Cornelius a Lapide’s Commentary on 2 Corinthians 4:5-14

I’ve included some suggested commentaries on 2 Corinthians at the end of this post.

A Synopsis of the Chapter~
1. From what was said in the last chapter of the glory and honour belonging to the office of a preacher of the Gospel, S. Paul proceeds to assert that he discharges that office holily, sincerely, and blamelessly. He declares this to be a fact plainly known to all except to those whose minds were blinded.
2. He declares (ver. 7) that he and the other Apostles undergo many sufferings on behalf of the Gospel without flinching, and that they with fortitude always bear about in their bodies the mortification of Jesus, on account of the hope of resurrection to a better life.
3. He points out (ver. 17) that this our tribulation is but light and short lived, and works an eternal weight of glory.

Notes on 2 Cor 4:5-14~
2Co 4:5  For we preach not ourselves, but Jesus Christ our Lord: and ourselves your servants through Jesus.

Ourselves your servants through Jesus. Supply “we show,” or “we preach.”

2Co 4:6  For God, who commanded the light to shine out of darkness, hath shined in our hearts, to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God, in the face of Christ Jesus.

For God . . . hath shined in our hearts. In the account of the creation of the world given in Genesis, light is said to have been created first of all, because light is a quality most splendid, pleasant, gladdening, useful, efficacious, and powerful. Cf. Dionysius (de Divin. Nomin. c. iv.), who enumerates thirty-four properties of light and of fire wonderfully adapted to set forth God and the things belonging to Him. Cf. note to Gen 1:2.

Hugo (de Sacram. pag. i. c. 10) and others point out, by way of allegory, that on the first day, when light was created and divided from darkness, the good angels were established in good and the evil in evil, and were separated each from other. What, therefore, was done in the world of sense was an image of what was being done in the unseen world. Nay, S. Augustine frequently maintains that the literal sense is that which refers to the angels.

The Apostle here explains this light tropologically. As God formerly produced light out of darkness, so now has He made unbelievers into believers, and has enlightened them with the light of faith. So, too, S. Augustine (contra Advers. Leg. lib. i. c. 8) lays down that by light and day succeeding the pre-existing darkness, and being again succeeded by darkness, is signified what spiritually takes place in man, viz., grace succeeding sin, and sin again grace.

To give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. To illuminate us, that we in turn may illuminate others with that clear and glorious knowledge which shines forth from God in the face of Christ, or else by means of our clear knowledge of Christ and His redemption. It is commonly said that a man is known by his face; hence to know “in the face” signifies to know clearly and openly. Just as at night a lighted torch throws light on the surrounding darkness, and is carried before travellers to show them the way clearly, so does Christ lighten us in the night of this world, so that we know God surely and plainly, and go on our way to see Him in the life of bliss in heaven. Hence the Glossa symbolically explains these words to mean: by Jesus Christ, who is the Face of the Father; for without Him the Father is not known. There is still kept up an allusion to the veil over Moses’ face contrasted with the open face of Christ (2 Cor 3:15). The word face may be, with the Syriac, translated the person, i.e., we illuminate, others in the name, place, and authority of Christ.  S. Cyril (de Fide ad Theodor. Imp.) says. “He hath shined in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. See how openly and plainly the light of the knowledge of God the Father has shone, forth in the person of Christ.”

2Co 4:7  But we have this treasure in earthen vessels, that the excellency may be of the power of God and not of us.

But we have this treasure. The treasure is the ministry and preaching of the Gospel entrusted to him by God. Cf. ver. 1 and vers. 5 and 6.

In earthen vessels. (1.) In a body of dust frail and fragile. Our body is as an earthenware vessel; for as an earthen vessel is nothing but clay baked in the fire, so is our body nothing but earth made solid by the heat of the soul. Take away the soul, and the body returns to the dust whence it came. Cf. Ps 103:14. Or, (2.) in earthen vessels means in ourselves; for though we are Apostles, still we are men, frail and fashioned from the dust, and, like earthen vessels, are worthless, weak, and contemptible, exposed to injuries at the hands of all. This explanation is favoured by the words that follow: “We are troubled on every side,” &c. So in 1 Cor 1:27, it was said that God had chosen the Apostles as the foolish, and weak, and base things of the world; and also in 1 Cor 2:1, Paul said that he had come to the Corinthians, not with excellency of speech or of wisdom, but in weakness, and fear, and trembling ; and again, in 1 Cor 4:9, he expresses the same idea.

Origen (Hom. in Numer.) symbolically interprets this treasure as the grace of the Holy Spirit hidden in earthen vessels, i.e., in the rude, unpolished, and unadorned words of the law and the Gospel.

That the excellency may be of the power of God and not of us. God wills me to have this treasure in an earthen vessel, in order that the excellency which is in me, and the fruit that I gather in the conversion of the heathen, may not be ascribed to me, but to the power of God and the grace of Christ.

2Co 4:8  In all things we suffer tribulation: but are not distressed. We are straitened: but are not destitute.

In all things we suffer tribulation: but not distressed. Not made anxious. Physically he was distressed, hemmed in, and pressed down, but in the midst of adversity the Apostle’s mind was serene and lofty. So, in Ps 4:1, David says. “Thou hast enlarged me when I was in distress.”

We are straitened: but we are notdestitute. The Latin Version gives “We are in want, but not destitute,” or, as Ambrose, Theophylact, Erasmus, and Cajetan explain it: We are pressed with want, but not oppressed. There is a similar play on words in the Greek. Poverty gives sufficiency, nay, plenty, to a soul that is patient, wise, serene, and fixed on God. To say nothing of Christian writers, this was taught by Favorinus, who says. “It is true what wise men have said as the result of their experience, that they who have much want much, and that indigence takes its rise from abundance, and not from want. Much more is desired in order to guard the abundance you already have. Whoever, therefore, has great riches, and wishes to take forethought and guard against need or loss, needs loss, not gain, and should have less, that less may be lost.”

The Greek may also be rendered: We are without guidance, and are perplexed in the midst of our evils and difficulties; still we are not overcome by them, nor by our anxiety and weariness. We do not despair, but we hope for, and we find counsel, help, and deliverance in God, and so we are conquerors. This explanation is nearer to the Greek α̉πόρια, which denotes, not only bodily distress, but mental, viz., want of counsel, doubt, and perplexity, when the mind, seeing itself surrounded by difficulties, is at a stand-still, and knows not what to do. But God succours the Apostles and their successors in these straits, and points out a way of escape. S. Xavier and Gaspar Barzæus found this true in their work among the Indians, and testified that in every difficulty the Holy Spirit taught them more than all doctors or wise men could have done,

2Co 4:9  We suffer persecution: but are not forsaken. We are cast down: but we perish not.

We suffer persecution: but are not forsaken. S. Gregory of Nyssa (de Beatitud.), explaining the last of the Beatitudes, “Blessed are they that suffer persecution,” acutely and piously weighs the meaning of the word persecution, which etymologically points to some running, or rather running before. He puts before our eyes a holy man and tribulation, like two runners running side by side. When the saint does not give place to tribulation, he says that he goes before it, as victorious over it, and that tribulation follows hard after him, and is, therefore, called persecution, not consecution, for it follows after but does not reach the holy man. He says that this word points out that the saints, through patience, run with great swiftness for the prize of glory, display their vigour and strength most brightly in the midst of persecutions. He goes on: “Martyrdom shows us the arena, and marks out the course to be run by faith; for ‘persecution’ denotes an ardent desire for swiftness, nay, it even indicates the winning of the prize; for who can be victor in the race save he who leaves his competitor behind? Since, therefore, he that has an enemy behind, seeking to deprive him of the prize, has one ‘persecuting’ him—and such are they who finish the course of martyrdom on behalf of their holy religion, who are persecuted by their enemies, but not overtaken. Christ seems in these last words to put before us the most glorious crown of bliss, when He says, ‘Blessed are they that suffer persecution for righteousness’ sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.’”

We are cast down: but we perish not. There is here an allusion to the earthen vessels of ver. 7. Though, he seems to say, we are earthen vessels, and cast down, as it were, from the most lofty towers of persecutions, yet are we not shattered. We are so hardened by the fire of charity that we cannot break. Some add, “We are humiliated, but not confounded,” but the words are wanting in the Greek and Latin copies.

2Co 4:10  Always bearing about in our body the mortification of Jesus, that the life also of Jesus may be made manifest in our bodies.

Always bearing about in our body the mortification of Jesus. The death of Jesus, according to S. Ambrose, but the Greek is rather dying or mortification. The dying meant is the suffering of death like to the suffering of Jesus Christ, which is the road to and the beginning of death, a long and living death. This is the suffering spoken in vers. 8 and 9, suffering inflicted from without, though it may be extended also to any voluntary mortification of mind and body. It is called “the dying of Jesus,” (1.) because it is borne by His example; (2.) because it is undergone for His faith; (3.) because we, His servants, bear about in our body, by a kind of representation, the very death and Passion of Christ, just as slaves carry the badge and token of their master. Cf. Gal 6:17. So in Heb 11:26, it is said that Moses bore the reproach of Christ, and preferred it to the riches of Egypt (see note there). “There is no doubt,” says Ambrose, “that in His martyrs Christ is slain, and that in them that suffer chains or scourgings for the faith, Christ suffers the same.” Pau1 gives here the cause why, in the midst of trouble and distress, he is not crushed and destroyed, but is instead raised up and quickened. It is because by tribulation he is made like Christ crucified and smitten, and then raised and quickened; and, therefore, he rejoices in tribulation.

Salvianus (de Vero Jud. et Provid. Dei, lib. i.) says that no one is miserable who is content in the midst of misery, rather he is happy, because it is of his own devotion that he lives in misery. Toil, fasting, poverty, humility, weakness, persecution are not grievous to those that endure them, but to those that kick at them. Among the heathen, Fabricius, Fabius, Regulus, Camillus found poverty and affliction no burden. “No one,” he says, “is made miserable by other people’s opinion but by his own, and therefore false judgment cannot make them miserable whose conscience approves them. . . . None, I think, are happier than they who act according to their own knowledge and wish. Religious are of low estate, but they wish it so; they are poor, but pleased with poverty; they have no ambition, for they scorn it; they mourn, but they rejoice to mourn; they are weak, but they delight in weakness. ‘When I am weak,’ says the Apostle, ‘then am I strong.’ And so, no matter what may happen to those that are religious indeed, they are to be called happy. None are more joyous in the midst of all kinds of adversity than those who are in a state of their own choosing.”

That the life also of Jesus may be made manifest in our bodies. This is that future life when we shall rise with Christ to glory (ver. 14); and also the present life, when, after the pattern of the risen body of Christ, our afflicted bodies become more lively through the operation of the Spirit, on account of our hope of the resurrection and through the power of God, which delivers us from so many dangers every day and strengthens us against them.

2Co 4:11  For we who live are always delivered unto death for Jesus’ sake: that the life also of Jesus may be made manifest in our mortal flesh.

For we who live are always delivered unto death. In the midst of a life such as ours, we are exposed to constant danger of death and to every kind of trouble.

The thought, then, that in all our tribulation we are made like to Christ in His Passion and resurrection is what animates, comforts, and strengthens us. As in our afflicted and mortified body the death of Christ is visibly set forth, so in its deliverance, salvation, and strengthening do we see the life and resurrection of Christ. When we are thrown to the lions and other wild beasts, to be, as all expect, surely devoured by them, they spare us and fawn upon us; when we are cast into the fire it shrinks from us, nay, with genial warmth refreshes us; when we are thrown into the sea to be drowned, the sea bears us up and preserves us from all hurt; when I was stoned at Lystra and left for dead, I was soon after found to be alive. In all these and similar persecutions and afflictions I have fellowship with, I am made like, and I set forth the suffering, death, and burial of Christ, which by the power of God, were but the glorious prelude to the life of bliss. And for this reason I am strong, nay, I rejoice and glory in all my tribulations; for they give me a sure and certain hope of an eternal life of glory. “Therefore,” says Œcumenius, “was Christ permitted by God to be delivered to death, that His resurrection might be made manifest to all. He who daily raises us certainty raised up Himself also, and will in good time raise us up to eternal life.”

2Co 4:12  So then death worketh in us: but life in you.

So then death worketh in us, but life in you. Your spiritual life, your salvation is produced through faith and grace, but ours by the death of our body. The passion and death of the Apostles has been the life of the Church. “The blood of the martyrs is the seed of the Church,” says Tertullian. Chrysostom gives a different explanation: “You live in peace and suffer no such persecutions for the faith as I do; and so you seem to live and I seem to die daily.”

2Co 4:13  But having the same spirit of faith, as it is written: I believed, for which cause I have spoken; we also believe. For which cause we speak also:

But having the same spirit of faith. As David was hemmed in with dangers, and yet was delivered by God alone from them all, and said. “I believed,” i.e., I believe that God will always be true to His promises and deliver me, so too do we believe and hope, and boldly profess that our help and strength, our deliverance and resurrection have been promised by God, and will most surely be wrought out.

Ps. 116., alluded to here by S. Paul, is a Eucharistic psalm, in which David gives God thanks for his safe deliverance. Hence it begins with, “I believed.” In other words: I, David, in the midst of dangers and adversity, when hunted by Saul and his men, when my life was sought by Achish and the Philistines, when I was so placed that I seemed to be deprived of all human help, and to be in desperate straits, yet put my trust in God, who had promised me safety and moreover the kingdom, by the mouth of Samuel. Wherefore, I said boldly that I believed, without doubting that God would deliver me from all these evils, and would bring me to His promised kingdom, as, in fact, He has delivered me, and has set me on the throne. “Right dear in the sight of the Lord is the death of His Saints.” My death is of great account and great price in the sight of the Lord. God, therefore, carefully watches that my death, or that of His other Saints may not be allowed, except for good cause and great gain, and He wonderfully guards us and delivers us. This, I, David, found in the cave and at other times when I was shut in by the bands of Saul and of my other enemies, and therefore with praise and thanksgiving do I exclaim, What return shall I make unto the Lord for all the benefits that He hath done unto me? I will receive the cup of salvation, of my many safe deliverances—that cup which is a witness and public profession of God’s goodness to me, and of my frequent escapes from danger—of God’s salvation will I take.

