Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of 2 Corinthians 12:12
Truly the signs of an apostle were wrought among you in all patience, in signs, and wonders, and mighty deeds.
12. Truly the signs of an apostle ] Rather, of the Apostle, i.e. of him who is an Apostle. These are of two kinds, (1) inward, consisting in endurance for the Gospel’s sake, and (2) outward, in credentials of his mission given from on high.
signs, and wonders ] These words are continually conjoined in Scripture not only by St Paul and St Luke, but by the other three Evangelists. The first refers to miraculous works, considered as signs of a Divine power dwelling in the worker; the second is perhaps equivalent to our word portents.
and mighty deeds ] Literally, powers, referring to the inner power which worked them. Dean Stanley remarks on the claim to miraculous powers here made by St Paul. Cf. Act 13:11; Act 14:10; Act 16:18; Act 19:11-12.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
Truly the signs of an apostle – Such miracles as the acknowledged apostles worked. Such signs or evidences that they were divinely commissioned; see the Mar 16:17 note; Act 2:22 note; Rom 15:19 note.
Were wrought among you – That is, by me; see the note, 1Co 9:2.
In all patience – I performed those works notwithstanding the opposition which I met with. I patiently persevered in furnishing the evidence of my divine commission. There was a succession of miracles demonstrating that I was from God, notwithstanding the unreasonable opposition which I met with, until I convinced you that I was called to the office of an apostle.
In signs and wonders – In working miracles; compare note, Act 2:22. What these miracles at Corinth were, we are not distinctly informed. They probably, however, were similar to those performed in other places, in healing the sick, etc.; the most benevolent as it was one of the most decisive proofs of the divine power.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
2Co 12:12-15
Truly the signs of an apostle were wrought among you.
The signs of an apostle
are frequently referred to by Paul, and are of various kinds. By far the most important and frequently insisted on is success in evangelistic work. He who converts men and founds churches has the supreme and final attestation of apostleship (1Co 9:2; 2Co 3:1-3). In this passage Calvin makes patience a sign. Patience is certainly a characteristic Christian virtue, and it is magnficently exercised in the apostolic life, but it is not peculiarly apostolic. Patience, here–every kind of Christian patience, rather–brings before our minds the conditions under which Paul did his apostolic work. Discouragements of every description, bad health, suspicion, dislike, contempt, moral apathy and moral licence the weight of all these pressed upon him heavily, but he bore up under them, and did not suffer them to break his spirit or to arrest his labours. His endurance was a match for them all, and the power of Christ that was in him broke forth in spite of them in apostolic signs. There were conversions, in the first place; but there were also miracles, viewed under three different aspects.
1. Signs, as addressed to mans intelligence, and conveying a spiritual meaning.
2. Wonders, as giving a shock to feeling, and moving nature in those depths which sleep through common experience.
3. Powers, as arguing in him who works them a more than human efficiency. But no doubt the main character they bore in the apostles mind was that of charismata–gifts of grace, which God ministered to the Church by His Spirit. It is natural for an unbeliever to misunderstand even N.T. miracles, because he wishes to conceive of them, as it were, in vacuo, or in relation to the laws of nature; in the N.T. itself they are conceived in relation to the Holy Ghost. Even Jesus is said in the Gospels to have cast out devils by the Spirit of God; and when Paul wrought signs and wonders and powers, it was in carrying out his apostolic work, graced by the same Spirit. What things he had done at Corinth we have no means of knowing; but the Corinthians knew, and they knew that these things had no arbitrary or accidental character, but were the tokens of an apostle. (J. Denney, B. D.)
What is it wherein ye were inferior to other Churches, except it he that I myself was not burdensome to you?—
Burdensomeness
What the word signifies is evident, for it was what the apostle steadily declined to do–viz., live at the expense of the Corinthians. Now there are in all languages many ways of expressing this idea, mostly more or less uncomplimentary. It is likely that the apostle would in this place have used one of the more disparaging expressions, for evidently there is a good deal of restrained sarcasm and scorn of mercenary motives in this part of his letter. Yet the word does not at first sight appear to have much point, for it is generally translated render numb or make torpid (cf. Gen 32:25, LXX.), and is a verb formed from , the name of a kind of torpedo which has a reputation for numbing the hand that touches it. But I venture to go back to the fish itself, and to suggest that the popular use of the word was a somewhat different one. Was not the torpedo supposed to attach itself by suction to some creature of larger growth, and to make use of it for its own support? Whether it does so is of comparatively small concern, for neither then nor now has popular language had much regard for the facts of natural history. I strongly suspect that the idea really embodied in the word is theft vulgarly expressed by our own phrase, to sponge upon. I can only guess that this latter phrase borrows its meaning from the real or supposed parasitic habits of the sponge as a living creature. If it be so, then there would be a singular resemblance in history and meaning between the two expressions, each borrowed by a seafaring people from the apparent habits of a marine animal, and applied with some contempt to the conduct of unworthy men. At any rate, it does not seem to me at all unlikely that the apostle would have used such an expression as sponging upon here. He was never careful of the elegance of his language when he wished it to be forcible, and in this Epistle especially he makes no attempt to be dignified. Evidently he had in his mind the very words and phrases which his vulgar detractors at Corinth had used concerning him. They had reached him in no mild dilutions, and he made no pretence of not feeling their point. They had accused him, as I think, of having sponged upon other Churches, while, with a truly natural inconsistency, they did not conceal their vexation at his refusal to put himself under any obligation to them. Wonderful is the lofty earnestness with which he deals with these vulgar topics, gilding the muddy levels with the glow and sparkle of his own ardent charity. But I think he did not hesitate to repeat their own shrug. He had not sponged upon them, it was true, and did not intend to sponge upon them, however often he came to them. (R. Winterbotham, M. A. , B. Sc. , LL. B.)
