He threatens the impenitent, to provoke them to penance.
He driueth into them the feare of excommunication: to the end that they doing penance beforehand, he may not be compelled to vse his authoritie vvhen he commeth, and as he hath threatened. 11 And so vvith a general exhortation he endeth.
1Behold, this is the third time I am coming to you: In the mouth of two or three witnesses shall every word stand.Ecco, che vengo da voi questa terza volta: sul detto di due o tre testimoni sarà deciso ogni negozio.LO this the third time I come vnto you: In the mouth of tvvo or three vvitnesses shal euery vvord stand.Ecce tertio hoc venio ad vos: in ore duorum vel trium testium stabit omne verbum. 2I have told before and foretell, as present and now absent, to them that sinned before and to all the rest, that if I come again, I will not spare.Predissi, e predico come già presente, così ora assente, a que' che prima peccarono, e a tutti gli altri, che se verrò di nuovo, non sarò indulgente:I foretold and doe foretel as present, and novv absent, to them that sinned before, and al the rest, that if I come againe, I vvil not spare.Prædixi, et prædico, ut præsens, et nunc absens iis qui ante peccaverunt, et ceteris omnibus, quoniam si venero iterum, non parcam. 3Do you seek a proof of Christ that speaketh in me, who towards you is not weak, but is mighty in you?Cercate voi di far prova di quel Cristo, che parla in me? il quale rispetto a voi non è debole, ma potente è in voi?Seeke you an experiment of him that speaketh in me, Christ: vvho in you is not vveake, but is mightie in you?An experimentum quæritis ejus, qui in me loquitur Christus, qui in vobis non infirmatur, sed potens est in vobis ? 4For although he was crucified through weakness, yet he liveth by the power of God. For we also are weak in him: but we shall live with him by the power of God towards you.Imperocché sebbene fu crocifisso come debole, vive però per virtù di Dio. Imperocché noi pure siam deboli in lui, ma sarem vivi con esso per virtù di Dio rispetto a voi.For although he vvas crucified of infirmitie: yet he liueth by the povver of God. For vve also are vveake in him: but vve shal liue vvith him by the povver of God on you.Nam etsi crucifixus est ex infirmitate: sed vivit ex virtute Dei. Nam et nos infirmi sumus in illo: sed vivemus cum eo ex virtute Dei in vobis. 5Try your own selves if you be in the faith: prove ye yourselves. Know you not your own selves, that Christ Jesus is in you, unless perhaps you be reprobates?Fate saggio di voi medesimi, se siete nella fede: provate voi stessi. Non conoscete voi da voi stessi, che Gesù Cristo è in voi? Se pur non siete da rigettare.Trie your ovvne selues if you be in the faith: proue ye your selues. Knovv you not your selues that Christ IESVS is in you, vnlesse perhaps you be reprobates.Vosmetipsos tentate si estis in fide: ipsi vos probate. An non cognoscitis vosmetipsos quia Christus Jesus in vobis est ? nisi forte reprobi estis.
6But I trust that you shall know that we are not reprobates.Io però spero, che conoscerete, che noi son siamo da rigettare.But I hope you knovv' that vve are not reprobates.Spero autem quod cognoscetis, quia nos non sumus reprobi. 7Now we pray God that you may do no evil, not that we may appear approved, but that you may do that which is good and that we may be as reprobates.Ma preghiamo Dio, che non facciate niente di male, non perché apparisca la nostra probità, ma affinchè voi facciate il bene: noi poi siamo come da rigettare.And vve pray God, that you doe no euil, not that vve may appeare approued, but that you may doe that vvhich is good, and vve be as reprobates.Oramus autem Deum ut nihil mali faciatis, non ut nos probati appareamus, sed ut vos quod bonum est faciatis: nos autem ut reprobi simus. 8For we can do nothing against the truth: but for the truth.Imperocché nulla possiamo contro la verità, ma per la verità.For vve can not any thing against the truth: but for the truth.Non enim possumus aliquid adversus veritatem, sed pro veritate. 9For we rejoice that we are weak and you are strong. This also we pray for, your perfection.Conciossiaché ci rallegriamo, che noi siam deboli, e voi potenti. E questo ancor domandiamo, la vostra perfezione.For vve reioyce, for that vve are vveake, & you are mightie. This also vve pray for, your consummation.Gaudemus enim, quoniam nos infirmi sumus, vos autem potentes estis. Hoc et oramus, vestram consummationem. 10Therefore I write these things, being absent, that, being present, I may not deal more severely, according to the power which the Lord hath given me unto edification and not unto destruction.Per questo tali cose scrivo io assente, affinchè presente non abbia io da agire più duramente secondo la potestà datami dal Signore per edificazione, non per distruzione.Therfore these things I vvrite absent: that being present I may not deale hardly according to the povver vvhich our Lord hath giuen me vnto edification and not vnto destruction.Ideo hæc absens scribo, ut non præsens durius agam secundum potestatem, quam Dominus dedit mihi in ædificationem, et non in destructionem. 11For the rest, brethren, rejoice, be perfect, take exhortation, be of one mind, have peace. And the God of peace and of love shall be with you.Del rimanente, o fratelli, state allegri, siate perfetti, consolatevi, siate concordi, state in pace, e il Dio della pace, e della carità sarà con voi.For the rest brethren, reioyce, be perfect, take exhortation, be of one minde, haue peace, and the God of peace & of loue shal be vvith you.De cetero, fratres, gaudete, perfecti estote, exhortamini, idem sapite, pacem habete, et Deus pacis et dilectionis erit vobiscum.
12Salute one another with a holy kiss. All the saints salute you.Salutatevi gli uni gli altri col bacio santo. I santi tutti vi salutano.Salute one an other in a holy kisse. Al the saincts salute you.Salutate invicem in osculo sancto. Salutant vos omnes sancti. 13The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ and the charity of God and the communication of the Holy Ghost be with you all. Amen.La grazia del Signor nostro Gesù Cristo, e la carità di Dio, e la partecipazione dello Spirito santo sia con tutti voi. Così sia.The grace of our Lord IESVS Christ, and the charitie of God, and the communication of the holy Ghost be vvith you all. Amen.Gratia Domini nostri Jesu Christi, et caritas Dei, et communicatio Sancti Spiritus sit cum omnibus vobis. Amen.
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The third time he had made preparations to visit the Corinthians, (see 2 Corinthians 12:14.) when every delinquent shall be tried as the law directs. (Deuteronomy 19:15.; Matthew 18:16.; Hebrews 10:28.)
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Calmet
I will not spare. Estius, Menochius, and others explain this of the censures, excommunications, etc. of the Church; whilst some are of opinion that he means temporal punishments. But we must observe, that not unfrequently God punished, even in a sensible manner, those who by their crimes had compelled their pastors to make use of the spiritual sword. (Calmet)
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Witham
Do you seek a proof? By the Greek it signifies for you, or in your regard. The sense is, that he has left me power enough to chastise those among you who shall deserve it, when I come. (Witham)
Bible de Vence
I do not know why you delay your conversion. Can you doubt whether it is God who speaks to you by my mouth, who has great power among you, and who is very capable of punishing you. (Bible de Vence)
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He was crucified through weakness. That is, he took upon him our weak and infirm nature, in which he was made capable of suffering, and of laying down willingly his life for us on the cross. But he liveth again by the power of God, of his divine power.
Witham
We also are weak in him, like him liable to sufferings, undergoing sufferings by his example; but we shall live with him by the power of God, of which you have also a share. (Witham)
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Try your ownselves if you be in the faith.[Ver. 5. Si estis in fide, ei este en te pistei. St. Chrysostom, om. kth., p. 701, emoi dokei entautha legein ten ton semeion. Also in Ver. 5., Nisi forte reprobi estis, adokimoi, improbati, or non probati. The Protestants, as well as Rheims, hath reprobates; but Dr. Wells, in his amendments, has put destitute of proofs, which here is the true sense.] He does not mean if they have a right Christian faith or belief, but either whether they had a saving Christian faith working in them by charity, or as St. Chrysostom says, a faith that shewed itself by the gift of miracles, at that time commonly given to the first Christians.
Witham
Unless perhaps you are disapproved,[Ver. 7. Non ut nos probati appareamus....nos autem ut reprobi simus, os (not ina) adokimoi omen, that is sicut or tanquam non probati simus.] rejected, and justly deprived of this gift, which was a proof that they were Christians, and had received the Spirit of Christ. I judged it better to translate here disapproved, that reprobates, which in other places is often taken as opposed to the predestinate and the elect, whereas there it signifies those who were rejected, and deprived of the gifts of the spirit, particularly of that of miracles, and of those spiritual gifts granted to the first Christians, and which were a proof that they had received the grace: and the 7th verse, not that we may appear approved, but that....we may be as reprobates. That is, we wish that we may have no occasion to shew the power and the gifts of the spirit, and that of miracles, but as if we were rejected, disapproved, reproved, and deprived of such proofs. (Witham)
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St. Chrysostom
I trust that we have not fallen from the state in which we were, but that we continue to exercise our ministry and to use the power which he has given us. Though I do not wish to find you guilty of any sins which may oblige me to use this power over you. I rather wish in this respect to have no authority whatever over you, to be as it were an outcast or reprobate, that you may never feel the power that God hath given me for the punishment of the wicked. (St. Chrysostom)
Challoner
Reprobates. That is, without proof, by having no occasion of shewing our power in punishing you. (Challoner)
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St. Chrysostom
We rejoice that we have not made our power appear in punishing the wicked, and afflicting our enemies; we are glad that we appear to them to be weak; but we are particularly glad, when you live in such a manner as to give us no occasion of reprimanding you, or of exercising our power over you. (St. Chrysostom)
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We write this for the edification of Christ's mystical body, and to cause all men to enter; not for its destruction, and to compel many to abandon it.
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Pastorini
Rejoice. Chairete, bene valete. In this sense the Greeks used this term at the conclusion of their writings; and Loipon, to denote that the writer or speaker was hastening to a conclusion. (Pastorini)
Witham
Be perfect.[Ver. 11. Exhortamini, parakaleisthe, consolemini, consolationem capite.] Literally, in the Latin be exhorted. (Witham)
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Pastorini
This was customary with both Jews and Persians, as we learn from Xenophon and Herodotus, and with other oriental nations. And in process of time, from the custom of common life, it was introduced into ecclesiastial assemblies. The ancients were in the habit before they began their meal to embrace each other, to manifest by that sign their mutual cordiality and friendship; then they contributed their alms, that they might give a substantial proof of what was represented by their kiss of charity. (Pastorini)
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Bergier
For my part, I wish you, with all my heart, that the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, the charity of God, and the communication of his holy Spirit, may dwell with you all. Amen is wanted in the Greek, but was added by the Church of Corinth, which was accustomed to make this reply as often as this epistle was read. When we recall to our mind the excess of corruption that had reigned in the city of Corinth under paganism, excess attested by profane authors, and which St. Paul brings to their recollection, (1 Corinthians 6:9.) we are all astonishment that in the short space of four years the gospel had operated amongst the faithful of this church, such a prodigious change in their manners, and that they were become capable of receiving lessons of morality so very pure as is this of the apostle. (Bergier.)
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Reprobates.... that is, without proof, by having no occasion of shewing our power in punishing you.
13:13
The Galatians, soon after St. Paul had preached the Gospel to them, were seduced by some false teachers, who had been Jews and who were for obliging all Christians, even those who had been Gentiles, to observe circumcision and the other ceremonies of the Mosaical law. In this Epistle, he refutes the pernicious doctrine of those teachers and also their calumny against his mission and apostleship. The subject matter of this Epistle is much the same as that to the Romans. It was written at Ephesus, about twenty-three years after our Lord’s Ascension.
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Concordance Deu. 19, 15.
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5. Trie your selues.] The Heretikes argue herevpō, Vve may knovv that we haue faith, but not that vve are in grace. that euery man may knovv him self certainely to be in grace: vvhere the Apostle speaketh expresly and onely of faith. the act vvhereof a man may knovv and feele to be in him self, because it is an act of vnderstanding, though he can not be assured that he hath his sinnes remitted, and that he is in al pointes in state of grace and saluation: because euery man that is of the Catholike faith, is not alvvaies of good life agreable therevnto, nor the actes of our vvil so subiect to vnderstanding, that vve can knovv certainely vvhether vve be good or euil. See S. Augustine ••. 7 de perfect. iustitia c. 15. Li. de Cor. et grat. c. 13. & S. Thomas 1. 2, q. 112. art. 5.
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shal knovv
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Ecclesistical power to punish offenders by the cēsures of the Church.
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In the liturgy The Epistle in a •oti•e Masse of the B. Trinitie.
〈Greek〉,
Concordance Ro. 16, 16. 1. Co. 16, 20.
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Tertullian † AD 220 The Five Books Against Marcion 5.12
… “In the mouth of two or three witnesses shall every word be established?”
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Tertullian † AD 220 The Five Books Against Marcion 5.12
… “In the mouth of two or three witnesses shall every word be established?” How again is it that he threatens sinners “that he will not spare” them
St John Chrysostom † AD 407 A Commentary on the Acts of the Apostles 10
… God forbid! for it is said, “Call no man your master upon the earth” ( Matt. xxiii. 8 ); Christ has laid down a law that none should swear. Now, say, what has been done with regard to this law? For I will not cease speaking of it; “lest,” as the Apostle saith, “if I come again, I must not spare.” (
St John Chrysostom † AD 407 Homilies on Second Corinthians 4
… yet rebuketh them most severely and putteth them in fear; for he implied that they were open to punishment, and will also have somewhat to suffer, unless they be quickly reformed. And he says the same thing again at the end of the Epistle thus; “If I come again, I will not spare.” (
St John Chrysostom † AD 407 Homilies on Second Corinthians 29
Ver. 2 . “I have said beforehand, and I do say beforehand when I was present the second time; so now being absent I write to them that sinned heretofore and to all the rest, that if I come again, I will not spare.”
St John Chrysostom † AD 407 Homilies on Second Corinthians 30
… 21 .) and afterwards, “I told you before and foretell you, as if I were present the second time, and being absent now I write, that, if I come again, I will not spare; seeing that ye seek a proof of Christ, that speaketh in me.” (
St John Chrysostom † AD 407 Homilies on Colossians 7
Lo! I charge you again, and protest after the pattern of the blessed Paul, “that if I come again I will not spare.” (
Pseudo-Cyprian Exhortation to Repentance 1
Also in the same: “I told you before, and foretell you as I sit present; and absent now from those who before have sinned, and to all others; as, if I shall come again, I will not spare.”
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Origen † AD 254 Origen De Principiis pref.1
… choosing rather to suffer affliction with the people of God, than to enjoy the pleasures of sin for a season; esteeming the reproach of Christ greater riches than the treasures of the Egyptians.” Moreover, that after His ascension into heaven He spake in His apostles, is shown by Paul in these words: “Or do you seek a proof of Christ who speaketh in me?”
Origen † AD 254 Origen De Principiis 2.6.7
… David also, when saying, “Be mindful of my reproach, O Lord, with which they reproached me in exchange for Thy Christ,” seems to me to indicate the same. And what else does Paul mean when he says, “Your life is hid with Christ in God;” and again in another passage, “Do you seek a proof of Christ, who speaketh in me?”
Origen † AD 254 Origen De Principiis iv.section24
… “Word” of God, or of His “Wisdom,” or His “Truth,” or His “Life,” the Word and Wisdom itself appeared to be contained in a place, we should have to say to him in answer, that there is no doubt that Christ, in respect of being the “Word” or “Wisdom,” or all other things, was in Paul, and that he therefore said, “Do you seek a proof of Christ speaking in me?”
Origen † AD 254 Origen's Commentary on the Gospel of John 6.3
… This, perhaps, is also the key to the passage,
Origen † AD 254 Origen's Commentary on the Gospel of John 10.8
… But when they see to be at hand, as far as their effort is concerned, the consummation of the world which is crucified to them, then Jesus will be no longer with them, but in them, and they will say, “It is no longer I that live but Christ that lives in me,” and “If ye seek a proof of Christ that speaketh in me.”
Archelaus † fl. AD 278 The Acts of the Disputation with the Heresiarch Manes 26
… and this profession he makes as if he were somewhat superior even to Paul, who was an elect vessel and a called apostle, and who on that ground, while preaching the true doctrine, said: “Or seek ye a proof of that Christ who speaks in me?”
Archelaus † fl. AD 278 The Acts of the Disputation with the Heresiarch Manes 34
… “If ye love me, keep my commandments. And I will pray my Father, and He shall give you another Comforter.” In these words He points to the Paraclete Himself, for He speaks of “another” Comforter. And hence we have given credit to Paul, and have hearkened to him when he says, “Or seek ye a proof of Christ speaking in me?”
