Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of 2 Corinthians 13:8
For we can do nothing against the truth, but for the truth.
8. For we can do nothing against the truth ] The original carries on the idea of power of which St Paul has been speaking above. If we are endued with any power from on high, it is not that we may exercise it on our own behalf, and against the truth of God. We can but use it for the purpose for which it was given us, namely for the glory of God and the increase of His kingdom.
but for the truth ] More literally, on behalf of the truth.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
For we – That is, we the apostles.
Can do nothing against the truth … – That is, we who are under the influence of the Spirit of God; who have been commissioned by him as apostles, can do nothing that shall be against the great system of truth which we are appointed to promulgate and defend. You need, therefore, apprehend no partial or severe discipline from us; no unjust construction of your conduct. Our aim is to promote the truth, and to do what is right; and we cannot, therefore, by any regard to our own reputation, or to any personal advantage, do what is wrong, or countenance, or desire what is wrong in others. We must wish that which is right to be done by others, whatever may be the effect on us – whether we are regarded as apostles or deceivers. I suppose, therefore, that this verse is designed to qualify and confirm the sentiment in the previous verse, that Paul meant to do only right; that he wished all others to do right; and that whatever might be the effect on his own reputation, or however he might be regarded, he could not go against the great system of gospel truth which he preached, or even desire that others should ever do wrong, though it might in any way be for his advantage. It was a fixed principle with him to act only in accordance with truth; to do what was right.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
2Co 13:8
We can do nothing against the truth, but for the truth.
The impotence of revolt against the truth
I. The futility of revolt against the truth.
1. There are two great truths against which the world has been in perpetual revolt.
(1) The moral truth of Gods government. This means that there is a living and a righteous God; that He will reward righteousness and punish evil. That is the sublime belief uttered in every page of the Bible. By that belief the noblest nations have lived, and the noblest periods of history been shaped. Denying that truth, the world becomes a fathomless and maddening problem. It becomes what Carlyle said the materialists made it, A mill without a miller, whose wheels turn endlessly in the tide of the ages, but without purpose or result. Such revolt is the madness of an empty pride, and is as futile as it is wicked.
(2) The spiritual truth of Gods government by Jesus Christ. Christ stands before men as the embodied holiness of God, and His law of life is the law by which human holiness is attained. Against that Divine Presence the world has been in perpetual revolt. The past sign of that revolt is Calvary; its present sign is the selfishness and un-Christliness of human life. But long since, on the steep stairs of sacrifice, Christ has ascended into universal supremacy. The Pharisees had hated Him living, and they feared Him dead. And so they came to Pilate, who said, Ye have a watch–set it; seal the tomb; make it as sure as ye can. How sure was that? Was it prophecy or irony which animated Pilates speech? The revolt against Him was futile then, and it is futile now. He being lifted up, is drawing all men unto Him. There are those who resist that infinite attraction. Some of you have done it. But again the voice of Paul speaks, and eighteen centuries have only added victorious confirmation to his words, We can do nothing against the truth.
2. But it may be said, where is the proof? One proof of truth, at least, is found in the eternity of its life. Error carries the seeds of its own death with it. It is error that changes; truth abides. The history of civilisation is a history of the slow but certain conquests of truth. There have been periods when the world has seemed to have fallen asleep. But at length from that vast slumbering host one man has seen a new light kindling in the far firmament. He has risen and announced his great discovery, and called on men to believe in it. Such men have always been disbelieved, persecuted. But time has tried them and the truth has proved itself truth by living and triumphing. Astrology and alchemy have perished, but astronomy and chemistry survive. The scientific heresies of one age have become the commonplaces of the next. Time has threshed out the wheat from the chaff, annihilating the false and keeping the eternal truths.
(1) One proof of the moral government of God is, that the centuries assert it. Think how many great monarchies have arisen and covered the world with empire, and where are they now? Did ever empire seem more likely to endure than the Roman? What does the philosophic historian say about France? France slit her own veins and let her own life-blood out on the day of St. Bartholomew, and has been perishing of exhaustion ever since. On all nations which have become corrupt, the same fate has fallen sooner or later. And what does all this mean, but that there is an avenging holiness in the world?
