{"commentary":{"id":"jamieson-fausset-brown","name":"Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary","website":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jamieson-Fausset-Brown_Bible_Commentary","licenseUrl":"https://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/mark/1.0/","licenseNotes":null,"licenseNotice":null,"englishName":"Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary","language":"eng","textDirection":"rtl","sha256":"db3d4c8b3c1f32ef9d1430a57392e02bda3a17aac1f9bbe398461de021a3cb13","availableFormats":["json"],"listOfBooksApiLink":"/api/c/jamieson-fausset-brown/books.json","listOfProfilesApiLink":"/api/c/jamieson-fausset-brown/profiles.json","numberOfBooks":66,"totalNumberOfChapters":1187,"totalNumberOfVerses":17056,"totalNumberOfProfiles":0,"languageName":"English","languageEnglishName":"English"},"book":{"id":"2CO","commentaryId":"jamieson-fausset-brown","name":"2 Corinthians","commonName":"2 Corinthians","introduction":"THE following reasons seem to have induced Paul to write this Second Epistle to the Corinthians: (1) That he might explain the reasons for his having deferred to pay them his promised visit, by taking Corinth as his way to Macedonia (Co1 4:19; Co2 1:15-16; compare Co1 16:5); and so that he might set forth to them his apostolic walk in general (Co2 1:12, Co2 1:24; Co2 6:3-13; Co2 7:2). (2) That he might commend their obedience in reference to the directions in his First Epistle, and at the same time direct them now to forgive the offender, as having been punished sufficiently (Co2 2:1-11; Co2 7:6-16). (3) That he might urge them to collect for the poor saints at Jerusalem (Co2 8:1-9, Co2 8:15). (4) That he might maintain his apostolic authority and reprove gainsayers.\n\nThe external testimonies for its genuineness are IRENÆUS [Against Heresies, 3,7,1]; ATHENAGORAS [Of the Resurrection of the Dead]; CLEMENT OF ALEXANDRIA [Miscellanies, 3, p. 94; 4, p. 101]; TERTULLIAN [On Modesty, 13].\n\nThe TIME OF WRITING was after Pentecost, A.D. 57, when Paul left Ephesus for Troas. Having stayed in the latter place for some time preaching the Gospel with effect (Co2 2:12), he went on to Macedonia, being eager to meet Titus there, having been disappointed in his not coming to Troas, as had been agreed on between them. Having heard from him the tidings he so much desired of the good effect produced on the Corinthians by his First Epistle, and after having tested the liberality of the Macedonian churches (Co2 8:1), he wrote this Second Epistle, and then went on to Greece, where he abode for three months; and then, after travelling by land, reached Philippi on his return at Passover or Easter, A.D. 58 (Act 20:1-6). So that this Epistle must have been written about autumn, A.D. 57.\n\nMacedonia was THE PLACE from which it was written (Co2 9:2, where the present tense, \"I boast,\" or \"am boasting,\" implies his presence then in Macedonia). In Asia (Lydian Asia) he had undergone some great peril of his life (Co2 1:8-9), whether the reference be [PALEY] to the tumult at Ephesus (Acts 19:23-41), or, as ALFORD thinks, to a dangerous illness in which he despaired of life. Thence he passed by Troas to Philippi, the first city which would meet him in entering Macedonia. The importance of the Philippian Church would induce him to stay there some time; as also his desire to collect contributions from the Macedonian churches for the poor saints at Jerusalem. His anxiety of mind is recorded (Co2 7:5) as occurring when he came into Macedonia, and therefore must have been at Philippi, which was the first city of Macedonia in coming from Troas; and here, too, from Co2 7:6, compared with Co2 7:5, must have been the scene of his receiving the comforting tidings from Titus. \"Macedonia\" is used for Philippi in Co2 11:9, as is proved by comparison with Phi 4:15-16. So it is probably used here (Co2 7:5). ALFORD argues from Co2 8:1, where he speaks