Observe here that (1.) the Jews had three kinds of sacrifices, the whole burnt-offering, the sin-offering, and the peace-offering. This last was a sacrifice of salvation, offered for the peace and salvation of any individual or family, or of the whole people, whether already obtained or to be obtained. (2.) In every Sacrifice a libation was made to God, just as if the sacrifice were God’s feast. The cup, therefore, of salvation is the cup of wine which was offered to God, poured out and drunk by the offerers. (3.) This cup was a figure of the Eucharistic chalice, which makes us not only mindful of the salvation wrought by Christ, but also partakers of it.

Tropologically: this “cup” is martyrdom and affliction, and the obstinate resistance that we make to sin, even unto death, says S. Basil, in his comments on Ps. cxvi. For Paul eagerly longed for martyrdom, and hence he speaks not of the cross, but of the cup of salvation, as though he should say: I will readily drink whatever the Lord may have given to me, even though it be the martyr’s death; and therefore knowing, says S. Augustine, that martyrdom is not within my own power, but depends on the grace of God, I will call upon that grace, and will publicly preach and celebrate the name of the Lord. Similarly, Christ speaks of His Passion as a cup, and bids His Apostles and martyrs and all His members drink of it (S. Matt 20:22, and Matt 26:42). As, then, every Christian offers to Christ, His Deliverer, the Eucharistic cup and sacrifice as a thanksgiving, so does Paul offer his sufferings, his afflictions, and death to Christ, as a most pleasing cup. So, too, have all the martyrs, by openly professing their faith and dying for it, offered to Christ the cup of their martyrdom.

I believed. I believed, and I still believe. This is a continuous act of belief, and not merely one that is inchoate, especially so since David speaks of the person of Paul and of us all, and puts his own belief forward as one deserving our imitation.

2Co 4:14  Knowing that he who raised up Jesus will raise us up also with Jesus and place us with you.

Will raise up us also . . . and place us with you. Shall present us with you in glory. He says out of modesty, “shall present us with you,” not “you with us,” because the Corinthians were the cause and object of his preaching, and so also of his glory.

2Co 4:15  For all things are for your sakes: that the grace, abounding through many, may abound in thanksgiving unto the glory of God.

That the grace, abound through many,  may abound in thanksgiving unto the glory of God. I.e., through many giving thanks. The Syriac renders it, “that since grace abounds through many, thanksgiving may be proportionately multiplied to the glory of God.”

SUGGESTED READINGS: All books listed are by Catholic authors. One should not infer that my listing them here is an endorsement of their particular views (e.g., Murphy-O’Connors theory that 2 Cor. is a composite document of several shorter letters of St Paul).

SECOND CORINTHIANS. By Fr. Thomas D. Stegman, S.J. Part of the new Catholic Commentary On Sacred Scripture.

SECOND CORINTHIANS (Sacra Pagina Series). By Fr. Jan Lambrecht, S.J. Somewhat technical, not for the beginner.

THE FIRST AND SECOND LETTERS OF ST PAUL TO THE CORINTHIANS. By Dr. Scott Hahn and Curtis Mitch. Part of the Ignatius Catholic Study Bible). A good introductory commentary.

KEYS TO SECOND CORINTHIANS. By Fr. Jerome Murphy-O’Connor, O.P. Very expensive, scholarly, thorough. Not for the average reader.

THE THEOLOGY OF THE SECOND LETTER TO THE CORINTHIANS. By Fr. Jerome Murphy-O’Connor, O.P. Scholarly, not for the average reader.

LECTURES ON SECOND CORINTHIANS (Online). By St Thomas Aquinas. This work, available online for free, still continues to exert influence 8 centuries after it production. The medieval style may not appeal to many.

ST JOHN CHRYSOSTOM’S HOMILIES ON SECOND CORINTHIANS (Online).

NOTES ON CORINTHIANS, GALATIANS, ROMANS. By Fr. Joseph Rickaby, S.J. Somewhat dated. Originally published in 1898. slightly technical. Rickaby was a prolific author and a noted authority on St Thomas Aquinas.

THE SECOND EPISTLE OF ST PAUL TO THE CORINTHIANS. By R. D. Byles. Somewhat dated. Originally published in 1897. A very basic commentary.

AN EXPOSITION OF THE EPISTLE OF ST PAUL (Vol 2). By Bernardine de Picquigny. The author ((1633-1709) was a Capuchin monk who is also sometimes called Bernardin de Piconio. This volume contains commentary on 2 Corinthians, Galatians, Ephesians, Philippians, Colossians. The Catholic Encyclopedia notes that his 3 volume exposition of St Paul “has ever been popular among scripture scholars.”

R.D. Byles’ Commentary on 2 Corinthians 4:1-15

In this chapter St. Paul continues his praise of the ministry of the gospel; and  having shown how excellent it is in itself, he proceeds to speak of his employment of it, both in his preaching (4:1-6), and in his patient endurance of suffering, which he accepts anil offers for their sakes (4:7-15).

2Co 4:1  Therefore seeing we have this ministration, according as we have obtained mercy, we faint not.

this ministry—i.e., a ministry of such dignity as he has described it to be.

according as . . . This belongs to what precedes. He has this ministration, not as from himself, but according to the mercy he has received from God. The apostle explains this more fully in 1 Tim 1:12-16, where he says that God’s mercy was shown both in his conversion and in his being called to the apostolate for the sake of the increase of the Church by his means.

we faint not. St. Paul is here resuming what he said in chapter 3:12: We speak plainly and boldly, and do not shrink back through weakness or cowardice from any difficulties, such as are mentioned in vv. 8, &c.

2Co 4:2  But we renounce the hidden things of dishonesty, not walking in craftiness nor adulterating the word of God: but by manifestation of the truth commending ourselves to every man’s conscience, in the sight of God.

This verse contains a threefold antithesis: (1) We renounce the hidden things of dishonesty . . . commending ourselves to every man’s conscience; (2.) not walking in craftiness . . . (but) in the sight of God; (3) not adulterating the Word of God, but manifesting the truth.

the hidden things of dishonesty. Dishonesty here means what is dishonourable; such sins as men hide, and do not wish to have known even to their fellowmen, much less to God (cf. John 3:19-21). St. Paul teaches us here that all sin is a hindrance both to those who are seeking the light of truth, and to those who would declare it to others.

not walking in craftiness—that is hypocrisy, or dissimulation. St. Paul implies that he has rejected not only evil works, but also evil intention.

adulterating. This means, as in chapter 2:17, either mixing false doctrine with the true, or preaching to obtain glory or gain.

commending ourselves, i.e., not by speaking good about himself, which might very well not be believed, but by doing good.

to every man’s conscience. St. Paul said in his First Epistle to the Corinthians, “I became all things to all men that I might save all” (cf. 1 Cor 9:19-22). He implies here that when the gospel is clearly preached it is commended to every man’s conscience, so that those who do not receive it are resisting their consciences.

A Summary of verses 3-6~ In these verses St. Paul shows that if any do not receive this gospel, it is not because of any fault of the gospel, but of a blindness on the part of the unbelievers, which is, (ordinarily at least) the result of sin: since his gospel is no other than the gospel of Christ, which derives its power of illuminating from God Himself, the Author of all light.

2Co 4:3  And if our gospel be also hid, it is hid to them that are lost,

hid. The word means “veiled,”  and is an allusion to the similitude of the previous chapter. (i.e., the veil covering Moses’ face in chapter 3).

that are lost. This should be translated, “who arc perishing’” (Gr. εν τοις απολλυμενοις, Vulg. “in his qui pereunt”).

2Co 4:4  In whom the god of this world hath blinded the minds of unbelievers, that the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God, should not shine unto them.

the god 0f this world. Many ancient commentators suppose that by this is meant God Himself, who created and sustains this world; and who may be said to blind the minds of unbelievers, inasmuch as He withdraws His grace from those who are obstinate in refusing to believe. In support of this is the fact that God alone, in the strictest sense, is God of this world; but nevertheless it appears better to understand it as meaning the devil, who may be called the god of this world—(1) because he is permitted to exercise a certain power in this world by tempting men (cf Rev 12:12); (2) because there are so many in this world who follow him as if he were their god, that is, as though he had a claim to their service, and over whom he exercises dominion; (3) he is god of this world in the sense in which the ”world” is often used by our Lord and His apostles to denote the whole body of men who act without any regard to God as their last end, and who are opposed to the Church. It is in this sense that the devil himself in tempting our Lord claimed power over all the kingdoms of the world; with great presumption indeed, yet at least acknowledging that he did not have ihis power of himself, but only as it was delivered to him (Luke 4:6). Our Lord also three times called the devil the “prince of this world,” and declared that by the power of His crucifixion the usurped power of the devil should be overthrown (John 12:31; also John 14:30; John 16:11).

hath blinded, i.e., by suggesting and inclining them to sin, which, renders them less able to see the truth.

light (Gr. τον φωτισμον, Vulg. illuminatio). It would be better translated ”illumination” or “enlightenment.” God the Father is the original source of all light (1 John 1:5), and from this original light is derived its image, God the Son; who in the Nicene Creed is called “light from light” (lumen de lumine); and in the Epistle to the Hebrews is called the “brightness of the Father’s glory and the figure of His substance” (Heb 1:3). The Son having become incarnate, manifested to men the brightness of God (John 1:9, 14; John 8:12) by His Divine working. The gospel declares the glory of Christ, which is the glory of God, since Christ is the perfect image of God, being (unlike other imperfect images) in all things equal to Him Whose image He is. This declaration has a power of enlightening, by the help of grace, those who are not hindered by sin from receiving it.

2Co 4:5  For we preach not ourselves, but Jesus Christ our Lord: and ourselves your servants through Jesus.

ourselves your servants through Jesus. That is to say, he did not commend himself, but made himself the servant of the Church, existing only for their spiritual welfare (cf 1 Cor 9:19).

2Co 4:6  For God, who commanded the light to shine out of darkness, hath shined in our hearts, to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God, in the face of Christ Jesus.

God, who commanded. … St. Paul, having spoken of his own ministry at the end of the last verse, now sums up this section of his Epistle. He says that God who, by His mere fiat, brought light out of darkness, has shone in his heart (namely, at his conversion, Acts 9:3), and not only shines upon and in him, but also shines forth from him to the enlightening of others, by giving them a knowledge of the glory of God, a glory which shines on the face of Christ Jesus.

hath shined in our hearts. As the created manifestation of God’s glory enlightened the face of Moses, and being reflected therefrom, illuminated also the children of Israel; in the same manner, but in a far higher degree, the perfect and uncreated glory of God, made manifest in our Lord’s sacred humanity, shines upon the apostles and priests of the New Testament, and being reflected from them enlightens both those who believe through their ministry, and also the whole Church of God. The antithesis is between the glory illuminating the face of Moses, and that illuminating the apostles. It is not directly between Moses and our Lord. But as the latter glory has its most perfect manifestation in our Blessed Lord, and as moreover the apostles, only as members of Christ, either have light themselves, or give it to others, therefore St. Paul speaks of the enlightenment which shines from himself, as existing in the Divine Face of our Lord.

Brief Summary of 2 Cor 4:7-15: In this passage St. Paul begins to declare the greatness of his ministry in another way. He has shown how great a dignity it is to have the glory of the apostleship; he now proceeds to rejoice that he is made a partner with our Lord, not only in His glory, but also in His suffering; without which suffering that glory would be imperfect, because it would not be sure to be attributed solely to God.

2Co 4:7  But we have this treasure in earthen vessels, that the excellency may be of the power of God and not of us.

treasure; that is, the light with which he enlightens others. In earthen vessels has been explained in two ways: either (1) our bodies, which are formed of the dust of the ground (Gen 2:7; 3:19); or (2) our whole persons, as being weak and unworthy of such dignity ; as Isaiah 64:8 says, “Thou art our Father, and we are clay.”

2Co 4:8  In all things we suffer tribulation: but are not distressed. We are straitened: but are not destitute.
2Co 4:9  We suffer persecution: but are not forsaken. We are cast down: but we perish not.

God wishes His apostle to be despised and persecuted, in order that it may be quite evident that the power of the ministry is derived only from God, and not from St. Paul himself.

The four clauses in these two verses probably correspond to no exact distinction of different modes of suffering.

Verse 8. not distressed. The word expresses the situation of a man who is in a difficulty which offers no way of escape. It implies that while those who trust only in the world have no remedy if they are in tribulation from the world, those who trust in God are never left without resource. For if the world afflicts them, they still have a means of escape by God’s help.

straitened, but not destitute. This would be better translated “in want, but not in absolute want”.

Verse 9. cast down, or rather “struck down,” i.e., to the danger of death.

2Co 4:10  Always bearing about in our body the mortification of Jesus, that the life also of Jesus may be made manifest in our bodies.
2Co 4:11  For we who live are always delivered unto death for Jesus’ sake: that the life also of Jesus may be made manifest in our mortal flesh.
2Co 4:12  So then death worketh in us: but life in you.

St. Paul accepts all his sufferings not only with patience, but with eagerness; because he recognizes in them an opportunity of meriting, and a pledge of receiving, future glory with our Lord; and because he wishes to offer them for the salvation of his converts.

Verse 10. mortifcation. That is “putting to death.”’ It includes both the actual renunciation of all sin, as he said in writing to the Romans, “Reckon that you are dead to sin, but alive unto God” (Rom 6:11); and more especially the patient endurance of the sufferings which he continually had to undergo, and through which he hoped to obtain a share in our Lord’s resurrection (cf. Phil 3:8-12).
See note on 2 Cor 1:5.

Made manifest. This is chiefly the case in the resurrection of our bodies, which are made to live with the life of our Lord, even as He said, “Because I live, ye shall live also.”

Verse 11. we who live, i.e., as long as our life on earth lasts. Are always delivered unto death; that is, ”are always being delivered.” St Paul’s life was perpetual martyrdom; as the Psalmist says, “For thy sake we are killed all the day long” (Ps 44:23); or as St. Paul said himself, “I die daily” (1 Cor 15:31). This martyrdom is quite apart from the actual danger of death, in which St. Paul has often found himself (cf. 2 Cor 1:8-9; Acts 14:18, &c.).

