《Preacher’s Complete Homiletical Commentary – 2 Corinthians》(Various Authors)
Commentator
The Preacher's Complete Homiletical Commentary, by Joseph Exell, William Jones, George Barlow, W. Frank Scott, and others, was published in 37 volumes as a sermon preparation and study resource. It is a commentary "written by preachers for preachers" and offers thousands of pages of:
· Detailed illustrations suitable for devotional study and preaching
· Extensive helps in application of Scripture for the listener and reader
· Suggestive and explanatory comments on verses
· Theological outlines of passages
· Expository notes
· Sketches and relevant quotes
· Brief critical notes on chapters
Although originally purposed as a minister's preparation tool, the Preacher's Complete Homiletical Commentary is also a fine personal study supplement.
00 Introduction
See the First Corinthians Book Comments.
01 Chapter 1
Verse 1-2
CRITICAL NOTES
2Co . Timothy.—"Not later (see 1Co 4:17) and perhaps rather earlier than he wrote the First Epistle, Paul sent (Act 19:22) Timothy to Macedonia, with instructions to go on to Corinth if he could, of which, however (1Co 16:10), Paul was uncertain. We now find Timothy with Paul in Macedonia. But Paul's anxiety (2Co 2:13; 2Co 7:5) makes us quite certain that, before his own arrival in Macedonia and his meeting with Titus, Timothy had not brought him tidings about the reception of the First Epistle by the Church at Corinth. Now the warmth of the Second Epistle suggests that it was written very soon after the arrival of Titus; and its silence about the coming of Timothy makes it unlikely that he arrived from Corinth with Titus or between the arrival of Titus and the writing of this letter. Consequently, either, contrary to Paul's expectation, Timothy arrived at and left Corinth before the First Epistle, or he was, for reasons unknown to us but easily conceivable, unable to go there. In either case, we have no certain indication whether Timothy remained in Macedonia till Paul's arrival, or returned to Paul before he left Ephesus, was with him there during the tumult, and went with him to Troas and to Macedonia. But this latter supposition would more easily account for the absence (except 2Co 1:19) of any further reference to Timothy in this Epistle. Doubtless he was with Paul when Titus arrived. And his close connection with the founding of the Church at Corinth (2Co 1:19; Act 18:5) accounts sufficiently for the presence of his name here, supporting the Apostle's earnest pleading." (Beet.) Notice margin, "the brother." Achaia.—Not the whole Roman province, but the smaller, classical Achaia. Of the former, not Stephanas (1Co 16:15), but Dionysius and Damaris and others (Act 17:34) were the "firstfruits." Notice the evidence of a widespread work beyond Corinth (cf. 1Th 1:7-8).
HOMILETIC ANALYSIS.—2Co
[This Salutation traverses much the same ground as that of 1Co , which see. Dr. Lyth's collection of Homiletic Suggestions gives:]
2Co . The Happiness of the Church.
I. Its ministers are messengers of Christ; are chosen by God; are diversely gifted as Paul and Timothy. [The twelve in the ship (Mar ) were the Church in germ, and in miniature. "The ship carried" the Church "and its fortunes." The diversity of the twelve men, all apostles, was anticipatory and typical. No type of character, no diversity, or capacity, or education, etc., comes amiss to the hand of the Great Builder. Every style of man may be an instrument with which He can build something, if only the man be willing simply to be used.]
II. Its constitution is Divine; holy; catholic ["with all the saints," etc.].
III. Its wealth of privilege.—Rich in its variety ["grace and peace"?]. Divine in its communication. Inexbaustible in its supply. [Such a source cannot "run dry." "All my fresh springs are in Thee" (Psa ).]
Also:—
2Co . The Christian Ministry is—
I. Ordained by the will of God [i.e. not only the "order of the ministry," but the man, Paul or other].
II. United by bonds of brotherhood.—[Pares all, though there be a primus].
III. Devoted to the service of the Church—[I.e. the greeting "unto the Church" is typical of Paul's whole relation to the Corinthians. The ministry is not the Church. It exists for the sake of the Church. It exists to bring "grace and peace" to the Church. If it do not, its raison d'être is gone. If a minister do not, his raison d'être is gone.]
Verses 3-7
CRITICAL NOTES
2Co .—John calls the Son a "Comforter" (1Jn 2:1). Christ calls the Spirit a "Comforter" (Joh 14:16, "another" also implying that He Himself had been such to the disciples). Here Paul calls the Father a "Comforter." Notice how "comfort" runs through 2Co 1:3-7 (disguised as "consolation" in A.V.); parallel to the repeated "affliction" (same in original as "tribulation," "trouble"). Mercies.—Also Rom 12:1; Php 2:1; Col 3:12; Heb 10:28.
