the chapter turn, and on which eventually the whole Epistle rests (see
chap. xiii. 10). It is because he is interested in their edification
that he thinks with misgiving of the journey in prospect. "I fear lest
by any means when I come I find you not such as I would, and on my part
be found of you not such as ye would." What these two fears imply is
unfolded in due order in the remainder of the letter. The Corinthians,
such as Paul would not have them, are depicted in vv. 20 and 21; Paul,
in a character in which the Corinthians would prefer not to see him,
comes forward in chap, xiii., vv. 1-10. It is with the first only of
these two fears, the bad condition of the Corinthian Church, that we are
here concerned. This first fear has two grounds. The first is the
prevalence of sins which may perhaps be summarised as sins of self-will.
Strife, jealousy, passions, factions and low factious arts, backbitings,
whisperings, swellings, tumults: such is the catalogue. It illustrates
what has been well described as "the carnality of religious contention."
Almost all the sins here enumerated are directly connected with the
existence of parties and party feeling in the Church. They are of a kind
which has disgraced the Church all through its history, and the
exceeding sinfulness of which is not yet recognised by the great mass
of professing Christians. People do not consider that the Church, as a
visible society, more or less naturalised in the world, is as capable as
any other society of offering a career to ambition, or of furnishing a
theatre for the talents and the energies of self-seeking men; and they
have a vague idea that the wilfulness, the intriguing and factious arts,
the jealousy and conceit of men, are better things when put to the
service of the Church than when employed in mere selfishness. But they
are not. They are the very same, and they are peculiarly odious when
enlisted in His service who was meek and lowly in heart, and who gave
Himself for men. Paul's first list of sins is only too life-like, and
the fear grounded on it is one which many a modern minister can share.
The second list is made up of what might be called, in contrast with
sins of self-will, sins of self-indulgence--"uncleanness, fornication,
and lasciviousness that they wrought." Both together make up what the
Apostle calls the works of the flesh. Both together are the direct
opposite of those fruits of the spirit in which the true life of the
Church consists. Paul writes as if he were more alarmed about the sins
of the latter class. He puts μὴ ("lest") instead of μήπως ("lest by any
means": ver. 20), marking thus the climax, and something like the
certainty,[109] of his sad apprehension. "I fear," he says, "lest when I
come again my God should humble me before you"--or, perhaps "in
connexion with you." Nothing could more bow down a true and loving heart
like Paul's than to see a Church that he had regarded as the seal of
his apostleship--a congregation of men "washed, sanctified, and
justified"--wallowing again in the mire of sensual sins. He had been
proud of them, had boasted of them, had given thanks to God on their
behalf: how it must have crushed him to think that his labour on them
had come to this! Yet he writes instinctively "my God." This humiliation
does not come to him without his Father; there is a divine dispensation
in it, as far as he is concerned, and he submits to it as such. He dare
not think of it as a personal insult; he dare not think of the sinners
as if they had offended against _him_. He fears he will have to _mourn
over_ numbers of those who have before sinned, and who will not have
repented[110] of these sensualities before he reaches Corinth. In chap.
v. 2 of the First Epistle he sums up his condemnation of the moral
laxity of the Church in the presence of such evils in the words: _Ye did
not mourn_. He himself will not be able to avoid mourning: his heart
grows heavy within him as he thinks of what he must see before long.
This, again, is the spirit of the true pastor. Selfish anger has nothing
healing in it, nor has wounded pride; it is not for any man, however
good or devoted, to feel that he is entitled to resent it, as a personal
wrong, when men fall into sin. He is not entitled to resent it, no
matter how much he may have spent, or how freely he may have spent
himself, upon them; but he is bound to bewail it. He is bound to
recognise in it, so far as he himself is free from responsibility, a
dispensation of God intended to make him humble; and in all humility and
love he is bound to plead with the lapsed, not his own cause, but
God's. This is the spirit in which Paul confronts the sad duties
awaiting him at Corinth, and in this again we see "the signs of the
apostle."
