1. 2 CORITHIAS 6 COMMETARYEdited by Glenn Pease1. As God's fellow workers we urge you not toreceive God's grace in vain.1. BARES, We then, as workers together with him - On the meaning of thisexpression, see the note, 1Co_3:9. The Greek here is ( sunergountes)working together, and may mean either that the apostles and ministers to whom Paulrefers were joint-laborers in entreating them not to receive the grace of God in vain; or itmay mean that they cooperated with God, or were engaged with him in endeavoring tosecure the reconciliation of the world to himself. Tyndale renders it: we as helpers.Doddridge, we then as the joint-laborers of God. Most expositors have concurred inthis interpretation. The word properly means, to work together; to cooperate inproducing any result. Macknight supposes that the word here is in the vocative, and is anaddress to the fellow-laborers of Paul, entreating them not to receive the grace of God invain. In this opinion he is probably alone, and has manifestly departed from the scopeand design of the passage. Probably the most obvious meaning is that of our translators,who regard it as teaching that Paul was a joint-worker with God in securing the salvationof people.That ye receive not the grace of God in vain - The grace of God here meansevidently the gracious offer of reconciliation and pardon. And the sense is, We entreatyou not to neglect or slight this offer of pardon, so as to lose the benefit of it, and be lost.It is offered freely and fully. It may be partaken of by all, and all may be saved. But it mayalso be slighted, and all the benefits of it will then be lost. The sense is, that it waspossible that this offer might be made to them, they might hear of a Saviour, be told ofthe plan of reconciliation and have the offers of mercy pressed on their attention andacceptance, and yet all be in vain. They might notwithstanding all this be lost, for simplyto hear of the plan of salvation or the offers of mercy, will no more save a sinner than tohear of medicine will save the sick. It must be embraced and applied, or it will be in vain.It is true that Paul probably addressed this to those who were professors of religion; andthe sense is, that they should use all possible care and anxiety lest these offers shouldhave been made in vain. They should examine their own hearts; they should inquire intotheir own condition; they should guard against self-deception. The same persons 2Co_5:20 Paul had exhorted also to be reconciled to God; and the idea is, that he wouldearnestly entreat even professors of religion to give all diligence to secure an interest inthe saving mercy of the gospel, and to guard against the possibility of being self-deceivedand ruined.2. CLARKE, We then, as workers together with him -

2. . The two last words, with him, are not in the text, and some supply theplace thus: we then, as workers together With You, and the Armenian version seems tohave read it so; but no MS. has this reading, and no other version. For my own part I seenothing wanting in the text if we only suppose the term apostles; we, (i.e. apostles),being fellow workers, also entreat you not to receive the grace of God in vain.By the grace of God, , this grace or benefit of God, the apostlecertainly means the grand sacrificial offering of Christ for the sin of the world, which hehad just before mentioned in speaking of the ministry of reconciliation. We learn,therefore, that it was possible to receive the grace of God and not ultimately benefit by it;or, in other words, to begin in the Spirit and end in the flesh. Should any one say that itis the ministry of reconciliation, that is, the benefit of apostolic preaching, that theymight receive in vain; I answer, that the apostolic preaching, and the whole ministry ofreconciliation, could be no benefit to any man farther than it might have been a means ofconveying to him the salvation of God. And it is most evident that the apostle has in viewthat grace or benefit that reconciles us to God, and makes us Divinely righteous. Andthis, and all other benefits of the death of Christ, may be received in vain.3. GILL, We then, as workers together with him,.... The ministers of the Gospelare workers or labourers; their ministry is a work, and a very laborious one, which nonehave strength equal to, and are sufficient for; of themselves: it is a work that requiresfaithfulness and diligence, is honourable; and those who perform it aright deserverespect. These do not work alone: according to our version, they are workers togetherwith him; meaning either God or Christ, not as co-ordinate with him, but assubordinate to him: he is the chief shepherd, they under ones; he is the chief masterbuilder, they under workers; but inasmuch as he is with them, and they with him, he isover them, and stands by them, great honour is done them; they have encouragement towork; and hence it is that their work is successful. Though the phrase, with him, is notin the original text, where only one word, , is used, and may be renderedfellow workers, or fellow labourers, meaning with one another: and since thereforereconciliation was made by Christ, and the ministry of it was committed to them, andthey were appointed ambassadors for him, and were in his stead, therefore, say they,we beseech you also; you ministers also; as we have entreated the members of thechurch, to be reconciled to the order of the Gospel, and the laws of Christ in his house,so as fellow labourers with you, and jointly concerned in the same embassy of peace, webeseech