Ambrosiaster

In his own words on 2 Corinthians

• 2 Corinthians 1:1

  Freed from all anxiety about the Corinthians, Paul confidently declares that he is an apostle of the Lord. In the first letter he said that he was "called an apostle," though he was not approved of by those who had been lured away from his teaching. In order to affirm that his apostleship has been ratified, he adds that he has been made an apostle by the will of God. He writes in association with Timothy, from whom he has heard the good news of the changes which have taken place at Corinth, and he associates the people there with believers in other churches, in order to confirm to them that they have made progress.

  COMMENTARY ON PAUL'S EPISTLES

• 2 Corinthians 1:2

  Since the gift of God and of Christ is one and the same, Paul wants them to be partakers in the grace of God, that is, in the grace of Jesus Christ.

  COMMENTARY ON PAUL'S EPISTLES

• 2 Corinthians 1:3

  Paul always speaks in this way, indicating the personhood of the Father and the Son, even though they are of one substance. Now he is giving much relief to people who had been grieved by his rebuke, for when they hear that God is not just the Father of creation but the Father of mercies as well, they will have hope and be assured that they have been rebuked so that they may find the mercy of God, once they have mended their ways. Through repentance they were being born again and made anew, which was not just a pardon but a restoration of their previous state of existence. He puts "mercies" in the plural because of their many sins, his aim being to console those who have been grieved on account of their faults.

  COMMENTARY ON PAUL'S EPISTLES

• 2 Corinthians 1:4

  Paul mentions two kinds of consolation. One is the sort by which people who are suffering distress unjustly on account of the name of Christ find consolation in being set free. The other is the consolation of those who, when they are grieved because of sins, receive consolation from the fact that hope of forgiveness is promised to them when they mend their ways. This happens amid a community of those who have received consolation from God and been rescued from distress.

  COMMENTARY ON PAUL'S EPISTLES

• 2 Corinthians 1:5

  It is clear that Christ himself, for whose sake we are suffering, is present with us, consoling us and rescuing us from trouble by his divine intervention.

  COMMENTARY ON PAUL'S EPISTLES

• 2 Corinthians 1:6

  Because they were suffering persecutions from unbelievers for the sake of believers, they would be set free by God's help. This was viewed as a consolation to believers, so that they would not desert their faith because of such a stumbling block. The injuries suffered by the apostles were a temptation to believers to abandon their faith. When they saw the preachers overcome by force, they were inclined to wonder whether the promise of Christ might be an empty one.

  COMMENTARY ON PAUL'S EPISTLES

• 2 Corinthians 1:8

  Paul wanted the Corinthians to know what evils he was enduring for the sake of their salvation. That way, they would not take it too badly if their own errors were admonished by people who were enduring such harsh treatment for their sake.

  COMMENTARY ON PAUL'S EPISTLES

• 2 Corinthians 1:9

  Paul means that there was such a violent upsurge of evil against preachers of the faith that death was staring them in the face. But God does not refuse his protection to people in extreme danger, especially when they belong to him. He rescued them when they were in deep despair. Their affliction was so great that they would not have withstood it if God had not been with them.

  COMMENTARY ON PAUL'S EPISTLES

• 2 Corinthians 1:12

  The boast of Paul's conscience was simplicity and sincerity, qualities which belong to God's teaching. In his first letter Paul had criticized teaching based on earthly wisdom, and he alludes to that again here. He accused preachers of that kind both because they preached according to the wisdom of the world and because they were doing it in order to make money. For that reason, Paul was unwilling to receive any payment from the Corinthians.

  COMMENTARY ON PAUL'S EPISTLES

• 2 Corinthians 1:13

  What Paul says is backed up by his actions. It is through actions that we learn what a person really thinks.

  COMMENTARY ON PAUL'S EPISTLES

• 2 Corinthians 1:14

  Paul asserts that his boasting over his obedient children is noticed and that this will be to their advantage on the day of judgment.

  COMMENTARY ON PAUL'S EPISTLES

• 2 Corinthians 1:15

  Therefore, it is not idle because he wanted to go and did not go; for he wants it to be understood that there are some among them for whose sake he did not fulfill his desire, so that, by their efforts, they may be purified.

  Commentary on 2 Corinthians

• 2 Corinthians 1:17

  Paul dismisses the charge that he cannot be trusted by telling the Corinthians that he did not change his mind lightly. He had good reasons for not doing what he had originally planned. When a spiritually minded person does not do what he intends to, it is because he has in mind something more providential for the salvation of someone's soul. The apostle did not carry out his original plan in order that the Corinthians might become better men and women. He delayed his coming specifically because there were some among them who had not purified themselves, and he was waiting for that to happen first. This is spiritual thinking. Carnal thinking, by contrast, makes changes of plan in order to suit personal desires, not in order to do what is beneficial.