Death worketh in us, but life in you; that is, suffeiings of mind and body, equivalent to death, continually have dominion over me. Though you do not indeed share these sufferings, yet by virtue of them (which I offer for your welfare) you are made partakers of the spiritual life to which they lead.

2Co 4:13  But having the same spirit of faith, as it is written: I believed, for which cause I have spoken; we also believe. For which cause we speak also:
2Co 4:14  Knowing that he who raised up Jesus will raise us up also with Jesus and place us with you.

St. Paul shows that the power to endure his sufferings rests only upon the certainty of faith, infused into his heart by the Holy Ghost, and assuring him of eternal life in our Lord.

Verse 13. The same, that is, the same as that of the Psalmist; for though the object of faith has become more fully manifested, yet the Spirit and the faith are the same.

Spirit. It is not clear whether by this word we are to understand the Holy Ghost, who imparts the faith, or the quality or virtue of faith itself, which is imparted.

I believed. (Ps 116:10.) The saints of the Old Testament had divine faith, and confessed their faith (cf. Heb 11 ).

Verse 14. knowing, that is, with the certainty of faith, for divine faith is the most certain form of knowledge.

With Jesus, that is, to receive the same glory as our Lord. The living members cannot be separated from their Head, who has said, “Where I am, there also shall my minister be” (John 12:26).

2Co 4:15  For all things are for your sakes: that the grace, abounding through many, may abound in thanksgiving unto the glory of God.

All things are for your sakes. These words explain the last clause of the preceding verse. He can well couple them with himself, because he does and suffers all things for their good.

That the grace abounding through many. . . . This clause probably means, ”that the grace having abounded by means of many may cause the thanksgiving to abound unto the glory of God.”

Through many. St. Paul, having said that all his sufferings were endured for their sakes, does not wish to seem to assume to himself all the merit for the grace they had received, and therefore he adds these words, implying that the prayers of all the members of the Corinthian Church had had a share in obtaining grace for them. Some commentators, however, take these words with “the thanksgiving” thus: “that the abundant grace may cause thanksgiving to abound througli many;” that is to say, that all who receive the grace may join in giving thanks for it.

Cornelius a Lapide’s Commentary on 2 Corinthians 1:18-22

2Co 1:18  But God is faithful: for our preaching which was to you, was not, It is, and It is not.

I call the true God to witness, who is a faithful and true witness, that in teaching you I did not deceive you, and, therefore, that it was not my intention to fail you when I promised to come to you. For background one should read verses 12-17 of this chapter. One can also profitably consult these footnotes to the RNAB, beginning with the one one the entire section, 1:12-2:13, followed by the notes on 1:1:12-14…1:15… 1:17… and 1:18-22.

This teaches the preacher to beware of lightness and fickleness of life, lest the people infer from it that the truth which he preaches is equally unfixed and uncertain.

2Co 1:19  For the Son of God, Jesus Christ, who was preached among you by us, by me and Sylvanus and Timothy, was not: It is (yes) and It is not (no). But, It is (yes), was in him. I’ve inserted yes and no into the text to represent common renderings of modern translations.

My preaching and teaching about Christ was not variable, inconstant, and contradictory, but was a constant, uniform statement, for I always said and taught the same of Christ.

1 The it is, it is (i.e., the twofold use of “yes”) here, and the saying in S. Matt 5:37, have a threefold signification: (1.) constant asseveration, as opposed to inconstancy and deceit; (2.) truth or reality, as opposed to falsity or unreality; (3.) simple affirmation, as opposed to an oath. Cf. S. James 5:12.

2Co 1:20  For all the promises of God are in him, It is. Therefore also by him, amen to God, unto our glory.

All the promises of God in the Old Testament relating to the Messiah were constant and true, and have been fulfilled in Him.

Amen to God.  “And therefore we say, Amen” is the Latin rendering; that is, we affirm that those promises were true. So Chrysostom and Ambrose. For further notes on “Amen,” see 1 Cor 14:16.

Add to this that Amen is usually an adverb denoting truly, firmly, faithfully, and thence came to be the name of the abstract qualities of truth, firmness, and faithfulness. Cf. Isa 65:16; Jer 11:5; Isa 25:1; Rev 3:14, Rev 7:12. The meaning, therefore, here is: Through Him, Christ, the Amen, i.e., truth, faithfulness, and constancy, we give glory to God, saying: All that God promised concerning Christ is Amen, i.e., most true, and has been most truly fulfilled by God

2Co 1:21  Now he that confirmeth us with you in Christ and that hath anointed us, is God:

Now he that confirmeth us. Some think that this is an ellipse, and we must understand the meaning to be, He which confrimeth us prevented, the execution of my purpose. But it is far better to refer these words, as others do, to what immediately precedes them. The promises of God have been fulfilled in Christ; but He who by His power and authority fulfils them is God Himself: as He promised, so in fact does He confirm us, anoint us, and seal us in Christ. In the third place, it would not be amiss to refer these words to what was said in ver. 18, “Our word toward you was not it is and it is not.” In other words—I am not fickle and inconstant in my speech, my preaching, and promises. It is God who gives me this constancy, and therefore let no one think that I am arrogant enough to ascribe it to my own strength and fortitude, since I profess that I have it, not from myself but from God. As God in Himself and in His promises is yea, that is, is ever constant, firm, and unchangeable, so does He strengthen us, and make us firm and constant in the faith and in what we promise.

(Verse 21 continued with verse 22):
and that hath anointed us, is God: 
2Co 1:22  Who also hath sealed us and given the pledge of the Spirit in our hearts.

This seal, says Calvin, is that special Divine faith by which each has a certain knowledge that he is predestinated. But this seal is uncertain and unreliable, and this faith is false and foolish presumption. For the Apostle, who had as great faith as possible, fears reprobation in 1 Cor 4:27. His Divine faith, therefore, did not give him certain assurance of his predestination. Moreover, he frequently impresses on all the faithful that they carefully work out their own salvation with fear and trembling, and by so doing he takes from them all ground for assurance of their salvation. Add to this that no one is certain that he has this Divine faith, or that he will always have it; nay, many have fallen away from this faith of Calvin’s who before believed with him that they were of the number of the predestinate.

I say, then, 1. that God hath sealed means, He has confirmed His promises as though He had stamped them with His seal, by giving, according to them, as a pledge of our future inheritance, His grace, by which He has sealed and anointed us to be the sons of God, separated from the sons of the devil. So Chrysostom, Theodoret, Œcumenius. This seal is altogether certainly known to God, but to us is only a matter of probability. This establishing, anointing and sealing take place through one and the self-same grace. Similarly, in Eph 1:13 he says that we have been sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise.

2. This passage may be referred to baptism; for (a) in baptism God anointed us with the oil of His grace; (b) He gave the earnest of the Spirit in the testimony of a good conscience; (c) He sealed us with the ‘character’ of baptism. Cf. Bellarmine (de Effectu. Sacr. lib. ii. c. 20). The exposition of Theophylact and Chrysostom is to be referred to this. They say: “He hath anointed us and sealed us to be prophets, priests, and kings.” Cf. Chrysostom (Hom. 3) on these words, who points out how Christians who govern their passions are kings anointed by God.

3. It is the best explanation which refers these words to the sacrament of Confirmation, which, in olden times, was received by all the faithful to strengthen them against persecution. S. Paul has expressly distinguished, “He hath established us,” “He hath given the earnest of the Spirit,”. “hath anointed us,” “hath sealed us.” But these four things cannot be distinguished anywhere save in the sacrament of Confirmation.

These words point to four effects of the sacrament of Confirmation: (1.) The gift of faith, by which we are strengthened in Christ. Hence, as was said in ver. 18, S. Paul’s faithful preaching of Christ was firm and constant, because God had strengthened him for it in Christ by means of the sacrament of Confirmation, i.e., through Christ and His merits. (2.) The second effect is the grace of charity, with which we are abundantly anointed, as with a spiritual chrism. The Greek, indeed, for anointed is the very word whence come “Christ” and “Christians,” so that “Christians” are “the anointed ones.” Hence S. Augustine (Serm. 342) says: “The word ‘Christ’ is from chrism, i.e., anointing. Every Christian, therefore, is sanctified, in order that he may understand that he not only is made a partaker of the priestly and royal dignity, but also an adversary of the devil.” (3.) The third fruit is the earnest of the Spirit, which is the testimony of a good conscience given by the Holy Spirit, and which is as the earnest of the future glory promised, and to be given by the Holy Spirit. For the sense in which the Holy Spirit is the pledge or earnest, see notes to Eph 1:14. (4.) The fourth fruit is the seal and sign of the Cross on the forehead, signifying the “character” imprinted on the soul, by which we are sealed as His servants, or rather His soldiers and leaders. Cf. Ambrose (de his qui Mysteriis Initiantur, c. vii.), Suarez (pt. iii. qu. 63, art. 1 and 4).

Cornelius a Lapide’s Commentary on 2 Corinthians 10:17-18, 11:1-2

2Co 10:17  But he that glorieth, let him glory in the Lord.

Let him glory in truth as before the Lord. Secondly, and better, to glory in the Lord is to glory with the glory given by the Lord, which alone commends a man, and vouches for him by the wonders which it works through him. This is the genuine meaning, for S. Paul contrasts glorying in one’s self with glorying in the Lord. To glory in self is to commend self; to glory in the Lord is to be commanded by the Lord, and to glory in that commendation. Still it follows from this, thirdly, that he who truly glories should glory not in himself but in the Lord, by referring all that has been received to Him, whose gifts they are, by giving to Him all the glory, and directing everything to His praise and glory (Chrysostom).

By these words the Apostle shows where, when, and in what we should glory, and at the same time clears himself of all charge of ostentation and desire of vain-glory. He says implicitly: These great and fine things I say about myself, not because I wish to glory in myself, but because I wish to give the praise to the Lord, from whom I have received all my glory, and the ground of my glorying. Cf. 1 Cor 1:31, note.

Learn from this that true praise and glory come from God alone, and far excel all human glory; for, (1.) man’s praise is but small and poor, men being but worms of earth; but God’s glory is, as He is, boundless. (2.) Man’s glory is outward and apparent only—within it is empty and ready to vanish away; but God’s glory is inward and substantial; hence it fills and satisfies the soul. (3.) Man’s glory is untrustworthy, feigned, and hypocritical—many laugh at you behind your back while praising you to your face; but God’s glory is faithful and true. (4.) Man’s glory is unstable, and, like a reed, is shaken by the slightest breath of rumour—they who praise you to-day will rail at you to-morrow; but God’s glory is stable and constant. (5.) Man’s glory is short-lived: mortals to die to-morrow praise you, and your praise will die with them. Where now are the praises of Cæsar, Pompey, Augustus? They have passed away—they are gone like smoke; but the praise of God is eternal. God will praise thee for ever before the angels and blessed ones, because thou didst despise the worlds glory, and sought for that true glory which lasts for ever with God. (6.) Man’s glory is imperfect, maimed, and alloyed; a man is praised by some, blamed by others; as many men as there are, so many opinions and judgments are there. God’s glory is entire and perfect, for whoever God praises is praised also by the inhabitants of heaven. (7.) Man’s glory is erroneous and groundless. Men glorify the high-born, the rich, the powerful, even if they be villains, crime-stained, and tyrants. God’s glory is most true and most certain, for He praises none but those endowed with virtue and true wisdom. Again, men glory in themselves, in their sagacity, virtue, fortitude—all things of naught; and therefore they glory in what is false, in nothing, in what is not. God’s glory is to glory in God, of whom is all good and from whom flow all things to us, and to say, “Not unto us, not unto us, 0 Lord, but unto Thy name give the praise.” (8.) Man’s glory stands in the mouth of them that praise, confers no benefit on thee, impresses on thee no good. Therefore it is not in thee, but in Him that glorifies thee; just as honour is not in him that is honoured, but in him that confers it. But God’s glory is both in God and in thee, for it is efficacious and fruitful. God does not merely beatify thee in thy soul with the light of glory, and in thy body with glorious gifts, but He communicates to the Blessed His own very Divine and uncreated glory, to be possessed and enjoyed. Oh, blind and insensate children of Adam, by nature greedy of praise, created and born to glory! Why do ye not seek after glory instead of its smoke and shadows? Why strive for what is false and fallacious and leave the true? Why seek for glory where it is not? You seek it on earth: it is not there, but in heaven. You seek it among men: it dwells among the angels and before God. You seek it in time: it is found in eternity. Thou, then, 0 Lord, art my glory; Thou art the joy of my heart. In thee will I glory and exalt all the day long. For myself I will glory in nothing save my infirmities. Let Jews, let worldly men seek glory from one another. I will require that which is from God alone. All human glory, all worldly honour, all temporal heights, when compared with Thy eternal glory are but vanity, foolishness, and reproach. 0 my Truth, my Mercy, my Glory, my God, 0 Blessed Trinity, to Thee alone be praise, honour, and glory; to Thee alone be blessing, wisdom, and thanksgiving; to Thee, our God, be honour, virtue, and strength for ever and ever. Amen.

2Co 10:18  For not he who commendeth himself is approved: but he, whom God commendeth.

For not he that commendeth himself is approved. How is it, then, that Saints have sometimes commended themselves, as, e.g., Hezekiah, in Isa 38:3, and S. Paul in the next chapter, and in 2 Tim 4.? I answer, They do indeed commend themselves, but at the same time they tacitly refer all their praise to God’s grace as its first cause, and say: “By the grace of God I am what I am.” Again, this self-commendation came not from themselves, but was inspired into them by the Holy Spirit, who spoke by their mouth. The Holy Spirit suggested to each writer of the Holy Scriptures what he should write.

2Co 11:1  Would to God you could bear with some little of my folly! But do bear with me.

Would to God you could bear with some little of my folly! In my boasting, which sounds like folly. It is, however, a mark of the highest wisdom on my part, for I do it out of zeal to protect the faith of the Gospel against the false apostles (Chrysostom and Anselm).  S. Paul anticipates an objection: he is about to praise himself, and he meets beforehand any charge of vainglory or self-seeking. The last clause, “and indeed bear with me,” may be also indicative, and then it is a correction to his request for forbearance: “I need hardly make such a request: you do indeed bear with me.”

