Ambrosiaster — Commentary on Scripture

2 Corinthians 1:1

Freed from all anxiety about the Corinthians, Paul confidently declares that he is an apostle of the Lord. In the first letter he said that he was “called an apostle,” though he was not approved of by those who had been lured away from his teaching. In order to affirm that his apostleship has been ratified, he adds that he has been made an apostle by the will of God. He writes in association with Timothy, from whom he has heard the good news of the changes which have taken place at Corinth, and he associates the people there with believers in other churches, in order to confirm to them that they have made progress.

COMMENTARY ON PAUL’S EPISTLES

2 Corinthians 1:2

Since the gift of God and of Christ is one and the same, Paul wants them to be partakers in the grace of God, that is, in the grace of Jesus Christ.

COMMENTARY ON PAUL’S EPISTLES

2 Corinthians 1:3

Paul always speaks in this way, indicating the personhood of the Father and the Son, even though they are of one substance. Now he is giving much relief to people who had been grieved by his rebuke, for when they hear that God is not just the Father of creation but the Father of mercies as well, they will have hope and be assured that they have been rebuked so that they may find the mercy of God, once they have mended their ways. Through repentance they were being born again and made anew, which was not just a pardon but a restoration of their previous state of existence. He puts “mercies” in the plural because of their many sins, his aim being to console those who have been grieved on account of their faults.

COMMENTARY ON PAUL’S EPISTLES

2 Corinthians 1:4

Paul mentions two kinds of consolation. One is the sort by which people who are suffering distress unjustly on account of the name of Christ find consolation in being set free. The other is the consolation of those who, when they are grieved because of sins, receive consolation from the fact that hope of forgiveness is promised to them when they mend their ways. This happens amid a community of those who have received consolation from God and been rescued from distress.

COMMENTARY ON PAUL’S EPISTLES

2 Corinthians 1:5

It is clear that Christ himself, for whose sake we are suffering, is present with us, consoling us and rescuing us from trouble by his divine intervention.

COMMENTARY ON PAUL’S EPISTLES

2 Corinthians 1:6

Because they were suffering persecutions from unbelievers for the sake of believers, they would be set free by God’s help. This was viewed as a consolation to believers, so that they would not desert their faith because of such a stumbling block. The injuries suffered by the apostles were a temptation to believers to abandon their faith. When they saw the preachers overcome by force, they were inclined to wonder whether the promise of Christ might be an empty one.

COMMENTARY ON PAUL’S EPISTLES

2 Corinthians 1:8

Paul wanted the Corinthians to know what evils he was enduring for the sake of their salvation. That way, they would not take it too badly if their own errors were admonished by people who were enduring such harsh treatment for their sake.

COMMENTARY ON PAUL’S EPISTLES

2 Corinthians 1:9

Paul means that there was such a violent upsurge of evil against preachers of the faith that death was staring them in the face. But God does not refuse his protection to people in extreme danger, especially when they belong to him. He rescued them when they were in deep despair. Their affliction was so great that they would not have withstood it if God had not been with them.

COMMENTARY ON PAUL’S EPISTLES

2 Corinthians 1:12

The boast of Paul’s conscience was simplicity and sincerity, qualities which belong to God’s teaching. In his first letter Paul had criticized teaching based on earthly wisdom, and he alludes to that again here. He accused preachers of that kind both because they preached according to the wisdom of the world and because they were doing it in order to make money. For that reason, Paul was unwilling to receive any payment from the Corinthians.

COMMENTARY ON PAUL’S EPISTLES

2 Corinthians 1:13

What Paul says is backed up by his actions. It is through actions that we learn what a person really thinks.

COMMENTARY ON PAUL’S EPISTLES

2 Corinthians 1:14

Paul asserts that his boasting over his obedient children is noticed and that this will be to their advantage on the day of judgment.

COMMENTARY ON PAUL’S EPISTLES

2 Corinthians 1:15

This is proof that the Corinthians have mended their ways, because earlier on Paul did not want to see them at all. Commentary on Paul’s Epistles.

2 Corinthians 1:17

Paul dismisses the charge that he cannot be trusted by telling the Corinthians that he did not change his mind lightly. He had good reasons for not doing what he had originally planned. When a spiritually minded person does not do what he intends to, it is because he has in mind something more providential for the salvation of someone’s soul. The apostle did not carry out his original plan in order that the Corinthians might become better men and women. He delayed his coming specifically because there were some among them who had not purified themselves, and he was waiting for that to happen first. This is spiritual thinking. Carnal thinking, by contrast, makes changes of plan in order to suit personal desires, not in order to do what is beneficial.

COMMENTARY ON PAUL’S EPISTLES

2 Corinthians 1:18

Paul is saying that God’s preaching through him has been faithful. Flatterers, on the other hand, frequently fail to mention things which are true in order not to offend people. Commentary on Paul’s Epistles.

2 Corinthians 1:19

Competent preachers ought to be unambiguous about what they say. Say nothing that is not beneficial. Given that our human will often tends in ambivalent directions, Paul is insistent that he is not acting according to his will but according to what he knows will be helpful. In Christ, of course, this problem does not exist, because he always wills what is beneficial. Furthermore, Christ’s will never changes and is never uncertain.

COMMENTARY ON PAUL’S EPISTLES

2 Corinthians 1:20

Paul means that the work of the Father and the Son is one. When the Father gives the Spirit, the Son gives him too, because the Holy Spirit comes from both of them. He is thinking of the Trinity here because he has been speaking about the perfecting of mankind. The whole sum of perfection is found in the Trinity.

COMMENTARY ON PAUL’S EPISTLES

2 Corinthians 1:21

Paul is saying that Christ confirms the Gentiles in the faith promised to the Jews, because he has made us both one.

COMMENTARY ON PAUL’S EPISTLES

2 Corinthians 1:23

Here Paul is addressing people who apparently wanted to reform but were not making much of an effort in that direction. It was to spare them until they pulled themselves together that he went elsewhere for the time being. Paul did not want them to think that he despised them as unworthy. Once they realized that, they would mend their ways, and then the apostle would come to visit them.

COMMENTARY ON PAUL’S EPISTLES

2 Corinthians 1:24

Paul says this because faith is not a matter of compulsion but of free will.

COMMENTARY ON PAUL’S EPISTLES

2 Corinthians 2:1

Paul was afraid that if he rebuked a few he would cause pain to many, because all the members of a body suffer when one of them is in pain.

COMMENTARY ON PAUL’S EPISTLES