you the ministers of the word in this church,that ye receive not the grace of God in vain: by the grace of God, is not meantthe grace of God in regeneration, and effectual calling, which can never be received invain; for the grace of God never fails of producing a thorough work of conversion; nor isit ever lost, but is strictly connected with eternal, glory: but by it is meant either thedoctrine of grace, the Gospel of Christ, so called, because it is a declaration of the loveand grace of God to sinners, ascribes salvation in part, and in whole, to the free grace ofGod, and is a means of implanting and increasing grace in the hearts of men. Now thismay be received in vain by ministers and people, when it is but notionally received, orreceived in word only: when it is abused and perverted to vile purposes, and when mendrop, deny it, and fall off from it; or else by the grace of God may be designed gifts ofgrace, qualifying for ministerial service; and the sense of the exhortation be, that they be 3. careful that the gifts bestowed on them might not be neglected by them, but be used andimproved to the advantage of the church, and the glory of Christ; by giving upthemselves to study, meditation, and prayer, by labouring constantly in the word anddoctrine, and by having a strict regard to their lives and conversations, that the ministrybe not blamed; which exhortation he pursues in, and by his own example and others, insome following verses, the next being included in a parenthesis.4. HERY, In these verses we have an account of the apostle's general errand andexhortation to all to whom he preached in every place where he came, with the severalarguments and methods he used. Observe,I. The errand or exhortation itself, namely, to comply with the gospel offers ofreconciliation - that, being favoured with the gospel, they would not receive this grace ofGod in vain, 2Co_6:1. The gospel is a word of grace sounding in our ears; but it will be invain for us to hear it, unless we believe it, and comply with the end and design of it. Andas it is the duty of the ministers of the gospel to exhort and persuade their hearers toaccept of grace and mercy which are offered to them, so they are honoured with this hightitle of co-workers with God. Note, 1. They must work; and must work for God and hisglory, for souls and their good: and they are workers with God, yet under him, asinstruments only; however, if they be faithful, they may hope to find God working withthem, and their labour will be effectual. 2. Observe the language and way of the spirit ofthe gospel: it is not with roughness and severity, but with all mildness and gentleness, tobeseech and entreat, to use exhortations and arguments, in order to prevail with sinnersand overcome their natural unwillingness to be reconciled to God and to be happy forever.5. JAMISO, 2Co_6:1-18. His apostolic ministry is approved by faithfulness inexhortation, in sufferings, in exhibition of the fruits of the Holy Ghost: His largeness ofheart to them calls for enlargement of their heart to him. Exhortations to separationfrom pollution.workers together with God (Act_15:4; 1Co_3:9). Not only as ambassadors.beseech entreat (2Co_5:20). He is describing his ministry, not exhorting directly.you also rather, WE ALSO (as well as God, 2Co_5:20) beseech or entreat you:2Co_6:14, 2Co_6:15, on to 2Co_7:1, is part of this entreaty or exhortation.in vain by making the grace of God a ground for continuance in sin (2Co_6:3). By alife of sin, showing that the word of reconciliation has been in vain, so far as you areconcerned (Heb_12:15; Jud_1:4). The grace of God here, is the reconciliationprovided by Gods love (2Co_5:18, 2Co_5:19; compare Gal_2:2).5b. CALVIN, Assisting. He has repeated the instructions of embassy with which theministers of the gospel have been furnished by God. After they have faithfullycommunicated these instructions, they must also use their endeavor, that they may becarried into effect, 572 in order that their labor may not be in vain. They must, I say, addcontinual exhortations, 573 that their embassy may be efficacious. This is what hemeans by , (fellow-workers,) that is, devoted to the advancement of thework; for it is not enough to teach, if you do not also urge. In this way, the particle would have a relation to God, or to the embassy, which he assigns to his servants. Forthe doctrine of the gospel is helped by exhortations, so as not to be without effect, andministers connect their endeavors with Gods commission; 574 as it is the part of an 4. ambassador to enforce by arguments, what he brings forward in the name of his prince.The particle may also be taken as referring to the endeavors of ministers incommon; for if they do the Lords work in good earnest, they must mutually lend ahelping hand to each other, so as to give assistance to each other. I rather prefer,however, the former exposition. Chrysostom interprets it as referring to the hearers,with whom ministers are fellow-workers, when they rouse them up from slothfulnessand indolence.Ministers are here taught, that it is not enough simply to advance doctrine. They mustalso labor that it may be received by the hearers, and that not once merely, butcontinually. For as they are messengers between God and men, the first duty devolvingupon them is, to make offer of the grace of God, 575 and the second is, to strive with alltheir might, that it may not be offered in vain.6. BI, Workers togetherOnce when a number of employees were invited down to Mr.George Moores country house, Mrs. Moore, going out one morning, met a venerableman standing and staring about him with astonishment at the gardens and buildings.Are you looking for somebody? asked Mrs. Moore. No, said he, I am just lookinground about, and thinking what a fine place it is, and how we helped to make it; I havereally a great pride in it. Then, with tears in his eyes, he told how he was the first porterfor the firm forty years ago, and how they had all worked hard together. (H. O. Mackey.)The preaching and reception of the GospelConsiderI. The admonishers.1. Not loiterers, but labourers; therefore they are often compared to husbandmen,builders, soldiers, and fishermen. They who imagine that the ministry of the gospel isan easy work are greatly mistaken.2. Workers together.