(2) And how is it that the spiritual empire of Jesus Christ has survived? The world has been leagued against it from the beginning. The key-note of revolt and hatred struck on Calvary has echoed through the ages. Yet the kingdom survives, and the fiery waves have fallen back quenched and impotent, and the wrath of man has passed like a waft of smoke. The Christ survives, and is the moral Emperor of the universe to-day. What does it all mean? It means that the kingdom of God in Christ is a fact, and cannot be destroyed. The whole rebellion of man against God is one wild spasm of despair; We can do nothing against the truth, but for the truth.
3. You can, of course, deny the truth and defy it. So, too, you may deny the law of gravitation, but if you defy it and leap from yonder steeple, there is one sure result–the law triumphs and the man is slain. You can deny the penalties of vice, but if you defy them the slow poison will eat the heart out notwithstanding. There are certain things which have long since been lifted out of the realm of speculation into certitude. Why is it no one doubts? It is because we have discovered certain laws of the universe which are subject to no caprice, open to no revisal. And so in the spiritual universe. When we see the same cause producing the same effect through the long course of various centuries, we know we have found a truth. And when we see through all the faded past of human history, Christs love inspiring love, and Christs light bestowing light, and Christs life imparting life, we know that we are dealing with an unchangeable force, and can forecast the spiritual future of the world with unerring accuracy.
II. The truth even prospers on opposition. But for the truth.
1. It has always been so in the day of persecution. The hurricane has carried the seed of truth afar; the fire has purged the hearts of men; the storm has destroyed the old building, only that it shall be replaced by a nobler and more stable structure. It is the very irony of victory! God indeed holds His enemies in derision when their best-planned revolt crowns His arms with new glory, and the very ingenuity of their hatred helps on His sovereign purpose.
2. But impotent as we are to assail the truth, we are all able to assist it. You cannot revoke the laws of science; they are the same to-day as when the dawn of the world broke: but they lurk in silence, and wait the approach of the intellect of man, and the demand of his noble curiosity. You can destroy none of these forces; but how much you can do for them! It is even so with the kingdom of Jesus Christ.
3. Let our hearts rejoice, then: Christs kingdom cannot be shaken. Think of the continuity of faith which has run through all the ages, of Christian saints in every century, and then ask: Is it possible that all these believed in vain? To-morrow the sceptic will propose his question; you propose yours, Is it probable that all the ages have been wrong, that at last Herbert Spencer and his little following should be right? I prefer to believe that vast anthem of certitude which rolls upward from the saintliest and noblest hearts of all the worlds great past: I know whom I have believed, etc. Conclusion: The text is a call
1. To loyal submission and noble service. Cease from a revolt which is impotent, enter into that allegiance with God from which shall issue peace and victory.
2. To increased faith in the victory of the kingdom of Christ. It has triumphed over greater odds than any now arrayed against it. Picture the young convert of Pauls day as he enters some great Pagan city. On every side he sees the pomp of martial power, the luxury of sensuous life. Vast temples rise, and there philosophers dispute. But to him, poor youth, all this seems strange, sad, hateful. Is it possible all this can be changed? But he turns aside into some lowly street, and amid the humblest people begins to preach that strange gospel of Jesus Christ. And in three centuries not a heathen temple is left in Rome.
3. To new and nobler enthusiasm for this kingdom. Enthusiasm is the true fire of manhood, and when that leaves a man, a church, a nation, its true glory is departed. We want the enthusiasm of that young minister who refused a hard and poor station, but that same night heard Bishop Simpson preach, and at last sprang to his feet and cried, Bishop, I will go anywhere for Christ now! We want the enthusiasm which shames men of their niggard gifts, and counts no box of frankincense too precious for that Head which bowed in death for us.
