《The Biblical Illustrator – 2 Corinthians (Ch.0~3)》(A Compilation)
General Introduction
Over 34,000 pages in its original 56 volume printing, the Biblical Illustrator is a massive compilation of treatments on 10,000 passages of Scripture. It is arranged in commentary form for ease of use in personal study and devotion, as well as sermon preparation.
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While this commentary is not known for its Greek or Hebrew exposition, the New Testament includes hundreds of references to, and explanations of, Greek words.
Joseph S. Exell edited and compiled the 56 volume Biblical Illustrator commentary. You will recognize him as the co-editor of the famous Pulpit Commentary (this commentary is even larger than the Pulpit Commentary). This remarkable work is the triumph of a life devoted to Biblical research and study. Assisted by a small army of students, the Exell draws on the rich stores of great minds since the beginning of New Testament times.
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00 Overview
2 CORINTHIANS
INTRODUCTION
I. The Interval between the Two Epistles. St. Paul’s departure from Ephesus was probably hastened by the tumult raised by the shrine-makers of Artemis (or Diana) against him (Acts 19:21; Acts 20:1). It was some time before Pentecost, in the year 58, when he “departed for to go into Macedonia.” He journeyed to Troas, the port of embarkation for Macedonia, where he stayed for a while awaiting the return of Titus from Corinth, and making use of the “door opened” to him at this place to preach Christ (2Corinthians 2:12-13). Accordingly we find a Pauline Church in existence at Troas on the Apostle’s return journey this way in the following spring (Acts 20:6-12). But Titus did not arrive at the time expected; and the Apostle, finding “no rest in his spirit” on this account, oppressed with anxiety about the Church of Corinth, bade farewell to his new friends at Troas, and pushed on to meet Titus in Macedonia. This was the darkest hour in the Apostle’s history since the days he spent in blindness at Damascus (2Corinthians 7:5). Corinth appeared to be in full revolt against him. Galatia was falling away to “another gospel.” He had narrowly escaped with his life from the enraged populace of Ephesus--“wild beasts” with whom he had long been fighting, and at whose mercy he had left his flock in that city (1Corinthians 15:32). He was “pressed out of measure, above strength.” Under this continued strain of excitement and anxiety, his strength succumbed; he was seized with an attack of sickness, which threatened to terminate his life (2Corinthians 1:8-9; 2Corinthians 4:7-18; 2Corinthians 5:1-4). Together with his life, the fate of his mission and of Gentile Christianity trembled in the balance. Never had he felt himself so helpless, so beaten down and discomfited as on that melancholy journey from Ephesus to Macedonia, and while he lay upon his sick bed (perhaps at Philippi), knowing not whether Titus or the messenger of death would reach him first. Titus, however, now returned with news from Corinth which re-established his shattered health more quickly than all the medicine in the world. The relief which St. Paul now experienced was as intense as the previous distress and alarm into which he had been plunged by the misconduct of the Corinthians (2Corinthians 7:6-16). Evidently, the First Epistle had brought about a reaction in the Church; there had been an outburst of loyalty towards the Apostle, and of indignation and repugnance against the chief offender, who, in addition to his gross immorality, had treated St. Paul’s authority with insolent defiance. (Prof. G. G. Findlay, B. A.)