(1) With God. They are engaged in the same cause with Him who would have allmen to be saved, and to come to the knowledge of the truth. Without Him theycan do nothing. Melancthon began with too much confidence in himself, andafter many fruitless exertions, said, Old Adam is too strong for youngMelancthon. But old Adam is not too strong for the God of all grace, who hathsaid to His ministers, Lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the world.(2) But the words with Him are in italics, and may be omitted. As if He hadsaid, we differ in our abilities, modes of preaching, etc., and there are some whotake advantage of this to form divisions, and say, I am of Paul, and I of Apollos,and I of Cephas; whereas we are fellow-workers.II. The subject of their address.1. What are we to understand by the grace of God?(1) The source of the gospel. Was it not free in every sense of the word!(2) Its subject. The gospel is an offer of free, full, and everlasting salvation to 5. sinners.2. The gospel is received in vain when it is received(1) Partially. If you regard it as a system of doctrine only, or as a system of dutyonly, you only receive one-half of it, and the one cannot live without the other.(2) Speculatively. I mean in distinction from experience and practice; for such areception does not accord with the nature and design of it.(3) Unperseveringly. He only that endureth unto the end shall be saved.III. The reasons of their anxiety and earnestness. They beseech you.1. They apprehend the event which very commonly follows. In all ages Gods servantshave been compelled to complain, Who hath believed our report? Four soilsreceived the very same seed. Only one of the four yields anything to the purpose.2. They dread the event as deplorable. They are affected by the thought of it(1) On Gods account. They know how He is dis-honoured; Christ is made tohave died in vain.(2) On your own account: they knew that hence will arise your chief sin andcondemnation.(3) On their own account. It is painful in the extreme to plant and not to gather,to sow and not to reap. (W. Jay.)Receive not the grace of God in vainI. What this grace of God is. In the language of the schools it is anxilium speciale, thatspecial and immediate furtherance by which God moves us to will and to do. And this isthat which St. Paul mentioneth (1Co_15:10-11). But this is not the grace meant in thetext, which is the grace of reconciliation by Christ, the doctrine of the gospel, whichChrist commanded to be preached to all nations.II. And what is a gift, if it be not received? Like a meal on a dead mans grave, like lightto the blind, like music to the deaf. What is the grace of God without faith? The receivingof it is that which makes it a grace indeedgospel. We usually compare faith to a hand,which is reached forth to receive this gift. Without a hand a jewel is a trifle, and thetreasure of both the Indies is nothing; and without faith the gospel is nothing. Withoutthis receipt all other receipts are not worth the casting up. Our understanding receiveslight, to mislead her; our will, power, to overthrow her; our affections, which areincorporeal hands, receive nothing but vanity. Our moral goodness makes us not good:our philosophy is deceit. Our habits lift us no further than the place where they grow.But with this gift we receive all things: we receive the favour of our Creator, who inChrist is well pleased.III. This grace may be received in vain. The philosopher will tell us: All is not in thegift; the greatest matter is in the manner of receiving it. The gospel is grace indeed; butit will not save a devil, nor an obstinate offender. Seneca tells us: A foul stomachcorrupts all that it receives, and turns that meat, which should nourish the body, into adisease; and a corrupt heart poisons the very water of life. The grand mistake of theworld is in the manner of receiving Christ. To one it is the savour of life unto life; and toothers the savour of death unto death (2Co_2:16). Great care then must be taken that 6. we may not receive it in vain. We must receive it to that end it was given. We mustreceive it as law as well as physic. God gives us this gift, that we may give Him ourobedience; and He hath done this for us, that we may do something, even work out oursalvation with fear and trembling. This grace, then, we must receive both to save us andinstruct us; as a royal pardon, and as a royal law (Jas_2:8). To interline the pardon,and despise the law, makes a nullity: and this is to receive in vain.1. A pardon we must not interline. For to blend it with the law of works, or our ownmerits, is to make it void (Gal_2:21; Eph_2:8-9). Works, though they be a conditionrequired of a justified person, yet cannot be brought in as a part or helping cause