Cornelius a Lapide
Table of Contents
Synopsis of the Chapter
First, Paul shows from how great tribulations in Asia the Lord delivered him, that he himself may be encouraged.
Second, verse 12, he ingratiates himself with the Corinthians by declaring the sincerity of his heart and his doctrine.
Third, verse 17, he removes from himself the mark of levity and inconstancy — that he had not come to them as he had promised — and at the same time asserts that the truth of his preaching is firm and constant.
Vulgate Text: 2 Corinthians 1:1-24
1. Paul, an Apostle of Jesus Christ by the will of God, and Timothy our brother, to the Church of God which is at Corinth, with all the Saints who are in the whole of Achaia. 2. Grace be to you, and peace from God our Father, and from the Lord Jesus Christ. 3. Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies, and the God of all consolation, 4. who consoles us in all our tribulation, that we ourselves may be able to console those who are in any distress, by the exhortation by which we ourselves are exhorted by God. 5. For as the sufferings of Christ abound in us, so also through Christ does our consolation abound. 6. Now whether we are afflicted, it is for your exhortation and salvation; or whether we are consoled, it is for your consolation; or whether we are exhorted, it is for your exhortation and salvation, which works the endurance of the same sufferings which we also suffer: 7. that our hope for you may be firm: knowing that as you are partners of the sufferings, so shall you be also of the consolation. 8. For we would not have you ignorant, brethren, of our tribulation, which happened in Asia, that we were burdened beyond measure, beyond our strength, so that we were weary even of life. 9. But we ourselves had within ourselves the sentence of death, that we should not trust in ourselves, but in God who raises the dead: 10. who has delivered and does deliver us from such great perils: in whom we trust that He will also still deliver us, 11. you helping also in prayer for us: that for the gift bestowed upon us, by means of many persons, thanks may be given by many on our behalf. 12. For our glory is this: the testimony of our conscience, that in simplicity of heart and sincerity of God, and not in carnal wisdom, but in the grace of God, we have conversed in this world: and more abundantly toward you. 13. For we write no other things to you than what you have read and known. And I hope that you shall know unto the end; 14. as also you have known us in part, that we are your glory, as also you are ours, in the day of our Lord Jesus Christ. 15. And in this confidence I wished to come to you first, that you might have a second grace; 16. and to pass through you into Macedonia, and again from Macedonia to come to you, and by you to be brought on my way to Judaea. 17. When therefore I had willed this, did I use levity? Or, the things that I think, do I think according to the flesh, that there should be with me Yes and No? 18. But God is faithful, in that our word which was spoken to you, is not in Him Yes and No. 19. For the Son of God, Jesus Christ, who was preached among you by us, by me and Sylvanus and Timothy, was not Yes and No, but in Him it was Yes. 20. For all the promises of God are in Him Yes: therefore also through Him the Amen to God for our glory. 21. Now He that confirms us with you in Christ, and that has anointed us, is God: 22. who also has sealed us, and has given the pledge of the Spirit in our hearts. 23. But I call God to witness upon my soul, that to spare you, I came not any more to Corinth: not because we lord it over your faith, but are helpers of your joy: 24. for in faith you stand.
Verse 1: Timothy Our Brother
1. Timothy our brother. — "Brother," that is, fellow-apostle, just as the Pope calls Bishops, a Bishop calls Canons, and an Abbot calls Monks "brothers."
Verse 3: The Father of Mercies
3. Father of mercies — most merciful: it is a Hebraism, about which I have spoken at Rom. xv, 5.
Learnedly and piously St. Bernard, sermon 5 On the Nativity of the Lord: "Rightly," he says, "He is not called Father of judgments, or of vengeances, but Father of mercies: not only because a father seems rather to have mercy than to grow angry, and just as a father has mercy on his sons who fear him: but rather because He takes the cause and origin of having mercy from His own; and that of judging or avenging more from ours (namely from our sins). But if for this reason Father of mercy, why Father of mercies? The Apostle commends to us, in one Word, in one Son, mercy itself also as twofold, calling Him Father, not merely of one mercy, but of mercies; and God, not of one, but of all consolation: who consoles us not only in this or that, but in every tribulation. The mercies of the Lord are many, says someone: because, namely, many are the tribulations of the just, and from all these the Lord will deliver them. The Son of God is one, the Word is one, but our misery, being manifold, requires not only great mercy, but a multitude of compassions. Yet perhaps on account of the twofold substance by which the human condition subsists, since each is so wretched, the misery of men may not incongruously be called twofold, although it is manifold in each. For indeed the tribulations of our body and heart are multiplied: but from both necessities He delivers, who makes the whole man whole."