Archelaus † fl. AD 278 The Acts of the Disputation with the Heresiarch Manes 42
… Moreover Paul, the chief of the apostles, after all these sayings, gives us yet clearer instruction on the subject, when he says, “Or seek ye a proof of that Christ who speaketh in me?”
St Hilary of Poitiers † AD 367 De Trinitate or On the Trinity 10.48
… stripping off from Himself His flesh, He made a shew of principalities and powers openly triumphing over them in Himself . Was that the power, think you, to yield to the wound of the nail, to wince under the piercing blow, to convert itself into a nature that can feel pain? Yet the Apostle, who speaks as the mouthpiece of Christ
St Basil the Great † AD 379 De Spiritu Sancto 26
… So Paul speaks in Christ, saying “In the sight of God we speak in Christ,” and Christ in Paul, as he himself says “Since ye seek a proof of Christ speaking in me.”
St Cyril of Jerusalem † AD 386 The Catechetical Lectures of S. Cyril 10.17
17. But wouldest thou know that the Apostles knew and preached the name of Christ, or rather had Christ Himself within them? Paul says to his hearers, Or seek ye a proof of Christ that speaketh in me
St Gregory of Nazianzus † AD 389 Select Orations of Saint Gregory Nazianzen 2.54
… at one time he condescends, at another he raises to his own level; at one time he threatens a rod, at another he offers the spirit of meekness; at one time he is haughty toward the lofty, at another lowly toward the lowly. Now he is least of the apostles, now he offers a proof of Christ speaking in him;
St Gregory of Nyssa † AD 395 Against Eunomius 10.4
… for one is your Master, even Christ: and call no man father upon earth, for one is your Father, Which is in heaven .” To which then ought we to give heed, as we are thus hemmed in between them? On one side the Lord Himself, and he who has Christ speaking in him
St Gregory of Nyssa † AD 395 On Virginity 19
… There is also a particular teaching of the Apostle, which harmonizes with this; viz. each man of us is a double man ; one the outwardly visible, whose natural fate it is to decay; the other perceptible only in the secret of the heart, yet capable of renovation. If this teaching is true,—and it must be true
St Gregory of Nyssa † AD 395 On the Making of Man 5
2. And if you were to examine the other points also by which the Divine beauty is expressed, you will find that to them too the likeness in the image which we present is perfectly preserved. The Godhead is mind and word: for “in the beginning was the Word ” and the followers of Paul “have the mind of Christ” which “speaks” in them
St Ambrose of Milan † AD 397 On the Holy Spirit 3.9
55. Then, in the same way as we here understand that where the Spirit is there also is Christ; so also, elsewhere, he shows that where Christ is, there also is the Holy Spirit. For having said: “Do ye seek a proof of Christ Who speaketh in me?”
St Ambrose of Milan † AD 397 Exposition of the Christian Faith 5.19
… “I know God altogether and not in part.” Thus Paul is inferior to Arius, and the vessel of election knows in part, but the vessel of perdition knows wholly. “I know,” he says, “a man, whether in the body or out of the body, I cannot tell, God knoweth, how he was caught up into Paradise and heard unspeakable words.”
St Ambrose of Milan † AD 397 Concerning Repentance 2.7
62. Mary herself pours ointment on the feet of the Lord Jesus. Perchance for this reason on His feet, because one of the lowliest has been snatched from death, for we are all the body of Christ, but others perchance are the more honourable members. The Apostle was the mouth of Christ, for he said, “Ye seek a proof of Christ that speaketh in me.”
St John Chrysostom † AD 407 Letter to a Young Widow 2
… For do not quote the erroneous opinion of the world as a testimony, but the admonition of the blessed Paul, or rather of Christ. For in his utterances Christ was speaking through him as he himself said “If ye seek a proof of Christ who is speaking in me?”
St John Chrysostom † AD 407 Homilies on First Corinthians 2
… for he knows also how to press them home; as when he saith, ( 1 Cor. iv. 18, 21 .) “Now some are puffed up as though I would not come to you:” and again, “What will ye? shall I come unto you with a rod, or in love, and in the spirit of meekness?” And, (
St John Chrysostom † AD 407 Homilies on Second Corinthians 1
Say not then, “He is perished and shall no more be;” for these be the words of unbelievers; but say, “He sleepeth and will rise again,” “He is gone a journey and will return with the King.” Who sayeth this? He
St John Chrysostom † AD 407 Homilies on Second Corinthians 29
Ver. 3 . “Seeing that ye seek a proof of Christ that speaketh in me.”
St John Chrysostom † AD 407 Homilies on First Thessalonians 8
… i. 1 , Sept); and again, “Thus saith the Lord”; with many such expressions. And many of them even saw God sitting, as far as it was possible for them to see Him. But Paul not having seen Him sitting, but having Christ speaking in himself, instead of Thus saith the Lord, said, “Do ye seek a proof of Christ speaking in me?” (
St Jerome † AD 420 The Letters of St. Jerome 53.2
2. But why should I confine my allusions to the men of this world, when the Apostle Paul, the chosen vessel the doctor of the Gentiles, who could boldly say: “Do ye seek a proof of Christ speaking in me?”
St Jerome † AD 420 The Letters of St. Jerome 79.7
… You must take what I am going to say as addressed not to you but to your girlish years. A widow “that liveth in pleasure is dead while she liveth.” So speaks the “chosen vessel” and the words are brought out from his treasure who could boldly say: “Do ye seek a proof of Christ speaking in me?”
St Augustine of Hippo † AD 430 Reply to Faustus the Manichæan 28.4
… ascertained that Paul preached what the apostles preached, and that he lived in fellowship and harmony with them, and when God’s testimony was added by Paul’s working miracles like those done by the apostles, his authority became so great, that his words are now received in the Church, as if, to use his own appropriate words, Christ were speaking in him.
St Augustine of Hippo † AD 430 Sermons on Selected Lessons of the New Testament 32.8
… That be far from us. Yea, rather as those whose place is under the Judge, let us knock, that we may obtain, that it be opened to us; let us fly beneath the wings of our Lord God. For He did not speak in contradiction to His Apostle, seeing that He Himself spoke “in” him also, as he says, “Would ye receive a proof of Christ, who speaketh in me?”
St Augustine of Hippo † AD 430 Sermons on Selected Lessons of the New Testament 42.2
… but David calls Him Lord; tell me how is He his Son, who is also his Lord; tell me how?” They did not tell Him, but were silent. Let us then tell by the explanation of Christ Himself. Where? By His Apostle. But first, whereby do we prove that Christ hath Himself explained it? The Apostle says, “Would ye receive a proof of Christ who speaketh in me?”
St Augustine of Hippo † AD 430 Lectures or Tractates on the Gospel According to St. John 47.5
… Far from it: let such a thought be banished from your hearts; for He Himself was in those whom He sent. Listen to Paul himself whom He sent; for Paul was specially sent as an apostle to the Gentiles; and it is Paul who, terrifying them not with himself but with Him saith, “Do ye wish to receive a proof of Him who speaketh in me, that is, of Christ?”
St Augustine of Hippo † AD 430 Lectures or Tractates on the Gospel According to St. John 89.2
… for by His Church He has come, and by His Church He speaks to the Gentiles. For to this are to be referred the words that He spake, “He that receiveth you, receiveth me;” and, “He that despiseth you, despiseth me.” “Or would ye,” says the Apostle Paul, “have a proof of Him that speaketh in me, namely Christ.”
St Augustine of Hippo † AD 430 Lectures or Tractates on the Gospel According to St. John 95.1
… But would any one venture to say that the Holy Spirit reproveth the world through the disciples of Christ, and that Christ Himself doth not, when the apostle exclaims, “Would ye receive a proof of Him that speaketh in me, namely Christ?”
St Augustine of Hippo † AD 430 Expositions on the Book of Psalms 3.6
… not indeed universally, but where it can be done suitably; as when He is said to speak, when by His gift Prophets speak, and Apostles, or whatsoever messengers of the truth. Hence that text, “Would you have proof of Christ, who speaketh in me?”
St Augustine of Hippo † AD 430 Expositions on the Book of Psalms 4.8
… For Christ dwelleth in the inner man, as the Apostle says; for to Him doth it appertain to see truth, since He hath said, “I am the truth.” And again, when He spake in the Apostle, saying, “Would you receive a proof of Christ, who speaketh in me?”
St Augustine of Hippo † AD 430 Expositions on the Book of Psalms 75.6
… The Beginning of the building hath cried out through the pillars thereof, and in all those pillars the Architect Himself hath cried out. For the Apostle Paul was one pillar of them when he said, “Would ye receive a proof of Him that speaketh in me—Christ?”
St Augustine of Hippo † AD 430 Expositions on the Book of Psalms 78.5
… Why is it then that now on a sudden a man is speaking, for here we have the words of a man, “our fathers have told them to us.” Without doubt God, now about to speak by a man’s ministry, as the Apostle saith, “Will ye to receive proof of Him that is speaking in me, Christ?”
St Augustine of Hippo † AD 430 Expositions on the Book of Psalms 87.3
… How then art Thou all things? In the sense in which everything is through Me. To explain: when Paul enters by the door, does not Christ? Wherefore? Not because Paul is Christ: but since Christ is in Paul: and Paul acts through Christ. The Apostle says, “Do ye seek a proof of Christ speaking in me?”
John Cassian † AD 435 The Conferences of John Cassian 1.19
… “Ye seek a proof of Christ that speaketh in me.”
John Cassian † AD 435 The Seven Books of John Cassian on the Incarnation of the Lord, Against Nestorius 3.6
… and that He, to whom he had passed in heart, should Himself pass into his heart: as the Apostle himself says of himself: “Do you seek a proof of Christ that speaketh in me?”
John Cassian † AD 435 The Seven Books of John Cassian on the Incarnation of the Lord, Against Nestorius 5.4
… I mean, that he can choose, if he will, to make it a dwelling, and when he has made it, to live in it. “Or do you seek a proof,” says the Apostle, “of Christ speaking in me?”
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St Irenaeus of Lyons † AD 202 Fragments from the Lost Writings of Irenaeus, LII 1
… And as He suffered, so also is He alive, and life-giving, and healing all our infirmity. And as He died, so is He also the Resurrection of the dead. He suffered shame on earth, while He is higher than all glory and praise in heaven; who, “though He was crucified through weakness, yet He liveth by divine power;”
St Hippolytus † AD 235 On Genesis 1
… Thus is He said to have been saved by the Father, as He stood in peril as a man, though by nature He is God, and Himself maintains the whole creation, visible and invisible, in a state of wellbeing. In this sense, also, the inspired Paul says of Him: “Though He was crucified in weakness, yet He liveth by the power of God.”
Origen † AD 254 Origen De Principiis iv.section24
This “word,” then, and this “wisdom,” by the imitation of which we are said to be either wise or rational (beings), becomes “all things to all men, that it may gain all;” and because it is made weak, it is therefore said of it, “Though He was crucified through weakness, yet He liveth by the power of God.”
Origen † AD 254 Origen's Commentary on Matthew 10.22
… Yea, I say unto you, and more than a prophet.” But thanks be unto God, that, even if the grace of prophecy was taken from the people, a grace greater than all that was poured forth among the Gentiles by our Saviour Jesus Christ, who became “free among the dead;” for “though He were crucified through weakness, yet He liveth through the power of God.”
St Hilary of Poitiers † AD 367 De Trinitate or On the Trinity 9.13
13. It is this preaching of the double aspect of Christ’s Person which the blessed Apostle emphasises. He points out in Christ His human infirmity, and His divine power and nature. Thus to the Corinthians he writes, For though He was crucified through weakness, yet He liveth through the power of God
St Hilary of Poitiers † AD 367 De Trinitate or On the Trinity 10.66
66. So the Apostle moulding our ignorant and haphazard ideas into conformity with truth says of this mystery of the faith, For He was crucified through weakness but He liveth through the power of God
St Hilary of Poitiers † AD 367 Homilies on the Psalms 53.5
… Thus, first of all the name which is above every name is given unto Him; then next, this is a judgment of decisive force, because by the power of God, He, Who after being God had died as man, rose again from death as man to be God, as the Apostle says: He was crucified from weakness, yet He liveth by the power of God
St Gregory of Nyssa † AD 395 Against Eunomius 5.2
… and at the same time he clearly introduces, by his doctrines and arguments, two Christs and two Lords; for he says that it was not the Word Who was in the beginning Whom God made Lord and Christ, but He Who ‘emptied Himself to take the form of a servant ,’ and ‘was crucified through weakness
St Gregory of Nyssa † AD 395 Against Eunomius 6.1
… and “He was crucified through weakness” (where by “weakness” he means “the flesh”), “yet liveth by power
St Gregory of Nyssa † AD 395 Against Eunomius 6.4
… The fact that the Apostle’s discourse refers to Him Who was “crucified through weakness
St John Chrysostom † AD 407 Homilies on Second Corinthians 29
Ver. 4 . “For though He was crucified through weakness, yet He liveth through the Power of God.”
St Augustine of Hippo † AD 430 City of God 16.2
… Or, as wine is the fruit of the vine, we may prefer to understand that from this vine, that is to say, from the race of Israel, He has assumed flesh and blood that He might suffer; “and he was drunken,” that is, He suffered; “and was naked,” that is, His weakness appeared in His suffering, as the apostle says, “though He was crucified through weakness.”
St Augustine of Hippo † AD 430 On the Holy Trinity 1.13
… For instance, we have said that He glorifies His own, as being God, and certainly then as being the Lord of glory; and yet the Lord of glory was crucified, because even God is rightly said to have been crucified, not after the power of the divinity, but after the weakness of the flesh:
St Augustine of Hippo † AD 430 Reply to Faustus the Manichæan 12.11
… But this ground did not yield to them its strength, for they were not justified by the virtue of His resurrection, for He arose again for our justification. As the apostle says: "He was crucified in weakness, but He liveth by the power of God."
St Augustine of Hippo † AD 430 Sermons on Selected Lessons of the New Testament 38.1
… and that to this end He took the weakness of our nature, that our weakness might not last for ever. For He assumed a mortal body, wherein to kill death. And, “though He was crucified through weakness,” as the Apostle saith, “yet He liveth by the power of God.”
St Augustine of Hippo † AD 430 Ten Homilies on the First Epistle of John 2.6
… If the wicked one is “overcome” by the young men, he fights with us. Fights, but not conquers. Wherefore? Because we are strong, or because He is strong in us who in the hands of the persecutors was found weak? He hath made us strong, who resisted not His persecutors. “For He was crucified of weakness, but He liveth by the power of God.”
St Augustine of Hippo † AD 430 Expositions on the Book of Psalms 67.5
… and if all things, even His very mother. He came humble, He came weak, but clothed with a weakness to be changed into strength, because “though He was crucified of weakness, yet He liveth of the virtue of God,”
St Augustine of Hippo † AD 430 Expositions on the Book of Psalms 80.2
… And man prevailed, and the angel was conquered: and victorious man holdeth the angel, and saith, “I will not let thee go, except thou shalt have blessed me.” A great sacrament! He both standeth conquered, and blesseth the conqueror. Conquered, because he willed it; in flesh weak, in majesty strong.…Having been crucified of weakness, rise Thou in power:
St Augustine of Hippo † AD 430 Expositions on the Book of Psalms 109.21
21. “O deliver me, for I am needy and poor” ( ver. 21 ). Need and poverty is that weakness, through which He was crucified.
St Augustine of Hippo † AD 430 Expositions on the Book of Psalms 150.4
… For in Christ’s resurrection, “strength” is especially set forth to us, for in His Passion was weakness, as the Apostle saith.
Theodoret of Cyrus † AD 458 Letters of the Blessed Theodoret, Bishop of Cyprus 152
… but He healed the halt and raised dead men from their tombs; the former of human weakness, the latter of a power passing that of this world. He feared death and He destroyed death; the former shows that He was mortal, the latter that He was immortal or rather giver of life. “He was crucified,” as the blessed Paul says “through weakness.”
Pope St Leo I the Great † AD 461 Letters 88
… But because the Truth does not lie and the Godhead is not passible, there abides in God the Word both substances in one Person, and the Church confesses her Saviour in such a way as to acknowledge Him both impassible in Godhead and passible in flesh, as says the Apostle, “although He was crucified through (our) weakness, yet He lives by the power of God
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St Athanasius of Alexandria † AD 373 Life of Antony. (Vita Antoni.) 55
… For it was good and needful that neither the sun should condemn us for an evil by day nor the moon for a sin by night, or even for an evil thought. That this state may be preserved in us it is good to hear the apostle and keep his words, for he says, ‘Try your own selves and prove your own selves
St John Chrysostom † AD 407 Homilies on First Corinthians 28
“But let a man prove himself:” which also he saith in the second Epistle: “try your own selves, prove your own selves:” (
St John Chrysostom † AD 407 Homilies on Second Corinthians 29
[4.] Ver. 5, 6 . “Try your own selves, whether ye be in the faith, prove your own selves. Know ye not as to your own selves, that Christ is in you, unless indeed ye be reprobate? But I hope that ye shall know that we are not reprobate.”
