2 Corinthians 1:1. Timothy our brother,— That is, either in the common faith, (see Rom 1:13 and 1 Corinthians 16:13.) or, brother in the work of the ministry. See Romans 16:21. St. Paul may be supposed to have given Timothy the title of brother here, in this peculiar connection, for dignity's sake, to procure him a reputation above his age among the Corinthians, to whom he had before sent him with some kind of authority to rectify their disorders. Timothy was but a young man when St. Paul wrote his first epistle to him, as appears 1Ti 4:12 which epistle, by universal consent, was written to Timothy after he had been at Corinth, and, in the opinion of some very learned men, not less than eight years after; and therefore his calling himbrother here, and joining him with himself in writing his epistle, may be to let the Corinthians see, that, though he who had been sent to them was so young, yet he was one whom St. Paul thought fit to treat as an equal. Achaia was the country in which Corinth stood.

2 Corinthians 1:3. Blessed be God— St. Paul begins with justifying his former letter to them which had afflicted them, (see ch. 2 Corinthians 7:7-8.) by telling them that he thanks God for his deliverance out of his afflictions, because it enables him to comfort them, by the exampleboth of his affliction and deliverance, acknowledging the obligation that he had to them and others, for their prayers, and for their thanks for his deliverance; which he presumes they could not but put up for him, since his conscience bears him witness (which was his comfort) that, in his behaviour to all men, and to them more especially, he had been direct and sincere, without any selfish or carnal interest; and that what he wrote to them had no other design than what lay open, and they read in his words,—and did also acknowledge, and he doubted not but they would always acknowledge, (part of them doing so already,) that he was their minister and apostle, in whom they rejoiced; as they would, he trusted, be his rejoicing in the day of the Lord, 2 Corinthians 1:3-14. From what St. Paul says in this passage,—which, if read attentively, will appear to be written with great address,—it may be gathered, that the opposite action endeavoured to evade the force of the former epistle, by suggesting, that whatever he mightpretend, St. Paul was a cunning, artificial, self-interested man, and had some hidden design in it; which accusation appears in other parts also of this epistle. It is observable, that eleven of St. Paul's thirteen epistles begin with exclamations of joy, praise, and thanksgiving. As soon as he thought of a christian church planted in one place or another, thereseems to have been a flow of most lively affection accompanying the idea, in which all sensibility of his or their temporal afflictions was swallowed up, and the fulness of his heart must vent itself in such cheerful, exalted, and devout language.

2 Corinthians 1:4. Who comforteth us— It is certain that the mention of these experiences must have had a powerful tendency to conciliate the regard of the Corinthians to St. Paul; and such an introduction to his epistle as the whole of this before us, could not but incline them strongly in his favour. Some think that the last clause of this verse refers plainly to the comfort which the repentance of the incestuous person gave St. Paul, after the affliction that he had endured on his account. See ch. 2 Corinthians 7:7. But it seems more natural to understand it of that general consolation arising from the pardon of sin and interest in God; that his afflictions should co-operate for his advantage; and that a crown of glory, heightened by these trials, would close the scene. He frequently insists on these topics in his epistles; and none surely can be more important and delightful.

2 Corinthians 1:6. Which is effectual— or effected. Instead of salvation, Mr. Locke reads relief; as it signifies here only (says he) deliverance from their present sorrow.

2 Corinthians 1:8. Our trouble—in Asia.— Some have thought that this may refer to the persecution at Lystra, where St. Paul's danger had been extreme, and he had been recovered by miracle, Acts 14:19-20. But as that happened so long before the visit to Corinth, in which he planted the Church there, Act 18:1 it seems more probable that he either refers to some opposition which he met with in his journey through Galatia and Phrygia, Act 18:23 of which no particular account has reached us, or, rather, to the tumult raised against him at Ephesus, by Demetrius, Acts 19:29-30.

2 Corinthians 1:11. Ye also helping together by prayer— "I have this confidence in God's continual care; and it is the more cheerful, as I persuade myself you are and will be assisting us by your prayers, that so the favour obtained for us by the importunate prayers of many, may be acknowledged by the thanksgiving of many on our account;—as nothing can be more reasonable than that mercies obtained by prayer, should be owned in praise."