I seek not yours, but you.—
The property right we are to get in souls
It is our common way, as well as delusion, to be desiring what men have, and not the men themselves, to get a property, if possible, out of their property, and not to create the same by our own industry. The manner of our great apostle is exactly contrary. The value one man has to another; or, what is the same, the real interest of property which a true disciple has, or may have, in the souls of other men. I propose to show the real value of one soul, or man, to another. I suppose there maybe some who had never such a thought occur to them in their lives. We have so many public wars and private quarrels, so many rivalries, that it becomes a great part of our life to keep off or, if possible, to keep under, one another. Furthermore, we get accustomed to the idea that there is no property but legal property–no property right, therefore, in a man to be thought of, save the ownership that makes him a slave. Whereas the dearest, broadest properties we have are not legal. The wife does not legally own her husband, though she says, with how much meaning, He is mine. No man legally owns his friend, or the landscapes, or the ranges of the sea. Putting aside, then, all such false impressions, I now undertake to show that one man has to another a value more real than gold, or lands, or any legal property of the world can have. And I open the argument here by calling your attention to the fact that God so evidently means to make every community valuable to every other and–so far, at least–every man to every other. We see this on a magnificent scale in the article of commerce. Here we find the nations all at work for each other, Your breakfast is gotten up for you, as it were, by the whole world, and so far you possess the world. The same, again, is true of all the arts, professions, trades and grades of employment in a given community. They are at work for each other in ways of concurrent service. All injustice, wrong, and fraud excluded, they so far own each other. Their industries and gifts are all so many complementary contributions. And again, what we discover in these mere economic relations is the type of a mutual interest and ownership in qualities that are personal. The very idea of society and the social nature is that we shall be a want and a gift of enjoyment one to another. We possess, in short, society, and society is universal ownership. To see what reality there is in this, you have only to imagine how desolate and how truly insupportable your life would be in a state of complete solitude or absolutely sole existence. Not that you want merely to receive outward conveniences; you want society of soul, to speak and be spoken to, to play out feeling and have it played back by some answering nature. You wade the rivers, and creep through the forests, and climb the hills, looking for you know not what, resting nowhere, sighing and groaning everywhere. What we call society, in this manner, is the usufruct we have of each other, and has a property value as truly as the food that supplies our bodies. Again, what interest every soul may have, or what property get, in other souls will be seen still more affectingly in the fact that, bittered as we are by selfishness, almost everything we do looks, in some way, to the approbation, or favouring opinion, or inspiration of others. We dress, we build, we cultivate our bestow-ments generally with a view to the impressions or opinions of others. I have lingered thus in the domain of the natural life because the illustrations here furnished are so impressive. Let us enter now the field of Christian love and duty, and carry our argument up into the higher relations here existing. If selfishness even finds so great value in the sentiments, opinions, homages of other men, how shall it be with goodness and benefaction? Here it is that we come out into the great apostles field, where he says, Not yours, but you. It is not, he would say, what you can give me or withhold from me, but it is what I can do to you, and be in you, and make you to be–to raise you up out of sin into purity and liberty and truth, to fill you with the light of God and His peace, to make you like God. This is my reward, which, if I may get, I want no other. For this I journey, and preach, and write. He makes them in this manner a property to himself. Let us look a little into this matter of property. How does a man, for example, come to be acknowledged as the owner of a piece of land and to say to himself, It is mine? The general answer given to this question is that we get a property in things by putting our industry into them, in ways of use, culture, and improvement. This makes our title. Just so when a Christian benefactor enters good into a soul; when he takes it away from the wildness and disorder of nature by the prayers and faithful labours he expends upon it, the necessary result is that he gets a property in it, feels it to be his, values it as being his. Neither is it anything to say that he gets, in this manner, no exclusive title to it, therefore no property at all. No kind of property is exclusive. God is still concurrent owner of all the lands we hold in fee. The State is so far owner. So a man may get ownership in his neighbour and his poor brother, and the State may have ownership in both, and God a higher ownership in all. And the ownership in all cases is only the more real because it is not exclusive. And how great and blessed a property it is to him we can only see by a careful computation of the values by which he measures it. First, as he has come to look himself on the eternal in everything, he has a clear perception of souls as being the most real of all existences–more real than lands and gold, and a vastly higher property. Next, finding this or that human spirit or soul in a condition of darkness and disease and fatal damage, he begins forthwith to find an object in it, and an inspiring hope to be realised in its necessity. He takes it thus upon himself, hovers round it in love, and prayer, and gracious words, and more gracious example, to regain it to truth and to God. For if it be a matter so inspiring to a Newton that he may put into other minds the right scientific conception of light or of the stars, how much greater and higher the interest a good soul has in imparting to another goodness, the element of its own Divine peace and well-being. Then again, as we get a property in other men by the power we exert in them, how much greater the property obtained by that kind of power which is supernaturally, transformingly beneficent, that which subdues enmity, illuminates darkness, fructifies sterility, changes discord to harmony, and raises a spirit in ruin up to be a temple of Gods indwelling life. What a thought, indeed, is this for a Christian disciple to entertain, that he may exalt the consciousness of a human soul or spirit for ever, and live in it for ever as a causality of joy and beauty. Furthermore, when one has gained another to a holy life, there is a most dear, everlasting relationship established between them. Hence, also, it is that the Scriptures of Gods truth are so much in the commendation of this heavenly property. If we go after fame, they tell us that the name of the wicked shall rot. If we go after riches and cover ourselves with the outward splendours of fortune, they tell us that we must go out of life as poor as any, for that, having brought nothing material into the world, we can carry nothing material out. And then they add, do the works of love and truth, and these shall go with you. He that winneth souls is wise. If thy brother sin against thee, gain, if possible, thy brother. Just here, in fact, will be opened to your now purified love the discovery of this great truth, viz., that there is indeed no real property at all but spirit-property, or property in spirit–a possession, that is, by each soul of what he has added to the moral universe of the good. All values here become social, values of truth, and feeling, and worship, and conscious affinity with God. And this is heaven, the state of mutual ownership and everlasting usufruct, prepared in all Gods righteous populations by what they have righteously done. Accepting now the solid and sublimely practical truth thus carefully expounded, the salvation of men is seen to be a work that ought to engage every Christian, and a work that to be fitly done must be heartily and energetically done. To this end consider well that you are set to gain a property in every man you save. In some dearest, truest sense he is to be yours for ever, to own you as his benefactor, and to be your crown of rejoicing, having your life entered into and working through his for ever. Consider, also, how this double-acting property relation holds good, even between Christ and His people. Not yours, but you is the principle that brings Him into the world. (H. Bushnell, D. D.)
Not yours, but you
Men are usually quick to suspect others of the vices to which they themselves are prone. It is very hard for one who never does anything but with an eye to what he can make out of it to believe that there are other people actuated by higher motives. So Paul had over and over again to meet the hateful charge of making money out of his apostleship. Where did Paul learn this passionate desire to possess these people, and this entire suppression of self in the desire? It was a spark from a sacred fire, a drop from an infinite ocean, an echo of a Divine voice.
I. So, then, first of all I remark, Christ desires personal surrender. I seek not yours, but you, is the very mother-tongue of love; but upon our lips, even when our love is purest, there is a tinge of selfishness blending with it, and very often the desire for anothers love is as purely selfish as the desire for any material good. And that is the only kind of life that is blessed; the only true nobleness and beauty and power are measured by and accurately correspond with the completeness of our surrender of ourselves to Jesus Christ. As long as the earth was thought to be the centre of the planetary system there was nothing but confusion in the heavens. Shift the centre to the sun, and all becomes order and beauty. The root of sin and the mother of death is making myself my own law and Lord; the germ of righteousness and the first pulsations of life lie in yielding ourselves to God in Christ, because He has yielded Himself unto us. And be sure of this, that no such giving of myself away in the sweet reciprocities of a higher than human affection is possible, in the general and on the large scale, if you evacuate from the gospel the great truth, He loved me, and gave Himself for me.
II. Christ seeks personal service. I seek you; not only for My love, but for My tools, for My instruments in carrying out the purposes for which I died, and establishing My dominion in the world. I cannot imagine a man who in any deep sense has realised his obligations to that Saviour, and in any real sense has made the great act of self-renunciation and crowned Christ as his Lord, living for the rest of his life, as so many professing Christians do, dumb and idle in so far as work for the Master is concerned. It is no use to flog, flog, flog at idle Christians, and try to make them work. There is only one thing that will set them to work, and that is that they shall live nearer their Master, and find out more of what they owe to Him. This surrender of ourselves for direct Christian service is the only solution of the problem of how to win the world for Jesus Christ. Professionals cannot do it. This direct service cannot be escaped or commuted by a money payment. In the old days a man used to escape serving in the militia if he found a substitute and paid for him. There are a great many good Christian people that seem to think that Christs army is recruited on that principle. But it is a mistake. I seek you, not yours.