John Cassian † AD 435 The Seven Books of John Cassian on the Incarnation of the Lord, Against Nestorius 5.4
… I mean, that he can choose, if he will, to make it a dwelling, and when he has made it, to live in it. “Or do you seek a proof,” says the Apostle, “of Christ speaking in me?” And elsewhere, “Know ye not that Jesus Christ is in you except ye be reprobate?”
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St John Chrysostom † AD 407 A Commentary on the Acts of the Apostles 3
… I will leave the teaching to you: for that is the best teaching, which teaches by actions. For indeed the best physicians, although the sickness of their patients brings them in fees, would rather their friends were well. And so we too wish all to be well. (
St John Chrysostom † AD 407 The Homilies of St. John Chrysostom on Paul's Epistle to the Romans 16
… For that it is not God’s wish that His power be so made known, but in another way, by His benefits, namely, and kindnesses, he had shown above in all possible ways. For if Paul does not wish to appear powerful in this way (“not that we should appear approved,” he says, “but that ye should do that which is honest,”) (
St John Chrysostom † AD 407 Homilies on Second Corinthians 29
… ‘No,’ he says; for had he sought this, he would have punished them at the first on their sinning, and would not have put off. But that he does not seek this, he has shown more clearly as he proceeds, saying, “Now I pray that ye do no evil, not that we may appear approved, but that ye may be approved, though we be as reprobates.” (
St Augustine of Hippo † AD 430 A Treatise on the Grace of Christ, and on Original Sin 1.26
… How can he say, “That we are able to do good is of God, but that we actually do it is of ourselves,” when the apostle tells us that he “prays to God” in behalf of those to whom he was writing, “that they should do no evil, but that they should do that which is good?”
St Augustine of Hippo † AD 430 A Treatise on Rebuke and Grace 3
… Certainly the apostle asked for this inspiration of good will and work on behalf of those to whom he said, “Now we pray to God that ye do no evil, not that we should appear approved, but that ye should do that which is good.”
St Augustine of Hippo † AD 430 A Treatise on Rebuke and Grace 10
… “I have prayed for thee that thy faith fail not.” For what did He ask for him, but perseverance to the end? And assuredly, if a man could have this from man, it should not have been asked from God. Then when the apostle says, “Now we pray to God that ye do no evil,”
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John Cassian † AD 435 The Conferences of John Cassian 9.18
… for with all assurance could he wish to die for Christ as he knew that no one perished for life. And again he says: “We rejoice when we are weak but ye are strong.”
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Tertullian † AD 220 The Five Books Against Marcion 5.12
… “In the mouth of two or three witnesses shall every word be established?” How again is it that he threatens sinners “that he will not spare” them —he, the preacher of a most gentle god? Yea, he even declares that “the Lord hath given to him the power of using sharpness in their presence!”
St John Chrysostom † AD 407 The Homilies of St. John Chrysostom on Paul's Epistle to the Romans 32
… Things in Heaven too it disposed what way it listed ( 1 Cor. v. 3, 4 ), binding whom it would, and loosing in the other world, “according unto the power given unto it.” (
St John Chrysostom † AD 407 Homilies on 1 Timothy 5
… It was not that they might be punished, but that they might be instructed. For that he had the power appears from other passages, “What will ye? Shall I come unto you with a rod?” ( 1 Cor. iv. 21 .) And again, “Lest I should use sharpness, according to the power which the Lord hath given me to edification, and not to destruction.” (
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St Gregory of Nyssa † AD 395 On the Holy Spirit 1
… So, too, he who both believes in the Father and receives the Son, but sets aside the Majesty of the Spirit, has “denied the faith, and is worse than an infidel,” and belies the name of Christ which he bears. The Apostle bids the man of God to be “perfect
St John Chrysostom † AD 407 Homilies on Second Corinthians 30
Ver. 11 . “For the rest, brethren, rejoice, be perfected, be comforted, be of the same mind, live in peace, and the God of love and peace shall be with you.”
St Augustine of Hippo † AD 430 A Treatise Concerning Man’s Perfection in Righteousness 20
… ‘Finally, brethren, farewell. Be perfect.’
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St Ignatius of Antioch † AD 108 Epistle to the Antiochians 13
… The whole Church of the Smyrnæans, indeed, is mindful of you in their prayers in the Lord. Onesimus, the pastor of the Ephesians, salutes you. Damas, the bishop of Magnesia, salutes you. Polybius, bishop of the Trallians, salutes you. Philo and Agathopus, the deacons, my companions, salute you, “Salute one another with a holy kiss.”
St John Chrysostom † AD 407 Homilies on First Corinthians 44
[4.] Ver. 20 . “All the brethren salute you. Salute one another with an holy kiss.” This addition of the “holy kiss” he makes only
St John Chrysostom † AD 407 Homilies on Second Corinthians 30
Ver. 12 . “Salute one another with a holy kiss.”
St Augustine of Hippo † AD 430 Letters of St. Augustin 92.3
… because “though our outward man perish, our inward man is renewed day by day,” yet so as that, however far one may have become advanced in this life, he is far short of that perfection of likeness which is fitted for seeing God, as the apostle says, “face to face.”
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St Gregory Thaumaturgus † AD 270 A Sectional Confession of Faith 20
And that the holy Trinity is to be worshipped without either separation or alienation, is taught us by Paul, who says in his Second Epistle to the Corinthians: “The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the communion of the Holy Ghost, be with you all.”
St Basil the Great † AD 379 De Spiritu Sancto 25
… The Lord says “The Father, the Son and the Holy Ghost.” If I say the Father and the Son with the Holy Ghost shall I make, any difference in the sense? Of the connexion of names by means of the conjunction and the instances are many. We read “The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ and the love of God and the fellowship of the Holy Ghost,”
St Gregory of Nyssa † AD 395 Against Eunomius 1-2.16
… By the same reasoning he should make the Father inferior to the Son, since the Scripture often places the name of our Lord first, and the Father Almighty second. “I and My Father,” our Lord says. “The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God
St Ambrose of Milan † AD 397 Exposition of the Christian Faith 4.11
153. Observe, further, that Scripture speaks of our having one fellowship not only “of” the Father and the Son, but also “of” the Holy Spirit. “The grace of Our Lord Jesus Christ,” saith the Apostle, “and the love of God, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all.”
St John Chrysostom † AD 407 Homilies on Second Corinthians 30
Ver. 13 . “Salute one another with an holy kiss,” he added, “All the saints salute you.”
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In the mouth of two or three witnesses. Every accusation, every cause shall be settled on the deposition of two or three witnesses, so that the guilt that I shall punish may be sufficiently established. Others explain this to mean that the two or three witnesses are his three visits to Corinth, and they point to the reference to his three visits which immediately precedes this clause. I am one, he would then say; but coming to you a third time (xii. 14, note), I shall have the authority of two or three witnesses (Maldonatus, Notæ, mss.). But this interpretation is too jejune. The lofty mind of the Apostle has in view something wider and higher than this; moreover, it seems foreign to his drift. He is quoting Deut. xix. 15, the plain meaning of which, as applied here, is that when he comes to judge, each accused person shall he condemned or acquitted on the evidence of two or three witnesses. Although this law, in so far as it is part of the judicial law of the Old Testament, has been abrogated by Christ, yet in so far as it is part of the law of nature, it is still in force, and has been admitted by both Civil and Canon Law; for common-sense has taught all nations that it is only fair and fitting that no one should be condemned but on the testimony of two or three witnesses at least. One witness may easily be suborned or be deceived, but not so well two. S. Paul then accepts and follows this law in its literal meaning, as does Christ in S. Mat 18:16.
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Ver. 2. I to1d you before, and foretell you, as if I were present,... and being absent. As I declared when I was present with you, so do I still say when absent. The Greek copies add after present, the second time, but the meaning, is unaltered. His writing from a distance is, as it were, a second personal address. Ver. 3. Since ye seek a proof of Christ speaking in me. Do you mean to disregard my injunctions, in order to see whether I dare and have power to punish the disobedient by the power given me by Christ? So may a teacher say to his rebellious pupil, "Do you wish to feel the weight of my arm, and to try the birch?"
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Which to you-ward is not weak. Christ has already shown Himself not weak but powerful, by powerfully working through me so many wonderful miracles, and by so recently punishing the fornicator by my excommunication, and handing him over to Satan as his tormentor. He refers principally to this power of punishing possessed by him. Ver. 4. For though He was crucified. Through the weakness of His humanity, yet by the power of His Godhead He rose and lives.
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For we also are weak in Him. With Him and for Him we are weak, we suffer, and are afflicted. According to this the for denotes not cause but likeness, and is put for so, by a usual Hebrew usage, which expresses similitude by doubling the conjunction.
We shall live with Him by the power of God toward you. Through Him and with Him we will show the power of Christ, i.e., the spiritual vigour of the Gospel, and in particular the power of punishing the contumacious amongst you (Theophylact). Anselm and Theodoret explain it: We with you shall rise by the power of God to eternal bliss. But the first sense is more in harmony with the context. This is supported by the phrase toward you (not merely in you), as well as by the fact that he is concerned with showing the power of Christ lodged in himself, to punish the contumacious. His argument is: As Christ, though weak in Himself, yet rose with power to a life of unending bliss, so equally does He work in us Apostles, and by us, weak though we be, and will continue to work powerfully in producing unearthly virtues, conversions, miracles, and punishments. Ver. 5. Examine yourselves whether ye be in the faith. A stern rebuke. See, O Corinthians, that ye do not foolishly put faith in the false apostles, and so be out of the faith. Try yourselves, and see whether you believe or not. If you hold fast the faith, and continue in it, you will believe, nay, you will see Christ to be powerful in you, and also in me, by the mighty works He does through me, and thus you will be led to acknowledge my apostleship and evangelical truth. Theophylact and Gagneius take it otherwise: Make trial of yourselves, and see if you are powerful through Christ indwelling within you, so that through Him you work miracles. In the primitive Church the faithful laity even had the power of working miracles. These two writers, therefore, understand S. Paul here to refer to that faith which works miracles united to the gift of prophecy and of tongues, which faith is a sign of the indwelling of Christ in that congregation in which it flourishes. Others, thirdly, explain it thus. Try yourselves, and see if you have faith which worketh by love, whether you have the love of Christ abiding in you. But the first meaning is the true one, and the one that suits best the context. Observe here that this precept shows that the faithful do not know for certain, and therefore should not, and cannot, believe that they have faith, and consequently cannot be assured of their righteousness. It may be retorted that S. Paul adds: "Know ye not your own selves, how that Jesus Christ is in you?" I answer that he does not mean that Christ was in their hearts, or in their faith which justified them, or in them individually, but in them collectively as a church. The proof of this was that they saw so many miracles, so many gifts and graces conferred upon their church, that they had no doubt about the presence and working of Christ among them. His conclusion is that the Corinthians ought to hold fast to this Church and to Christ by faith, and therefore to Paul as His vicar (Theophylact). This appears, secondly, from the fact that the object of faith is not "that I am just," but that "Christ Jesus is among us," i.e., in our Church, and working powerfully in it through the Apostles; consequently we are the true Church of Christ, and the Apostles and their descendants are true teachers. It may be urged here that S. Augustine (de Trin. lib. iii. c. 1) and S. Thomas here say that we may have certain knowledge that we possess faith. I answer: We know certainly that we believe and cling to Christ, but whether we do this by Divine or human faith, whether so earnestly, firmly, divinely as our righteousness and salvation require, we know not, but can only conjecture.
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Except ye be reprobates. " A reprobate," says Anselm, " is one who either knows not, or has deserted the upright faith: and honest heart that he received in his baptism." Theophylact hence says that S. Paul hints that the Corinthians were corrupt in life and character. You do not, he seems to say, recognise that Christ is in you, because you are wicked and of evil life. Evil living is the beginning and the cause of apostasy and heresy. It was lust and pride that caused Luther, Calvin, Bucer, Ochino, and all the Protestant leaders, whether priests or monks, to throw off the habit of the Catholic faith and the Roman Church, and to throw themselves into forbidden nuptials, apostasies, and heresies. Secondly, it is better to take reprobates, as in ver. 7, in the sense of despicable. From the signs of grace and of the miracles wrought among you by Christ, you know that Christ is in you, unless perchance you have been rejected by Christ, and deprived of the light He gives, and so reduced to your former darkness and abject state. Hence I said. "Examine yourselves whether ye be in the faith;" see if your faith is honest: if it is, you know that Christ is in you; if you do not know, it is a sign that your faith is useless, that you have been rejected by Christ, and are no longer believers. Ver. 6. But I trust that ye shall know that we are not reprobates. Not rejected by Christ, and deprived of His grace, and so mean and inglorious. You see indeed the opposite: you see Christ working powerfully in me, converting the Gentiles, punishing the rebellious, approving all that I do, cooperating with me, and giving me a successful issue in all things, so making me well known through all Achaia, nay through all the world. Ver. 7. Now I pray to God that ye do no evil. S. Augustine from this lays down, in opposition to the Pelagians, that grace is required not only to do good works, but to abstain from evil, to resist temptations, to keep ourselves unspotted from the world and the flesh. To overcome the more grievous temptations is impossible for nature unassisted by the grace of God.
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Not that we should appear approved. I am not labouring to have my fame and power approved by you, and to manifest to you the power I have to effectually punish those among you who do wrong: for all this I care little. One thing I do care for, and that is, that ye should do that which is honest, though we be as reprobates. Reprobates may mean, as Gagneius thinks, "esteemed wicked." Or better still, it means regarded as rejected, as abjects deprived of power, inglorious, without authority to punish. If they were obedient, this authority would not be exercised, and so might, by those so disposed, be denied. It is clear, therefore, that reprobate is not here used as the opposite of predestinated, or of devout or holy, but of approved and highly thought of (Theophylact and Anselm). Cf. 1Sa 15:9; Psa 118:22. Ver. 8. For we can do nothing against the truth, but for the truth. Truth, not mental or verbal, but that truth of life which is righteousness and equity. We cannot, he says, do anything against those who live as Christians righteously, against those who do what is good; we cannot show against them our power to punish. But, on behalf of truth or righteousness, we can both punish those who violate it, and praise and reward those who follow after it. Secondly, Theophylact explains it to mean: We cannot pass any sentence against the truth, so as to punish a man who does not merit punishment; but we can, and ought to pass sentence for the truth, and punish the guilty. This meaning follows from the first, and is plainer and easier. Others take the passage thus: As we cannot pass it over if you do anything against the truth, i.e., against righteousness and your Christian calling; so, if you act according to righteousness, we cannot punish you, because we can do nothing against the truth. All our power is to be jealously guarded, and used on behalf of truth and righteousness. Ver. 9. For we are glad when we are weak. I rejoice to be looked upon as weak, owing to my not being called upon to display my power to punish you, through your abounding grace and virtues, and freedom from guilt (Theodoret, Theophylact, Anselm). The innocent are called, and are, strong, as here, because they have no reason to fear Apostle, or devil, or angel, or death, or hell, or anything in the word. The Latin Version reads "because" for when we are glad because we are weak. The meaning is the same. S. Paul is speaking conditionally: he does not say that he actually is weak and they strong, but that if it is so, if at any time it so happen, then he is glad. Ver. 11. 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. xii. 16, note.
Be of good comfort. Exhort one another to better things (Latin version). Have consolation in mutual agreement (Vatablus).
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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. Ver. 12. Greet 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. 2Sa 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, c rnal, 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.
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Ver. 13. 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, O Corinthians, viz., the fellowship of the Holy Ghost. Similarly, in Rom 5:5 love has both meanings. Give us ever Thy grace, O Jesu Christ, our Redeemer; give us ever thy love, O Father, our Creator and Glorifier; give us ever fellowship with Thee, O 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.
