T

SECT. V.

Of the effects of this Epifle on the Corinthians.

HIS Epiftle produced on the different members of the Corinthian community very different effects. Many of them amended their conduct: and moft of them had fuch refpect for the Apoftle, that they excommunicated the incestuous perfon'. They requested the Apostle's return with tears, and became zealous for him, that is, they vindicated him and his office against the falfe teacher and his adherents ". In fhort, they fhewed ftrong marks of an earnest repentance.

Yet the falfe teacher retained his party, which now began to go greater lengths than before. We fee from the tenth, eleventh, and twelfth chapters of the fecond Epiftle, that they denied St. Paul's apoftolical miniftry : and they grounded this denial on what the Apoftle himfelf had written. In a former Epiftle, probably in that which is now loft, he had fignified his intention of coming from Ephefus to Corinth, of going thence into Macedonia, and from Macedonia of again returning to Corinth. But the unhappy ftate of the Corinthian church altered his intention: fince he found that he must have treated them with feverity. He was willing therefore firft to fend them a written admonition, and to wait fome time for their amendment. Hence he tells them, I Cor. xvi. 7. that he then intended to go from Ephefus into Macedonia, and that from Macedonia he would make them a vifit; which intention he put in execution, as appears from what St. Luke has faid Acts xx. 1-2. On this conduct of St. Paul the party of his adversary made the two following remarks.

First, they said that he was very irrefolute in his conduct, that what he determined one day he rejected the next, and that his word toward them was yea and nay! How then, they argued, could fuch a man be a

f 2 Cor. ii. 5-11. vii. 11. i 2 Cor. i. 15-16.

Ch. vii. 7.

k Ver. 23.

Prophet,

Ch. vii. 7-11. 12 Cor. i. 18.

Prophet, or an Apoftle? If he were invefted with this character, he would not contradict himielf, and recal to morrow what he promised to day.

This was a very fpecious objection, and St. Paul has given it its full force, 2 Cor. i. 17. The objections of the ancients, against the divine authority of the Apostles and of the Gospel, are in fact the moft material: and the reader perhaps will be anxious to know how this objection may be anfwered.

1. It cannot reasonably be expected of a Prophet, that he should be omnifcient, and that his divine infpiration fhould extend to all poffible objects. He is divinely inspired with what he is to deliver to men in the name of God, but not with all the circumstances of human life or of his future conduct. He is infallible, and cannot contradict himself in those matters, which he knows by inspiration: but in other refpects, and when he fpeaks not in the name of God, he is no more than a man. This is the rational notion of a Prophet: and he is fo defcribed in the Old Teftament. Mofes himfelf was fallible, till he confulted God": and Nathan anfwered the question of David, whether he thould build a temple, in the affirmative, when he followed his own human judgement, but he diffuaded David from the undertaking, after he had had a divine vifion". It was therefore a falfe conclufion, that St. Paul was not an Apoftle, and that his Gofpel was not divine, because he had changed a former refolution. This is the fubftance of what St. Paul himself anfwers. 2 Cor. i. 18-22. where he declares, that however he had altered his intentions he had made no alteration in his Gospel, which God had declared to be divine by the communication of fpiritual gifts.

2. It is poffible to predict a thing, which never takes place, without incurring the charge of falfhood or imposture: namely when certain conditions are either expreffed, or tacitly implied. When, for inftance, I promise any man that I will frequently vifit him, the

condition

Numb. xxxii. 6-15.

n 2 Sam, vii.

condition that we continue friends, and that my vifits are acceptable, is neceffarily implied. If we ceafe to be friends, he will not accufe me of falfhood for ceafing to visit him.

The Prophets of the Old Teftament themfelves fometimes foretold things under certain conditions, as Jonas for inftance foretold the deftruction of Niniveh, which did not take place, because the conditions, which depended on the will of men, were altered.