III. Christ seeks us and ours. Not you without yours, still less yours without you. Consecration of self is extremely imperfect which does not include the consecration of possessions, and, conversely, consecration of possessions which does not flow from and is not accompanied by the consecration of self is nought. If, then, the great law of self-surrender is to run through the whole Christian life, that law, as applied to our dealing with what we own, prescribes three things. The first is stewardship, not ownership, and that all round the circumference of our possessions. Again, the law of self-surrender, in its application to all that we have, involves the continual reference to Jesus Christ in our disposition of these our possessions. Again, the law of self-surrender, in its application to our possessions, implies that there shall be an element of sacrifice in our use of these, whether they be possessions of intellect, of acquirement, of influence, of position, or of material wealth. The law of help is sacrifice. So let us all get near to that great central fire till it melts our hearts. Let the love which is our hope be our pattern. (A. Maclaren, D. D.)
Property in souls
1. The instinct of acquisition is a primordial element of human nature that ought to be gratified. Not to acquire property of some kind or other is to be a pauper, a parasite, a leech. We all are born poor, though sons, it may be, of a Croesus; but, unless we die rich, life is a failure. By pulling at the oar we gain muscle; by the sail or the engine we subdue the sea; and by intellectual and spiritual mastery of forces we make higher possessions really ours.
2. Christianity appeals to this instinct. The Master tells us it is His good pleasure to give us the kingdom. Lord Bacon wanted all knowledge; Alexander wanted other worlds to conquer. So would I desire a title-deed to heaven–nay, more, be able rightfully to say to God, Thou art mine! I will not consent to be a pauper; possession alone can gratify my aspiration for property.
I. What is property, and how can it be rightfully ours? Property is my other self; it is that into which I put my spirit, life, toil, culture, and affection. Thus it acquires a value, as it represents all these. Christ sees the travail of His soul; and is satisfied in the redemption of this world. The universe is Gods. He has put Himself into it, His wisdom, power, and love. The Church is Christs; He has put Himself into it. So that is mine into which I put myself, whatever may be the legal view of it. Let us try the key to different locks. Look at–
1. Material wealth. The millions which a gambler wins are not really his property. Reckless speculation does not create wealth. Inheritance is not real property till I make it mine. Caleb gave away Hebron, but the sons of Anak were to be dispossessed. A rich man leaves property. It is merely addendum till the son puts his impress of thought and enterprise upon it; otherwise it is a mere income, as is the cheese on which the mouse nibbles in the granary. The name of the originator sticks to an invention, or to whatever has creative art in it, though the man be dead. We say, Morses Telegraph, Fairbanks Scales, Raphaels Madonna.
2. Art. I build and furnish a house. Paintings are hung up; but I know nothing of art, and cannot get into the creations of a Claude or a Titian. My neighbour studies them, feasts on them, for they represent and reflect his beautiful soul. The pictures are really his.
3. Literature. I buy a book, but cannot understand it. My neighbour borrows, reads, understands, and appropriates it. He returns it–no, only the leather, paper, and ink, for the thoughts, spirits, and life are his. Thus all theology, philosophy, and history come to be my own.
II. But it is in human souls that the thought of the text is realised. It is our privilege to have property in another, to call them ours. We may even say of Christ, of the Holy Ghost, and of the Father, Thou art mine! When we are one with Him in fellowship and love, we live in Him and He in us. But look at the three ways of securing property in human souls.
1. By friendship. I open my heart and let another in. He opens his heart and lets me in. Some hearts we cannot enter; they are mean, coarse, unclean, uncharitable. We should not be tolerated could we force our way in. But when we come to our own, to those who respond to our tastes, desires, and plans, how enriching and exalting is the mutual ownership enjoyed!
2. By education. A true teacher is a king; he gets property in souls. Dr. Arnold put his soul into his pupils, and to-day the broadened thought of England is, in part, a result of his work.
8. By redemption. This is the Via Sacra of our Lord. Into the lost soul, the unclean, the poor, the dead He went with purity, riches, and life. So Paul could say that he was ready to give his own soul to those who in the gospel were dear unto him. Yet Paul could truly say, I seek not yours, but you. His converts were his children, begotten in the gospel. He won them, not by imparting truth merely, but by giving his very life. (C. B. Crane, D. D.)
The children ought not to lay up for the parents, but the parents for the children:–
Parents and children
Note–
I. The way in which this dictate of nature is seconded by the example of God in His dealings with His family. He is as a parent providing for his children. Behold Him as the God of providence. He is the great housekeeper of the universe. But it is more important still to consider God as the God of grace, for here you will see in a more striking manner how God the Father has laid up for His children, and not they for Him, that He is the giver and they the receivers from first to last (Eze 16:8, &c.). Thus God has provided washing, clothing, ornaments, and food for all the members of His family. Moreover, God not only provides present maintenance, but a future inheritance for His children.
II. The duty of parents with respect to their children. They are bound to make temporal provision for them. Even the beasts of the field, the monsters of the sea, provide for their young. But we are least likely to err on this point. Oh, that our concern about it were always regulated with a view to the spiritual interests of our children and to the glory of God! But how many are there who neglect the spiritual welfare of their children, like the folly of a man who would expend much in decorating and adorning a house which was ready to crumble and fall into ruin, while he neglected one which was substantial and likely to last for many generations. (H. Verschoyle, A. B.)
And I will very gladly spend and be spent for you.—
Self-devotion
I. Spending ones self. The ministry is a work. Its duties, if faithfully discharged, require great skill and ability. Paul was laboriously employed in preaching and travelling by sea and land about thirty years, and during those years scarcely ever ceased from his beloved work. Thus it was that he was willing to spend till he was spent.
II. For whom i feel this self-devotion. The apostle felt this self-devotion, or self-sacrifice, for the Corinthians. Why for the men at Corinth? Because St. Paul had been instrumental in their conversion. The believers in that city were all, or nearly so, seals of his ministry. Can we then wonder at the strength of his love of them? What will not an earthly parent do for his sons or his daughters? No; warmed by the love of Christ, he will cheerfully spend himself for their spiritual edification, welfare, and comfort. (R. Horsfall.)
The cost of saving souls
Paul is conspicuous among men for his self-sacrifice.
I. The apostles aim–the souls of men.
1. Certainly to be kept steadily in view by preachers.
2. But not by ministers alone, for we all influence for better or for worse the soul life of each other.
3. To injure it is an offence in Gods eyes (Mat 18:6).
II. This aim requires not only that we spend, but that we be spent, for the higher the life we seek to develop, the deeper is the sacrifice we must make. If a father wishes only physical life in his child the cost is little–food, soap, and clothing. If he wishes the mental life of his child to grow strong and full, then the cost is greater, not only in money, but in his own patience, etc. But if he wishes the highest life of all–the moral life–the life of the lads soul to flourish and bear fruit–the sacrifice is deeper still.
III. This is precisely the kind of sacrifice we are least willing to give.
1. In almsgiving–works of charity. We give money, the cheapest sacrifice we can give.
2. In church life. Again we give money or a speech to escape the deeper sacrifices.
3. In social life. How few will forego the utterance of a bitter word or a doubtful deed lest they hurt the soul-life of those around us.
IV. Compare this reluctance with the alacrity of Paul. He said, I will very gladly spend, etc. Better still compare it with the spirit of Christ (Joh 10:15; Joh 10:18).
1. The loveliness of Christian sacrifice is its voluntariness. God loveth a cheerful giver (2Co 9:7).
2. The blessed life either on earth or in heaven is not one exempt from sacrifice, but where its joy overwhelms its pain (2Ch 29:28). (J. Telford, B. A.)