The two catalogues of sins with which this chapter closes remind us, by
way of contrast, of the two characteristic graces of Christianity:
self-will or party spirit, in all its forms, is opposed to brotherly
love, and self-indulgence, in all its forms, to personal purity. There
is much in this Epistle which would be called by some people theological
and transcendent; but no one knew better than Paul that, though
Christianity must be capable of an intellectual construction, it is not
an intellectual system in essence, but a new moral life. He was deeply
concerned, as we have repeatedly seen, that the Corinthians should think
right thoughts about Christ and the Gospel; but he was more than
concerned, he was filled with grief, fear, and shame, when he thought of
the vices of temper and of sensuality that prevailed among them. These
went to the root of Christianity, and if they could not be destroyed it
must perish. Let us turn our eyes from them to the purity and love that
they obscure, and lift up our hearts to these as the best things to
which God has called us in the fellowship of His Son.
FOOTNOTES:
[106] Αὐτὸς ἐγώ in ver. 13 has a peculiar emphasis, not easily
explained. It cannot mean "_I_ did not, though my assistants did," for
this is denied in ver. 18. Neither can it mean "_I_ did not, though
the Judaists did," for whatever is opposed to αὐτὸς ἐγώ must
nevertheless be conceived here as belonging to the same category,
which the Judaists did not. Possibly it only separates the _person_
expressly from his _works_, just recited, and has the same sort of
value as in Rom. ix. 3, where it emphasises the person as opposed to
the heart and conscience.
[107] This is the reading of our Revisers, and of Westcott and Hort's
text. In their margin they read: "I will very gladly spend, etc., if
loving you [ἀγαπῶν instead of ἀγαπῶ] more abundantly I am loved the
less." This reading and punctuation are adopted by a number of
scholars, but explained in two ways:--(1) As in the Authorised
Version, "_though_ the more abundantly," etc. But εἰ ("if"), which is
the true reading (not εἰ καί), cannot be translated "though." (2) By
others it is rendered, "I will very gladly spend, etc., if the more
abundantly I love you the less I am loved": that is, "if things have
come to such a pass between us that the natural relations are utterly
inverted, I will make any sacrifice to restore them to a better
footing." This is insipid and flat to the last degree: textual and
psychological considerations combine to support the Revisers text.
[108] Πάλαι is the true reading, not πάλιν. Westcott and Hort retain
the interrogation.
[109] This is also suggested by the reading ταπεινώσει, which
Tischendorf adopts in ver. 21, with B, D, E, F, etc. א, A, K, followed
by Westcott and Hort, have ταπεινώσῃ.
[110] It is more natural to construe ἐπὶ τῇ ἀκαθαρσιᾳ κ.τ.λ. with
μετανοησάντων than with πενθήσω.
XXVIII
_CONCLUSION_
"This is the third time I am coming to you. At the mouth of two
witnesses or three shall every word be established. I have said
beforehand, and I do say beforehand, as when I was present the
second time, so now, being absent, to them that have sinned
heretofore, and to all the rest, that, if I come again, I will not
spare; seeing that ye seek a proof of Christ that speaketh in me;
who to you-ward is not weak, but is powerful in you: for He was
crucified through weakness, yet He liveth through the power of God.
For we also are weak in Him, but we shall live with Him through the
power of God toward you. Try your own selves, whether ye be in the
faith; prove your own selves. Or know ye not as to your own selves,
that Jesus Christ is in you? unless indeed ye be reprobate. But I
hope that ye shall know that we are not reprobate. Now we pray to
God that ye do no evil; not that we may appear approved, but that ye
may do that which is honourable, though we be as reprobate. For we
can do nothing against the truth, but for the truth. For we rejoice,
when we are weak, and ye are strong: this we also pray for, even
your perfecting. For this cause I write these things while absent,
that I may not when present deal sharply, according to the authority
which the Lord gave me for building up, and not for casting down.
"Finally, brethren, farewell. Be perfected; be comforted; be of the
same mind; live in peace: and the God of love and peace shall be
with you. Salute one another with a holy kiss.