13:1
In praecedentibus apostolus multa locutus est ad detestationem pseudo, hic consequenter loquitur contra illos qui a pseudo sunt seducti. Et circa hoc duo facit. Primo increpat seductos; secundo consolatur persistentes, ibi de caetero, fratres, gaudete, et cetera. Circa primum, primo comminatur sententiae severitatem; secundo ostendit suam iudiciariam potestatem, ibi an experimentum quaeritis, etc.; tertio monet ad correctionem, ibi vosmetipsos tentate, et cetera. Circa primum, primo promittit suam praesentiam; secundo praedeterminat sui iudicii formam, ibi in ore duorum vel trium, etc.; tertio comminatur severam sententiam, ibi praedixi enim, et praedico, et cetera. Promittit ergo, primo, suum adventum, dicens ecce ego venio, quasi dicat: certum sit vobis, quod venio ad vos, et ideo cavete vobis ne inveniam vos imparatos. Et dicit tertio, non quod tertio iverit, sed quia tertio iam paraverat ire, etsi non iverat nisi semel, in secundo apparatu impeditus. I Cor. IV, 19: veniam ad vos cito, et cetera. Veniam, inquam, et iudicabo malos, secundum ordinem tamen, ita scilicet quod in ore duorum vel trium testium, accusantium seu testantium contra aliquem, sit omne verbum, accusatorum; quod quidem dicitur Deut. XVII, 6: nemo occidetur, uno teste dicente testimonium, et eiusdem XIX, 15: non stabit testis unus contra aliquem. Vel aliter in ore duorum, etc., quasi dicat: hoc quod dico de adventu meo ad vos, ita est certum, sicut testimonium duorum, vel trium. Sic ergo ordo iudicii erit. Sed severitatem sententiae comminatur, dicens praedixi enim, et cetera. Ubi, primo, insinuat ordinem iudiciarium quo est procedendum, in quo exigitur ut praecedat trina admonitio. Et quantum ad hoc dicit praedixi vobis ut praesens, bis, quando scilicet eram vobiscum, et nunc absens praedico, ut sic ter admoneat.
13:2
Praedico, inquam, his qui ante peccaverunt, et omnibus aliis; quasi dicat: omnes moneo. Secundo, praemissa monitione, comminatur sententiam. Unde dicit quoniam si venero, non parcam iterum, quasi dicat: illis qui peccaverunt peperci prima vice, sed, si iterum peccaverint, vel si non egerint poenitentiam, non parcam eis iterum. Et hoc iuste fit, quia ille cui semel remittitur et iterum peccat, si remitteretur sibi, cresceret in malitia, et efficeretur insolens. Et ideo dicit sapiens Prov. XIII, 24: qui parcit virgae, odit filium suum, et cetera. Ex hoc ergo ordinatum est in Ecclesia, ut praecedat trina monitio antequam quis sententiam excommunicationis fulminet, quia contingit, quod aliqui, licet sint in peccatis et offendant, tamen ex solo verbo admonitionis corriguntur et satisfaciunt. Et etiam a levioribus semper incipiendum est. Quod si admonitione non ducitur, ne magis insolescat, adhibenda est severitas sententiae. Eccle. VIII, v. 11: ex eo quod non profertur cito contra malos sententia, et cetera. Consequenter ne possent calumniari de potestate apostoli, ostendit apostolus suam iudiciariam potestatem, dicens an experimentum, et cetera. Ubi tria facit. Primo ostendit se habere legationem et potestatem iudicandi a Christo; secundo ostendit virtutem Christi, ibi qui in vobis non infirmatur, etc.; tertio ostendit, quod virtus Christi etiam ad alios derivatur, ibi nam et nos infirmi sumus in illo. Dicit ergo: si venero, non parcam, immo severissime iudicabo, et hoc bene possum, quia habeo auctoritatem Christi in puniendo et remittendo. Supra II, 10: nam si quid donavi, et cetera. Supra V, 20: pro Christo legatione fungimur, et cetera. Et ideo dicit an experimentum, etc., quasi dicat: non est dubitandum de potestate mea, quia quidquid ego loquor, vel proferendo sententias, vel remittendo, vel praedicando, loquor a Christo. Ex. IV, 12: perge, ergo, ego ero in ore tuo. Lc. XXI, 15: ego dabo vobis os et sapientiam, et cetera.
13:3
Quae ergo homo facit ex instinctu spiritus sancti, dicitur quod spiritus sanctus facit; ideo apostolus quia a Christo motus hoc loquebatur, attribuit Christo tamquam principali, dicens qui in me loquitur Christus, et cetera. Sed ne dubitetur de potestate et virtute Christi, ideo consequenter apostolus ostendit virtutem Christi, cum dicit qui in vobis, et cetera. Ubi primo ostendit virtutem Christi, quantum ad ea quae in eis apparuerunt; secundo quantum ad ea quae in Christo sunt, ibi nam etsi, et cetera. Dicit ergo: habeo potestatem iudiciariam a Christo, qui in me loquitur, qui magnae virtutis est in vobis, dando dona gratiarum, distributionem spiritus et alia multa, quae experti estis; et non solum non infirmatur, sed potens est in vobis, quia potenter vos liberavit a peccato, potenter vos convertit ad bonum. Ps. XXIII, 8: dominus fortis et potens, et cetera. Sap. XII, 18: subest tibi cum volueris posse. Et paulo ante: virtutem enim ostendis tu, et cetera. Et non solum potentia Christi apparuit in vobis, sed etiam in seipso, scilicet inquantum a morte crucis, quam sustinuit ex infirmitate humana, quam assumpsit infirmatam in paupertate, surrexit, et vivit ex virtute Dei, quae est ipse Deus. Talis enim erat illa susceptio, quae Deum hominem faceret, et hominem Deum. I Cor. I, 25: quod infirmum est Dei, fortius est hominibus, et cetera. Vel, ex virtute Dei, scilicet patris, qui est etiam virtus Christi, quia eadem est virtus patris et filii. Apoc. I, 18: fuit mortuus, et cetera. Haec etiam virtus Christi derivatur ad nos.
13:4
Nam et nos infirmi, etc., quasi dicat: ad nos etiam pertinet illa virtus, quia et nos infirmi sumus in illo, id est ad intentionem illius, inquantum propter ipsum multa patimur, et mortificamus nosmetipsos, et humiliamus nos. I Cor. IV, 10: nos infirmi propter Christum, et cetera. Supra X, 10: praesentia corporis infirma. Supra IV, 10: semper mortificationem, et cetera. Et ideo vivemus, id est vivificabimur, ex virtute Dei in vobis, iudicandis. Gal. I, 1: qui suscitavit Iesum Christum, et cetera. Et est sensus: nos ex virtute qua Christus vivit, resuscitamur; et illa virtute habemus etiam potestatem iudicandi in vobis, vel vivemus, simili beatitudine, cum eo, et hoc ex virtute Dei, quae quidem virtus Dei est in vobis, id est in conscientiis vestris.
13:5
Post comminationem severi Dei iudicii, subdit apostolus admonitionem ad praeparationem, ut iudicium severum non patiantur, et primo ponit ipsam admonitionem; secundo rationem admonitionis assignat, ibi ideo haec absens scribo, et cetera. Circa primum duo facit. Primo ponit admonitionem; secundo excludit falsam suspicionem, ibi oramus autem ad Deum, et cetera. Circa primum duo facit. Primo monet ut se examinent; secundo innuit quid per huiusmodi examinationem invenire possint, ibi an non cognoscitis, et cetera. Circa primum sciendum est, quod ille, qui secure vult comparere in iudicio, debet se primo examinare de factis suis, et sic poterit scire utrum tute compareat. Et ideo apostolus monet ut antequam veniant ad iudicium, quod erit in adventu suo ad eos, examinent se, dicens vosmetipsos tentate, id est examinate et considerate actus vestros. I Thess. V, 21: omnia probate, quod bonum est tenete, et cetera. Monet autem, ut de duobus se examinent, scilicet de fide. Unde dicit si estis in fide, scilicet quam praedicavi vobis, et a me accepistis de domino Iesu Christo, an excideritis ab ea et sitis prolapsi in aliam. Et hoc necessarium est, quia I Cor. XI, 31 dicitur: si nosmetipsos iudicaremus, et cetera. Ier. II, 23: vide vias tuas, et cetera. Item de operibus. Unde dicit ipsi vos probate, scilicet an sitis in operibus bonis, et utrum conscientia remordeat vos aliquid mali fecisse. Et hoc utile est, quia I Cor. XI, v. 28 dicitur: probet autem seipsum homo, etc.; Gal. VI, 4: opus suum probet unusquisque. Consequenter cum dicit an non cognoscitis, etc., ostendit quid per huiusmodi examinationem invenire poterunt. Et primo quid inveniant in seipsis; secundo quid inveniant in apostolo, ibi spero autem, et cetera. In seipsis autem duo invenire poterunt per examinationem, quia aut scient se tenere fidem, et sic invenire poterunt et cognoscere, quod Christus sit in eis, et hoc est quod dicit an non cognoscitis vosmetipsos, quia Christus Iesus in vobis est? Id est numquid si examinaretis vos, sciretis vos habere fidem, et cognosceretis, quod Christus est in vobis? Quasi dicat: sic, quia ubi est fides Christi, ibi est Christus. Eph. III, 17: habitare Christum per fidem, et cetera. I Cor. VI, v. 19: nescitis quia corpora vestra templum, et cetera. Aut scient se non tenere fidem, et sic invenient quod sint reprobi. Et ideo dicit nisi forte reprobi estis, id est vere invenietis vos habere Christum, nisi forte dimiseritis fidem et reprobi sitis ab eo, quod prius habuistis per fidem. Ier. XV, 6: reliquisti me, retrorsum abiisti. Ier. VI, 29: malitiae eorum non sunt consumptae, argentum reprobum, et cetera. Sed hic quaestio est litteralis de hoc quod dicit an non cognoscitis, et cetera. Nam Christus in eis solum manet, qui habent charitatem, ut dicitur I Io. IV, 16: Deus charitas est, et cetera. Si ergo cognoscimus, quod Christus per fidem sit in nobis, oportet quod hoc sit per fidem formatam. Cognoscentes ergo hoc modo Christum esse in nobis, sciemus nos habere charitatem qua informatur fides, quod est contra illud Eccle. IX, 1: nemo scit utrum odio, et cetera. Respondeo. Dicendum est, quod habitare Christum in nobis, potest accipi dupliciter: vel quantum ad intellectum, vel quantum ad affectum. Si quantum ad intellectum, sic ipse habitat in nobis per fidem informem. Et hoc modo nihil prohibet nos per certitudinem scire, quod Christus habitet in nobis, scilicet cum scimus nos tenere fidem, quam Ecclesia Catholica docet et tenet. Si vero quantum ad affectum, sic habitat Christus in nobis per fidem formatam, et hoc modo nullus potest scire, quod Christus habitet in nobis, vel quod habeamus charitatem, nisi per revelationem et specialem gratiam alicui concedatur certitudo. Per quamdam tamen coniecturam nihil prohibet nos scire posse quod in charitate sumus, quando scilicet quis invenit se taliter paratum et dispositum, ut nullo modo propter aliquod temporale vellet aliquid facere contra Christum. I Io. III, 21: si cor nostrum non reprehenderit nos, et cetera. Patet ergo quod apostolus loquitur quantum ad primum modum. Vel etiam loquitur de cognitione, quae est per coniecturam quamdam, ut dictum est. Argumentum autem procedit quantum ad secundum modum, et de cognitione quae est per certitudinem. Quid autem in apostolo possint invenire subdit, dicens spero autem, et cetera.
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Nam quia isti Corinthii possent dicere: nos non sumus reprobi, sed ideo non tenemus documenta tua, quia non sunt recta, sed reprobanda. Et ideo dicit: quidquid sit de vobis, tamen spero, quod ex vita et doctrina nostra, quam ostendi vobis, cognoscetis, quia non sumus reprobi, et non docuimus mala, nec exclusi sumus a potestate quam dicimus nos habere. Eccli. XIX, 26: ex visu cognoscitur vir. Matth. VII, 16: a fructibus eorum, et cetera. Consequenter cum dicit oramus, etc., excludit suspicionem. Comminatus enim fuerat eis iudicium severum, cum ostenderat potestatem suam in iudicando, et indixerat examinationem, credens Christum in eis esse, nisi ipsi essent reprobi. Sed tamen hoc dimittit sub dubio, utrum sit Christus in eis. Et quia ipsi possent credere et suspicari, quod apostolus gauderet de hoc quod essent reprobi, ut ipse in comparatione ad eos maior appareat et ut in eis posset exercere severius iudicium: ideo apostolus hanc suspicionem removet hic, primo, per orationem, quam pro eis ad Deum dirigit; secundo per gaudium, quod de eis concepit, ibi gaudemus enim, et cetera. Orat autem, ut ipsi inveniantur innocentes, ut non examinentur ex severitate iudicii. Et ideo dicit oramus autem, scilicet Deum, ut vos nihil mali faciatis; quasi dicat: non credatis, quod velimus, quod sitis reprobi, sed oramus, ut nihil, et cetera. Item orat, quod ipse appareat infirmus, per quod excluditur appetitus excellentiae apostoli in comparatione ad eos.
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Et ideo dicit non, scilicet oramus, ut probati appareamus, id est non ut nos commendemur probati in comparatione ad vos, sed magis, ut vos quod bonum est, faciatis, Gal. VI, 9: bonum autem facientes, et cetera. Ps. XXVI: viriliter agite et confortetur cor vestrum; nos autem, ut reprobi simus, amittendo potestatem puniendi et iudicandi, quia ubi non est culpa, omnes sumus pares, et unus non habet potestatem iudicandi super alios. Magis ergo vult apostolus, ut sint boni, quam ut subiaceant potestati iudicii sui. Et quod careat potestate iudicandi si boni sint, ostendit cum dicit non enim possumus, etc., quasi dicat: nos non laboramus nisi pro veritate et pro ipsa stamus. Constat autem, quod si puniremus innocentes, faceremus contra veritatem, et contra iustitiam.
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Unde cum apostolus non possit facere contra veritatem sed pro veritate, id est pro iustitia, manifestum est, quod non puniet innocentes. Notandum est, secundum Augustinum in Glossa, quod ad vitandum peccata, necessaria sunt duo, scilicet liberum arbitrium, et gratia Dei. Si enim liberum arbitrium non esset necessarium, numquam darentur homini praecepta, nec prohibitiones, nec exhortationes. Frustra etiam darentur poenae. Gratia etiam est necessaria, quia nisi Deus omnes regeret per gratiam suam, non posset homo stare. Frustra etiam oraremus, quod non inducat nos in tentationem. Et ideo apostolus ostendens utrumque esse necessarium, et orat Deum pro gratia obtinenda, et monet ut per liberum arbitrium recedant a malo et faciant bonum. Unde dicit oramus quantum ad primum, ut nihil mali faciatis quantum ad secundum. Consequenter cum dicit gaudemus, etc., removet falsam suspicionem propter gaudium de bono ipsorum conceptum. Et primo ponit gaudium, quod de ipsorum innocentia concepit; secundo orationem quam pro ipsorum perfectione emittit, ibi hoc autem oramus, vestram, et cetera. Dicit ergo: oramus quod vos probati appareatis, sed nos infirmi, et hoc apparet ex affectu nostro, quia gaudemus, quod scilicet aliqui sint inter vos boni et innocentes, ex quo subtrahatur nobis potestas iudicandi et videamur infirmi.
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Et hoc est quod dicit gaudemus, quoniam nos infirmi sumus, id est non exercentes potestatem nostram, vos autem potentes, id est sic bene agentes et vitia vincentes, quod subtrahitis vos a potestate nostra iudicandi. Cum enim aliquis male agit, subdit se potestati iudicis, sed bene faciendo repellit illam a se. Rom. c. XIII, 3: vis non timere potestatem? Benefac, et cetera. I Cor. IV, 10: nos infirmi, vos fortes. De isto gaudio dicitur Phil. II, 17: gaudeo et congratulor vobis, et cetera. Et non solum de his gaudemus, sed etiam super hoc oramus vestram consummationem, id est perfectionem. In rebus enim naturalibus videmus quod quaelibet res naturalis naturaliter tendit ad suam perfectionem, ad quam habet naturale desiderium. Et ideo cuilibet rei datur virtus naturalis, ut ad suam perfectionem naturalem possit pervenire. Gratia autem datur homini a Deo, per quam homo perveniat ad suam ultimam et perfectam consummationem, id est beatitudinem, ad quam habet naturale desiderium. Unde quando aliquis non tendit ad suam perfectionem, signum est, quod non habet satis de gratia Dei. Et ideo apostolus, ut isti possint in gratia crescere, orat ut perficiantur. Et Phil. I, 9: oro ut charitas, et cetera. Eph. VI, 13: ut possitis resistere in die malo, et cetera.
