Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of 2 Corinthians 6:11
O [ye] Corinthians, our mouth is open unto you, our heart is enlarged.
11 7:1. Such a Ministry demands a suitable response on the part of those on whose behalf it is exercised
11. our mouth is open unto you ] i.e. we have spoken with perfect frankness on all points, keeping nothing back, because we love you. Chrysostom. Cf. ch. 2Co 3:12.
our heart is enlarged ] Rather, hath been enlarged, i.e. in what has been said. Chrysostom quotes Rom 1:11; Rom 1:13; Gal 4:19; Eph 3:14; Php 1:7; Php 4:1; Col 2:1-2; 1Th 2:7-8; 1Th 2:19 as instances of St Paul’s love of the faithful. Cf. also Rom 15:32; 2Jn 1:4; 3Jn 1:3-4. The expression refers to the expansive effect of love and sympathy in the affections, just as we speak of a man of wide sympathies as ‘large-hearted.’ The passages cited from the O. T. by Dean Stanley (1Ki 4:29; Psa 119:32; Isa 55:5) seem to have a somewhat different signification, that of the enlargement and exaltation consequent on the possession of intellectual, spiritual, or, in the last passage, it may be even material advantages. Robertson observes here, “Now what makes this remark wonderful in the Apostle’s mouth is that St Paul had received a multitude of provocations from the Corinthians. They had denied the truthfulness of his ministry, charged him with interested motives, sneered at his manner, and held up to scorn the meanness of his appearance. In the face of this his heart expands!”
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
O ye Corinthians, our mouth is open unto you – We speak freely, and fully. This is an affectionate address to them, and has reference to what he had just said. It means that, when the heart was full on the subject, words would flow freely, and that he had given vent to the fervid language which he had just used because his heart was full. He loved them; he felt deeply; and he spoke to them with the utmost freedom of what he had thought, and purposed, and done.
Our heart is enlarged – We have deep feelings, which naturally vent themselves in fervent and glowing language. The main idea here is, that he had a strong affection for them; a heart which embraced and loved them all, and which expressed itself in the language of deep emotion. He had loved them so that he was willing to be reproached, and to be persecuted, and to be poor, and to have his name cast out as evil. I cannot be silent. I conceal or dissemble nothing. I am full of ardent attachment, and that naturally vents itself in the strong language which I have used. True attachment will find means of expressing itself. A heart full of love will give vent to its feelings. There will be no dissembling and hypocrisy there. And if a minister loves the souls of his people he will pour out the affections of his heart in strong and glowing language.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
2Co 6:11-13
O ye Corinthians, our mouth is open unto you, our heart is enlarged.
A Christian ministers appeal
I. The appeal of a revived minister,
1. It consists of a full exhibition to you of all the truths which the gospel teaches for your salvation.
2. It comprises an affectionate desire for your enjoyment of all the blessings which the gospel offers. This enjoyment–
(1) Comes from God.
(2) Is maintained by devout meditation and prayer.
(3) Is encouraged by examples.
(4) Expresses itself by earnestness of spirit in self-denying labours.
II. The response of a revived church.
1. Take a firm and steady hold of the simple gospel, as divinely suited to the ends for which it has been given.
2. Meet the ministers of the gospel in the spirit in which they come to you.
3. Extend your own views, plans, and hopes in connection with the enlargement of the Church.
(1) What can you do?
(2) What is the wisest way of doing it?
(3) What are your encouragements and hopes?
Address–
1. Those who have no disposition to respond to this appeal–why not?
2. Such as have.
3. Those confirmed by the meetings.
4. Those who are awakened. (W. H. Stowell, D. D.)
The apostles love and its desired recompense
I. The apostles affection overflows in an exuberant apostrophe (2Co 6:11). His love was deep, and this flow of eloquence arose out of the expansion of his heart.
1. Our heart is enlarged. This remark is wonderful considering the provocations Paul had received. The Corinthians had denied the truthfulness of his ministry, charged him with interested motives, sneered at his manner, etc. In the face of this his heart expands!–partly with compassion. Their insults only impressed him with a sense of their need. How worthy a successor of his Masters spirit! And this is the true test of gracious charity. Does the heart expand or narrow as life goes on? If it narrows, ii misconception or opposition wither love, be sure that that love had no root. If ye love them that love you, what reward have ye?, And this love is given to all, partly from looking on all as immortal souls in Christ. The everlasting principle within makes all the difference. Hold fast to love. If men wound your heart, let them not sour or embitter it; let them not shut up or narrow it; let them only expand it more and more, and be always able to say with Paul, My heart is enlarged.
2. Our mouth is open unto you. He might have shut his lips, and in dignified pride refused to plead his own cause. But instead he speaks his thoughts aloud, and, like Luther, lays his whole heart open to view. Paul had no afterthought, no reservation–he was a genuine man.
II. The recompense desired.
1. The enlargement of their heart towards him.
2. To be shown in their separation from the world and from all uncleanness. It was not simply affection towards himself that he desired, but devotion to God.
3. This is the only true recompense of ministerial work. (F. W. Robertson, M. A.)
Heart expansion
I. The nature of heart expansion.
1. It is not mere mental expansion. History supplies too many examples of intellectual greatness associated with moral degradation.
2. It is not mere liberality of sentiment.
3. It consists in enlarged views of men as the subject of moral government, and enlarged desires for promoting their well-being. It is Christianity only that inspires those views and those feelings. It gives to man enlarged expectations, and teaches him the way to realise them.
II. The means of heart expansion.
1. Examine the present state of the heart.
2. Meditate upon the great evangelical facts. God so loved the world, etc.
3. Commune with men of enlarged souls. He that walketh with wise men shall be wise, he that walketh with good souls may participate in their goodness.
4. Hold fellowship with the Son of God. Be much with Him, drink in His sentiments, imbibe His spirit.
III. The need of heart expansion. Why should we seek it?
1. The heart is capable of it. How the gospel makes little souls great!
2. We are representatives of Christ. How great in soul should Christians be who have to stand between the loving Son of God and the fallen world!
3. Enlargement of heart is essential to our usefulness. It is only the heart expanding with love that can turn time, talent, property, acquirements, to spiritual use.
4. We are responsible for the condition of the heart whether contracted or enlarged. (Caleb Morris.)
Tendency of the gospel to enlarge the heart
The gospel had enlarged the heart of the apostle, and he supposed it had a tendency to enlarge the hearts of the Corinthians. His views and feelings were once confined to himself, and to objects connected with his personal interests. But after he had understood and loved the gospel his heart expanded, and he felt interested in everything comprised in the great and benevolent scheme of mans redemption.
I. What we are to understand by the hearts being enlarged.
1. The heart is something different from the faculties of the mind, and consists in free voluntary exercises, emotions, or affections.
2. Every moral agent has some supreme object in view. Self is the object in the unsanctified heart, but the renewed heart has a regard to the interest of others.
3. The heart is large or small in proportion to the largeness or smallness of the objects upon which ii terminates.
4. Mens hearts enlarge as their capacities, relations, connections, and spheres of action increase. When David was a shepherd his mind and heart were as small as his flock; when he became a general they were as large as his army; when he ascended the throne they were enlarged in proportion to the interests of the nation.
5. It is true, indeed, the heart does not always keep pace with the progress of capacity and knowledge. If a mans supreme object be mean or unimportant it will contract his mind and feelings. The man who makes property his supreme object sees nothing in the universe superior to property, and esteems nothing important but what tends to property. So with amusements, etc. As a mans heart is always where his treasure is, so his heart is as large and no larger than his supposed treasure.
II. The gospel has a direct tendency to enlarge the hearts of those who embrace it. The gospel comprises the highest good of the universe, and those who embrace it cordially approve of this design. They love the good that God loves, and desire to have it promoted in the way proposed in the gospel. As soon, therefore, as any become cordially united to Christ, the discovery of this great good immediately expands their hearts. The gospel tends to enlarge mens hearts–
1. Towards God. It gives the fullest and brightest display of His glory.
2. Towards Christ. The great and glorious Saviour is nowhere revealed but here. Nature discovers none such. As mens knowledge of the gospel therefore increases, their love, gratitude, and whole hearts are enlarged towards Christ.
3. Towards the Church of Christ.
4. Towards all mankind.
5. Towards all created beings, whether holy or unholy, and towards every living creature, from the highest angel to the smallest insect. These all belong to God, and are a part of tits interest.
6. To take an interest in all events. They all stand inseparably connected with the extensive design of the gospel, which assures believers that all things are theirs, whether past, present, or to come, and shall eventually work together for their good.
If the gospel tends to enlarge the views and hearts of those who embrace it, then–
1. Unbelievers have no just ground to object to it as enfeebling the minds and contracting the hearts of men.
2. We see why the Scripture represents believers as far more amiable and excellent than unbelievers.
3. They sincerely desire that the gospel may be universally known and embraced.
4. They know by experience that they cannot serve God and mammon.
5. They ardently desire to know more and more about it.
6. It enables them to perform all the duties which it requires with great pleasure and delight. I will run the way of Thy commandments when Thou shalt enlarge my heart. (N. Emmons, D. D.)
Be ye also enlarged.—
Spiritual enlargement
Consider the text–
I. As it may be applied to the sinner. Be enlarged–
1. In understanding and wisdom.
2. In the affections of the heart.
3. In the blessedness of the future. Oh taste and see that the Lord is good.
II. As it applies to believers.
1. Be ye also enlarged in the knowledge and love of Christ.
2. In prayer and holy effort.
III. As it reminds of heaven. Heaven will be an eternal enlargement, for–
1. There will be perfect comprehension. Nothing to perplex, nothing to obscure.
2. The soul will be released from its earthly prison-house.
3. The bliss of the redeemed will be ever increasing. (Congregational Pulpit.)
The enlargement of Christian benevolence
I. In what the enlargement of the text consists.
1. Negatively.
(1) Not in expansion of intellect, for there are many in whose character moral deficiencies form a striking contrast to brilliancy of intellect.
(2) Others flatter themselves that they possess superior enlargement because they entertain an equal indifference to all the varieties of human opinion in religious subjects, and feel no regard for any sect or creed. This would, no doubt, be a very cheap and easy doctrine to embrace; by those who are indifferent concessions are easily made to almost any extent, and there can be no great liberality in sacrificing truth where no real attachment to truth is felt.
2. Positively it consists in a real benevolence to the whole Church of Christ, as opposed to any selfish views of our own salvation, or of our own Church, as exclusively concerned. There are some who live solely to themselves, others limit their benevolence to the circle of their own family or of their acquaintance, and others extend their benevolent interest to every case of distress that falls within their view. And this is the utmost extent of human benevolence, apart from the religion of Christ. The proud Roman confined all his benevolence to Rome. That all nations were of one blood never entered into the views of the most enlightened men in the pagan world. But suppose us enabled to open our eyes to a comprehensive view of mankind as one vast family; suppose God to have clearly discovered Himself as the universal Father, from whom all have alike departed by sin; suppose Him to have shown us that one great method of recovery has been provided for all, what should be the effect of such a revelation but first to attach us to God as our common centre, and then to the whole family of man as called to form the Church of God?
II. Its motives and reasons.
1. It is perfectly reasonable and in harmony with nature. We are so circumstanced that we are perpetually and inevitably led out of ourselves. There are natural emotions that are purely benevolent; pity, e.g., identifies us with others. In all our social affections, supposing them genuine, we act on the ground of a disinterested benevolence; it is their happiness, not our own, that we primarily seek.
2. It agrees with the genius of Christianity, the grand display of the Divine benevolence, Herein is love, etc. Hence the apostle declares, The love of Christ constrains us. Such an example of compassionate benevolence–of enlargement of heart–once perceived and felt absorbs the soul.
3. It is conducive to our own happiness. The more we identify ourselves with the interest of others the more we consult our own happiness. In the pursuit of any merely solitary schemes we shall reap only disappointment. When the barriers of selfishness are broken down, and the current of benevolence is suffered to flow generously abroad, and circulate far and near around, then we are in a capacity of the greatest and best enjoyment.
4. It tends to promote all public good.
III. The modes of attaining it.
1. Acquaintance with God. First draw near to the Father in that new and living way, for whoso loveth Him that begot will also love all those that are begotten. Once taste for yourself that the Lord is gracious, and then you will find that you cannot but speak of what you have seen and heard.
2. Prayer for the Holy Spirits influence; by this alone can our hearts be truly enlarged in love to man.
3. Connection with great objects of beneficence. The mind takes a tincture from the objects it pursues. If you engage your attention in the concerns of Christian philanthropy your mind will be dilated in proportion to your ardour. (R. Hall, M. A.)
The influence of religion to enlarge the mind
Of this enlargedness of mind the apostle was an eminent example. All his worldly prospects he cheerfully relinquished for the service of Christ.
I. Its nature and operations. The enlarged Christian–
1. Entertains comprehensive and connected ideas of the religion of the gospel, and regards the several parts of it according to their comparative usefulness and importance.
(1) There are some who confine their zeal to certain favourite sentiments and usages, and these not the most important, like those primitive believers whose attachment to the rites and ceremonies almost excluded charity to their more liberal brethren.
(2) The enlarged Christian imbibes his religious sentiments fresh and pure from the deep fountain of Divine truth, not from the shallow, variable stream of human opinion. Contemplating the perfect character of God, he concludes that all religion must consist in rectitude of heart and holiness of life; that love to Him and benevolence to men must be its leading principles.
2. Judges freely and independently in matters of religion. He will not receive doctrines as the commandments of men, nor, on the other hand, will he cavil and object against them to show his superiority to the opinions of men.
3. Yields an unreserved submission to the Divine government. To a contracted mind the ways of God are subjects of daily complaint, but the man of an enlarged heart contemplates the ways of God on a more extensive scale. He therefore acquiesces in all the allotments of providence, and rejoices that his interests are in better hands than his own.
4. Is of a humble mind. The man of a narrow heart thinks highly of his own worth, is tenacious of his own opinions, and devoted to his own interest; but the man of liberal sentiments thinks soberly, speaks modestly, and walks humbly. Influenced by this spirit, the Christian reveres the word of revelation, and receives its instructions with submission.
5. Has a benevolent heart. He whose feelings are contracted within himself views with indifference the misfortunes of a neighbour, or takes advantage from them. But the enlarged Christian considers all men as his brethren. He can sacrifice his own interest to the superior happiness of his fellow-men, like Paul, who sought not his own profit, but the profit of many, that they might be saved.
II. The proper means of obtaining and improving it.
1. An intimate acquaintance with the Holy Scriptures. It is not any and every kind of knowledge that will enlarge the mind, but only-that which is great in its object and useful in its tendency.
2. Sub, mission to the power of the gospel. Knowledge is highly useful, but this alone will rather swell than enlarge the mind. It is charity which edifies.
3. Social intercourse, especially social worship.
4. Prayer. (J. Lathrop, D. D.)
Fuente: Biblical Illustrator Edited by Joseph S. Exell
Verse 11. O ye Corinthians, our mouth is open unto you] I speak to you with the utmost freedom and fluency, because of my affection for you.
Our heart is enlarged.] It is expanded to take you and all your interests in; and to keep you in the most affectionate remembrance.
The preceding verses contain a very fine specimen of a very powerful and commanding eloquence.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
Our mouth is open to speak freely to you, and to communicate to you the whole will and counsel of God;
our heart is enlarged both by the love that I have towards you, and by the rejoicing that I have in you. This enlargement of my heart is that which openeth my lips, and makes me speak freely to you, both in admonishing you of your errors, and in exhorting you to your duty.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
11. mouth . . . open unto youIuse no concealment, such as some at Corinth have insinuated (2Co4:2). I use all freedom and openness of speech to you as tobeloved friends. Hence he introduces here, “O Corinthians”(compare Php 4:15). Theenlargement of his heart towards them (2Co7:3) produced his openness of mouth, that is, hisunreserved expression of his inmost feelings. As an unloving man isnarrow in heart, so the apostle’s heart is enlarged bylove, so as to take in his converts at Corinth, not only with theirgraces, but with their many shortcomings (compare 1Ki 4:29;Psa 119:32; Isa 60:5).
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
O ye Corinthians,…. The apostle having exhorted the ministers of the church at Corinth to take care of their ministry, that they fulfil it, and that it might appear that the Gospel, and gifts fitting them to preach it, were not received in vain by them; all which he strengthens and encourages by his own example; and that of others, addresses the members of the church in a very pathetic manner, saying,
our mouth is open to you; to speak our minds freely to you; we shall hide and conceal nothing from you, we shall deal with you with all plainness and faithfulness. This seems to refer unto, and pave the way for what he afterwards says about their unequal fellowship with unbelievers:
our heart is enlarged: with love to you, and eager desires after your good; and it is from the abundance of our hearts, and hearty affection for you, that our mouth is open so freely to communicate to you.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
| Cautions against Mingling with Unbelievers. | A. D. 57. |
11 O ye Corinthians, our mouth is open unto you, our heart is enlarged. 12 Ye are not straitened in us, but ye are straitened in your own bowels. 13 Now for a recompence in the same, (I speak as unto my children,) be ye also enlarged. 14 Be ye not unequally yoked together with unbelievers: for what fellowship hath righteousness with unrighteousness? and what communion hath light with darkness? 15 And what concord hath Christ with Belial? or what part hath he that believeth with an infidel? 16 And what agreement hath the temple of God with idols? for ye are the temple of the living God; as God hath said, I will dwell in them, and walk in them; and I will be their God, and they shall be my people. 17 Wherefore come out from among them, and be ye separate, saith the Lord, and touch not the unclean thing; and I will receive you, 18 And will be a Father unto you, and ye shall be my sons and daughters, saith the Lord Almighty.
The apostle proceeds to address himself more particularly to the Corinthians, and cautions them against mingling with unbelievers. Here observe,
I. How the caution is introduced with a profession, in a very pathetic manner, of the most tender affection to them, even like that of a father to his children, v. 11-13. Though the apostle was happy in a great fluency of expressions, yet he seemed to want words to express the warm affections he had for these Corinthians. As if he had said, “O ye Corinthians, to whom I am now writing, I would fain convince you how well I love you: we are desirous to promote the spiritual and eternal welfare of all to whom we preach, yet our mouth is open unto you, and our heart is enlarged unto you, in a special manner.” And, because his heart was thus enlarged with love to them, therefore he opened his mouth so freely to them in kind admonitions and exhortations: “You are not,” says he, “straitened in us; we would gladly do you all the service we can, and promote your comfort, as helpers of your faith and your joy; and, if it be otherwise, the fault is in yourselves; it is because you are straitened in yourselves, and fail in suitable returns to us, through some misapprehensions concerning us; and all we desire as a recompense is only that you would be proportionably affected towards us, as children should love their father.” Note, It is desirable that there should be a mutual good affection between ministers and their people, and this would greatly tend to their mutual comfort and advantage.