Ministerial affection poorly requited
It is love that speaks, and unkindness that is spoken to. Many ways it may be manifest that St. Paul loved the Church of Corinth more than many other. By the time he spent with them, a year and a half full: scarce with any so much. By his visiting them three several times, not any so oft. By two of his largest Epistles sent to them: not to any the like. Now there should be in love the virtue of the loadstone, the virtue attractive, to draw like love to it again. There should be, but was not. For their little love appeared by their many unloving exceptions which they took to him. This cold infusion of so faint regard on their parts might have quenched his love.
1. There was a world when one said, bestow your heart on me, and I require no further bestowing; and the bestowing of love, though nothing but love, was something worth.
2. Such a world there was, but that world is worn out. Love and all is put out to interest.
3. Such is now the worlds love, but specially at Corinth, where they set love to hire and love to sale.
4. There is no remedy then. St. Paul must apply himself to time and place wherein love depends upon yielding and paying.
5. Now, there is nothing so pliant as love, ever ready to transform itself to whatsoever may have likelihood to prevail.
6. St. Paul therefore cometh to it; and as he maketh his case a Fathers case towards them.
7. Yea, I will bestow. Now, alas! what can Paul bestow? Especially upon so wealthy citizens? What hath he to part with but his books and parchments? Ware, at Athens perhaps somewhat; but at Corinth, little used and less regarded. But, by the grace of God, there is something else. There be treasures of wisdom and knowledge in Christ Jesus. Indeed, this it is St. Paul can bestow; and this it is Corinth needs, and the more wealthy it is the more.
But it is much more to be bestowed than to bestow.
1. For, first, they that bestow give but of their fruits; but he that is bestowed giveth fruit, tree, and all. Himself is in the deed of gift too.
2. Secondly, before there was but one act; here, in one, are both bestowing and being bestowed, and there being both must needs be better than one.
3. Thirdly, before that which was bestowed, what was it? Our good, not our blood; our living, not our life.
4. And indeed we see many can be content to bestow frankly, but at no hand to be bestowed themselves. But hither, also, will St. Paul come without any reservation at all of himself; to do or suffer, to spend or be spent. Bow to be spent? will he die? Yea, indeed. What, presently here at Corinth? No; for at this time and long after he was still alive. If there be no way to be bestowed but by dying out of hand; they that in field receive the bullet, or they that at the stake have the fire set to them, they and they only may be said to be bestowed. That is a way indeed, but not the only way. And that is said to be bestowed, not only that is defrayed at one entire payment, but that which by several sums is paid in, especially if it be when it is not due, nor could not be called for. By intentive meditation (for his books and parchments took somewhat from his sum), by sorrow and grief of heart he bestowed himself by inchmeal. And so far it is the case of all them that be in his case, as Christ termeth them the light of the world, lighting others and wasting themselves. True it is we value the inward affection above the outward action or passion. With men it is so too. When a displeasure is done us, say we not, we weigh not so much the injury itself as the malicious mind of him that did offer it? And if in evil it hold, why not in good much more? And will you see the mind wherewith St. Paul will do both these? Bestow he will and be bestowed too, and that not in any sort be contented to come to it, but willingly; willingly, nay readily, readily, nay gladly, most gladly. And now must we pause a little to see what will become of all this, and what these will work in the Corinthians. We marvel at the love, we shall more marvel when we see what manner of men on whom it is bestowed. He complaineth though that, seeking their love, and nothing else, so hard was his hap, he found it not. And as he to be pitied, so they to be blamed. All other commodities return well from Corinth, only love is no traffic. St. Paul cannot make his own again, but must be a great loser withal. But all this while he lived still under hope, hope of winning their love for whose sakes he had trod under foot the love of himself. Love endureth not the name of difficulty, but shameth to confess anything too hard or too dangerous for it. For, verily, unkindness is a mighty enemy and the wounds of it deep. It serveth first to possess our souls of that excellent virtue, the greatest of the three. Nay, the virtue without which the rest be but ciphers–love. But love, the action of virtue, not the passion of vice. Love, not of the body, but of the soul, the precious soul of man (Pro 6:1-35.). And for them and for their love to be ready to prove it by St. Pauls trial. They that do thus, no good can be spoken of their love answerable to the desert of it. Heavenly it is, and in heaven to receive the reward. But when all is done we must take notice of the worlds nature. For, as St. Paul left it, so we shall find it (that is) we shall not perhaps meet with that regard we promise ourselves. Surely, if love or well-doing or any good must perish (which is the second motive), and be lost through somebodys default (where it lighteth), much better it is that it perish in the Corinthians hands than in Pauls; by them, in their evil receiving, than in his not bestowing. For so the sin shall be theirs, and we and our souls innocent before God. But perish it shall not. For howsoever of them it may be truly said, the more we love the less they; of Christ it never can nor ever shall be said. For St. Paul, for the little love at their hands, found the greater at His. Not lost, but laid out; not cast away, but employed on Him for whose love none ever hath or shall bestow aught but he shall receive a hundredfold. (Bp. Andrewes.)
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Fuente: Biblical Illustrator Edited by Joseph S. Exell
Verse 12. 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?
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
I had not only a call to my apostleship, (of which indeed you were no witnesses), but I amongst you evidenced my call by such signs, as were sufficient to declare me to you to be a true apostle. Amongst these, he reckons:
1. Patience;
2. Mircles. The first refers to those many labours which he had, in travelling to propagate the gospel, in preaching, writing, &c.; this manifested him called of God to the work.
2. Miraculous operations were another sign; for though the working of miracles was not restrained to the apostolical office, yet when they were wrought in confirmation of the doctrine which the apostle had first preached, and so were a seal of his ministry, they were truly signs of his apostleship; it being no way probable, that the God of truth would have communicated his power to men for the confirmation of lies, or of an employment to which he had never called them.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
12. Truly, c.There isunderstood some such clause as this, “And yet I have not beencommended by you.”
in all patience, in signs,&c.The oldest manuscripts omit “in.” “Patience”is not one of the “signs,” but the element IN which theywere wrought: endurance of opposition which did not cause me to leaveoff working [ALFORD].Translate, “IN . . .patience, BY signs,”&c. His mode of expression is modest, putting himself, theworker, in the background, “were wrought,” not “Iwrought.” As the signs have not been transmitted to us,neither has the apostleship. The apostles have no literal successors(compare Act 1:21 Act 1:22).
mighty deedspalpableworks of divine omnipotence. The silence of the apostles in fourteenEpistles, as to miracles, arises from the design of those Epistlesbeing hortatory, not controversial. The passing allusions to miraclesin seven Epistles prove that the writers were not enthusiasts to whommiracles seem the most important thing. Doctrines werewith them the important matter, save when convincing adversaries. Inthe seven Epistles the mention of miracles is not obtrusive,but marked by a calm air of assurance, as of facts acknowledged onall hands, and therefore unnecessary to dwell on. This is a muchstronger proof of their reality than if they were formally andobtrusively asserted. Signs and wonders is the regular formula of theOld Testament, which New Testament readers would necessarilyunderstand of supernatural works. Again, in the Gospels the miraclesare so inseparably and congruously tied up with the history, that youcannot deny the former without denying the latter also. And then youhave a greater difficulty than ever, namely, to account for therise of Christianity; so that the infidel has somethinginfinitely more difficult to believe than that which he rejects, andwhich the Christian more rationally accepts.