ofour justification.2. It is equally vain when we receive the grace of God only as a pardon, and not as alaw. It is our happiness by grace to be freed from the covenant and curse of the law;but it is our duty, and a great part of our Christianity, to square our lives by the ruleof the law. Therefore religion was called in her purer times The Christian law. (A.Farindon, B. D.)Receiving the grace of God in vainI. This takes place when it is not used at allwhen the great salvation is neglected (2Co_6:2). In vain is it here, within the sphere of our knowledge and the grasp of our faith, if itbe simply ignored. Here is gold in a casket or bag, and I am poor, and yet I will notunloose the strings or open the casket. Of what avail to me is that locked-up wealth?Here is seed-corn, and I have fields where it might be sown, yet I will not sow it. Of whatavail to me is the seed, or the soil, the sun, or the shower? I am going on a journeythrough an unknown country, and here is a guide-book, yet I never open it, but gowandering on. That guide-book is as utterly in vain to me as if it were in the depths ofthe ocean. Ah yes, you say, but the grace of God is not so definite, so available, as themoney, etc. Yes it is. It shines out in the light of every Sabbath day; it is the keynote ofevery true sermon; it is in every providence, whether dark or bright; it is everywhere,and always abundant, sufficient, and free. It is sad that many will not be persuaded ofthis. When the sleeping mind begins to awake; when the dull heart begins to feel, and theglad discovery breaks on the soul that all this is a present and sure gift of eternal love,then begins the actual reception of the manifold blessings of the gospel; but until thenthe grace of God, with all its riches which we proclaim and set forth as commonproperty, and free alike to all, is in vain.II. A thing is received in vain if it is perverted and turned to some alien use.1. It may be made a cloak for sin. The danger is that we magnify Gods grace and slurover the evils of our own hearts.2. It may be made a tent for indolence. Somehow we get the comfortable convictionthat what has to be done in and by us will be done soon or late, and that we shallhave full entrance at length into perfect purity and eternal life.3. It may be made the signal for perpetual controversy. We are glad of controversy,in proper spirit and measureit braces the soul; it clears the air; it defends andinstrumentally perpetuates the truth among men. But there is hardly anything whichruns more easily to excess, and becomes a perversion, and no longer a defence of thegrace of God. The grace of God is gracious; and in its prevailing influence ought tolead us into gracious ways, and words, and dispositions. 7. III. It is received almost in vain if it is used very little and very imperfectly. This is thecase with many Christian people. The plough is taken to the field, but does not ploughthe whole day; or it ploughs one little field, and leaves all the rest fallow. The seed-cornis cast in only in patches, and some of these but thinly sown. Here is a great world ofgrace brought down to us, waiting for us, and we may have as much or as little as we will.(A. Raleigh, D. D.)The grace of God received in vainThis is to be understood asI. The gospel of His grace (Tit_2:11), or the word of His grace (Act_20:32; Act_14:3),termed the grace of God, because it proceeds from that grace (Luk_1:78-79), displays it,and is the instrument whereby we receive it and its fruits.II. Redeeming grace.III. Enlightening grace.IV. Justifying grace.V. Regenerating and renewing grace.VI. Strengthening and qualifying grace (2Ti_2:1).VII. Comforting grace, which is given that we may be supported amidst all our trials;but in vain, if we are still cast down and decline from God: and that we may comfortothers (2Co_1:3-6), but in vain, if this end be not answered. (J. Benson.)Grace received in vainNoteI. How the grace of God has been manifested in revealing unto man the whole course ofthis method of salvation. This is seen1. In the fact that the great God Himself speaks to men. It is grace that He shouldhave anything to do with us. Why did He not, since we put out the light, leave man togrope his way in the dark? What a wonder that God should speak in this way tosinners.2. In the suitability of the gospel to those to whom it is sent. Here we are vile; thereis mercy for the vilest. How beautifully this suits the case of men!3. In the way God has revealed His holy truth.(1) By degrees. The great truths that are now taught you the world was notalways ripe for. You dont get daylight coming in all its bright glory at once. TheLord gave the first glance of the light of the morning in that sweet promise aboutthe seed of the woman.(2) At first by types and symbols. When you teach children you dont often makeuse of abstractions, but you get pictures. Now the Book of Leviticus is Godsobject lesson of the gospel. Every lamb was a picture of that true Lamb, and everypriest of that true Priest. That whole Temple service pointed to Calvary. 