II. The caution or exhortation itself, not to mingle with unbelievers, not to be unequally yoked with them, v. 14. Either,
1. In stated relations. It is wrong for good people to join in affinity with the wicked and profane; these will draw different ways, and that will be galling and grievous. Those relations that are our choice must be chosen by rule; and it is good for those who are themselves the children of God to join with those who are so likewise; for there is more danger that the bad will damage the good than hope that the good will benefit the bad.
2. In common conversation. We should not yoke ourselves in friendship and acquaintance with wicked men and unbelievers. Though we cannot wholly avoid seeing, and hearing, and being with such, yet we should never choose them for our bosom-friends.
3. Much less should we join in religious communion with them; we must not join with them in their idolatrous services, nor concur with them in their false worship, nor any abominations; we must not confound together the table of the Lord and the table of devils, the house of God and the house of Rimmon. The apostle gives several good reasons against this corrupt mixture. (1.) It is a very great absurdity, 2Co 6:14; 2Co 6:15. It is an unequal yoking of things together that will not agree together; as bad as for the Jews to have ploughed with an ox and an ass or to have sown divers sorts of grain intermixed. What an absurdity is it to think of joining righteousness and unrighteousness, or mingling light and darkness, fire and water, together! Believers are, and should be, righteous; but unbelievers are unrighteous. Believers are made light in the Lord, but unbelievers are in darkness; and what comfortable communion can these have together? Christ and Belial are contrary one to the other; they have opposite interests and designs, so that it is impossible there should be any concord or agreement between them. It is absurd, therefore, to think of enlisting under both; and, if the believer has part with an infidel, he does what in him lies to bring Christ and Belial together. (2.) It is a dishonour to the Christian’s profession (v. 16); for Christians are by profession, and should be in reality, the temples of the living God–dedicated to, and employed for, the service of God, who has promised to reside in them, to dwell and walk in them, to stand in a special relation to them, and take a special care of them, that he will be their God and they shall be his people. Now there can be no agreement between the temple of God and idols. Idols are rivals with God for his honour, and God is a jealous God, and will not give his glory to another. (3.) There is a great deal of danger in communicating with unbelievers and idolators, danger of being defiled and of being rejected; therefore the exhortation is (v. 17) to come out from among them, and keep at a due distance, to be separate, as one would avoid the society of those who have the leprosy or the plague, for fear of taking infection, and not to touch the unclean thing, lest we be defiled. Who can touch pitch, and not be defiled by it? We must take care not to defile ourselves by converse with those who defile themselves with sin; so is the will of God, as we ever hope to be received, and not rejected, by him. (4.) It is base ingratitude to God for all the favours he has bestowed upon believers and promised to them, v. 18. God has promised to be a Father to them, and that they shall be his sons and his daughters; and is there a greater honour or happiness than this? How ungrateful a thing then must it be if those who have this dignity and felicity should degrade and debase themselves by mingling with unbelievers! Do we thus requite the Lord, O foolish and unwise?
Fuente: Matthew Henry’s Whole Bible Commentary
Our mouth is open unto you ( ). Second perfect active indicative of and intransitive, stand open. He has kept back nothing in his portrayal of the glory of the ministry as the picture of the open mouth shows.
Our heart is enlarged ( ). Perfect passive indicative of old verb , to broaden, from , broad. In N T. only here and Mt 23:5 (cf. phylacteries). Hence his freedom of speech for “out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks” (Mt 12:34).
Fuente: Robertson’s Word Pictures in the New Testament
Ye Corinthians. The readers are addressed by name in only two other epistles, Gal 3:1; Phi 4:15.
Is enlarged [] . Only here, ver. 13, and Mt 23:5, where it is used of widening the phylacteries. From platuv broad. Quite common in the Septuagint, and with various shades of meaning, but usually rendered enlarge. Of worldly prosperity, “waxed fat,” Deu 32:15; compare Gen 9:27. Of pride, Deu 11:16. Of deliverance in distress, Psa 4:1. Expand with joy, Psa 19:32. The idea of enlargement of heart in the sense of increased breadth of sympathy and understanding, as here, is also expressed in the Old Testament by other words, as concerning Solomon, to whom God gave largeness of heart, Sept., cuma outpouring. Compare Isa 60:5.
Fuente: Vincent’s Word Studies in the New Testament
THE CALL TO SEPARATION AND PURITY
1) “0 ye Corinthians,” (Korinthioi) 0 Corinthians, This is one of few cases of direct address and affectionate appeal Paul made to brethren addressed in the midst of his letter, as in 1Co 16:9 when an open door caused an open heart in him.
2) “Our mouth is opened to you” (to stoma hemon anegen pros humas) “our mouth has opened to you all,” to speak freely, plainly, openly or candidly to brethren addressed, as also Gal 3:11; Php_4:15.
3) “Our heart is enlarged,” (he kardia hemon peplatuntai) “our heart has been enlarged,” has swollen, which is the reason for his liberty in writing, it is out of both sympathy for their cares and troubles and out of joy for their laboring on for God, 2Co 7:3; Mat 12:34.
Fuente: Garner-Howes Baptist Commentary
11 Our mouth is opened. As the opening of the mouth is a sign of boldness, (602) if you are inclined to connect this with what goes before, the meaning will be this, — “I have ample ground of glorying, and an upright conscience opens my mouth. Your entertaining unfavorable views of us, is not owing to any fault on our part, but arises from your being unfair judges. For you ought to have entertained more favorable views of my ministry, which God has rendered honorable to you in so many ways.” I explain it, however, otherwise; for he says that the reason why his mouth was opened was, that his heart was enlarged Now what is meant by enlargement of heart? Undoubtedly it means the cheerfulness that springs from benevolence. (603) It is quite a common figure, to speak of a narrow and contracted heart as denoting either grief, or disgust, while, on the other hand, an enlarged heart is employed to denote dispositions of an opposite kind. Hence Paul here says nothing but what we every day experience, for when we have to do with friends, our heart is enlarged, all our feelings are laid open, there is nothing there that is hid, nothing shut, — nay more, the whole mind leaps and exults to unfold itself openly to view. (604) Hence it is, that the tongue, also, is free and unfettered, does not faulter, does not with difficulty draw up from the bottom of the throat broken syllables, as usually happens when the mind is influenced by a less joyful affection.
(602) God promised to Ezekiel that he would give him “ the opening of the mouth in the midst of the house of Israel,” (Eze 29:21,) which is explained by Gill to mean, “ boldness and courage of speech when he should see his prophecies fulfilled.” Paul himself makes use of a similar expression in Eph 6:19, “that utterance may be given unto me, that I may open my mouth boldly. ” — Ed.
(603) The same view, in substance, is taken by Chrysostom. — Καθάπερ γὰρ τὸ θερμαῗνον εὐρύνειν εἴωθεν, οὓτω καὶ τὢς ἀγάπης ἔργον τὸ πλατύνειν ἐστί· θερμν<& ga>ρ ἐστιν ἠ ἀρετὴ· καὶ ζέουσα αὕτη καὶ τὸ στόμα ἀνεπέτασε Παύλου καὶ τὴν καρδίαν ἐπλάτυνεν — “For as heat is wont to expand, so it is the part of love to enlarge. For virtue is warm and fervent. It was this that opened Paul’s mouth, and enlarged his heart.” — Ed.
(604) “From a tender and considerate regard to the good of the Christians at Corinth, he” (Paul) “had determined not to revisit them, until their unseemly heats and factions were allayed. How was he affected while he waited at Ephesus to receive the tidings of this longed-for but protracted issue? ‘O ye Corinthians! our mouth is opened unto you; our heart is enlarged!’ What a picture of a heart! We see him standing on the shore of the ‘gean Sea, over against Corinth, with his arms extended towards that city, and in the attitude of speaking. We hear the words by which he seeks to relieve his overcharged breast, heaving and ready to burst with the fullness of those desires which he had long felt to come among them, satisfy them of the sincerity of his affection, and replenish their souls with the consolation with which he himself had been comforted. ‘O ye Corinthians, our mouth is open to you, our heart is enlarged! Ye are not straitened in us, but ye are straitened in your own bowels. Now, for a recompense in the same, (I speak as unto my children,) be ye also enlarged.’” — M’Crie’s Sermons, p. 29. — Ed.
Fuente: Calvin’s Complete Commentary
Appleburys Comments
Scripture
The Plea For Acceptance
2Co. 6:11-18 Our mouth is open unto you, O Corinthians, our heart is enlarged. 12 Ye are not straitened in us, but ye are straitened in your own affections. 13 Now for a recompense in like kind (I speak as unto my children), be ye also enlarged.
14 Be not unequally yoked with unbelievers: for what fellowship have righteousness and iniquity? or what communion hath light with darkness? 15 And what concord hath Christ with Belial? or what portion hath a believer with an unbeliever? 16 And what agreement hath a temple of God with idols? for we are a temple of the living God; even as God said, I will dwell in them, and walk in them; and I will be their God, and they shall be my people. 17 Wherefore
Come ye out from among
them, and be ye separate,
saith the Lord,
And touch no unclean thing;
And I will receive you,
18 And will be to you a Father,
And ye shall be to me sons and daughters,
Comments
Our mouth is open unto you.Paul had urged the Corinthians not to receive the grace of God in vain. He continued the appeal by urging them to accept him as the servant of God through whom the message of grace and reconciliation had been preached to them. With a clear message, a pure heart, and sincere motives he urged them to understand his great love for them.
Ye are not straitened in us.The place the Corinthians occupied in the affections of Paul was not limited. His deep concern for them had led him to do more for them than for any other congregation among the many he had established. If there was any limitation, it was in their love for him. Some of them had come under the influence of false teachers and were failing to show proper respect for him as the one who had taught them to love the Lord. See 1Co. 4:14-21.
Now for a recompense in like kind.Since Paul had boldly declared his love for them, he appealed to them as his children in Christ to demonstrate the same love for him.
Be not unequally yoked with unbelievers.Some have assumed that it would have been impossible for Paul to have written these words immediately after the fervent declaration of his deep love for them. They seem to think that the contrast is too great and that he could not have changed from the expression of love to one of criticism which they assume characterizes this passage. See 2Co. 6:14-18; 2Co. 7:1.
On these assumptions they build still another: That this section must have been taken from some other letter which he had written at another time. The absence of manuscript evidence to support the theory argues strongly against it. It also fails on two other counts: (1) This section, rather than being a rebuke is a continuation of Pauls earnest appeal for the Corinthians to rid themselves of whatever thing that had caused them to limit their love for the one who had led them to Christ and whose love for them was like that of a father. (2) Pauls writings abound in such sharp contrasts. For example, see his condemnation of the works of the flesh in contrast to his praise of the fruit of the spirit in Gal. 5:16-24. He did not hesitate to speak freely about his deep sorrow over someone who had fallen away from Christ and in the next moment tell of his joy as he contemplated the victory through Christ for all those who remain faithful to Him.
with unbelievers.This passage is invariably interpreted as having to do with marriage. But there is no evidence in the context to show that Paul had this subject in mind at all. He had discussed that subject at length in the first epistle. See 1Co. 7:1-40. There, he indicated that marriage should be within the regulation of the Lord. He also gave instruction for the believer who was married to an unbeliever. The life of the believer was to be such that the unbelieving partner might be led to salvation in Christ. See also 1Pe. 3:1-2. There is no question, of course, that it would be better for both husband and wife to be believers in the Lord Jesus Christ.
In this context, Paul seems to be referring to those unbelievers who were disturbing the church and keeping them from the proper attitude of Christian love toward him. The series of questions that follow shows the utter incompatibility of belief and unbelief.
what fellowship have righteousness and iniquity?Can righteousness and lawlessness be partners? Some at Corinth seemed to think that these opposites could be yoked together. See 1Co. 5:1-13 for an attempt to do so.
The Corinthians were not the only ones who have tried to do this. Some church people today excuse their bent to sinning by blaming Adam for their sinful nature and insist that John said that we sin every day. They miss the message of 1Jn. 1:8 by failing to read what he wrote in 1Jn. 3:1-10. They miss Pauls point in Rom. 7:17 by failing to read Rom. 6:16-18.
light with darkness?These opposites cannot be yoked together as one team. John says, God is light and in him is no darkness at all (1Jn. 1:5). Then he adds, If we say that we have fellowship with him and walk in the darkness, we lie, and do not the truth: but if we walk in the light as he is in the light, we have fellowship one with another and the blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth us from all sin (1Jn. 1:6-7).
Still some argue that there are no such absolutes in the Christian life. They insist that there must be some mixing of light and darkness, for we all sin; nobody is perfect. Nobody is perfect in the sense that he cannot commit an act of sin. See 1Jn. 2:1-2. But the fact remains that the Bible allows no such mixing of light and darkness. James says that God is the Father of lights, with whom there can be no variation, neither shadow that is cast by turning (Jas. 1:17). Then he adds, wherefore putting away all filthiness and overflowing of wickedness receive with meekness the implanted word, which is able to save your souls. But be ye doers of the word, not hearers only, deluding your own selves (Jas. 1:21-22).
Christ with Belial?Belial is Satan. Yoking a believer with an unbeliever is like attempting to yoke Christ with Satan. Could there possibly be any accord between Christ and the devil? What is there that belongs to the believer and at the same time to the unbeliever? Not Christ, nor salvation, nor heaven!
temple of God with idols?How could there possibly be any agreement between the temple where the Spirit of God dwells and a pagan temple where idols are kept? This is the climax of Pauls argument showing that the believers at Corinth were not to be unequally yoked with unbelievers. Paul had warned them of the punishment for destroying the temple of God. See 1Co. 3:16-17. Were they willing to risk destruction of the temple of God by attempting to mix unbelievers and believers in the church?
God had promised Israel that He would be in them and dwell in their midst and be their God. They were to be His people, but on the condition that they separate themselves from every unclean thing. Then He would be like a father to them and they would be like sons and daughters to Him. Will God tolerate anything less in the church?
Summary
As an ambassador of Christ, working together with God, Paul urged the Corinthians not to receive the gracious gift of righteousness as if it were an empty, meaningless thing. He reminded them of the prophetic word in which God had said to Israel, At an acceptable time, I heard you, and in a day of salvation I came to help you. Paul explained it by saying that the acceptable time is now, and the day of salvation is now. The whole Christian age that began on Pentecost and will end when Christ comes again is the day of salvation. But no individual has more than a lifetime in which to accept it. The Corinthians were in danger of failing to respond to the urgent plea to be reconciled to God. Paul had been careful not to give offense to anyone, so that no one could blame him if one should fail to respond to Gods plea to be reconciled to Him.
Pauls ministry was blameless in areas ranging from patience to power of God. He carried it on by weapons of righteousness, by glory and dishonor, by evil report and good report. He served as one who was unknown, yet well known; as one who was dying, but to the amazement of the disciples, he lived; as one severely punished, but not killed; as one who knew the meaning of sorrow, yet he always rejoiced; as having nothing, yet he possessed all things, for he was a child of the heavenly Father.
Looking back on this frank explanation of his motives and experiences of his ministry in their behalf, Paul plead with the Corinthians to make room for him in their affections. His mouth was open, for he had been speaking openly and freely of his love for them. In his heart there was ample space for all the Christians at Corinth. Any restriction of affection was on their part, not his. He urged them to make room for him in their hearts.
Evidently the attack of false teachers on Paul had caused some of the Corinthians to have an improper regard for him. It became necessary for him to follow his declaration of love for them with a sharp warning: Stop becoming unequally yoked with unbelievers. The Old Testament regulation forbade yoking animals of different species together. See Deu. 22:10. Putting an unbeliever in the same yoke with a believer was as bad as yoking an ox and an ass together. Believers in Christ are not in the same class with unbelievers.
To assume that this was a reference to the marriage of the Christian and an unbeliever is to miss the main import of the lesson. Some Christians at Corinth were married to unbelievers, and Paul had reminded them of their opportunity to win the unbelieving partner to Christ.
Paul ordered them to stop the practice of being yoked with unbelievers without saying who the unbelievers were. We know he had ordered them to deliver the immoral person to Satan. A little leaven leavens the whole lump. Those who were denying the resurrection were like evil companionships that corrupt good morals. False apostles were ministers of Satan; they were to quit associating with such unbelievers.
Paul used a series of contrasts to illustrate what he meant. Righteousness and lawlessness are opposites and cannot be mixed. The same is true of light and darkness. Christ has nothing in common with the devil. Gods temple cannot rest on the same foundation as that of the temple of an idol. Believers cannot be linked with unbelievers.
Christians are to be separated from the defilements of sin so that God may dwell in their midst. Then He can be as a father to them, and they as sons and daughters to Him.
Fuente: College Press Bible Study Textbook Series
(11) O ye Corinthians.There was manifestly a pause here as the letter was dictated. The rush of thoughts had reached its highest point. He rests, and feels almost as if some apology were needed for so vehement an outpouring of emotion. And now he writes as if personally pleading with them. Nowhere else in the whole range of his Epistles do we find any parallel to this form of speechthis O ye Corinthians. He has to tell them that he speaks out of the fulness of his heart, that if his mouth has been opened with an unusual freedom it is because his heart has felt a more than common expansion.
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
‘Our mouth is open to you, O Corinthians, our heart is enlarged.’
He begins his plea by stressing his total honesty and strong affection for them. Naming them by name, always a sign of his strong feelings (compare Gal 3:1), he stresses that his mouth is open to them, and his heart is enlarged. In what he says he is hiding nothing from them, and is speaking freely because of his love for them, and for their good, because his genuine longing and desire is only for their good.
Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett
Having Confirmed His Own Credentials And His Own Way of Living He Pleads For A Them To Turn From All That Might Hinder Them and For Their Equal Full and Exclusive Response to God and to Christ ( 2Co 6:11 to 2Co 7:1 ).
Having spoken earlier of ‘receiving not the grace of God in vain’, and having then justified his own ministry, and shown how he certainly has not received the grace of God in vain, Paul now returns to his concern for the lack of full response in the Corinthian church. The continual compromise of the church with idolatry and the ways of the world clearly concerns Paul. While he and his fellow-workers are, in their way of life, being constantly weaned from the world, he feels that the Corinthians are associating themselves too closely with the world and are dallying with things that might drag them down. They are associating too closely with what can only harm them. Their lives are going in the very opposite direction to the one he has just described. They may have become reconciled to God, but their ways cannot be reconciled with God.