Note here: St. Bernard seems to appropriate "Father of mercies" to the Son, and rightly; but not according to the mind of the Apostle. For the Apostle attributes that to God the Father, for he says: "Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies," etc. Therefore the Father of Christ is the Father of mercies.
Verse 5: As the Sufferings of Christ Abound in Us
5. As the sufferings of Christ abound in us: so also through Christ does our consolation abound. — "The sufferings of Christ" he calls first, those which we suffer for Christ: so Ambrose; second, "of Christ," that is, such as Christ suffered; third, "Christ's," that is, those which Christ reckons as His own, saying: "Whatsoever you have done to one of these least, you have done to Me;" and to Saul, Acts ix: "Why do you persecute Me?" So Oecumenius; thus Christ suffers in His members. Theophylact adds that "abound" is said here because Christ suffered more in His members than in Himself. This is true extensively, not intensively. Thus in Laurence Christ suffered fire, in Stephen stones, in Ignatius beasts: for Christ's passion and grief in Himself was greater and more intense than all these. The sense therefore is, as if to say:
Theophylact: Do not lose heart because you suffer afflictions and evils, since the more evils abound, the more consolations abound.
Note first, with Theophylact, it is not said that consolation is equal to the sufferings, but that consolation overflows and is far greater than the afflictions themselves, so that he who is afflicted bears them patiently, indeed willingly and cheerfully, rejoices in them and lords it over them. Second, the sufferings of Christ have this property, that according to their measure Christ gives also the measure of consolations, so that as much as the suffering grows, so much also grows the consolation. On the contrary, the sufferings of the world are gall without honey, and as much as they grow, so much grow also the desolations, sorrows, and anguishes. Third, hence it follows that the cross and passion are not to be fled but to be sought (since they are seasoned with so many divine consolations and joys) — with St. Andrew, Ignatius, and Xavier, who daily prayed for the cross, and wished to be freed from none, unless God should send him a graver one.
Verse 6: Whether We Are Afflicted, It Is for Your Exhortation
6. Whether we are afflicted, it is for your exhortation. — As if to say: We suffer tribulations that we may console and save you, and that by our patience, our hope in God, and His consolation we may encourage you to bear afflictions bravely along with us for the faith. So Ambrose. See Chrysostom in his moral homily 4 On Hope and Fortitude to be Maintained in Temptations.
Which (namely salvation, as the desired end) works endurance. — Thus also Erasmus reads it in Greek, τῆς ἐνεργουμένης ἐν ὑπομονῇ, "which works in endurance," or by Hebraism, "endurance," as if from בעת contact. Others everywhere read τῆς ἐνεργουμένης ἐν ὑπομονῇ, that is, as Theophylact says, "which" (namely salvation) "is effected in endurance"; Ambrose: "through patience," meritoriously namely, and accordingly effects endurance in the genus of final cause: for efficient and final causes mutually cause one another; thus then salvation as the end commands and works patience, and in turn patience as efficient cause works salvation. Add: ἐνεργεῖσθαι, although passive in termination, is nevertheless often active in signification, as if a middle verb, as is plain from I Thess. ii, 13, Galat. v, 6; and thus Our [translator] with Vatablus best translates it, "which works in endurance, that is endurance." For so the Hebrews speak: "I touch in the staff," that is, "I touch the staff." The sense therefore is: That [thing], namely both the exhortation and the salvation, works endurance — as if to say: Our exhortation excites and animates you to the hope of salvation, that on account of it you may bear bravely with us all adversities for the faith of Christ. Therefore the exhortation works endurance efficiently by exciting it; but salvation hoped for from it works endurance objectively: just as the intention of the end works the embrace and execution of the means.
Verse 8: The Tribulation Which Happened in Asia
8. Which (tribulation) happened in Asia. — At Ephesus. Concerning which [tribulation aroused] by Demetrius, the silversmith of Diana, who stirred up the sedition of the people against Paul, by which Paul was almost crushed, Acts xix, 29. So St. Thomas and others everywhere, with the single exception of Cajetan, who thinks no mention of this tribulation is made anywhere else in Scripture.