of the \"grace bestowed on the churches (plural) of Macedonia,\" that Paul must have visited other churches in Macedonia, besides Philippi, when he wrote, for example, Thessalonica, Berea, &c., and that Philippi, the first on his route, is less likely to have been the scene of his writing than the last on his route, whichever it was, perhaps Thessalonica. But Philippi, as being the chief town of the province, was probably the place to which all the collections of the churches were sent. Ancient tradition, too (as appears from the subscription to this Epistle), favors the view that Philippi was the place from which this Epistle was sent by the hands of Titus who received, besides, a charge to prosecute at Corinth the collection which he had begun at his first visit (Co2 8:6).\n\nThe STYLE is most varied, and passes rapidly from one phase of feeling to another; now joyous and consolatory, again severe and full of reproof; at one time gentle and affectionate, at another, sternly rebuking opponents and upholding his dignity as an apostle. This variety of style accords with the warm and earnest character of the apostle, which nowhere is manifested more beautifully than in this Epistle. His bodily frailty, and the chronic malady under which he suffered, and which is often alluded to (Co2 4:7; Co2 5:1-4; Co2 12:7-9; compare Note, see on Co2 1:8), must have been especially trying to one of his ardent temperament. But besides this, was the more pressing anxiety of the \"care of all the churches.\" At Corinth, as elsewhere, Judaizing emissaries wished to bind legal fetters of letter and form (compare 2Co. 3:3-18) on the freedom and catholicity of the Church. On the other hand, there were free thinkers who defended their immorality of practice by infidel theories (Co1 15:12, Co1 15:32-36). These were the \"fightings without,\" and \"fears within\" (Co2 7:5-6) which agitated the apostle's mind until Titus brought him comforting tidings from Corinth. Even then, while the majority at Corinth had testified their repentance, and, as Paul had desired, excommunicated the incestuous person, and contributed for the poor Christians of Judea, there was still a minority who, more contemptuously than ever, resisted the apostle. These accused him of crafty and mercenary motives, as if he had personal gain in view in the collection being made; and this, notwithstanding his scrupulous care to be above the possibility of reasonable suspicion, by having others besides himself to take charge of the money. This insinuation was palpably inconsistent with their other charge, that he could be no true apostle, as he did not claim maintenance from the churches which he founded. Another accusation they brought of cowardly weakness; that he was always threatening severe measures without daring to execute them (Co2 10:8-16; Co2 13:2); and that he was vacillating in his teaching and practice, circumcising Timothy, and yet withholding circumcision from Titus; a Jew among the Jews, and a Greek among the Greeks. That most of these opponents were of the Judaizing party in the Church, appears from Co2 11:22. They seem to have been headed by an emissary from Judea (\"he that cometh,\" Co2 11:4), who had brought \"letters of commendation\" (Co2 3:1) from members of the Church at Jerusalem, and who boasted of his purity of Hebrew descent, and his close connection with Christ Himself (Co2 11:13, Co2 11:23). His partisans contrasted his high pretensions with the timid humility of Paul (Co1 2:3); and his rhetoric with the apostle's plain and unadorned style (Co2 11:6; Co2 10:10, Co2 10:13). It was this state of things at Corinth, reported by Titus, that caused Paul to send him back forthwith thither with this Second Epistle, which is addressed, not to Corinth only (Co1 1:2), but to all the churches also in Achaia (Co2 1:1), which had in some degree been affected by the same causes as affected the Corinthian Church. The