2 Corinthians 1:12. In simplicity— Plain-heartedness; not only meaning well on the whole, but declining an over-artful way of prosecuting a good end. What is meant by fleshly wisdom, may be seen, ch. 2 Corinthians 2:5. St. Paul's working with his own hands for his maintenance among the Corinthians, (Acts 18:3. 1 Corinthians 9:15.) which he did not every where, must be a convincing proof of what he observes in the late clause of this verse.

2 Corinthians 1:13. What ye read or acknowledge;— What ye know and acknowledge. Doddridge. Than what, when you read, you acknowledge. Wale's Critic, notes. "I take the sense to be," says Dr. Heylin, "that he meant not by his lettersto insinuate any thing more than was plainly expressed, and appeared at the first view of them agreeable to the declaration that he had made in the verse before."

2 Corinthians 1:14. That we are your rejoicing,— The Apostle here signifies that part of them who adhered to and owned him as their teacher; in which sense rejoicing, or glorying, is much used in these epistles to the Corinthians, on occasion of the several partisans boasting, some that they were of Paul, and others that they were of Apollos, &c.

2 Corinthians 1:15. And in this confidence I was minded— Or, I purposed: So 2 Corinthians 1:17. The next thing which St. Paul justifies, is his not coming to them. He had promised to call on the Corinthians in his way to Macedonia, but failed: this his opposers would have to proceed from levity in him, or a mind regulating itself wholly by carnal interest (ver.
17.). To which he answers,that God himself having confirmed him among them by the unction and earnest of his Spirit, in the ministry of the gospel of his Son,—whom St. Paul had preached to them steadily the same, without any the least variation, or unsaying of any thing that he had at any time delivered,—they could have no ground to suspect him to be an unstable, uncertain man, who could not be depended on in what he said to them, 2 Corinthians 1:15-22. In the next place, with a very solemn asseveration, he professes that it was to spare them that he came not to them, 2 Corinthians 1:23.—ch. 2 Corinthians 2:3. He gives another reason, 2Co 1:12-13 why he went on to Macedonia, without coming to Corinth, as he had proposed; namely, the uncertainty he was in, by the not coming of Titus, concerning their disposition at Corinth. Having mentioned his journey to Macedonia, he takes notice of the success which God gave to him there and every where, declaring of what consequence his preaching was, both to the salvation and condemnation of those who received or rejected it; professing again his sincerity and disinterestedness, not without a severe reflection on their false apostle, 2 Corinthians 1:14
By the word χαριν, in the verse before us, which our Bibles translate benefit, it is plain the Apostle means his being present among them a second time, without giving them any grief or displeasure. He had been with them before almost two years together, with satisfaction andkindness; he intended them another visit, but it was, he says, that they might have the like gratification; that is, the like satisfaction in his company a second time: which is to the same purport with what he says, ch. ii

2 Corinthians 1:16. And to pass by you into Macedonia,— See 1 Corinthians 16:5-8.

2 Corinthians 1:21. Now he which stablisheth us— Who maketh us steady; in opposition to the charge of inconstancy, which he complains of, 2 Corinthians 1:17. The Greek of anointed is χρισας, that is, hath given us of the same Spirit which renders Jesus the Christ. See Heylin, and the next note.

2 Corinthians 1:22. Who hath also sealed us, &c.— Who, answerable to various uses of a seal among men, has likewise printed his holy image upon us, and assured us of our interest in the Blood of the Covenant: and he has freely given us his Spirit, who dwells in our hearts, and sheds abroad his influences, and a sense of his love there, as a pledge and earnest of the eternal inheritance. See Ephesians 1:13-14. All there are arguments to satisfy the Corinthians, that St. Paul was not, nor could be, a man who minded not what he said, but as it served his turn. His reasoning, 2 Corinthians 1:18-22, wherebyhe would convince the Corinthians that he was neither fickle nor unsteady, being a little difficult to be understood by reason of the brevity of his style, the following summary will set it in a clear light: "God hath set me apart to the ministry of the Gospel by an extraordinary call, has attested my mission by the miraculous gifts of the Holy Ghost, has sealed me with the Holy Spirit of promise, has given me the earnest of eternal life in my heart by his Spirit, and has confirmed me among you in preaching the Gospel, which is all uniform and of a piece;—as I have preached it to you, without varying in the least; and there, to the glory of God, have shewn that all the promises concur, and are in Christ, and are certain to every faithful soul. Having therefore never faultered in any thing which I have said to you, and having all these attestationsofbeingunderthe special direction and guidance of God himself, the great Fountain of truth, I cannot be suspected of dealing doubly with you in any thing relating to my ministry."