--- title: "Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible · Volume 2: Lamentations to Revelation" author: "Adam Clarke" languages: [en] shelf: "Commentaries" section: 555 of 769 url: https://scriptura.si/works/adam-clarke-commentary-volume-2-lamentations-to-revelation/555/ cite: "Adam Clarke, Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible · Volume 2: Lamentations to Revelation, section 555. Scriptura (scriptura.si), https://scriptura.si/works/adam-clarke-commentary-volume-2-lamentations-to-revelation/555/" --- # Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible · Volume 2: Lamentations to Revelation *Adam Clarke* Clarke's learned notes on the Hebrew and Greek, verse by verse, from Genesis to Revelation: volume 2 of 2. ## 555. 2 Corinthians · 22 of 24 Source: https://scriptura.si/works/adam-clarke-commentary-volume-2-lamentations-to-revelation/555/ · cite a paragraph as https://scriptura.si/works/adam-clarke-commentary-volume-2-lamentations-to-revelation/555/#p-N ### Verse 8 [¶1] I besought the Lord - That is, Christ, as the next verse absolutely proves, and the Socinians themselves confess. And if Christ be an object of prayer in such a case as this, or indeed in any case, it is a sure proof of his divinity; for only an omniscient Being can be made an object of prayer. [¶2] Thrice - Several suppose this to be a certain number for an uncertain; as if he had said, I often besought Christ to deliver me from this tormentor: or, which is perhaps more likely, the apostle may refer to three solemn, fixed, and fervent applications made to Christ at different times; at the last of which he received the answer which he immediately subjoins. It is worthy of remark, that our Lord in his agony acted in the same way: at three different times he applied to God that the cup might depart from him; and in each application he spoke the same words, [Mat 26:39-44]. There is, therefore, a manifest allusion to our Lord's conduct in these words of the apostle. ### Verse 9 [¶4] My grace is sufficient for thee - Thou shalt not be permitted to sink under these afflictions. Thy enemies shall not be able to prevail against thee. [¶5] My strength is made perfect in weakness - The more, and the more violently, thou art afflicted and tried, being upheld by my power, and prospered in all thy labors, the more eminently will my power be seen and acknowledged. For the weaker the instrument I use, the more the power of my grace shall be manifested. See at the end of this chapter, ([2Cor 12:21] (note)). [¶6] Will I rather glory in my infirmities - Therefore, his infirmities do not mean his corruptions, or sins, or sinfulness of any kind; for it would be blasphemous for any man to say, I will rather glory that God leaves my corruptions in me, than that he should take them away. [¶7] That the power of Christ may rest upon me - Επισκηνωσῃ επ' εμε· That it may overshadow me as a tent, or tabernacle; affording me shelter, protection, safety, and rest. This expression is like that, [Joh 1:14] : And the word was made flesh, και εσκηνωσεν εν ἡμιν and made his tabernacle among us - full of grace and truth. The same eternal Word promised to make his tabernacle with the apostle, and gives him a proof that he was still the same - full of grace and truth, by assuring him that his grace should be sufficient for him. Paul, knowing that the promise of grace could not fail, because of the Divine truth, says: Most gladly, therefore, will I rather glory in my afflictions, that such a power of Christ may overshadow and defend me. [¶8] The words are also similar to those of the Prophet Isaiah, [Isa 4:5] : On all the glory shall be a defense. God gives the glory, and God gives the defense of that glory. The apostle had much glory or honor; both Satan and his apostles were very envious; in himself the apostle, as well as all human beings, was weak, and therefore needed the power of God to defend such glory. Grace alone can preserve grace. When we get a particular blessing we need another to preserve it; and without this we shall soon be shorn of our strength, and become as other men. Hence the necessity of continual watchfulness and prayer, and depending on the all-sufficient grace of Christ. See on [2Cor 11:30] (note) ### Verse 10 [¶10] Therefore I take pleasure - I not only endure them patiently, but am pleased when they occur; for I do it for Christ's sake - on his account; for on his account I suffer. For when I am weak - most oppressed with trials and afflictions, then am I strong; God supporting my mind with his most powerful influences, causing me to rejoice with joy