In his case the world has forced itself on his attention by its antagonism or contempt. It has shown itself for what it is, and he has found solace in spiritual things, and looked to the things that are unseen. But in contrast their hearts are set elsewhere. They are looking to what is seen, and finding solace and fulfilment in that. They are finding the world pleasant and attractive, and he fears that they might find it too attractive, in a way that is marring their spiritual lives. He therefore calls on them rather to follow his example and to be enlarged in their Christian lives, keeping from the yokes of the world, from intimate association with what can only harm them, (including the marrying of an unbeliever and connection with idolatrous cultic associations), and setting their minds on the living God. They should aim to be fellow-workers with God, not fellow-associates in things that will drag them down,
Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett
Admonition to Flee the Fellowship of Unbelievers. 2Co 6:11-18
v. 11. O ye Corinthians, our mouth is open unto you, our heart is enlarged.
v. 12. Ye are not straitened in us, but ye are straitened in your own bowels.
v. 13. Now for a recompense in the same, (I speak as unto my children,) be ye also enlarged.
v. 14. Be ye not unequally yoked together with unbelievers. For what fellowship hath righteousness with unrighteousness? And what communion hath light with darkness?
v. 15. And what concord hath Christ with Belial? Or what part hath he that believeth with an infidel?
v. 16. And what agreement hath the temple of God with idols? For ye are the temple of the living God; as God hath said, I will dwell in them and walk in them; and I will be their God, and they shall be My people.
v. 17. Wherefore come out from among them, and be ye separate, saith the Lord, and touch not the unclean thing; and I will receive you,
v. 18. and will be a Father unto you, and ye shall be My sons and daughters, saith the Lord Almighty. The enthusiasm of the inspired writer has carried him forward to a wonderful height of eloquence in picturing true faithfulness in the ministry of the Gospel. Before making the application of the appeal of v. 1 to the various relations of life, therefore, the apostle here pours forth some of the affectionate feeling which he cannot hide from them: Our mouth is open to you, O Corinthians; our heart is enlarged. He feels constrained to speak openly and without reserve to them; for it is his love which causes him to speak with such plain candor and frankness, which will not suffer him to remain silent, but urges him to show such confidence toward them. A similar thought is contained in the thought of the enlargement of his heart in their behalf, for the expression indicates the widening of his sympathy for them. In speaking to them so frankly, Paul had really become aware of the depth and extent of his affection for them.
This fact being so, the other thought follows: You are not straitened in us, but you are straitened in your own affections; you have no small room in us, but you have very little room for us in yourselves. The apostle’s heart was enlarged in love for them, it widened out in sympathy and love for them and encompassed them all, but they, on their part, did not feel an equal love and sympathy for the apostle. He was not a man of narrow sympathies, as his opponents may have suggested, but the lack of sympathy was all on their side. And yet, he had a right to expect that: But as a retribution, a recompense, of the same kind (I speak as to my children) be enlarged also you. Because children are bound to make a return of love for a father’s lore, because they should feel obliged to pay back the same amount of love that they have received, therefore he calls upon them to be enlarged in heart, to exhibit a wider affectionate sympathy toward him. That he expected.
That his admonition is intended only with reference to himself and to his work and does not apply to the undue tolerance which would permit the worship of false gods, the apostle now brings out in a passage replete with brilliancy: Be not united incongruously with unbelievers. That is the thesis, the topic, of the entire passage. If they should be yoked together with unbelievers, it would be an unequal yoking together. The apostle has in mind the provision of the Jewish ceremonial law according to which the yoking together of clean and unclean animals was prohibited, Deu 22:10. If the believers, the members of the Christian community, should in any way join with the heathen in their idol worship, if they should associate with them in such a way as to erase the essential difference between Christian and heathen, then this union would be absurd and wicked, with the peril of leading to denial attached, and should therefore not be practiced by the Christians.
The apostle enforces his thought by illustrating the incongruity between Christianity and heathendom in five contrasts. He asks: For what communion, what fellowship, is there to righteousness and lawlessness? What have they in common? On the one hand, there is the active disposition to live in accordance with the divine will; on the other hand, there is no knowledge of the divine, sanctifying will, and therefore nothing but unrighteousness. Obviously, then, there can be no participation between the two; they are contrasts. Or what communion has light with darkness? On the one side is light and salvation, with God; on the other is darkness and destruction, with Satan; the two can never unite without destroying their substance.
A third question, contrasting the Son of God with the adversary of Himself and of all mankind: But what is Christ’s concord toward Belial? How can there ever be an agreement between Christ, the Champion of that which is right and good, which is intended for man’s salvation, and the chief of Christ’s adversaries? The personification of righteousness and perfection against the personification of unrighteousness and lawlessness that abyss can never be bridged. The last two questions concern the contrast between those that are saved and those that are destroyed: Or what portion is to the believer with the unbeliever? But what agreement is to the temple of God with idols? The Christian, the one that has faith in Christ, can have no part with such as are heathen, as have no faith. Their character, their possessions, their interests, differ so totally and utterly that a combination of the two contrasted parties cannot be imagined. And equally absurd is the idea that the temple of God should have anything in common with idols. One might just as soon think of setting up idols in the sanctuary of God as to have those that have been consecrated to the Lord join with the heathen in any part of their false worship.
For the sake of emphasizing the entire passage, the apostle explains his last comparison: For we are the temple of a God that is living. Any agreement with the worship of dead and powerless idols, no matter in what form, is therefore out of the question. And that Paul is right in representing the body of the true believers as a temple of God he proves from a passage of the Old Testament, which he quotes in a free translation: I will dwell in them and walk in them, and I will be their God, and they shall be My people, Lev 26:11-12. The believers are a habitation of God through the Spirit, Eph 2:22. God Himself, the Triune Godhead, has made His abode in them, Joh 14:23. See Eze 37:26-28; Hos 2:23; Jer 24:7. God lives in the midst of His congregation in the Word and in the Sacraments; His Word is effective in them through the ministry of the Word, in effecting faith and a holy life. The believers have no thought for, no interest in, any other God but the one that dwells in them, and He that made them His people is pleased to continue as their God.
From this relation, however, it follows what Paul adds in the form of a peremptory command of the Lord: Wherefore, come out from the midst of them and separate yourselves, says the Lord, and touch not an unclean thing. Paul here, as Luther says, melts together many verses into one heap, and casts such a text there from as gives the meaning of the entire Scriptures. The thought is that of Isa 52:11-12, where the deliverance of the Israelites from Babylon is pictured as a redemption. The mere touching of the unclean thing will make the believer a partaker of strange uncleanness and a denier of the Lord. “The admonition here is that they should come out in the most decided manner from the whole sphere of heathenish worldly life, should separate themselves in spirit from their heathen neighbors, should avoid all heathenish practices which might defile men consecrated to God, and especially abstain from all idolatrous festivals.”
The result of this uncompromising attitude on the part of the believers is finally stated, also in a combination of Scripture-passages from the Old Testament: And I will receive you, and I will be to you a Father, and you shall be to Me sons and daughters, says the Lord Almighty. See Exo 4:22; Jer 31:9; Hos 1:10; Isa 43:6. The promise of God, contained in all parts of His holy Word, is not only that His grace will make the believers an assembly dedicated to Him, but he promises them the position of sons and daughters, together with the heritage of heaven, Gal 4:4-5. And there can be no doubt as to His ability to make good His promise of adding us to His household and giving us all the blessings of true children, because He is the Lord, the almighty Governor of all things, 2Sa 7:8. Note: The manner in which the apostle quotes the Old Testament is entirely in line with his own inspired character. “The concluding verses of this chapter are an instructive illustration of the way in which the New Testament writers quote the Old.
1. They often quote a translation which does not strictly adhere to the original.
2. They often quote according to the sense, and not according to the letter.
3. They often blend together different passages of Scripture, so as to give the sense, not of any one passage, but the combined sense of several.
4. They sometimes give the sense, not of any particular passage or passages, but, so to speak, the general sense of Scripture. There is no such passage in the Old Testament, for example, as that contained in this last verse, but the sentiment is often and clearly expressed.
5. They never quote as of authority any but the canonical books of the Old Testament. ” (Hodge.)
Mark also: The language of Paul in this entire section is held in such a majestic strain and, at the same time, shows his command of the Greek language in such a clear way that it is rightly regarded as one of the finest in all his letters. And finally: This passage is properly applied in the case of false union with sectarian churches. For inasmuch and in so far as any church-body has the unclean thing in its midst in the form of any false doctrine or anti-scriptural practice, insomuch and in so far it is contaminated and may become contaminating. If even that is a contamination for believers to be united with unbelievers in matters which further the idolatrous ideas of the latter, much more is the unionism of the present day to be condemned, which ignores differences of creed and practice with the specious plea that the Church must be a power in the world. It is only by retaining both doctrine and life in the greatest possible, in absolute, purity that the Church will be able to fulfill its mission of being a salt in the world. But if the salt have lost its savor, wherewith shall it be salted? Mar 9:50.
Summary
Paul shows that he and his fellow-ministers do the work of their office in the midst of all the difficulties besetting them; he appeals to the believers to avoid all fellowship with the unbelievers and their practices.
Fuente: The Popular Commentary on the Bible by Kretzmann
2Co 6:11. O ye Corinthians, Another argument made use of by St. Paul, to justify and excuse his plainness of speech to the Corinthians, is the great affection that he has for them; into an expression whereof he here breaks out in a very pathetic manner. This, with an exhortation to separate themselves from idolaters and unbelievers, is what he insists upon from this place to ch. 2Co 7:16. “O ye Corinthians! my mouth is open to you; my heart is enlarged to you: my affection, my tenderness for you is not strait or narrow. It is your own narrowness makes you uneasy. Let me speak to you, as a father to his children: in return, do you likewise enlarge your affections to me: be ye not associated with unbelievers, (2Co 6:14.) have nothing to do with them in their vices or worship, or by uniting yourselves in marriage to them; for what fellowship hath righteousness,” &c. See ch. 2Co 7:1.
Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke
2Co 6:11 . Our mouth stands open towards you, Corinthians; our heart is enlarged .
] This expression is in itself nothing further than a picturesque representation of the thought: to begin to speak , or to speak . See, especially, Fritzsche, Dissert. II. p. 97, and the remark on Mat 5:2 . A qualitative definition may be added simply through the context , as is the case also here partly through the general character of the previous passage, 2Co 6:3-10 , which is a very open, unreserved utterance, partly by means of the parallel . Thus in accordance with the context the opposite of reserve is here expressed. Comp. Chrysostom 1. Had Paul merely written , the same thought would, in virtue of the context, have been implied in it (we have not been reserved, but have let ourselves be openly heard towards you); but the picturesque is better fitted to convey this meaning, and is therefore purposely chosen . Comp. Eze 33:22 ; Sir 22:22 ; Eph 6:19 ; Aeschylus, Prometh . 612. This at the same time in opposition to Fritzsche, who adheres to the simple haec ad vos locutus sum , as to which, we may remark, the haec is imported. Rckert (comp. Chrysostom 2) finds the sense to be: “ see, I have begun to speak with you once, I have not concealed from you my apostolic sentiments; I cannot yet close my mouth, I must speak with you yet further .” But the thought: I must speak with you yet further , is imported; how could the reader conjecture it from the simple perfect? Just as little is it to be assumed, with Hofmann, that Paul wishes only to state that he had not been reserved with what he had to say, so that this expression is only a resumption of the . . . in 2Co 6:1 . Only in an arbitrary and violent manner can we reject the reference to 2Co 6:3-10 , where such a luxuriance of holy grandiloquentia has issued from his mout.
, in the sense of , is frequent in later Greek (in Il. xvi. 221, is imperfect), and is rejected by Phrynichus as a solecism. See Lobeck, ad Phryn. p. 157 f.
] Regarding this particular form of address without article or adjective (it is otherwise in Gal 3:1 ) Chrysostom judges rightly: , . Comp. Phi 4:15 . Bengel: “rara et praesentissima appellatio.”
] cannot here mean either: I feel myself cheered and comforted (comp. Psa 119:32 ; Isa 60:5 ), as Luther, Estius, Kypke, Michaelis, Schleusner, Flatt, Bretschneider, Schrader, and others hold, or I have expressed myself frankly , made a clean breast (Semler, Schulz, Morus, Rosenmller, de Wette, comp. Beza), because 2Co 6:12-13 are against both ways of taking it; but, with Chrysostom, Theodoret, Oecumenius, and the majority, it is to be taken as an expression of the love which, by being stirred up and felt, makes the heart wide , while by the want of love and by hate the heart is narrowed and contracted. The figurative expression needed no elucidation from the Hebrew, and least suitable of all is the comparison with Deu 11:16 (Hofmann), where the figurative meaning of is of quite another kind. See, however, the passages in Wetstein on 2Co 6:12 .
The two parts of the verse stand side by side as parallels without a connective particle ( ), in order that thus the second thought, which outweighs the first, might come into more prominent relief, a relation which is indicated by the emphatic prefixing of and . The meaning accordingly is: We have (2Co 6:3-10 ) spoken openly to you, Corinthians; our heart has therein become right wide in love towards you which, however, may not be interpreted of readiness to receive the readers (Hofmann), for they are already in his heart (2Co 7:3 ; comp. Phi 1:7 ). The relation of the two clauses is taken differently by Emmerling, who inserts a because between them, and by Fritzsche, who says: “quod vobis dixi ejusmodi est, ut inde me vos amare appareat.” But it may be urged against both that we are not justified in taking the two perfects as different in temporal import, the one as a real praeterite, and the other with the force of a present. In it is rather implied that Paul has felt his love to the Corinthians strengthened, his heart towards them widened, during his writing of the passage 2Co 6:3-10 (by its contents) a result, after such an outpouring, intelligible enough, psychologically true, and turned to account in order to move his readers.
Fuente: Heinrich August Wilhelm Meyer’s New Testament Commentary
2Co 6:11 to 2Co 7:1 . After the episode in 2Co 6:3-10 , [248] Paul turns with a conciliatory transition (2Co 6:11-13 ) to a special, and for the Corinthians necessary, form of the exhortation expressed in 2Co 6:1 (2Co 6:14-18 ). This is followed up in 2Co 7:1 by a general appeal, which embraces the whole moral duty of the Christian.
[248] The supposition that there is an abnormal, and in this respect certainly unexampled construction, under which ver. 11 should be taken as concluding the main clause along with “the preceding long-winded participial clause” (Hofmann), ought to have been precluded by the very consideration that that “long-winded” accumulation of participles, in which, however, Paul paints his whole life active and passive with so much enthusiasm, and, as it were, triumphant heroism, would stand utterly disproportioned to that which he says in ver. 11, and which is only a brief, gentle, kindly remark. What a magnificent preparation for such a little quiet sentence without substantial contents! The examples cited by Hofmann from Greek writers and the N. T. (Act 20:3 ; Mar 9:20 ) are too weak analogies. See regarding similar real anacolutha, Winer, p. 527 f. [E. T. 709 f.]. Comp. on Mar 9:20 .
Fuente: Heinrich August Wilhelm Meyer’s New Testament Commentary
12.AN EARNEST APPEAL TO THE CORINTHIANS; APPLICATION OF THE EXHORTATION IN VER. 1
2Co 6:11-17, 2Co 7:1
11O ye Corinthians, our mouth is open unto you, our5 heart is [has become] enlarged. 12Ye are not straitened in us, but ye are straitened in your own bowels. 13Now for a recompense in the same [by way of recompense in the same kind, ] (I speak as unto my children), be ye also enlarged. 14Be ye not unequally yoked together [become not united as in a strange yoke, ] with unbelievers: for what fellowship hath righteousness with unrighteousness? 15and [or]6 what communion hath light with darkness? And what concord hath Christ7with Belial [Beliar]?8 or what part hath he that believeth with an infidel 16[unbeliever]? And what agreement hath the temple of God with idols? for ye [we]9 are the temple of the living God; as God hath said, I will dwell in them, and walk in [among] them; and I will be their God, and they shall be my10 people.17Wherefore come out11 from among them, and be ye separate [separated] saith the Lord, and touch not the unclean thing [anything unclean]; and I will receive you, and will be a Father unto you, and ye shall be my [to me for, ] sons and daughters saith the Lord Almighty.
2Co 7:1 Having therefore these promises, dearly beloved, let us cleanse ourselves from all filthiness [every defilement] of the [om. the] flesh and spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of God.