"All the saints salute you.
"The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the
communion of the Holy Ghost, be with you all."--2 COR. xiii. (R.V.).
The first part of this chapter is in close connexion with what precedes;
it is, so to speak, the explanation of St. Paul's fear (xii. 20) that
when he came to Corinth he would be found of the Corinthians "not such
as they would." He expresses himself with great severity; and the
abruptness of the first three sentences, which are not linked to each
other by any conjunctions, contributes to the general sense of rigour.
"This is the third time I am coming to you" is a resumption of chap.
xii. 14, "This is the third time I am ready to come to you," and labours
under the same ambiguity; it is perhaps more natural to suppose that
Paul had actually been twice in Corinth (and there are independent
reasons for this opinion), but the words here used are quite consistent
with the idea that this was the third time he had definitely purposed
and tried to visit them, whether his purpose had been carried out or
not. When he arrives, he will proceed at once to hold a judicial
investigation into the condition of the Church, and will carry it
through with legal stringency. "At the mouth of two and (where
available) three witnesses shall every question be brought to decision."
This principle of the Jewish law (Deut. xix. 15), to which reference is
made in other New Testament passages connected with Church discipline
(Matt. xviii. 16; 1 Tim. v. 19), is announced as that on which he will
act. There will be no informality and no injustice, but neither will
there be any more forbearance. All cases requiring disciplinary
treatment will be brought to an issue at once, and the decision will be
given rigorously as the matter of fact, attested by evidence,
requires.[111] He feels justified in proceeding thus after the
reiterated warnings he has given them. To these reference is made in the
solemn words of ver. 2. English readers can see, by comparing the
Revised Version with the Authorised, the difficulties of translation
which still divide scholars. The words which the Authorised Version
renders "_as if I were_ present" (ὡς παρών) are rendered by the Revisers
"_as when I was present_." All scholars connect this ambiguous clause
with τὸ δεύτερον: "the second time." Hence there are two main ways in
which the whole passage can be rendered. The one is that which stands in
the Revised Version, and which is defended by scholars like Meyer,
Lightfoot,[112] and Schmiedel: it is in effect this--"I have already
forewarned, and do now forewarn, as I did on the occasion of my second
visit, so also now in my absence, those who have sinned heretofore, and
all the rest, that if I come again I will not spare." This is certainly
rather cumbrous; but assuming that chap. ii. 1 gives strong ground for
believing in a second visit already paid to Corinth--a visit in which
Paul had been grieved and humbled by disorders in the Church, but had
not been in a position to do more than warn against their
continuance--it seems the only available interpretation. Those who evade
the force of chap. ii. 1 render here in the line of the Authorised
Version: "I have forewarned [viz., in the first letter, _e.g._ iv. 21],
and do now forewarn, as though I were present the second time, although
I am now absent, those who have sinned," etc. So Heinrici. This, on
grammatical grounds, seems quite legitimate; but the contrast between
presence and absence, which is real and effective in the other
rendering, is here quite inept. We can understand a man saying, "I tell
you in my absence, just as I did when I was with you that second time":
but who would ever say, "I tell you as if I were present with you a
second time, although in point of fact I am absent"? The absence here
comes in with a grotesque effect, and there seems hardly room to doubt
that the rendering in our Revised Version is correct. Paul had, when he
visited Corinth a second time, warned those who had sinned before that
visit; he now warns them again, and all others with them who anticipated
his coming with an evil conscience, that the hour of decision is at
hand. It is not easy to say what he means by the threat not to spare.
Many point to judgments like that on Ananias and Sapphira, or on Elymas
the sorcerer; others to the delivering of the incestuous person to
Satan, "for the destruction of the flesh"; the supposition being that
Paul came to Corinth armed with a supernatural power of inflicting
physical sufferings on the disobedient. This uncanny idea has really no
support in the New Testament, in spite of the passages quoted; and
probably what his words aim at is an exercise of spiritual authority
which might go so far as totally to exclude an offender from the
Christian community.