widely different tone in different parts of the Epistle is due to the diversity which existed at Corinth between the penitent majority and the refractory minority. The former he addresses with the warmest affection; the latter with menace and warning. Two deputies, chosen by the churches to take charge of the contribution to be collected at Corinth, accompanied Titus (Co2 8:18-19, Co2 8:22). \n\n\n\nNext: 2 Corinthians Chapter 1\n\n","order":47,"numberOfChapters":13,"sha256":"90286450b61b72bcc6f42b0d0d5b45cafdeabce5f4f3d78e1fddf60a95cf8970","firstChapterNumber":1,"firstChapterApiLink":"/api/c/jamieson-fausset-brown/2CO/1.json","firstChapterReference":{"commentaryId":"jamieson-fausset-brown","book":"2CO","chapter":1},"lastChapterNumber":13,"lastChapterApiLink":"/api/c/jamieson-fausset-brown/2CO/13.json","lastChapterReference":{"commentaryId":"jamieson-fausset-brown","book":"2CO","chapter":13},"totalNumberOfVerses":240},"chapter":{"number":4,"content":[{"type":"verse","number":2,"content":["renounced--literally, \"bid farewell to.\" \n\nof dishonesty--rather, \"of shame.\" \"I am not ashamed of the Gospel of Christ\" (Rom 1:16). Shame would lead to hiding (Co2 4:3); whereas \"we use great plainness of speech\" (Co2 3:12); \"by manifestation of the truth.\" Compare Co2 3:3, \"manifestly declared.\" He refers to the disingenuous artifices of \"many\" teachers at Corinth (Co2 2:17; Co2 3:1; Co2 11:13-15). \n\nhandling . . . deceitfully--so \"corrupt\" or adulterate \"the word of God\" (Co2 2:17; compare Th1 2:3-4). \n\ncommending--recommending ourselves: recurring to Co2 3:1. \n\nto--to the verdict of. \n\nevery man's conscience-- (Co2 5:11). Not to men's carnal judgment, as those alluded to (Co2 3:1). \n\nin the sight of God-- (Co2 2:17; Gal 1:10).\n\n"]},{"type":"verse","number":3,"content":["But if--Yea, even if (as I grant is the case). \n\nhid--rather (in reference to Co2 3:13-18), \"veiled.\" \"Hid\" (Greek, Col 3:3) is said of that withdrawn from view altogether. \"Veiled,\" of a thing within reach of the eye, but covered over so as not to be seen. So it was in the case of Moses' face. \n\nto them--in the case only of them: for in itself the Gospel is quite plain. \n\nthat are lost--rather, \"that are perishing\" (Co1 1:18). So the same cloud that was \"light\" to the people of God, was \"darkness\" to the Egyptian foes of God (Exo 14:20).\n\n"]},{"type":"verse","number":4,"content":["In whom--Translate, \"In whose case.\" \n\ngod of this world--The worldly make him their God (Phi 3:19). He is, in fact, \"the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that ruleth in the children of disobedience\" (Eph 2:2). \n\nminds--\"understandings\": \"mental perceptions,\" as in Co2 3:14. \n\nthem which believe not--the same as \"them that are lost\" (or \"are perishing\"). Compare Th2 2:10-12. SOUTH quaintly says, \"when the malefactor's eyes are covered, he is not far from his execution\" (Est 7:8). Those perishing unbelievers are not merely veiled, but blinded (Co2 3:14-15): Greek, not \"blinded,\" but \"hardened.\" \n\nlight of the glorious gospel of Christ--Translate, \"The illumination (enlightening: the propagation from those already enlightened, to others of the light) of the Gospel of the glory of Christ.\" \"The glory of Christ\" is not a mere quality (as \"glorious\" would express) of the Gospel; it is its very essence and subject matter. \n\nimage of God--implying identity of nature and essence (Joh 1:18; Col 1:15; Heb 1:3). He who desires to see \"the glory of God,\" may see it \"in the face of Jesus Christ\" (Co2 4:6; Ti1 6:14-16). Paul here recurs to Co2 3:18. Christ is \"the image of God,\" into which \"same image\" we, looking on it in the mirror of the Gospel, are changed by the Spirit; but this image is not visible to those blinded by Satan [ALFORD].