EXEGETICAL AND CRITICAL
2Co 6:11-13. Our mouth is open toward you, O Corinthians, our hearts are enlarged.Before particularly applying to the Corinthians in their various relations (2Co 6:14 ff) the admonition he had given them in ver. I f., the Apostle pauses to pour forth to them the feelings which had been rising in his heart. We have first a continued expression of the emotions called forth by the preceding representation, and then the earnest exhortation which commences with 2Co 6:14. The words to open the mouth, signify properly, to begin to speak, but they are here especially emphatic (in consequence of their connection with what had been said in 2Co 6:3 ff. and what follows regarding the enlargement of his heart). The idea thus becomes, to speak openly and without reserve (comp. Eph 6:19 and Sir 22:22). [Chrysostom: we cannot be silent; we long to be continually speaking and conversing with you]. By such language, he shows how confiding was his love towards them. A similar thought is expressed when he adds, our heart is enlarged. [Chrysostom: As that which warms is wont to dilate, so also to enlarge the heart is the work of love. It opens the mouth and enlarges the heart, for he loved not with the heart only, but with the heart in unison. He says with great emphasis, we have not only room for you all, but with such largeness of room, as he that is beloved walketh with great unrestraint within the heart of him that loveth]. As Paul had been opening his inmost soul to his brethren in the free and confiding manner of the last few sentences he had himself become conscious of the extent of his affection for them (Meyer, comp. Osiander). This is the reason that, no was needed in the second sentence. The words should not be understood to mean simply (comp. 2Co 6:12 f.) that he felt happy and comfortable, or that he had now disclosed his whole heart and unbosomed himself to them.The special address to them (), without either article or adjective, is a mode of speaking which occurs only in one passage beside (Php 4:15), and indicates the profound sincerity of the speaker.The same idea is presented in a negative form in 2Co 6:12, and so makes the contrast on the part of the Corinthians more strikingye are not straitened in us but ye are straitened in your own bowels (2Co 6:12).The shows that the verb cannot be taken as an imperative even in the first clause. [Webster (p. 138): conveys a direct and absolute, a subjective and conditional, denial. Winer, 59, 1]. It is not of anxiety or sadness, the reason of which is in themselves, that he is speaking. The meaning of straitened is determined by its connection with the subsequent idea of enlargement: ye are not straitened, i. e. ye have no contracted space in our hearts; but in your hearts it is not so with respect to us; i. e. ye have no small room in us, but ye have very small room for us in yourselves. While our hearts are enlarged in love for you, it is very different with you, in respect to us. [Chrysostom: This reproof is administered with forbearance, as is the manner of very great love. He does not say, ye do not love us, but not in the same measure, for he does not wish to touch them too sensibly. He implies that they have some affection for him, that he may win them to more. Ye are straitened while I am enlarged. Ye barely receive one and even him with small space, but I a whole city, and with abundance of freedom.] (bowels) is here used, as in 2Co 7:15; Php 1:8; Php 2:1, and even in classical writers, in the sense of (heart), for the seat of the emotions, such as love, sympathy, etc. [The Apostle in this passage uses both words, and for the affections. In modern languages the latter word has been entirely superseded by the former. Among ancient nations, however, it expressed the whole interior structure of man, including especially the heart and liver as opposed to what are now technically called the bowels (, Stanley). In classical Greek the word is used for the feelings generally, and in Hebrew the corresponding was used to designate the seat of the gentler emotions and affections. The name itself in Hebrew was derived from a root which signifies to love. Comp. Stanley].Now by way of recompense in the same (I speak as unto my children), be ye also enlarged (2Co 6:13).In close connection with what he had just said, he now proceeds to demand of them that their hearts should also be enlarged, that they should open widely their hearts in love and confidence for him as he had opened his for them. The motive for this he derives from the nature of children, when he adds, I speak as unto children (comp. 1Co 4:14); inasmuch as children are bound to make a return of love for a fathers love (comp. 1Ti 5:4). This idea is more distinctly brought out when he directly calls upon them for their love as an appropriate recompense (, comp. Rom 1:27; but in our passage the word is strengthened by the use of ). The construction is here abrupt (Meyer calls it a rhetorical anacoluthon [Khner 347, 5, Winer 64, II. note]). In order to fill out the expression, however, we must supply neither , nor ; nor must we connect the words together by (q. d. I am speaking for an adequate recompense), but we must regard it as an Accus. absol., an anacoluthon, occasioned by the parenthesis in which he had paused to say he was speaking as to children. Others regard it as the Accusative of the remote effect: that by which ye should make recompense. In the two ideas of the same thing ( ) and of remuneration () are blended together by way of attraction. They may be separated thus: (), [Fritzsche: With his accustomed celerity of thought Paul says, instead of , , , enlarge your minds to the same remuneration, instead of, to the same thing (love) in which a remuneration might be found. Comp. Jelf, Gram. 581, 1, 700, Obs. 1 and 2].
2Co 6:14-18. [An admonition to separate themselves from unbelievers. Stanley calls this passage a remarkable dislocation of the train of argument. On the one hand, the passionate appeal begun in 2Co 6:11-13 is continued without even the appearance of an interruption in 2Co 7:2, where the words (make room for us) are evidently the prolongation of the metaphor expressed in 2Co 6:12-13, by . and . On the other hand, the intervening passage (2Co 6:14 to 2Co 7:1), while it coheres perfectly with itself, has no connection with the immediate context either before or after. Such an introduction of an earnest warning in the midst of an affectionate entreaty, need not, however, suggest the idea of an interpolation of some passage from one of Pauls lost Epistles, or by some other hand; for it is the very nature of a love so ardent, so aroused at the moment, and now touched with some jealousy, to make sudden transitions, and to draw towards itself by warnings of danger as well as by expressions of endearment,]. Probably not without reference to his demand that they should be enlarged toward him (2Co 6:13), the Apostle now proceeds earnestly to warn them against a kind of false enlargement of heart which had been shown in an improper fellowship with Gentiles, and in consenting to heathenish customs.Become not united heterogeneously with unbelievers.It is possible that he had reference especially to sacrificial festivals and to mixed marriages. implies unquestionably a communion (it is joined therefore with the dative); but it involves also the idea of an unequal union. It is taken from the figure, not of a balance, where there is an inclination toward one side, representing a disposition favorable to unbelievers (Theophylact, et al.), nor of oars which are not paired or properly mated, but of a yoke in which animals are intended to draw together. Comp. in the Sept. of Lev 19:19; Deu 22:10. Two animals of a different nature, harnessed together in the same yoke, are a type of Christians having fellowship with heathen. W. F. Besser says that Paul here derives a spiritual lesson from the legal precept which prohibits the putting of clean and unclean animals in the same team, to the effect that Christians should not be joined with others. The however, should not be made to refer to the yoke itself, as if it meant put not on a foreign yoke, one which unbelievers have put on, and therefore one which does not belong to Christians (Meyer). The admonition evidently points to something habitual, and probably was intended to imply that their conduct had tendencies in that direction. Neander says that Paul evidently would not have spoken in this way of that unavoidable intercourse with the heathen which only served to make Christianity better known to them; but he referred merely to a participation with them in social usages and excesses. Nothing in this text confines the application of it to marriages with the heathen.The Apostle now proceeds to justify his admonition by a series of five questions, in which he endeavors to convince his brethren of the incompatibility of the Christian and heathenish systems. Such an accumulation of questions is very emphatic and impressive. In the first place, he inquiresFor what participation hath righteousness with unrighteousness?He thus characterizes these systems by the opposite words, righteousness and unrighteousness ( and ). The former signifies, not the righteousness of faith in the theological sense of the expression, but the active disposition to a Divine life which springs from a vital union by faith with Christ; and the latter signifies that complete want of such a righteousness which is seen in the heathen world, where the living God is unknown, and where there is no Divine life. The same idea is expressed figuratively in the second questionWhat communication hath light with darkness?in which and are contrasted. Comp. Eph 5:8. W. F. Besser: These five casuistic questions are so arranged that the two first relate to the separation between salvation and destruction, the third to the separation between the Saviour and the destroyer, and the two last to the separation between the saved and the destroyed. Light is the figurative expression for truth and purity (the intellectual and the moral element united); and darkness, is the common metaphor for error and wrong conduct (Greg. Naz. makes = , = ). has the same meaning as (Luther translates it Geniess=Genossenschaft, i. e., enjoyment in the sense of fellowship. [Stanley: Of the five words used to express the idea of union, , , , , ,only the third and fifth have any special appropriateness, and those chiefly by their etymology; , harmony of voice, is appropriate to persons, and , unity of composition, to buildings. The multiplication of synonyms implies a greater copiousness of Greek than we should expect from the Apostles usual language. Webster and Wilkinson: Believers are here spoken of, first in the abstract (light, righteousness, Eph 5:8), then in their Head, then individually, then as a community (). The use of represents the act of communication as mutual, of as offering a connection, of as accepting it]. For the meaning of by classical writers and by Philo, consult Meyer.And what concord hath Christ with Beliar? (2Co 6:15). This question, which follows the first pair, is introduced by a , which shows that it is an emphatic continuance of what had gone before it. [Alford: After a question beginning with , , and the like, a second question is regularly introduced by a ]. We here rise to the two great chiefs of the opposing departments (comp. 1Co 10:20; Eph 2:2). is the same as Satan, by which word the Peschito translates it; the same also as Heb. , worthlesness, wickedness. Even in the Sibylline books and in the Apocryphal writings of the Old Testament it was used as one of Satans names. In the common Hellenistic dialect, in the Test. of the Twelve Patriarchs, and in the writings of the Eccles. Fathers the letters and were frequently interchanged. [Jerome derives the word from =non, and =jugum, i. e., absque jugo, quod de collo suo Dei abjecerit servitutem. It is, however, more generally derived from the former word, and = usefulness, i. e., without usefulness, and hence, wickedness. Jeromes derivation of the word may account for Pauls use of it in connection with . But with the other derivation we have a still better connection. On the stand-point of the Jews and the N. T., idolatry was a worship of demons (1Co 10:20), and the name Beliar, both on its negative and positive side, fits this view, inasmuch as an idol was a dead and useless thing, and the system of idolatry was the concentrated effect of the devils art and power. Bengel thinks that Paul here calls Satan Beliar, but that Satan, as opposed to Christ, denotes all kinds of antichristian uncleanness (omnem colluviem antichristianam)]. occurs only here in the N. T., and never in the Septuagint. In the classical authors it has the form of . It has the meaning here of, agreement together, accordance of sentiment and feeling, harmony in opinions and efforts.Or what part hath he that believeth with an unbeliever, and what agreement hath the temple of God with idols?In this last pair of questions the Apostle comes down from the heads of these two great departments to those connected respectively with them, and assumes that one who has faith in Christ can have no part () with such as have no such faith. here, as in Act 8:21, has the sense of share, portion or property. The two parties have no common advantages; one has nothing in common with the other, and their possessions are entirely different, the one from the other. In 2Co 6:16, however, a question is asked which sets in the clearest possible light the holiness of Christianity in contrast with the impurities of heathenism. The Christian community is there represented as a temple of God, and surely there could be no agreement between it and idols! Such a contradiction was there between them, that all fellowship would seem impossible and all contact a desecration. has generally the meaning of assent, acquiescence, but here it has the more particular signification of agreement. Comp. in Exo 23:1; Luk 23:51. With respect to the temple of God, comp. 1Co 3:16. It is certainly most natural to make this passage refer to such participations in idolatrous customs as are censured in 1Co 8:10. Christians should as soon think of allowing idols to be set up in the sanctuary of God, as to permit such things among those who had been consecrated to the Lord. These should be looked upon as profanations like some which took place during the most corrupt periods of the Old Testament.For we are the temple of the living God.From the figures he had employed, and from the language used in the Scriptures, it was evident that believers were a temple of God. Neander remarks that The particular, external relations of the Old Testament are here applied in a spiritual manner to each Christian. The implies that the admonition involved in this question ( etc.) is applicable to us; for we are indeed the temples, etc. is a designation of the true God who will in contrast with dead and powerless idols be always truly active to vindicate the honor of His sanctuary and to communicate living power to all His people (comp. 1Th 1:9.) The same expression occurs also in 2Co 3:3; Heb 3:12; Heb 9:14; Heb 10:31, et al.As God said, I will dwell in them, and walk among them; and I will be their God, and they shall be to me a people.The Apostle here shows that his representation of the Church as a temple of God was justified by a passage in Levit. 36:11 f. (comp. Eze 37:27), which is here cited freely from memory. He uses the word very naturally in the most enlarged sense, and we find nothing strange in the fact that he should address them in the parenthetic clause before he communicates the instruction). The Apostle considers the idea of a temple involved in the expression, I will dwell (have a habitation, ) in them. In the Sept. the passage reads: Although has primarily the sense of: among, in the midst of, as it afterwards has in , the Apostle probably had reference to the presence of God in the individual believer (comp. Joh 14:23), inasmuch as the idea of was in his mind, and the word most naturally implies this. The word which was at first used to describe the movements of Gods residence (the sacred tabernacle) among the Israelites, is here probably applied to the presence of God Himself in His Church in all parts of the world (comp. Rev 2:1). The promise contained in this quotation contains the sum of Gods covenant with His people, comp. Exo 6:7; Jer 24:7; Jer 30:22; Jer 31:1; Jer 31:33; Heb 8:10; Rev 21:3; Rev 21:7. On Gods part there is the communication of Himself and the benefits of His salvation; and on the part of the people there is fellowship with God and the enjoyment of His blessing. W. F. Besser remarks that God dwells in His Church when He fills it with His Spirit, through the instrumentality of His word and Sacraments; and as He thus finds an acceptable rest among them (Psa 132:14), their spiritual influence proves that He is present in their midst and acknowledges as His own all who are reconciled to Him by Christs blood. God walks in His Church when He acts there as its God through the gifts, offices and powers which He bestows upon it; and when he receives His people into living fellowship and applies to them all the benefits of His gracious covenant. In Leviticus 26 this promise is conditional and even here the admonition is itself a hint that their safety depended upon their fidelity, and especially upon their separation from ungodly persons and all impure practices; 2Co 6:17, comp. 2Co 6:14. This admonition He expresses in a free quotation of a passage in Isa 52:11, in which the people were commanded to leave Babylon.Wherefore come out from among them, and be separated, saith the Lord, and touch not any thing unclean.W. F. Besser says that The departure of the Israelites from Babylon was a redemption, a type (like that of the departure out of Egypt) of the great redemption of which the Apostle speaks (Gal 1:4), when he says that Christ gave Himself for our sins, that He might deliver us from this present evil world. The admonition here is that they should come out in the most decided manner from the whole sphere of heathenish worldly life, should separate themselves in spirit from their heathen neighbors, should avoid all heathenish practices which might defile men consecrated to God, and especially should abstain from all idolatrous festivals.And I will receive you.This is an obvious reminiscence of Eze 20:34; Zec 10:8 (not a free quotation of Isa 52:12), and has reference to the adoption, of which he is about to speak further in 2Co 6:18. Bengel makes it a correlative to those who should come out would be received as if into a new family or home.And I will be for a Father unto you, and ye shall be sons and daughters unto me saith the Lord Almighty (2Co 6:18).This is probably a free and amplified quotation of 2Sa 7:14 (hardly of Jer 31:9, and still less of Isa 43:6). The words sons and daughters are a hint at the religious equality of the sexes under the reign of Christianity. Grotius thinks that these words (2Co 6:16-18) are taken from some hymn. The whole citation is solemnly closed with the affirmation, saith the Lord Almighty ( ), taken from the Sept of 2Sa 7:8. The expression occurs frequently in the Apocalypse, but only here in the writings of Paul; and it corresponds in the Septuagint to the Heb. , the Lord of Hosts.
[The concluding verses of this chapter are an instructive illustration of the way in which the New Testament writers quote the Old. 1. They often quote a translation which does not strictly adhere to the original. 2. They often quote according to the sense, and not according to the letter. 3. They often blend together different passages of Scripture, so as to give the sense, not of any one passage, but the combined sense of several. 4. They sometimes give the sense, not of any particular passage or passages, but, so to speak, the general sense of Scripture. There is no such passage in the Old Testament, for example, as that contained in this last verse, but the sentiment is often and clearly expressed. 5. They never quote as of authority any but the canonical books of the Old Testament Hodge].
2Co 7:1.Having therefore these promises, let us purify ourselves from every defilement of flesh and spirit.In this passage the Apostle, in a more conciliatory tone (and with the Corinthians associated with himself as brethren in the first person plural) connects with the promises he had quoted in 2Co 6:16-18, an earnest exhortation that they would aim at a course of conduct worthy of such exalted promises. [The inference he thus makes is applicable not merely to some part of Gods people which had become involved in unhallowed associations, but to all; and hence he includes even himself in the exhortation. He introduces also a word of endearment (), which perceptibly indicates that he was subsiding into his usual calmness of spirit]. The promises to which he had been speaking had been given to the whole body of the Church; and as members of that Church they already possessed them (present ) by faith, inasmuch as even those which referred to the future were really as certain as those which were already realized. The main substance of them related to a personal communion with a God of absolute purity. A full realization of them would require on mans part a complete renunciation of every thing inconsistent with the Divine nature, and an earnest pursuit after perfect holiness. signifies, not, to remain free from contamination after having once been purified (Olshausen), but, as the uniform usage of the N. T. shows, to purify. [For the original idea involved in comp. Trench. Synn. p. 175]. The object of this purification, which could never be accomplished without the aid of an indwelling Divine Spirit (comp. Rom 8:13; comp. 2Co 7:9; Gal 5:16; Php 2:13), was, every defilement of the outer and inner man. The former includes every kind of voluptuousness, intemperance, etc., by means of which the body would be corrupted; and the latter includes thoughts, desires, affections (anger, pride, etc.) by means of which the human spirit () is defiled. In actual life these, two classes of defilements are never separated, for as the mental very easily become the fleshly, the seeds of the fleshly are found originally in the mental. He uses the word , and not , because it is only as that the body is the sedes et fomes, the seat and the igniter of sin, and hence the flesh () is that to which every bodily defilement ethically adheres (Meyer). The spirit () as we have often seen in 1Cor., denotes that spiritual nature which is kindred with God, and which in Christians is under the influence of, and is more or less directed by, the Holy Ghost. But as the action of this spirit may be much impeded or arrested by the defilements here spoken of, the work of purification was rendered continually necessary by the perpetual presence of the flesh, and any want of earnestness in the work of purification was an urgent reason for admonition (Osiander). Ancient as well as modern commentators (even Osiander) assume that the Apostle had a particular reference to crimes of which the Corinthians had been actually guilty (comp. 2Co 6:14 f.; 2Co 12:20 f.; 1Co 5:6). In this case the pollutions of the flesh would refer to unchastity, and those of the spirit to connections with idolatry. Both of these were intimately related (comp. Act 15:29), and in fact may be referred to idolatry, which is so often named in the Old Testament spiritual harlotry. But not only the addition of but the positive contrast implied, induces us to adopt the more general application; though we do not deny that the Apostle may have had some reference to the particular sins to which this interpretation alludes. The positive part of the exhortation isperfecting holiness in the fear of God. (holiness) is here, as in Rom 1:4; 1Th 3:13, and in the Sept. of Psa 96:6; Psa 97:12, the same as (comp. on 1Co 1:30); with the sense of the quality, and not merely the action, of holiness. [Webster: differs but little from (2Co 1:12; Heb 12:10), except perhaps it represents more the condition than the abstract quality; while (1Th 4:3-4; 1Pe 1:2) points primarily to the process and thence, with the gradual approach of the termination in to that which is so characteristic of the N. T., the state, frame of mind, or holy disposition, in which the action of the verb is evinced or exemplified]. The great moral business of the Christian (comp. Rom 6:22) is to complete ( 2Co 8:6) the work of holiness or consecration to God which was begun in faith as its principle, and must be actualized, developed and perfected during the whole life. The correlative of this is the Divine perfection which is referred to in Php 1:6. This perfecting of holiness is the attainment of complete holiness, and is a work of the whole life which we live in the flesh (Gal 2:20); and can never reach an absolute completion until the close of life. It must, however, be accomplished in the fear of God. The spiritual ground of all this moral activity, this earnest pursuit of holiness on which depends all fellowship with God, is a profound veneration or reverence for that Holy One who is continually present with us, and from whom nothing is concealed. This, as Meyer says, is the ethical and holy sphere within which righteousness is perfected.