unspeakable and full of glory. ### Verse 11 [¶12] I am become a fool in glorying - It is not the part of a wise or gracious man to boast; but ye have compelled me - I have been obliged to do it, in order to vindicate the cause of God. [¶13] I ought to have been commended of you - You should have vindicated both myself and my ministry against the detractors that are among you. [¶14] The very chiefest apostles - See [2Cor 11:1]. [¶15] Though I be nothing - Though I have been thus set at nought by your false apostle; and though, in consequence of what he has said, some of you have been ready to consider me as nothing - what we call good for nothing. This must be the meaning of the apostle, as the following verses prove. [¶16] A kind of technical meaning has been imposed on these words, of which many good people seem very fond. I am nothing - I am all sin, defilement, and unworthiness in myself; but Jesus Christ is all in all. This latter clause is an eternal truth; the former may be very true also; the person who uses it may be all sin, defilement, etc., but let him not say that the apostle of the Gentiles was so too, because this is not true; it is false, and it is injurious to the character of the apostle and to the grace of Christ; besides, it is not the meaning of the text, and the use commonly made of it is abominable, if not wicked. ### Verse 12 [¶18] The signs of an apostle were wrought among you - Though I have been reputed as nothing, I have given the fullest proof of my Divine mission by various signs, wonders, and miracles, and by that patience which I have manifested towards you: though I had power from God to inflict punishment on the transgressors, I have in every case forborne to do it. Is the man nothing who wrought such miracles among you? ### Verse 13 [¶20] For what is it wherein you were inferior - This is a fine, forcible, yet delicate stroke. It was your duty and your interest to have supported your apostle; other Churches have done so: I did not require this from you; in this respect all other Churches are superior to you. I am the cause of your inferiority, by not giving you an opportunity of ministering to my necessities: forgive me the wrong I have done you. It is the privilege of the Churches of Christ to support the ministry of his Gospel among them. Those who do not contribute their part to the support of the Gospel ministry either care nothing for it, or derive no good from it. ### Verse 14 [¶22] The third time I am ready - That is, this is the third time that I am ready - have formed the resolution, to visit you. He had formed this resolution twice before, but was disappointed. See [1Cor 16:5], and [2Cor 1:15], [2Cor 1:16]. He now formed it a third time, having more probability of seeing them now than he had before. See [2Cor 13:2]. [¶23] I seek not yours, but you - I seek your salvation, I desire not your property; others have sought your property, but not your salvation. See [2Cor 11:20]. [¶24] For the children ought not to lay up for the parents - You may have many teachers, but you have but one Father; for in Christ Jesus I have begotten you through the Gospel; see [1Cor 4:15]. Ye are my children, and I am your father. You have not contributed to my support, but I have been labouring for your life. I will act towards you as the loving father who works hard, and lays up what is necessary to enable his children to get their bread. ### Verse 15 [¶26] And I will very gladly spend and be spent for you - I will continue to act as a loving father, who spends all he has upon his children, and expends his own strength and life in providing for them the things necessary for their preservation and comfort. [¶27] Though the more abundantly I love you - I will even act towards you with the most affectionate tenderness, though it happen to me, as it often does to loving fathers, that their disobedient children love them less, in proportion as their love to them is increased. Does it not frequently happen that the most disobedient child in the family is that one on which the parents' tenderness is more especially placed? See the parable of the prodigal son. It is in the order of God that it should be so, else the case of every prodigal would be utterly deplorable. The shepherd feels more for the lost sheep than for the ninety-nine that have not gone astray. [¶28] If I be asked, "Should Christian parents lay up money for their children?" I answer: It is the duty of every parent who can, to lay up what is necessary to put every child in a condition to earn its bread. If he neglect this, he undoubtedly sins against God and nature. "But