We were burdened beyond measure, beyond our strength. — That is, beyond the strength of nature and body, not of grace and spirit; for by the help of grace Paul bore and overcame this tribulation with unconquered spirit. "For God is faithful, who will not suffer you to be tempted above that which you are able (by strengths and help not of nature, but of grace)," he himself says, I Cor. x, 13. Add: he does not say "Temptation," but "Burden," or affliction was above our strength, because this overwhelms and extinguishes the body, although the spirit preserves patience, and patience conquers the temptation.
So that we were weary even of life. — "Were weary," of itself namely, or naturally, so that nature would have preferred to die rather than suffer such great afflictions; but he was not wearied when looking upon the charity and grace of God, by which Paul most bravely and most willingly bore any afflictions whatsoever for the service of God. Such weariness was in many Saints, as in St. Job, x, 1: "My soul," he says, "is weary of my life." And it was in Elijah in the persecution of Jezebel, III Kings xix, 4, where he prays thus: "It is enough for me, Lord, take my soul: for I am not better than my fathers." The Greek ἐξαπορηθῆναι signifies "to be weary," and also "to be anxious and perplexed." Hence Chrysostom translates "that we should be in doubt"; Vatablus, "that we should despair of life." Whence follows: "In ourselves we had the sentence of death."
Note: For "nos" (us), the Greek has ἡμᾶς (us); thus also at verse 11: easily corrupted from these to ὑμᾶς (you), for the sense requires "us," not "you." For the Greek text is corrupted in many places, as I have shown elsewhere.
Verse 9: We Had Within Ourselves the Sentence of Death
9. But (ἀλλά, that is, "but," is put for ἀλλὰ καί, that is, "but rather") we ourselves in ourselves had the sentence of death, — so that nature and spirit foreboded and expected nothing else than death; and to me, considering the state of my life, my mind and thought answered that (unless God should marvelously help) one must die. So Ambrose and Theophylact.
In Greek it is ἀπόκριμα, which first signifies "response." Second, Photius takes it for the crisis of physicians, as if to say: We were so afflicted that by nature and by the opinion of others — by men, I say, expert in such matters, as it were by physicians — from the crisis of the disease and affliction we were judged of life despaired of. Third, ἀπόκριμα can be taken for κρίμα, that is, the sentence of damnation; as if to say: We seemed to have received a sentence of damnation, as though we had been condemned by a judge and destined for certain death. So the Syriac.
Verse 10: Who Delivered Us From So Great Perils
10. Who (God) delivered us from so great perils. — In Greek, ἐκ τηλικούτου θανάτου, "from such and so great a death," that is, from perils of death so manifest and evident. So Theophylact. Ambrose reads, "from so great deaths." It is a Hebraism. The Hebrews call by mavet, that is "death," enormous dangers, most violent afflictions, struggles and agonies near to death, and announcing death itself as already at hand. So Chrysostom. Thus Psalm xvii, verses 5 and 6: "The sorrows of death and hell surrounded me, the snares of death prevented me." And Paul, II Cor. xi, 23, says he was "in deaths," that is, frequently in perils of death.
Verse 11: That From the Persons of Many
11. That from the persons of many faces. — So many Bibles read. But Primasius reads thus: "that from the company of many persons" (namely children, young men, old men) "for the fact that we have been given to you, thanks may be returned to the Lord of grace"; but correct with the Roman and Greek codices, "that from the persons of many": or, as in Greek, ἐκ πολλῶν προσώπων, "from many persons," that is, that many persons may give thanks to God for the gift bestowed upon us. For the Greek πρόσωπον signifies both "face" and "person"; here rather "person." Ambrose reads, "from the face of many," that is, that many faces and many mouths may give thanks to God; as if to say: That through many in a great gathering of men thanks may publicly be given to God for Paul liberated and restored, the common parent and Apostle of all.
Of the gift which is in us. — Refer to "thanks may be given," namely "of the gift," that is, as Vatablus says, "for the gift bestowed upon us thanks may be given by many on our behalf." For just as there are thanks for creation, redemption, justification, education, promotion, and any benefits whatsoever, which are owed to the benefactor for any benefit out of gratitude: so also there are thanks of "giving" (donationis), which are to be given and rendered to the giver for the giving, or gift of liberation, or of any other thing.
Verse 12: For Our Glory Is This, the Testimony of Our Conscience
12. For our glory is this, the testimony of our conscience. — The little word "for" gives the cause of what precedes, namely why the Corinthians ought to give thanks to God for Paul's liberation and to pray for him. The reason is that Paul is their Apostle, who sincerely and with great grace and efficacy preached the Gospel to them and converted them; and he calls as witness the conscience of this matter, both his own and theirs.