8. (3) By adapting it to different types of mind.4. The revelation which God makes of Himself. Suppose you are standing overagainst some palace, and it is near midnight, and the gates are opened. Forth fromthat palace gates there comes a procession. The prince has come forth attended bymany of his train. He has not gone far, however, before you hear that the prince hasdropped a beautiful gem. He is anxious about that gem, not simply for its intrinsicvalue, but it was the gift of one he loved, and he calls for lights. Now, the light whichfalls on the road where that gem is lying goes up also into the face of the prince, andwhile he finds his gem you see him as you never would have seen him but for thatloss. Now, it is like that with the revelation of God. When God came forth from theshrouding darkness that had been about Him in His own eternity, to the salvation ofmen, there was light which, while it was thrown on the poor, lost sinner that hemight be found, was thrown upon the face of God, who came to seek him and to savehim.II. When may we be said to receive the grace of God in vain? When men1. Do not believe it. Suppose that during the time of that Indian revolt I had beensent by Her Majesty with a commissionsay to the Nana Sahib, and I had been toldto proclaim to him that if the rebels would come and yield themselves up entirely toher mercy, she would entirely forgive them. But suppose that that fierce ringleaderhad said to me, Ah, if they can only just get hold of me, I know what mercy they willgive me; I know it is too far gone for that. Well now, he has to surrender in threemonths, or the law is to take its course. The time passes, and the man is captured,and he is brought to the gallows. Now, whose fault is that? You see he received theQueens grace in vain. Now, it is like that when I come and tell you of Gods readinessto pardon, and you wont believe it. You might as well expect a man to be fed bybread that he will not eat as expect a man to be saved by a gospel that he will notbelieve.2. Despise it. Yonder there are a number of suffering poor, and of course some are ofa very independent spirit. Now suppose I go to some pale, haggard man, and say tohim, Here is a ticket for you; if you will apply at yonder office you will get the reliefyou need, and the man says, Sir, what right have you to talk to me as if I were apauper? what right have you to suppose I want any mans charity? That poor man istoo proud to take help, and to-morrow he is dead on his cottage floor for want offood. Now, whose fault is that? He despises the grace that was offered! That is justhow it is with many sinners. They will not have Gods salvation because they cannotbuy it. If they could take their little petty, paltry doings, and buy it with their deeds,they would have it. If they could go and purchase it, they would have it; but becausethey must have it as a gift they despise it.3. Neglect it. Now suppose that there had been during the time of the great fire atMoscow some miserly wretch up at the top storey of some tall house. There is greattrouble in the town, but all he cares about is his gold bags. The alarm bells areringing in all directions, and everybody is trying to escape; but that old man neverlistens to the alarm bells, and while he is counting his cash the fire is creeping up thestairs from chamber to chamber till at last it is burning the very joists of the floor onwhich he stands. You see he neglected the alarm. That is very like the worldling. Wego and tell him of danger and salvation. You know if you go and stand by ablacksmiths smithy and you talk to him, he is so busy with the sound of hishammers that he cant hear what you say, and he keeps on hammering in spite of allyour remarks, and does not hear a word. So it is with the busy worldling. Busy with 9. the din of their worldliness, they never seem to hear the message. They neglect thegreat salvation. They do not deny it, but they just leave it alone. Now if you neglectthis great salvation you will perish. (S. Coley.)Grace received in vainI. The meaning of the apostles caution.1. What is meant here by grace? Sometimes it denotes the free and unmerited love ofGod in redemption (Tit_2:11). Sometimes the gospel generally (Joh_1:17).Sometimes all the gracious influences of the Holy Spirit (2Co_12:9). But in the textthe word includes not only all the overtures of grace which God has made, but allthose ministries by which those overtures may be most easily accepted.2. Now such is the perverseness of mans will that all these means and ministriesmay be offered to him to no purpose. The injured Father of our spirits may stretchout His hand, and find there is none to regard it.(1) Take the instrumentality of the Word. Grace is received in vain.(a) When the Word is not received in the love of it. Now no place is left forany possible deficiency in the Word itself; in its evidence, that it is not strongenough; in its statements, that they are not clear enough; in its motives, thatthey are not encouraging enough. It is of no use saying, I cannot see thesethings in the same light as others do, for we answer, You do not see thembecause you have never honestly tried to see them, never put up the prayer inearnest, Lord open Thou mine eyes that I may see the wondrous things ofThy law.(b) When we neglect to apply the gospel message to our own heart andconscience. To have received the incorruptible seed in barrenness is to havereceived the grace of God in vain.