4. To new and nobler effort for this kingdom. Enthusiasm is much, but action is more. Fix it in your minds; you can help the truth. You, bright youth, with all the unused powers of heart and intellect; you, poor widow, with the few coppers in your worn purse; you, rich man, with your social position and wealth. If you have ever gazed upon the Matterhorn, you will have thought that if ever there was a type of majestic strength it is standing there. But ask science how the Matterhorn was made, and it will tell you how, ages upon ages since, there were drifting mica-flakes floating in an abysmal sea, and one by one they came together, and were beaten into hardness and consistence, and grew in bulk and steadfastness, until at last the waters rolled back, and there was uncovered that vast Alpine tower. And even so Christs kingdom is built up. Little by little, life by life, the kingdom grows. It is built up inch by inch, until at last it rises mighty, impregnable, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it. Shall our lives be added, as living stones, to this growing grandeur? Shall they be fretted out in blind rebellion against this rock against which men are broken, and which when it falls crushes men to powder? For, or against? But before we answer, the decree is fixed: We can do nothing against the truth, but for the truth. (W. J. Dawson.)
The impotence of man in antagonism to the truth
Truth is reality–that which is; falsehood is non-entity–that which may seem to be but is not. We may illustrate Pauls maxim in reference to–
I. Human science.
1. In the region of the material, that which has been established is true, has being. To fight against it, to be frightened at it, is not rational, is not reverent. Unless you can disprove it, it is as much a part of the truth as anything else that God has done or spoken.
(1) There are those who cannot accept this. Investigation is viewed with suspicion. At the exact point where knowledge stood when they were in the cradle, there it must remain at least till they are in the grave.
(2) What calmness, what dignity, would it give to the Christian if he were to say, truth and the truth can never really be at variance. The God of the Bible is the God also of nature, and the one cannot contradict the other. Therefore I wait, rest, and trust.
(3) It is otherwise with human theories. They are not yet, and may never be parts of the truth. It is by no means true that men can do nothing against them, for they have been disproved and displaced all along the ages. But facts, once proved, are a part of the truth, and we can do nothing against that.
2. What can we do for it? We may help the onward march of truth by an attitude towards it of respect, interest, and gratitude. We can assure the toilers in the field of science that, so far from dreading and disparaging the results of their labour, we recognise in them fellow-workers in the cause of God and man. And of them the Christian asks for the truths sake–
(1) That science will worship while she explores.
(2) That she will exercise towards workers in other fields that forbearance and respectfulness which they manifest towards her; that she will never allow herself to speak as though there were no vast region within which telescope and microscope give no vision. Science is a fighter against the truth when she arrogates to herself the whole of it.
II. Life and conduct. There are such things as reality and unreality, truth and falsehood, in the realm of action. We speak, e.g., of a true man and a false man. Good itself is truth, in contrast with evil, which is always hollow and evanescent.
1. There are men who have thought, in this sense, to do something against the truth. Men have defied morality and hoped by the force of position, or genius, to put down virtue herself. Have they succeeded? Has not the judgment of the next generation, nay, even of their own, gone against them? In nothing has the application of the word truth to morals been more powerfully attested, than in the failure of these champions of a new licence, to move from its firm base by one hairs breadth the impregnable rock of the human instinct as to the virtuous and the vile. But for one man who attempts this audacious enterprise, tens of thousands have hoped to do something on a smaller scale. Then the appeal lies to all of us. And it is this–Did you find by sinning that you were able, practically, to do anything against the truth? Was it happiness while the sin reigned in you? No man grown to mans estate will feel the slightest disposition to gainsay the old utterance, There is no doubt on which side God is in the great world-wide and age-long war between vice and virtue.
2. We can do nothing against virtue. Can we do something for it? I address the young. It is comparatively little to see an old man, or a family man, or a clergyman, virtuous. It is expected of him. But who shall speak of the power for the truth which is yours? Just in proportion as the life is young, and the snares many, is the admiration if you stand steadfast. Then can you plead for truth against the lie, and be listened to. Then can you influence one or two of your nearest and dearest to walk with you in the way of purity and peace.
III. The gospel, which Paul had in his mind.
1. Many think or thought that they could do something against the gospel. Outspoken infidels and false brethren have tried to bring the faith of Christ into disrepute. Now and then they have even seemed, in some corner of the field, to have gained a victory. But look again, is the truth overborne? Is the gospel weaker to-day than it was five, ten, fifteen centuries afore-time? Were there ever more diligent students of the Bible, more earnest men of prayer, more holy lives, more Christian deaths than is this age? Are the impugners of the faith satisfied? Do you hear no laments over their own departed days of believing and worshipping–no envious lookings upon men that have hope and can give reason for it? We do not deny that it is in the power of any man to be an antagonist of the gospel. Any fool can parody verses of the Bible; can say smart things against creeds. And some of these things will stay by us, and make it harder to be good than it need have been. It is quite possible to make a believer into an infidel and have the misery of hearing, late on in life, that an associate of yours has lived without God and died without hope. Thus far can we go, and no further. But against the gospel you have no power.