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
Truly the signs of an apostle were wrought among you,…. Not only the doctrine which he preached, the power that attended it, and the success it met with among them, were clear signs and evident proofs of his being sent by Christ; not only they themselves, who were converted under his ministry, were testimonials and seals of his apostleship, but also the many other wonderful works done by him confirmed the same, and showed him to be an apostle, and that he was not a whit behind, but equal to the chiefest of them: nor does he refer them to signs that were wrought by him, among others, and in other places, which were many; but to those which they themselves were witnesses of, and therefore might and ought to have spoken of them in defence of him; and in order to stop the mouths of the false apostles, a particular enumeration of these signs follows:
in all patience; it is one sign, and what is here mentioned in the first place of an apostle and minister of Christ, that he patiently bears all injuries and indignities, reproaches, persecutions, and all manner of afflictions, for Christ’s sake and the Gospel’s; and this the apostle did; and had he not been sent by Christ, it is not reasonable to imagine that he would have exposed himself to so many evils and dangers; or would have bore with so much patience the ill usage of men, and particularly the unkindness and ingratitude he met with at Corinth; but he took all patiently, having their good and the glory of Christ at heart:
in signs and wonders, and mighty deeds; meaning preternatural and miraculous performances; such as raising the dead, healing the sick, cleansing lepers, casting out devils, speaking with divers tongues, and the like, which were confirming evidences of apostleship; so
, “wonders and powers”, or “mighty deeds”, are mentioned together by the Jews i, as the same things.
i Zohar in Exod. fol. 96. 2. & 97. 1.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
Of an apostle ( ). “Of the apostle” (definite article). Note the three words here for miracles wrought by Paul (, signs, , wonders, , powers or miracles) as in Heb 2:4.
Fuente: Robertson’s Word Pictures in the New Testament
Signs [] . See on Mt 24:24. Stanley observes that the passage is remarkable as containing (what is rare in the history of miracles) a direct claim to miraculous powers by the person to whom they were ascribed. Compare 1Co 2:4; Rom 14:19.
Were wrought [] . The testimony was decisive. They were fully wrought out.
Fuente: Vincent’s Word Studies in the New Testament
1) “Truly the signs of an apostle,” (ta men semeia tou apostolou) “Indeed the signs of the apostle,” the fruit of his labors, 1Co 9:2, such as might be expected of an apostle, Mar 16:20; for by men’s fruit they are known for what they are, Mat 7:16; Mat 7:20.
2) “Were wrought among you in all patience,” (kateirgasthe en humen en pase hupomone) “were worked among you all in all endurance,” note usage of the passive; God did the working, he did not claim to be anything more, than an instrument of God; Patience is an essential quality for a missionary, Rom 5:3; Luk 21:19; Heb 12:1.
3) “In signs,” (semeiois te kai terasin) “by both signs and wonders,” wrought among them, 2Co 6:4; Rom 15:16-19.
4) “And wonders,” (kai terasin) “and by wonders,” wrought to honor God, 1Th 2:5-12; 1Co 2:4; In labors more abundant, 2Co 11:23.
5) “And mighty deeds,” (kai dunamesin) “and by powerful deeds,” deeds that are good, morally and ethically, honoring God, according to his Word, Mat 7:21-22; Eph 2:10; Act 7:22; 2Co 11:23; Rev 14:13.
Fuente: Garner-Howes Baptist Commentary
12. The signs of an Apostle By the signs of an Apostle he means — the seals, that tend to confirm the evidence of his Apostleship, or, at least, for the proofs and evidences of it. “God has confirmed my Apostleship among you to such a degree, that it stands in no need of proof being adduced.” The first sign he makes mention of is patience — either because he had remained invincible, (925) by nobly withstanding all the assaults of Satan and his enemies, and on no occasion giving way; or because, regardless of his own distinction, he suffered all injuries patiently, endured in silence countless grievances, (926) and, by patience, overcame indignities. (927) For a virtue so heroic is, as it were, a heavenly seal, by which the Lord marks out his Apostles.
He assigns the second place to miracles, for while he makes mention of signs and wonders and mighty deeds, he makes use of three terms, as he does elsewhere, (2Th 2:9,) for expressing one and the same thing. Now he calls them signs, because they are not empty shows, but are appointed for the instruction of mankind — wonders, because they ought, by their novelty, to arouse men, and strike them with astonishment — and powers or mighty deeds, because they are more signal tokens of Divine power, (928) than what we behold in the ordinary course of nature. Farther, we know that this was the main design of miracles, when the gospel began to be preached — that its doctrine might have greater authority given to it. Hence, the more that any one was endowed with the power of working miracles, so much the more was his ministry confirmed, as has been stated in the fifteenth chapter of the Epistle to the Romans. (929)
(925) “ Il a tousiours demure inuincible, et ferme sans se reculer;” — “He has always remained invincible and firm, without shrinking back.”
(926) “ Il a laisse passer beaucoup de fascheries sans en faire semblant de rien ;” — “He has allowed many grievances to pass, without seeming to take any notice of them.”
(927) “ Beaucoup de lasches tours;” — “Many base tricks.”
(928) “ Ce sont exemples et tesmoignages plus excellent et euidens de la vertu Diuine;” — “Those are signal and manifest instances and evidences of Divine power.”
(929) Calvin seems to refer here more particularly to the observations made by him, when commenting on Rom 15:18. “ Hie nobilis est locus de miraculorum usu: nempe ut reverentiam obedientiamque Deo apud homines comparent. Sic apud Marcum (Mar 16:20,) legis, Dominum confirmasse doetrinam subsequentibus signis. Sic Lucas in Actis (Act 14:3,) narrat, Dominum per miracula testimonium reddidisse sermoni gratiae suoe ; ” — “This is an admirable passage in reference to the use of miracles — that they may secure among men reverence and obedience towards God. Thus you read in Mar 16:20, that the Lord confirmed their doctrine by signs following. So also Luke, in Act 14:3, relates that the Lord by miracles gave testimony to the word.of his grace. ” — Ed.
Fuente: Calvin’s Complete Commentary
(12) Truly the signs of an apostle were wrought among you.The passage is remarkable for using the word signs, first, in the general sense, as notes or tokens, and then more specifically for works of supernatural power. On the special meaning of the three words, signs, wonders, power, see Note on Act. 2:22. The passage is noticeable as being one of those in which St. Paul distinctly claims a supernatural power for himself, and appeals to its exercise. (Comp. Rom. 15:19written, it will be remembered, shortly after thisand 1Co. 2:4.)
In all patience.Better, in endurance of every kind, as referring to the hardships and privations specified in 2Co. 11:23-28, in the midst of which the work had to be carried on.
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
12. As if in a brief undertone to the Corinthians themselves, out of hearing of the overmuch apostles, Paul reminds these Corinthians of what they well knew, that his confining his self-assertions to infirmities and passivities was not because he had not every bold and positive boast within his power.
They well know, for the mighty proofs had been wrought among them. The apostle appeals to facts within their own knowledge.
Signs of an apostle All the proofs you could ask for any apostle.
In all patience St. Paul, like Jesus, endured patiently contradiction from sinners and gainsayers, even in the midst of lessons of holiness and deeds of power.