2Co .—Notice the contrasted "of" and "through." As to "of," see 2Co 4:10; Heb 13:13; Php 3:10; Col 1:24; Mar 10:38; (Mat 10:40; Act 9:4). (Also Homily on 1Co 12:27.) Notice "unto us," not "in"; external trouble mainly.
2Co .—Then Paul is no such masterful, self-seeking, worthless man as some at Corinth would represent (cf. 2Co 1:24). His "afflictions" as well as the "comfort" are (not strictly "vicarious," but) directly, and in the intention of God, for the Corinthians' sake,—"on behalf of your," etc. Is effectual.—I.e. the "comfort" works out with practical effect in … (patient) enduring.—Good expository use and example of the word, and the thing, "patience" as exhibited in New Testament; there being always, and here, an element of fortitude in the patience.
2Co . Stedfast, knowing, etc.—Q.d. "I speak hopefully, as a man who has tried it, and who knows what to expect for you."
HOMILETIC ANALYSIS.—2Co
Great Theme: Comfort and Affliction.
I. Two counterpart facts of life.—
1. It is a world of "affliction," but over it there rules a God of "comfort." This pair of facts is but a special form, of another pair: "sin," "grace." Directly or indirectly, affliction springs from sin; not necessarily a man's personal sin, but from the presence of evil in the world. The Bible traces "evil," the manifest and painful disorder which has affected that which was as manifestly meant to be God's beneficent scheme of things, to the intrusion of moral evil; and in parallel fashion, there is no "comfort" which, directly or indirectly, is not "grace,"—it "abounds through Christ," just as the "affliction" is but a lower result of the moral evil whose climax was reached in "the sufferings of Christ,"—part of that work of God in Christ whose aim and goal is a "restitution of all things" (Act ).
2. Accordingly "comfort" is very much more than a palliative; it is the beginning of a cure.—"All comfort" is thoroughly in Paul's manner. It means "all forms and kinds and aspects of comfort," reminding us of the many sidedness of the grace. Such "comfort" as God gives is not merely an anodyne for a smart; nor only a balm for a wound, a solace for sorrow, rest for weariness; not words of reassurance for fear and for distressful thoughts. It is a mother folding her crying babe to her bosom (Isa ); but it is more. It is not merely tender help; it is strong help. It gives not only relief and ease; it gives strength. It is not only that the young one flies to the mother's wing for shelter and cowers away under it, almost as full of fears there as it was when outside. It is the weak man taking his stand boldly by the side of the friend who has come to his help in answer to his call, and in the company of his strong helper finding himself strong to fight and do. Not merely pitying, sympathetic words which give solace under crushing burdens, so that the spirit is not crushed, though the strength may be overborne (2Co 7:6; Php 2:27); but new strength given, and help which takes hold of the burden or the cross along with us at the opposite end [see this, perhaps, in the work of the "Comforter" in the original word of Rom 8:26], so that we carry better the load of affliction. And, which comes still nearer to the root purpose of all God's comfort, the "Comforter" gives a transformed view of, and meaning to, all "affliction," till at last we "rejoice (exultantly) in tribulations [same word as afflictions here] also" (Rom 5:3). Thus we are not simply conquerors, but "more than conquerors," of all the "affliction" of life; we have not simply escaped, nor escaped unharmed, nor even come off with victory, but have been served by all that came against us to hinder or overwhelm; and this is the beginning of a reconstitution of the broken order, so that all things once more serve man, their designated king (Heb 2:7-8). παράκλησις in its fullest range covers no less than this. Strength must never be omitted from our conception and our expectation of it. But, no doubt, through this section the tenderness is very prominent, and it should never be forgotten in our conception of God.
II. The Divine source of comfort.—
1. Pointed out in the Critical Notes that here, and here only, the Father is made a Paraclete, a Comforter. As how should He not be, seeing that He is "the God of our Lord Jesus Christ"? I.e. as we know Him He is the God, the very thought of Whom is inseparably bound up with that of His love in the gift of Christ. We never think of Calvary but we think of Him Whose love gave us that Saviour; we never think of that Mercy but our quick heart-instinct traces all up to God. Our helper in "afflictions" is, then, the God Who is the sworn enemy of Sin, Who therefore gives a gracious help for what is fundamentally a moral evil. He comforts, as part of the work He set Himself to accomplish in the Lord Jesus Christ.