At the commencement of his self-praise he thrice excuses himself: (1.) by saying, “Would ye could bear with me;” (2.) by calling himself foolish; (3.) when he says. “I am jealous over you”—he takes such pains to excuse himself that the Corinthians may see the violence he does to his feelings when he descends to self-praise. Chrysostom says: “Just as a horse, when about to leap some deep and precipitous ravine, collects its strength, as though it would cross it at a bound, but when it looks down on the yawning gulf refuses the leap; then, under the spur of the rider, approaches again and admits its ability to leap and the necessity of it by standing still for a time, till at last it takes courage, and of its own accord boldly makes the attempt; so too S. Paul, like one about to throw himself over a precipice, when going to sing his own praises, retreats once, twice, and thrice, and at length falls to the task of praising himself.”

2Co 11:2  For I am jealous of you with the jealousy of God. For I have espoused you to one husband, that I may present you as a chaste virgin to Christ

For I am jealous of you with the jealousy of God.  I cannot endure any rivals, such as these false apostles, who seek to seduce you. Paul calls his great and unbounded love “jealousy,” implying that he seeks to be first in the affections of the Corinthians.  S. Chrysostom remarks on this jealousy being a jealousy of God, which implies that Paul does not seek the bride for himself but for Christ and God—not for his own glory, pleasure, or gain. Christ is the Bridegroom, he is but the paranymph.

For I have espoused you to one husband. “I have fitted you” (Augustine, contra Manich. lib. ii.); “I have prepared you” (Ambrose); “I have united you ” (Theophylact). The Greek verb may well bear the three meanings of, “I have invited you,” “I have betrothed you,” I have united you in wedlock.” The three duties of the paranymph are: (1.) to gain the maiden’s affections for the bridegroom, and to do all he can to get her to be the wife of his friend; (2.) to see that she is espoused to him; and, (3.) when betrothed, to unite them in marriage. S. Paul says in effect: I, as the paranymph of a spiritual marriage, have by my preaching betrothed you to one husband, Christ, and by betrothing you I have persuaded you to present yourselves to Christ as His espoused bride. Or better still, with Anselm and Theophylact: I have now espoused you to Christ through baptizing you into the Christian faith, that I may show you, or present you in the day of judgment, as virgins, i.e., pure in faith, hope, and charity, fitted for the nuptial couch of the glory of Christ.

Chrysostom remarks that the betrothal takes place in this life, the union in the next, when the espoused Church, i.e., all the elect, shall be brought to the marriage of the Lamb and the eternal kingdom (Rev 21:2).

The Church of Corinth is described by S. Paul as the virgin spouse of Christ, whose paranymph he is. Then he transfers to himself the jealous love of the Bridegroom, and protests against Christ’s bride being stolen by false apostles, and handed over to the tender mercies of heretics. Just as true Apostles and preachers are paranymphs of Christ and His Church (S. John 3:29), so, on the other hand, false preachers are Satan’s panders.

This passage of the espousal of the Church and each faithful soul is famous and full of consolation. It has been commented on beautifully by most of the Fathers, and still is frequently treated in pulpits and elsewhere. That it may be clearly and fully understood, let us then dwell on it a little more at length.

Observe, then, firstly, that this espousal takes place by faith and hope and other virtues. For, as S. Augustine says (Tract. xiii. in Johan.), “the mind’s virginity consists in perfect faith, well-grounded hope, and unfeigned love.” On the other hand, the soul becomes an adulteress or prostitute when she consents to unbelief, to sin, to the suggestions and wiles of the devil. “If, therefore,” says Origen (Hom. 12 in Lev 2), “you have admitted an adulterous devil into the chamber of your soul, then your soul has committed fornication with the devil. If there has entered there the spirit of anger, envy, pride, uncleanness, and you have welcomed in and listened to its words, and taken pleasure in its suggestions, then you have committed fornication with him.”

Secondly, this betrothal makes the goods of each common to both, and therefore endows the Church and each faithful soul with the abundant riches of Christ. Hence, since the Bridegroom is a King, He makes His bride, even if she be a slave, however lowly and poor she be, a queen. S. Basil (de Vita Virgin.) says, quoting Ps 45~ “Upon thy right hand did stand the queen, in a vesture of gold wrought about with divers colours. Wherefore, she who now is counted vile for her sordid dress and servile habit, is ennobled by her station at the King’s hand, and found in the kingdom of heaven to be a queen. Let her, then, despise all visible things, and with open face beholding her Spouse, let her be filled with His love, and make all her faculties His handmaidens. In no respect should a virgin be an adulteress, not in tongue, in ears, eyes, or any other sense, no, nor yet in thought; but let her keep her body as a temple, or bride-chamber ready for her Spouse. No unfaithfulness can escape the eye of Him of whom it is said, ‘He that planted the ear, shall He not hear; or He that made the eye, shall He not see.”

S. Bernard (Serm. 2, Domin. 1, post Epiph.) thus describes the election, dignity, and glory of this bride: “For the sake of that Ethiopian woman, the Son of God came from afar to espouse her to Himself. Moses, indeed, married an Ethiopian wife, but her colour he could not change; but Christ, loving the Church, who till then was contemptible and foul, presented her to Himself, not having spot or wrinkle, or any such thing. Whence, 0 human soul, whence comes this to thee? Whence is the inestimable glory of meriting to be His spouse on whom the angels desire to gaze? Whence is it to thee that thou art the spouse of Him, whose beauty sun and moon wonder at, at whose will all things are changed? . . . What reward, then, will you give unto the Lord for all the benefits that He hath done unto you, in making you a sharer of His table, of His Kingdom, of His chamber? See with what arms of love should He be in turn lovingly embraced, who has thought so much of you, and made you so great. Leave all carnal affections, forget all worldly ways, undo all evil habits. For what thinkest thou? Does not the angel of the Lord stand ready to cut thee asunder, if perchance, which may He prevent, thou admittest any other lover?” Then he goes on to describe the nuptial feast: “Now thou art espoused to Him, now the wedding feast is being celebrated, for the banquet is prepared in heaven. There the wine will not fail for we shall be inebriated with the fulness of the house of Gad, and shall drink of the torrent of His pleasure. For that marriage, truly, there is got ready a river of wine, which maketh glad the heart, an impetuous stream, which maketh glad the city of God.”

Thirdly, be it observed that from this betrothal and union of the soul to God, the fairest offspring are born. Origen (Hom. 20 in Num 25) thus Describes them. “When the soul, therefore, clings to her Spouse, and listens to His voice, and embraces Him, she doubtless receives from Him seed, even as He said: ‘Of Thy fear, 0 Lord, have I conceived in the womb, and brought forth, and caused on the earth the spirits of Thy salvation.’ Thence will proceed a noble offspring—thence will be born chastity, righteousness, patience, meekness, and charity, and a fair family of all the virtues. . . . But if the unhappy soul forsakes the chaste embraces of the Divine Word, and surrenders herself to the devil’s adulterous endearments, without a doubt she will bring forth children, but they will be such as those of whom it is written: ‘The adulterous children shall be imperfect, and the seed of the wicked bed shall be destroyed.’ All sins, therefore, are children of adultery and fornication.”

Fourthly, although this espousal is brought about by any virtues, yet the chief agent among them is charity. Charity carries with it towards God all the powers and affections of the soul, so much so that the more charity increases in a soul, the more closely is that soul united to God. Hence those whose souls are on fire with charity, and who are ever exercising themselves in it, enjoy the bliss of betrothal to God and the possession of His nuptial gifts of Divine joys. For charity is a marriage-union, the welding of two wills, the Divine and human, into one, whereby God and man mutually agree in all things. Hence springs familiar intercourse between the soul and God, hence spring peace and a wondrous delight of the soul. So great becomes the thirst for the Divine love that all other affections of the soul are absorbed in it and lost in God. S. Bernard (Serm. 38 Cantic.) says: “Such conformity weds the soul to the Word, that, though naturally like Him, she none the less exhibits that likeness in the will, by loving as she has been loved. If, then, she loves perfectly, she is wedded to Him. What is more pleasant than this conformity? what more to be longed for than this charity? By it it comes to pass that you are not content, 0 my soul, to rest on human teaching, but you boldly approach the Word, and cling closely to Him, hang lovingly on His lips, and consult Him on everything. You are as bold in your longings will allow. Surely this is a holy and spiritual wedding contract. Contract, do I say?—nay, it is an embrace; for where the same will to have or not have is, where one spirit is made out of two, there there must have been an embrace. Nor need we fear that the disparity of the persons can make this union of wills imperfect, for love knows no fear. Love is self-sufficient: wherever he comes he draws to himself and makes prisoners all the other affections. Therefore she loves what he loves, and knows nought else. There is a bride and there is a bridegroom. What other relation or connection do you seek between them that are wedded than that of loving and being loved?”

If you say that the soul is so far inferior to God in its nature and love as to make it impossible for friendship to exist between them, and much less betrothal and marriage union, all of which can only be between equals, then S. Bernard replies: “It is true that there is not the same copious flow in the soul that Loves as in Love Himself, in the soul as in the Word, and in the bride as in the Bridegroom, in the creature as in the Creator, ably more than there is the same in him that is athirst and the spring that quenches his thirst. But what of that? Are we therefore to lose and see destroyed utterly the devotion of her that is about to wed, the desire of the longing soul—the eagerness of the lover, the confidence of one that boldly draws near—just because a dwarf cannot run on equal terms with a giant, because sweetness cannot rival honey, gentleness cannot compare with a lamb, whiteness with the lily, brightness with the sun, charity with Him who is charity? No, for though the creature’s love is less because it is itself less, yet if it loves with all its might, it withholds nothing, and its love is entire. Therefore have I said, ‘So to love is to be wedded already,’ unless any one doubt that the soul is first loved and more loved by the Word. But truly He prevents and surpasses the soul in love. Happy the soul that has merited to be prevented with the blessings of goodness.”

Fifthly, it follows that this espousal is most perfectly brought about by virginity and vows of chastity and religion.  S. Augustine (Tract. 9 in Johan.) says: “They who vow to God virginity, although they may hold a higher position of honour and dignity in the Church, yet are they not without nuptials; for they belong to those nuptials in which the whole Church is united to Christ as her Bridegroom.” And the reason is, that as a bride gives her heart and all her goods to her husband, so does a virgin, or a religious, consecrate herself and all that she has to Christ. Hence religion is called and is a state of perfection, or of perfect charity. Moreover, as a bride in contracting matrimony says. “I take thee for mine,” so does a religious say: “I vow to God poverty, chastity, obedience,” and by these she is bound to Christ as a wife to her husband. Hence Tertullian (de Veland. Virgin. c. 16) says: “Thou hast been wedded to Christ, thou hast committed to Him thy body; thou hast betrothed to Him the bloom of thy life; walk, therefore, according to the will ,of thy Spouse.” For this reason S. Jerome (Ep. 27) dared to call the mother of a virgin consecrated to God, “God’s mother-in-law,” and for this he was found fault with hypercritically by Ruffinus. A ring used to be given to virgins, in token that by it they were betrothed to Christ. “He gave me a ring,” says S. Agnes (Ambrose, Serm. 90), “as an earnest of my betrothal to His faith.” For this virgins were given veils, even as those who are married to husbands, and that solemnly, by priests, on appointed days alone, as Gelasius says (ad Episc. Lucaniæ, c. 14), and Optatus Milevit. (lib. 6). He says: “Spiritual wedlock is of this kind. In will and profession they had already come to be betrothed to their spouse; and to show that they had abjured all secular nuptials, they had cut off their hair for their spiritual Bridegroom, and had already celebrated their heavenly nuptials.” Ambrose (ad Virg. Lapsam) says: “She who has betrothed herself to Christ, and received the sacred veil, is already wedded, is already united to an immortal husband; and if she now wishes to marry under the common law, she commits adultery, and is made the handmaiden of death.” S. Cyprian too (Ep. 62) calls such lapsed virgins adulteresses. From all this it is evident, whatever Marloratus may say, that the Church applies this passage of the Apostle to virgins, and reads it as the Epistle in the Mass of Holy Virgins.

Let these virgins ponder this, and recognise their dignity, so as to religiously keep these nuptials pure, and give themselves wholly to their one Bridegroom, Christ.  S. Jerome says to Eustochius: “Hear, 0 daughter, and consider, and incline thine ear; forget also thine own people and thy father’s house, and then shall the King take pleasure in thy beauty. It is not enough for thee to leave thy land, unless thou also forget thy own peop1e and thy father’s house, and, despising the flesh, yield thyself to the embraces of thy spouse. You will say perhaps: ‘I have come from the house of my shame; I have forgotten the house of my father; I am born again in Christ. What reward for this am I to receive?’ It tells you: ‘So shall the King have pleasure in thy beauty.’ This then is a great sacrament: there-fore shall a man leave his father and mother, and shall cling to his wife, and they twain shall be not one flesh but one spirit. Thy Spouse is not haughty; He has married an Ethiopian woman. As soon as you desire to hear the wisdom of the true Solomon and come to Him, He will tell you all that He knows; He will as a King lead you into His chamber, and thy colour being wondrously changed, the words will apply to you, ‘Who is this that cometh up all white?’ . . . The bride of Christ is, like the Ark of the Covenant, covered within and without with gold, the guardian of the law of the Lord. As in it there was nothing save the tables of the law, so in thee let there be no other thought. Over this mercy-seat, as upon the cherubim, the Lord wills to sit. The Lord wishes to set you free from earthly cares, that leaving the bricks and straw of Egypt, you may follow Moses in the wilderness and enter the Promised Land. Whenever in your virgin breast there rages anxiety about earthly business, immediately the veil of the temple is rent in twain, your Bridegroom rises in wrath and says: ‘Your house is left unto you desolate’ . . . Do thou once for all cast aside every burden of the world, sit at the feet of thy Lord, and say: ‘I have found Him in whom my soul delighteth; I have held Him fast; I will not let Him go.’ He will answer: ‘My dove, any undefiled, is but one.’ Let the secret places of thy chamber ever keep thee, let thy Spouse ever play with thee within. When thou prayest thou speakest to thy Spouse. When thou readest He speaks to thee; and when sleep oppresses thee, He will come behind the wall; and when thou art awakened thou wilt say: ‘I am sick with love,’ and in return thou wilt hear Him say: ‘A garden enclosed is My sister, My spouse.’”