(2) And so of those communications of divine grace which come to us apart fromthe agency of the Word. The Holy Spirit speaks to the ear of the inner man by thelessons of Providence, by the ministries of friendship, and the incidents ofcommon life, etc. And to check these inner convictions, as Agrippa did, or todismiss them, as Felix did, is to receive the grace of God in vain.II. It is a real option with us whether this grace of God be received in vain or not. It ispractically competent to every one to use such means as shall facilitate the effectualinfluence of grace upon our minds. The best answer to the man who should object thathe could do nothing towards his own salvation because he is not the subject of divinegrace, is that he does not believe in his own objection, would not act upon it if accidentor sudden sickness should threaten him with the probability that he might die to-morrow.And herein it is that the sinner will be condemned out of his own month. Nevermind how much or how little he could do towards the making of his peace with God, hashe done all he could? He could not cause the glorious light of the gospel to shine into hisheart, but was he compelled to close the door against the entrance of that light? Thoughthe ordinances and instrumentalities of grace have the most perfect adaptation to ourstate and character, they yet demand all the concurrence of our own moral effort, towork within us a saving result. (D. Moore, M. A.) 10. The dignity of life(cf. 1Co_3:9):We are fellow-workers with God. The one thing which increased learningproves to us is the absence of caprice in the government of the world. The one thingforced upon us is the inevitable sequence of cause and effect. If, on the one hand, weseem to sink into the inconsiderable atoms of a whole too vast for the mind to grasp, onthe other we rise to the majestic conception that we are fellow-workers with God. Wherecan we find a thought more fit than this to stir the heart and rouse the courage withinus? The false and frivolous view of life that lies at the root of all our evils, shrivels up theworth of our manhood. It is not our own little interests alone, it is the weal and the woe,the growth and perfection of the whole human family around us, which rests upon us. Itis nothing short of world-wide interests which hang upon our doing, with truth andhonesty, and hearty energy, that little morsel of Gods work we find placed before us.Our own little fragment of it is no longer the sordid shred of a chance struggle forexistence, but the distinct though humble portion of Gods great redeeming work. Let ussee how this consciousness of the solemnity and reality of life touches all our commonestactions and employments. Our natural business here is intellectual work. To some itbecomes merely an interesting amusement for the mind. To many it is a half distastefulnecessity which is undergone in obedience to the dictates of society, to fit us to occupyour proper place in life. To still more, perhaps, it represents the preparation for thefuture struggle of the world. Regard it in its true light, and all these views seem trivial. Itis the search for truth. It is the development of ourselves, because it is fitting to improveto its uttermost the gifts we have received. It is something holy; it is the work of God.What is not given here to intellectual training is chiefly given to social intercourse. Nowwhat is that to most of us? A mere seeking of pleasure for pleasures sake, or perhaps anexaggerated recreation-time far beyond our requirements. Such things in the light of thereality and seriousness of life it cannot be. For our social intercourse is then the chosenground in which our wits clash with those of our fellows, that part of our lives whereintercourse with them gives us our only chance of drawing from them good for ourselvesor of implanting good in them. It is a time when we may in the most natural way behelping forward the great work of God. Yet certainly some of you will say, according tothis, the very fact which makes our calling so high deprives it of all virtue. The veryargument on which the glory of our position as fellow-workers with God with all thecoercive force it might exert, is rested, is upon necessity. We are workers with Himbecause everything, for good and evil alike, is like a piece of mechanism of which Hekeeps the key. Necessity excludes responsibility: we, like the rest, must do as He bids usdo. To such an answer neither I nor any other man can give a full reply. We cannot butknow that with each of us there lies the momentous choice whether we will consciouslygive our work to further Gods work, or put ourselves as hindrances to check its way.Hitherto we have found the dignity which hangs about us as the fellow-workers withGod in the fact of His universal presence. It is the all-pervading character of His work-andthe consequent serious and holy character of life.which has supplied us with the belief of the grandeur of our calling. Can we not findsomething which shall raise us with respect to our inner selves to the same height whichwe have to reach with respect to our outward energy? Now the imagery of my secondtext seems to give us such a thought. For it leads us to recollect that we are at once theworkers and the work, at once the labourers and the husbandry, the builders and thehouse built. If we grasp the idea of the unity of the world, and of the presence of God init all, it is plain that while we are acting as Gods fellow-workers upon others, thoseothers will act upon usthat while we are helping the world onwards we shall ourselves 11. be helped. In the general unity it is impossible but that we shall play both parts. Whilewe ourselves are building we must become a portion of the edifice built. And thatbuilding is nothing less than the home and temple of Christ. (J. F. Bright, D. D.)Grace received in vainI. In what sense is a minister a fellow-worker with god?1. In the same way that the husbandman, in the fields, works with the elements. Canhe do anything without them? And yet, has not God covenanted to send