2. Can we do nothing for it? The gospel seeks not yours but you. It does not want your help–it wants your happiness. Not till you have embraced it will it accept anything of you. But when this is done we can add one little chapter to its evidences and show, by our example, that its whole tendency is good. So, when the last day of life comes, your last breath shall be drawn, not in the disconsolate cry, O Galilean, Thou hast conquered! but in the confiding utterance, I know whom I have believed; Lord Jesus, receive my spirit. (Dean Vaughan.)
Christs truth uninjurable
The text may be taken–
1. As expressing the strong disposition of a truth loving man.
2. As a statement of a universal fact. The religion of Christ–
I. Is truth.
1. Religion is not to be understood either as theology, ecclesiasticism, or ritualities, but as those eternal principles that are hungered after and agree with the reason, intuitions, and wants of humanity.
2. The great cardinal principles of all the religions of the world are more or less identical with those of Christ. They all involve–
(1) Absolute dependence upon the Supreme Being.
(2) The obligation of the highest love and devotion to Him.
(3) The duty of exercising justice and beneficence towards men.
(4) The existence of a future state of retribution.
(5) The idea of mediation.
3. These principles are therefore the truth, the reality. Christ brought them out in His life and teaching in a form more perfect and powerful than they were ever brought forth before. He is their exponent, their incarnation, Hence Paul speaks of the truth that is in Jesus Christ. He says Himself, I am the truth.
II. Is indestructible.
1. Man can do much against the theology or theory of truth.
2. Man can do much against conventional manifestations of the truth. Christendom calls Christ Master and Lord, but many deny Him in their daily life.
3. Man can do much against its ecclesiastical representation.
4. But whilst man can do much against all these things he can do nothing against the truth. The truth that Christ taught and incarnated is independent of these. Conclusion: Whilst you can do nothing against the truth, remember that in opposing the truth you may do much against yourselves. (D. Thomas, D. D.)
Fuente: Biblical Illustrator Edited by Joseph S. Exell
Verse 8. For we can do nothing against the truth, but for the truth.] As we are the apostles of God, we cannot bring to you any false doctrine; and, as we profess to be under the influence of God’s Spirit, we cannot do any thing that is opposed to that truth, or which might be prejudicial to it. On the contrary, what we say and do is for that truth, to propagate and establish it. The Gospel of Jesus is truth; and my testimony concerning it is truth also. In my coming, and in my rod, you have nothing to fear, if you retain and abide in this truth.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
Truth in this place notes integrity of life and conversation; truth in action, opposed to hypocrisy, or scandalous living. He had before prayed, that they might do no evil; which if they did not, they need not fear his coming with a rod; for though he had a power from Christ to punish, yet he had no power to punish such as did well; his power was to be used for them, not against them. As the law was not made for the righteous, and the civil magistrate is not ordained of God for the terror of those that do well, but only of those that do evil; so neither did Christ ever ordain ecclesiastical censures for the punishment of good and holy men. And indeed here is the just boundary of all civil and ecclesiastical power; no magistrate or minister, acting as Christs servants, can (lawfully, or as by any commission from him) do any thing
against the truth, or those that own, defend, and practise it; the power with which they are trusted is for edification, not destruction.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
8. Our apostolic power is givenus that we may use it not against, but for the furtherance of, thetruth. Where you are free from fault, there is no scope for itsexercise: and this I desire. Far be it from me to use it against theinnocent, merely in order to increase my own power (2Co13:10).
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
For we can do nothing against the truth,…. The apostles had no power, nor could they, nor did they desire to exercise any against such who received the truth of the Gospel in the love of it; who continued in it, walked in it, and held it fast; who worshipped God in Spirit and in truth, and who walked uprightly, and as became the truth; for as the law is not made for such persons, but the reverse, so the authority the apostles had received from Christ was not to be exercised upon such:
but for the truth: for the sake of defending the truth against those that dropped, denied, and opposed it; and for the honour of it, by chastising, correcting, reproving, censuring, and punishing such, who either contradicted it, or caused it to be blasphemed and spoken evil of.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
Against the truth ( ). He means in the long run. We can hinder and hold down the truth by evil deeds (Ro 1:18), but in the end the truth wins.
