The Great Commentary of Cornelius a Lapide: the Second Epistle to the Corinthians
Chapter 1
He consoles the Corinthians, whom in the First Epistle he had sharply rebuked, and absolves the excommunicated fornicator, who was now penitent. He then proceeds to treat of true repentance, of the dignity of the ministers of the New Testament, of the duty of avoiding the company of unbelievers, of patience, of almsgiving for the poor saints at Jerusalem, of the duty of rejecting the false Apostles who set themselves up as rivals to S. Paul among the Corinthians, and depreciated him, and rendered it necessary for him to sing his own praises in self-defence. Then he threatens some of the Corinthians who still refused to submit to his apostolic authority. The whole Epistle may be said to be a defence and laudation of his apostleship. The Greek MSS., the Syriac, and the Latin Complutensian have a note at the end that it was written at Philippi in Macedonia, and sent by Titus and Luke. Baronius, however, thinks that it was written at Nicopolis, A.D. 58, when the Apostle, after being forced to leave Ephesus, where he wrote his First Epistle, after the uproar raised by Demetrius, left Timothy as Bishop of Ephesus, and came to Troas ; then, not finding Titus there, he proceeded into Macedonia, and from thence into Greece; thence he sailed by the Aegean Sea and touched at Crete, where he left Titus. At length he came to Greece again, to Nicopolis, where he had determined to winter (Tit. iii. 12). Cf. Baronius, vol. i. p. 575. It is likely that he wrote this Epistle there in quietness, but the point cannot be decided certainly; for S. Paul, while travelling up and down through Asia, might have gone to and returned from Philippi, and might have stayed there long enough to write it. S. Luke, as is well known, does not record all the stoppages or all the journeyings of the Apostle. Cf. Acts xx.
i. S. Paul shows, in order that he might console others, from what great tribulations in Asia the Lord had delivered him.
ii. He commends himself to the Corinthians (ver. 12), by a declaration of the sincerity of his heart and of his doctrine.
iii. He clears himself (ver. 17) from the charge of lightness and inconstancy induced by his not coming to them as he had promised, and at the same time affirms the sure and constant truth of his preaching.
Ver. 1. — Timothy our brother . That is our co-Apostle; so the Pope calls Bishops his brethren, a Bishop his canons, an abbot his monks.
Ver. 3. — The Father of mercies. A Hebraism for “ most merciful.” See note to Rom. xv. 5.
S. Bernard says learnedly and piously (Serm. 5 de Natali Dom.) : “ He is rightly called the Father of mercies, not the Father of judgments or vengeances , not only because it is more the nature of a father to pity than to be angry , even as a father pitieth his children that fear him , but rather because it is from Himself that He draws the cause and origin of His mercy , but from us , that is, from our sins , draws the cause and origin of His judgment and vengeance. But if it is because of this that He is the Father of mercy, why is He called the Father of mercies? The Apostle in one Word, in one Son , brings before us a double mercy in the words “Father of mercies,” not merely Father of a single mercy, in speaking of the God not of comfort merely , but “of all comfort,” who comforteth us, not in this or that tribulation, but in all.
“Many are the mercies of the Lord,” says a certain person, meaning that many are the tribulations of the righteous, and the Lord will deliver them out of all. There is one Son of God, one Word; but our manifold misery calls for, not only great pity, but a multitude of mercies.
Perhaps , however , because of the double substance which is to be found in our human nature, both of which are miserable, the misery of man may not unsuitably be said to be twofold, although in both it be of manifold forms . Truly the tribulations of our body and soul are increased exceedingly, but He who saves man wholly rescues him from the troubles of both.”
Notice that S. Bernard seems to refer the phrase “Father of mercies ” to the Son ; and rightly enough, but it is not the intention of the Apostle to do so. S. Paul plainly means the same Person by “ the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, and the Father of mercies.”
Ver. 5. — For as the sufferings of Christ abound in us, so our consolation also aboundeth in Christ. “The sufferings of Christ” are, (1.) as S. Ambrose takes it, those which we suffer for Christ; (2.) such as Christ suffered ; (3.) those which Christ regards as His own, in accordance with S. Matt. xxv. 40 and Acts ix. 4, as Œcumenius understands the words. Theophylact adds that the word “abound” is used to point to the fact that Christ suffered more in His members than in Himself. This is true by way of extension, but not in the way of intension. In S. Laurence Christ suffered the fire, in S. Stephen the stones, in Ignatius the wild beasts ; but His suffering and sorrow in Himself were greater and more intense than what all these suffered. The meaning, therefore, is this, according to Theophylact : Do not be downcast whoever of you suffers from afflictions and various ills, because, however great your sufferings may be, so great is your consolation.
But here observe, (1.) as Theophylact does, that S. Paul does not merely say that the comfort equals the sufferings, but that it abounds and is greater than they are; and, therefore, whoever is afflicted may bear his troubles patiently, nay, joyfully and gladly, and so may gain the victory over them. (2.) The sufferings of Christ have this characteristic, that Christ gives consolation in proportion to them, and the greater the suffering the greater the comfort. On the other hand the sufferings of the world are vinegar without honey, and as they increase, so do desolation and mourning and woe. (3.) It follows from this that the suffering of the Cross is not to be fled from but embraced, as the mother of so much Divine comfort and joy. So S. Andrew, Ignatius, Xavier embraced it, and prayed daily for the Cross, and would not be set free from it unless God would give them a heavier one.
Ver. 6. — And whether we be afflicted , it is for your consolation. We suffer tribulations that we may console and save you, and may animate you, by our patience and hope in God and His comfort, to bear, as we do, afflictions on behalf of the faith. So Ambrose. Cf. Chrysostom (Hom. i. de Spe et Fort. in Tentat. Serv.).
Which is effectual in the enduring of the same sufferings. This salvation, as the wished for end, produces patience. Others, as Theophylact, take it, “ Salvation is wrought in patience.” Ambrose takes it to mean that patience is the meritorious cause of salvation, and that salvation, therefore, produces patience as its final cause, for the efficient and final causes have a mutual relation. Salvation as the final cause, orders and works patience, and in turn patience, as the efficient cause, works out salvation. The meaning, then, is that your consolation and salvation alike effectually produce patience, our exhortation animates you to hope for salvation, and to bear on its behalf whatever sufferings arise from obedience to the faith. My exhortation or consolation, therefore, works effectually endurance by stirring you up to it; the salvation thence hoped for works endurance objectively. Just so the resolution to attain some end makes us lay hold of and employ means.
Ver. 8 . — Which came to us in Asia. — From the tumult raised by Demetrius, recorded in Acts xix. 29. So S. Thomas understands this passage, as do all other interpreters except Cajetan, who thinks that there is a reference here to some persecution not mentioned in Scripture.