Verse 3
I speak not this to condemn you - I do not speak to reproach but to correct you. I wish you to open your eyes and see how you are corrupted, spoiled, and impoverished by those whom ye have incautiously preferred to the true apostles of Jesus Christ.
I have said before, that ye are in our hearts - He has in effect and substance said this, [2Cor 1:6-8] (note); [2Cor 2:4] (note), [2Cor 2:12] (note); [2Cor 3:2] (note), and [2Cor 3:13] (note); where see the passages at length, and the notes.
To die and live with you - An expression which points out the strongest affection, as in cases where love blinds us to the faults of those whom we love, and causes us to prefer them to all others; like that in Horace: -
Quanquam sidere pulchrior llle est, tu levior cortice, et improbo
Iracundior Adria.
Tecum vivere amem, tecum obeam tibens.
Odar. lib. iii. Od. ix. ver. 21. "Though he exceed in beauty far
The rising lustre of a star;
Though light as cork thy fancy strays,
Thy passions wild as angry seas
When vex'd with storms; yet gladly I
With thee would live, with thee would die."
Francis.
From all appearance there never was a Church less worthy of an apostle's affections than this Church was at this time; and yet no one ever more beloved. The above quotation applies to this case in full force.
Verse 4
Great is my boldness of speech - He seems to refer to the manner in which he spoke of them to others.
Great is my glorying of you - They had probably been very loving and affectionate previously to the time in which they were perverted by their false apostle. He therefore had boasted of them in all the Churches.
I am filled with comfort - My affection for you has still the most powerful ascendancy in my soul. Here we may see the affection of the most tender father to his children.
I am exceeding joyful - Ὑπερπερισσευομαι· I superabound in joy; I have a joy beyond expression. Ὑπερπερισσευω is an extremely rare verb. I have not met with it in any Greek author; and it occurs no where in the New Testament but here and in [Rom 5:20].
In all our tribulation - Perhaps επι here should be rendered under instead of in, as it signifies, [Mar 2:26]; [Luk 3:2]; [Act 11:28]. Under all our tribulations, I feel inexpressible joy on your account.
Verse 5
When we were come into Macedonia - St. Paul, having left Ephesus, came to Troas, where he stopped some time; afterwards he came to Macedonia, whence he wrote this epistle,
Our flesh had no rest - So exceedingly anxious was he to know the success of his first epistle to them.
Without were fightings - The oppositions of pagans, Jews, and false brethren.
Within were fears - Uncertain conjectures relative to the success of his epistle; fears lest the severity of it should alienate their affections utterly from him; fears lest the party of the incestuous person should have prevailed; fears lest the teaching of the false apostle should have perverted their minds from the simplicity of the truth; all was uncertainty, all apprehension; and the Spirit of God did not think proper to remove the causes of these apprehensions in any extraordinary way.
Verse 6
Comforted us by the coming of Titus - Who brought him a most satisfactory account of the success of his epistle, and the good state of the Corinthian Church.
Verse 7
He told us your earnest desire - To see me, and correct what was amiss among yourselves.
Your mourning - Because you had sinned.
Your fervent mind - The zeal you felt to testify your affectionate regard for me.
Verse 8
I do not repent, though I did repent - Though I had many doubts in my mind concerning the success of my letter; and though I grieved that I was obliged to write with so much severity, the case absolutely requiring it; yet now I am not sorry that I have written that letter, because I find it has completely answered the end for which it was sent.
Verse 9
Ye sorrowed to repentance - Ye had such a sorrow as produced a complete change of mind and conduct. We see that a man may sorrow, and yet not repent.
Made sorry after a godly manner - It was not a sorrow because ye were found out, and thus solemnly reprehended, but a sorrow because ye had sinned against God, and which consideration caused you to grieve more than the apprehension of any punishment.
Damage by us in nothing - Your repentance prevented that exercise of my apostolic duty, which would have consigned your bodies to destruction, that your souls might be saved in the day of the Lord Jesus.
Verse 10
For godly sorrow - That which has the breach of God's holy law for its object.
Worketh repentance - A thorough change of mind unto salvation, because the person who feels it cannot rest till he finds pardon through the mercy of God.
But the sorrow of the world worketh death - Sorrow for lost goods, lost friends, death of relatives, etc., when it is poignant and deep, produces diseases, increases those that already exist, and often leads men to lay desperate hands on themselves. This sorrow leads to destruction, the other leads to salvation; the one leads to heaven, the other to hell.
Verse 11
What carefulness it wrought in you - Carefulness of obeying my directions, [2Cor 7:15]; yea, what clearing of yourselves from guilt by inflicting censures on the guilty person, and putting away evil from among you, [1Cor 5:13]; yea, what indignation against him who had dishonored his profession, and defiled the Church; yea, what fear of my displeasure, and the rod which I threatened, [1Cor 4:21]; yea, what vehement desire to rectify what was amiss in this matter, [2Cor 7:7]; yea, what zeal for me; yea, what revenge in punishing the delinquent. See Whitby.
In all things, etc. - In the whole of your conduct in this affair since ye have received my letter, ye have approved yourselves to be clear, ἁγνους; not only to be clear of contumacy and obstinate persistence in your former conduct, but to have done all in the compass of your power to rectify the abuses which had crept in among you. The Corinthians were not clear, i.e. innocent or void of blame in the fact, but they were clear of all blame in their endeavors to remove the evil.