That I may present you as a chaste virgin to Christ. There is something strange in such a marriage. “In the world,” says Theophylact after Chrysostom, “brides do not remain virgins after marriage. But Christ’s brides, as before marriage they were not virgins, so after marriage they become virgins most pure in faith, whole, and uncorrupt in life. So is the whole Church a virgin.” “The virginity of the flesh,” says S. Augustine (in Senten. 79), “is an undefiled body; the virginity of the soul is uncorrupted faith.”

S. Paul converted to Christ at Iconium that most illustrious virgin Thecla: he drew her from marriage and espoused her to Christ.  S. Gregory of Nyssa is our authority for this. He says (Hom. 4 in Cantic.): “Such myrrh did Paul once pour from his mouth, mingled with the pure lily of chastity, into the ears of a holy virgin. That virgin was Thecla, who, as the drops fell from the lily into her soul, to her salvation put to death the outward man and quenched the heat of lust within.” S. Epiphanius too (Hæres. 78) says: “Thecla fell in with S. Paul, and was by him set free from wedlock, though she had a husband at once surpassingly handsome, rich, nobly-born, and famous.” S. Augustine (contra Faustum, lib. xxx. c. 4) says: “This Saint in her lifetime despised all earthly things, that she might gain possession of things heavenly, and, though bound in wedlock, she was kindled by the eloquence of S. Paul with love of life-long virginity.” Through this Thecla overcame fire, lions, bulls, and serpents, and when thrown for her virginity into the midst of flames, she, like asbestos, remained unharmed. So did S. Paul arm the harlot Poppæa and virgins against the blandishments of Nero, to despise his embraces and dedicate themselves to Christ. For this he was condemned by Nero to the sword, and obtained the martyr’s and virgin’s crown, and therefore from his neck there flowed, when his head was cut off, a stream of white milk instead of red blood.

Father Callan’s Commentary on 2 Corinthians 1:3-7

This post includes Father Callan’s summary of 2 Cor 1:3-11 followed by his notes on today’s reading (verses 3-7).

THANKSGIVING FOR RECENT BENEFITS

A Summary of 2 Corinthians 1:3-11~The Apostle has lately passed through dire perils, for deliverance from which he now thanks God, especially since his trials and his safe escape from them have been ordained to the ultimate good and comfort of his dear ones in the faith. It was by their prayers that he was assisted in time of danger, and he trusts to their devout cooperation for deliverance from similar circumstances in the future.

3. Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies, and the God of all comfort.

The Apostle now thanks God the Father for the mercy and comfort which he, Timothy, and perhaps other fellow-laborers (verse 19) have experienced in their trials and toils.

The God and Father ( ο θεος και πατηρ). The one article for the two names shows that they both refer to the one Divine Person. The Father is called the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, just as the Saviour Himself said: “I ascend to my Father and your Father, my God and your God” (John 20:17).

The Father of mercies, etc., i.e., the merciful Father who is the source of all consolation (Eph 2:4).

4. Who comforteth us in all our tribulation; that we also may be able to comfort them who are in all distress, by the exhortation wherewith we also are exhorted by God.

God comforts St. Paul, Timothy and their fellow-workers in the ministry, in order that they in turn may comfort the faithful in their afflictions.

Distress represents the same word in Greek (θλιψει) as tribulation; and likewise comfort and comforteth render the same Greek terms as exhortation and exhorted. The same variation between our version and the Vulgate, on the one hand, and the Greek text, on the other, occurs again in verse 6.

The et . . . et (“also”) of the Vulgate here are not in the Greek. The Vulgate reads: qui consolatur nos in omni tribulatione nostra ut possimus et ipsi consolari eos qui in omni pressura sunt per exhortationem qua exhortamur et ipsi a Deo.

5. For as the sufferings of Christ abound in us: so also by Christ doth our comfort abound.

If the sufferings of the Apostles were extraordinary, their consolations were correspondingly great.

The sufferings of Christ, i.e., the sufferings which Christ bore for the diffusion of the Gospel and the salvation of souls, and which are continued in the members of His mystical body (Col 1:24). There is no thought here of Christ now suffering in glory.

6. Now whether we be in tribulation, it is for your exhortation and salvation: or whether we be comforted, it is for your consolation: or whether we be exhorted, it is for your exhortation and salvation, which worketh the enduring of the same sufferings which we also suffer.

The Apostle wishes to say now that whatever happens to him and his fellow workers for Christ—whether it be joy or sorrow, comfort or affliction, it is all ordained for the good of the faithful. Their afflictions beget patience, and their comfort inspires hope in the goodness of God.

The text of this verse causes much confusion. In the first place the Vulgate clause, sive autem tribulamur pro vestra exhortatione et salute must be omitted as a repetition of the last part of the first clause (a case of scribal dittography). The corresponding words in our version, or whether we be
exhorted, it is for your exhortation and salvation must likewise be omitted.

This done, there are two principal readings of the verse: (a) “Now whether we be in tribulation, it is for your consolation and salvation, which is wrought out in the endurance of the same sufferings which we also suffer; or whether we be comforted it is for your consolation, knowing that,” etc. [as in verse 7] (see manuscripts B D F G K L); (b) “Now whether we be in tribulation, it is for your comfort and salvation; or whether we be comforted, it is for your comfort, which worketh in the endurance of the same sufferings that we also suffer” (see manuscripts A C M P). The latter reading is more like the Vulgate and is preferable.

7. That our hope for you may be steadfast: knowing that as you are partakers of the sufferings, so shall you be also of the consolation.

The Apostle expresses his unwavering hope that as the Corinthians bear their afflictions courageously they may also experience much comfort and consolation.

That our hope, etc. ( Vulg., Ut spes nostra, etc.) should be “And our hope,” etc. This clause is transferred by the Vatican MS. and many other authorities to the middle of the preceding verse, but such placing is against the best internal and external evidence. It is true that the participle knowing is without an antecedent, but this is not uncommon in St. Paul.

R.D. Byle’s Commentary on 2 Corinthians 3:1-9 for Sunday Mass, Sept 4 (Extraordinary Form)

R.D. Byle taught at Balliol College and St. Edmund’s College. He published a small commentary on Second Corinthians in 1897.

2Co 3:1  Do we begin again to commend ourselves? Or do we need (as some do) epistles of commendation to you, or from you?

again. In his first Epistle (esp. chap. 9.) St. Paul seemed to commend himself, and again in the preceding verse he seems to resume this self-commendation. He therefore considers it necessary to say a few words to refute this charge, which, perhaps, had actually been brought forward by his opponents. This he does, by showing, first (vv. 2, 3), that such conduct would be quite superfluous, and secondly (vv. 5, 6), that any praise of his own office is to be ascribed, not to himself, but to God, who conferred the apostolic powers upon him.

epistles of commendation. It is evident from this verse that such letters were already in use in apostolic times. They were used in the case of laymen, who had occasion to travel from their homes, and that in order to secure them a reception and admission to Holy Communion in other Churches; and also for the clergy, as evidence of their ordination and orthodoxy, so as to prevent any unauthorized persons being admitted to say Mass before the faithful. St. Paul had no need of such letters to the Corinthians, who knew him well; nor yet from the Corinthians, since the work he had done amongst them gave him sufficient notoriety wherever Corinth was known.

2Co 3:2  You are our epistle, written in our hearts, which is known and read by all men:

you are our epistle; that is, you are yourselves the letter commending us.

written in oitr hearts: so that he carries this epistle with him everywhere and exhibits it for his commendation. His love for the Corinthians caused them to be always imprinted on his heart; as our Lord says to His Church: “I will not forget thee. Behold I have graven thee in My hands ; thy walls are always before my eyes” (Isa. 49:15-16).

known and read by all men: because the name of the Corinthians was wide- spread, and while the pagan city of Corinth was a place of notorious profligacy and vice, the contrast to this presented by the Christian Church there, in spite of some evil members, was most striking.

2Co 3:3  Being manifested, that you are the epistle of Christ, ministered by us, and written: not with ink but with the Spirit of the living God: not in tables of stone but in the fleshly tables of the heart.

the epistle of Christ. This is taken by some to mean that the law of Christ was preserved among them, so that they were, as it were, an Epistle containing the law of Christ. But it is simpler, and suits the context better, to understand it as meaning an Epistle of which Christ is the author, because their conversion was by his power.

ministered by us—i.e., written by our ministry.

the living God. St. Paul puts in the word “living,” not only because God lives, but also liecause He is the source of all life, both natural and supernatural.

not in tables of stone. The sequel shows that there is an allusion here to the law of Moses, which was written on stone tablets, with which is contrasted the law of the New Testament, written by the Holy Ghost on hearts softened by grace and made ready to obey. (Cf. Ezek 36:26-28, “I will take away the stony heart out of your flesh, and will give you a heart of flesh. And I will put my spirit in the midst of you; and I will cause you to walk in my commandments, and to keep my judgments, and do them . . . and you shall be my people, and I will lie your God.” Cf. also Ezek 11:19-20; Jer 31:31-33).

2Co 3:4  And such confidence we have, through Christ, towards God.

such confidence we have through Christ. That is to say, we have the confidence, throngh the grace of Christ, that you are our Epistle (the evidence of our Divine mission).

towards God, or “in God’s presence.” This means a confidence which he is not ashamed to exhibit before God, because, though he glories in the excellence of his ministry, he does not take the credit of it to himself.

2Co 3:5  Not that we are sufficient to think any thing of ourselves, as of ourselves: but our sufficiency is from God.

not that we are sufficient. . . . These words have been interpreted in two different ways, (1) We are not able by our own natural powers without the co-operation of grace, even to think a good thought by ourselves —much more then is it due to God’s grace that we are made sufficient to perform the ministry of the New Testament. This interpretation was followed by St. Augustine, who proved from it, against the Semi-pelagian heresy, that the beginning of faith and of good works must come from the grace of the Holy Ghost, which first rouses the will to make a beginning, and then strengthens it and works with it. Calvin, indeed, argues from this passage that the will has no power, but that all good works are due entirely to grace, without any co- operation of freewill at all; but this sense the words will not support, for St. Paul
denies the sufficiency, not the reality, of free-will. (2) But a more probable and better supported interpretation is to take the word λογισασθαι (“think”) as “reckon” or “account,” a meaning which it naturally bears. Then the passage will mean; We are not in ourselves of sitfficient worth to reckon any of our own good works as wrought by our own power. We might expect the apostle to say; We are not sufficient to do anything good by our own power—but his humility makes him go further and say, in effect, We are so worthless in ourselves that we not only can do nothing, but that it is impossible for us even to profess to do anything, by our own strength, but all our power to do good is derived from God, who [in addition to his other graces) has also given us these graces necessary for the exercise of the apostolate. This explanation agrees with the context better than the former, because the question evidently is of exercising the apostolic functions, not of having good thoughts.

2Co 3:6  Who also hath made us fit ministers of the new testament, not in the letter but in the spirit. For the letter killeth: but the spirit quickeneth.

the new testament. This of course does not mean the book known by that name, but the Gospel dispensation, under the fulness of grace and truth revealed and given by our Lord.

not in the letter, but in the spirit. By this phrase St. Paul contrasts the old dispensation with the new. It corresponds to what he has said in verse 2. The old dispensation consisted principally in positive enactments, such as the Ten Commandments; but the new dispensation is not so much concerned with giving fresh precepts, as in bringing to men the assistance of the Holy Ghost, who gives them grace and enables them to fulfil the commandments, which in their own power they could not do So St. John sa}s “The law was given by Moses, grace and truth came by Jesus Christ ” (John 1:17).

the letter killeth, but the spirit qnickeneth. See Appendix IV.

2Co 3:7  Now if the ministration of death, engraven with letters upon stones, was glorious (so that the children of Israel could not steadfastly behold the face of Moses, for the glory of his countenance), which is made void:
2Co 3:8  How shall not the ministration of the spirit be rather in glory?

In these verses the apostle shows that the ministry of the New Testament excels that of the Old in three respects:

1. In its effect, namely, life or death.
2. In the manner of its preservation. The Old Law was handed down engraven in letters on stone tablets; but the New Law is impressed by the Holy Ghost upon the hearts of men, and is preserved, not merely in written documents, but in the tradition of the Living Church, inspired by the Holy Ghost.
3. In perfection. The glory of the Old Law was as transitory as the glory upon the face of Moses, but the New brings with it the hope of eternal glory (cf. 2 Cor 4:17).

(Verse 7) the face of Moses. When God gave the Law to Moses upon Sinai, the latter remained forty days upon the mountain fasting, and was allowed to see a part of God’s glory (Ex 33:22-23; Ex 34:28); not indeed the uncreated and essential Glory of God, but a certain created manifestation of the same. This glory of God was the same as that which rested upon the tabernacle, and which preceded the Israelites in their march through the desert. It is called in Hebrew the Shechinah. Cf. Ex 13:21-22; Ex 14:19-20; Ex 25:8; Ex 40:31-36; 1 Kings 8:10-11, &c. When Moses came down again to the people, rays of light shone from his face, being, as it were, a reflection of the Glory of God, in whose presence he had been, and designed by God both as an honour to His prophet, and to attest the Divine origin of that Law which Moses had to deliver to the people. But inasmuch as this Law was itself temporary, and was to last only until the coming of Christ, this transitoriness also was typified by the fact that the glory which shone from the face of Moses was not permanent, but only lasted a short time after his converse with God (Ex 34:29-35). In the next chapter (2 Cor 5:6) we shall see how St. Paul contrasts this evanescent brightness with the light which shines perpetually from the Divine Face of our Lord.

could not steadfastly behold. The Israelites were not yet prepared to behold the full glory which God had to reveal; and this was typified by the fact that they were afraid when they saw the glory upon the face of Moses.

which is wade void: rather ”which was transient.” As the glory oil the face of Moses was passing away even while he was speaking to the people; so that which was symbolized by it, the glory of the Old Dispensation, was intended to be only temporary.