13:10
Consequenter posita admonitione, causam admonitionis assignat, dicens ideo haec absens scribo, etc., id est ideo absens scribo vobis haec, monendo vos, ne scilicet cogar aliquid facere contra voluntatem meam, quae est ut nihil dure agam contra vos, nisi quatenus per vos compellar. Et ideo dicit ut non praesens vobis durius agam contra vos quam velim vel quam velitis. Sap. XI, 11: hos quidem tamquam pater monens probasti, et cetera. Supra X, 1: absens confido in vobis. Rogo autem vos ne praesens audeam, et cetera. Sed quia Corinthii possent dicere: numquid etiam si benefecerimus, non poteris contra nos, o apostole, dure agere? Ideo respondet, dicens: non, quia non propono nec possum agere, nisi secundum quod recepi a Deo potestatem. Deus autem dedit mihi hanc potestatem, scilicet ligandi atque solvendi, in aedificationem, non in destructionem, id est ut vos aedificemini, et non ut destruamini. Et si dure vos corrigerem, non aedificarem, sed destruerem. Supra X, v. 8: de potestate nostra, quam dedit nobis dominus ad aedificationem, et cetera. Hanc autem potestatem dedit dominus Paulo, Act. IX: segregate mihi Barnabam et Paulum ad opus, et cetera.
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In praecedentibus apostolus increpavit seductos a pseudo, hic vero consolatur persistentes in fide et doctrina sua. Et primo ponit monitionem; secundo subdit salutationem, ibi salutate in osculo, et cetera. Circa primum, primo ponit monitionem; secundo praemium impletae monitionis, ibi et Deus pacis, et cetera. Monet autem ad tria. Primo qualiter se habeant in seipsis; secundo qualiter se habeant ad proximos; tertio qualiter debent esse omnes ad invicem. In seipsis autem debent bona duo habere. Primo gaudium de bono habito, et quantum ad hoc dicit de caetero, fratres, qui constantes fuistis, gaudete, in his quae ad servitium Dei facitis. Et hoc est necessarium ad hoc quod sitis iusti et virtuosi, quia nullus est virtuosus, seu iustus, qui non gaudet iusta et virtuosa operatione. Et ideo dicitur in Ps. XCIX, 2: iubilate Deo, omnis terra, servite domino in laetitia; Phil. IV, 4: gaudete in domino semper; iterum dico, gaudete, et cetera. Et vere semper est gaudendum, quia gaudium conservat hominem in bono habitu, quia nullus potest esse diu in eo quod contristat. Secundo debent habere boni in seipsis aemulationem perfectionis, et quantum ad hoc dicit perfecti estote, id est semper tendatis ad profectum. Hebr. VI, 1: quapropter intermittentes inchoationis Christi sermonem, ad perfectionem, et cetera. Non est autem hoc, quod hic dicitur, praeceptum, scilicet quod homo sit perfectus, sed hoc, quod semper tendat ad perfectionem. Et hoc est necessarium, quia qui non studet ad proficiendum, est in periculo deficiendi. Videmus enim quod nisi remiges conentur ascendere, navis semper descendit. Et ideo dicebat dominus Mc. ult.: estote perfecti, et cetera. Proximis autem est impendenda exhortatio ad bona. Et quantum ad hoc dicit exhortamini, et cetera. Eccli. XVII, 12: unicuique mandavit Deus de proximo, et cetera. Rom. c. XII, 8: qui exhortatur in exhortando, Apoc. ult.: qui audit, dicat, veni. Communia autem omnibus debent esse duo, scilicet ut idem sapiant, et ideo dicit idem sapite, et ut pacem habeant, et ideo dicit pacem habete. Et haec duo ita se habent, quod unum est exterius, aliud interius. Constat enim quod corpora non possunt servari et ordinari, nisi membra ordinentur ad invicem. Similiter nec Ecclesia, nec Ecclesiae membra, nisi ordinentur et uniantur ad invicem. Est autem duplex unio necessaria ad membra Ecclesiae unienda. Una est interior, ut scilicet idem sapiant per fidem, quantum ad intellectum, idem credendo, et per amorem, quantum ad affectum, idem diligendo. Et ideo dicit idem sapite, id est idem sentiatis de fide, et idem diligatis affectu charitatis. Quia tunc est vera sapientia, quando operatio intellectus perficitur et consummatur per quietationem et delectationem affectus. Unde sapientia dicitur, quasi sapida scientia. Rom. XV, 6: ut sic unanimes, uno ore honorificetis Deum, et cetera. I Cor. I, 10: idipsum dicatis, et cetera. Phil. c. II, 2: idem sapiatis, et cetera. Alia est exterior, scilicet pax, et ideo dicit pacem habete inter vos. Hebr. XII, 14: pacem sequimini, et cetera. Ps. XXXIII, 15: inquire pacem. II Thess. III, v. 16: ipse Deus pacis det vobis pacem sempiternam in omni loco. Consequenter cum dicit et Deus pacis et dilectionis erit vobiscum, ponit praemium quod redditur implentibus monitionem praedictam; quasi dicat: si servabitis pacem inter vos, Deus pacis et dilectionis erit vobiscum. Circa quod notandum est, quod apud gentiles consuetum erat, quod aliqui ex donis denominabant deos, quia licet esset unus Deus tantum, tamen singula dona sua denominabant deos ex illis donis, sicut ex dono pacis denominabant Deum pacis, et ex dono salutis, Deum salutis. Huic vocabulo alludens apostolus dicit Deus pacis, et cetera. Non quod pax sit unus Deus, sicut illi dicebant, sed ideo Christus dicitur Deus pacis, quia est dator pacis et amator. Io. XIV, 27: pacem meam do vobis, et cetera. I Cor. XIV, 33: non est Deus dissensionis, sed pacis. Rom. V, 5: charitas Dei diffusa est in cordibus nostris, et cetera. Ipse etiam est auctor pacis. Io. XVI, 33: in me pacem habebitis, et cetera. Ipse in pace habitat. Ps. LXXV, 3: in pace factus est locus eius, et cetera. Item non solum est Deus pacis, sed etiam dilectionis. Et ideo dicit Deus pacis et dilectionis erit vobiscum. Et hoc ideo est, quia qui est in vera pace cordis et corporis, est in charitate, et qui manet in charitate, in Deo manet et Deus in eo, ut dicitur I Io. IV, 16, et quia homo non meretur nisi per pacem et dilectionem. Io. XIV, 23: si quis diligit me, et cetera.
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Consequenter cum dicit salutate invicem in osculo, etc., ponit salutationem, et circa hoc primo indicit eis mutuam salutationem; secundo salutat eos ex parte aliorum, ibi salutant vos, etc.; tertio salutat eos ex parte sua, ibi gratia Dei, et cetera. Mutuam salutationem indicit faciendam per osculum. Unde dicit salutate invicem, vos ipsos, in osculo sancto. Ubi notandum est, quod osculum est signum pacis. Nam per os in quo datur osculum, homo respirat. Et ideo quando homines dant sibi mutua oscula signum est quod uniunt spiritum suum ad pacem. Est autem pax simulata, et haec est eorum qui loquuntur pacem cum proximo suo, mala autem in cordibus eorum, etc., ut dicitur in Ps. XXVII, 3. Quae quidem fit per osculi fraudulentiam. Prov. XXVII, 6: meliora sunt verbera diligentis, et cetera. Est et pax mala et turpis, quando scilicet conveniunt ad malum faciendum. Sap. XIV, v. 22: in magno viventes inscientiae bello, et cetera. Et haec fit per osculum libidinosum. Prov. VII, 13 dicitur de mala muliere, quod apprehensum deosculatur iuvenem, et cetera. Est et pax sancta quam facit Deus. Phil. c. ult.: et pax Dei, quae exsuperat, et cetera. Et haec fit per osculum sanctum, quia unit spiritum ad sanctitatem. Et de hoc osculo dicitur hic in osculo sancto. Et ex hoc inolevit consuetudo, quod fideles et sancti viri, in signum charitatis et unionis, se invicem osculantur, et datur pax in Ecclesiis in osculo sancto. Ex parte autem aliorum salutat eos, dicens salutant vos sancti omnes, quia omnes sancti et fideles sperant et desiderant, ac orationibus procurant salutem nostram; unde omnes fideles Christi ad invicem sperant et desiderant sibi salutem. Ps. CXVIII, participem me fac, Deus, et cetera. Ex parte autem sua salutat eos apostolus, dicens gratia domini nostri, et cetera. Ubi sciendum quod duplex est modus appropriandi aliquid divinis personis. Unus est essentialiter, alius causaliter; essentialiter autem appropriatur divinis personis, sicut patri potentia, quia ipse est potentia essentialiter, inquantum est principium; filio sapientia, inquantum est verbum; spiritui sancto amor, inquantum est bonitas. Hic vero apostolus non appropriat ista hoc modo, scilicet per essentiam, quia sic omnia appropriarentur spiritui sancto, sed appropriat per causam. Et ideo cum gratia sit donum, quo dimittuntur nobis peccata Rom. c. III, 24: iustificati gratis, etc., et remissio peccatorum sit nobis facta per filium, qui, carnem nostram accipiens, pro peccatis nostris satisfecit, Io. I, 17: gratia et veritas per Iesum Christum facta est, etc.; propter hoc apostolus attribuit gratiam Christo. Unde dicit gratia domini nostri, et cetera. Charitas autem est nobis necessaria, quia oportet nos uniri Deo. I Io. IV, 16: qui manet in charitate, in Deo manet, et cetera. Et quia hoc est a Deo patre, in quantum ipse sic dilexit mundum, ut filium suum unigenitum daret, ut dicitur Io. III, 16, Rom. V, 8: commendat autem Deus suam charitatem, ideo sibi, ut principio istius charitatis, attribuit charitatem cum dicit et charitas Dei, scilicet patris. Communicatio vero divinorum fit per spiritum sanctum, quia est distributor donorum spiritualium. I Cor. XII, 11: haec omnia operatur unus atque idem spiritus. Et ideo spiritui sancto attribuit communicationem, cum dicit et communicatio sancti spiritus. Vel attribuit sibi hoc, quia ipse est communis aliis duabus personis.
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Sic ergo apostolus in salutatione sua optat omnia necessaria, cum dicit gratia domini nostri Iesu Christi, et charitas Dei, et communicatio spiritus sancti, sit semper cum omnibus vobis. Amen. Gratia Christi, qua iustificamur et salvamur; charitas Dei patris, qua sibi unimur; et communicatio spiritus sancti, divina nobis dona distribuentis. Amen.
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1. Ecce, tertio venio ad vos. Istud ecce plerique codices Graeci non habent; est tamen in Complutensi et quibusdam aliis, ut notat Robertus. Sensus est: Tertius hic erit adventus meus ad vos, ut ad sensum bene vertit Erasmus. Nam Graecum Ipxouat, licet formam habeat verbi praesentis temporis, significationem tamen habet futuri; nempe ejus, quod sit in procinctu; praesertim in sacris litteris. Repetit Apostolus de adventu suo, ut eo metu corrigant sese Corinthii ac virgam apostolicam praeveniant. Quomodo autem intelligendum sit, quod dicit, se tertio venire, explicatum est capite superiori ad illud: Ecce, tertio hoc paratus sum etc. Ex quo etiam loco particula ecce, quam Graeca hic pleraque non habent, videtur huc adscita.
In ore duorum vel trwm testium stabit omne verbum, Praeceptum est judiciale legis Mosaicae, Deut. 19., cujus sensus est: Omnem controversiam judicandam esse juxta testimonium duorum aut trium. Dubitatur autem, utrum signiticare velit Apostolus, se in judicandis et puniendis peccatoribus processurum secundum formam divinae legis, scilicet auditis duobus aut tribus testibus; ne putent Corinthii, quod vel praecipitanter ac temere judicaturus sit, vel magnam testium multitudinem adhibiturus; quae Cajetani expositio est; an vero, quod voluit Ambrosianus et Graeci, respiciat et alludat ad suum secundum et tertium ad Corinthios adventum; ut quasi duorum aut trium testium loco sint duo vel tres adventus ipsius, per quos certius de peccatis et impoenitentia Corinthiorum, quibus virgam minatur, cognoscere poterit. Huic sensui favet, quod jam dixerat, tertio se venturum; quasi tertius adventus tertium testimonium futurum sit. Adde, quod de manifestis et notoriis peccatis loquitur, in quibus judicandis et puniendis testium inductione non videtur opus fuisse; sicut nec opus fuerat in puniendo eo, qui patris uxorem habuerat. Praeterea confirmat hunc intellectum, quod sequitur:
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2. Praedixi, et praedico, ut praesens, et nunc absens, iis, qui ante peccaverunt, et caeteris omnibus. Quaedam mss. legunt: ut praesens bis; quae lectio etiam apud Lombardum et Aquinatem est, atque alios mediae aetatis commentatores. Pro bis Graeca et Syra habent: secundo, sicque legit Augustinus libr. 3. contra epist. Parm. cap. 1. et 2. Quod plenius expressit textus Ambrosianus: secundo adventu. Jam quod complures Latini codices non bis, sed vobis legunt, a non intelligentibus ea facta mutatio est; cum prorsus appareat sinceram versionis nostrae lectionem esse: ut praesens bis. Porro Graeca et Syra addunt aliquid hoc pacto: et absens nunc scribo iis, qui etc, tametsi sine verbo: scribo, perfecta constat sententia, quae videtur esse hujusmodi: Praedixi vobis, et praedico, id est, denuntiavi et denuntio, praedixi, inquam, tamquam praesens secundo, et nunc praedico absens, iis, qui ante peccaverunt, et non egerunt poenitentiam, sicut supradictum est, et non iis solum, sed et caeteris omnibus, tamquam testibus futuris denuntiationis ac praemonitionis meae. Hic observa, Apostolum de secundo adventu suo loquentem non dicere: praesens, sed: ut praesens, quemadmodum et de fornicario illo dixerat: Jam judicavi ut praesens; ut hinc quoque intelligas, quod tantum semel fuerat revera praesens; sed quia secundo proposuerat venire, vult hoc aestimari tamquam secundam praesentiam. Quid vero praedicat ac denuntiet, sequitur:
Quoniam, si venero iterum, nonparcam. Iterum praecedenti verbo rectius jungitur, quam sequenti. Hoc est, inquit, quod praedixi et praedico, me, si rursus venero, non parciturum illis, qui peccaverunt, sicut peperci, a secundo abstinens adventu. Sic enim ait hujus epistolae cap. 1.: Parcens vobis non veni ultra Corinthum. In eo, quod dicit: non parcam, virgam ecclesiasticae disciplinae comminatur, ut excommunicationem, et satisfactionis rigorem.
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3. An experimentum quaeritis ejus, qui in me loquitur Christus? Graece sine interrogatione legitur hoc modo: Quando quidem probationem quaeritis loquentis in me Christi. Sic et Augustinus lib. 3. contra epistolam Parmeniani cap. 2.: quia probationem quaeritis etc. Apud Ambrosianum sic habetur: Quomodo probationem quaeritis ejus etc, nisi forte mendum est, ut pro quomodo legendum sit: quoniam, uti vertit Theophylacti interpres. Sensus Graecae lectionis est: Dico, me non parciturum; quandoquidem ita vos gentis, quasi dubitetis et experimento probare velitis, an Christus in me loquatur, id est, an ex potestate a Christo accepta, tamquam verus ejus Apostolus, ego haec loquar, quae dixi de puniendis impoenitentibus. Idem sensus est Latinae lectionis, nisi quod interrogatio vehementiorem reddit orationem, quomodo si praeceptor discipulis dicat: An vultis experiri, me esse praeceptorem vestrum, qui possim vos castigare? Caeterum haec dicit Apostolus, ut timore Corinthiis incusso provocet eos ad poenitentiam mature agendam; ne, cum venerit, cogatur punitivam et vindicativam, uti loquitur Oecumenii interpres, quam a Christo acceperat, potestatem in eos ostendere.
Qui in vobis non infirmatur, sed potens est in vobis. Priori loco Graece non est: in vobis, sed: in vos, sive erga vos. Qui Christus, inquit, non est imbecillis in vos, id est, respectu vestri, tamquam in vos peccantes non possit animadvertere; sed fortis, ac potens est in vobis, quia potentiam suam apud tos jam satis declaravit, non solum per miracula virtute ejus facta, quibus adducti estis ad fidem, et per multiplicia sancti Spiritus dona inter vos distributa, verum etiam in punitione delinquentium; velut illius fornicarii in Christi nomine et virtute traditi Satanae, 1 Cor. 5., iterumque eorum, qui indigne sumserant corpus et sanguinem Domini, quorum alii in varias aegritudines inciderant, alii morte abrepti erant. 1 Cor. 11.
