuke them, he turned his journey toward others so as not to sadden many; and this was to spare them. To commend this to their minds he gives God as witness, so that they would not think themselves unworthy and despised by him; and, learning this, they would amend themselves so as to deserve his presence. “Not that we lord it over your faith, but we are helpers of your joy; for you stand by faith.” Since faith is a matter not of necessity but of will, he therefore says, “Not that we lord it over your faith”; for lordship is a cause of necessity. “But we are helpers,” he says, “of your joy”; that is, just as there is sorrow in an evil deed, so there is joy in amendment. “Of this joy we are helpers,” he says, because to those who wish to amend themselves they offer admonitions, so that they may be able to fulfil what they had begun to wish.

“But I decided this with myself, not to come to you again in sorrow.” It is clear that he did not wish to go for this reason: lest, by rebuking a few, he should sadden many, being himself also saddened; for all the members suffer with the grief of one.

“For if I sadden you, who is there to gladden me but the one who is saddened by me?” He says this because he does not wish to sadden them; but because they had pursued sins, they had to be saddened, against the Apostle's will; yet in such a way that, made obedient from then on, they would gladden those who were saddened with them, so that he who had saddened them by rebuking might be gladdened by them when they are corrected.

“And I wrote this very thing so that when I came I might not have sorrow from those in whom I ought to rejoice, being confident that my joy is that of you all.” He says he wrote these things for this reason: that, coming afterwards, there might be nothing to sadden him, the vices having been removed, but that he might rejoice with them as with dearest children; so that, since he was afflicted with tribulations by unbelievers, he might at least rejoice in those who had believed. For the Apostle's joy is the purification of the people; for he rejoices because there is nothing blameworthy in those with whom one ought to rejoice together.

“For out of much affliction and anguish of heart I wrote to you with many tears, not that you might be saddened, but that you might know what love I have more abundantly for you.” It is plain that when someone rebukes another with this feeling, grieving more than he over his sins, he certainly does not rebuke in order to sadden him, but to show him with what love he loves him. For one who does not rebuke with this feeling saddens his brother; for whoever does not grieve with his brother insults him.

“But if anyone has saddened me, he has not saddened me, except in part, so as not to burden you all.” All those whom he here calls “in part” are saints; for there are two parts in the people, as I mentioned in the first letter. These, then, belonging to the part of the saints, are the ones he indicates were saddened by the brother's error, as he himself was. But in saying this he burdened the sinner, that is, the one who had sinned. For a person becomes more guilty when many are troubled by his offence; and therefore he says:

“Sufficient for such a person is this rebuke that is given by the many.” Surely the one who sees that his offence horrifies many will suffer great grief. “So that, on the contrary, you should rather forgive and console, lest somehow such a one be swallowed up by excessive sorrow.” He commands them to come to the aid of a person afflicted because of his own sin; because repentance, if it is from a true heart, that is, if the one rebuked at once grieves in his heart, immediately bears fruit. Indeed, in the book of Kingdoms it is recorded that Ahab, when the prophet had reproved him, was moved in heart and at once obtained pardon (1 Kgs 21:27–29). And David, rebuked in the matter of Uriah the Hittite, because he acknowledged that he had sinned, had his offence blotted out (2 Sam 12:13). So too the Apostle orders that the one who had committed incest, having his father's wife, having been rebuked and cast out, and now grieving, be called back; lest, seeing himself long despised in his sorrow, he should despair of himself and give his mind to enjoying the world, as one who no longer had a place with God. For this is to be swallowed up by greater sorrow: to despair of oneself and turn to committing sins, weighed down by which one is swallowed up by the second death. For this is true repentance: now to cease from sin; for thus one proves that one grieves for oneself, if one stops from then on.

“Therefore I beseech you to confirm your love toward him; for to this end I wrote, to test whether you are obedient in all things.” As far as one may understand, he finds them to have become obedient in other matters; for they had amended what pertains to church order. Hence he wishes them to be obedient in this too: that they confirm the brother in love by receiving him into communion.

“But to whom you have forgiven anything, I also.” It is plain that what he commands to be done he himself does; nor can he refuse what he writes beseeching that it be done, though he had the power to command. But in the first letter he brought a grave charge against him, so that all should shrink from him; now, when he wishes him to be received, he begs, lest, their minds still embittered against him, it be hard for them to have church communion with him. For they did not have as much foresight as the Apostle, so as to understand at once that what the Apostle said must be done, at least in this man's case; therefore he beseeches them to forgive him, indicating that God had pardoned him, because the Apostle did nothing without the Spirit of God. “For what I have forgiven, if I have forgiven anything, I have forgiven for your sake in the person of Christ.” By saying this he weighs on them; for if the master, at his disciples' request, forgave the sin of the one they wished, how much more ought the disciples to obey the master? And to show that his forgiveness was valid before God for the one he forgave, he says that he forgave in the person of Christ what he forgave; that is, that Christ, whose embassy he was carrying out, ratified it, so that the act of the Apostle is the act of Christ, as he said: “Whatever you loose on earth will be loosed also in heaven” (Matt 18:18). If, then, Christ pardoned through the Apostle this man for whom they had asked, how much more was he already pardoned, when the Apostle himself urges them to forgive him?