  COMMENTARY ON PAUL'S EPISTLES

• 2 Corinthians 1:18

  This is what he says to the Galatians: If I have destroyed, I also rebuild, I appoint myself a transgressor (Galatians 2:18). Therefore, faithfully proclaim the teaching of God: for this is what deceivers do. Often, in order not to offend people, they omit what is true.

  Commentary on 2 Corinthians

• 2 Corinthians 1:19

  Competent preachers ought to be unambiguous about what they say. Say nothing that is not beneficial. Given that our human will often tends in ambivalent directions, Paul is insistent that he is not acting according to his will but according to what he knows will be helpful. In Christ, of course, this problem does not exist, because he always wills what is beneficial. Furthermore, Christ's will never changes and is never uncertain.

  COMMENTARY ON PAUL'S EPISTLES

• 2 Corinthians 1:20

  Paul means that the work of the Father and the Son is one. When the Father gives the Spirit, the Son gives him too, because the Holy Spirit comes from both of them. He is thinking of the Trinity here because he has been speaking about the perfecting of mankind. The whole sum of perfection is found in the Trinity.

  COMMENTARY ON PAUL'S EPISTLES

• 2 Corinthians 1:21

  Paul is saying that Christ confirms the Gentiles in the faith promised to the Jews, because he has made us both one.

  COMMENTARY ON PAUL'S EPISTLES

• 2 Corinthians 1:23

  Here Paul is addressing people who apparently wanted to reform but were not making much of an effort in that direction. It was to spare them until they pulled themselves together that he went elsewhere for the time being. Paul did not want them to think that he despised them as unworthy. Once they realized that, they would mend their ways, and then the apostle would come to visit them.

  COMMENTARY ON PAUL'S EPISTLES

• 2 Corinthians 1:24

  Paul says this because faith is not a matter of compulsion but of free will.

  COMMENTARY ON PAUL'S EPISTLES

• 2 Corinthians 2:1

  Paul was afraid that if he rebuked a few he would cause pain to many, because all the members of a body suffer when one of them is in pain.

  COMMENTARY ON PAUL'S EPISTLES

• 2 Corinthians 2:2

  Paul did not want to hurt the Corinthians, but he saw it as the necessary prelude to the joy which would come from their obedience.

  COMMENTARY ON PAUL'S EPISTLES

• 2 Corinthians 2:3

  The purification of the people is the apostle's joy.

  COMMENTARY ON PAUL'S EPISTLES

• 2 Corinthians 2:4

  It is obvious that when someone admonishes another and in the process he himself suffers more grief over it than the person being rebuked, he is not doing this in order to cause grief but to show what deep love he has for the other. Someone who rebukes another without feeling this way merely tramples on his feelings.

  COMMENTARY ON PAUL'S EPISTLES

• 2 Corinthians 2:5

  By "you all" Paul means the saints among the Corinthians. For they were divided into those who were saints and those who were not, but it is the former he is addressing here.

  COMMENTARY ON PAUL'S EPISTLES

• 2 Corinthians 2:7

  A person who is swallowed up in too much affliction will turn in desperation to committing sins. True repentance, on the other hand, is a turning away from sin. If this person repents, he will prove that he is sorry for what he has done.

  COMMENTARY ON PAUL'S EPISTLES

• 2 Corinthians 2:9

  As far as anyone can tell, Paul was commending the Corinthians for their obedience in other respects. They had already put matters right in their church administration, and now he was asking them to be obedient in this matter as well.

  COMMENTARY ON PAUL'S EPISTLES

• 2 Corinthians 2:10

  Paul is practicing what he preaches. He has the right to give orders, but he cannot refuse to do himself what he is asking others to do. In the first letter he condemned this man's crime, in the hope that everyone would loathe him for it, but now he wants him to be received back and prays that they will no longer show any anger toward him. The Corinthians evidently did not have the apostle's wisdom and did not understand that this ought to be done immediately.

  COMMENTARY ON PAUL'S EPISTLES

• 2 Corinthians 2:11

  Paul did not want this brother, being filled with sorrow and being rigorously excluded from the love of the church, to despair of himself. The devil, who is always subtle in his tricks, would then see that this man's mind was an easy prey, approach him and suggest that at least he should enjoy the things of the present, given that he has been denied any hope of future reward. Thus the brother would perish, being possessed by the devil, even though an opportunity for repentance had been given him.

  COMMENTARY ON PAUL'S EPISTLES

• 2 Corinthians 2:12

  Paul means that when he got to Troas to preach the gospel of Christ, there were people who received the message.