Fuente: Robertson’s Word Pictures in the New Testament
For we can do nothing against the truth. Your well doing is what we truly aim at. For, if we had any other aim, with a view to approving ourselves, we should fail, because we should be going in the face of the truth – the Gospel; and against that we are powerless. In that case we should be unapproved before God.
Fuente: Vincent’s Word Studies in the New Testament
1) “For we can do nothing “ (ou gar dunametha ti) “For we are not able to do anything,” hold no power to do anything.
2) “Against the truth,” (kata tes aletheias) “against or to tread down the truth,” against the facts of the case, Joh 5:33; Joh 8:32; Rom 1:18; Rom 1:25; 2Co 11:10.
3) “But for the truth “ (alla huper tes aletheias) “but on behalf of the truth,” we labor, Gal 4:16; Eph 4:15; 1Ti 3:15; 3Jn 1:3 “thou walkest in truth.”
Fuente: Garner-Howes Baptist Commentary
8. For we can do nothing: That is — “I do not seek, or desire any other power, than what the Lord has conferred upon me, that I may promote the truth. To false Apostles it is all one, provided they have power; and they feel no concern to make use of their power for the promotion of what is good.” In short, he defends and maintains the honor of his ministry, in so far as it is connected with the truth of God. “What does it matter to me? For unless I have in view to promote the truth, all the power that I shall claim will be false and groundless. If, however, I lay out, whatever I have, for the promotion of the truth, I, in that case, do not consult my own interest. Now, when the authority of doctrine is safe, and truth is uninjured, I have what I desire. In contending, therefore, so keenly, I am not influenced by any exclusive regard for myself personally.” By this consideration, however, he intimates, that the man, who fights and labors for the truth alone will not take it amiss, should occasion require it, to be regarded in the judgment of men as a reprobate, provided this does not interfere with the glory of God, the edification of the Church, and the authority of sound doctrine.
This passage must be carefully observed, because it limits the power, which the Pastors of the Church should have, and fixes its proper bounds — that they be ministers of the truth. Papists loudly tell us, that it is said,
He that heareth you, heareth me; he that despiseth you, despiseth me, (Luk 10:16);
and likewise:
Obey them that are set over you, (Heb 13:17);
and under this pretext they take to themselves the utmost liberty, so as to usurp unbounded dominion, while they are, at the same time, the avowed and sworn enemies of the truth, and aim at its destruction by every means in their power. For exposing such impudence, this one statement of Paul will suffice — which declares, that they must themselves be in subjection to the truth. (962)
(962) “ Qu’il faut que ceux qui ont le gouernement en l’Eglise, seruent la verite;” — “That it is necessary that those, who have the government of the Church, be subject to the truth.”
Fuente: Calvin’s Complete Commentary
(8) For we can do nothing against the truth.Better, perhaps, we are powerless. Here, again, the meaning lies below the surface. The first impression which the words convey is that he is asserting his own thoroughness as a champion of the truth, so that it was a moral impossibility for him to do anything against it. The true sequence of thought, however, though it does not exclude that meaning, compels us to read much more between the lines. Yes, he says, we are content to seem to fail, as regards the exercise of our apostolic power to chastise offenders; for the condition of that power is that it is never exercised against the truth, and therefore if you walk in the truth, there will be no opening for its exercise. The feeling is analogous to that of Rom. 9:3 : I could wish myself accursed from Christ for my brethrens sake; perhaps also to that of the Baptist: He must increase, but I must decrease (Joh. 3:30); perhaps, yet again, to that of the patriot dying with the prayer, May my name be without honour if only my country may be saved.
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
8. For Reason for this conclusion.
The truth Equivalent to the faith in 2Co 13:5. If they are in the true faith his apostolic thunders cannot touch them. On the contrary, whatever the result may be as to his apostolic standing, he has no power but for the truth.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
‘For we can do nothing against the truth, but for the truth.’
