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Ambrosiaster

Nicene & Post-Nicene · AD 325–500 · 1,043 passages across 16 books

Commentary

441–460 of 1,043
2 Corinthians 12:13

For what is it wherein ye were inferior to other churches, except it be that I myself was not burdensome to you? forgive me this wrong.

Paul is telling the Corinthians that they were better off than other churches. Corinth was the only place where he preached the gospel without being paid for it.

COMMENTARY ON PAUL’S EPISTLES

2 Corinthians 12:14

Behold, the third time I am ready to come to you; and I will not be burdensome to you: for I seek not yours, but you: for the children ought not to lay up for the parents, but the parents for the children.

Paul’s desire was to gain the Corinthians themselves and not their money. Once they understood that, they would have more affection for him.

COMMENTARY ON PAUL’S EPISTLES

2 Corinthians 12:15

And I will very gladly spend and be spent for you; though the more abundantly I love you, the less I be loved.

Now Paul is openly expressing the love and affection which he had for them, since he is prepared not only to spend lavishly on their behalf but even to die for the salvation of their souls.

COMMENTARY ON PAUL’S EPISTLES

2 Corinthians 12:16

But be it so, I did not burden you: nevertheless, being crafty, I caught you with guile.

Paul makes explicit all the charges which an opponent might make against him in order to clear himself on all counts. For he did not deal deviously with the Corinthians but straightforwardly. On the one hand he wanted to make provision for them in the sight of God and on the other he did not want their wealth in this life. He might have been suspected of despising them because the sums which they offered him were too small, but this was not the case.

COMMENTARY ON PAUL’S EPISTLES

2 Corinthians 12:17

Did I make a gain of you by any of them whom I sent unto you?

Paul is saying that the people whom he sent to them did not suggest that if they wanted the apostle to be welldisposed toward them they should offer him more money. Commentary on Paul’s Epistles.

2 Corinthians 12:18

I desired Titus, and with him I sent a brother. Did Titus make a gain of you? walked we not in the same spirit? walked we not in the same steps?

It is obvious that since nothing like this was done by any of Paul’s colleagues, the unanimous verdict on him was that he was of good character, with no trace of avarice in him.

COMMENTARY ON PAUL’S EPISTLES

2 Corinthians 12:19

Again, think ye that we excuse ourselves unto you? we speak before God in Christ: but we do all things, dearly beloved, for your edifying.

Paul wants the Corinthians to love and respect him, without becoming a burden on their finances.

COMMENTARY ON PAUL’S EPISTLES

2 Corinthians 12:21

And lest, when I come again, my God will humble me among you, and that I shall bewail many which have sinned already, and have not repented of the uncleanness and fornication and lasciviousness which they have committed.

Paul is saying that some have repented but others have not. This contradicts Novatian, who claims that fornicators cannot repent or be received back into communion. Paul is affirming that they have indeed repented, and because of this they have been received back into the peace of the church.

COMMENTARY ON PAUL’S EPISTLES

2 Corinthians 13:1

This is the third time I am coming to you. In the mouth of two or three witnesses shall every word be established.

Paul is here appealing to the law, saying that it applies to the Corinthians as well.

COMMENTARY ON PAUL’S EPISTLES

2 Corinthians 13:3

Since ye seek a proof of Christ speaking in me, which to you-ward is not weak, but is mighty in you.

The Corinthians are seeking proof that Christ is speaking in the apostles. When they do not obey Paul’s teachings, they want to test him to see whether he will dare to exact retribution.

COMMENTARY ON PAUL’S EPISTLES

2 Corinthians 13:4

For though he was crucified through weakness, yet he liveth by the power of God. For we also are weak in him, but we shall live with him by the power of God toward you.

Paul is referring here to the personal experience of the apostles, who were made weak by being treated badly, imprisoned and beaten.… Believers are made strong by being weak. Death inflicted by unbelievers is life as far as believers are concerned, for they will rise again to reign with Christ.

COMMENTARY ON PAUL’S EPISTLES

2 Corinthians 13:5

Examine yourselves, whether ye be in the faith; prove your own selves. Know ye not your own selves, how that Jesus Christ is in you, except ye be reprobates?

Paul is saying this because if we do not know how to put one another to the test, we do not know whether Christ is in us or not. To fail to meet the test is not to know the faith inherent in our religious profession. A person who has a sense of faith in his heart knows that Jesus Christ is within him. Commentary on Paul’s Epistles.

2 Corinthians 13:6

But I trust that ye shall know that we are not reprobates.

Paul is calling them to a knowledge of the faith and an upright life. Once they have recognized the authority of the apostle and his worth in God’s sight, they will start to be concerned about themselves.

COMMENTARY ON PAUL’S EPISTLES

2 Corinthians 13:7

Now I pray to God that ye do no evil; not that we should appear approved, but that ye should do that which is honest, though we be as reprobates.

Paul is praying that he and his colleagues will be humbled, as it were, by seeing the Corinthians so well behaved that he will not dare rebuke them. If they are humbled in this way, they will appear to be false. It is when they judge sinners with the authority granted to them that they are seen to be approved as genuine by God. If then there are no people for them to judge, it looks as if they have been proved false through the lessening of their authority.

COMMENTARY ON PAUL’S EPISTLES

2 Corinthians 13:8

For we can do nothing against the truth, but for the truth.

Paul is saying this because there is no power against the truth. They cannot reprove someone who is living a good life, but only someone who is an enemy of the law. This power will come to nothing if people have done what is good.

COMMENTARY ON PAUL’S EPISTLES

2 Corinthians 13:11

Finally, brethren, farewell. Be perfect, be of good comfort, be of one mind, live in peace; and the God of love and peace shall be with you.

The joy referred to here will come when the Corinthians mend their ways, after which it will be possible for them to mature in faith. But before that there will be consolation, enabling them to abandon the pleasure of the present in favor of hope for things to come. The peace of God is one thing, but the peace of the world is another. People in the world have peace, but it works to their damnation. The peace of Christ is free from sins, and therefore it is pleasing to God. A person who has peace will also have love, and the God of both will protect him forever.

COMMENTARY ON PAUL’S EPISTLES

2 Corinthians 13:13

All the saints salute you.

Paul is calling the Corinthians to holiness, so that they may be bold enough to return the greeting of the saints. For they are greeted by the saints with the intention that they should imitate them.

COMMENTARY ON PAUL’S EPISTLES

2 Corinthians 13:14

The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the communion of the Holy Ghost, be with you all. Amen.

Here is the intertwining of the Trinity and the unity of power which brings all salvation to fulfillment. The love of God has sent us Jesus the Savior, by whose grace we have been saved. The fellowship of the Holy Spirit makes it possible for us to possess the grace of salvation, for he guards those who are loved by God and saved by the grace of Christ, so that the completeness of the Three may be the saving fulfillment of mankind.

COMMENTARY ON PAUL’S EPISTLES

2 Thessalonians 1:1

Paul, and Silvanus, and Timotheus, unto the church of the Thessalonians in God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ:

The beginning of the letter starts with the usual form of words, and the three men in whose name it is written are the same as in the first letter.

2 Thessalonians 1:3

We are bound to thank God always for you, brethren, as it is meet, because that your faith groweth exceedingly, and the charity of every one of you all toward each other aboundeth;

Paul adds in a fitting manner, so that they testify that great thanks must be given to God for such an infinite gift.

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