\n\n"]},{"type":"verse","number":5,"content":["For--Their blindness is not our fault, as if we had self-seeking aims in our preaching. \n\npreach . . . Christ . . . the Lord--rather, \"Christ as Lord,\" and ourselves as your servants, &c. \"Lord,\" or \"Master,\" is the correlative term to \"servants.\"\n\n"]},{"type":"verse","number":6,"content":["For--proof that we are true servants of Jesus unto you. \n\ncommanded the light--Greek, \"By speaking the word, commanded light\" (Gen 1:3). \n\nhath shined--rather, as Greek, \"is He who shined.\" (It is God) who commanded light, &c., that shined, &c., (Job 37:15): Himself our Light and Sun, as well as the Creator of light (Mal 4:2; Joh 8:12). The physical world answers to the spiritual. \n\nin our hearts--in themselves dark. \n\nto give the light--that is, to propagate to others the light, &c., which is in us (compare Note, see on Co2 4:4). \n\nthe glory of God--answering to \"the glory of Christ\" (see on Co2 4:4). \n\nin the face of Jesus Christ--Some of the oldest manuscripts retain \"Jesus.\" Others omit it. Christ is the manifestation of the glory of God, as His image (Joh 14:9). The allusion is still to the brightness on Moses' \"face.\" The only true and full manifestation of God's brightness and glory is \"in the face of Jesus\" (Heb 1:3).\n\n"]},{"type":"verse","number":7,"content":["\"Lest any should say, How then is it that we continue to enjoy such unspeakable glory in a mortal body? Paul replies, this very fact is one of the most marvellous proofs of God's power, that an earthen vessel could bear such splendor and keep such a treasure\" [CHRYSOSTOM, Homilies, 8.496, A]. The treasure or \"the light of the knowledge of the glory of God.\" The fragile \"earthen vessel\" is the body, the \"outward man\" (Co2 4:16; compare Co2 4:10), liable to afflictions and death. So the light in Gideon's pitchers, the type (Jdg 7:16-20, Jdg 7:22). The ancients often kept their treasures in jars or vessels of earthenware. \"There are earthen vessels which yet may be clean; whereas a golden vessel may be filthy\" [BENGEL]. \n\nthat the excellency of the power, &c.--that the power of the ministry (the Holy Spirit), in respect to its surpassing \"excellency,\" exhibited in winning souls (Co1 2:4) and in sustaining us ministers, might be ascribed solely to God, we being weak as earthen vessels. God often allows the vessel to be chipped and broken, that the excellency of the treasure contained, and of the power which that treasure has, may be all His (Co2 4:10-11; Joh 3:30). \n\nmay be of God . . . not of us--rather, as Greek, \"may be God's (may be seen and be thankfully [Co2 4:15] acknowledged to belong to God), and not (to come) from us.\" The power not merely comes from God, but belongs to Him continually, and is to be ascribed to him.\n\n"]},{"type":"verse","number":8,"content":["Greek, \"BEING hard pressed, yet not inextricably straitened; reduced to inextricable straits\" (nominative to \"we have,\" Co2 4:7). \n\non every side--Greek, \"in every respect\" (compare Co2 4:10, \"always\"; Co2 7:5). This verse expresses inward distresses; Co2 4:9, outward distresses (Co2 7:5). \"Without were fightings; within were fears.\" The first clause in each member of the series of contrasted participles, implies the earthiness of the vessels; the second clause, the excellency of the power. \n\nperplexed, but not in despair--Greek, \"not utterly perplexed.\" As perplexity refers to the future, so \"troubled\" or \"hard pressed\" refers to the present.\n\n"]},{"type":"verse","number":9,"content":["not forsaken--by God and man. Jesus was forsaken by both; so much do His sufferings exceed those of His people (Mat 27:46). \n\ncast down--or \"struck down\"; not only \"persecuted,\" that is, chased as a deer or bird (Sa1 26:20), but actually struck down as with a dart in the chase (Heb 11:35-38). The Greek \"always\" in this verse means, \"throughout the whole time\"; in Co2 4:11 the Greek is different, and means, \"at every time,\" \"in every case when the occasion occurs.