  COMMENTARY ON PAUL'S EPISTLES

• 2 Corinthians 2:13

  Lacking the consolation of Titus's presence Paul found the work unbearable, because there was so much opposition to him. For although some people had opened their hearts and accepted the Word of God, there were many unbelievers who reacted with impudent hostility. One lone voice could not teach the new believers and fend off these attacks at the same time. Therefore Paul said goodbye to those who had received him and left for Macedonia.

  COMMENTARY ON PAUL'S EPISTLES

• 2 Corinthians 2:14

  For God to lead us in triumph in Christ is to make us victors in the faith of Christ, so that when unbelief has been trodden underfoot, faith may have its trophy.

  COMMENTARY ON PAUL'S EPISTLES

• 2 Corinthians 2:15

  The aroma of the knowledge of God comes from Christ and through Christ. The reason why Paul said "aroma" was this: Some things are recognized by their smell, even though they are invisible. God, who is invisible, wishes to be understood through Christ. The preaching of Christ reaches our ears just as an aroma reaches our nostrils, bringing God and his only begotten Son right into the midst of his creation. A person who speaks the truth about Christ is just such a good aroma from God, worthy of praise from the one who believes. But one who makes erroneous assertions about Christ has a bad smell to believers and unbelievers alike.

  COMMENTARY ON PAUL'S EPISTLES

• 2 Corinthians 2:16

  To unbelievers the preaching of the cross is the smell of death. On hearing the Word of God they receive it as if it were a plague from which death knocks on the door. But to others it is the fragrance of life. To believers the Word of God is a messenger of eternal life. It affects them in accordance with their faith.

  COMMENTARY ON PAUL'S EPISTLES

• 2 Corinthians 2:17

  Paul is alluding to various false apostles who used to corrupt the Word of God through bad interpretation. Some of them were so zealous for Jewish tradition that they did not teach properly about Christ.

  COMMENTARY ON PAUL'S EPISTLES

• 2 Corinthians 3:2

  Evidence of salvation is an epistle in itself. The salvation of the Corinthians was in Paul's heart and in the hearts of those who were with him, for he was always thinking about it.

  COMMENTARY ON PAUL'S EPISTLES

• 2 Corinthians 3:3

  The things which are promised are eternal and are therefore said to be written with the Spirit of God, unlike temporal things written in ink, which fades and loses its power to record anything.

  COMMENTARY ON PAUL'S EPISTLES

• 2 Corinthians 3:4

  Paul's purpose was to show that the ancient prophets did not have this position of trust in God's eyes, because theirs was a preparing ministry.

  COMMENTARY ON PAUL'S EPISTLES

• 2 Corinthians 3:6

  The Spirit, who is the law of faith which is not written but which is contained in the rational soul, is life-giving, drawing to himself those who are guilty of mortal sin, so that they may be made righteous and cease altogether from sinning.

  COMMENTARY ON PAUL'S EPISTLES

• 2 Corinthians 3:8

  It is obvious that the grace of the law of faith is greater than that of the law of Moses. For although the law of Moses was intended to be beneficial, it became the law of death because it was flouted. Then, because there was no way it could make provision for sinners to be saved, there came the law of faith, which not only forgives sinners but also makes them righteous. There is therefore a great deal of difference between one law and the other.

  COMMENTARY ON PAUL'S EPISTLES

• 2 Corinthians 3:9

  Paul says this because there is more glory in salvation than there is in death. However justly a judge may condemn some-one, he earns more honor if he shows mercy, so that the guilty party is given an opportunity to mend his ways.

  COMMENTARY ON PAUL'S EPISTLES

• 2 Corinthians 3:10

  The law of Moses was not made glorious because of the splendor on his face. That splendor was of no benefit to anyone and did not have the reward of glory. It was rather a hindrance, not through its own fault but through the fault of sinners.

  COMMENTARY ON PAUL'S EPISTLES

• 2 Corinthians 3:11

  Paul does not deny that there was splendor in the law and on the face of Moses, but it did not endure because in his case it was a symbol and not a reality. The difference between the face of Moses and the glory of Christ is the same as the difference between the picture and the person whom it portrays.

  COMMENTARY ON PAUL'S EPISTLES

• 2 Corinthians 3:12

  Paul is saying that we have a hope of seeing glory, not the kind that was on the face of Moses but the kind which the three apostles saw on the mountain when the Lord revealed himself. Therefore we ought to repay the love of God as far as we can by being more fervent in our love for him, who by cleansing us from our sins has given us this confidence. Now our confidence ought to increase, because what we eventually see will be in proportion to what we now believe.