Signs wonders, and mighty deeds Are the same miracles viewed in different aspects. As signs, they are tokens and proofs of the apostle’s mission; as wonders, they are impressive and startling to the mind; as mighty deeds, literally, powers, they are interpositions of omnipotence. The apostle could fearlessly appeal to his Corinthians to testify that such were wrought among them. And, thence, he was authorized to believe that they would entertain no doubt of the truth of his narrative given in 2Co 12:2-4.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
2Co 12:12. In all patience, This may well be understood to reflect on the haughtiness and plenty, wherein the false apostle lived among them.
Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke
2Co 12:12 . Proof of the previous . : The signs, indeed (yet without producing among you the due recognition), of the apostle were wrought among gou . The solitarium leaves it to the reader to supply for himself the corresponding contrast, so that it may be translated by our truly indeed . See especially, Baeumlein, Partik. p. 163; Maetzner, ad Antiph. p. 153; Khner, ad Xen. Anab. i. 2. 1. The contrast to be supplied here is put beyond doubt by the idea of the which is placed emphatically and significantly at the head; hence we must reject what Billroth (followed by Olshausen) supplies; but even otherwise you can make no complaint about anything .
. is that which divinely evinces the apostle to be such, that by which one discerns the apostle . with the article does not denote the ideal of an apostle (Billroth), which would be at variance with his humility, but the apostle in abstracto . Bengel says aptly: “ejus, qui sit apostolus.”
] namely, which I was with you. The I , however, retreats modestly behind the passive expression. The compound “ perficere notat maxime rem arduam factuque difficilem,” Fritzsche, ad Rom. I. p. 107.
] the manner of the , strengthening the force of the proof: in all manner of perseverance , so that amidst adverse and painful circumstances there was perseverance with all possible stedfastness in fully exhibiting these signs of an apostle. The view followed by many older expositors since Chrysostom: “ primum signum nominat patientiam,” is erroneous, since the is not a specifically apostolic . [379]
. ] whereby those signs of an apostle were accomplished, so that is here meant in a narrower sense ( miraculous signs) than the previous . The three words in emphatic accumulation denote the same thing under the two different relations of its miraculous significance ( . . .) and of its nature ( . deeds of power, 1Co 12:10 ). Comp. 2Th 2:9 ; Heb 2:4 ; Act 2:22 . The notions of and are equivalent. See on Rom 15:19 .
Paul therefore wrought miracles also in Corinth, and wrought them as legitimations of his apostleship (Heb 2:4 ). Comp. Rom 15:19 ; Act 15:12 .
On the accumulation of terms, comp. Cic. Tusc. ii. 40 26: “His ego pluribus nominibus unam rem declarari volo, sed utor, ut quam maxime significem , pluribus.” Comp. also Cic. de Fin. iii. 4. 14; Nat. D ii. 7. 18.
How at variance with our passage is the historical criticism, which lays down priori the negation of miracles!
[379] An appeal should not have been made to 2Co 6:4 , where in fact there stands the wider conception .
Fuente: Heinrich August Wilhelm Meyer’s New Testament Commentary
12 Truly the signs of an apostle were wrought among you in all patience, in signs, and wonders, and mighty deeds.
Ver. 12. In all patience ] A grace to be gloried in; Job is crowned and chronicled for it.
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
12. ] Confirmation of the . The signs indeed (the is elliptical, see Hartung, Partikellehre, ii. 411, corresponding to a suppressed ; ‘ in this case, the signs indeed &c., but, notwithstanding, I am not recommended by you .’ So Soph. d. Col. 526, , , , , . It always throws out into strong emphasis the noun, pronoun, or verb to which it is attached, as here ) of an Apostle ( generic, ‘ejus qui Apostolus sit,’ Bengel) were wrought out among you (“the Apostle’s own personality as the worker is modestly veiled behind the passive.” Meyer) in all (possible) patience (endurance of opposition, which did not cause me to leave off working. is not one of the , as Chrys., Hom. xxvii. p. 627: , . , , but the element in which the were wrought out), by signs and wonders ( . not as above, but as constantly found with , as an intensitive synonym) and mighty works (see ref. Heb.).
Fuente: Henry Alford’s Greek Testament
2Co 12:12 . . . .: truly (there is no antithesis to ) the signs of an Apostle ( is generic, “such as might be expected from an Apostle”; cf. Mar 16:20 ) were wrought (note the passive; he does not claim to be anything more than God’s instrument; ) among you in all patience, sc. , on my part ( is an essential quality for a Christian missionary; see on 2Co 1:6 ), in signs and wonders and powers . This direct assertion, made as if it were indisputable, that miracles had been wrought at Corinth through his agency (see also Rom 15:19 , 1Co 2:4 ) is noteworthy. The three words used should be distinguished. is something anomalous, outside the ordinary course of nature. This, however, is not the prominent idea in the N.T. miracles; is never used in the N.T. (save in the quotation Act 2:19 ) except in combination with = a “sign” of the Divine purpose. is the regular phrase both in O.T. (Exo 7:3 , etc.) and in the N.T. for “miracles”; but it is their signal rather than their wonderful character upon which stress is laid. To describe them as (Mat 7:22 , Act 19:11 , 1Co 12:10 ; 1Co 12:28 ) directs attention to the Omnipotent Being to whom they are due.
Fuente: The Expositors Greek Testament by Robertson
signs. Greek. semeion. App-176.
among. App-104.
wonders. Greek. teras. App-176.
mighty deeds = powers. Greek. dunamis. App-176.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
12.] Confirmation of the . The signs indeed (the is elliptical,-see Hartung, Partikellehre, ii. 411,-corresponding to a suppressed ; in this case, the signs indeed &c., but, notwithstanding, I am not recommended by you. So Soph. d. Col. 526, , , , , . It always throws out into strong emphasis the noun, pronoun, or verb to which it is attached, as here ) of an Apostle ( generic,-ejus qui Apostolus sit, Bengel) were wrought out among you (the Apostles own personality as the worker is modestly veiled behind the passive. Meyer) in all (possible) patience (endurance of opposition, which did not cause me to leave off working. is not one of the , as Chrys., Hom. xxvii. p. 627: , . , ,-but the element in which the were wrought out), by signs and wonders (. not as above, but as constantly found with , as an intensitive synonym) and mighty works (see ref. Heb.).
Fuente: The Greek Testament
2Co 12:12. , indeed [truly]) This particle is as it were a crumb that feeds modesty.-, signs) The proofs of the facts are at hand.- , of the apostle) The article has this force; [the signs] of one who is an apostle.-) So Al. Lat. (in Cod. Reutl.) Hilariu[84]. A reading standing midway between the extremes:[85] whence most copies have ; is the reading of Chrys. Boern. Lat. in the MSS.: is the reading of Lin. also Syr.[86] On and , see Mat 24:24. are most palpable works of divine omnipotence.
[84] ilarius (a Latin father: died 368 A.D.) Ed. Maurinorum, Paris. 1693.
[85] Media, so as to form a kind of common starting point from which the various other erroneous readings took their rise.-ED.
[86] is read by AD corrected later f Vulg. Breads . Gg Syr. read . Rec. Text reads .-ED.