Note here how great is the force and rest of a good conscience. "No theater," says Cicero in the Tusculan Disputations, "is greater for virtue than conscience." And Juvenal, Satire 13: "This is the highest good — a mind conscious to itself of rectitude."
And St. Augustine, book Against Secundinus the Manichaean, chapter 1, tome VI: "Think," he says, "of Augustine whatever you please; only let my conscience in the eyes of God not accuse me." See more on this matter at I Tim. 1, 5.
Not in carnal wisdom, — I did not preach by human philosophy or eloquence, but by grace, zeal, efficacy, and divine spirit.
Verse 14: We Are Your Glory, As Also You Are Ours
14. We are your glory, as also you are ours — (that is, we are the matter and object of your glory, as you are of ours; so that namely you may glory in us as your masters, and we may glory in you as such good and obedient disciples, which will be most plainly seen) in the day of the Lord, — that is, in the day of judgment, on which the Lord will exercise judgment upon all.
Verse 15: That You Might Have a Second Grace
15. I wished to come to you, that you might have a second grace. — He calls "second grace" a twofold and doubled benefit: one bestowed through the prior epistle, the second through his own coming and presence to them. So Theophylact. Or, the first grace is Paul's first coming to Corinth, by which he converted them; the second grace is his second coming to Corinth to confirm them in faith and grace.
Verse 16: To Pass Through You Into Macedonia
16. To pass through you into Macedonia, — namely in passing, so that again from Macedonia I might come to you, intending to remain longer with you and to visit all things: and this is what he says in the first epistle, chapter xvi, verse 5, that he would come to them after he had passed through Macedonia, namely intending to come in order to abide with them: but here he adds further that he also wished to greet them in passing on his way to Macedonia. So the Greeks. Otherwise Lyranus and St. Thomas reconcile these passages, but not sufficiently probably. See what circuits, journeys, and returns (which Luke in the Acts passes over in silence) the Apostle was accustomed to make for the sake of the Gospel, as I said in the argument of the Epistle.
Verse 17: Did I Use Levity?
17. When therefore I had willed this (namely to come to you) (and yet have not performed it), did I use levity? — For "levity," the Greek is ἐλαφρία, which is derived from ἔλαφος, that is "stag." For the levity and mobility of stags is well known, just like the cunning of the serpent, the simplicity of the dove, the slowness of the ass, the gravity of the elephant.
Or the things that I think (which I deliberate, decide: for in Greek it is ἃ βουλεύομαι), do I think according to the flesh? — That is, do I decide by human prudence and levity, which on account of the conveniences of the flesh, gains, more noble persons, indeed on account of the mere mobility, mutability, and inconstancy of nature and disposition, easily changes its counsels. So Ambrose.
That there be with me Yes and No, — so that I be unstable and vain in my promises, so that now I affirm I will come to you, now I retract and deny, as children are accustomed to do. So Anselm; ναί belongs to one affirming, οὔ to one denying.
Note: A preacher must beware of levity of morals and inconstancy, lest from it the people infer and reproach the inconstancy of the faith and truth which he preaches.
Verse 18: God Is Faithful
18. God is faithful, in that our word which was with you is not in Him Yes and No, — as if to say: I take God the truthful as witness — or God knows, who is a faithful and truthful witness — that I did not deceive you in teaching, and accordingly even now in not coming to you, as I had decided, I have not wished to deceive.
It is not in that (word which preceded) Yes and No, — that is, affirmation and negation, namely so that I should change my mind, and deny what I promised.
Verse 19: For the Son of God Was Not Yes and No
19. For the Son of God (as if to say: My doctrine and preaching about Christ the Son of God. See chapter 37) was not Yes and No (that is, varied, inconstant, and self-contradictory), but in Him it was Yes. — As if to say: It was a constant assertion: because I always affirmed and taught the same thing about Christ.
Verse 20: All the Promises of God Are in Him Yes
20. For all the promises (in the Old Testament concerning the Messiah) are in Him Yes, — in Christ they were constant and true, and in Him they were fulfilled.