This is because he is incapable of doing anything which is against the truth, because he is totally for the truth. What matters to him is the truth, both in doctrine and in life. It is only the truth and its consequences that are important, not his own reputation. His whole life is given to the expression and living out of the truth (see 2Co 11:10).
Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett
2Co 13:8 . Reason assigned for the relation just expressed as aimed at by , . That we really have this design, is based on the fact that we are not in a position to do anything against the truth, but for the truth. The is to be taken in the habitual sense of the N. T.: the truth , the divine truth, i.e. the gospel ; comp. 2Co 4:2 , 2Co 6:7 . If Paul, forsooth, had not had the design that the readers should do what is good, and he himself appear without punitive power and consequently as unattested, he would have counteracted the gospel, in so far as it aims at establishing Christian morality, requires penitence, announces forgiveness to the penitent, etc.; but he is not in a position to do so. To take , with Flatt and older expositors, [402] as moral truth (see on 1Co 5:8 ), uprightness , is a limitation of it, which the context all the less suggests, seeing that in the above sense embraces in it the moral element. The taking it in the judicial sense would be accordant with the context ( , Theophylact, so Chrysostom, Theodoret, Grotius: “quod rectum justumque est;” Cornelius a Lapide, Bengel, de Wette: “the true state in which the matter finds itself;” so, too, Rbiger); yet, in that case, there would result an inappropriate contrast, since . . . can only mean “ for the benefit of the truth,” which presupposes a more comprehensive idea of . (de Wette: “to further the truth”).
. .] sc. , we are able to do something .
[402] So Photius in Oecumenius, p. 709 D: , and previously Pelagius: “ Innocentiae enim nostra sententia obesse non poterit;” as also Erasmus, Mosheim, and others.
Fuente: Heinrich August Wilhelm Meyer’s New Testament Commentary
8 For we can do nothing against the truth, but for the truth.
Ver. 8. For we can do nothing ] A temporary may so fall away, as to persecute the truth that he once professed, and the ministry that he once admired. Never falls a saint so far in his greatest relapses. Bishop Latimer tells of one, who fell away from the known truth, to mocking and scorning it; yet was afterwards touched in conscience for it. Beware of this sin, saith he; for I have known no more than this that repented. It is a very dangerous precipice. (Lat. Serm. before K. Edw.)
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
8. ] For we have no power against the truth (of the Gospel, as Meyer; not of the facts , as Chrys., al., and De Wette, which might suit ., but comes in very lamely with . ‘If you walk in the truth, we shall be at one with you and so have no opportunity of shewing our power’) but (only) on behalf of (in furtherance of the cause and spread of) the truth.
2Co 13:8 . . . . .: for we can do nothing , exhibit no Apostolic power, against the truth, i.e. , against the facts of the case, but for the truth ( cf. 1Co 3:1 for the elliptical constr.). The principle here laid down is of far widen application than an accurate exegesis can assign to it in its context. It is a general principle, which Christian theology has not always sufficiently remembered, that to fight against truth, whether ethical or historical or scientific, is to fight against Him who is the Truth, and so is to court defeat. We can do nothing, even if we would, against the truth ( cf. 1Es 4:38 ).
nothing = not (Greek. ou. App-106.)
any thing. (Greek. tis. App-123.)
against. Greek. kata. App-104.
for = on behalf of. Greek. huper. App-104.
8.] For we have no power against the truth (of the Gospel, as Meyer; not of the facts, as Chrys., al., and De Wette, which might suit ., but comes in very lamely with .-If you walk in the truth, we shall be at one with you and so have no opportunity of shewing our power) but (only) on behalf of (in furtherance of the cause and spread of) the truth.
2Co 13:8. , we are able) comp. the power which he claims, 2Co 13:10.-, truth) Truth here denotes the exact authority to be exercised over the Corinthians.
2Co 13:8
2Co 13:8
For we can do nothing against the truth,-As an apostle of Christ, it was impossible for him to desire or wish to find any occasion for punishing them merely to demonstrate his own authority and power. To rejoice in evil because it gave him an advantage of any kind would have been impossible for him.
but for the truth.-[Should those who had fallen away from the simplicity and the purity that is toward Christ (2Co 11:3) return, should those who had violated the obligations of love (2Co 12:20) and purity (2Co 12:21) repent, the cause of truth would thus be reestablished and his power of chastening would be nullified, because it is, in its very nature, being applied only for and never against the truth.]