DOCTRINAL AND ETHICAL
The absolute purity of that God who enters into such intimate relationships with his people that he completely belongs to them, walks among them, is a Father to each one of them, and will regard them all as his sons and daughters, requires that they should be unreservedly consecrated to Him. By their very connection with Him they must continually receive a stream of influences by which the grossest or the slightest impurities whether of the flesh or Spirit must be washed away. Those who have entered into the great scheme of Gods mercy, should therefore have no part with those who entirely reject or practically abjure it. They have covenanted to walk with a God who is nothing but light, and they should have no fellowship with darkness, i. e. with the corrupt practices of men estranged from the life of God. They belong to Christ, and they should abhor and renounce every thing which looks like partnership with the Belial who is the very ideal of all worthlessness and vileness. They in whom God condescends to dwell should have no semblance of harmony with the worlds idolatry. Every attempt to unite together what is so unlike is an abomination to God and hurtful to souls. Under no circumstances can it really promote the cause of God, for it tends always to obliterate the distinction which God has taken pains to make prominent, and to make the requirement of a renovation of heart seem needless. How could those who are in the broad road be alarmed, if they were to see that believers had the same spirit with themselves. The work of God would thus be hindered by a false liberality. Let any one on the other hand consider what God is doing for the welfare of His people, and what an exalted thing it is to have fellowship with God, and he will have such a sense of Gods holy presence and of the gracious privileges of adoption, that he will carefully abstain from everything inconsistent with this sacred relationship. If he should at any time contract external or internal defilement, he will strive by every means to purify himself from it, and to bring his entire heart and life into conformity with his true dignity as a follower of Christ. Never will such a one remit his efforts to attain perfect holiness until he shall become a complete man after the likeness of Him who could say, I do always those things which please the Father (Joh 8:29).
[Nothing in this section should be used, as it often is, to justify or require a separation from those portions of the visible church in which some degree of corruption is found to prevail. The Apostle had reference only to communities which were essentially unchristian, yea, as opposite to Christianity as light is to darkness, idolatry to the true religion. He would never have sanctioned any separation from the visible church (1Co 1:10; 1Co 3:3; 1Co 12:25), but that which was involuntary as e. g. when one had no access to her pale, or when she exacted as a term of membership something in faith or practice which a Christian could not yield with a good and enlightened conscience. In this latter case, whatever guilt there is belongs to the portion of the church which made such a term of communion (3Jn 1:10). In such a way Rome is responsible for much of the present division in the ecclesiastical world. But we find nothing in our section or in other portions of the Scriptures to justify any increase of this division by a state of voluntary isolation or withdrawal from any established branch of the church on account of minor imperfections. It only justifieth our withdrawing our communion from idolaters, and from notorious scandalous sinners in such duties and actions, or in such degrees, as we are under no obligation to have fellowship and communion with them in. Pooles Annotations].
HOMILETICAL AND PRACTICAL
Starke:
2Co 7:11. We here see the source and nature of a true and ready eloquence: a living faith and a friendly confidence in those whom we address.
2Co 7:12. Comp. 2Co 12:15. Alas! we have many ministers with hearts open and enlarged enough to embrace all their hearers, but their hearers have hearts which are too generally closed and too narrow to admit them and their messages (Isa 51:1; Psa 109:4).
2Co 7:14. Hedinger:Who can love a society which costs him the love of God?Let us have God, our God, God in us and with us, and all else may go! Little then, O world, do we care for your company or your friendship (Jam 4:4)!
2Co 7:15. In Christianity we have the mind and the likeness of Christ; can we think of having these along with our carnal lusts? There can be no agreement between Christ and Belial, for the great, object of this unclean spirit is to ruin men, but Christs object is to destroy the works of the devil and to raise men to heaven.
2Co 7:16. Gods holy and good spirit, and the spirit of uncleanness and wickedness, can never dwell at once in the same heart (Mat 6:24). No one can be a temple of the living God, until the living God gives him spiritual life.
2 Co 7:17. Sins and vices of all kinds are impurities in Gods sight, and all Christians, as Gods spiritual priests, should be without blemish.
2 Co 7:18. What can be more comforting than to have God for a Father, and to be in Christ His beloved sons and daughters? Not only will such be filled with joy and peace, but they will endeavor to walk worthy of their high vocation and to be truly devout in all their intercourse with God (Gen 17:1).
2Co 7:1. We become pure only as we exercise true repentance and are renewed day by day; and this can be only as we allow the Holy Spirit to accomplish in our hearts without obstruction his proper work of purification (Joh 15:2), and as we use every possible means for putting off old corruptions (Eph 4:22; Gal 5:24), and to exercise ourselves unto godliness (1Ti 4:7; Col 3:10-12).From the garment of the old man, one piece after another has to be gradually taken or rather torn off (Spener). The renewed man must therefore: 1. Examine himself in every way to find what sins most easily beset him, and when they are most dangerous; 2. Guard against them us much as possible; 3. Observe carefully what states of mind usually precede his besetting sins, that he may in due time suppress the evil desire before it has acquired ascendancy; 4. Resist every evil passion and overcome it with the weapons of faith, prayer, and clear representations of his duty and of his baptismal vows; 5. Continue to smite the enemy even when he seems slain, etc.The fear of God should make us diligent in the pursuit of holiness, for we should remember that only thus can we please Him whose eye is never off from us.Hedinger:The Gospel should make us never inactive but always vigorous and lively to advance in godliness. The pure and thriving are the only ones who persevere. And why should anyone stand still?Are these our thanks for such precious promises?
Berlenb. Bible:
2Co 7:11. The love of God and of our neighbor, mercy, hope and joy, wonderfully enlarge our hearts; and since the Lord, who makes a man His habitation, fills immensity, and knows no limits, He must of course expand the contracted heart and give it some degree of susceptibility.
2Co 7:14. Animals of a different nature were not allowed to draw in the same yoke; and Christians should abstain from all companions who will not work in Christs yoke. No heart can be at the same time darkened, ensnared and polluted by sin, and enlightened, emancipated and purified by Christ. Darkness hates the light and flees before it.
2Co 7:16. Whoever is not a temple of God must be a temple of idols and of Satan. Surely no one can be a temple of God who makes an idol of the world, and seeks his profit, honor and pleasure in the world. To be the Lords and to be His sanctuary involves the possession of a divine life and a direct fellowship with God. God is willing to rest, rule and walk in the heart. Turn to Him with all thine heart and thou shalt know what this is by experience.
2 Co 7:17, 18. No self-denial can be acceptable to God, if it is merely external and not in the heart. And yet by these external acts we give practical evidence to the world that its own works are evil, and that we have no communion with the works of darkness but rather reprove them. The separations which have always taken place under the preaching of the Gospel have been produced, not from a factious spirit on the part of Gods people, not because they despised their fellow-men, not because they fancied they were better than others, but simply because they were anxious to avoid what is wrong. God is willing to dwell in His people, and if they would dwell in Him, they must continue steadfast and touch no unclean thing. If we desire to be children of God, we must completely separate ourselves from everything opposed Him. And yet, unless we intend that the world shall have equal power over us, we must cast ourselves wholly upon the help of the Almighty.
2Co 7:1. The power by which our hearts are renewed is principally derived from Gods own precious promises. These are an essential part of Gods covenant with us, but He demands that we also should heartily observe the conditions of the covenant (Jer 7:3-10). We are continually assailed by evil, and yet we are required at all times to be pure. This we ought to be and have power to be, but not by any strength of our own, but by the aid of our risen Saviour. It is important to bo freed not merely from gross vices, but from those spiritual wickednesses with which the foul spirit sometimes besmears the soul (covetousness, arrogance, envy, anger, etc.); and the more spiritual these are the more abominable are they in Gods sight. Indeed, unless the work of purification extends to the most secret thought (Heb 4:12), we shall cherish something which will be false, selfish and impure in His eyes. It is the great business of the new life to be continually becoming pearls of the purest lustre. If we follow as God leads us, and as he gives us power to walk; if we submit cheerfully to His discipline, we shall doubtless reach at least the complete maturity of Christ (Eph 4:13).
Rieger:
2Co 7:11 ff. No minister should hope to win the hearts of men by the esteem and the respect which he commands in society, if he does not also freely open his heart to them in love.
2Co 7:14 ff. Whatever may be the consequences to ourselves, we should never think lightly of the separation from a world lying in wickedness and the superiority to it which faith in Christ and the possession of Gods Spirit gives us. Unless we receive in vain the grace of our high calling, we shall find connected with it the largest promises. Compared with these, what has the world to offer?2Co 7:1. Why is it that some times it takes a long time to fix and tranquilize our hearts, or to become calm after the excitement which some arrogant treatment or some offence has awakened in our bosom? How much prayer has thus been hindered? How many hours, which might have been spent in a Divine peace, have been spoiled by the torment of our own thoughts? All this comes from that filthiness of the flesh and spirit which we still allow to remain in us. Sanctification begins by forsaking the promiscuous multitude, by drawing near to God and by giving ourselves to His service. But it must be continued and completed. The fear of God is our strong fortress and security; let us see to it that we do not presumptuously venture away from it!
Heubner:
2Co 7:11. It is not like a Christian to maintain a perpetual reserve toward those around him, for by his renewed nature he must long to open his heart to those he loves. Between friends there must necessarily be a freedom of expression, and one of the benefits of those associations into which only a few are admitted is, that the heart may be more freely exposed there.
2Co 7:12. The enlarged and full heart of a Christian must not unfrequently experience much sorrow when it is misunderstood and not appreciated by those in whom it confides.
2Co 7:13. The love which never gives by halves demands the whole heart in return.
2Co 7:14-15. Christianity claims that our hearts should be shared by nothing else, and that not only the desires but the whole mind and heart should be pure. It calls for the expulsion of all foreign elements from our natures, and insists upon an absolute intolerance of everything inconsistent with its principles and the word of God. Distinguish here between that disposition to live peaceably with others, which springs from benevolence, and that which accommodates itself to them, approves of their course and imitates their conduct from fear. Whoever joins with others in what is sinful, from a love of their society, accepts the yoke which they received from a love of sin. See the diametrical opposition between truth and error, goodness and wickedness. Impure and weak men would gladly unite these together, but Christianity says to them: Either receive the good as a whole, or decline it altogether: there must be no mingling of them together. Christ is determined to be our only Master; He calls for the whole heart or none of it. To receive the maxims and customs of the unbelieving world is the same thing as to pay court to Satan. The Christian is always at open war with everything not of God, and there must be no temporizing, no yielding. Keep thyself pure!
2Co 7:16. When a man yields up his heart to sin, he sets up an idol there. But God can have possession only where nothing else is tolerated.If God dwells in us, it is by the continual influence of His Spirit producing an inward life which is entirely Divine. If God walks among us there will be a common form of life in which the mind of the Spirit will be clearly expressed, and an impression will be made upon others that God is in the midst of us. Whoever enters such a community will feel the animation of a Divine breath, and will be moved to spiritual activity.
2 Co 7:17. Though we were born and grew up in the world, and though we have caught much of its spirit, the moment we forsake it we forsake it entirely, and henceforth feel a contempt for everything in it, in which God has no part. This is a separation of which all must approve. In such a world we may be looked upon as exiled from God, but in leaving it we find in Him our Father.
2 Co 7:18. The whole Christian world ought to be one holy, divine family. Oh, how far is it from being so now!2Co 7:1. The sanctifying power of Gods promises (1Jn 3:3). Great promises, great demands; great expectations, great warnings! Every sin is a vile spot upon a Christian, whose whole body and soul ought to be a pure temple of God. Sanctification begins with conversion, but it continues through the whole life. God is determined to make something of us, but not all at once. To the accomplishment of His purpose it is indispensable that we should cherish for Him a holy reverence (1Pe 1:17).
W. F. Besser:
2Co 7:13. Christians have the warmest love and regard for us when they admonish us not to receive the grace of God in vain by a careless association with those who despise religion.
2Co 7:14. The yoke in which unbelievers toil is that of carnal will, carnal reason, carnal inclinations; in a word, everything dear to the natural heart. But to the believer this is a foreign yoke (Mat 11:29). Righteousness is the Christians royal badge (Mat 6:33), the richest of all his possessions (Mat 6:21); but unrighteousness is the greatest reproach, the greatest injury and the greatest guilt of the ungodly man, however splendid may be his worldly virtues. To be truly righteous is to be truly saved, for life and bliss must be where forgiveness of sin is. On the other hand, to be truly unrighteous is to be really lost, for he is condemned already on whom lies the imputation of sin. Righteousness must therefore be forever separate from unrighteousness, in doctrine as well as in practice!
2Co 7:15. It would keep us from intermingling our thoughts and efforts with those of unbelievers if we would think much of the mighty chasm which there is between heaven and hell. Labor not in the same yoke with men, unless you would be willing to remain with them forever. The very heart of all idola try is a disposition to glorify man, and the prime article of the unbelievers creed is to make a god of the creature, and to exalt the flesh to honor.
2Co 7:16. The temple of the living God is a Church of living saints, a spiritual house pervaded by the life of the Triune God, and composed of living stones (1Pe 2:5). This inscription: The Temple of the living God, should call us away from the disorders of an idolatry which conceals a real death under the appearance of life, and from the discord of a heathenism which is cut up into a thousand forms of worship, to a Christian unity whose best representation is that of a spiritual temple (Eph 2:21).
2 Co 7:17, 18. Christians are no longer the mere bearers of the Lords vessels, as were the priests and Levites of an earlier day, but they are themselves the Lords vessels; their bodies and souls belong to Him, and they are sanctified by the Holy Spirit as members of the body of Christ. Of course, then, it would be unbecoming for such vessels to remain in a world lying in wickedness. The union of pure and impure doctrine is the very worst kind of desecration. Our Father, the Lord Almighty, has assured us that we shall always possess abundant satisfaction all along the way of self-denial and suffering; but he has also wisely provided that we should be pervaded by a holy fear of offending Him (1Pe 1:17; comp. 1Co 10:22).2Co 7:1. Even though we have been partially cleansed from sin, the grace will not continue with us unless we remain united with Christ by a true faith, and separate ourselves from sin. The Christian, is called continually to aim at perfect sanctification, though he daily finds that he comes short of it (Php 3:12). He must, therefore, persevere in this effort until he shall reach the rest which God has prepared for them that love Him. That fear of God which urges him forward is not one which is cast out by love and has torment (1Jn 4:18), but one which love itself inspires, because it dreads the torment of a defiled conscience.
[F. W. Robertson, on the whole section:We have here1. The exuberance of the Apostles affection (2Co 7:11). He had received a multitude of provocations from the Corinthians, and yet his love was deep; our heart is enlarged. It was partly compassion for them as his children, for whom he had suffered; and it was partly from a regard to them as immortal beings, who should be, and who might become, exceedingly eminent. Then he was eloquent, his mouth was open to them. He might have shut his lips and in dignified pride have refused to plead his cause. But he speaks freely, not even cautiously, but like a man who has nothing to conceal or to fear. 2. The recompense he desired. This was, first, unworldliness, or separation from the world. Independent of the impossibility of agreeing in the deepest sympathies, and of there being no identity of tastes or antipathies, the first ground was immorality, unrighteousness, profligacy, and the second was irreligion, unbelief. This separateness, however is not merely outward, but in spirit. It was, secondly, Personal purification (2Co 7:1). The ground on which this request was made was these promises (the indwelling of God, his free reception of us, and His Fatherhood and our sonship, 2Co 6:16-18); the request itself was for personal purity; and the means were, the fear of God, realizing the promises and perfecting holiness.Lectt. XLIX. and L., abridged].
Footnotes:
[5][1 2Co 6:11.For the second B. has . Tisch. in his Cod. sin. gives in the text, but as a var. lect.].
[6]2Co 6:14Rec. has , but has stronger support [B. C. D. E. F. G. L. Sin. with the majority of versions and Fathers]. The being more usual was probably a correction.
[7]2Co 6:15.Rec. has , but it was probably a correction to conform to and the other datives in the connection. B. C. et al [Sinait. D. L. the Vulg., and Copt. the Latin fathers] have . [Lachm., Tisch., Meyer, and Alford also adopt it; but Bloomfield inclines to under an impression that the other was suggested by the Latin copies or to facilitate construction].
[8]2Co 6:15.The best authenticated form of this word is ; but some copies have and . The of the Rec. is feebly sustained. [It has no MSS. and little more than the Vulgate, which adopted it from the original Hebrew form. All Greek MSS. of importance have . Sept. treated the word as a common noun and translated it. The Vulgate and our English version sometimes give it as a proper noun, but they often translate it by the word wicked, or some equivalent term. The Hellenistic Jews often changed into as in the Doric for The fromoften occurs in the Test. of the 12 Patriarchs, in the interpolated Ignatius, in the Apost. Canons, and in the Greek Fathers generally. As the Greeks never ended their proper names in , they were not likely to change l into , while the Latins were quite likely to conform the to their Vulgate].
[9]2Co 6:16.The Rec. has instead of . It was probably a reminiscence of 1Co 3:16, and an attempt to conform to 2Co 6:14; 2Co 6:17. The authorities, however, are about equally balanced. [B. D. L. Sin. and some versions and Fathers have the Rec. but C. D. (3d Cor.) E. F. G. K. the Vulg. Syr. Goth, verss. and most of the Greek Fathers have the other. No reason can be imagined for changing the into equally strong with that which has above been suggested for the opposite course].
[10]2Co 6:16.Rec. has , Lachm. has . The testimony for the latter is not strong, and it is probably an attempt to conform the text to the preceding . [And yet B. C. and Sin. have , while D. F. K. L. with the verss. and most Fathers have ].
[11]2Co 6:17Rec. has but is better suited to the sense and is more strongly sustained. [The former is better conformed to linguistic usage, but the latter was for this very reason less likely to be altered to it. it is better sustained by the best MSS. of the Sept., has B. C. F. G. Sin. and Damasc. in its favor, and has the sanction of Lachm., Tisch. and Alford].
Fuente: A Commentary on the Holy Scriptures, Critical, Doctrinal, and Homiletical by Lange
DISCOURSE: 2027
EFFECTS OF THE GOSPEL IN ENLARGING THE HEART
2Co 6:11-13. O ye Corinthians, our mouth is open unto you, our heart is enlarged. Ye are not straitened in us, but ye are straitened in your own bowels. Now, for a recompence in the same, (I speak as unto my children,) be ye also enlarged.
THE ministers of the Gospel sustain an office characterized in Scripture by the most exalted terms. They are ambassadors of the Lord Jesus Christ: they address men in the name, and in the very place, of God himself [Note: 2Co 5:20.]: and they are in this respect fellow-workers with God [Note: ver. 1.]. But, though they are at liberty, and indeed are bound, to magnify their office [Note: Rom 11:13.], they are not at liberty to magnify themselves: nor, indeed, will they be disposed to do so: they know, that, whilst they bear for the good of others an inestimable treasure, they are themselves but earthen vessels [Note: 2Co 4:7.]: and, if they glory at all, they can glory only of their infirmities, by means of which the Lord Jesus Christ is honoured, and his work advanced [Note: 2Co 11:30.]. It is to these that the Apostle, in the passage now under our consideration, refers, as the proofs of his appointment to, and his fidelity in, the apostolic office: and so ample is his enumeration of the difficulties and trials to which he had been subjected in the discharge of his duty, that he apologizes, as it were, for the fulness of his description; and entreats his Corinthian converts to exercise towards him the same disposition which he was at this instant exercising towards them.