Thus St. Paul had formerly promifed the Corinthians, while he was on amicable terms with them, to return before he went into Macedonia, that he might a fecond time impart to them the gifts of the Holy Ghost. But when the face of the things was totally changed at Corinth, and the Corinthians themfelves did not fulfil the conditions, which St. Paul's promife prefuppofed; when they had fallen into errors and extravagancies, which rendered it impoffible for him to impart to them the gifts of the Holy Ghost, he thought it neceffary to alter his route, and not to vifit them again, till his Epiftles had produced fome amendment.

The other conclufion drawn by St. Paul's adversary was, that the Apostle was afraid to return. In answer to this objection St. Paul fays that he had hitherto spared this falfe teacher and his party: but that, if he came again and found no amendment, he fhould use the power committed to him as an Apostle, and punish some of the offenders in a miraculous manner. This would afford a proof of his apoftolical authority, which however he wished to avoid.

• 2 Cor. i. 15

SUCE

SECT. VI.

Of the fecond Erifile to the Corinthians.

UCH was the ftate of the Corinthian church, when St. Paul after his departure from Ephesus vifited the Chriftian communities in Macedonia, and received from Titus, whom he had fent to Corinth, the account that the Corinthians had amended their conduct. It was about this time, (that is about the year 58 of the Christian Era), that he wrote his fecond Epiftle, as appears from 2 Cor. viii. 1-5. He fent it by the hands of Titus, who was invefted alfo with power to forward the collection for the faithful in Judæa'. The fubfcription mentions that he fent Luke with Titus, which is grounded on 2 Cor. viii. 18. where St. Paul fays, and we fent with him the brother, whofe praise is in the Gofpel, throughout all the churches.' Now this brother is explained by many ancient commentators of St. Luke : but this is not only mere conjecture, but one that is difficult to be reconciled with Acts xx. 3-16. That Titus was accompanied by two brethren, when he carried St. Paul's fecond Epiftle to the Corinthians, is certain: but who they were I cannot pretend to determine.

Of the effects, which this Epiftle produced, we have no circumstantial accounts: for the journey which St. Paul took to Corinth, after he had written this Epistle, St. Luke has mentioned only in a few words, Acts xx. 2-3. We know however that St. Paul was at Corinth after he had written this Epiftle, that the contributions, which he had ordered to be made for the poor brethren in Jerufalem, were brought to him thither from different parts", and muft have been very confiderable, fince St. Paul himself carried them to Jerufalem": fur

ther,

P Acts xx. I.

1 2 Cor. vii. 5-6.

'See what was faid on this fubject, Ch. vi. Sect. 6.

12 Cor. viii. 18-24.

Ch. viii. 6.

ther, that St. Paul ftaid feveral months at Corinth, and that he was greatly refpected by fome of the principal members of that church, from whom he fent falutations in his Epiftle to the Romans. From this time we hear nothing more of the adverfe party: and when Clement of Rome wrote his Epiftle to the Corinthians, St. Paul was confidered by them as a divine Apoftle, to whofe authority he might appeal, without fear of contradiction. The falfe teacher therefore muft either have been filenced by St. Paul in virtue of his apoftolical powers, and by an act of severity, which he had threatened, 2 Cor. xiii. 2-3. or this adverfary of the Apoftle had voluntarily quitted the place. Whichever was the caufe, the effect produced muft operate as a confirmation of our faith, and as a proof of St. Paul's divine miffion.

SECT. VII.

Contents of the fecond Epiftle to the Corinthians.

HE contents of this Epiftle are the following.

TH

1. St. Paul gives the Corinthians an account of his fufferings to the time of writing this Epiftle, and of the comfort, which he derived from meditating on the Refurrection of the Dead, ch,, i. I-II.

2. He vindicates himself against thofe, who refused to acknowledge him as a true Apostle, because he had altered his refolution of going immediately from Ephefus to Corinth, ch. i. 12. ii. 4.

3. He forgives the inceftuous perfon, ch. ii. 5-11. and on this occafion tells the Corinthians, how earnestly he wishes to hear an account of their amendment, ver. 12-13.

4. He treats of the office committed to him of preaching redemption, and highly prefers it to the office of preaching the law, probably because his adversary had pretended

* Ch. xvi, 22-23.