Fuente: Gnomon of the New Testament
2Co 12:12
2Co 12:12
Truly the signs of an apostle were wrought among you in all patience,-Especially they should have recognized him as an apostle because in their midst all the signs of an apostle were wrought by him, in patient suffering of the persecution brought upon him.
by signs and wonders and mighty works.-The signs of Gods presence with him as an apostle were signs and wonders and mighty works of the Spirit of God which was in him. [By the three terms, Paul does not mean three classes of action, but he uses them to describe the same phenomena. He means the miracles he wrought, which were signs because they signified Gods approval of what he taught; they were called wonders, because they excited wonder in those who witnessed them; and they were called mighty works, because wrought by the immediate power of God. These three terms occur three times in connection with one another (Act 2:22; 2Co 12:12; 2Th 2:9), although on each occasion in a different order. They are all descriptive of different aspects of the same works rather than themselves different classes of works. An example of one of the miracles of Jesus will illustrate this. The healing of the paralytic (Mar 2:1-12) was a wonder, for they who beheld it were all amazed; it was a power, for the man at Christs command arose, and straightway took up the bed, and went forth before them all; it was a sign, for it proclaimed that one greater than men deemed was present before them; it stood in connection with a higher power of which it was a seal and sign, being wrought that they might know that the Son of man hath authority on earth to forgive sins.]
Fuente: Old and New Testaments Restoration Commentary
2Co 4:2, 2Co 6:4-10, 2Co 11:4, 2Co 11:6, Rom 15:18, Rom 15:19, 1Co 1:5-7, 1Co 9:2, 1Co 14:18
Reciprocal: Act 5:12 – by Act 21:19 – by 1Co 1:1 – an 1Co 1:6 – was 1Co 9:1 – I not an 2Co 11:5 – I was not 2Co 11:23 – I am 2Co 12:11 – for in 2Co 13:3 – which Gal 3:5 – worketh
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
2Co 12:12. These signs of an apostle are mentioned also in the passage referred to in 1Co 9:1-2 cited in the preceding verse. In all patience. In performing these signs, the apostle was brought into contact with conditions that required much patience on his part.
Fuente: Combined Bible Commentary
2Co 12:12. Truly the signs of an apostle were wrought among you in all patience, by signs, and wonders, and mighty works (Gr. powers). In Heb 2:4, these are given as evidences of apostleship, as in Act 2:22, of the Divine mission of Christ Himself. How at variance with this, exclaims Meyer, is the historical criticism which lays down priori the negation of miracles!
Fuente: A Popular Commentary on the New Testament
Verse 12 There had been an apostle among them, but it was Paul. He was supported in his claim by the signs Christ had promised ( Mar 16:1-20 ). These same words were used by Peter about the vents on Pentecost ( Act 2:22 ). Paul also told the Thessalonians that the “wicked” one would deceive them with things like these ( 2Th 2:9 ).
Fuente: Gary Hampton Commentary on Selected Books
2Co 12:12-13. Truly the signs of an apostle The signs whereby a person was known to be an apostle, were his performing great and evident miracles openly in the view of the world, especially his healing diseases, his casting out devils, and his speaking foreign languages. But the greatest of all the signs was his conveying spiritual gifts to them who believed; a power which none possessed but the apostles. All these signs St. Paul having exhibited at Corinth, and in particular having communicated the spiritual gifts to many of the Corinthians, he, on account thereof, called them, in his former letter, the seal of his apostleship, 1Co 9:2. In all patience Under my various sufferings, and in the midst of the unreasonable opposition I have met with. By mentioning his patience, the apostle brought to the remembrance of the Corinthians the hardships which he had endured while he executed his office among them, and supported himself by his own labour; as also the persecutions which he had suffered before he first visited them, namely, in the Lesser Asia and in Macedonia, of which they had undoubtedly received information from himself or others. Perhaps likewise, as Locke supposes, there is here an oblique reproof to the false teachers, for the luxury and ease with which they were living among the Corinthians. In signs, and wonders, and mighty deeds The effects of divine and supernatural power. See on Rom 15:19. The appeal which the apostle here, and 1Co 4:7, made to the whole church of the Corinthians, (in which there was a great faction which called his apostleship in question,) concerning the miracles which he had wrought in their presence, and the spiritual gifts which he had conferred on many of them, is a strong proof of the reality of these miracles and gifts. Macknight. For what is it What is the spiritual gift or privilege; wherein ye were inferior to other churches Planted by the other apostles? Except that I was not burdensome to you In respect of maintenance, as the other apostles have been to the churches which they planted. Forgive me this wrong As if he had said, If it be a wrong, I know you will easily pardon it.
Fuente: Joseph Bensons Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
Truly the signs of an apostle were wrought among you in all patience, by signs and wonders and mighty works.
Fuente: McGarvey and Pendleton Commentaries (New Testament)
Verse 12
Were wrought among you; that is, by him, when he went first to plant the gospel among them.
Fuente: Abbott’s Illustrated New Testament
SECTION 18. PAULS CREDENTIALS TO, AND LOVE FOR, HIS READERS. CH. 12:12-18.
The signs indeed of the apostle were worked out among you in all perseverance, by signs and wonders and powers. For what is there in which you were made worse beyond the other churches? Except that I myself did not press upon you. As a favour forgive me this injustice.
Behold, this third time I am in readiness to come to you; and I will not press upon any one. For I do not seek yours but you. For the children ought not to lay up treasure for the parents, but the parents for the children. And for my part I most gladly will spend and will be spent out on behalf of your souls; if more abundantly loving you the less I be loved.
But, be it so, it was not I that burdened you, but, being crafty, with guile I laid hold of you. Any one of those whom I have sent to you, by him did I defraud you? I besought Titus and sent with him the brother. Did Titus at all defraud you? Was it not by the same Spirit that we walked? was it not in the same steps?
Section 18 supports the contrast of Paul and his rivals at the end of 17 by pointing to his apostolic credentials, and then concludes his boasting by returning to the first specific matter of it, viz. his refusal to be maintained by the church. This last matter he supplements by rebutting the charge that, if not directly, yet indirectly, he had made gain of his readers.
2Co 12:12. Signs of the apostle: visible proofs justly demanded from him who claims to be an ambassador-extraordinary of Christ.
Were worked out: more modest and more correct than I worked. That they were evidently wrought by God, gave to them their validity as signs of the apostle. This is a definite assertion that Paul wrought miracles among his readers. An assertion so bold is in the last degree unlikely to be false.
We shall not doubt it for a moment if we believe that Christ rose from the dead. See my Romans, Dissertation i. An important coincidence in Act 15:12; Rom 15:19.
Perseverance, or endurance: see under Rom 2:7. The miracles continued for some time and in face of obstacles.
Signs and wonders and powers: miracles, looked at in three aspects, as meaning something, as prodigies exciting attention, and as manifestations or power. See under Rom 15:19 : cp. Heb 2:4; 2Th 2:9.
Powers: a very common term for miracles; Mat 7:22; Mat 11:20 ff; Mat 13:54; Mat 13:58, etc.: cp. Mat 14:2. For, our chief thought is the divine power therein manifested. These miracles proved that Paul fell nothing short of the overmuch apostles. He thus puts them utterly to shame: for they had no such credentials to show. This decisive contrast is reserved to the last.
2Co 12:13. Appeal to the readers, in proof of 2Co 12:12, that in miracles wrought among them no church surpassed them. They had therefore, within their own observation, abundant proof that in his credentials Paul did not fall short of the over-much apostles. But while in this point equal to any church, Paul cannot forget that in another point they fell short of others, viz. in not contributing to his support. Although this arose from Pauls own refusal, it none the less put them in a worse position (cognate word in 1Co 6:7; Rom 11:12) than the other churches: for his refusal was prompted by their liability to misunderstand his reception of payment. In bitter irony he represents his damage as his own doing; and in still more bitter irony begs for their forgiveness. Cp. 2Co 11:7.