The words which we have read to you will afford me occasion to shew,
I.
How the Gospel enlarges the heart of a faithful minister
To the servants of Christ is committed the ministry of reconciliation
[In this respect, a common minister is on a par with an Apostle. St. Paul himself could declare nothing, but that God was in Christ, reconciling the world unto himself; not imputing their trespasses unto them: and those blessed tidings we also are privileged to bear; as we are, also, to beseech men, in Christs stead, to be reconciled to God. And this office I will now perform, if peradventure God may give his blessing to the word, and bring the soul of any one amongst you into a state of favour and acceptance with himself ]
In the discharge of this high office they have many difficulties to encounter
[The Apostle here, with astonishing enlargement, sets them forth, and adduces them as evidences of his fidelity to God and man. He had approved himself as a minister of God in the diversity and intenseness of his sufferings; in much patience, in afflictions, in necessities, in distresses, in stripes, in imprisonments, in tumults, in labours, in watchings, in fastings. He had approved himself, also, in the whole of his spirit and conduct; by pureness, by knowledge, by long-suffering, by kindness, by the Holy Ghost, by love unfeigned, by the word of truth, by the power of God, by the armour of righteousness on the right hand and on the left. He had given yet further evidence of his fidelity, in the different kinds of reception he had met with; by honour and dishonour, by evil report and good report; as a deceiver, yet true; as unknown, yet well known; as dying, yet, behold, he lived; as chastened, yet, contrary to all human expectation, not killed. Lastly, he had shewn himself a true minister of God, in the supports and consolations that had been administered to him; as sorrowful, yet alway rejoicing; as poor, yet making many rich; as having nothing, and yet possessing all things. The eloquence of this passage has perhaps never been surpassed: and it proceeded, not from the richness of his imagination, but from the fulness of his heart; as he says: O ye Corinthians, our mouth is open unto you, our heart is enlarged.
And were these things peculiar to the Apostle? Has not every faithful minister a measure of the same? What, if we have not to experience bonds and imprisonments, have we not to go through honour and dishonour; through evil report and good report; as deceivers, and yet true; as unknown, yet well known? Yes, and under the lowest pressure of adverse circumstances, we trust we can say, As sorrowful, yet alway rejoicing; as poor, yet making many rich; as having nothing, and yet possessing all things.]
But difficulties, of whatever kind, are of no account with them, if only they may be rendered subservient to the progress of the Gospel, and the salvation of immortal souls
[It was not in a way of complaint, and much less in a way of boasting, that the Apostle dilated thus on his experience: no; it was for the purpose of convincing the Corinthians that he longed for their welfare, and accounted not his life dear unto him, if he might by any means promote their eternal happiness. He had himself obtained, by the Gospel, reconciliation with God; and he panted to make them also partakers of the same benefit. This hope it was that made him so indefatigable in all his labours, and so invincible under all his sufferings.
And I may safely say, that the same blessed hope will animate every faithful minister to tread in the Apostles steps, and to be a follower of him, as he was of Christ.]
In this address of St. Paul to the Corinthians, we yet further see,
II.
What reciprocity of feeling he may hope to find amongst those to whom he ministers
If this experience attends a faithful ministration of the Gospel, so does it also, in some degree, a faithful reception of it: and if it should be welcomed by the preacher as an evidence of his fidelity, so should it also be welcomed by his hearers as a testimony borne by God himself in their favour. I call you then, beloved, to shew a measure of that enlargement which was so conspicuous and unrivalled in the Apostle Paul. To every one of you I say, Resemble him.
1.
Let your reception of the Gospel be alike cordial
[It is as worthy of your reception, as it was of his; and will be as rich a source of blessings to you as ever it was to him ]
2.
Let your devotion to it be alike entire
[See how entirely he devoted himself to God, from the very first moment that the Lord Jesus revealed himself unto him. He conferred not with flesh and blood. Having asked, Lord, what wilt thou have me to do? he knew of no will, but Gods; no way, but that which the Lord himself prescribed. Be ye, brethren, alike upright in the service of Him who has reconciled you to God by the blood of his cross. Ye are not your own: ye are bought with a price: therefore ye must glorify God with your body and your spirit, which are his ]
3.
Let your zeal for it be alike ardent
[In the whole passage we have read to you, you have heard what labours he undertook, and what sufferings he endured, in order to diffuse the knowledge of that Gospel which he had found so beneficial to his own soul. And shall not the love of Christ constrain you also? Shall any labour be accounted too great, or any suffering too severe, if you may be instrumental to the advancing the Redeemers kingdom upon earth? ]
4.
Let your sacrifices for it be alike welcomed
[By the cross of Christ, in which St. Paul gloried, the world was crucified to him, and he unto the world [Note: Gal 6:14.]: and he regarded all that it contained, just as a man dying on a cross would regard it. Yea, in his Masters service he was ready to welcome martyrdom as an occasion of self-congratulation and joy [Note: Php 2:17-18.]. A noble example! Seek to imitate it, my beloved brethren; and instead of repining at any thing ye may suffer for the Gospels sake, count it all joy when ye fall into divers temptations; and rejoice, if ye are counted worthy to suffer for your Lords sake ]
And now let me, in conclusion, speak to you as my children
[Would to God I could say, that ye have never been straitened in us, Alas! we are conscious that in out ministrations we have often been cold and dead. But, on the present occasion, we hope that, in some small degree, we may adopt the Apostles words; and, in recompence for the same, we would add with him, Be ye also enlarged. Truly, if you had not been straitened in your own bowels, many, many blessings would have flowed down upon you, which yet have been withheld, because ye were not sufficiently alive to the importance of the subject propounded to you You well know, that a vessel with a contracted opening receives but little of the showers of heaven, in comparison of one that presents to them a wide and expanded orifice: and thus it fares with many, who, through prejudice or worldly-mindedness, have their hearts almost closed to the glad tidings of the Gospel. O that ye might henceforth be enlarged, so as to come with minds fully prepared to receive at Gods hands all that his dear Son has purchased for you, and all that his own unbounded mercy is ready to bestow! Come to the house of God as rebels that have subjected yourselves to Gods heavy displeasure. Come as penitents, imploring mercy at his hands. Come as believers, that are persuaded of the fulness of the salvation provided for you in Christ, and of the willingness of God to bestow it on every believing penitent. In a word, Come to hear the testimony of God, in the manner, and in the spirit, that St. Paul went forth to announce it to his hearers. Let but this feeling be reciprocal, (the Lord grant it may be more and more found in me!) and then we shall not speak in vain, nor will you hear in vain.]
Fuente: Charles Simeon’s Horae Homileticae (Old and New Testaments)
(11) O ye Corinthians, our mouth is open unto you, our heart is enlarged. (12) Ye are not straitened in us, but ye are straitened in your own bowels. (13) Now for a recompense in the same, I (speak as unto my children,) be ye also enlarged. (14) Be ye not unequally yoked together with unbelievers: for what fellowship hath righteousness with unrighteousness? and what communion hath light with darkness? (15) And what concord hath Christ with Belial? or what part hath he that believeth with an infidel? (16) And what agreement hath the temple of God with idols? for ye are the temple of the living God; as God hath said, I will dwell in them, and walk in them; and I will be their God, and they shall be my people. (17) Wherefore come out from among them, and be ye separate, saith the Lord, and touch not the unclean thing; and I will receive you. (18) And will be a Father unto you, and ye shall be my sons and daughters, saith the Lord Almighty.
The Apostle here addresseth the Church. After speaking to the ministers, he now speaks to the people. An enlarged heart of affection to the whole body of Christ, could not but shew itself, in suitable terms, of the warmest desires for their welfare. And the whole Chapter, taken into one point of view, forms a very beautiful address, of the great Apostle to the Church at Corinth, including both the minister and congregation, of what would form a lovely representation, in their union with Christ, and with one another; when under grace, those directions were closely attended to, and followed.
I do not think it needful, to enter into a particular investigation, of the several interesting things, which Paul here so affectionately recommends. The words themselves are very plain, and the importance of the measure unanswerably conclusive, and binding. The whole of his arguments are truly Scriptural, and come home; enforced by every motive, which can endear them to the heart. But what I more immediately would beg the Reader to observe from them is what the Lord hath here confirmed, of his indwelling residence in his people. Through all the Old Testament dispensation, God the Holy Ghost taught the Church, to be in the constant expectation of this great, but mysterious event. The promise began very early in the Church, while forming in the wilderness. I will set my tabernacle among you, (said the Lord;) and my soul, shall not abhor you. As if the conscious sense of our uncleanness might tempt a child of God to call it in question. No! said the Lord. As the foreknowledge, and fore-view the Son of God had of his Church’s fall, in the Adam-nature, did not prevent Him, as God-Man-Mediator, to tabernacle in our flesh; yea, to be made in the likeness of sinful flesh: Rom 8:3 . so neither shall the uncleanness of his people, hinder God the Spirit, from making their bodies his temple. I will walk among you, said the Lord; and will be your God, and ye shall be my people, Lev 26:11-12 . And the Prophet, in after ages, and coming nearer home to Gospel days, was commissioned to tell the Church the same truth. I will take away the stony heart out of your flesh, and I will give you an heart of flesh; and I will put my Spirit within you, Eze 36:26-27 ; 1Co 3:16 ; Heb 3:6 .
I pray the Reader to pause over this very sweet Scripture. Nothing can be more plain, from Scripture authority, than that the Son of God hath tabernacled in our flesh, Joh 1:14 . And nothing can be more plain, than that, God by his Spirit promised, and hath fulfilled it, to dwell in his people. Paul speaks of this, as so well known, and so certain a truth, that he demands of the Church their conviction of this doctrine, as of a most well-assured, and most cordially believed thing: Know ye not, (saith he,) that ye are the temple of God; and that the Spirit of God dwelleth in you? 1Co 3:16 . And Jesus himself; in his farewell discourse with his disciples, within a few verses of each other, speaks of himself, and the Father, and the Holy Ghost, dwelling, and making their abode with his people. If a man love me, he will keep my words; and my Father will love him, and we will come and make our abode with him. And, speaking of the Holy Ghost, Jesus said: he shall abide with you forever. He dwelleth with you, and shall be in you, Joh 14:23Joh 14:23 . So that, here are the whole Three Persons of the Godhead, positively said, to dwell in the Lord’s people. And what I beg the Reader particularly to notice, in this mysterious work of love, and grace, and favor, which distinguisheth the Church of God from the Christless world, is this: that notwithstanding, in the great work of regeneration, it is the spiritual part only of every child of God that is renewed, and made a partaker of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust, 2Pe 1:3-4 . yet the unrenewed part, the body, is said to be the temple of the Holy Ghost. Yea, the whole Persons of the Godhead, (as hath been shewn in this paragraph in the Scriptures quoted,) are said to make their abode with the Lord’s people. So that the body, unrenewed as it is, and, unrenewed as it will remain, until this corruptible shall put on incorruption, is nevertheless, as much as the spirit, the tabernacle of the Lord, Lev 26:11 . And hence Paul calls upon the Church, to glorify God in their body, as well as in their spirit, which are His, 1Co 6:20 . Will it be said, this is mysterious! I would answer, in the words of the Apostle; without all controversy, great is the mystery of Godliness! And, what begins in Paul’s relation of it, with God manifest in the flesh; may be well supposed to be followed, with justified in the Spirit, 1Ti 3:16 . Reader! we are in a world of mystery. But remember, these grand and momentous truths are proposed to the Church, as the objects of faith: not for our faculties to explain. lf, Nicodemus like, we demand explanation how can these things be? we presume to try them by our standard of apprehension; and instead of belief, substitute reason. See Eph 2:22 , and Commentary.
From a presumption like this let me call off your attention to what the Apostle so sweetly recommends, and with which he closeth the Chapter. He first gives us the words of God in his promise, and then the assurance of God in his blessing. I will dwell in them, and walk in them, saith God. Wherefore, come out from among them, and be ye separate, saith the Lord, and touch not the unclean thing: and I will receive you, and will be a Father unto you, and ye shall be my sons and daughters, saith the Lord Almighty Reader! these are God’s assurances. Our province is to believe. What though you and I both know, that it is our spiritual part only that is regenerate, the body is still the subject of sin; yet it is as much the Lord’s, as is the spirit: and in it the Lord dwells, for it is his temple. And, notwithstanding all we feel, and all we groan under, from being daily burdened from the warfare of the lusts which are in our flesh; yet both in body, and in spirit, we are the Lord’s. And God declares that he dwells in us, in a special, personal, and intimate manner. Reader! see to it, that those blessed testimonies of the divine inhabitation are in your portion; and then by faith, may the Lord give you, to take to yourself, all that personal interest, and holy joy, it clearly brings.
Fuente: Hawker’s Poor Man’s Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
11 O ye Corinthians, our mouth is open unto you, our heart is enlarged.
Ver. 11. Our mouth is open unto you ] We speak thus freely unto you, out of our deep affection towards you; we even carve you a piece of our heart, we pour forth ourselves in this flood of speech, that thereby ye may take a scantling of our over abundant love to your souls. , open mouthed men, are put for fools oftentimes in Lucian and Aristophanes; but in another sense than the apostle here useth it. A large heart maketh a man full in the mouth, as if it sought that way to get out to the thing affected.
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
11 13. ] These verses form a conclusion to the preceding outpouring of his heart with regard to his apostolic ministry , and at the same time a transition to the exhortations which are to follow.
Fuente: Henry Alford’s Greek Testament
11. ] Our (my) mouth is open (not past : the use of for is common in later Greek: see Palm and Rost’s Lex., and ref. 1 Cor. Rckert takes it as past, and renders, ‘I have begun to speak with you, I have not concealed my apostolic sentiments I cannot shut my mouth, but must go on speaking to you yet further.’ The word seems to refer to the free and open spirit shewn in the whole previous passage on the ministry, in which he had so liberally imparted his inner feelings to them) towards you, Corinthians ( , , Chrys. Hom. xiii. p. 530 f. See Phi 4:15 ; Gal 3:1 , which last is written under a very different feeling), our (my) heart has become enlarged . These last words are very variously explained. Chrys., Theodoret, c [8] , al., understand them of the expansive effect of love on the heart: Luther, Estius, al., of dilatio gaudii , which does not however agree with below: nor with the general context, either of what precedes or of what follows: for to refer it to ch. 2Co 7:4 , as Estius, is evidently far-fetched, the intermediate matter being of such a different character. alii aliter. Meyer holds with Chrys., and refers it to the preceding passage, during which his heart became expanded in love to them. De Wette takes it, ‘ I have poured out, enlarged and diffused, my heart to you ,’ viz. by speaking thus open-hearted to you. I believe the precise sense will only be found by taking into account the . . below, and the occurrence of the expression in the Psalm (reff.: cf. , ib., v. 45). Some light is also thrown upon it by , ch. 2Co 7:2 . The heart is considered as a space , wherein its thoughts and feelings are contained. We have seen the same figure in our expression ‘narrow-minded.’ In order to take in a new object of love, or of desire, or of ambition, the heart must be enlarged : , . The Apostle has had his heart enlarged towards the Corinthians: he could and did take them in , with their infirmities, their interests, their Christian graces, their defects and sins: but they did not and could not take him in ( ): he was misunderstood by them, and his relation to them disregarded. This he here asserts, and deprecates. He assures them of their place in his heart, which is wide enough for , and does contain them ; and refers back to this verse in ch. 2Co 7:3 , thus, . He tells them, 2Co 6:12 . ] that they are not straitened in him , i.e. that any constraint which they may feel towards him, any want of confidence in him and persuasion of his real appreciation of their state and interests, arose, not from his being really unable to appreciate them , and love them, and advise them, but from their own confined view of him , of his love, his knowledge of and feeling for them.
[8] cumenius of Tricca in Thrace, Cent y . XI.?
Fuente: Henry Alford’s Greek Testament
11 8:1. ] EARNEST EXHORTATIONS TO SEPARATION FROM UNBELIEF AND IMPURITY.
Fuente: Henry Alford’s Greek Testament
2Co 6:11-13 . AFFECTIONATE DECLARATION OF HIS FRANKNESS AND SYMPATHY, AND AN APPEAL THAT THE CORINTHIANS SHOULD SHOW THE SAME.
Fuente: The Expositors Greek Testament by Robertson
2Co 6:11 . . . .: our mouth is open ( = , as often in later Greek; observe its present signification, as at 1Co 16:9 ) unto you, O Corinthians, i.e. , I am speaking quite candidly and freely to you (see reff.). Only here and at Gal 3:1 , Phi 4:15 , does St. Paul call his correspondents by name; here it emphasises the affectionate nature of his appeal, and it singles out the Corinthians from the wider circle to whom the letter was addressed (2Co 1:1 ). . . .: our heart is enlarged , which is indeed the reason of his freedom of speech, for (Mat 12:34 ). By enlargement of heart is meant here a widening of sympathy, and not the expansiveness of joy (Isa 60:5 ) or an in crease in intelligence and wisdom (1Ki 4:29 ).
Fuente: The Expositors Greek Testament by Robertson
NASB (UPDATED) TEXT: 2Co 6:11-13
11Our mouth has spoken freely to you, O Corinthians, our heart is opened wide. 12You are not restrained by us, but you are restrained in your own affections. 13Now in a like exchange-I speak as to children-open wide to us also.
2Co 6:11 The two verbs are both perfect tense. Paul has shared the whole, complete gospel truth and its implications with the Corinthian believers in complete openness and honesty.
“O Corinthians” This is one of only three places in Paul’s writings that he personally addresses the particular church he is writing (cf. Gal 3:1; Php 4:15). All of these passages show the intensity of the Apostle’s heart.
2Co 6:12
NASB”You are not restrained by us”
NKJV”You are not restricted by us”
NRSV”There is no restriction”
TEV”It is not we who have closed our hearts to you”
NJB”Any distress you feel is not on our side”
The noun form of this verb is used in 2Co 6:4; 2Co 12:10 (cf. Rom 2:9; Rom 8:35). It literally refers to something or someone crowded together into a narrow place, thereby becoming cramped. It was used metaphorically for “straits,” “cramped,” or “anguish” (cf. 2Co 4:8; 2Co 6:12).