2Co 13:10, 2Co 10:8, Num 16:28-35, 1Ki 22:28, 2Ki 1:9-13, 2Ki 2:23-25, Pro 21:30, Pro 26:2, Mar 9:39, Mar 16:17-19, Luk 9:49-56, Act 4:28-30, Act 5:1-11, Act 13:3-12, Act 19:11-17, 1Co 5:4, 1Co 5:5, 1Ti 1:20, Heb 2:3, Heb 2:4
Reciprocal: Joh 15:5 – can 2Co 7:9 – that ye 2Co 13:9 – when
CO-OPERATION IN THE TRUTH
We can do nothing against the truth; but [only] for the truth.
2Co 13:8
Is that not a satisfying picture of our relationship to truth? The truththe reality of thingsis outside there; moving along its own path, pressing forward towards its proper goal, set in a purposed direction of its own. Whatever we may do or say, it makes good its own intention. Our opportunity lies in coming into co-operation with it. We can join in. We can discover what it intends. Our faculties allow for our understanding what it is after. It invites us to enter into its meaning and to unite forces. We and it are akin and can work together.
I. Even if we ourselves must limit and qualify the claim of practical efficiency to be the sole test of the truth that we believe in, yet, at any rate, those outside us who watch and note us cannot possibly apply any other test. It is the sole proof by which they will judge uspractical results. We therefore are bound to supply them with evidence. They must be able to see that somehow or other, by our belief, we do make something adequate and real of this life of ours. They must be forced to own that we can put ourselves to use; that we are of service to all who need us; that we bring resources into play which cannot be got elsewhere; that we find life full of practical opportunities. They must confess that we offer of our best; that we come to the best of which we are capable; that we improve and grow, and have funds of secret strength, and are in touch with the powers that make for good. If we are in the truth, working with the truth, as we say that we are, these are the results that should happen. It ought to be visible, tangible, audible, that we have a faith which is efficient, a faith which corresponds to the facts and can deal with them, and master them, and draw strength out of them, and do the work asked of it. Are you and I offering any real evidence to those who watch? And if not, why not? That is a serious question to have to answer.
II. There may be some who are retorting, I accept your test of efficiency, and it has carried me away from your Christian Creed; for I have become a better man, a better woman, since I ceased to believe it. My strength was liberated by my freedom from faiths shackles. Since I threw it over I have been more unselfish, more sacrificial, more true. I have loved humanity with a deeper love. I have cared for righteousness with a finer passion. I have become free from petty anxieties. I have moved in a larger and a sweeter air. Is that what you say? Well, what should I answer? I should stand by my test. At all costs I would say: You must obey the call to be at your best. Wherever your best self leads you, thither you must follow. Be true to the best in you. You cannot do anything else. Only follow it loyally to the end. Press after it. I, for my part, must believe that whatever is best in you belongs to Christ. Follow it, and it is bound at last to find its home in Him. It will lead you there if you are loyal to it. All that is good in us is His. He is the one true man in us all. That is the Catholic faith. Therefore we can dare to bid you be true to yourself at all hazards, and you cannot in the end be wrong. The more true you are to the guiding which, as you now are, leads you straight away from Christ, the more certain you will be to find yourself brought back to Him.
III. Ah! that blessed hour of recovered peace in Christ!What would it not mean to you? And to you, it would be more even than to those poor parted lovers in the poem. To you, it would not merely be a recovery, but a revelation. For, indeed, if the Christ from Whom you have parted did not draw out your best self, then it was some misconceived and misinterpreted Christ Whom you have left behind. And when with those averted feet, following your best, you make full circle and meet again the Christ face to face, it will be a new Christthe true Christ, the very Lord and Master of your soul. Ah, you will know Him then, as your only joy and peace and consummation. He, and He alone, can fulfil your desire. And in the gladness of the recognition, after the bitter journey to the bourne so sweet, you will thank God for having kept you true to the light which to-day you pledge yourself to follow to the end.