  COMMENTARY ON PAUL'S EPISTLES

• 2 Corinthians 3:14

  Their minds were hardened through unbelief, and this will not change until they convert and believe in Christ.

  COMMENTARY ON PAUL'S EPISTLES

• 2 Corinthians 3:17

  Because God is Spirit, he has given through Christ the law of the Spirit, which persuades us to believe in invisible things which our reasoning understands spiritually. This law gives liberty because it demands only faith, and because it believes what it does not see, we are able to be rescued from our condition.

  COMMENTARY ON PAUL'S EPISTLES

• 2 Corinthians 4:1

  Paul attributes his perseverance not to human merit but to the mercy of God, which first cleanses a person, then makes him righteous, adopts him as a son of God and endows him with a glory like the glory of God's own Son.

  COMMENTARY ON PAUL'S EPISTLES

• 2 Corinthians 4:2

  This is really an invitation. Just while he had been speaking about himself and his associates, Paul is now exhorting the Corinthians to lead a better life.

  COMMENTARY ON PAUL'S EPISTLES

• 2 Corinthians 4:3

  Unbelief casts darkness over the splendor of the power of God. This is especially true in the case of the Jews.

  COMMENTARY ON PAUL'S EPISTLES

• 2 Corinthians 4:4

  The God of this world is said of the worldly-minded, because they, being hostile to the faith of Christ, blind the minds of infidels, so that they do not see the truth of the glorious gospel of Christ. Therefore, this is what they desire. For since they are malicious people and understand the truth, they say it is false, and in doing so, they assist themselves, in order that they may not believe what they do not want to believe. However, they assert that Christ, being the image of God, is only corporeal: and leaving aside his deeds, they only mention his flesh, of which Isaiah said: He has blinded their eyes, so that they may not see; and he has closed their ears, so that they may not hear up to this very day (Isaiah 6:10).

  Commentary on 2 Corinthians

• 2 Corinthians 4:5

  In expressing himself humbly, Paul spoke in a way which was designed to show that he was not preaching the gospel for his own advantage but for the glory of the Lord Christ, to whom he is obedient.

  COMMENTARY ON PAUL'S EPISTLES

• 2 Corinthians 4:7

  By treasure, Paul meant the sacrament of God in Christ, which is made manifest to believers but which has been concealed from unbelievers with a veil. Just as a treasure is put in a hidden place, the sacrament of God is hidden within a person, in his heart. The reference to earthen vessels is an allusion to the weakness of human nature, which can do nothing unless empowered by God.

  COMMENTARY ON PAUL'S EPISTLES

• 2 Corinthians 4:9

  God was with them, like a shepherd, when they were in need. He looked after their interests, so that their enemies would not get the better of them.

  COMMENTARY ON PAUL'S EPISTLES

• 2 Corinthians 4:10

  Christ himself shares in the death of martyrs. Their sufferings are his sufferings. His life is made manifest in their bodies. Their sufferings are evidence of the fact that they are prepared to receive the life to come which Christ promised.

  COMMENTARY ON PAUL'S EPISTLES

• 2 Corinthians 4:11

  Paul is saying that Christians are not afraid to die because they have the promise of resurrection.

  COMMENTARY ON PAUL'S EPISTLES

• 2 Corinthians 4:12

  Paul is saying this because he and Timothy were being threatened with death for their sakes. By preaching to the Gentiles they had stirred up hatred from both Jews and Gentiles, risking even death.

  COMMENTARY ON PAUL'S EPISTLES

• 2 Corinthians 4:15

  God does not want anyone to be excluded from his gift. But because not everyone had received the word of faith, God's apostle, who knew God's will, was not afraid to suffer persecutions and perils as long as he could preach to everyone faithfully, so that more people might believe.

  COMMENTARY ON PAUL'S EPISTLES

• 2 Corinthians 4:16

  In times of persecution the soul advances. Every day it adds something more to its experience of faith. Even the damage done to the body becomes conducive to immortality through the merit of the soul.

  COMMENTARY ON PAUL'S EPISTLES

• 2 Corinthians 4:17

  These present temporary tribulations that are brought upon us for the sake of faith are called momentary and light because they are temporary. However, they are working an eternal weight of glory beyond all measure for those who are patient. For with small labors, great rewards are given, and for light tribulation, a surpassing weight of glory will be repaid for eternity.

  Commentary on 2 Corinthians

• 2 Corinthians 4:18

  Paul is saying that people who long for heavenly things despise the things of this world, because in comparison with what they want, these things are nothing.

  COMMENTARY ON PAUL'S EPISTLES

• 2 Corinthians 5:1

  Our present body is our earthly home. Our resurrection body is our heavenly one.

  COMMENTARY ON PAUL'S EPISTLES