Press-down-upon: 2Co 12:14 : same rare word in 2Co 11:8, which by its rarity it recalls.
I myself; was no paralyzing load weighing you down.
This verse implies that, though at Thessalonica (2Th 3:8 f) and probably at Ephesus (Act 20:34) Paul preached without cost to his hearers, yet this was not his invariable rule; or, that the Corinthians had not, like (2Co 11:8; Php 4:16) the Philippians, sent him help while laboring elsewhere.
2Co 12:14-15. As in 2Co 11:9, Paul strengthens I did not press down by saying that he will continue the same course, thus showing that his refusal sprang from a settled resolve.
This third time: to pay a third visit. For it refers evidently to two occasions on which he did not burden them. An unfulfilled purpose to come a second time would be meaningless here. So 2Co 13:1 f. Already twice he has labored among them without remuneration: and he is in readiness to come a third time and do the same.
For I do not seek etc.: an abiding general purpose, supporting the foregoing specific resolve.
Seek you: cp. 1Co 9:19; Mat 18:15. His converts saved are the eternal enrichment which Paul seeks.
For the children etc.: modest admission that the foregoing principle of Pauls action is only his duty: and this sense of duty is given as a motive of his action. But while thus professedly giving up all claims on his readers, Paul really lays them under heaviest obligations, viz. those of children, if not to lay up treasure for, yet to obey and love and protect their parents. For by accepting a parents obligation he reminds them that he is their Father in Christ. Cp. 1Co 4:14 f. By renouncing all claim as matter of right he casts himself upon their gratitude and love.
2Co 12:15. Pauls cheerful acceptance of the foregoing general principle as a guide of action.
Will-be-spent-out: will permit the complete consumption of all he has and is.
On behalf of your souls: i.e. to save their souls, to save them from eternal death; implying their peril. For this Paul does not hesitate to make the greatest conceivable sacrifice. 2Co 12:15 b is a contingency (see Appendix B) which would make this great sacrifice needful to save their souls. For if their love is in inverse proportion to his love to them, their souls are in danger. The very ingratitude of his readers, (if they be ungrateful, which is left open to question,) will only spur him, by the spiritual peril it reveals, to more unsparing sacrifice to save them. Thus Paul concludes his long boast by words of love, the greatest we can conceive, a love not destroyed but moved to greater sacrifice by the unloving spirit of those loved. Such is the love revealed in Gods gift of His Son for rebellious man.
2Co 12:16-18. Pauls last word in self-defence against a last insinuation of his enemies. To give definiteness to this insinuation, that he may expose it, Paul suggests it as his own thought. But the definiteness of his words makes it almost certain that they were taken from the lips of his opponents.
Be it so: it was not I etc.: an admission prefacing the insinuation.
Laid-hold-of: same word in same sense, 2Co 11:20. Crafty and guile suggest at once Pauls known opposite character. The meaning of 2Co 12:16 is made clear by the sudden question of 2Co 12:17. It was insinuated that, though not himself receiving maintenance, Paul did practically the same thing by sending friends to be maintained at Corinth; and that for his design to enrich them his own refusal was but a guileful cloak. This insinuation, 2Co 12:18 meets by stating what Paul actually did, and by appealing to his readers knowledge of what his messengers did.
I besought Titus: begged him to go to Corinth. This refers, as 2Co 12:17 implies, to an actual visit of Titus to Corinth some time before this letter was written, a visit made at Pauls request. On this visit Titus began, doubtless by Pauls suggestion, the collection for the poor at Jerusalem. So 2Co 8:6. And perhaps to this the insinuation refers. The similar words of 2Co 8:6; 2Co 8:18 refer to the visit Titus was now about to make. See note under 2Co 9:5.
The brother: quite unknown to us.
Did Titus etc.; directly meets the insinuation, which was probably made indefinitely in the words perhaps of 2Co 12:16, by appealing to matter of fact.
The same spirit, the same steps: the One Holy Spirit (to whom the word spirit most frequently refers) guiding both men along the same path. Cp. 1Co 12:4; Gal 5:16; Rom 8:4. The same divine inward principle manifested itself in the same outward actions. This implies that Titus, like Paul, refused to be maintained by the Corinthians. And, in this fact, falls to the ground the insinuation that through Titus Paul enriched himself.
PAULS BOASTING, 2Co 11:1 to 2Co 12:18, or (15-18, is now complete. It was forced upon him by the boast (2Co 10:12; 2Co 11:18) of certain Jewish (2Co 11:22) opponents at Corinth, who are kept in view (2Co 11:5; 2Co 11:12; 2Co 11:18 ff; 2Co 12:11) throughout; and by the submission to them (2Co 11:4; 2Co 11:19) of the Corinthian Christians. It is prefaced by a broad Old Testament principle which ought to rule all human boasting. Pauls deep consciousness of the unseemliness of boasting and his reluctance to this boasting are betrayed by apologies and explanations both at the beginning of the whole and at each transition from one to another of its four specific matters. These are, his refusal to be maintained by the church, 2Co 11:7-12; his hardships and perils, 2Co 11:23-33; his rapture to Paradise and counterbalancing affliction, 2Co 12:1-10; his divine credentials, 2Co 12:12-13. At the beginning of his boast Paul justifies it by his peculiar relation to his readers and by their readiness to be led away. After claiming to be at least equal to his opponents, he claims to have given full proof of his knowledge. In contrast to the deceitful pretensions of others he has labored without cost to his readers and will continue to do so. Like his opponents, he can claim Jewish descent; and he surpasses them in the hardships and perils of his service for Christ. He has been so completely under supernatural influence that he knows not whether with or without his body he was caught up to Paradise: and he is not ashamed to speak of his terrible bodily affliction, and to glory in it as an occasion for a manifestation of the power of Christ. Not only in other churches but in equal measure at Corinth his apostolic authority has been confirmed by miraculous works. He concludes his boasting by recalling for a moment the first specific point of it, which he uses as a stepping stone to an expression of parental love for his readers, a love which even ingratitude does but kindle into an intenser glow of self-sacrifice. The same topic also suggests an insinuation of his foes, which vanishes in a moment before an appeal to simple matter of fact.
Fuente: Beet’s Commentary on Selected Books of the New Testament
12:12 Truly the {l} signs of an apostle were wrought among you in all patience, in signs, and wonders, and mighty deeds.
(l) The arguments by which it may well appear that I am indeed an apostle of Jesus Christ.
Fuente: Geneva Bible Notes
The "signs of an apostle" refer generally to the supernatural gifts and activities that marked the true apostles. This reference seems to indicate that Paul was referring to the Twelve rather than to the professed apostles when he used the term "super-apostles" (2Co 12:11; 2Co 11:5). God had enabled Paul to manifest these signs, so he described them as being done among them rather than as having done them. Paul’s perseverance in his apostolic mission in Corinth despite much opposition distinguished him from the false apostles (cf. 2Co 10:1; 2Co 11:4; 2Co 13:14; Act 18:6; Act 18:9-10; Act 18:12-16). "Signs," "wonders," and "miracles" are synonymous terms that emphasize respectively their authenticating value, astonishing effect, and supernatural power.
"These passages [i.e., Act 2:22; Rom 15:18-19; 2Th 2:9; Heb 2:4] demonstrate that in the New Testament the purpose of signs and wonders and powers is that of authentication, even when deceitfully imitated by satanic forces." [Note: Hughes, p. 457.]