Rev. Canon H. Scott Holland.
Illustration
We think of those two who, in Coventry Patmores exquisite poem, are compelled to sever wholly, and to part one East and one West, and who yet, by the very strength of the resolution with which they walk asunder, are brought, by the round Earth, face to face at last. So the poem runs:
Perchance we may,
Where now this night is day,
And even through faith of still averted feet,
Amazed meet;
The bitter journey to the bourne so sweet,
Seasoning the termless feast of our content
With tears of recognition never dry.
2Co 13:8. This verse is in line with the preceding one. Were the brethren to conduct themselves as they should, Paul could not have exercised his power of discipline against them without doing something against the truth, which is a thing he felt that he could not do.
2Co 13:8. For we can do nothing against the truth, but for the truth:For our one object is to promote and establish the truth; and that end attained, if with the exercise of discipline, all the better; for not to display our apostolic authority do we live, but to see the truth triumphant everywhere.
The apostle having prayed that the Corinthians might be found doing no evil, in the former verse, and assuring them thereupon, that they would then be secure from his censures and chastisements, he assigns a reason here for that assurance given them; because, says he, We can do nothing against the truth; but for the truth: having our power given us only for edification, and not for destruction.
Considering the words, without respect to the coherence, observe, 1. A negative proposition, We can do nothing against the truth. Oh blessed impotency!
2. An affirmation, or positive assertion, but for the truth. Oh blessed ability? He was as strong as a giant for the truth, but as weak as an infant against it.
Learn, That sincere Christians in general, and the ministers of Christ in particular, cannot, dare not, will not do any thing against the truth, but for the truth:
They cannot, that is, they may not, they are restrained by an outward command from God, who is truth itself:
They cannot, that is, they will not, there is a restraint of an inward principle; neither the conviction of their understanding, the clearness of their judgments, nor the holiness of their hearts, will suffer them to oppose the truth.
Again, they cannot attempt it; or if they did, they can never effect it; they cannot do it safely, they cannot do it successfully. We can do nothing against the truth in a way of discouragement; nor nothing against it in a way of disparagement: But all our endeavours are for the truth; we embrace it in our judgment, we hide it in our hearts, and practise it in our lives. Whatever talent God entrusts any of his ministers with, whether of parts, power, or estate, it is an opportunity put into their hands of doing service for the truth, and, as such, to be accepted and improved.
Verse 8 Instead of rejoicing over a chance to show his power because of this evil, Paul would pray that their good would cause his authority to go without proof.
For we can do nothing against the truth, but for the truth. [While hoping or expecting to be vindicated, his prayer is of a different sort. We pray, says he, that you may be kept from evil, and thus escape the discipline. We do not thus pray for the sake of approving ourselves by showing our power to restrain you from evil (and thus our approval would result from our prayer), but we thus pray because of our earnest desire for your righteousness. We would have you do that which is honorable, even though you thereby deprive us of the opportunity of vindicating ourself, so that we shall still be looked upon by you as untrustworthy, and not capable of enduring tests. Compare with the like unselfishness at Rom 9:3 . For our apostolic power is given to us to use, not against, but for, the truth. We are powerless against anything which is right and true. If ye, therefore, do the truth, you withdraw your demand for a test of us, and deprive us of this chance of vindicating ourselves by showing our power, and this we desire that you should do.]
Paul could not bring himself to do anything that would harm the truth, even to vindicate himself. Promoting the truth (i.e., the gospel) was his great ambition even if it meant that some regarded him as a false apostle. This acting for the truth included judging the Corinthians if necessary (2Co 13:2).
Fuente: Henry Alford’s Greek Testament
Fuente: The Expositors Greek Testament by Robertson
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
Fuente: The Greek Testament
Fuente: Gnomon of the New Testament
Fuente: Old and New Testaments Restoration Commentary
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
Fuente: Church Pulpit Commentary
Fuente: Combined Bible Commentary
Fuente: A Popular Commentary on the New Testament
Fuente: Expository Notes with Practical Observations on the New Testament
Fuente: Gary Hampton Commentary on Selected Books
Fuente: McGarvey and Pendleton Commentaries (New Testament)
Fuente: Expository Notes of Dr. Constable (Old and New Testaments)