“So that we may not be possessed by Satan; for we are not ignorant of his wiles.” He says what I mentioned above: that consolation ought to follow a brother who repents of his offence, lest, long saddened and despised by the love of the church, he begin to despair of himself; and the subtle devil, who is always lying in wait, seeing his mind made worthless, approach and suggest to him that he at least enjoy present things, since he has been cast down from hope of the future reward; and so the brother perish, possessed by the devil, though repentance had been given him for this purpose, that, converted, he might re-form himself, as the prophet Ezekiel says: “I do not want the death of the dying, so much as that he turn back and live” (Ezek 18:23). And again: “Let him be converted,” he says, “and I will replant them.”

“Now when I came to Troas for the gospel of Christ, and a door was opened to me in the Lord, I had no rest for my spirit, because I did not find Titus my brother; but having said farewell to them, I set out into Macedonia.” He indicates that he went to Troas to preach the gospel of Christ to them, and that when he began to preach there were those who received the word of faith; but because the help of Titus was lacking, the labour was unbearable on account of those who made an uproar. For although some of them had opened their hearts to receive the word of God, yet the shamelessness of the unbelievers was not small, rising up against the Apostle out of jealousy of the believers; and these two things could not be accomplished by one man, namely both to instruct the faithful and to resist the unbelievers. And therefore, having said farewell to those who had received him, he set out into Macedonia.

“But thanks be to God, who always triumphs through us in Christ Jesus.” For God to triumph through the apostles in Christ is to make them victors in the faith of Christ, so that, unbelief trampled down, faith may have a trophy, while the unbelieving become believers and the malicious do not succeed in persecuting believers.

“And manifests the fragrance of his knowledge through us in every place; for we are the good fragrance of Christ to God among those who are being saved and among those who are perishing.” The fragrance of the knowledge of God is in Christ and through Christ. He spoke of fragrance for this reason: just as certain things, though they are not seen, are yet known by their fragrance, and you understand that there is in some place what you do not see, so too God, because he is invisible, willed to be understood through Christ; so that the preaching of Christ (which reaches the ears invisibly, as fragrance reaches the nostrils) might make known God the Father as creator, and his only-begotten Son. Discharging the embassy of this matter (as the Lord says to God, the Son to the Father: “As you sent me into this world, so I also send them into this world,” John 17:18), the apostles manifested the fragrance of the knowledge of God and of Christ through signs and wonders. That this preaching about God and Christ is true is proved by the testimony of power; and it is signified by fragrance because, since God is not seen, it is through this power, which works invisibly, that he is understood in the apostles, so that the truth of the teaching may be manifested. Whoever, then, rightly proclaims Christ is a good fragrance to God, worthy of praise in the one who believes and not blameworthy in the one who does not believe; but whoever does not rightly proclaim Christ is a bad fragrance to God, both among those who are faithful and among those who distrust; for he will be guilty on behalf of both. For the one who distrusts seems not to believe for this reason, that what he hears is perverse; and the one who believes, believes wrongly. The Apostle, then, spoke according to the pattern of the Law: just as in the Law the one who offered sacrifices with a good vow was a good fragrance to God and acceptable, so now the power of preaching makes the fragrance of teaching sweet to God. For this reason God kept the apostles safe with his help, so that they might pour the words of his knowledge into open ears, whether of Jews or of gentiles, adding to these the mystery of the birth of the Lord Jesus according to the will of God his Father, in the unity of the saving faith, for the salvation of believers and the perdition of those who distrust.

“To some we are a fragrance of death unto death.” He says this because to unbelievers the preaching of Christ's cross is a fragrance of death; for, hearing the word of God, they receive it as a plague from which death arises, and it must be done to them according to their faith. “But to others a fragrance of life unto life.” It is true that to the faithful the word of God, once heard, is a messenger of eternal salvation, and it will happen to them according to their faith. Whether, then, among those who perish or among those who are saved, the apostles were a good fragrance of Christ to God, because they preached sincerely and without flattery. For those who did not believe were drawing a noose around themselves, while the apostles were free, as the Lord says to the prophet Ezekiel: “Preach; if they listen to you, you will gain their souls; but if not, they will see to it themselves; you, however, will be free of their perdition” (Ezek 3:19).

“And who is sufficient for these things? For we are not like the many who adulterate the word of God; but out of sincerity, as from God, before God, we speak in Christ.” This verse touches the false apostles, who with corrupt teaching adulterated the words of God by bad interpretation, and, removing the divine sense, put in a human one. Among them some, having zeal for the Jewish tradition, did not teach rightly about Christ either; therefore he calls them less sufficient. But the apostles preached sincerely, as it was given from God, before God, that is, as God gave it, he himself being witness; they spoke in Christ, seeking not their own glory but God's. This is to speak in Christ: to preach his honour and power.