The life and work of St. Paul

8ECOSD EPISTLB TO THE COSINTHIANS. 413
whom God reconciled the world unto Himself, not imputing their trespasses unto
them whom we preach ; and our ministry is the Ministry of Reconciliation which
God entrusted to us, and in virtue of which we, as ambassadors on Christ's behalf,
'
entreat you to be reconciled to God. Him who knew not sin He made sin on our
behalf, that we may become the righteousness of God in Him.' * AB His fellow,
workers we entreat you, then, not to render null the acceptance of His grace in this
the day of salvation, and that this our ministry may not be blamed, we give no
legitimate cause of oifence in anything, but in everything commend ourselves* as
minibters of God " in much endurance, in tribulations, in necessities, in pressure of
circumstance, in blows, in prisons, in tumults, in toils, in spells of sleeplessness, in
fastings, in purenees, in knowledge, in long-suffering, in kindness, in the Holy
Spirit, in love unfeigned, in the word of truth, in the power of God, by the arms of
righteousness on the right and left, by glory and dishonour, by ill report and good
report ; as deceivers and yet true, as being ignored and yet recognised, as dying and
behold we live, as being chastened yet not being slain, as being grieved and yet re-
joicing, as paupers yet enriching many, as having nothing yet as having all things
in full possession."*
He may well appeal to this outburst of impassioned eloquence as a proof that his
mouth is open and his heart enlarged towards them, and as the ground of entreaty
that, instead of their narrow jealousies and suspicions, they would, as sons, love him
with the same large-heartednoss, and so repay him in kind, and separate themselves
from their incongruous yoke-fellowship with unbelief 4 the unnatural participations,
symphonies, agreements of righteousness and light with lawlessness and darkness,
of Christ with worthlessness,* of God's temple with idols, which forfeited the glorious
promises of God. 6 Let them cleanse themselves from these corruptions from within
and from without. And then, to clench all that he has said, and for the present to
conclude the subject, he cries, 'Receive us! we wronged nobody, ruined nobody, de-
frauded nobody such charges against us are simply false. I do not allude to them
to condemn you. I have said already that you are in my heart to die together and
live together. I epeak thus boldly because of the consolation and superabundant
joy in the midst of all the tribulations which came on me in Macedonia with overwhelming
intensity without, battles ; within, fears. But God, who consoleth tho
humble,? consoled us by the coming of Titus, and tho good news about your reception
of my letter, and the yearning for me, and the lamentation, and the zeal which it
awoke on my behalf. At one time I regretted that I had written it, but, though it
pained you, I regret it no longer, because the pain was a holy and a healing pain,
which awoke earnestness in you self-defence and indignation against wrong, and a
fear and yearning towards me, and zeal for God, and punishment of the offender.
It was not to take either one side or the other in the quarrel that I wrote to you, but
that your allegiance and love to me might be manifested to yourselves 8 before God.
I did not care for those people their offence and quarrel. I cared only for you.
And you stood the test. You justified all that I had boasted to Titus about you,
and the respect and submission with which you received hira have inspired me with
* The meaning of this verse will be brought out infra, p. 472, stq.
' The reader will observe how much the mention of the mxrraTucal cvurroXat has dominated
throughout this m^eatic self-defence. The statement of the nature and method of Hit ministiy is
the only commendatory letter which to them, at least, Paul will deign to use. Yet in makiag a selfdefence
so utterly distasteful to him, observe how noble sad eternal are the thought* on which be
dwells, and the principles upon which ha insists.
* iv. 7-vi. 10.
* An allusion to the " diverge kinds," and ox and ass ploughing together (Lev. six. 19 ; Dent.
xxii. 10). I am unable to ace so strongly as othcra the digressive and parenthetic character of vL
H-vii. 1.
5 vi. 15, /SeAi'ap. Belial is not originally a proper natne "
(Prov. vi 12, a naughty person " La
Adam belial) ; and this is why there was no worship of BeliaL
These are given (vi. 18) in " a mosaic of citations " from 2 Sam. vii. 14, 8 ; la. xliil. 6 (Plumptre) ;
perhaps, however, St. Paul had in his mind also Jer. rxxi. 3 33 ; Ezek. xxxvi 23.
i Cf. x. 1. He touphingly accepta the term applied to him.
(
yij.
12. The reading seems to be rr v
t (nravSijp
VULUV
njc vn-cp ^uiv rcbj v/iij. (C, E. J. K.)