Note: That the Apostle, in place of "Yes, yes; No, no," used a Hebrew paronomasia כן כן, אן אן ken, ken, en, en; or eo, eo; lo, lo; and so the Hebrew Gospel now has, Matt. v, 37, which our translator renders: "Let your speech be Yes, yes; No, no." Now ken, to which corresponds the Greek ναί and the Latin est, signifies first, "thus, also"; second, "right, true." Thus its usage is threefold. First, it denotes constant assertion, as here repeatedly in verses 17, 18, and 19, and is opposed to inconstancy and falsehood. Second, it denotes truth, or that which the matter is, and is opposed to falsity. So in this verse 20. Third, it denotes simple affirmation, and is opposed to an oath. So it is taken at Matt. v, 37: "Let your speech be Yes, yes; No, no; for whatever is more than these (namely an oath) is from evil." So also James v, 12. Again note: "Yes" (Est) signifies affirmation, because the affirmed "is" in the enunciation makes and signifies it to be affirming; for in order that the proposition be negating, the copula "is" must be negated. Second, "is" signifies truth, namely that which the matter is, and the constancy of the matter.
Therefore also Amen, — supply "we say," that is, we confirm, and we declare those things to have been true; for "Amen" among the Hebrews is the voice of one confirming. So Chrysostom and Ambrose. About "Amen" I have spoken, epistle I, chapter xiv, verse 16. To which add, that "Amen" is commonly an adverb and signifies "truly, firmly, faithfully, stably"; yet it is sometimes a noun, so that it is the same as "truth, firmness, fidelity, stability." So it is taken at Isa. lxv, 16: "He shall swear in God amen," that is, of truth, namely in the true God: for this the Hebrew government of the genitive requires, באלהי אמן belohe amen, that is, "in the God of truth"; as if to say: In the time of Christ, every Gentile will not swear by Jupiter and false gods.
Verses 21-22: Who Anointed Us Is God, Who Also Sealed Us
Who anointed us is God, who also sealed us, and gave the pledge of the Spirit in our hearts. — This sealing, or seal, says Calvin, is a special and divine faith, by which each one certainly knows and believes himself to be predestined: but this seal is uncertain and deceptive, and this faith is mendacious, and a foolish presumption. For the Apostle, who had the greatest faith, fears reprobation, 1 Cor. 9:27; therefore he did not by divine faith certainly believe himself to be predestined. Whence he everywhere inculcates that all the faithful and holy should work out their salvation solicitously, with fear and trembling: he therefore takes from them faith and certitude of their salvation.
Add: no one is certain that he has such a divine faith, and will always have it; rather many have fallen away even from this Calvinistic faith, who before they fell away, thought and believed with Calvin that they were predestined.
I say therefore, He sealed, that is, God confirmed His promises as with an impressed seal, by giving according to them the pledge of the future inheritance, namely the grace by which He anointed us and sealed us as sons of God, and distinguished us from the sons of the devil. So Chrysostom, Theodoret, Oecumenius; which seal is altogether certain and known to God, but to us only probable by conjecture. Thus then this confirmation, anointing, and sealing is done by one and the same grace. For so Ephesians 1:13 says we are sealed with the Holy Spirit as with a pledge.
Secondly, this passage can be taken of baptism: for first, in baptism God anointed us with the oil of His grace; secondly, He gave the pledge of the Spirit, namely the testimony of a good conscience; thirdly, He sealed us with the character of baptism. See Bellarmine, book II On the Effect of the Sacraments, chapter 20. Hither is referred the exposition of Theophylact and Chrysostom: "He anointed us," he says, "and sealed us as kings, prophets, and priests." See Chrysostom in the moral part of homily 3 here, how Christians, who command their own desires, are kings anointed by God.
Thirdly, and most aptly it can be said, that Paul here looks to the sacrament of Confirmation, which immediately after Baptism all the faithful formerly received to strengthen themselves against persecutions; for he says: "He confirmed us, He gave the pledge of the Spirit, He anointed, He sealed," each of which the Apostle distinguishes: but these cannot be distinguished elsewhere than in the sacrament of Confirmation.
By these words then he signifies four effects of the sacrament of Confirmation. The first is of faith, by which we are strengthened in Christ, as if to say: Therefore, as I said in verses 18 and 19, our faith and preaching about Christ is firm and constant, because in it by the sacrament of Confirmation God has strengthened and confirmed us in Christ, that is, through Christ and the merits of Christ.
The second effect is of charity and grace, with which we are copiously anointed as with a spiritual chrism. Hence in Greek for "He anointed," it is ἐχρίσας, whence are derived Chrism, Christ, and Christians, that is, the anointed. Hence St. Augustine, in the Sentences, number 342: "The name of Christ," he says, "is from chrism, that is, from anointing. Because for this reason every Christian is sanctified, that he may understand that he is not only a sharer of priestly and royal dignity, but also becomes a wrestler against the devil."