2 Cor. 10 2 Cor. 10:1–11 Paul entreateth the Corinthians not to leave him cause to exert against them that spiritual power, with which he was armed, and meant to chastise those who undervalued his person and apostolical character. 2 Cor.

Chapter Introduction Hitherto the apostle, who in his former Epistle had blamed this church for so many things, and dealt sharply with them, in this Epistle hath treated them as if they had been a people that had had no faults, or none but what, in obedience to his former Epistle they had reformed,…

It is true, (saith the apostle), when I have been with you I have made it my business to behave myself with all obliging sweetness, not using that authority which I might have used; and I beseech you, as not to blame me for that, (remembering the meekness and gentleness of Christ), so by your…

There is a great difference between walking in the flesh, and warring after the flesh. The best of men in this life walk in the flesh, as their souls are not in a state of separation from, but union with, the body; but they do not walk after the flesh, as their fleshly appetite is not the principle…

As our end is spiritual, so are our means; the means by which we manage our spiritual fight are spiritual. Whether by these weapons he meaneth the word of God, and his preaching the gospel, or the censures of the church duly administered, it is true, they are not of a carnal nature, or fitted to…

Casting down imaginations; logismouv, reasonings; and every high thing, every height of reasoning, that exalteth itself against the knowledge of God. The great troublers of this church of Corinth were the heathen philosophers, and such as had sucked in their principles; with whose notions, which…

The apostle certainly means by this, excommunication; which was the rod which he had before mentioned, asking them if they would he should come unto them with a rod.

Are ye so weak as to judge of persons and things merely from their faces, pretences, or outward appearances? And to magnify these false apostles and teachers, merely because they set forth and magnify themselves, or because they take up a great breadth in the world, and live in a little state and…

Here is a remarkable maxim, a rule from which all ecclesiastical superiors ought to measure their actions: God hath given to no superiors a power for destruction of the flock, but only for edification; so as that no such can pretend to a power received from God, to do or exact any thing which may…

This was one imputation upon the apostle, as we may learn by the next verse. I tell you, saith the apostle, that I have an authority, and a further authority than those who vilify me can pretend unto: but I also tell you, I have no authority to do any harm to any of you; all the authority I have is…

There are some amongst you that tell you, that indeed (when absent) I write severely, and with authority; but when I am there with you, neither my behaviour, nor my speech, speaks any such authority.

I would have no such person think so of me, for he shall find me the same in deed when I come, that I have spoken myself to be by my letters. I do not write vainy, merely to terrify you, but what I truly intend to do, and when I come he shall find that I will do.

This whole verse is a reflection upon the false teachers of the church of Corinth, from whose manners Paul purgeth himself. I (saith he) durst not, as some others, magnify myself, nor compare myself with those that do so.

The apostle may be understood as speaking both of spiritual gifts, and also of his travels to the several places whither he had gone preaching the gospel.

For in our boasting of you as our converts, amongst whom I have preached the gospel, and God hath made my preaching successful; we stretch not ourselves beyond our measure, and arrogate that to ourselves which belongeth not to us: for the thing is true, and ye know that in our preaching the gospel…

So that although we have boasted of you, we have not boasted of things without our measure; that is, of things that are not, or (as the apostle expounds himself) of things that were not done by him but by other men; for his line did reach unto them, and his labours had been employed and made…

To preach the gospel in the regions beyond you; the apostle here expoundeth what he meaneth by the term magnified, or enlarged, in the preceding verse, viz. to have a door opened to preach the gospel in places whither it was not yet come.

But we have none of us any thing to glory in, neither I Paul who plant, nor Apollos who watereth; whether God maketh use of us as the first planters of the gospel, or as instruments to carry on the work of the gospel already planted, we have nothing of our own to glory in.

Solomon saith, Prov. 27:2; Let another man praise thee, and not thine own mouth; a stranger, and not thine own lips. Self-commendation is an ungrateful sound to ingenuous ears; no man thinks another a jot the better for his commending himself, but always hath the worse opinion of him for such…