The Great Commentary of Cornelius a Lapide: the Second Epistle to the Corinthians
If I forgave anything ; He speaks modestly of his generosity.
Hence he adds that he did it in the Person of Christ.
In the person of Christ. This may be understood (1.) in the presence of Christ. So Theodoret and Vatablus. This rendering is eagerly adopted by Calvin and Beza, and read as if it meant, I forgive him ex animo, really and not feignedly. (2.) Properly it means, “ I forgive him by the authority of Christ entrusted to me, who said, “Whatsoever ye shall loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven.” So Theophylact renders it: “I forgive him just as if Christ had forgiven him : just as a regent acts with the authority of a king, and orders, passes laws, and pardons in his stead.” As S. Paul, in 1 Cor. v., had excommunicated the fornicator in the name of Christ, so here, by the same authority, he sets him free, just as any one who might have been condemned by the regent could not be pardoned but by the regent himself.
Ver. 11. — Lest Satan should get an advantage over us . Lest we be deceived, and lest that fornicator be, by excessive severity, driven by Satan to despair. The Greek verb means, lest we be seized unjustly, and taken possession of by Satan, just as misers, usurers, and tyrants defraud, and rob, and oppress. Hence Ambrose renders it, “ Lest we be possessed by Satan.” For, as Theophylact says, when Satan catches and deceives souls, he does not seize what is his own but what is ours and Christ’s. Hence Tertullian (de Pudicit. c. xiii.) reads for the following clause : “ We are not ignorant of his devices,” “ We are not ignorant of his robberies.”
For we are not ignorant of his devices . Plutarch relates an excellent saying of Chabrias, that “ he is the best commander who knows intimately the plans of the enemy.” In like manner he is the best Christian soldier and captain who knows thoroughly the devices and machinations of Satan. He transforms himself into an angel of light, that that which is a suggestion of our enemy the devil may seem to be the counsel of a friendly angel. We often experience suggestions of evil surmisings, bitterness of soul, anger, moroseness, cowardice, and we think that we are moved by some good cause and by reason, and that these things come forth from our own minds, when all the time they proceed from the devil, who suggests them to our ruin. The Christian, therefore, should, in such cases, reflect whether these suggestions are in accordance with charity, humility, patience, grace, and the law of Christ, and if he finds them to be opposed, let him be sure that they are of the devil : if he is in doubt, let him take counsel with his confessor, his superior, or some prudent man. S. Anthony, by long experience, learnt this and taught it : he was in the habit of constantly laying bare and explaining to his disciples, the arts and devices of the devil, and of pointing out the way to defeat them, as we read in the life of him by Athanasius. S. Francis, too, frequently did the same thing, and so freed many of his followers from the devil’s temptations, as S. Bonaventura relates ( Vita, lib. i. c. 11).
In this way, then, Satan was instigating the leaders of the Corinthian Church to show anger and indignation against this fornicator for having so foully stained the first purity of his Church, to the end that, being deprived of all comfort and hope, he might lose all heart and become desperate. Paul saw through this intent of Satan, and here exposes it, and bids them receive the fornicator once more into grace, and give him, on his penitence, pardon and remission.
Vers. 12, 13. — Furthermore , when I came to Troas . . . I had no rest in my spirit, because I found not Titus my brother . S. Jerome (ad Hedibiam) says that Titus was S. Paul’s interpreter, and explained the sublime truths taught by him in Greek worthy of the subject. There was, too, another reason why Paul went to Troas to meet Titus, viz., that he was anxious to hear from Titus, whom he had sent to Corinth, the state of the Church there, before he himself fulfilled his promise of returning thither. Hence, in chap. vii. 6, he says that he had been comforted in Macedonia by the arrival of Titus, who brought him word of the sorrow of the Corinthians and of their desire to see him. Titus, however, seems to have reported to Paul that the time was not yet ripe for his return to Corinth. Paul, therefore, postponed his visit to Corinth, and sent on this letter to pave the way for him, and to correct the failings of the Corinthians.
Ver. 14. — Now thanks be unto God which always causeth us to triumph in Christ. The Syriac and Theophylact render this “triumphs in us,” i.e., makes us conspicuous to all. A triumph is the procession of a victorious commander through the midst of the city with his trophies and other signs of victory. But those things which seem to us to be suffering and shame are our glory and triumph, says Theophylact. Secondly, Anselm understands it of God triumphing over the devil in us or through us. Cf. Col. ii. 15.
The Apostle seems to have had to bear sharp persecution in Macedonia, and, indeed, in vii. 5 he says that he had suffered there every kind of tribulation : without were fightings, within were fears ; but God’s grace gloriously and triumphantly overcame them all. S. Jerome (Ep. 150 ad Hedibiam, qu. xi.) says beautifully that the Apostle here gives thanks to God for counting him worthy to be the subject of the triumph of His Son over so many persecutions and evils, which he underwent in his task of converting the Gentiles to Christ. “For the triumph of God,” says S. Jerome, “ is the suffering of the martyrs for the name of Christ, the shedding of their blood, and their joy in the midst of torture. For when any one saw the martyrs stand firm, and so perseveringly endure tortures , and glory in their sufferings, the odour of the knowledge of Christ was shed abroad among the Gentiles, and the half unconscious thought would arise that if the Gospel were not true it would never be proof against death.” The preaching of the Gospel therefore triumphs in the Apostles, inasmuch as in it faith overcomes unbelief, truth falsehood, the love of Christ the hatred of the scornful, patience every kind of suffering and persecution, and even death itself.
Ver. 15. — We are unto God a sweet savour of Christ. Or, according to the Latin, a sweet odour . We scatter by word and example a good report of Christ to the honour of God. A good odour is exhaled from special kinds of herbs and such things as sweet spices. Such was the fame of the Apostles and of their preaching, such was the glory and honour that sprang from their virtues and was due to their merits. Hence the bride, i.e., the Church, in Cant. vii. 1, compares herself to a garden of sweet spices in which there is to be seen the beauty, pleasantness, and fair order of the growing herbs and sweetly scented flowers which exhale their delicious fragrance. This is what Christ orders in S. Matt. v. 16, where by another metaphor glory and good name are called the splendour that flows forth from the light of good works.
S. Bernard (Serm. xii. in Cantic.) says excellently: “S. Paul was a chosen vessel, truly a sweet-smelling vessel, filled with pleasant odours and with every fair colour for the painter, for he was a good odour of Christ in every place . Truly, far and wide was the fragrance of his abundant sweetness scattered from that breast which so anxiously cared for all the Churches . For see what spices and aromas he had stored up within : “I die daily,” he says, “for your glory;” and “Who is weak, and I am not weak?”
Observe again that, as the more spices are crushed the greater is the fragrance they exhale, so is it with Christ, His Apostles and Martyrs, and all the Saints : the greater the persecutions and tribulations that pressed them and, as it were, crushed them, the sweeter was the odour that their virtue gave forth.