2Co 3:9  For if the ministration of condemnation be glory, much more the ministration of justice aboundeth in glory.

if the ministration of condemnation be glory. . . . The law had no power to justify men: therefore it must give less glory to its ministers than the Gospel, which justifies by giving inward life through the operation of the Holy Ghost.

Sunday, Sept 4: Cornelius a Lapide’s Commentary on 2 Cor 3:1-9 for Sunday Mass (Extraordinary Form)

This post includes Lapide’s synopsis of chapter 3 followed by his commentary on the reading.

i. Paul asserts that he does not seek or need the praise of men, as the Judaising false apostles sought it: the fruit of his preaching is, he says, sufficient commendation.
ii. He states (ver. 6) the cause of this to be that the Apostles and other ministers of the New Testament and of the Spirit were adorned by more honour and glory than were Moses and the other ministers of the Old Testament and of the letter.
iii. He points out (ver. 13) that the Jews have still a veil over their heart in reading the Old Testament, and so do not see Christ in it; but that they will see Him when this veil shall be taken away by Christ at end of the world.

2Co 3:1  Do we begin again to commend ourselves? Or do we need (as some do) epistles of commendation to you, or from you?

Do we begin again to commend ourselves? At the end of the Apostle had seemed to praise himself and seek the favour of the Corinthians, hence he meets here any suspicion of vain glory.

Or need we . . . epistles of commendation to you . . . or from you? ie., written by you to commend me to others.

2Co 3:2  You are our epistle, written in our hearts, which is known and read by all men:

You are our epistle. You, 0 Corinthians, converted by my efforts, are to me like an epistle of commendation read and understood by all, which I can show as my credentials to whom I like. As the work recommends the workman, and the seal faithfully is represented by its image, so do you commend me as though you were a commendatory letter, sealed by yourselves. For all know what you were before your conversion—drunken, gluttonous, given up to impurity and other evil lusts. Corinth was then an emporium, as famous for its vices as its wares. But now all men see that you have been completely changed, through my preaching, into different men—temperate, chaste, meek, humble, devout, liberal. This your conversion, therefore, is my commendatory letter, i.e., the public testimony of my preaching before all people.

Written in our hearts. You have been converted by me, and indelibly written and engraven on my heart. This “epistle” was twice written by S. Paul. (1.) He wrote it actually when he instilled into the mind of the Corinthians the faith and Spirit of Christ. (2.) He wrote it and imprinted it on his own heart by his care and love of them. (3.) Christ again was inscribed on their hearts by Paul’s ministry, as if by a pen; and Christ, Himself, by Paul’s preaching, imprinted on them his faith, hope, charity, and other graces, not with ink, but by the inspiration of the Spirit of the living God, who filled their hearts with charity and all virtues.

2Co 3:3  Being manifested, that you are the epistle of Christ, ministered by us, and written: not with ink but with the Spirit of the living God: not in tables of stone but in the fleshly tables of the heart.

In fleshy tables of the heart. Not in hard stone, as was the law of Moses, but in a heart tender, soft, and teachable. There is an allusion to Jer 32:33. The Apostle, we should notice, makes a distinction between σάρκινος, used here, and οαρκικός: the first denotes the natural condition of flesh—its softness, &c.; the other that which has the vices and corruptions of flesh. Cf. Rom_7:14 and 1 Cor 3:3. Other writers, however, do not observe this distinction. Nazianzen, e.g., applies the latter of these terms to the incarnation and manhood of Christ.

2Co 3:4  And such confidence we have, through Christ, towards God.

And such cinfidence we have through Christ towards God. The Greek word used here, denotes that confident conviction which makes the mind strive to attain some difficult end that it longs for, as though it were certain of success. Such is the confidence which is inspired into the Saints by the Holy Spirit enabling them to work miracles or other heroic works of virtue. This confidence God is wont to demand as a fitting disposition, and to give beforehand, both in him who performs and in him who receives the benefit of the miracle or other Divine gift, in order that the soul may, by this gift, expand and exalt itself, and become capable of receiving Divine power.  S. Paul says in effect. “This confident persuasion that you are our epistle, written by the Spirit of the living God, we have before God through the grace of Christ; we have hope and sure confidence in God that, as He has begun, so will He finish this epistle by His Spirit.” In the second place this trust is the confidence S. Paul had before God, which enabled him to glory confidently in God of this epistle of his and of God, and of the dignity of his ministry, and of its fruit, when compared with the ministry of Moses and of other Old Testament ministers.

2Co 3:5  Not that we are sufficient to think any thing of ourselves, as of ourselves: but our sufficiency is from God.

Not that we are sufficient to think anything as of ourselves. To think anything that is good and is ordained to faith, grace, merit, and eternal salvation, so as to make a man an able minister of the New Testament. But if no one is able to think any such thing, he is still less able to do it. Cf. Council of Arausica (can. 7) and S. Augustine (de Prædest. Sanct. c. ii.).

1. From this passage S. Augustine lays down, in opposition to the semi-Pelagians, in which he is followed by the Schoolmen, that the will to believe and the beginning of faith and salvation, and every desire for it, come, not from free-will but from prevenient grace. Hence Beza wrongly charges the Schoolmen with teaching that the beginning of good is from ourselves, though weakly and insufficiently; for they all alike teach that the beginning of a good and holy life, of good thoughts and actions, and salvation in general is supernatural, and has its origin in the grace of God, not in nature or the goodness of our will.

2. Calvin is mistaken in inferring from this passage that there is no power in free-will which may be exerted in the works of grace, but that the whole strength and every attempt and act spring from grace. The Apostle says only that free-will is in itself insufficient, not that it has no power whatever. Just as an infirm man has a certain amount of strength, but not enough for walking, and has enough for walking if any one else help him, and give him a start and support, so too free-will is of itself insufficient for good works, but is sufficient if it be urged on, strengthened, and helped by prevenient grace.

It may be said that the sufficiency Paul speaks of here may be, as Theophylact and the Syriac render it, power, strength, or might. I answer that this is true; for the power and strength of free-will for a supernatural work, and of grace, which makes it supernatural, pleasing, to God, and worthy and meritorious of eternal life, are not from free-will, but from exciting and co-operating grace. When free-will has this, it is sufficiently able to believe freely, to love, and to work any supernatural work whatever. For free-will has for every work natural strength able to produce a free work; therefore these two causes concur here in the same work, one natural, viz., free-will, the other supernatural, viz., grace. Each, too, has its corresponding effect: the effect of grace is that it is a supernatural work, of free-will that it is free and the work of man. In the same way an infirm man is not only not strong enough, but wholly unable to walk, because it is a task beyond his strength; but he becomes able if he is given strength by a friend, or from some other source, and then he unites his own strength, however little it be, with that lent to him, and is able to walk. Still the strength that comes from without has to start him and begin his walking, and the whole force and energy with which he walks is to be found in the strength that is given him. That he tries to walk beyond his strength is not from himself but from without; but when it is once given, he puts forth his own strength and co-operates with it, and produces an effect commensurate to his efforts. In the same way free-will co-operates with exciting grace, and acts as a companion to it in every super- natural work in such way as its strength enables it.

We learn from this passage to recognise in every good work our own weakness, and to ascribe to Christ’s grace all the goodness and worth of what we do. S. Gregory (Morals, lib. xxii. c. 19), says: “Let no one think himself to have any virtue, even when he can do anything successfully; for if he be abandoned by the strength that cometh from above he will be suddenly overthrown helplessly on the very ground where he was boasting of his firm standing.”  S. Augustine (contra Julian, lib. ii. c. 8) commends the refutation of the Pelagians by S. Cyprian in the words: “They trust in their strength and exclaim that the perfection of their virtue is from themselves; but you, O Cyprian, reply that no one in his own strength is strong, but is safe only under the merciful indulgence of God.” The Psalmist, too, says the same thing (Ps 59:9): “My strength will I guard unto Thee,” meaning that he would lay it up in safety under his ward, hoping to over-come his enemies in God’s strength and not in his own, because God is the Fount of all virtue and strength. Cf. Ezek 29:3:5, where Pharaoh is forewarned of his fate for ascribing his power and success to himself.

Again, this passage teaches us to pray to God constantly that He would direct our thoughts, and inspire us with heavenly thoughts and desires, for such are the fount and beginning of all good works. This is beautifully expressed in the Collect for the Ninth Sunday after Trinity. S.Bernard (Serm. 32 in Cantic.) says learnedly and piously: “Not that we are sufficient of ourselves to think anything good as of ourselves; but our sufficiency is of God. When, therefore, we find evil thoughts in our heart, they are our own; if we find a good thought, it is the word of God: Our heart utters the former and hears the latter. ‘I will hear,’ it says, ‘what the Lord God will say in me, for He shall speak peace to His people.’ So, then, he speaks in us peace, righteousness, godliness; we do not think such things of ourselves, but we hear them within ourselves; but murders, adulteties, thefts, blasphemies, and such things proceed from the heart: we do not hear them, we say them,” or at all events they are suggested to us by the devil.

2Co 3:6  Who also hath made us fit ministers of the new testament, not in the letter but in the spirit. For the letter killeth: but the spirit quickeneth.

Not in the letter but in the spirit. Not of the law, but of grace. I am a minister of the New Testament, but not in such a way that I bring tables of the law and of the covenant and its words, as did Moses in the Old Testament, but so that God may by my words inspire into you heavenly thoughts and desires. Cf. Augustine. (de Spirit. et Lit. c. iii.).

For the letter killeth. (1.) Chrysostom, Ambrose, Augustine (de Doctr. Christ. lib. iii. c. 4) explain this to be that the letter of the law convicts and condemns them to death who do not obey this letter, i.e., the precepts of the law relating to righteousness and charity. For this letter of the law enacts that whosoever breaketh the law is to die the death. (2.) S. Augustine gives another explanation. If you abuse the literal meaning, and neglect the sense of Scripture, and fall into error, as Jews and heretics do, then the letter killeth. (3.) When metaphorical sayings are taken literally (S. Augustine, ibid. c. v., vi.). (4.) When types of the new law contained in the old are understood to be still binding in their literal meaning (ibid. Cf. also Origen, contra Celsum, lib. iii.; Didymus, de Spirit. Sanct. lib. iii.). The Fathers in general frequently say that the letter, i.e., the literal meaning of the law killeth, but the spirit, i.e., the spiritual and allegorical meaning, giveth life. This is because it is not now lawful to Christians to observe the ceremonies and ritual precepts of the old law literally under penalty of death; but they are bound to do what those ceremonies allegorically signified if they wish to attain the life of grace and glory. (5.) S. Augustine again in the same place says that the letter, both of the old and new law, killeth if separated from the spirit; but that this passage refers to the old law alone, because Moses, when he gave the law, gave only the letter, but Christ gave the spirit and the letter, and from this he lays down that the law cannot be fulfilled by the strength of nature alone, but requires the grace of Christ. (6.) S. Augustine once more and Anselm say that the letter killeth by giving occasion to sin; for the law is the occasion by which concupiscence is kindled and sin produced which kills the soul. This sense and the first are the most literal.

But the Spirit quickeneth. (1.) The Spirit gives to the soul the supernatural life of grace and charity. (2.) He gives motives and strength for good works and for fulfilling the law. (3.) He guides us towards that eternal life promised by the law to them that keep it. Of this life and Spirit the Apostles were sent by Christ as ministers.

2Co 3:7  Now if the ministration of death, engraven with letters upon stones, was glorious (so that the children of Israel could not steadfastly behold the face of Moses, for the glory of his countenance), which is made void:

If the ministration of death . . . was glorious. If the ministration and promulgation of the old law, which threatened and brought death and condemnation, were glorious, i.e., accompanied by thundering and the sound of the heavenly trumpet, by an earth-quake and the splendour of Moses’ countenance: if the old law, engraven on tables of stone, was so gloriously promulgated, how much more glorious is the Gospel?

Paul here calls the old law the attendant and lictor of death, because it could indeed slay them that broke it but not give life to them that kept it. From this we may gather that S. Paul is writing against the false apostles, and that they were Jews who were endeavouring to blend the old and the new law. He therefore silences the Jews by depreciating the old law as the law of condemnation, and by extolling himself and his fellow-apostles as the ministers of the evangelical law of righteousness and the life of the Spirit. Cf. in this connection Matthew chapters 10 and 11.

So that the children of Israel could not stedfastly behold the face of Moses for the glory of his countenance. God as a sun so brilliantly shone on the face of Moses on the mount that his face shone as a second sun. The Vulgate rendering of Ex 34:29 is that “he wist not that his face was horned while He talked with him,” where the “horns” of course refer to the appearance of rays of light.

Which is made void. This bright glory left Moses when he was dying, to signify that the old law would fade away with its glory when the new came.

2Co 3:8  How shall not the ministration of the spirit be rather in glory?

How shall not the ministration of the spirit be rather in glory? This glory of the evangelical law of righteousness was seen in the mighty wind and the different tongues of fire which, when the new law was promulgated, glorified the Apostles before all nations. It was seen too in the gifts of tongues, of prophecy, &c., which used to descend visibly on Christians, as appears from 1 Cor 14:26; even as now the graces, gifts and virtues of the Holy Spirit are received invisibly.

2Co 3:9  For if the ministration of condemnation be glory, much more the ministration of justice aboundeth in glory.

 

Monday, July 25: Byles Commentary on Today’s First Reading (2 Cor 4:7-15)

Brief Summary of 2 Cor 4:7-15: In this passage St. Paul begins to declare the greatness of his ministry in another way. He has shown how great a dignity it is to have the glory of the apostleship; he now proceeds to rejoice that he is made a partner with our Lord, not only in His glory, but also in His suffering; without which suffering that glory would be imperfect, because it would not be sure to be attributed solely to God.