2. So His other names here describe Him as well as indicate Him.—All the names of God do so. They are in detail that "Name" of God which His people know, and trust in Him accordingly (Psa ). Each several name is given according to the special phase of His one work of grace which may happen to be prominent. Manifestly the name is not here chosen at haphazard, or even for its beauty ["a nice name to use"], but is appropriate. He has always an appropriate "name" for every need of our life. He is "the Father," Whose unfailing characteristic is so surely to be merciful, that mercies must spring from His heart in Christ toward us. [What men may find Him apart from Christ and redemption grace, is another matter altogether.] [Cf. "root of bitterness" (Heb 12:15), which is more than "a bitter root." A bitter root might bring forth pleasant fruit or flowers. A "root of bitterness" can bear nothing but bitterness. So] a "God of comfort" or "a Father of mercies" is much more than a Father Who is merciful, or a God Who is merciful, or a God Who actually comforts. It is a God, a Father, Who, as we know Him in connection with the "Lord Jesus Christ," cannot be conceived of in any contrary association of ideas. As is His name, so is He.
3. What a plea then is "For Thy Name's sake"!—If He were to deny His "comfort" to an "afflicted" soul, He would give the lie to His very Name. There is a promise in such a name as this which He has put into Paul's lips, for the use of the whole Church. The man who in his need calls to his help the "God of all παράκλησις," may take his stand on the very name he invokes. He has there a hold, so to say, upon God.
III. The end of all comfort.—
1. The immediate purpose was no doubt the help of Paul himself. One man is worth God's helping; not only a man "of so much importance" to the world as Paul, "so necessary" to the work of Christ, but every man for whom Christ "thought it worth while" to die. "Through Christ," the Christ Who is that man's Christ as truly as He belongs to any other, that humblest, poorest, most obscure man may expect the "comfort," and that "abounding."
2. But very characteristic of the Spirit of Christ in St. Paul that he rather fastens attention upon the service which both his trials and his strength did to the Corinthians and to all believers. "We live for you" (2Co ; 2Co 5:12-13); "we suffer affliction for your sake; we are comforted for your benefit." The word "vicarious" has acquired a special application in the vocabulary both of formal theology and of the experimental life. It would be using words to confuse thought, therefore, to speak of Paul's sufferings or comfort as vicarious. It would be apt to set up the idea of a parallel or a community where "the sufferings of Christ" are unique. His are all that Paul's are here. But Paul's sufferings stop short of being all that His were for the Corinthians. The suggestion of the very conception of such a parallelism fills Paul with horror (1Co 1:12). With that reservation, note how a Christian is partaker with Christ, in that what he suffers, and the help he gets, may benefit—and are taken up into the many-sided purpose of God's government "that" they may benefit—others who are under tribulation.
3. The martyrdoms of the Church's history have not been waste of life, even when some of the choicest of its men and women have gone to death. "Take, brethren, for an example of suffering and of patience," etc. (Jas ). Their comfort "is effectual," in that they who behold them suffer and triumph are able in their turn to endure and go through with the like sufferings. Every sick saint, perhaps for years a sufferer, helpless,—"useless," such are tempted to say,—has a distinct field of service open in that he is made the concrete example, the specimen case, by which God teaches those who wait upon, or who in any way come into contact with, the sufferer, how true and how real is the "comfort" of which the promises stand written in the Word (2Co 1:20), and are pledged in the very gift of Christ. The careless, the young, the incredulous, who dismiss preaching as "professional," or at best as a beautiful but very chimerical idea, the fearful though believing Christian,—these all see and believe what they would not hear and expect for themselves. An afflicted sufferer, full of the "comfort," is a Fact. Many turn away from a sick-room with a firmer belief in the supernatural, and Divine, and gracious; with a settled expectation that they also, after all, shall find sufficient "comfort." Without a word being spoken, the sufferer is a sermon, a message, a revelation, a gospel, to many a visitor. If words are spoken, with what force do they come! That sufferer is an expert. He speaks out of the fulness of knowledge. You may silence an advocate, but can do nothing against a witness. How a preacher understands Paul's logic in 2Co 1:4. With such specimen "cases" in his mental note-book, he pronounces, he preaches, he exhorts, he encourages, he pledges "the God of comfort" to the afflicted soul, with the assurance of the experienced physician who has in his own profession studied a variety of cases, of many types, ages, conditions. He speaks no theories merely, but verified truth. And if he too has been the subject upon whom the Great Teacher has been pleased to make His experiment, by him to teach the students of God's ways gathered round his sick-bed, with what power does he afterwards, in his pulpit, or in his pastoral round, "comfort others with the comfort wherewith," etc. None can speak with such prevalent authority. At least, God can make noblest use of, men listen most readily to, the man who "knows." It is worth the affliction, to be able to stand by another afflicted soul and bring one's comfort to the help of his burdened strength or failing faith. Thus God designs to make men "comforters" of men.