should not a man lay up, besides this, a fortune for his children, if he can honestly?" I answer: Yes, if there be no poor within his reach; no good work which he can assist; no heathen region on the earth to which he can contribute to send the Gospel of Jesus; but not otherwise. God shows, in the course of his providence, that this laying up of fortunes for children is not right; for there is scarcely ever a case where money has been saved up to make the children independent and gentlemen, in which God has not cursed the blessing. It was saved from the poor, from the ignorant, from the cause of God; and the canker of his displeasure consumed this ill-saved property. ### Verse 16 [¶30] But be it so, I did not burden you - That is: You grant that I did not burden you, that I took nothing from you, but preached to you the Gospel freely; but you say that, Being Crafty, I caught you with guile; i.e. getting from you, by means of others, what I pretended to be unwilling to receive immediately from yourselves. [¶31] Many persons suppose that the words, being crafty, I caught you with guile, are the words of the apostle and not of his slanderers; and therefore have concluded that it is lawful to use guile, deceit, etc., in order to serve a good and a religious purpose. This doctrine is abominable; and the words are most evidently those of the apostle's detractors, against which he defends his conduct in the two following verses. ### Verse 17 [¶33] Did I make a gain of you - Did any person I ever sent to preach the Gospel to you, or help you in your Christian course, ever get any thing from you for me? Produce the proof if you can. ### Verse 18 [¶35] I desired Titus - I never sent any to you but Titus and another brother; [2Cor 8:6], [2Cor 8:18]. And did Titus make a gain of you? Did he get any thing from you, either for himself or for me? You know he did not. He was actuated by the same spirit, and he walked in the same steps. ### Verse 19 [¶37] Think ye that we excuse ourselves - Απολογουμεθα; That we make an apology for our conduct; or, that I have sent Titus and that brother to you because I was ashamed or afraid to come myself? [¶38] We speak before God in Christ - I have not done so; I speak the truth before God; he is judge whether I was actuated in this way by any sinister or unworthy motive. [¶39] For your edifying - Whatever I have done in this or any other way, I have done for your edifying; not for any emolument to myself or friends. ### Verse 20 [¶41] I fear, lest, when I come - I think the present time is used here for the past; the apostle seems most evidently to be giving them the reason why he had not come to them according to his former purposes, and why he sent Titus and his companion. He was afraid to come at that time lest he should have found them perverted from the right way, and he be obliged to make use of his apostolical rod, and punish the offenders; but, feeling towards them the heart of a tender father, he was unwilling to use the rod; and sent the first epistle to them, and the messengers above mentioned, being reluctant to go himself till he had satisfactory evidence that their divisions were ended, and that they had repented for and put away the evils that they had committed; and that he should not be obliged to bewail them who had sinned so abominably, and had not repented for their crimes. If this verse be understood in this way, all difficulty will vanish; otherwise, what is here said does seem to contradict what is said, [2Cor 7:6], [2Cor 7:16], etc.; as well as many things both in the eighth and ninth chapters. [¶42] Debates, envyings - From these different expressions, which are too plain to need interpretation, we see what a distracted and divided state the Church at Corinth must have been in. Brotherly love and charity seem to have been driven out of this once heavenly assembly. These debates, etc., are precisely the opposites to that love which the apostle recommends and explains by its different properties in the 13th chapter of his first epistle. [¶43] Mr. Wakefield translates the original thus: strifes, rivalries, passions, provocations, slanders, whisperings, swellings, quarrels. ### Verse 21 [¶45] Lest, when I come again - And even after all that has been done for you, I fear that when I do come - when I pay you my second visit, my God will humble me - will permit me to be affected with deep sorrow through what I may see among you; as I have been by the buffetings of the apostle of Satan, who has perverted you. Humiliation is repeatedly used for affliction, and here ταπεινωσῃ has certainly that meaning.