But had there been any lightness in his decisions, since, as he now
informed them, he had intended to visit them on his way to Macedonia (where
he was at the moment of writing this letter), and then a second time on his
return from that country? In no wise; they were not intentions lightly
formed, according to the flesh, and then abandoned. It was his affection,
it was to spare them. He could not bear the idea of going with a rod to
those whom he loved. Observe in what manner, although shewing his affection
and tenderness, he maintains his authority; and they needed the exercise of
this authority. And while reminding them of his authority, he displays all
his tenderness. They were not Cretans, perhaps, whom it was necessary to
rebuke sharply; but there was a laxity of. morals which required delicacy
and care lest they should become restive, but also authority and a bridle,
lest, in giving them liberty, they should fall into all sorts of bad ways.
But he turns immediately to the certainty which was in Christ, the basis of
all his own. He would not press too much upon the chord he had touched at
the beginning. He lets his authority be known as that which might have been
exercised, and he does not employ it. The groundwork of Christianity was
needed, in order to put their souls into a condition to judge themselves
healthily. They were quite disposed, through the intrigues of false
teachers and their habit of schools of philosophy, to separate from the
apostle, and, in spirit, from Christ. He brings them back to the
foundation, to the sure doctrine that was common to all those that had
laboured among them at the beginning. He would give Satan no occasion to
detach them from him (see chap 2:11).
He establishes therefore the great principles of christian joy and
assurance. I do not speak of the blood, the only source of peace of
conscience before God as a judge, but of the manner in which we are placed
by the power of God in His presence, in the position and state into which
that power introduces us according to the counsels of His grace. Simple
certainty was in Christ, according to that which had been said. It was not
first Yea, and then Nay: the yea remained always yea-a principle of immense
importance, but for the establishment of which there was needed the power
and the firmness and even perfection, and the wisdom, of God; for to assure
and make stedfast that which was not wise and perfect would certainly not
have been worthy of Him.
It will be seen that the question was, whether Paul had lightly changed his
purpose. He says that he had not; but he leaves the thought of that which
concerned him personally to speak of that which pre-occupied his
thoughts-of Christ; and to him, in fact, to live was Christ. But there was
a difficulty to solve, when the immutability of God's promises was the
question. It is that we are not in a state to profit by that which was
immutable on account of our weakness and inconstancy. He solves this
difficulty by setting forth the mighty operations of God in grace.
There are two points therefore:-the establishment of all the promises in
Christ, and the enjoyment, by us, of the effect of these promises. The
thing is, as we have seen, not merely to say, to promise, something; but
not to change one's intentions, not to depart from what was said, but to
keep one's word. Now there had been promises. God had made promises,
whether to Abraham unconditionally, or to Israel at Sinai under the
condition of obedience. But in Christ there was, not promises, but the Amen
to God's promises, the verity and realisation of them. Whatever promises
there had been on God's part, the Yea was in Him, and the Amen in Him. God
has established-deposited, so to speak-the fulfilment of all His promises
in the Person of Christ. Life, glory, righteousness, pardon, the gift of
the Spirit, all is in Him; it is in Him that all is we-Yea and Amen. We
cannot have the effect of any promise whatsoever out of Him. But this is
not all: we, believers, are the objects of these counsels of God. They are
to the glory of God by us.
But, in the first place, the glory of God is that of Him whoever glorifies
Himself in His ways of sovereign grace towards us; for it is in these ways
that He unfolds and displays what He is. The Yea and Amen therefore of the
promises of God, the accomplishment and the realisation of the promises of
God, for His glory by us, are in Christ.
But how can we participate in it, if all is Christ and in Christ? It is
here that the Holy Ghost presents the second part of the ways of grace. We
are in Christ, and we are in Him not according to the instability of the
will of man, and the weakness that characterises him in his transitory and
changeable works. He who was firmly established us in Christ is God
Himself. The accomplishment of all the promises is in Him. Under the law,
and under conditions the fulfilment of which depended on the stability of
man, the effect of the promise was never attained; the thing promised
eluded the pursuit of man, because man needed to be in a state capable of
attaining it by righteousness, and he was not in that state; the
accomplishment of the promise therefore was always suspended; it would have
its effect if-but the "if" was not accomplished, and the Yea and Amen did
not come. But all that God has promised is in Christ. The second part is
the "by us," and how far we enjoy it. We are firmly established by God in
Christ, in whom all the promises subsist, so that we securely possess in
Him all that is promised us. But we do not enjoy it as that which subsists
in our own hands.
But, further, God Himself has anointed us. We have by Jesus received the
Holy Ghost. God has taken care that we should understand by the Spirit that
which is freely given us in Christ. But the Spirit is given to us,
according to the counsels of God, for other things than understanding
merely His gifts in Christ. He who has received Him is sealed. God has
marked him with His seal, even as He marked Christ with His seal when He
anointed Him after His baptism by John. Moreover the Spirit becomes the
earnest, in our own hearts, of that which we shall fully possess hereafter
in Christ. We understand the things that are given us in the glory; we are
marked by the seal of God to enjoy them; we have the earnest of them in our
hearts-our affections are engaged by them. Established in Christ, we have
the Holy Ghost, who seals us when we believe, to bring us into the
enjoyment, even while here below, of that which is in Christ.
Having again spoken of the care which manifested his affection for them, he
expresses his conviction that that which had pained him had pained them
also; and this was demonstrated by the way in which they had treated the
transgressor. He exhorts them to receive again and comfort the poor guilty
one, who was in danger of being entirely overwhelmed by the discipline that
had been exercised towards him by the mass of the Christians; adding, that
if the Christians forgave him his fault, he forgave it likewise. He would
not that Satan should get any advantage through this case to bring in
dissension between himself and the Corinthians; for Paul well knew what the
enemy aimed at, the object with which he made use of this affair.
This gives him occasion to shew how much he had them always in his heart.
Coming to Troas for the gospel, and a wide door being opened to him,
nevertheless he could not remain there, because he had not found Titus; and
he left Troas and continued his journey into Macedonia. It will be
remembered that, instead of passing by the western shores of the
Archipelago, in order to visit Macedonia, taking Corinth on his way, and
then returning by the same route, the apostle had sent Titus with his first
letter, and had gone by way of Asia Minor, or the eastern coast of the sea,
which led him to Troas, where Titus was to meet him. But not finding him at
Troas, and being uneasy with regard to the Corinthians, he could not be
satisfied with there being a work to be done at Troas, but journeyed on to
meet Titus and repaired to Macedonia. There he found him, as we shall see
presently. But this thought of having left Troas affected him, for in fact
it is a serious thing, and painful to the heart, to miss an opportunity of
preaching Christ, and the more so when people are disposed to receive Him,
or at least to hear of Him. To have left Troas was indeed a proof of his
affection for the Corinthians; and the apostle recalls the circumstance as
a strong demonstration of that affection. He comforts himself for having
missed this work of evangelisation by the thought that after all God led
him as in triumph (not "caused him to triumph"). The gospel which he
carried with him, the testimony of Christ, was like the perfume caused by
burning aromatic drugs in triumphal processions-a token of death to some of
the captives, of life to others. And this perfume of the gospel was pure in
his hands. The apostle was not like some who adulterated the wine they
furnished; he laboured in christian integrity before God.