The third verse is to be taken closely with the second: "I will not
spare, since ye seek a proof of Christ that speaketh in me, who to
you-ward is not weak, but is powerful in you." The friction between
the Corinthians and the Apostle involved a higher interest than his.
In putting Paul to the proof, they were really putting to the proof
the Christ who spoke in him. In challenging Paul to come and exert
his authority, in defying him to come with a rod, in presuming on what
they called his weakness, they were really challenging Christ. The
description of Christ in the last clause--"who towards you is not
weak, but is powerful in you, or among you"--must be interpreted by
the context. It can hardly mean that in their conversion, and in their
experience as Christian people, they had evidence that Christ was not
weak, but strong: such a reference, though supported by Calvin, is
surely beside the mark. The meaning must rather be that for the
purpose in hand--the restoration of order and discipline in the
Corinthian Church--the Christ who spoke in Paul was not weak, but
mighty. Certainly any one who looked at Christ in Himself might see
proofs, in abundance, of weakness; going directly to the crowning one,
"He was _crucified_," the Apostle says, "_in virtue of weakness_." Sin
was so much stronger than He, in the days of His flesh, that it did
what it liked with Him. Sin mocked Him, buffeted Him, scourged Him,
spit upon Him, nailed Him to the tree--so utter was His weakness, so
complete the triumph of sin over Him. But that is not the whole story:
"He liveth in virtue of the power of God." He has been raised from the
dead by the glory of the Father; sin cannot touch Him any more: He has
all power in heaven and on earth, and all things are under His feet.
This double relation of Christ to sin is exemplified in His Apostle.
"For we also are weak in Him; but we shall live with Him, in virtue of
God's power, toward you." The sin of the Corinthians had had its
victory over Paul on the occasion of his second visit; God had humbled
him then, even as Christ was humbled on the cross; he had seen the
evil, but it had been too strong for him; in spite of his warnings,
it had rolled over his head. That "weakness," as the Corinthians
called it, remained; to them he was still as weak as ever--hence the
present ἀσθενοῦμεν: but to the Apostle it was no discreditable thing;
it was a weakness "in Christ," or perhaps, as some authorities read,
"with Christ." In being overpowered by sin for the moment, he entered
into the fellowship of his Lord's sufferings; he drank out of the cup
his Master drank upon the cross. But the cross does not represent
Christ's whole attitude to sin, nor does that incapacity to deal with
the turbulence, disloyalty, and immorality of the Corinthians
represent the whole attitude of the Apostle to these disorders. Paul
is not only crucified with Christ, he has been made to sit with Him in
the heavenly places; and when he comes to Corinth this time, it will
not be in the weakness of Christ, but in the victorious strength of
His new life. He will come clothed with power from on high to execute
the Lord's sentence on the disobedient.
This passage has great practical interest. There are many whose whole
conception of the Christian attitude toward evil is summed up in the
words: "He was crucified through weakness." They seem to think that
the whole function of love in presence of evil, its whole experience,
its whole method and all its resources, are comprehended in bearing
what evil chooses, or is able, to inflict. There are even bad people,
like the Corinthians, who imagine that this exhausts the Christian
ideal, and that they are wronged if they are not allowed by Christians
to do what they like to them with impunity. And if it is not so easy
to act on this principle in our dealings with one another--though
there are people mean enough to try it--there are plenty of
hypocrites who presume on it in their dealings with God. "He was
crucified through weakness," they say in their hearts; the cross
exhausts His relation to sin; that infinite patience can never pass
over to severity. But the assumption is false: the cross does _not_
exhaust Christ's relation to sin; He passed from the cross to the
throne, and when He comes again it is as Judge. It is the sin of sins
to presume upon the cross; it is a mistake that cannot be remedied to
persist in that presumption to the end. When Christ comes again, _He_
will not spare. The two things go together in Him: the infinite
patience of the cross, the inexorable righteousness of the throne. The
same two things go together in men: the depth with which they feel
evil, the completeness with which they suffer it to work its will
against them, and the power with which they vindicate the good. It is
the worst blindness, as well as the basest guilt, which, because it
has seen the one, refuses to believe in the other.