II. The Question of a Third Epistle, and of Paul’s Relations with the Corinthians. There are many who think it absurd to speak of the First Epistle as written “out of much affliction and anguish of heart and with many tears,” and who cannot imagine that Paul would speak of a great sin like that of the incestuous person in such language as he employs in 2Corinthians 2:5 ff; 2Corinthians 7:12. Such language, they argue, suits far better the case of a personal injury, an insult or outrage of which Paul--either in person or in one of his deputies--had been victim at Corinth. Hence they argue for an intermediate visit of a very painful character, and for an intermediate letter, now lost, dealing with the painful incident. Paul, we are to suppose, visited Corinth on the business of 1Corinthians 5:1-13. (among other things), and there suffered a great humiliation. He was defied by the guilty man and his friends, and had to leave the church without effecting anything. Then he wrote the extremely severe letter to which 2Corinthians 2:4 refers--a letter which was carried by Titus, and which produced the change on which he congratulates himself in 2Corinthians 2:5 ff; 2Corinthians 7:8 ff. It is obvious that this whole combination is hypothetical, and hence though many have been attracted by it, it appears with an infinite variety of detail. It is obvious also that the grounds on which it rests are subjective; it is a question on which men will differ to the end of time whether 2Corinthians 2:4 is an apt description of the mood in which Paul wrote (at least, certain parts of) the First Epistle, or whether 2Corinthians 2:5 ff; 2Corinthians 7:8 ff. is becoming language in which to close proceedings like those opened in 1Corinthians 5:1-13. But surely it is far easier to suppose that the proceedings about the incestuous person took a complexion which made Paul’s language natural. The visit, however, it may be said, at all events, is not hypothetical. It is distinctly alluded to in 2Corinthians 2:1; 2Corinthians 12:14; 2Corinthians 13:1. Granted; yet the close connection of our Epistles compels us to assume that this second visit belongs to an earlier date than the First. We know nothing of it save that it was not pleasant, and that Paul was very willing to save both himself and the Corinthians the repetition of such an experience. It is nothing against this view that this visit is not referred to in Acts or 1 Corinthians Hardly anything in 2Corinthians 11:24 ff. is known to us from Acts, and probably we should never have known of this journey unless in explaining the change of purpose which the first letter announced it had occurred to Paul to say, “I did not wish to come when it could only vex you; I had enough of that before.” As for the letter supposed to be referred to in 2Corinthians 2:4, it has also been relieved of its hypothetical character by being identified with 2Corinthians 10:1; 2Corinthians 13:10. In the absence of the faintest external indication that 2 Corinthians ever existed in any other than its present form, it is perhaps superfluous to treat this seriously. The letter must have had two main objects--
III. The Purpose of the Epistle. The First Epistle was entirely appreciated by those for whom it was mainly intended. The licentious party who, whether from misunderstanding or perverting the Apostle’s teaching, had used his name as a watchword for their excesses were humbled. Some complaints were raised against the Apostle’s change of purpose in not coming to them direct from Ephesus (2Corinthians 1:15-24; 2Corinthians 2:1); some cause still remained for fear lest the intercourse with the heathen should be too unrestrained (2Corinthians 6:14-18; 2Corinthians 7:1); but on the whole the submission of the mass of the Corinthian Church was complete. They received Titus with open arms (2Corinthians 7:13-16); and in the matter of the incestuous marriage, the correction of which had been the chief practical subject of the First Epistle, they had been struck with the deepest penitence (2Corinthians 7:7-11); an assembly had been convened, and a punishment inflicted on the offender (2Corinthians 2:6); and although their sorrow for themselves, and this severity towards the guilty person, had passed away before Titus’s departure (2Corinthians 7:8), and the sin itself bad been forgiven (2Corinthians 2:10), yet there was nothing to indicate any disinclination to follow the spirit of the Apostle’s teaching. Thus far all had gone beyond the Apostle’s expectations; in the one point in which his command might seem to have been only partially followed out, in the temporary character of the penalty inflicted on the incestuous person, his mind was relieved even more than if they had literally observed his orders. They had judged, he almost seemed to think, more wisely in this respect than himself (chaps. 