\"\n\n"]},{"type":"verse","number":10,"content":["bearing about in the body the dying of the Lord Jesus--that is, having my body exposed to being put to death in the cause of Jesus (the oldest manuscripts omit \"the Lord\"), and having in it the marks of such sufferings, I thus bear about wheresoever I go, an image of the suffering Saviour in my own person (Co2 4:11; Co2 1:5; compare Co1 15:31). Doubtless, Paul was exposed to more dangers than are recorded in Acts (compare Co2 7:5; Co2 11:26). The Greek for \"the dying\" is literally, \"the being made a corpse,\" such Paul regarded his body, yet a corpse which shares in the life-giving power of Christ's resurrection, as it has shared in His dying and death. \n\nthat the life also of Jesus might be made manifest in our body--rather, \"may be.\" The name \"Jesus,\" by itself is often repeated here as Paul seems, amidst sufferings, peculiarly to have felt its sweetness. In Co2 4:11 the same words occur with the variation, \"in our mortal flesh. The fact of a dying, corpse-like body being sustained amidst such trials, manifests that \"the (resurrection) life also,\" as well as the dying, \"of Jesus,\" exerts its power in us. I thus bear about in my own person an image of the risen and living, as well as of the suffering, Saviour. The \"our\" is added here to \"body,\" though not in the beginning of the verse. \"For the body is ours not so much in death, as in life\" [BENGEL].\n\n"]},{"type":"verse","number":11,"content":["we which live--in the power of Christ's \"life\" manifested in us, in our whole man body as well as spirit (Rom 8:10-11; see on Co2 4:10; compare Co2 5:15). Paul regards his preservation amidst so many exposures to \"death,\" by which Stephen and James were cut off, as a standing miracle (Co2 11:23). \n\ndelivered unto--not by chance; by the ordering of Providence, who shows \"the excellency of His power\" (Co2 4:7), in delivering unto DEATH His living saints, that He may manifest LIFE also in their dying flesh. \"Flesh,\" the very element of decay (not merely their \"body\"), is by Him made to manifest life.\n\n"]},{"type":"verse","number":12,"content":["The \"death\" of Christ manifested in the continual \"perishing of our outward man\" (Co2 4:16), works peculiarly in us, and is the means of working spiritual \"life\" in you. The life whereof we witness in our bodily dying, extends beyond ourselves, and is brought by our very dying to you.\n\n"]},{"type":"verse","number":13,"content":["Translate as Greek, \"BUT having,\" &c., that is, not withstanding the trials just mentioned, we having, &c. \n\nthe same spirit of faith, according as it, &c.--Compare Rom 8:15, on the usage of \"spirit of faith.\" The Holy Spirit acting on our spirit. Though \"death worketh in us, and life in you\" (Co2 4:12), yet as we have the same spirit of faith as you, we therefore [believingly] look for the same immortal life as you [ESTIUS], and speak as we believe. ALFORD not so well translates, \"The same . . . faith with that described in the Scriptures\" (Psa 116:10). The balance of the sentence requires the parallelism to be this, \"According to that which is written, I believed, and therefore have I spoken; we also believe, and therefore speak,\" namely, without fear, amidst \"afflictions\" and \"deaths\" (Co2 4:17).\n\n"]},{"type":"verse","number":14,"content":["Knowing--by faith (Co2 5:1). \n\nshall raise up us also--at the resurrection (Co1 6:13-14). \n\nby Jesus--The oldest manuscripts have \"with Jesus.\" \n\npresent us--vividly picturing the scene before the eyes (Jde 1:24). \n\nwith you-- (Co2 1:14; Th1 2:19-20; Th1 3:13).\n\n"]},{"type":"verse","number":15,"content":["For--Confirming his assertion \"with you\" (Co2 4:14), and \"life . . . worketh in you\" (Co2 4:12). \n\nall things--whether the afflictions and labors of us ministers (Co2 4:8-11), or your prosperity (Co2 4:12; Co1 3:21-22; Co1 4:8-13). \n\nfor your sakes-- (Ti2 2:10). \n\nabundant grace, &c.