The Corinthians, by their rebellious spirit, were putting Paul to the
proof; in ver. 5 he reminds them sharply that it is their own standing
as Christians which is in question, and not his. "Try _yourselves_,"
he says, with abrupt emphasis, "_not me_; try _yourselves_, if ye are
in the faith; put _yourselves_ to the proof; or know ye not as to
_your own selves_, that Jesus Christ is in you?--unless, indeed, ye be
reprobate." The meaning here is hardly open to doubt:[113] the Apostle
urges his readers individually to examine their Christian standing.
"Let each," he virtually says, "put himself to the proof, and see
whether he is in the faith." There is, indeed, a difficulty in the
clause, "Or know ye not as to your own selves, that Jesus Christ is in
you?--unless, indeed, ye be reprobate." This may be read either as a
test, put into their hands to direct them in their self-scrutiny; or
as an appeal to them after--or even before--the scrutiny has been
made. The manner in which the alternative is introduced--"unless,
indeed, ye are reprobates"--a manner plainly suggesting that the
alternative in question is _not_ to be assumed, is in favour of taking
it in the sense of an appeal. After all, they are a Christian Church
with Christ among them, and they cannot but know it. Paul, again, on
his side cannot think that they are reprobate, and he hopes they will
recognise that _he_ is not, but on the contrary a genuine Apostle,
attested by God, and to be acknowledged and obeyed by the Church. Very
often that temper which judges others, and calls legitimate spiritual
authority in question, is due, as in part it was among the
Corinthians, to inward misgivings. It is when people ought to be
putting themselves to the proof, and are with cause afraid to begin,
that they are most ready to challenge others. It was a kind of
self-defence--the self-defence of a bad conscience--when the
Corinthians required Paul to demonstrate his apostolic claims before
he meddled with their affairs. It was a plea, the sole purpose of
which was to enable them to live on as they were, immoral and
impenitent. It is properly retorted when he says, "Try _yourselves_ if
ye are in the faith; it is in every sense of the word an impertinence
to drag in anybody else."
In both cases Paul hopes the result of the trial will be satisfactory.
He would not like to think the Corinthians ἀδόκιμοι ("reprobate"), and
no more would he like them to regard him in that light. Still, the two
things are not on exactly the same footing in his mind; _their_
character is much dearer to him than his own reputation, provided they
are what they ought to be, he does not care what is thought of himself.
This is the general sense of vv. 7 to 9, and except in ver. 8 the
details are clear enough. He prays to God that the Corinthians may do no
evil. His object in this is not that he himself may appear approved;
indeed, if his prayer is granted, he will have no opportunity of
exercising the disciplinary authority of which he has said so much. It
will be open to any one then to say that he is ἀδόκιμος, reprobate, a
person to be rejected because he has not demonstrated his claim to
apostolic authority by apostolic action. But as long as they act well,
which is the real object of his prayer, he does not care, though he
_has_ to pass as ἀδόκιμος. He can bear evil report as well as good
report, and rejoice to fulfil his vocation under the one condition as
well as the other. This is only one aspect of that sacrifice of self to
the interest of the flock which is indispensable in the good shepherd.
As compared with any single member of his congregation, a minister may
be more in the eye of the world, more still in the eye of the Church;
and it is natural for him to think that some self-assertion, some
recognition and reputation, are due to his position. It is a mistake: no
man who understands the position at all will dream of asserting his own
importance against that of the community. The Church, the congregation
even, no matter how much it may be indebted to him, no matter if it owes
to him, as the Corinthian Church to Paul, its very existence in Christ,
is always greater than he; it will outlive him; and, however tender he
may naturally be of his own position and reputation, if the Church
prosper in Christian character, he must be as willing to let these dear
possessions go, and to count them worthless, as to part with money or
any material thing.