NASB, NKJV,
NRSV”affections”
TEV”closed your hearts”
NJB”distress”
This is an OT metaphor from “bowels.” The ancients thought the lower viscera or the major organs (i.e., heart, liver, lungs) were the seat of the emotions (cf. Septuagint Pro 12:10; Pro 26:22; Jer. 28:13,51; 2Ma 9:5-6; 4Ma 10:8; Baruch 2:17). Paul uses this metaphor often (cf. 2Co 6:12; 2Co 7:15; Php 1:8; Php 2:1; Col 3:12; Phm 1:7; Phm 1:12; Phm 1:20).
2Co 6:13
NASB”Now in a like exchange”
NKJV”Now in return for the same”
NRSV”In return”
NJB”In fair exchange”
In this phrase the main word is antimisthia, which is the term misthos (i.e., recompense based on what a person deserves, cf. 1Co 3:8; 1Co 3:14; 1Co 9:17-18; 1Ti 5:18) plus the preposition anti. This form is found only here and in Rom 1:27.
This term can be used in a positive or negative sense; the context must determine. In Rom 1:27; it is negative, but here it seems to be used positively in the sense of Gal 4:12.
“to children” Paul, like John, addresses his converts as children (cf. 1Co 4:14; 1Co 4:17; Gal 4:19; 1Ti 1:2; 1Ti 1:18; 2Ti 1:2; 2Ti 2:1; Tit 1:4; Phm 1:10).
“open wide to us also” As Paul stretched his heart to include them, as factious and contentious as they had been, he earnestly desired that they reciprocate. This is aorist passive imperative. Notice the passive idea that they cannot do it themselves, but they must allow God to do it.
Fuente: You Can Understand the Bible: Study Guide Commentary Series by Bob Utley
our mouth, &c. A Hebraism for speaking with liberty. Compare Jdg 11:35, Psa 78:2; Psa 109:2. Pro 8:6; Pro 31:26. Eze 24:27; Eze 29:21. Mat 5:2. Act 8:35.
unto. Greek. pros. App-104.
enlarged. Greek. platuno. Only here, 2Co 6:13, and Mat 23:5.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
11-13.] These verses form a conclusion to the preceding outpouring of his heart with regard to his apostolic ministry, and at the same time a transition to the exhortations which are to follow.
Fuente: The Greek Testament
2Co 6:11. , the mouth) A Symperasma,[36] by which Paul prepares a way for himself, in order that, from the praise of the gospel ministry, brought down from 2Co 2:14 up to this point, he may derive an exhortation to the Corinthians.-, is opened) hath opened itself. There is truly something very extraordinary in this epistle.-, O Corinthians) a rare and very life-like address, expressive, as it were, of some privilege belonging to the Corinthians; comp. Php 4:15, note.- , the heart) They ought to have concluded [drawn an inference] from the mouth to the heart [of the apostle]. To be opened and enlarged, are closely connected.-, has been enlarged) is diffused [in a widely extended stream of love], 1Ki 4:29, , largeness of heart as the sand, that is by the seashore.
[36] See App. A conclusion or brief summary drawn from the previous premisses.
Fuente: Gnomon of the New Testament
2Co 6:11
2Co 6:11
Our mouth is open unto you, O Corinthians,-Filled to overflowing with the thought of the riches of his possession, he bursts forth into an expression of love for the Corinthians. He was ready to teach them; his affections for them grew mightily.
our heart is enlarged.-His heart was enlarged with love for them. [Not that he loved them any more dearly than he had formerly done, but his emotions had broken forth into overflowing expression, and he took the opportunity to assure them of the great place they had in his heart.]
Fuente: Old and New Testaments Restoration Commentary
Separate from All Uncleanness
2Co 6:11-18; 2Co 7:1-4
Pauls love failed to be appreciated by his converts because the channel of receptiveness, that is, of their faith and love, was so straitened. How often is this the case between Christ and us! Let us dredge the channel. Be ye enlarged! Open your mouth wide and He will fill it.
The best method of doing this is to be only, always, and all for Him. We must not offer Him a share of our heart and devotion. There must be no division between Him and others. Whenever iniquity, darkness, Belial, and unbelievers seek to share our nature with the Holy Spirit, and we permit the partnership, He withdraws. No idols must be permitted in any hidden shrine of the heart. The whole nature-spirit (that is, the Holy of Holies) soul (that is, the seat of our individuality), and body-must be the temple of the Eternal, who rules it from the Shekinah, which is enthroned on the Ark of the Covenant. God still walks the world in those who love Him and are wholly yielded to His indwelling. The loneliest spirit finds Him to be father, mother, brother, sister, all. What an incentive to cleanliness not only of flesh but of spirit! Heb 10:22. The Apostle concludes by expressing his intense thankfulness that his converts had not misunderstood the urgency of his former letter.
Fuente: F.B. Meyer’s Through the Bible Commentary
Separation From Evil
2Co 6:11-18
O ye Corinthians, our mouth is open unto you, our heart is enlarged. Ye are not straitened in us, but ye are straitened in your own bowels. Now for a recompence in the same, (I speak as unto my children,) be ye also enlarged. Be ye not unequally yoked together with unbelievers: for what fellowship hath righteousness with unrighteousness? and what communion hath light with darkness? And what concord hath Christ with Belial? or what part hath he that believeth with an infidel? And what agreement hath the temple of God with idols? for ye are the temple of the living God; as God hath said, I will dwell in them, and walk in them; and I will be their God, and they shall be my people. Wherefore come out from among them, and be ye separate, saith the Lord, and touch not the unclean thing; and I will receive you, and will be a Father unto you, and ye shall be my sons and daughters, saith the Lord Almighty. (vv. 11-18)
All down through the ages since God has been working redemptively in delivering men from sin, from its guilt and its power, Satan has been seeking in every possible way to thwart that work, and although Calvary has demonstrated the fact that he is already a defeated adversary, yet he still persists in trying to injure by all means in his power everything that is of God. You will find as you read both Testaments, that in every instance when God begins a new testimony Satan seeks to destroy it by persecution. He stirs up the hearts of those who hate God and hate His Word to work injury upon those who love Him and love the Scriptures. This was particularly true in the beginning of the history of the church of God. Persecution broke out first in Jerusalem, and then spread through the world, finally centering itself in Rome, and for two hundred awful years the Devil did everything possible to destroy the church of God by stirring up the hatred of men and women throughout the entire Roman empire, so that literally hundreds of thousands of Christian men, women, and children were martyred for Christs sake. But down through the ages it has been demonstrated, as Augustine said, The blood of the martyrs is the seed of the church. Satan always finds that persecution is utterly unable to destroy the testimony of God.
And then the enemy of souls works in another way. He persecutes, he destroys, he puts Gods people to death, gives them to realize the bitter enmity of the world, and when that will not keep people from coming to Christ, nor keep the church from witnessing for Christ, he turns the tables, and seeks to become in some sense the patron of Christianity. He endeavors to render the testimony of the church innocuous by amalgamation with the world. It is in this way that Israel fell. As long as Israel remained a separated people they had a testimony for God in the world, but when they followed after the idolatry of the nations, when they made marriages with the heathen, they lost their testimony, and so God set them to one side. They were of no further use as a witness in the world. It has been the same with the church throughout the centuries.
As long as the church walked in holy separation from the world it has been a power for God, sinners have been convicted, and anxious ones have been saved. Whole nations have been stirred by a separated, devoted, godly people, but just as soon as the church has listened to the suggestions of the enemy, coming now in the guise of a friend, and has given her fair hand to the world, has amalgamated with the world, at once her testimony has been annulled, she has ceased to be of any real account for God in this scene. In the Word of God we find the importance of separation from evil stressed. If we would really count for the Lord we need to remember this, for the professing church all about us has become contaminated to a great extent by the spirit of the world. How often we find ourselves going after the ways of the world, and very often we dress and behave just like the world, and indulge in the same things that the world indulges in, and so lose our power with souls.
The story is told of a young woman, brought up in a very careful Christian home, who when she went away to college was persuaded by some nominal Christians that if she would have any influence with her fellow students she would have to let down the bars a little bit. So at last she was persuaded to learn to dance, and she later went to the college prom. There on the floor she was dancing with a young man, and as she danced she said to herself, I am doing this in order to let people see that I am not narrow, to let folk see that I can meet them on their own ground, and I must remember to bear witness for Christ here. And so as the dance went on she tried to say a little word, but her partner did not know what it was all about. As he led her back to a seat she said, What I am anxious to know is, are you a Christian?
He looked at her and said, Good gracious, no. You are not, are you?
Oh, yes, she said; I am.
Well, what on earth are you doing here, then?
She realized at once that even the world has a high standard for a Christian. The world expects a Christian to walk in separation from it. It will do what it can to get the Christian to lower his standard, but always despises him when he does lower it.
I was having meetings in a church in San Jose, California, some years ago. One night the leader announced that a certain young lady would sing a solo. She was very beautiful, and had a carefully-trained, well-modulated voice, and sang very nicely. The title of the song was, Jesus Satisfies. I was quite moved by it myself, and hoped others were. At the close of the meeting I asked any anxious ones to meet me at the front or to remain in their seats. I noticed a young woman sitting by herself, and so I went down to speak with her. I said, Are you anxious about your soul?
She looked at me and said, Well, yes and no. I was anxious; I came to this meeting with the thought that I would like to become a Christian, but if ever I become a Christian I want to be a different one from Miss So-and-So, and she gave the name of the young lady who had sung the solo.
Oh, I said, you are acquainted with the young lady?
Oh, yes.
But you dont like her particularly?
Oh, she said, she is my best friend.
But what do you mean, then?
Well, she said, it is just this. I believe a Christian ought to live a different life from a worldling. I am a worldling, and I do not profess to be anything else. I have been trying to find satisfaction in the world; I confess I have never found it, but my friend, Miss So-and-So, got up and sang, Jesus Satisfies, and that is a lie; He doesnt satisfy her. She professes to be a Christian, and she often tells me I ought to be a Christian, but when I go to the theater I always find her there, when I go to the ball I find her there, when I go to play cards she is there, when I go into anything of the world, she is always there. What difference is there between her and myself? The only difference I can see is that she professes to have something which I do not profess to possess, but it does not do anything for her. Her life is just like mine.
What could I as the preacher say? I talked to the young woman, and tried to show her that no matter how Christians fail, Christ abides and He never fails, but she got up and went out unsaved.
The Christians power comes from a separated life, and a separated life results from being filled with the Holy Spirit of God. As you walk in obedience to the Word of God the Spirit of God fills you, and thus you go out to live in the world to the glory of the Lord Jesus. One of the troubles of the Corinthians was this, there were many Christians there, but they were trying to give their friends the idea that Christianity was a very liberal thing, and so were amalgamating with the world. And the apostle says, O ye Corinthians, our mouth is open unto you. We do not want to find fault with you, we do not want you to think that we are narrow and bound, and do not sympathize with you. We love you, our hearts go out to you; we put these things before you because we love you. Christians, and especially at times some of our dear young Christians, imagine that when those of us who are interested in their souls speak to them seriously and earnestly about the folly of worldliness, and try to guide them in the path of devotion to Christ, that it is because we have grown older that we do not sympathize with youth and do not understand their problems. Let me say, Ye are not straitened in us. Our hearts are really concerned about you, but ye are straitened in your own bowels, you are narrowing your own life by worldliness. You do not realize this, you think you are enjoying life because you are letting down the bars, but you are not. You are not getting out of Christ what you might, and you are not getting out of your Christian life what you might, if you were more devoted to the One whom you call Lord. Your life is narrow and straitened because of inconsistency. This was true of the Corinthians, and this is true of many today.
Paul tells them, I want you to be enlarged, to get the best out of life, to enjoy to the fullest what Christ has for you, and in order that this may be, he gives them a most earnest exhortation: Be ye not unequally yoked together with unbelievers. What does he mean by that? The reference is, of course, to the passage in Deu 22:10. God said to His people, who were an agricultural people, Thou shalt not plow with an ox and an ass together. The ox was a clean beast. It could be offered in sacrifice and its flesh used for food. The ass was an unclean beast. It could not be offered to the Lord and its flesh could not be eaten. And God said, You are not to take these two and yoke them together, even for service, for they do not belong together. And so He says to the Christians, You cannot expect to glorify Me if linked up with an ungodly man or woman, even for service. Be ye not unequally yoked together with unbelievers. The passage applies to church relationships, to things in society where you have to be in fellowship with unsaved people, to being in business with unsaved folk. Many a Christian has found out to his sorrow that he made his mistake by going into business with an unsaved man, because an unsaved man is actuated by different principles from those which actuate a saved man. And, of course, it applies to the marriage relationship. What a serious thing it is for a Christian young woman to think of giving her hand in marriage to an unconverted man, in the hope, of course, that someday she will be able to win him for Christ, or what a foolish thing for a Christian man to take an unsaved girl for a life companion. If they wont come to Christ through your earnest pleading before they are married, you are never likely to win them after the honeymoon is over. They will settle back into their own way, and the chances are that instead of you drawing them your way in the days to come, they will begin to draw you their way. You have heard of the boys who found two linnets in the field. They brought them home and put them in cages hung on either side of their canary. The mother asked the reason for this, and they said, Well, you see, we got these young, and we have hung them by the side of the canary so that they will be accustomed to listening to the canary sing, and so instead of learning to chirp like a linnet they will learn to sing like the canary. The mother did not say anything, but shook her head, and later on when they came in, they exclaimed, Why, Mother, listen! Our canary is chirping like a linnet! That is the way it works. That canary did not get its song back again until they had covered it up for some days, and then when they put it out in the bright sunshine and took the covering off, the little thing began to sing once more. If you are going to count for God you must avoid the unequal yoke. If not, you are going contrary to the Word of God and you cannot expect blessing.
For what fellowship hath righteousness with unrighteousness? How can you expect to get on if you have chosen the path of righteousness, and the other, the path of unrighteousness? What communion hath light with darkness? Either the darkness must flee before the light, or the light will soon be dimmed by the darkness. You cannot have both at one time. And what concord hath Christ with Belial? If you have taken Christ as your Savior, He is your Lord and your Master, and how can you expect to glorify Him if you link up with one who is a follower of Satan? Or what part hath he that believeth with an infidel? By infidel it does not mean necessarily an atheist, but it means an unbeliever. You profess to believe in the Lord Jesus, you believe that through His death upon the cross your soul is saved. Well, then, what fellowship can you have with one who refuses to trust your Savior? Oh, be careful, Christian. You say, Well, I want to win them for Christ. You will win them best by obedience to the Word of God, not by disobedience. Walk with God yourself in holy separation to Christ, and you can expect your testimony to count with others.
What agreement hath the temple of God with idols? The two are in opposition, the one to the other. For ye are the temple of the living God; as God hath said, I will dwell in them, and walk in them; and I will be their God, and they shall be my people. This is the divine ideal, this is what the church of God really is, and any company of believers in any given locality is the temple of the living God in that place. How careful we should be then of anything that would mar the temple, of anything that would hinder the display of God among His own people. Do you know that each Christian meeting with any group of believers is either a help or a hindrance to the entire testimony that goes forth from that place? If you are living for God, walking in holy separation to Christ, you are helping the testimony; if walking waywardly, in willfulness, in worldliness, then you are just helping to that extent to obscure the light that ought to shine forth from the temple of the living God.
The apostle closes that solemn section with this earnest exhortation, Wherefore come out from among them, and be ye separate, saith the Lord, and touch not the unclean thing; and I will receive you. What does this mean? It means exactly what it says; it does not need any explaining. Come out from among them means come out from among them. Touch not the unclean thing. What does that mean? It means, touch not the unclean thing. If I tried to explain it, I would only confound and confuse it. Christians are called to walk in separation from the world and to refrain from anything that would contaminate their consciences and hinder their fellowship with God. If you take this position, He says, [I] will be a Father unto you, and ye shall be my sons and daughters, saith the Lord Almighty. Is God not my Father if I am a Christian, even though I am not wholly separated from the world? God is the Father of all believers, but He is a Father unto us only as we walk in obedience to His Word. I am the father of my child, but if he is willful and disobedient I cannot be a father unto him in the sense I would like to be, and so God cannot do what His loving heart yearns to do when we are not walking in obedience to His Word.
Let us yield glad, happy obedience to Him, and thus know the blessedness of these words, [I] will be a Father unto you, and ye shall be my sons and daughters, saith the Lord Almighty.
Fuente: Commentaries on the New Testament and Prophets
ye: Gal 3:1, Phi 4:15
our mouth: 2Co 7:3, 2Co 7:4, 1Sa 2:1, Job 32:20, Job 33:2, Job 33:3, Psa 51:15
our heart: 2Co 2:4, 2Co 12:15, Psa 119:32, Hab 2:5, Eph 6:8, Phi 1:8, Rev 22:12
Reciprocal: Exo 28:30 – upon his heart Act 8:35 – opened 1Co 4:14 – my 2Co 11:11 – because 1Th 2:8 – affectionately
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
2Co 6:11. The plural pronoun has been used through many of the passages in this book, because Timothy and other workers were associated with Paul in most of the experiences mentioned. However, they have a special application to the apostle, and some things would have been true of him only. The reader should bear these remarks in mind, regardless of which form of pronoun is used in the comments. Mouth is open signifies that Paul spoke freely to the Corinthians. Enlarged is from PLATUNO, which Thayer defines, “to make broad, to enlarge,” and he explains it at this place to mean “our heart expands itself to receive you into it, i. e., to welcome and embrace you in love.”
Fuente: Combined Bible Commentary
2Co 6:11-12. Our month is open unto you, O Corinthians, our heart is enlarged. Ye are not straitened in us, but ye are straitened in your own affectionsIf there is any want of openness between us, it is not on our part, but all on your own; injurious thoughts of us, bred of unworthy suspicion of our motives, have haply chilled your feelings, cooled your love; as for our feelings towards you, they are the same as ever.
Fuente: A Popular Commentary on the New Testament
These words are very pathetic and expressive of St. Paul’s most affectionate and ardent love towards the Corinthians, whom he had been an happy instrument to convert unto Christianity. He tells them, his mouth was opened to them, not to receive, but to bestow; his mouth was open to fill them with the treasures of gospel knowledge, not to be filled by them; and his heart, as well as his mouth, was open unto them, and at their service.
If therefore they were straitened in affection towards him, who was thus enlarged in heart and mouth, by tongue and pen, towards them, it must be through mistakes and misapprehensions on their part; therefore in a way of recompence he challenges it as just and fit, that the same reciprocal love be bestowed upon him their spiritual father, as he had manifested towards them his beloved children.
Learn hence, That there is no stronger love, nor more endeared affection, between any relations upon earth, than between such ministers of Christ and their beloved people, whom they have been happily instrumental to convert to God: O ye Corinthians, our heart is enlarged towards you.