them, to giveeffect to his labour?2. In the same way as the mariner works with the wind. The wind bloweth where itlisteth, but as he sits at the helm and holds the canvas in his little boat, he isconscious, I am working with the wind.3. As ambassadors. The ambassador has no pretension to be the king, he is only afavoured subject. Nevertheless, so long as he is an ambassador, he carries the kingscredentials, dignity, and power.II. This great thought of the fellowship which he had in his work with God, St. Paul usedto enforce the exhortation not to receive the grace of god in vain. It was as though hesaid, in reference to his Master, what his Master said in reference to His Father, Thewords that I speak unto you are not mine, but His that sent me. When he added also,it was because he himself had not frustrated the grace of God, for, as he said to theseCorinthians, His grace which was bestowed upon me was not in vain, so that he wasthe better prepared to urge upon others not to receive it in vain.III. What is it to receive grace in vain.1. We must look at this discriminatingly. No word of God, under any circumstances,is ever vain (Isa_55:10). But every word does not comfort, convince, save. What,then, does it do? It cannot do nothing. Does not it harden, condemn? Is the light notlight, when it blinds the eye that is not fitted to receive it? Or is warmth not warmthwhen it hardens, but does not melt? No; Gods word cannot return voidit mustglorify God either in His mercy or in His justice. Therefore the words must be takenonly in relation to man, for that which has not produced holiness and peace to us hasevidently been in vain.2. There are several ways by which this sin may be committed.(1) Many receive the grace of God in vain, in the same sense in which that wordis used in the third commandmentin the trifling, irreverent, inconsideratemanner in which they deal with Gods truth. Men go to church almost as if theywent to any other assembly. The mind is not set to the sacred tone of the servicesin which they are mingling. The message of mercy is to them just as a pleasanttale, or a mere matter of criticism and of conversation.(2) But there are serious people who see the dignity and gravity of religion. Butgrace has only reached their understanding; it has not gone down into theirhearts. They can define faith, but they cannot use faith.(3) There are those who have felt the power of Christs grace in their hearts; butthey have lost it. The force of early convictions has passed away. Many aninfluence of the Holy Spirit is now being quenched in them. Consider what it will 12. be to have once carried such a treasure, and then to have dropped it!to haveknown and loved such a Saviour, and then to have denied Him!(4) There are those of you who have received the grace of God, but you havenever yet known what it is to rest, with a quiet assurance that you are forgiven.Now, when Gods grace came to you it had this express purpose. If, then, youdo not quietly accept His love, and settle down in a happy sense of your pardon,then grace is of no effect to you t What use is it, then, to talk of your faith; if youhave no confidence? (J. Vaughan, M. A.)Grace received in vainI. What is meant by the grace of God? The doctrine of the gospel (Eph_3:2; Col_1:6;Act_20:32; Tit_2:11). And it is so-called because1. It is graciously, and out of the free favour of God, bestowed.2. Its subject-matter is grace. Whatever saving benefit is contained in the gospel, isall from grace.(1) Forgiveness of sin (Eph_1:7).(2) Eternal life (Rom_6:23).(3) Calling (2Ti_1:9).(4) Faith (Php_1:29).(5) Repentance (2Ti_2:25).3. It is the instrument, under the Spirit of God, of bestowing the benefits of freegrace upon us. It is an invitation to the benefits of free grace, and it is our warrant ofreceiving those benefits, and of applying them.II. The receiving thereof in vain. The word signifies to receive it emptily, unfruitfully,unprofitably. The gospel cannot save us unless it be received; and therefore you read ofreceiving it (Mat_13:23; Act_2:41; Act_11:1; Act_17:11; 1Th_1:6). But the gospel may bereceived ineffectually.1. In regard of the manner of receiving. When we receive it(1) Not with an empty hand. When it is not so received as to be empty of theopinion of our own works and righteousness (Luk_1:53).(2) Not with the highest estimation. When it is not looked upon to be worthy ofall acceptation (1Ti_1:15; when it is not received as a pearl of greatest price. If allbe not sold for it, soon will it be left for any thing.(3) Not with the greatest ardency of desire.(4) Not with a particular fiducial application of Christ, but only by a generalassenti.e., when we receive it into our heads by light, but do not receive it intoour hearts by faith. When we receive it only into our ears, lips, and professions;but do not receive it in the soul.2. In regard of the issue.(1) When it is not received so as to purify the heart; when men will have an 13. angelical gospel, but will live diabolical lives.(2) When it doth not quicken us to new obedience. When there is a receivingwithout returning; when there is no delight in the law of God; when faith isnot made incarnate, as Luther speaks, by maintaining good works (Tit_3:8).(3) When we so receive grace as that it doth not sustain us in our troubles, norbear us up in our sufferings. When it is not a word of patience (Rev_3:10).(4) When we so receive grace as not to impart it, and communicate it untoothers. If we be living we shall be lively Christians; if we have the life of grace inus, we shall warm others. If we do no good, it is a sign we have got no good.