2Corinthians 7:12; 2Corinthians 2:9-10), and generally he felt that confidence between them was now restored (2Corinthians 6:11; 2Corinthians 7:16), and that he was now more inseparably united with them in that union in their common Lord, which none but Christians knew (2Corinthians 1:5-6; 2Corinthians 3:2-3). Mingled, however, with this good news were other tidings, not wholly unexpected by the Apostle, for he had already anticipated something of the kind in 1Corinthians 9:1-6, but still demanding new and distinct consideration. The Jewish party at Corinth, which claimed especially the name of Peter, and apparently that of Christ also, had at the time of the First Epistle been so insignificant in itself or as compared with the opposite party, as to call for only a few passing notices from the Apostle. It had, however, even then reached a sufficient height to question his apostolical authority (1Corinthians 9:1-6); and in the interval, apparently from the arrival of a new teacher or teachers, with letters of commendation (2Corinthians 3:1; 2Corinthians 10:12) from some superior authority, probably from Jerusalem, the opponents of the Apostle had grown into a large and powerful party (2Corinthians 1:12; 2Corinthians 1:17; 2Corinthians 3:1; 2Corinthians 10:1; 2Corinthians 12:21), constituting even the majority of the teachers (2Corinthians 2:17); openly assailing the Apostle’s character, claiming almost despotic dominion over their followers (2Corinthians 1:24; 2Corinthians 2:17; 2Corinthians 11:13; 2Corinthians 11:20), insisting on their purely Jewish origin (2Corinthians 11:22), and on their peculiar connection with Christ (2Corinthians 5:16; 2Corinthians 10:7; 2Corinthians 11:13-23; 2Corinthians 13:3), on their apostolic privileges (2Corinthians 11:5; 2Corinthians 11:13), and on their commendatory letters (2Corinthians 3:1; 2Corinthians 5:12; 2Corinthians 10:12; 2Corinthians 01:18). These two subjects, the general acquiescence of the Corinthians in the Apostle’s injunctions and the claims of the Judaising party, must have been the chief topics of Titus’s communication. The first and prominent feeling awakened in St. Paul’s mind was one of overwhelming thankfulness for the relief from the anxiety which he had up to that moment felt for the effects of his Epistle; next indignation at the insinuations of his adversaries. To give vent to the double tide of emotion thus arising within him, was the main purpose therefore of this Epistle. A third subject of less importance, but which gave him a direct opportunity for writing, was the necessity of hastening the collection for the Christian poor in Judaea. He had already spoken of it in the close of his First Epistle; but his sense of the need of success had been further impressed upon him by the generosity of the Macedonian churches, of which his recent stay among them had made him an actual witness. (Dean Stanley.)
IV. The Connection between the Two Epistles. This connection is not a hypothesis of greater or less probability, it is a large and solid fact. Thus 2Corinthians 1:8-10; 2Corinthians 2:12-13, attach themselves immediately to the situation described in 1Corinthians 16:8-9. Similarly in 2Corinthians 1:12 there seems to be a distinct echo of 1Corinthians 2:4-14. More important is the unquestionable reference in chap. 1:13-17, 23, to 1Corinthians 16:5. And not to point to general resemblances in feeling or temper, the correspondence is at least suggestive between ἁγνὸς ἐν τῷ πράγματι (2Corinthians 7:11; cf. the use of πρᾶγμα in 1Thessalonians 4:6), and τοιαύτη προνεία in 1Corinthians 5:1; between ἐν προσώπῳ χριστοῦ (2Corinthians 2:10), and ἐν τῷ ὀνόματι του κυρίου ἡμῶν ἰησοῦ χριστοῦ (1Corinthians 5:4); between the mention of Satan in 2Corinthians 2:11, and 1Corinthians 5:5; between πενθεῖν in 2Corinthians 12:21, and 1Corinthians 5:2; between τοιοῦτος and τις in 2Corinthians 2:6 f., 2Corinthians 2:5, and the same words in 1Corinthians 5:5, and 1Corinthians 5:1. If all these are examined and compared, I think it becomes extremely difficult to believe that in 2Corinthians 2:5 ff; 2Corinthians 7:8 ff. the Apostle is dealing with anything else than the case of the sinner treated in 1Corinthians 5:1-13. If this view is accepted it is natural and justifiable to explain the Second Epistle as far as possible out of the First. Thus the letter to which St. Paul refers in 2Corinthians 2:4; 2Corinthians 7:8; 2Corinthians 7:12, will be our First Epistle; the persons referred to in 2Corinthians 7:12 will be the son and the father in 1Corinthians 5:1. (J. Denney, B. D.)