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4. Nam, etsi crucifixus est ex infirmitate, sed vivit ex virtute Dei. Id est: Quamvis crucifixus fuit, et in cruce mortuus, secundum carnem infirmam, passibilem, mortalem, et hominum daemonumque injuriis obnoxiam, vivit tamen nunc vita immortali et impassibili, ex virtute et potentia Dei patris, qui revocavit eum de morte ad vitam, non ultra moriturum. Itaque jam non amplius infirmus, sed potens est; cujus proinde potentiam vos etiam in ministro ejus timere debetis. Ambrosianus legit, sicut et Hilarias lib. 9. de Trinitate: ex infirmitate nostra, et exponit, Christum propter peccata nostra crucifixum esse; siquidem peccata vocantur in Scripturis inrirmitates. Sed illi lectioni reclamant codices, quotquot exstant, tam Graeci, quam Latini, tametsi Pelagius videri potest ita legisse; sic enim habet ejus commentarius: Quod crucifixus est, nostrae est infirmitatis; quod vivit, suae virtutis.
Nam et nos infirmi sumus in illo. Id est: Sic igitur et nos Apostoli infirmi sumus, utpote multis injuriis, periculis, afflictionibus obnoxii, idque in illo, hoc est, propter Christum et verbum ejas, ut exponunt Gratci; vel secundum Cajetanum, in ipso tamquam exemplari, cui nos ejus ministri conformamur, secunium quod ipse praedixit: Si me persecuti sunt, et vos persequentur. Joann. 15. Unde et ait Apostolus superius cap. 4.: Semper mortificationem Jesu in corpore nostro circumferentes.
Sed vivemus cum eo ex virtute Dei in vobis. Graece: in vos, vel erga vos, ut habet Ambrosianus. Sciendum, multa Latina mss., quibus annuit Syriaca versio, legere: vivimus, verbo praesentis tempoiis; qua sane lectione verus hujus loci sensus adjuvatur. Est autem talis: Sed tamen etiam vivimus cum Christo, id est, Christo, viventi ex virtute, nos quoque assimilamur in eo, quod ex eadem Dei virtute vivimus. Erga vos, id est, potentes sumus vestri respectu, ut non solum miracula apud vos patrare, quemadmodum cap. superiori dictum est, sed etiam vos peccantes punire et castigare possimus. Vitam per potentiam exponimus; nam vitam infirmitati opponit Apostolus, simulque respicit ad illud, quod de Christo dixit: Sed potens est in votis. Si legas: vivemus, in futuro, quod in plerisque Latinis est et omnibus Graecis, ac proinde minime repudiandum, sensus haud minus commodus erit iste: Sed instar Christi, virtute Dei potentes erimus erga vos; tunc nimirum, quando res postulabit, ut potesttitem in vos exerceamus.
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5. Vosmet ipsos tentate, si estis in fide; ipsi vosprobate! Non solum, inquit, iu me loquitur Christus per potestatem ab ipso datam; verum etiam, si volueritis vos ipsos explorare ac probare, cognoscetis, in vobis Christum esse per fidem. Vel hoc modo: Quaeritis experimentum loquentis in me Christi: potius ad vos ipsos respicite, et vosipsos tentate ac probate, num fidem habeatis; et per hoc (sicut proxime sequitur) Christus in vobis sit. Dubium est, de qua fide loquatur Apostolus. Ac primum, non videtur intelligi posse de fide, quae omnibus Christianis est communis, et a charitate separari potest; tum quia scire poterant Corinthii sine nova probatione, se talem fidem habere; testatur enim S. Augustin. lib. 13. de Trin. cap. 1., nos habere certissimam scientiam fidei, quae in nobis est, et D. Thom. in hunc locum scribens, aflirmat, nos scire, quod teneamus fidem, quam Ecclesia catholica docet ac tenet; idemque in 1. 2. q. 112. art. 5. ad 2.: Quisquis, inquit, habet fidem, certus est, se eam habere. Tum quia per hujusmodi fidem non continuo Christus in nobis esse dicitur, juxta morem Scripturae. Quocirca vel de fide per dilectionem operante loquitur Apostolus; hanc enim ut humana quadam et conjecturali certitudine quisque se habere sciat, probare se ipsum debet ex operibus et intentione. Qui sensus satis congruit scopo Apostoli; reprehendit enim Corinthios non de infidelitate, sed de malis operibus. Vel certe, secundum multorum expositionem, loquitur de fide miraculorum etficaci, et cum dono prophetiae et linguarum conjuncta; quae fides signum esse solet Christi habitantis in eo fidelium coetu, in quo ipsa viget. Sic enim et alibi gratiam miraculorum idem Apostolus assumit tamquam signum accepti Spiritus sancti, ut ad Gal. 3. cum ait: Qui ergo tribuit vobis Spiritum, et operatur virtutes in vobis, etc.
An non cognoscitis vosmet ipsos, quia Christus Jesus in vobis est? Quasi dicat: Per experimentum fidei, in qua, probatione adhibita, invenitis vos esse, plane cognoscitis, Jesum Christum essem vobis; ut proinde de me, cujus ministerio fidem accepistis, ambigere non debeatis, quin loquatur in me Christus. Male colligunt ex hoc loco sectarii, hominem justum certo scire, se esse filium Dei, et Christum inhabitantem in se habere; ac facile refelluntur ex verbis praecedentibus. Etenim si Corinthios admonet Apostolus, ut seipsos probent ac tentent, num sint in fide, per quam Christus in eis sit, utique de ea re certi non erant. Nam quod certum est, probatione non eget. At neque post probationem quisquam certus est omnimoda certitudine, Christum in se habitare; sed ex probatione cognitionem accipit magnae probabilitatis, et, ut jam dixi, moralis cujusdam certitudinis. Qua de re vide etiam S. Thomam in hunc locum. Quamquam videtur Apostolus non de singulis loqui, sed de Ecclesia Corinthiorum; certius autem cognoscitur, in Ecclesia quapiam particulari Christum per gratiam habitare, quam in uno quopiam homine.
Nisi forte reprobi estis. Graece: Nisi quid reprobi estis, ubi quid videtur esse particula mitigantis asperitatem sermonis; durum enim erat suspicari, Corinthios esse reprobos. Unde alii verterunt: Nisi in aliquo reprobi estis. Potest autem exceptio referri vel ad verbum cognoscitis, vel ad illud extremum: in vobis est; tametsi bene censet Cajetanus magis quadrare, ut ad prius referatur. Sensus enimest: Omnino cognoscitis experimento certorum effectuum, Christum esse in vobis; nisi qua parte reprobi estis, id est, viles ac degeneres effecti, utpote carentes ac destituti signis illis, ex quibus excellentiam vestram cognoscatis. Neque enim reprobi hic dicuntur, qui contra praedestinatos distingui solent, uti manifestius patet ex sequentibus. Itaque hinc nullo modo consequens est, quod haereticorum quidam docent, eos, qui hoc modo reprobi dicuntur, nunquam habere Christum in se habitantem per gratiam et justitiam.
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6. Spero autem, quod cognoscitis, quia nos non sumus reprobi. Multi codices, tam excusi, quam mss., legunt futurum: cognoscetis; quibus Graecus et Syriacus textus, necnon editio Clementina suffragantur. Ambrosianus quoque futurum tempus expressit hoc modo: Spero autem cognituros vos. Proinde lectionem hanc arbitramur esse veram ac genuinam. Porro sensus, juxta Graecos interpretes, comminatorius est, quasi dicat Apostolus: Si forte non cognoscitis Christum in vobis esse, propterea quod plerique vestrum vita corrupti, dudum exciderunt a pristinis Spiritus sancti donis; at spero vos experientia cognituros, quod nos non simus reprobi, id est, viles ac potestate destituti; faciam, ut agnoscatis autoritatem meam, nec patiar, me contemni.
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7. Oramus autem Deum, ut nihil mali faciatis. Graece: Opto apud Deum, vel: Oro ad Deum, ut etc. Ambrosianus: Oro autem Deum. Sensus et connexio talis est: Quod dico, me sperare etc. non hoc dico, quasi delectet me usus potestatis meae in vos; quin potius opto ac Deum oro, ne quidquam mali faciatis, videlicet dignum censura Ecclesiastica et Apostolica, sic ut opus sit, me declarare potestatem, quam habeo ad puniendum malos. Patet hic sensus ex praecedentibus. Itaque impertinens est huic sententiae, rectene Deum quis oret, ut careat omni peccato etiam veniali. Caeterum bene ex ea sequitur, quod abstinere a peccato sit ex gratia Dei; nam oratio gratiae testificatio est.
Non ut nos probati appareamus. Probati, in Graeco non participium est, sed nomen, oppositum ei, quod dixit: reprobi. Non hoc, inquit, desideramus, aut a Deo petimus, ut nos, judicando et puniendo vos, videamur esse magnae autoritatis, id est, ut nos habeamur in pretio, quem scopum pseudapostoli alibi propositum habent.
Sed ut vos, quod bonum est, faciatis, ut mihi non sit opus uti virga censoria. Bene utramque justitiae partem eis precatur Apostolus; priorem, ut nihil mali faciant, alteram, ut, quod bonum est, agant, implentes illud: Declina a malo, et fac bonum, Psalm. 33. Hinc rursus sequitur, gratiae Dei esse, quod bonum facimus, sicut ex hoc loco colligit Augustin. lib. de gratia Christi, cap. 25.
Nos autem ut reprobi simus. Ut, id est, tamquam, quemadmodum superius cap. 5.: ut praesens. Verbum autem simus, concedentis est; quomodo dicimus: Esto! Sensus enim est: Facile patiar, me haberi ut reprobum, id est, vilem, gloriae ac potestatis expertem; nec volo, ullam meae dignitatis haberi rationem, dummodo vos constanter in bono perseveretis, et nihil admittatis, quod me cogat ostendere potestatem, quam a Christo accepi.
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8. Non enim possumus aliquid adversusveritatem, sedpro veritate. Idest: Potestas mea punitiva nullum habet usum, quamdiu voritas et justitia servatur; quia non est contra veritatem, ut illa destruatur, sed pro veritate conservanda utpote data contra transgressores, non contra justos, juxta illud 1 Timoth. l.i Lex justo non est posita, sed injustis. Unde et ait Rom. 13.: Vis non timere potestatem? bene fac, Quare, si vos Corinthii nihil dignum punitione egeritis, sed, quod bonum est, feceritis; ego potestate vacuus apparebo. Nam ubi culpa non est, omnes sumr.s pares; ut ex Gregorio Thomas annotat. Porro veritatem pro eo, quod rectum et justum est, accipi, frequens est in sacris litteris.
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9. Gaudemus enim, quoniam, nos infirmi sumus, vos autem potentes estis. Graece: Cu?n, vel, si quando nos infirmi sumus, vos autem potentes estis. Ambrosius: cum infirmamur, vos autem fortes estis. Verisimile est, interpretem nostrum vertisse: quando, quod abbreviate scriptum, facile transit in quoniam. Habent quando mss. nonnulli, in quibus Laudensis. Estque sensus hoc pacto clarior, quia tempus significatur indefinitum. Non solum, inquit, alieni sumus a cupiditate ostentandae potestatis nostrae; verum etiam gaudemus, si quando nos infirmi et impotentes simus, videlicet subtracta nobis materia nostrae potestatis; et vicissim vos potentes, ut adversus quos ego nihil possim ob corrcctam vitam vestram. Potest et prior pars, juxta phrasim Hebraeam, exponi per hypothesin, quemadmodum illud Rom. 6.: Gratias Deo, quia fuistis servi peccati, etc, ut sensus sit: Gaudeo, Cuii. Eitil Comm. Tom. II. vos esse potentes; etsi ego infirmus ac reprobus habear, non valens uti potestate.
Hoc et oramus vestram consummationem. Graece: Hoc autem et oramus, sive optamus, sive votis prosequimur, vestram integritatem, perfectionem, seu refectionem ac instaurationem in integrum. Tale quid enim verbale Graecum xatapxioic significat, deductum a verbo, quod Matthaer.s usurpavit cap. 4.: reficientes retia, quo et infra Paulus utitur. Sensus est: Hoc, ouod dixi, scilicet ut potentes sitis, votis precibusque ad Deum fusis optamus; vestram, inquam. perfectionem, qua, correctis vitiis ac sublatis dissidiis, integri sitis et irreprehensibiles, ac potestati nostrie nequaquam obnoxii.
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10. Ideo haec absens scribo, ut non praesens durius agam. Pro: durius agam, Graece est: severiter seu rigide utar. De Graeco adverbio arcOTOum^ plura vide iu commentario nostro ad illud Tit. 1.: Increpa illos dure. Sensus autem est: Propterea haec absens scribo, vosque commoneo, ne, quum praesens fuero, vosque adhuc mcorrectos invenero, cogar uti severitate et rigore disciplinae adversum vos: idque
Secundum potestatem, quam Dominus dedit mihi in aedificationem, et non in destructionem. Hocetsuperius dictum est, atque expositum cap. 10. Congruit autem cum eo, quod paulo ante dixit, se nihil posse adversus veritatem, sed pro veritate. Non est autem consequens ex his Apostoli sententiis, dispensationes praelatorum Ecclesiae, quaecumque absque justa causa fiunt, prorsus irritas esse; sed tantum, male ac temere factas esse, et praeter finem ac legitimum usum potestatis a Deo concessae. Multa autem male fiunt, quae facta tenent, ut jura loquuntur. Idque manifestum est in ordinationibus sacerdotum, et collationibus beneficiorum, et aliis hujusmodi. Unde et Patres admonent, injustam excommunicationem timendam esse.
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11. De caetero, fratres, gaudete. Epilogus est Epistolae. Graecum verbum tria significat: gaudete, salvete, valete; quod postremum reddidit Erasmus. At Graeci interpretes de gaudio exponunt. Nam quia contristaverat Apostolus Corinthios priore Epistola, nunc hortatur eos ad gaudium sanctum et spirituale; quale utique habituri erant, si se corrigerent.
Perfecti estote. In Graeco verbum, a quo verbale, quod superius vertit interpres: consummationem; quasi dicat: Redintegramini; integri estote; corrigite vitia priora, ut nihil inveniam, in quo cogar exercere meam potestatem. Observa, Apostolum id nunc praecipere, quod paulo ante orare se dicebat. Ex quo discimus, eadem esse, quae praecipiuntur hominibus, et quae a Deo praestanda hominibus exspectantur. Insuper observa, quam apte congruant, quae hic in fine secundae Epistolae dicuntur Epilogi loco, cum iis, quae dicta sunt in principio prioris. Illic enim dixerat: Sitis perfecti in eodem sensu et in eadem sententia. Hic repetit, eodem utens verbo Graeco: Perfecti estote. Illic monuit dicens: Ut id ipsum dicatis omnes, et non sint in vobis schismata. Hic mox subjungit: Idem sapite; pacem habete. Unde intelligimus, praecipuam Apostolo curam in his Epistolis scribendis fuisse, ut per concordiam et charitatem bene cohaererent animis inter se Corinthii, tamquam unius atque integri corporis membra.
Exhortamini. Verti potest: Consolamini, id est, consolationem accipite. Idque magis congruit; contristati enim fuerant, ut jam dictum est.
Jdem sapite. Id est, concordes atque unanimes estote. Syriace: Sit inter vos concordia. Hoc addit, propter dissensiones et schismata, quae inter illos fuerant; de quibus in Epistola priore. Unde et sequitur:
Pacem habete. In Graeco unum verbum est, quasi dicat: Pacificamini, vel, ut recte Ambrosius: In pace agite, id est, non sint inter vos contentiones et rixae.
Et Deus pacis et dilectionis erit vobiscum. In Graeco contrarius ordo: dilectionis et pacis. Si, inquit, concordiam et pacem inter vos habeatis, Deus autor fraternae charitatis, quae concordiae parens est, idemque autor pacis, erit vobiscum per ampliora gratiae suae dona.
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12. Salutate invicem in osculo sancto. Hoc ipsum jam in duabus praecedentibus Epistolis audivimus.
Salutant vos omnes Sancti. Id est, fratres seu Christiani, qui apud nos sunt. Sic enim in priore Epistola: Salutant vos omnes fratres. Cur autem Christiani ab Apostolo sancti vocentur, alibi explicatum est.
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13. Gratia Domini nostri Jesu Christi. Id est: Gratuita beneficentia Christi redemptoris nostri; quamquam pronomen nostri non est in Graeco. Potest etiam intelligi gratia, quae datur pe.r Christum, id est, per meritum ejus; sic enim alibi saepe gratia Jesu Christi intelligitur. Sed sequentia magis postulare videntur intellectum priorem, quem dedi; ut Christus Dominus significetur autor gratiae, sicut Pater et Spiritus sanctus, et proinde consideretur secundum naturam divinam. Nam et ita saepe loquitur Apostolus, quoties fidelibus, ad quos scribit, precatur gratiam a Deo Patre et Domino Jesu Christo.