--rather, \"That grace (the grace which preserves us in trials and works life in you), being made the greater (multiplied), by means of the greater number (of its recipients), may cause the thanksgiving to abound to the glory of God.\" [CHRYSOSTOM] (Co2 1:11; Co2 9:11-12). The Greek is susceptible also of this translation, \"That grace, being made the greater (multiplied) on account of the thanksgiving of the greater number (for grace already received), may abound (abundantly redound) to,\" &c. Thus the Greek for \"abound\" has not to be taken in an active sense, but in its ordinary neuter sense, and so the other Greek words. Thanksgiving invites more abundant grace (Ch2 20:19-22; Psa 18:3; Psa 50:23).\n\n"]},{"type":"verse","number":16,"content":["we faint not--notwithstanding our sufferings. Resuming Co2 4:1. \n\noutward man--the body, the flesh. \n\nperish--\"is wearing away\"; \"is wasted away\" by afflictions. \n\ninward man--our spiritual and true being, the \"life\" which even in our mortal bodies (Co2 4:11) \"manifests the life of Jesus.\" \n\nis renewed--\"is being renewed,\" namely, with fresh \"grace\" (Co2 4:15), and \"faith\" (Co2 4:13), and hope (Co2 4:17-18).\n\n"]},{"type":"verse","number":17,"content":["which is but for a moment--\"Our PRESENT light (burden of) affliction\" (so the Greek; compare Mat 11:30), [ALFORD]. Compare \"now for a season . . . in heaviness\" (Pe1 1:6). The contrast, however, between this and the \"ETERNAL weight of glory\" requires, I think, the translation, \"Which is but for the present passing moment.\" So WAHL. \"The lightness of affliction\" (he does not express \"burden\" after \"light\"; the Greek is \"the light of affliction\") contrasts beautifully with the \"weight of the glory.\" \n\nworketh--rather, \"worketh out.\" \n\na far more exceeding and--rather, \"in a surpassing and still more surpassing manner\" [ALFORD]; \"more and more exceedingly\" [ELLICOTT, TRENCH, and others]. Greek, \"in excess and to excess.\" The glory exceeds beyond all measure the affliction.\n\n"]},{"type":"verse","number":18,"content":["look not at--as our aim. \n\nthings . . . seen--\"earthly things\" (Phi 3:19). We mind not the things seen, whether affliction or refreshment come, so as to be seduced by the latter, or deterred by the former [CHRYSOSTOM]. \n\nthings . . . not seen--not \"the invisible things\" of Rom 1:20, but the things which, though not seen now, shall be so hereafter. \n\ntemporal--rather, \"for a time\"; in contrast to eternal. English Version uses \"temporal\" for temporary. The Greek is rightly translated in the similar passage, \"the pleasures of sin for a season.\"\n\n\n\n\nNext: 2 Corinthians Chapter 5\n\n"]}],"introduction":"HIS PREACHING IS OPEN AND SINCERE, THOUGH TO MANY THE GOSPEL IS HIDDEN. (2Co. 4:1-18)\n\nTherefore--Greek, \"For this cause\": Because we have the liberty-giving Spirit of the Lord, and with unveiled face behold His glory (Co2 3:17-18). \n\nseeing we have this ministry--\"The ministration of the Spirit\" (Co2 3:8-9): the ministry of such a spiritual, liberty-giving Gospel: resuming Co2 3:6, Co2 3:8. \n\nreceived mercy--from God, in having had this ministry conferred on us (Co2 3:5). The sense of \"mercy\" received from God, makes men active for God (Ti1 1:11-13). \n\nwe faint not--in boldness of speech and action, and patience in suffering (Co2 4:2, Co2 4:8-16, &c.).\n\n"},"thisChapterLink":"/api/c/jamieson-fausset-brown/2CO/4.json","thisChapterReference":{"commentaryId":"jamieson-fausset-brown","book":"2CO","chapter":4},"nextChapterApiLink":"/api/c/jamieson-fausset-brown/2CO/5.json","nextChapterReference":{"commentaryId":"jamieson-fausset-brown","book":"2CO","chapter":5},"previousChapterApiLink":"/api/c/jamieson-fausset-brown/2CO/3.json","previousChapterReference":{"commentaryId":"jamieson-fausset-brown","book":"2CO","chapter":3},"numberOfVerses":17}