2Co 4:7  But we have this treasure in earthen vessels, that the excellency may be of the power of God and not of us.

treasure; that is, the light with which he enlightens others. In earthen vessels has been explained in two ways: either (1) our bodies, which are formed of the dust of the ground (Gen 2:7; 3:19); or (2) our whole persons, as being weak and unworthy of such dignity ; as Isaiah 64:8 says, “Thou art our Father, and we are clay.”

2Co 4:8  In all things we suffer tribulation: but are not distressed. We are straitened: but are not destitute.
2Co 4:9  We suffer persecution: but are not forsaken. We are cast down: but we perish not.

God wishes His apostle to be despised and persecuted, in order that it may be quite evident that the power of the ministry is derived only from God, and not from St. Paul himself.

The four clauses in these two verses probably correspond to no exact distinction of different modes of suffering.

Verse 8. not distressed. The word expresses the situation of a man who is in a difficulty which offers no way of escape. It implies that while those who trust only in the world have no remedy if they are in tribulation from the world, those who trust in God are never left without resource. For if the world afflicts them, they still have a means of escape by God’s help.

straitened, but not destitute. This would be better translated “in want, but not in absolute want”.

Verse 9. cast down, or rather “struck down,” i.e., to the danger of death.

2Co 4:10  Always bearing about in our body the mortification of Jesus, that the life also of Jesus may be made manifest in our bodies.
2Co 4:11  For we who live are always delivered unto death for Jesus’ sake: that the life also of Jesus may be made manifest in our mortal flesh.
2Co 4:12  So then death worketh in us: but life in you.

St. Paul accepts all his sufferings not only with patience, but with eagerness; because he recognizes in them an opportunity of meriting, and a pledge of receiving, future glory with our Lord; and because he wishes to offer them for the salvation of his converts.

Verse 10. mortifcation. That is “putting to death.”’ It includes both the actual renunciation of all sin, as he said in writing to the Romans, “Reckon that you are dead to sin, but alive unto God” (Rom 6:11); and more especially the patient endurance of the sufferings which he continually had to undergo, and through which he hoped to obtain a share in our Lord’s resurrection (cf. Phil 3:8-12).
See note on 2 Cor 1:5.

Made manifest. This is chiefly the case in the resurrection of our bodies, which are made to live with the life of our Lord, even as He said, “Because I live, ye shall live also.”

Verse 11. we who live, i.e., as long as our life on earth lasts. Are always delivered unto death; that is, ”are always being delivered.” St Paul’s life was perpetual martyrdom; as the Psalmist says, “For thy sake we are killed all the day long” (Ps 44:23); or as St. Paul said himself, “I die daily” (1 Cor 15:31). This martyrdom is quite apart from the actual danger of death, in which St. Paul has often found himself (cf. 2 Cor 1:8-9; Acts 14:18, &c.).

Death worketh in us, but life in you; that is, suffeiings of mind and body, equivalent to death, continually have dominion over me. Though you do not indeed share these sufferings, yet by virtue of them (which I offer for your welfare) you are made partakers of the spiritual life to which they lead.

2Co 4:13  But having the same spirit of faith, as it is written: I believed, for which cause I have spoken; we also believe. For which cause we speak also:
2Co 4:14  Knowing that he who raised up Jesus will raise us up also with Jesus and place us with you.

St. Paul shows that the power to endure his sufferings rests only upon the certainty of faith, infused into his heart by the Holy Ghost, and assuring him of eternal life in our Lord.

Verse 13. The same, that is, the same as that of the Psalmist; for though the object of faith has become more fully manifested, yet the Spirit and the faith are the same.

Spirit. It is not clear whether by this word we are to understand the Holy Ghost, who imparts the faith, or the quality or virtue of faith itself, which is imparted.

I believed. (Ps 116:10.) The saints of the Old Testament had divine faith, and confessed their faith (cf. Heb 11 ).

Verse 14. knowing, that is, with the certainty of faith, for divine faith is the most certain form of knowledge.

With Jesus, that is, to receive the same glory as our Lord. The living members cannot be separated from their Head, who has said, “Where I am, there also shall my minister be” (John 12:26).

2Co 4:15  For all things are for your sakes: that the grace, abounding through many, may abound in thanksgiving unto the glory of God.

All things are for your sakes. These words explain the last clause of the preceding verse. He can well couple them with himself, because he does and suffers all things for their good.

That the grace abounding through many. . . . This clause probably means, ”that the grace having abounded by means of many may cause the thanksgiving to abound unto the glory of God.”

Through many. St. Paul, having said that all his sufferings were endured for their sakes, does not wish to seem to assume to himself all the merit for the grace they had received, and therefore he adds these words, implying that the prayers of all the members of the Corinthian Church had had a share in obtaining grace for them. Some commentators, however, take these words with “the thanksgiving” thus: “that the abundant grace may cause thanksgiving to abound througli many;” that is to say, that all who receive the grace may join in giving thanks for it.

Monday, July 25: Cornelius a Lapide’s Commentary on Today’s First Reading (2 Cor 4:7-15)

At the end of this post I’ve included a few suggested readings on 2 Corinthians.

2Co 4:7  But we have this treasure in earthen vessels, that the excellency may be of the power of God and not of us.

But we have this treasure. The treasure is the ministry and preaching of the Gospel entrusted to him by God. Cf. ver. 1 and vers. 5 and 6.

In earthen vessels. (1.) In a body of dust frail and fragile. Our body is as an earthenware vessel; for as an earthen vessel is nothing but clay baked in the fire, so is our body nothing but earth made solid by the heat of the soul. Take away the soul, and the body returns to the dust whence it came. Cf. Ps 103:14. Or, (2.) in earthen vessels means in ourselves; for though we are Apostles, still we are men, frail and fashioned from the dust, and, like earthen vessels, are worthless, weak, and contemptible, exposed to injuries at the hands of all. This explanation is favoured by the words that follow: “We are troubled on every side,” &c. So in 1 Cor 1:27, it was said that God had chosen the Apostles as the foolish, and weak, and base things of the world; and also in 1 Cor 2:1, Paul said that he had come to the Corinthians, not with excellency of speech or of wisdom, but in weakness, and fear, and trembling ; and again, in 1 Cor 4:9, he expresses the same idea.

Origen (Hom. in Numer.) symbolically interprets this treasure as the grace of the Holy Spirit hidden in earthen vessels, i.e., in the rude, unpolished, and unadorned words of the law and the Gospel.

That the excellency may be of the power of God and not of us. God wills me to have this treasure in an earthen vessel, in order that the excellency which is in me, and the fruit that I gather in the conversion of the heathen, may not be ascribed to me, but to the power of God and the grace of Christ.

2Co 4:8  In all things we suffer tribulation: but are not distressed. We are straitened: but are not destitute.

In all things we suffer tribulation: but not distressed. Not made anxious. Physically he was distressed, hemmed in, and pressed down, but in the midst of adversity the Apostle’s mind was serene and lofty. So, in Ps 4:1, David says. “Thou hast enlarged me when I was in distress.”

We are straitened: but we are notdestitute. The Latin Version gives “We are in want, but not destitute,” or, as Ambrose, Theophylact, Erasmus, and Cajetan explain it: We are pressed with want, but not oppressed. There is a similar play on words in the Greek. Poverty gives sufficiency, nay, plenty, to a soul that is patient, wise, serene, and fixed on God. To say nothing of Christian writers, this was taught by Favorinus, who says. “It is true what wise men have said as the result of their experience, that they who have much want much, and that indigence takes its rise from abundance, and not from want. Much more is desired in order to guard the abundance you already have. Whoever, therefore, has great riches, and wishes to take forethought and guard against need or loss, needs loss, not gain, and should have less, that less may be lost.”

The Greek may also be rendered: We are without guidance, and are perplexed in the midst of our evils and difficulties; still we are not overcome by them, nor by our anxiety and weariness. We do not despair, but we hope for, and we find counsel, help, and deliverance in God, and so we are conquerors. This explanation is nearer to the Greek α̉πόρια, which denotes, not only bodily distress, but mental, viz., want of counsel, doubt, and perplexity, when the mind, seeing itself surrounded by difficulties, is at a stand-still, and knows not what to do. But God succours the Apostles and their successors in these straits, and points out a way of escape. S. Xavier and Gaspar Barzæus found this true in their work among the Indians, and testified that in every difficulty the Holy Spirit taught them more than all doctors or wise men could have done,

2Co 4:9  We suffer persecution: but are not forsaken. We are cast down: but we perish not.

We suffer persecution: but are not forsaken. S. Gregory of Nyssa (de Beatitud.), explaining the last of the Beatitudes, “Blessed are they that suffer persecution,” acutely and piously weighs the meaning of the word persecution, which etymologically points to some running, or rather running before. He puts before our eyes a holy man and tribulation, like two runners running side by side. When the saint does not give place to tribulation, he says that he goes before it, as victorious over it, and that tribulation follows hard after him, and is, therefore, called persecution, not consecution, for it follows after but does not reach the holy man. He says that this word points out that the saints, through patience, run with great swiftness for the prize of glory, display their vigour and strength most brightly in the midst of persecutions. He goes on: “Martyrdom shows us the arena, and marks out the course to be run by faith; for ‘persecution’ denotes an ardent desire for swiftness, nay, it even indicates the winning of the prize; for who can be victor in the race save he who leaves his competitor behind? Since, therefore, he that has an enemy behind, seeking to deprive him of the prize, has one ‘persecuting’ him—and such are they who finish the course of martyrdom on behalf of their holy religion, who are persecuted by their enemies, but not overtaken. Christ seems in these last words to put before us the most glorious crown of bliss, when He says, ‘Blessed are they that suffer persecution for righteousness’ sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.’”

We are cast down: but we perish not. There is here an allusion to the earthen vessels of ver. 7. Though, he seems to say, we are earthen vessels, and cast down, as it were, from the most lofty towers of persecutions, yet are we not shattered. We are so hardened by the fire of charity that we cannot break. Some add, “We are humiliated, but not confounded,” but the words are wanting in the Greek and Latin copies.

2Co 4:10  Always bearing about in our body the mortification of Jesus, that the life also of Jesus may be made manifest in our bodies.

Always bearing about in our body the mortification of Jesus. The death of Jesus, according to S. Ambrose, but the Greek is rather dying or mortification. The dying meant is the suffering of death like to the suffering of Jesus Christ, which is the road to and the beginning of death, a long and living death. This is the suffering spoken in vers. 8 and 9, suffering inflicted from without, though it may be extended also to any voluntary mortification of mind and body. It is called “the dying of Jesus,” (1.) because it is borne by His example; (2.) because it is undergone for His faith; (3.) because we, His servants, bear about in our body, by a kind of representation, the very death and Passion of Christ, just as slaves carry the badge and token of their master. Cf. Gal 6:17. So in Heb 11:26, it is said that Moses bore the reproach of Christ, and preferred it to the riches of Egypt (see note there). “There is no doubt,” says Ambrose, “that in His martyrs Christ is slain, and that in them that suffer chains or scourgings for the faith, Christ suffers the same.” Pau1 gives here the cause why, in the midst of trouble and distress, he is not crushed and destroyed, but is instead raised up and quickened. It is because by tribulation he is made like Christ crucified and smitten, and then raised and quickened; and, therefore, he rejoices in tribulation.

Salvianus (de Vero Jud. et Provid. Dei, lib. i.) says that no one is miserable who is content in the midst of misery, rather he is happy, because it is of his own devotion that he lives in misery. Toil, fasting, poverty, humility, weakness, persecution are not grievous to those that endure them, but to those that kick at them. Among the heathen, Fabricius, Fabius, Regulus, Camillus found poverty and affliction no burden. “No one,” he says, “is made miserable by other people’s opinion but by his own, and therefore false judgment cannot make them miserable whose conscience approves them. . . . None, I think, are happier than they who act according to their own knowledge and wish. Religious are of low estate, but they wish it so; they are poor, but pleased with poverty; they have no ambition, for they scorn it; they mourn, but they rejoice to mourn; they are weak, but they delight in weakness. ‘When I am weak,’ says the Apostle, ‘then am I strong.’ And so, no matter what may happen to those that are religious indeed, they are to be called happy. None are more joyous in the midst of all kinds of adversity than those who are in a state of their own choosing.”

That the life also of Jesus may be made manifest in our bodies. This is that future life when we shall rise with Christ to glory (ver. 14); and also the present life, when, after the pattern of the risen body of Christ, our afflicted bodies become more lively through the operation of the Spirit, on account of our hope of the resurrection and through the power of God, which delivers us from so many dangers every day and strengthens us against them.

2Co 4:11  For we who live are always delivered unto death for Jesus’ sake: that the life also of Jesus may be made manifest in our mortal flesh.

For we who live are always delivered unto death. In the midst of a life such as ours, we are exposed to constant danger of death and to every kind of trouble.

The thought, then, that in all our tribulation we are made like to Christ in His Passion and resurrection is what animates, comforts, and strengthens us. As in our afflicted and mortified body the death of Christ is visibly set forth, so in its deliverance, salvation, and strengthening do we see the life and resurrection of Christ. When we are thrown to the lions and other wild beasts, to be, as all expect, surely devoured by them, they spare us and fawn upon us; when we are cast into the fire it shrinks from us, nay, with genial warmth refreshes us; when we are thrown into the sea to be drowned, the sea bears us up and preserves us from all hurt; when I was stoned at Lystra and left for dead, I was soon after found to be alive. In all these and similar persecutions and afflictions I have fellowship with, I am made like, and I set forth the suffering, death, and burial of Christ, which by the power of God, were but the glorious prelude to the life of bliss. And for this reason I am strong, nay, I rejoice and glory in all my tribulations; for they give me a sure and certain hope of an eternal life of glory. “Therefore,” says Œcumenius, “was Christ permitted by God to be delivered to death, that His resurrection might be made manifest to all. He who daily raises us certainty raised up Himself also, and will in good time raise us up to eternal life.”

2Co 4:12  So then death worketh in us: but life in you.

So then death worketh in us, but life in you. Your spiritual life, your salvation is produced through faith and grace, but ours by the death of our body. The passion and death of the Apostles has been the life of the Church. “The blood of the martyrs is the seed of the Church,” says Tertullian. Chrysostom gives a different explanation: “You live in peace and suffer no such persecutions for the faith as I do; and so you seem to live and I seem to die daily.”