Et charitas Dei, Patris, qua scilicet nos dilexit. Quae charitas in eo potissimum commendatur, quod Filium suum pro nobis in mortem tradidit. Sic Deus dilexit mundum, ut filium suum unigenitum daret, Joann. 3.
Et communicatio Sancti Spiritus. Id est, participatio seu larga effusio donorum Spiritus sancti; et communicatio activa intelligatur, sicut gratiam Jesu Christi, et charitatem Dei Patris interpretati sumus. Ita communicatio accipitur Hebr. 13.: Beneficentiae et communionis nolite oblivisci. Et in hac ipsa Epistola, ubi agit de communicatione, quae fit in sanctos. Convenienter autem hujusmodi donorum largitio attribuitur Spiritui sancto, qui amor est Patris et Filii, cui proinde bonitas appropriatur, quae sui diffusiva est.
Sit cum omnibus vobis. Scilicet per multiplices effectus gratiae Christi, et charitatis Patris, et communicativae bonitatis Spiritus sancti. Hoc loco distincte nobis insinuantur tres in divinis personae; id quod contra haereticos, Trinitatis mysterio contradicentes, diligenter a Graecis commentatoribus est animadversum. Porro Graeci codices post finem Epistolae adscripta habent haec verba: Ad Corinthios secunda scripta est e Philippis Macedoniae per Titum et Lucam. Qaae subnotatio quatenus vera sit ac recipienda, facile potest intelligi ex iis, quae in argumento hujus Epist., et in expositione cap. 8. a nobis dicta sunt.
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1. (ecce) tertio hoc venio ad vos; in ore duorum vel (graece xat, etiam!) trium testium stabit omne verbum. luxta Legem mosaicam (Deut. 19,15), quam Timotheus quoque observare iussus est (1 77m. 5,19) atque Dominus ipse quodam modo iam in Ecclesia stabiliverat (Matth. 18,10), in iudiciis unus solus testis fidem non faciebat; ut reus alicuius facinoris convinceretur, saltem duo aut, si pluves idonei aderant, tres testes inter se consentientes requirebantur. Quam legem allegans Paulus se verum ac proprium iudicium iuxta eius praescripta acturum esse manifeste declarat ac simul monet, se non de peccatis occultis, sed de peccatis publicis aut notoriis, quae legitimo testium numero probari possint, iudicaturum esse. Bene igitur Er«sm. hanc sententiam amplificat : « Hic erit tertius meus ad vos adventus; in hunc se quisque praeparet. Neque enim amplius connivebo (cfr v. 2), sed iuxta ius strictum et exactum res agetur. Quisquis delatus fuerit, is duorum aut trium hominum testimonio vel absolvetur vel damnabitur ». Praeeunte Chrys. reliqui Graeci (Theod. Dam. Theoph. Oec.) et aliqui ex melioribus interpretibus latinis (Haym. Herv?. Est. Nat?. Mai. LR?. — Rück. Olsh. etc.) Paulum duorum triumve testium nomine non duos tresve homines sed tropice duos tresve suos adventus corinthios intellexisse volunt : « sicut scriptum est, coram duobus tribusve testibus omnem controversiam dirimi, ita tribus meis adventibus omne verbum, quod minatus sum vobis, statuelur stabilieturque adversus vos, nísi resipueritis » (TAeoph.). Quae explicatio, quomodo tot egreziis interpretibus probari potuerit, equidem non intelligo. Praeprimis enim ne levissima quidem ratio adest , cur sensus proprius, qui planus est et apertus, relinquatur, ut metaphora inusitatissima admitlatur. Deinde iuxta hanc explicationem Paulus sola illa erimína punire posset, quae aut in ecclesiae corinthiae fundatione (primo adventu) aut saltem in secundo suo adventu adesse iam vidisset, omnia illa vero impunita praetermittere deberet, quae post secundum suum adventum (anle el post epistolas suas scriptas) commissa essent, quia baec omnia uno tantum leste (tertio adventu) probarentur. Diflicultatem augent, qui, quum Paulum Corinthum ter venisse negent. primo adventui unam duasve epistolas addunt, quibus Corinthum spiritu advenerit, aut ipsam itineris praeparationem, «quainvis. illud ingressus non sit, in testium numero collocant. Neque tantum ad iudicium agendum adveniet, sed ad severum iudicium agendum, sicut illud antea iam annuntiavit et nunc iterum annuntiat :
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2. preedézi et praedico, ut praesens (cum. A"? adde ; in secundo adventu) et nunc absens , és, qui ante peccaverunt, et ceteris omnibus, quontam, si venero tterum , non parcam. Latinum testum Vulg. Clem. completum non esse diximus (efr VV. LL.); antiquiores vero Latini (Lomb. Thom. ete.), qui in suis codd. legerunt : wt praesens bis et nunc absens, quid de hac lectione facerent, non satis sciverunt, quare mirum non est, quod iuniores librarii illud zs in vobis transmutarent. At 76 Geócsgov est i. q. secundo , uti S. Aug. legit, referturque ad secundum Pauli iter corinthium, uti A'*" sua versione recte indicavit. Itaque in secundo suo adventu Paulus praesens praedizit et nunc absens per literas suas praedicit se in proximo adventu non parsurum esse , i. e. se non lenitate ac mansuetudine sed secundum iustitiae rigorem cum iis esse acturum; hoc porro in secundo suo adventu praedixit dis, qui ante (illum adventum) peccaverunt, et nunc suis literis praedicit reliquis omnibus, qui post secundum suum adventum iisdem, quibus priores, vitiis sese dare coeperant. Plana igitur et clara est sententia, dummodo tria Pauli itinera corinthia, quae v. 1. extra omne prudens dubium ponit, admittantur. Contortam vero explicationem admittere coguntur, qui Paulum bis tantum Corinthi fuisse statuunt; explicant enim : « praedixi (sc. in priore epistola) et (nunc) praedico, ac si secunda vice praesens adessem, quamvis nunc absens sim, me in novo itinere lenitate non esse usurum » (efr Est. etc. — Heinr. etc.). Sed ut taceamus, secundum participium (x«i &màv viv), quum particula copulativa (xa() priori adnectatur, per sententiam concessivam hic non posse exponi, etiam numerus (c 9ejr:pov) esset ineptus; etenim prioribus quoque epistolis, opinor, Paulus quamvis absens tamquam praesens cum Corinthiis locutus est; ergo iuxta istam explicationem dicere debuit : « quasi tertia (vel potius quarta) vice praesens ». Prima enim vice in primo itinere praesens fuerat; iterum in prima epistola (deperdita) et tertio in secunda (nostra priore) epistola scribenda; nunc ergo quarta vice praesens illis adesse dicendus esset iuxta hanc explicationem. Tamquam severus autem iudex in tertio suo itinere venire vult, quia a corinthiis peccatoribus quasi provocatus est, ut apostolicam suam auctoritatem exerceat, siquidem de ea dubitare videntur :
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3. an experimentum quaeritis etus qui in me loquitur Christus (melius iuxta graecum : quandoquidem. experimentum quaeritis loquentis in. me Christi), qui in vobis (tiq ous in vos) non infirmatur, sed potens est in. vobis (£v ópiv). Latinam lectionem Est. recte monet a graeca non differre, « nisi quod interrogatio vehementiorem reddat orationem, quomodo si praeceptor (provocatus) discipulis dicat : An vultis experiri me esse praeceptorem vestrum, qui possim vos castigare? » Revera Corinthii illi, qui Apostoli sui monitis ac minis spretis neglectisque. peccare non cessarunt nec delictorum commissorum poenitentiam. egerunt; eum quodammodo coegerunt, ut experimento probaret demonstraretque (cfr ad 2,9), Christum in ipso loqui, i. e. sua monita minasque suas a Christo Domino proficisci, quippe a quo apostolicam auctoritatem potestatemque accepisset quique per ipsum divinam suam potestatem exerceret. Verum haud sine periculo eiusmodi provocationem esse docet sententia relativa addita : Christus enim non infirmus est contra Corinthios, sed potens inter eos, potentiamque suam non tantum signis miraculisque (129,19) sed gravibus quoque poenis (1 Cor. 11,30) inter eos iam manifestavit. Iamvero sese ipsum quoque, non obstante sua infirmitate apparente, potentem esse Paulus demonstrat seseipsum ratione infirmitatis ac potentiae cum Christo comparans :
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&. nam etsi crucifixus est ez infirmitate, sed vivit ez virtute Dei; nam et nos infirmi sumus in illo, sed vivemus cum eo ez virtute Dei in vobis (si; 9&3; fn vos). Duae sententiae causales, quae iisdem particulis («4i 74e nam et) inchoantur, inter se sunt parallelae duplicemque rationem afferunt, qua Paulus suam potentiam demonstrat; parum apte enim nonnulli moderni (Bzsp. etc. — Mey. etc.) secunda sententia, quae de Pauli infirmitate et potenti vita agit, priorem de Christi infirmitate et potentia demonstrari censent ; eiusmodi enim argumentum ex effectu ad causam in hac materia vix quidquam haberet roboris, nec quid sibi vellet in hoc contextu, intelligeretur. Paulus igitur, quum per Christum in ipso loquentem potens sit, praeprimis illius potentiam asserit, ut suam probet. Atqui Christus, quamvis forma servi accepta in similitudinem hominum infirmorum factus ex infirmitate naturae assumtae crucifixus sit, nunc tamen secundum eandem naturam infirmam ex virtute Dei ad novam vitam resuscitatus vivit et regnat in aeternum summaque potestate potitur. Huius porro infirmitatis et potentiae Christi suo modo etiam Apostoli participes sunt; etenim ipsi quoque in Christo et propter Christum semper eius mortificationem cireuimferentes et propter eurn in mortem traditi (4,10. 11) infirmi esse apparent. At qui infirmo assimilati sunt Christo, ii etiam resuscitato ac potenti assimilentur oportet; in mortem traditi sunt propter Christum, ut etiam vita ac potentia Christi manifestetur in eorum carne mortali, ut igitur ex eadem virtute Dei, ex qua vivit et regnat Christus, et ipsi vivant et regnent. Itaque integrum argumentum, quod duabus sententiis parallelis Paulus exponit, est hoc : Sicut Christus in sua passione infirmus apparuit, sed virtute Dei resuscitatus sedet tamquam iudex ad dexteram Patris, ita Apostoli quoque, in quibus Christus resuscitatus loquitur, multa quidem propter illum patientes infirmi apparent, sed virtute Dei cum Christo corroborati vivunt potentesque sunt potestatemque suam exercent in Christianos. Eadem ralione, qua supra (54,10 sqq.), Paulus de vita futura, qua post mortem Apostoli potientur, non loquitur, sed de apostolica eorum vita ac potestate in hac terra; futuro tamen tempore (vévemus cum eo ex virtute Dei in vos) utitur, quia de proximo suo itinere corinthio cogitat, in quo apostolicam suam auctoritatem contra neophytos impoenitentes manifestaturus sit. Ab hac communi Graecorum Latinorumque explicatione nonnulli moderni recedunt, qui Paulum eatenus sese infirmum dicere arbitrantur, quatenus hucusque erga Corinthios indulgentem se exhibuerit et a potestatis suae usu abstinuerit (cfr Bísp. Mai. L R. etc. — Mey. Heinr. Goeb. etc.). Quae sententia, si ad v. 9. attenditur, ubi infirmitas eodem modo usui potestatis opponi videtur, per se quidem inepta non est , completo tamen duarum sententiarum parallelismo excluditur; namque sicut in secundis membris de eadem nova vita potente agitur, ita in prioribus de eadem infirmitate, quae tribulationibus sese manifestat, agi dicendum est. Sibi ergo caveant Corinthii, ne Apostolum impoenitentia provocantes experimentum Christi in eo viventis potestatemque suam exercentis quaerant; sese ipsos potius examinent explorentque, num ipsi in fide viva stantes Christum in semet ipsis inhabitantem deprehendant, ita ut severum Apostoli iudicium eis non sit timendum :
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5. vosmet ipsos tentate , si estis in. fide; ipsi (ipsos) vos probate : annon cognoscitis vosmet tpsos, quia. Christus Iesus in vobis est? nisi forte reprobi (40óxw non probati) estis. Ad verba synonyma me:gzZzew (tentare) et 3o. sw (probare), quae explorandi examinandique significationem habent, A'/*" recte adnotat : « omnis probatio est tentatio, sed non omnis tentatio est probatio »; prioris enim verbi (zentare) significatio universalior est, nec quis futurus sit explorationis exitus, bonusne an malus, indicat; alterum vero (probare) exitum fore faustum insinuat : gravior ergo admonitio (fentate) mitigatur leniore (probate), quum spes exprimatur fore, ut Corinthii examine facto sese 2n fide esse inveniant. Atque clarius haec spes altero membro exprimitur, siquidem insinuat, nullam esse rationem, cur ab hoc examine abhorreant ; eos enim ad cognitionem adducet , Christum in ipsis inhabitare et operari. nisi forte sint Christiani « non probati », i.e. non sinceri, in quibus utique Christus inhabitare nequcat. Iuxta CArys. , quem praeter Graecos (PAot. Oec. Theoph.) iuniores quoque Latini haud pauci (Gagn. Est?. Nat. Pic. M Ev. Dr. eic.) scquuntur, Corinthii sese tentare iubentur, num in eis sit fides, quae dicitur miraculorum (cfr ad 1 Cor. 12,9); at ex eo, quod aliquis fide miraculorum sit praeditus, nondum sequitur Christum in eo inhabitarc, sicut ex eo, quod aliquis fide miraculorum careat, non sequitur, Christum in eo non habitare; fides viva enim sine imiraculis, ac fides mortua cum miraculis esse potest. Neque recte TÀom !. (cfr Lyr!. etc. Lap. eic.) solum habitum fidei, qui etiam in peccatoribus esse potest , intelligit; nam per huiusmodi fidem, uti recte monet Est., non con- Uünuo Christus in nobis esse dicitur. Intelligenda potius est fides formata, quae per caritatem operatur; licet enim certitudine fidei, cui non potest subesse falsum, sine speciali revelatione scire nequeamus, num fidem illam formatam possidcamus, ad certitudinem tamen coniecturalem ac moralem, quae actualem excludat formidinem, de nostro gratiae statu pervenire possumus, atque aptissime Apostolus Corinthios exhortatur, ut se ipsos tentent ac probent, num in fide viva sint ac proin Christus in ipsis habitet (cfr 7Aom 7. Lyr?. Salm. Iust. Est!. Mai. Disp. etc.). Eiusmodi autem solam coniecturalem certitudinem hic esse intelligendam verba tentare. et probare satis docent; quare absurdissime antiquiores protestantes hoc loco abusi sunt asserentes, singulos Christianos fide divina posse ac debere credere, peccata sibi esse remissa. Quod vero ad adversariorum obiectionem eludendam aliqui catholici responderunt, Apostolum hic non loqui de Christo in singulis fidelibus inhabitante, sed de inhabitatione Christi in ecclesia particulari Corinthiorum, id toto contextu reprobatur; neque enim de tota illa ecclesia, sed de singulis fidelibus Apostolus sese iudicaturum esse annuntiat atque singulos ad hoc iudicium accurato examine sese praeparare iubet. Apostolus autem, quamquam fore sperat, ut Corinthii sese in fide esse examine instituto inveniant, ultimo tamen membro (s? forte non probati estis) se timere insinuat , ne res aliter se habcat; at de se ipso idem non timet; Corinthii enim, quisquis examinis, quod de se ipsis instituent, erit exitus, sine ullo dubio experientur, Paulum in non probatorum numero non inveniri :
