Ambrosiaster — Commentary on Scripture

2 Corinthians 9:8

Paul points out that the grace of God is present in them. Just as it has led their hearts to amend their faults and accept the truth of Christian teaching, so it will assist them, once they have begun, to abound in every good work.

COMMENTARY ON PAUL’S EPISTLES

2 Corinthians 9:9

If the righteousness of a man who gives to the poor endures forever, how much more will this be true of a man who gives to the saints. For the poor are obvious to all, but the saints are known only to those who can discern them, for they are servants of God who are constant in prayer and fasting and who lead a pure life.

COMMENTARY ON PAUL’S EPISTLES

2 Corinthians 9:12

It is not only those who have been delivered from beggary to the service of God who rejoice but all those who see the want being supplied. Thus it is that what is given to a few redounds in praises given by the many to God.

COMMENTARY ON PAUL’S EPISTLES

2 Corinthians 9:13

By this service Paul and his companions are testing the Corinthians’ attitude and magnifying the Lord.

COMMENTARY ON PAUL’S EPISTLES

2 Corinthians 10:1

Paul is saying that he is the same person whether present or absent. He refers here to the meekness and gentleness of Christ because he does not want to appear to be harsher in person than in a letter. At the same time, he warns them that he can be severe with them if he has to be and that if they do not put things right in his absence, they may get an unpleasant surprise when he comes.

COMMENTARY ON PAUL’S EPISTLES

2 Corinthians 10:2

Paul is referring here to those who did not accept that his teaching was spiritual.

COMMENTARY ON PAUL’S EPISTLES

2 Corinthians 10:3

This means that although we are living in the body we act in a spiritual way. Anyone who does what is pleasing to God is acting spiritually.

COMMENTARY ON PAUL’S EPISTLES

2 Corinthians 10:4

All worldly things are corrupt, but Paul is strong because he is fighting with uncorrupted weapons.

COMMENTARY ON PAUL’S EPISTLES

2 Corinthians 10:5

Paul takes an intellect captive when he conquers it just as it is contradicting him by its reasonings, and he leads it, humbled and tame, to the Christian faith.

COMMENTARY ON PAUL’S EPISTLES

2 Corinthians 10:6

Paul avenges disobedience when he condemns it through obedience, destroying it at the same time as he leads those who resist to the faith, in order that unbelief may be condemned by those who used to defend it.

COMMENTARY ON PAUL’S EPISTLES

2 Corinthians 10:7

Paul is criticizing those who in the inflated pride of their own presumption have a lower opinion of him than he deserved and who imagined that they had no need of his teaching.

COMMENTARY ON PAUL’S EPISTLES

2 Corinthians 10:11

Someone to whom power has not been given is capable of being bold when absent but when present he is put to shame. The apostle will not be put to shame when issuing his rebuke. He is doing this in bold reliance on his spiritual power.

COMMENTARY ON PAUL’S EPISTLES

2 Corinthians 10:12

People who commend themselves are those who wish to dominate, claiming authority for their own name. A person who is sent on a mission lays claim to power, not on his own behalf but on behalf of the one who sent him. Here Paul is saying that he has been chosen as a steward of the Lord. By not presuming to anything beyond what has been granted to him, he is not associating himself with those who preach without a commission. Commentary on Paul’s Epistles.

2 Corinthians 10:13

Paul takes advantage of his authority only to the extent that he glories in the progress of believers, so that his power may be conducive to salvation and not self-aggrandizement. He did not boast beyond the power that was given to him, nor did he claim any authority in places where his preaching had not been heard.

COMMENTARY ON PAUL’S EPISTLES

2 Corinthians 10:14

Paul did not go too far in what he was doing but stayed within the limits set for his task by God. He makes this explicit here so that the Corinthians will know that God has sent him to them and so they ought to obey his warnings. Otherwise they might appear to be resisting God, by whom Paul was sent.

COMMENTARY ON PAUL’S EPISTLES

2 Corinthians 10:15

Someone who takes pride in his own work is not being excessively proud of himself. A prudent man does not rely on the labors of others. This is why Paul does not claim any credit for those who have come to faith by the preaching of other evangelists.

COMMENTARY ON PAUL’S EPISTLES

2 Corinthians 10:16

What Paul wants is to preach the gospel to those to whom the message has not yet been given, so that God will be glorified by his labor.

COMMENTARY ON PAUL’S EPISTLES

2 Corinthians 10:17

By saying this Paul intimates that even his assurance and pride are to be given to the Lord, because it is by his favor that he has them. Someone who has confidence in the power of the gospel has confidence in the God who enables it. Thus God is glorified by all godly work. A person who has not received power from God cannot glory in the Lord, because he is seeking his own glory.

COMMENTARY ON PAUL’S EPISTLES

2 Corinthians 10:18

God does not commend someone whom he does not send.

COMMENTARY ON PAUL’S EPISTLES

2 Corinthians 11:1

Paul says that he is being foolish when he starts to talk about himself but that he is forced to do so because these people were harboring unworthy thoughts, when they of all people ought to be thinking well of him.

COMMENTARY ON PAUL’S EPISTLES