2Co 4:13  But having the same spirit of faith, as it is written: I believed, for which cause I have spoken; we also believe. For which cause we speak also:

But having the same spirit of faith. As David was hemmed in with dangers, and yet was delivered by God alone from them all, and said. “I believed,” i.e., I believe that God will always be true to His promises and deliver me, so too do we believe and hope, and boldly profess that our help and strength, our deliverance and resurrection have been promised by God, and will most surely be wrought out.

Ps. 116., alluded to here by S. Paul, is a Eucharistic psalm, in which David gives God thanks for his safe deliverance. Hence it begins with, “I believed.” In other words: I, David, in the midst of dangers and adversity, when hunted by Saul and his men, when my life was sought by Achish and the Philistines, when I was so placed that I seemed to be deprived of all human help, and to be in desperate straits, yet put my trust in God, who had promised me safety and moreover the kingdom, by the mouth of Samuel. Wherefore, I said boldly that I believed, without doubting that God would deliver me from all these evils, and would bring me to His promised kingdom, as, in fact, He has delivered me, and has set me on the throne. “Right dear in the sight of the Lord is the death of His Saints.” My death is of great account and great price in the sight of the Lord. God, therefore, carefully watches that my death, or that of His other Saints may not be allowed, except for good cause and great gain, and He wonderfully guards us and delivers us. This, I, David, found in the cave and at other times when I was shut in by the bands of Saul and of my other enemies, and therefore with praise and thanksgiving do I exclaim, What return shall I make unto the Lord for all the benefits that He hath done unto me? I will receive the cup of salvation, of my many safe deliverances—that cup which is a witness and public profession of God’s goodness to me, and of my frequent escapes from danger—of God’s salvation will I take.

Observe here that (1.) the Jews had three kinds of sacrifices, the whole burnt-offering, the sin-offering, and the peace-offering. This last was a sacrifice of salvation, offered for the peace and salvation of any individual or family, or of the whole people, whether already obtained or to be obtained. (2.) In every Sacrifice a libation was made to God, just as if the sacrifice were God’s feast. The cup, therefore, of salvation is the cup of wine which was offered to God, poured out and drunk by the offerers. (3.) This cup was a figure of the Eucharistic chalice, which makes us not only mindful of the salvation wrought by Christ, but also partakers of it.

Tropologically: this “cup” is martyrdom and affliction, and the obstinate resistance that we make to sin, even unto death, says S. Basil, in his comments on Ps. cxvi. For Paul eagerly longed for martyrdom, and hence he speaks not of the cross, but of the cup of salvation, as though he should say: I will readily drink whatever the Lord may have given to me, even though it be the martyr’s death; and therefore knowing, says S. Augustine, that martyrdom is not within my own power, but depends on the grace of God, I will call upon that grace, and will publicly preach and celebrate the name of the Lord. Similarly, Christ speaks of His Passion as a cup, and bids His Apostles and martyrs and all His members drink of it (S. Matt 20:22, and Matt 26:42). As, then, every Christian offers to Christ, His Deliverer, the Eucharistic cup and sacrifice as a thanksgiving, so does Paul offer his sufferings, his afflictions, and death to Christ, as a most pleasing cup. So, too, have all the martyrs, by openly professing their faith and dying for it, offered to Christ the cup of their martyrdom.

I believed. I believed, and I still believe. This is a continuous act of belief, and not merely one that is inchoate, especially so since David speaks of the person of Paul and of us all, and puts his own belief forward as one deserving our imitation.

2Co 4:14  Knowing that he who raised up Jesus will raise us up also with Jesus and place us with you.

Will raise up us also . . . and place us with you. Shall present us with you in glory. He says out of modesty, “shall present us with you,” not “you with us,” because the Corinthians were the cause and object of his preaching, and so also of his glory.

2Co 4:15  For all things are for your sakes: that the grace, abounding through many, may abound in thanksgiving unto the glory of God.

That the grace, abound through many,  may abound in thanksgiving unto the glory of God. I.e., through many giving thanks. The Syriac renders it, “that since grace abounds through many, thanksgiving may be proportionately multiplied to the glory of God.”

SUGGESTED READINGS: All books listed are by Catholic authors. One should not infer that my listing them here is an endorsement of their particular views (e.g., Murphy-O’Connors theory that 2 Cor. is a composite document of several shorter letters of St Paul).

SECOND CORINTHIANS. By Fr. Thomas D. Stegman, S.J. Part of the new Catholic Commentary On Sacred Scripture.

SECOND CORINTHIANS (Sacra Pagina Series). By Fr. Jan Lambrecht, S.J. Somewhat technical, not for the beginner.

THE FIRST AND SECOND LETTERS OF ST PAUL TO THE CORINTHIANS. By Dr. Scott Hahn and Curtis Mitch. Part of the Ignatius Catholic Study Bible). A good introductory commentary.

KEYS TO SECOND CORINTHIANS. By Fr. Jerome Murphy-O’Connor, O.P. Very expensive, scholarly, thorough. Not for the average reader.

THE THEOLOGY OF THE SECOND LETTER TO THE CORINTHIANS. By Fr. Jerome Murphy-O’Connor, O.P. Scholarly, not for the average reader.

LECTURES ON SECOND CORINTHIANS (Online). By St Thomas Aquinas. This work, available online for free, still continues to exert influence 8 centuries after it production. The medieval style may not appeal to many.

ST JOHN CHRYSOSTOM’S HOMILIES ON SECOND CORINTHIANS (Online).

NOTES ON CORINTHIANS, GALATIANS, ROMANS. By Fr. Joseph Rickaby, S.J. Somewhat dated. Originally published in 1898. slightly technical. Rickaby was a prolific author and a noted authority on St Thomas Aquinas.

THE SECOND EPISTLE OF ST PAUL TO THE CORINTHIANS. By R. D. Byles. Somewhat dated. Originally published in 1897. A very basic commentary.

AN EXPOSITION OF THE EPISTLE OF ST PAUL (Vol 2). By Bernardine de Picquigny. The author ((1633-1709) was a Capuchin monk who is also sometimes called Bernardin de Piconio. This volume contains commentary on 2 Corinthians, Galatians, Ephesians, Philippians, Colossians. The Catholic Encyclopedia notes that his 3 volume exposition of St Paul “has ever been popular among scripture scholars.”

Sunday, June 19: Cornelius a Lapide’s Commentary on 2 Cor 13:11-13 for Sunday Mass, Solemnity of the Most Holy Trinity

2Co 13:11  For the rest, brethren, rejoice, be perfect, take exhortation, be of one mind, have peace. And the God of grace and of love shall be with you.

Be perfect. The Greek word used here denotes to mend a torn garment.  S. Paul is alluding to the vices, evil habits, and especially the lukewarmness of the Corinthians. He says in effect: Make yourselves whole again, correct your old faults, curb the license of your lives, re-knit your severed friendship, union, and concord, so that you may have nothing to correct, nothing calling for punishment at my hands. Or, again, the word used is one bidding them agree amongst themselves and with their head, even as members in a body agree with each other under a common head. Cf. 1 Cor 12:16, note.

Take exhortation. Exhort one another to better things (Latin version). Have consolation in mutual agreement (Vatablus).

Be of one mind. Have the same convictions, the same will: be of one mind and one soul.

Live in peace, and the God of love and peace shall be with you. God is the author and giver of peace, and is well pleased with peace: as its guardian, He will be with you (Anselm). Ediner, in his Life of Anselm, relates that he was wont to say that those who in this life conform their wills to the will of others, so far as righteousness allows, merit at God’s hands to have Him conform Himself after this life to their will, and live at peace with them. On the other, those who quarrel here with the wills of others will hereafter find no one to conform his will to theirs. It is the just rule of God’s justice, that with whatever measure we mete it shall be measured to us again. God acts in the same way in rewarding other virtues and punishing other sins.

2Co 13:12  Salute one another with a holy kiss.  All the saints salute you.

Salute one another with an holy kiss. What was this kiss? Xenophon (Cyropœdia, lib. i.) and Herodotus (Clio) testify that it was a heathen custom to salute one another with a kiss at meeting, in token of friendship. Suetonius says that Tiberius tried in vain to put an end to the practice. The Jews had the same custom. Cf. 2 Sam 20:9. Judas, too, was but conforming to what was usual when he betrayed Christ with a kiss. It was a still more solemn and common custom with the early Christians, both on other occasions, and especially when they met for Holy Communion, to salute one another with a kiss, or other familiar salutation, saying, “Peace be with you.” This was a symbol of goodwill towards those about to communicate, of the forgiveness of all injury, and of pure charity. Cf. Cyril (Cat. Myst. 5). Tertullian (de Orat.) calls this kiss “the symbol of prayer.”

S. Chrysostom gives the mystical meaning to be, that through our mouth enters the body of Christ. We, therefore, kiss it, just as the early Christians, out of reverence for the sacred building, used to kiss the doors of the church. He gives directions how to guard this mouth against all that defiles, and to consecrate it to the praises of God. In some churches, even now, it is the custom for the canons to give this kiss before the Holy Communion. When some men, though the sexes sat apart, secretly crept in among the women and kissed them, the kissing the tablet of peace, as it is called, took the place of the kiss of peace.

A holy kiss, therefore, is not one that is heathen, carnal, fraudulent, but one that is devout, pure, and sincere, as a Christian’s should be (Chrysostom). Cf. S. Augustine (Serm. 83 de Diversis) and Baronius (Annals, A.D. 45). The author of the work “on Friendship,” included among the writings of S. Augustine, gives four reasons why this holy kiss is given: (1.) as a sign of reconciliation between those who have been enemies; (2.) in sign of peace, as in the sacrifice of the Mass; (3.) in sign of joy and of renewed love, as when a friend returns after a long absence; (4.) in sign of Catholic communion, as when a guest is welcomed with a kiss. But in all such matters the custom of the place is to be followed, and care must be taken that this kiss do not degenerate into a merely sensual delight.

2Co 13:13The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ and the charity of God and the communication of the Holy Ghost be with you all. Amen.

The grace of the Lord, &c. Chrysostom, Ambrose, and Theodoret point out that this passage proves that the Holy Trinity is consubstantial, or of the same nature, power, and operation, especially in the work of our redemption, which is more particularly in the Apostle’s mind. Ambrose says. “In the Trinity there is a unity of power, perfecting the whole of our salvation. For the love of God sent His Son to save us, by whose grace we are saved; and that we might possess this saving grace, He makes us sharers of His Holy Spirit.”

Observe 1. that by the phrase “the love of God,” the name of God is appropriated to the Father. For the Father is the fount of Godhead, and the Origin of the other Persons of the Blessed Trinity.

2. Love is fitly attributed to the Father, grace to the Son, and fellowship to the Holy Spirit: for from the Father and His love our redemption took its rise. “The Father so loved the world that He gave His Only-Begotten Son” to die for us. By the Son came grace, inasmuch as, when we merited nothing but evil, He redeemed us by His death, and merited all grace for us. By the Holy Spirit we are made partakers of grace and of the gifts of grace. Anselm explains “the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ” to mean that our sins are freely forgiven, and salvation given us; “the love of God” to be the love of the Father in freely giving His Son for us; “the fellowship of the Holy Spirit” to be the co-operation of the Holy Spirit with the Father and the Son in the work of man’s salvation.

3. Fellowship may be taken actively or passively. Passively, it is identical with participation, and the meaning would then be: May the Holy Spirit be given to you, that you may be partakers of His grace and its gifts, may be changed into the Holy Spirit not essentially but participatively (Theophylact). Actively, the meaning is: May the Holy Spirit, who has fellowship with the Father and the Son in essence, in love, in power, and working, also have fellowship with them in communicating to you His gracious love, and, the gifts attached to it. Especially may He cause you to lay aside all divisions, and be joined together in mutual love, inasmuch as He is the bond of union between the Father and the Son, and therefore between all the faithful, who partake of the same Spirit and are united in His love.  S. Paul, therefore, wishes for them the gift of fellowship, to take away all divisions.

4. Grace, love, fellowship may be either created or uncreated. Grace and love uncreate are the loving-kindness of the Father and the Son towards us. Thus we are said to find grace, i.e., goodwill, favour, in the eyes of God. E.g., in Tit_2:11, we read: “The grace of God that bringeth salvation hath appeared,” viz., when out of His love for us He condescended to assume flesh for us. Similarly, the uncreated fellowship of the Holy Spirit is that communion or fellow-ship which He has with the Father and the Son, or that participation of Godhead, and of all the Divine attributes which the Father and the Son communicate to the Holy Spirit, and He in him to us. Created grace is that which is infused into us to make us pleasing to God; created charity is that by which we love God; created fellowship of the Holy Spirit is the participation of His gifts given to us.

If, then, firstly we take this verse of uncreated grace, love, and fellowship of the Holy Ghost, the sense is this: May the grace, or the loving-kindness of Christ, and the love that the Father has for us, and the fellowship, or that bond of love by which the Holy Spirit shares all the Divine attributes with the Father and the Son, and then communicates them to us, be and remain with you, to give you, and ever give you, fellowship in that love and all other good gifts of God.

If, secondly, we take it of created grace, love, and fellowship of the Holy Spirit, all of which flow from their uncreated originals, then the sense will be: May the grace which Christ gives, and the love bestowed by the Father, and the gifts communicated by the Holy Spirit be and remain always with you; and especially that mutual and brotherly love, which of all things is the brightest, the most pleasing to God, and the most necessary to you, 0 Corinthians, viz., the fellowship of the Holy Ghost. Similarly, in Rom 5:5 love has both meanings.

Give us ever Thy grace, 0 Jesu Christ, our Redeemer; give us ever thy love, 0 Father, our Creator and Glorifier; give us ever fellowship with Thee, 0 Holy Ghost, our justifier; that, in time and eternity we may love Thee and glorify Thee, God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Ghost, One God, Divine Trinity, Triune Eternity. What have I in heaven but Thee, and what is there that I can desire on earth in comparison of Thee? God is the Strength of my heart and my Portion for ever.