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6. spero autem quod cognoscetis, quia nos non sumus reprobi (non probati 9x). « Minaciter, inquit Theod., hoc dicit tamquam potestatem spiritualem eis ostensurus ». Vocem dOoxtsos non plane idem significare, ubi de Corinthiis et de Apostolo praedicatur, planum est; Corinthii enim sese tamquam genuinos Christianos probare debent, Paulus autem tamquam genuinum Apostolum; illi igitur erunt probati, si in fide viva degere deprehenduntur, hic autem, si potestatem apostolicam exercere invenietur. Recte ergo Est. hanc sententiam exponit : « spero vos experientia esse cognituros, quod nos non sumus viles ac potestate destituti; faciam, ut agnoscatis mcam potestatem nec eam contemni patiar ». Gravi comminatione, qua in praecedente sectione neophytos terruerat, Paulus hanc partem terminare noluit, sed ad eius initium (10,1 sq.) respiciens id unice se expetere addit, ut Corinthum adveniens nihil inveniat, quo ad potestatem suam exercendam provocetur. Itaque terminans Deum rogat, ut gratia sua Corinthios a malo avertat, quoniam eos oninibus bonis abundare, quam suam ipsius potestatem manifestam fieri malit (7-9), atque eam quoque ob causam hac epistola eos ad poenitentiam agendam exhortatur, ne praesens durius in eos agere debeat (v. 10). Magnam quidem se a Deo accepisse potestatem Apostolus sibi conscius est paratusque est ad eam sine ulla haesitatione exercendam, si opus fuerit; at ab ea manifestanda libentius abstinet ideoque vota facit, ut eam exercere non cogatur :
13:7
7. oramus autem Deum, ut nihil mali facitis, non ut nos probati appareamus, sed ut vos quod honum est faciatis , nos autem ut reprobi (non probati á3óxuoc) simus. Ad constructionem latinae sententiae quod attinet, verbum oramus in principio secundi membri post particulam non mente repetatur oportet (oramus, ut nihil mali faciatis, non oramus, ut nos probati appareamus » etc.). Eandem constructionem graecus quoque textus admittit, quamvis prinum membrum accusativo cum infin. (s9yóue0a. .. uA movíok Due xauxóv uziv) exprimatur, reliqua tria particula tvz (ut) introducantur (obj [zy dpsUz] tva. digest; oues oovGuev x73); nam verbum eJysofa: utraque hac constructione id quod expetitur indicare potest. Rogat igitur Deum, ut Corinthii gratiis adiuti et corroborati! a peccatis sese abstineant; minime vero desiderat ac precatur, ut illis male agentibus occasionem inveniat potestatis suae exercendae atque hac ratione probatus appareat, sed potius ut illis semper bene agentibus ipse occasione potestatis exercendae privatus tamquam homo appareat, qui auctoritate careat; « ubi enim nulla est culpa, inquit 7ZÀom., omnes sumus pares et unus non habet potestatem iudicandi super alios; magis ergo vult Apostolus, ut sint boni, quam ut subiaceant potestati iudicii sui ». in eo, quod tertio membro, ne plane superfluum vel etiam absurdum esse videatur (quid enim sibi vult : « oro Deum ne male agatis, idque oro eo fine, ut bene agalis »?), iterum notionem probationis (sc. discipulorum) temere inserat. — IIlaud minus longe alii iuniores ac moderni (acath. Grot. Billr. Ew. Hofm. elc.) aberrant a vero, qui in primo membro verba moeteiv xaxóv id quod malum vel iniuriam inferre significare volunt (cfr Act. 9,13), ut sensus sit : « rogo Deum, ne iniuriam (sc. poenam) cuiquam inferre cogar ». Licet enim verbum xo:eiv duplicem accusativum interdum admittat (zotetv «wd xt aliquem aliqua re afficere Matt. 21,22; Marc. 15,12 pro consueto zoutv «tí 1t), quo tamen sensu expressio xaxov moutv explicetur oporteat, altero membro opposito (iva x x«Aàv moUise ut bonum faciatis) extra dubium ponitur; inepte quoque poena ab Apostolo vel a Deo correctionis causa irrogata xaxov (malum s. iniuria) appellaretur. Porro mirum non esse, quod Corinthiis bene agentibus Apostolus non probatus inveniatur ac nihilominus eos bene agere desideret, duabus sequentibus sententiis (8.9), quae inter se parallelae ambae t. 7. confirmando inserviunt, accuratius explicatur. Atque primum quidem manifestum est, Paulum suam iudicis vindicisque potestatem non posse probare , si neophyti bene agant :
13:8
8. non entm possumus aliquid adversus veritatem, sed pro veritate. llam hic censemus | intelligi veritatem , quam per Christum factam et in Evangelio manifestatam (loan. 1,17; 15,6) illi verbo et opere profitentur, qui in fide viva degunt ideoque Christum in seinhabitare gloriari possunt (v. 5). Ad hanc enim evangelicam veritatem et vindicandam et promovendam Apostoli constituti sunt iudices ac vindices; unde evidens est, eos iudiciariam potestatem suam contra illos exercere non posse, qui in evangelica fide firmi stantes eam bona sua vita exprimunt, sed contra illos solos, qui ore eam profitentes opere vitaque eam negant; secus enim potestatem suam non ad aedificationem sed ad destructionem accepisse viderentur (rv. 10). A qua explicatione, quae plerorumque modernorum est (cfr AM«: L lt. etc.), solo feve loquendi modo multi antiquiores differunt, quibus veritas hic idem est quod petas s. vitae innocentia : « veritatis nomine nunc intelligit pietatem. (72v ec6exv) , quia impiorum vita est factitia ac spuria; si quis ergo vere ac pie (ZUG xai t0ot6o:) vivat, supplicium ci, etiamsi velimus, inferre nequimus; non enim cooperatur Deus; siquidem nihil adversus veritatem seu pietatem possumus, sed pro ea, ut illos, qui iuxta eam non vivant, ad eam sequendam poenis cogamus » (PAot. apud Oecum.; cfr TAeod. Ate" Pel, etc., Herv. Lomb. etc.. Car. [ust. Est. etc.). Longius alii antiquiores recedunt , qui veritalein interpretantur iustitiam in iudiciis observandam: « potestas ideo nobis a Deo est concessa, ut sententiam veram et iustam, non autem veritati repugnantem feramus » (CArys. cfr Theoph. Thom. Lyr. etc. Lap. Nat. etc.); at haec explicatio priori quidem membro congruit (non possumus iuxta potestatem nobis commissam quidquam contra id quod iustum aequumque est, iudicare, ergo nihil contra eos, qui bene vivunt, statuere), aegre autem alteri adaptatur (possumus pro veritate, i. e. ad veritatem promovendam). nisi una ex prioribus explicationibus addatur. Secundo in loco rationem addit, cur Deum oret, ut Corinthii bene agant, etsi ipse illis bene agentibus velut homo nullius auctoritatis esse videatur :
13:9
9. gaudemus.enim , quoniam (lege : quando cfr VV. LL. 6xav) nos infirmt sumus, vos autem potentes estis. Hoc et oramus vestram consummattonem. Quamquam nimirum Corinthi ab adversariis suis contemnebatur conspuebaturque ac velut homo arrogans, qui verbis sese iactaret, re autem nec potestatem haberet nec eam praesens exercere auderet, traducebatur (10,9 etc.), tanta tamen Paulus neophytorum caritate ardebat, ut sui suaeque famae prorsus oblitus ad eorum profectum solum attenderet; hinc etiam gaudebat, quando ipse occasione potestatis exercendae privatus znfirmus non tam erat, quam apparebat, quatenus potestatem quam divinitus accepisse gloriabatur probare non potuit, dummodo neophyti ex virtute Dei potentes essent, i. e. christiana vita ita pollerent, ut iudiciariae Apostolorum potestati plane subtracti esse viderentur; qui enim bene agit, non habet cur timeat potestatem ac Dei minister ei est dumtaxat in bonum (/tom. 13,3. sq.). Ideo etiam Apostolus Deum precatur, ut neophyti bene agant, ipse vero non probatus appareat, quin etiam precatur, ut perfecti sint, ne umquam iudicis vindicisque munere inter eos fungi possit. « Hoc vere paterni animi est, discipulorum salutem suae gloriae praeferre ; hoc animi ab inanis gloriae studio remotissimi » (CAxys.) , at hoc etiam omnibus iis, qui in animarum ministerio sunt occupati, quam maxime cst necessarium. Qui enin non tam ad fidelium salutem, quam ad suam ipsius gloriam suaque commoda attendit, is nec verus Apostolorum imitator est nec laborum suorum fructum sperare potest. A plerisque in ultimo membro pronomen T6770 (Aoc)a verbo e2/609:Uz (oramus) dependere atque appositione zv 0v zaz7x27ww. (vestram perfectionem) explicari censetur; (hoc, sc. vestram perfectionem quoque. a Deo petimus); aptius tamen, ni fallor, ne oratio abruptior sit ac pronomen otiose insertum esse videatur, illud adverbialiter pro 31x 7527o (deo) poni dicitur a nonnullis antiquioribus (cfr Thom. etc.). Perorationi tandem imponit finem scopo polemicac huius partis ilerum (cfr 19,19) indicato. Si suam gloriam quaesivisset, Pau,us, ut adversariorum calumniam, quod absens per literas neophytos terreret, praesens vero infirmus esset (10,1. 9 sqq.), efficacius refutaret, non amplius per literas cum Corinthiis egisset, sed nulla adhibita praeparatione adveniens potestatem suam cum severitate exercuisset; at calumniam illam despicit atque ad naturam potestatis sibi commissae attendens solam salutem perfectionemque neophytorum quaerit :
13:10
10. ideo haec (quae durius in hac parte dicta esse censentur (aósens scribo, ut non (ne) praesens durius (&xovóuc; [x1o-é£svo|] quasi ad vivum resecans) agam secundum potestatem , quam Dominus dedit mihi zn ae- . dificationem et non £n destructionem. Sunt qui pronomine «20x (haec) integram epistolam designari putent, dum alii ea sola comprehendi velint, quae inde a 12,20 dicta sunt; at recte CArys. iam monet, tertiam epistolae partem (inde a 10,1) intelligendam esse; quin enim hac sententia Paulus ad ea alludat, a quibus adversariorum impugnationem inchoavit (cfr 10,1 sq. 8sqq.), non est dubium. Haud sine ratione porro eandem naturae potestatis suae descriptionem (cfr ad 10,8) hic repetit, quia ex ea totus eius agendi modus explicatur; neque enim satis recte ultima verba (secundum potestatem etc.) cum solo membro finali (ne praesens durius agam) connectuntur, quandoquidem ad integram sententiam potius pertinent (aósens haec scribo , ne praesens durius agam). Ea scilicet est natura totius potestatis ecclesiasticae, ut ad aedificationem regni Dei hac in terra inservire debeat, atque iudiciaria quoque potestas, de qua hic agitur, eundem finem habet; illa igitur abuteretur, qui ubi mansuetudine ac lenitate peccatorem corrigere potest, duritie eum frangeret. Verum dure tractandi sunt, qui lenitate corrigi nequeunt, namque corum poena etiam aedificationi inservit; « uno enim vel duobus punitis universus coetus utilitatem capit » (TAeod.).
13:13
sit cum omnibus vobis, Amen. &ylou IIva$patog petk rdvtov Dpioy !. Quoniam paucis hebdomadis postquam hanc epistolam exaravit Corinthum erat venturus, Corinthii autem interea per Titum sociosque eius de eius rebus certiores reddebantur, Paulus brevissimo epilogo epistolam ita terminat, ut « acerbiore oratione praetermissa utilem admonitionem addat » (TAheod.), qua benigniore modo priora sua monita recapitulat : 11. de cetero, fratres, gaudete , perfecti estote , ezhortamini (1:zpax22.«toe. A!" : consolationem percipite), idem sapite, pacem habete , et Deus pacis et dilectionis erit vobiscum. Quia pro munere suo cooperator gaudii fidelium erat (cfr ad 1,95 sqq.), neophytis in suo adventu tristitiam afferre noluit, sed eorum gaudium spiritualeaugere; quare etiam nunc iam, quamvis gravibus suis increpationibus nonnullos contristaverat, omnes ad gaudendum in Domino (PA. 3,1; 5,^) exhortatur. Aliqui iuniores graecum 72ío:rt hic idem quod valete significare volunt (Er. Ca. Iust. etc. — Beza Stier etc.), sed nusquam verbum 7ígsv hoc sensu a Paulo adhibetur, qui gaudium inter praccipuos fructus spiritus enumerat (Gal. 5,92) fidelesque semper ob magna quae in Christo sortiti sunt bona gaudere vult (1 TAess. 5,16). Attamen ut omnes gaudere possent, praeprimis requirebatur, ut ii, qui vituperari meruerant, peccatorum poenitentiam agerent atque perfecti esse studerent; unde alterum monitum : perfecti estote vel potius perfictamini (xz*a010,:0«) ; quod bene explicat CArys. « per- .fecti efficiamini (réAeot yívesüc) eaque quae vobis desunt supplete ». Alii vero, ne gauderent, multis, quibus ecclesia corinthia perturbabatur, tribulationibus periculisque impediebantur, eosque tertio suo monito Apostolus sese consolari iubet (mapexo^cicÜs consolationem percipite vel consolamini vos). Haec verbi v«paxoA&iv interpretatio, quae Paulum ad epistolae exordium respicere supponit (cfr ad 1,5. 7), ab omnibus Graecis traditur (CArys. Theod. etc.), antiquae versioni latinae consonat, atque & plerisque iunioribus modernisque merito praefertur (cfr Cai. Iust. Est. etc. , Mai. etc. — Mey. KI. Br. etc.). Minus apta videtur altera explicatio, quam Vwu/g. sua versione (ez- Aortamini sc. vos invicem) expressit. Ultima duo monita illud vitium exstirpari iubent, ex quo velut ex fonte pleraque mala ecclesiae corinthiae profluxerant, ita ut verum gaudium in ea locum non inveniret : idem sapite (cfr ad 1 Cor. 1,10), pacem habete inter vos; id quod utique fieri nequit, nisi omnes perfecti sint in eodem sensu et in eadem sententia. Ad duo haec ultima monita respicit promissio, quae eis additur : ez Deus pactis et dilectionis (fraternae) erit vobiscum; « neque enim monet tantum et hortatur, sed etiam bona optat ac precatur; si enim haec feceritis, inquit, i. e. si idem sentiatis ac pacem colatis, Deus quoque vobiscum erit; siquidem Deus pacis et caritatis est atque his rebus gaudet et oblectatur » (CAxys.). Cum eis autem erit Deus ad eos adiuvandos et in omni bono promovendos. ' Paucis deinde verbis sequuntur salutationes : 12. sa/u/ate invicem in osculo sancto ; salutant vos omnes sancti, sc. fratres illius ecclesiae omnes, in qua Paulus hanc epistolam scripsit (reliqua cfr ad 1 Cor. 16, 20); ac demum sollemniore benedictione, quam ulla alia, haec gravissima epistola concluditur :
13:1
1 and 2 Corinthians, Epistles to the
… It seems in fact that the "third" visit of Paul, to which II Cor. 12:14; 13:1 repeatedly returns, cannot be explained by a twofold stay before I C.: one would have to admit that the punishment of an offense, connected with one of these visits, was held in …
13:3
… And I live, now not I, but Christ liveth in me" (Gal. 2, 19). "In me speaketh Christ" (II Cor. 13, 3). "I fill up in my flesh those things that are wanting of the sufferings of Christ, for his body, which is the church" (Col. 1, 24). 2) Hence the necessity of dying to all that savors …
13:5
… Pauline formula ἐν Χριστῷ (34 times) or ἐν Χριστῷ Ἰησοῦ (48 times), to which ἐν Κυρίῳ (50 times) or ἐν αὐτοῦ-ἐν ᾧ (29 times) is equivalent; St. Paul willingly uses the name Χριστός when he highlights the divine influence of Jesus in the soul (Rom. 8:10; II Cor. 13:5; Eph. 3:17; etc.), which is itself "anointed" (II Cor. 1:21), in which He goes about "being formed" (Gal. 4:19).
13:11
… of the "prince of peace": "they will be called" (and they will truly be, according to the Semitic conception that identifies the name with the individual entity) "sons of God." For God is indeed "the God of peace" (Rom. 15:33; 16:20; I Cor. 14:33; II Cor. 13:11; etc.), and he who is a "son of peace" (Lk. 10:6) resembles him and belongs to him. The elect will be, in the age to come, "sons of God" (Lk. 20:36); already now they enjoy divine …
13:12
… The kiss of peace is of very ancient use, and several times in the New Testament (Rom. 16:16; I Cor. 16:26; II Cor. 13:12; I Thess. 5:26; I Pt. 5:14) the faithful are enjoined to give it to one another. …
13:13
… Amen" (II Cor. 13:13). To these texts are
… Although he has most felicitous Trinitarian expressions (cf. Rom. 8, 9-11. 14-17; 15, 15. 16; I Cor. 6, 11; 12, 4-6; II Cor. 2, 21; 13, 13; Gal. 4, 6; Eph. 1, 3-14; Tit. 3, 4-6), P. presents an eminently Christocentric doctrine. …
Douay-Rheims (Challoner) · Vulgata Clementina · original Douay-Rheims (Rheims 1582), transcription by EEBO-TCP (CC0) · La Sacra Bibbia, tradotta dalla Volgata da Antonio Martini (1769-1781) (LaParola (laparola.net), Martini OSIS text, Public domain (LaParola's electronic edition marks it 'Dominio pubblico')). Public domain.