Fuente: Expository Notes with Practical Observations on the New Testament
2Co 6:11-13. From the praise of the Christian ministry, which he began chapter 2Co 2:14, he now draws his affectionate exhortation. O ye Corinthians He seldom uses this appellation; but it has here a peculiar force. Our mouth is opened unto you With uncommon freedom, because our heart is enlarged In tenderness, which neither words nor tears can sufficiently express. Ye are not straitened in us Our heart is wide enough to receive you all; and all that we can do for your comfort and happiness ye may safely promise yourselves. But ye are straitened in your own bowels
Your hearts are contracted and shut up, and so not capable of receiving the blessings ye might enjoy. Now, for a recompense of the same Of my paternal tenderness; (I speak as to my children I ask nothing hard or grievous;) be ye also enlarged Open your hearts first to God, and then to us, (see 2Co 8:5,) that God may dwell in you, (2Co 6:16; 2Co 7:1,) and that ye may receive us, 2Co 7:2.
Fuente: Joseph Bensons Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
Our mouth is open unto you, O Corinthians, our heart is enlarged.
Fuente: McGarvey and Pendleton Commentaries (New Testament)
2Co 6:11 to 2Co 7:16. The Restored Relationship between Paul and the Corinthians must be Sealed by Proof of their Loyalty.
2Co 6:11-13. The openness of his speech is an indication of the largeness of his heart towards them. It is not true that they are shut up in a corner by him; any constraint that they feel is really due to the narrowness of their own affection. He therefore appeals to them to meet and reward his overflowing confidence and affection by a corresponding widening of their hearts towards him.
Fuente: Peake’s Commentary on the Bible
SECTION 9. PAUL BEGS THAT HIS LOVE TO THE CORINTHIANS BE RETURNED: AND EXHORTS THEM TO SEPARATE THEMSELVES FROM ALL DEFILEMENT. CH. 6:11-7:1.
Our mouth is opened to you, Corinthians; our heart is enlarged. You are not narrowed in us: but you are narrowed in your hearts. The same recompense-as to children I say it, be you also enlarged.
Do not become differently yoked to unbelievers. For what partnership is there for righteousness and lawlessness? Or, what fellowship for light with darkness? And what concord of Christ with Beliar? Or, what portion for a believer with an unbeliever? And what agreement for Gods temple with idols? For we are the temple of the living God, according as God said, I will dwell among them and walk among them, and I will be their God and they shall be my people. (Lev 26:11.) For which cause Come forth out of the midst of them and be separated, says the Lord, and touch not an unclean thing (Isa 52:11). And I will receive you and will be to you for a father and you shall be to me for sons and daughters, says the Lord Almighty. These promises then having, Beloved ones, let us cleanse ourselves from all defilement of flesh and of spirit, accomplishing holiness in the fear of God.
After completing his long exposition of his apostolic work, its credentials, grandeur, encouragements, and motives, by a graphic picture of the circumstances in which he performs it, Paul turns suddenly to his readers and addresses to them a tender (2Co 6:11-13) and solemn (2Co 6:14 to 2Co 7:1) appeal.
2Co 6:11-13. Our mouth: of Paul and Timothy, writers of the Epistle.
Is opened: Eze 33:22; Mat 13:35; Act 18:14; Eph 6:19, etc.: more graphic than we have begun to speak to you. It is Pauls contemplation of his own bold words. Cp. Gen 18:27.
Corinthians: a loving appeal, like Php 4:15. The heart is enlarged when its thoughts, emotions, purposes, increase in depth and breadth and height. Cp. Psa 119:32; Isa 60:5. Paul refers evidently to his great love for his readers. While speaking to them he has become conscious of its intensity.
Narrowed: cognate to the word I have rendered helplessness in 2Co 4:8; 2Co 6:4; 2Co 12:10; Rom 2:9; Rom 8:35; and used here in its simple sense of being shut up in narrow space. From this is easily derived its frequent sense of being in extreme difficulty and almost without way of escape. It is the exact opposite of enlargement. No narrow place in the hearts (2Co 7:3; Php 1:7) of Paul and Timothy do the Corinthians occupy.
But you are narrowed etc.: sad and earnest rebuke. The word rendered in the A.V. bowels, in the R.V. affections, denotes, not specially the lower viscera, but (cp. Act 1:18) the inward parts generally, heart lungs, etc. It is used for the seat of the emotions, and in the Bible especially for love and compassion. Cp. 2Co 7:15; Luk 1:78; Php 1:8. We have no better English rendering than heart. The Corinthians were thrust into a narrow place, not in Pauls affection for them which was deep and broad, but in their own affection for him. They were narrow-hearted. For littleness of love towards those who deserve our love is a mark of a defective nature. Paul asks for the same affection, as a recompense for his affection towards them.
As to children: 2Co 12:14; 1Co 4:14; 1Th 2:7.
Be you also enlarged: make a large place for me in your hearts, and thus yourselves become nobler.
As Paul speaks to his readers, he feels how great is his love to them. Not in this do they fall short; but in their own affection to him. He asks therefore as a recompense, speaking to his own children in Christ, that they will cherish for him a love like his for them, and thus themselves be ennobled.
2Co 6:14 to 2Co 7:1. Do not become: milder than be not, as suggesting that they are not yet joined to unbelievers. Cp. 1Co 7:23.
Differently-yoked to unbelievers: like an ass joined to an ox by being put under its yoke. It recalls the prohibition of Deu 22:10. The suddenness of this warning, and the earnest questions and quotations supporting it, prove that Paul had in view real defect or danger at Corinth. And the question of 2Co 6:16, following a question equivalent to this warning, proves that Paul refers here specially to participation in idol rites; as in 1Co 10:14 ff, where we have similar words. And this agrees with the worldly spirit betrayed in 1Co 3:3; 1Co 6:1; 1Co 8:10. But his words simply forbid such alliances with unbelievers as imply common aims and sympathies. There is no hint that Paul refers here specially to marriage. But this most intimate of all human alliances is certainly included in his prohibition. Those already married to heathens, Paul deals with in 1Co 7:12, as a special case: and he does not forbid (1Co 5:10) all intercourse with bad men. The practical application of his words must be left to each mans own spiritual discernment.
2Co 6:14-15. Two pairs of questions, suggesting an argument in support of the foregoing warning.
Righteousness, lawlessness: practical conformity to the Law and practical disregard of it. Same contrast in Rom 6:19. The former is a designed consequence of the righteousness reckoned to all who believe, and a condition of retaining it.
Light, darkness: Act 26:18; Col 1:12 f; Eph 5:8 ff; 1Pe 2:9.
Light: a necessary condition of physical sight, and of spiritual insight.
Darkness: causes ignorance of our surroundings, physical or spiritual. Cp. 1Jn 2:8 ff. This second contrast makes us feel the force of the first. All who keep the Law are in the light; all who disregard it, in the dark. And these cannot go together.
Beliar: evidently a name of Satan, the great opponent of Christ. Same word probably as Belial, 1Sa 1:16; 1Sa 2:12, etc., a Hebrew word denoting apparently No-good. From the abstract contrast of light and darkness Paul rises to the personal contrast of the Sun of righteousness and the Prince of darkness. Same argument in Mat 6:24. The 4th question brings questions 1, 2, and 3, of which no. 3 is a climax, to bear directly on the matter in hand. If conformity to the Law and disregard of it are as incompatible as light and darkness, and as utterly opposed as Christ and Satan, what in common can there be to one who by faith accepts Christ and one who tramples His word under foot? This conclusion comes to us with sudden force, because it is put in the same form as the argument from which it is drawn. The inference is treated as itself the climax of the argument.
Unbeliever; denotes here one who rejects the Gospel: for his supposed alliance with a believer implies that he has heard of it.
2Co 6:16. Reveals the special reference of the general warning of 2Co 6:14; which, after being supported by questions 1, 2, and 3, has just been repeated in question 4. From the general matter of unbelievers Paul comes now to the specific matter of idolatry. Against this he warned the Corinthian Christians in 1Co 10:14 ff, by referring to the Lords Supper: he warns them now by the great truth that believers are the temple of God. Similar argument with other purposes in 1Co 3:16; 1Co 6:19. See notes. The word we puts Paul among those he warns. They share with him this great dignity; and he with them the duty it involves.
Living God: in contrast to lifeless idols, as in 1Th 1:9. See under 2Co 3:3. The words temple of God bring before us the inviolable sanctity of the Old Testament sanctuary, which was strictly separated from whatever was not sanctified. This absolute separation every Jew was eager to defend, even at the cost of life. Paul now says that his readers are themselves the sanctuary of Him who dwelt of old in the Tabernacle. And, that they may feel the force of this reference, he supports it by a free quotation giving the exact sense and scope, and in part the words, of Gods solemn summing up, in Lev 26:11 of the blessings of the Mosaic Covenant. Notice especially Lev 26:1. With Gods words to Israel, the words of Paul to the Corinthians accord.
I will dwell among them; implies that the essential idea of a temple is, the Dwelling-Place of God. That God might dwell in the midst of Israel, i.e. in order that day by day He might reveal Himself among them, He bade them erect the Tabernacle. Cp. Exo 29:44-46. He was thus fulfilling His ancient promise (Gen 17:7 f) to stand in special relation to Abrahams children as their God. Notice carefully that Paul assumes that the ancient promise, fulfilled in outward and symbolic form in the ritual of the Tabernacle, is valid now; and assures believers of the inward and spiritual presence of God in themselves. For the entire ritual was an outward symbol of the spiritual realities of the better covenant.
2Co 6:17-18. For which cause: Pauls own words, introducing a quotation from Isa 52:11, as an appropriate practical application of the truth asserted in the foregoing quotation. He gives the sense, and in part the words, of Isaiah.
From the midst of them: of the heathens. Isaiah says from the midst of her, i.e. of Babylon, the place of bondage to idolaters.
Be separated; i.e. from idolaters: LXX. rendering for be cleansed. In prophetic vision Isaiah beholds the sacred vessels given back (by Cyrus, Ezr 1:7) to Israel; and bids the Levites lay aside the ceremonial defilement of Babylon and fit themselves to bear the vessels back to Jerusalem.
Touch not an unclean thing: Isaiahs warning to the returning exiles not to take with them anything belonging to the idols of Babylon; repeated by Paul to those who had escaped from the idolatry of Corinth. An appropriate quotation: for all idolatry is bondage.
And I will receive you: not found in Isaiah. But the sense, viz. that those whom God leads out of the land of bondage He will Himself receive to be His own, is frequent in the Old Testament. Cp. Eze 11:17-21 : And I will receive them from the nations and I will give them to the Land of Israel.
And I will be to you: not found word for word in the Old Testament, but reproducing the sense of many passages. It may have been suggested by 2Sa 7:8; 2Sa 7:14, These things says the Lord Almighty, (LXX.,) I will be to him for a Father, and he shall be to me for a son; Jer 31:9. I have become a Father to Israel, and Ephraim is my firstborn;
Isa 43:6, Bring my sons from far, and my daughters from the ends of the earth. The last two passages refer specially to return from captivity. The words sons and daughters in Isa 43:6 point specially to the equality of the sexes in the family of God: cp. Gal 3:28.
Almighty: and therefore able to perform His promises. Cp. Gen 17:1.
2Co 7:1. Practical application of these quotations, in harmony with 2Co 7:14 a and 2Co 7:16 a. Notice carefully that Gods words to Israel in the wilderness and through Isaiah are promises now possessed by Christian believers. For God acts always on the same principles: and therefore His words to one man are valid for all in similar circumstances. Moreover, the Mosaic ritual and the Old Testament history are symbolic of the Christian life. Gods visible presence in the midst of Israel was an outward pattern of His spiritual presence in the hearts of Christians: and the obligations which His presence laid upon Israel were a pattern of those resting upon His people now. And when, through the pen of Isaiah, God called the exiles returning from the dominion of idolaters His sons and daughters, He taught plainly that in days to come He would receive as such those whom He rescued from sin. Indeed, the universality, to believers, of the favor of God in gospel days makes His promise to David a promise of adoption for all believers.
Let us cleanse ourselves; (cp. 1Pe 1:22; 1Jn 3:3;) refers probably to abstinence from the outward corruptions of idolatry. It is justified by the truth that deliverance from sin, although it is Gods work in us, is yet obtained by our own moral effort and our own faith. It therefore depends upon ourselves whether we are made clean. [The aorist subjunctive exhorts us, not to a gradual and progressive, but to a completed, cleansing from all defilement. So Eph 4:22; Eph 4:25; Col 3:5; Col 3:8; 1Jn 1:9.] Our flesh is defiled when our hands and feet and bodies do the bidding of sin; our spirit, when we contemplate sin with pleasure. Flesh rather than body, because the defilement comes from desires belonging not so much to each individual organized body as to the common material and nature of all living bodies. Even the spirit, that part of us which is nearest to God, is capable of defilement. Cp. 1Co 8:7; Tit 1:15. Perhaps Paul had in view the sensuality always and specially at Corinth, connected with idolatry. He warns his readers, not only against all actual contact with sensuality, but also against that consent of the spirit which often defiles the inner life even when there is no outward sin.
Accomplish: to perform a purpose, or complete something begun. Same word, 2Co 8:6; 2Co 8:11; Rom 15:28; Gal 3:3; Php 1:6; Heb 8:5; Heb 9:6; 1Pe 5:9.
Holiness; brings to bear on the foregoing exhortation the teaching in 2Co 6:16 that we are the temple of God. Cp. 1Co 3:17.
Accomplishing holiness: not identical with cleanse yourselves; or it would be needless. It denotes everything involved in being the temple of God; viz. absolute reservation for God alone. See note under Rom 1:7. For God claimed that none set foot in the temple except to do His work. Now this devotion to God implies cleansing from all sin. For all sin is opposed to God. Therefore, that God has given us the honor of being his temple and has promised to receive us as His children, is a strong motive for cleansing and consecrating ourselves. For only thus can we be His temple.
In the fear of God: cp. Eph 5:21. It brings before us the dread presence and power of Him who slew Nadab and Abihu, and the company of Korah: Lev 10:2; Numbers 16. Cp. Living God in 2Co 6:16. All contact with impurity is in us a defilement of the temple of God and an insult to the majesty of Him who dwells therein. Therefore fear as well as hope should prompt us to abstain from all sin.
The argument of this verse is akin to that of Lev 11:43 ff; Lev 20:1 ff, Lev 20:25 ff. God has promised to dwell in our midst. And, since He can tolerate no rival, His presence in us requires absolute devotion to Him: and this involves separation from whatever, in symbol or reality, is opposed to Him. Therefore, that God has promised to dwell in us as His temple and receive us as His children, ought to move us to turn from all sin and to claim by faith that complete purity (cp. Rom 6:11) which He is ready to work in us. This reference to the Old Testament also teaches that the service of Christ is quite incompatible with that of Satan; and that therefore there is no true harmony between believers and unbelievers.
Pauls appeal in 2Co 7:11-13 was prompted naturally by his foregoing defence of his apostolic work, which was really throughout an appeal to his readers. But the reason of the sudden transition in 2Co 7:14 is not so evident. It may be that he knew that the disaffection towards himself of some at Corinth arose from their tolerance in some measure of the corruptions of idolatry. Or, the warning may have been prompted simply by the greatness of the peril. Certainly, of the exhortation in 2Co 6:1 this is a practical application.
Fuente: Beet’s Commentary on Selected Books of the New Testament
6:11 {6} O [ye] Corinthians, our mouth is {g} open unto you, our heart is enlarged.
(6) Going about to rebuke them he says first that he deals with them sincerely and with an open and plain heart, and in addition complains that they do not do the same in loving their Father.
(g) The opening of the mouth and heart signifies a most earnest affection in him that speaks, as it happens commonly with those that are in some great joy.
Fuente: Geneva Bible Notes
C. Appeal for restoration of the Corinthians’ confidence in Paul 6:11-7:16
The apostle now turned to a direct appeal for the Corinthians to reconcile with him in their hearts.
"The call for reconciliation with Paul, therefore, stands in parallel with the call for reconciliation with God [2Co 5:20]. While it would be too much to say that these two forms of reconciliation are equally important, for Paul they are directly linked with one another." [Note: Beverly R. Gaventa, "Apostle and Church in 2 Corinthians," in Pauline Theology. Vol. II: 1 & 2 Corinthians, pp. 193-94. This essay points out the strong connection that bound Paul as an apostle to the Corinthian church, his children in the faith.]
". . . in Roman politics and ancient Mediterranean culture in general, friendship included accepting the friend’s friends as one’s friends and his enemies as one’s enemies (e.g., Iamblichus Pyth. Life 35.248-49). How then can the Corinthians be reconciled with God if they mistrust his agent (cf. 2Co 6:14-16; Mat 10:40; Exo 16:8)?" [Note: Keener, p. 186.]
Paul made this appeal to stimulate the Corinthians to accept him and his ministry so they would continue to experience all the blessings that God wanted them to have.
Fuente: Expository Notes of Dr. Constable (Old and New Testaments)
The appeal stated 6:11-13
On the basis of his preceding openness with the Corinthians, Paul exhorted them, on the ground of fair play, to respond toward him as he had behaved toward them. His open speech (cf. 2Co 3:12; 2Co 4:2) reflected his open heart. They had shown reserve, not because Paul had put them under bondage but because they doubted his integrity. He urged them to become unrestrained in their affection toward him as he had demonstrated that he was unrestrained in his affection toward them.
Rarely did Paul address his readers by name in the body of his epistles. He did so only when he felt very emotionally involved in what he was saying (cf. Gal 3:1; Php 4:15). Here it was his extreme candor in sharing the painful experiences of his ministry with his dear friends that moved him (2Co 6:4-10). Many students of this book have felt that Paul’s openness with the Corinthians that comes through so strongly here is a distinctive mark of this epistle. One therefore entitled his good commentary A Heart Opened Wide. [Note: Homer A. Kent Jr.]
Paul appealed strongly for his readers to reciprocate his openness and love completely. However, he knew that he could not demand this but only request it, as a parent requests the love of his or her children.
Fuente: Expository Notes of Dr. Constable (Old and New Testaments)
1. An appeal for large-heartedness and consistency 6:11-7:4
"Centuries of speechmaking had taught ancients the value of an emotional appeal (pathos) at the climax of arguments; Paul likewise clinches his appeal to be reconciled in 2Co 6:11 to 2Co 7:4, emphasizing both affection (2Co 6:11-13; 2Co 7:2-4) and indignation (2Co 6:14 to 2Co 7:1). Letters were not speeches, but their very informality invited even more natural expressions of emotion (Seneca Lucil. 75.1-3; Demetrius On Style 4.227)." [Note: Ibid., pp. 190-91.]