(5) When it is so received as that thereby we do not obtain salvation. The gospelof salvation, received into your houses, heads, or mouths, brings not any toheaven (Mat_7:23). (W. Jenkin, A. M.)Divine grace received to profit(Text and verse 2):We have here the privileges of the Christian dispensation.1. Connected with the heart of God.2. Associated with the services of the ministers of Christ.3. Looked at as in the hands of confessed Christians.4. Regarded as the blessing of the present time. We can, however, only deal with twoof these topics.I. What is meant by That ye receive not the grace of God in vain?1. Merely to hear, is to be like a sick man who is told of a physician, but who does notapply to him; or a poor man who is told of a treasure and does not seek it. Theyreceive the communications in vain.2. Only to comprehend intellectually the word of Gods grace is to receive it in vain.It is to be like a man who devotes himself to the study of the chemistry of food, butwho neglects to eat. Of what advantage is his knowledge?3. Only to be pleased with the Christian manifestations of the grace of God, is toreceive it in vain. This is like a man who, delighting in good advice, follows his owncounsel.4. To believe what is said of the grace of God without a personal application of thosewords, is to receive it in vain. It is to be like a man in a house on fire, who sees away of escape, but does not flee. He will be burned.5. Anything short of a complete use and enjoyment of the grace of God, is inmeasure, to receive it in vain. If present pardon, e.g., be not enjoyed as well aspossessed, then, in a certain limited sense, it is received in vain.II. If the grace of God come to us in a time accepted, and in a day of salvation, itcannot be received prematurely, and therefore we ask you to receive it. Open your mouthwide, open your hands and stretch out your arms and receive.1. This is Gods giving time.2. This is Gods redeeming time. He is working out your personal salvation on the 14. basis of the sin offering, which His own Son has made.3. This is your needy time. You will never be more needy than you are now. Godseeks to drive that need away, and to fill you with blessings. It is true that you areguilty and most unworthy, but you may receive. Receive, then, to the highestpurpose. Receive to the largest extent. Some professing Christians are like cupsturned upside down. They will have to be converted before they can be filled. Yourcapacity to receive will have to be directed heavenward. Let a cup or any vessel beplaced on the angle, and can you fill it? Just so with your religion. It must be true toGod, to the Saviour, to the Spirit, or you cannot be filled with the fulness of God. (S.Martin.)The needful cautionI. The exhortation explained. The subject is the grace of God. The great plan ofreconciliation is the grace of God in question.1. This is called the grace of God by way of eminence, because(1) The gift of Jesus Christ is the highest display of the goodness of God to man(1Jn_4:10; 1Jn_3:1; Rom_8:32).(2) It is that which procures for us all other-blessings.2. Now this grace is to be received(1) The mind must have a clear perception of it. Many call this head-knowledge;but is not our religion to be in all knowledge and spiritual understanding? If weknew more, we should love more.(2) The heart must receive the Saviour. With the heart man believeth untorighteousness.(3) There must be a practical reception of this gracean adorning of it in theconduct; not talking, but working. Thus the judgment, the affections, the life, allreceive the grace of God.3. Now this grace must not be received in vain. Many have so received it.(1) The light within has become darkness, and how great is that darkness.(2) The love they once had, where is it? Their hearts are a moral icehouse.(3) Their ways now have no tendency to glorify God.II. The exhortation enforced.1. From a consideration of the value of the benefitGods greatest gift.!theastonishment of heaven! We value a thing occasionally(1) By the amount it cost us. But, ah! we know not what was the value of this, for,though it was bestowed freely, it cost heaven all!(2) From what it purchased for us. It redeems from death and purchases heaven.How shall we escape if we neglect so great salvation?2. From the fact that if this be received in vain, every other benefit is in vain. All thesermons you have heard, all the prayers, all your afflictions, convictions, all thestrivings of Gods Spirit, etc. In vain pious parents, a religious education, early 15. impressions, good resolutions, etc.3. From the punishment awaiting such a one.4. Because this is the only day in which you can receive the grace of God. When timeends with thee, then eternity. Time is the term for thy salvation. (J. Summerfield, A.M.)Grace given in vainIn the Eastern country, as I dare say you have heard, there are great deserts of sand. Formany miles in every direction, you can see nothing but bare and barren sand. You mightdig down and down, and you would still find nothing but sand until you came to the hardrock. Nothing grows in these deserts, as you may imagine; nothing can grow there.When the rain which brings greenness and fertility, grass and corn and palm trees,everywhere else, falls on this barren, sandy tract, it does no good at all. It just sinks in fora time until the surface is baked again by the hot sun, and then it rises up again invapour. Anywhere else it would clothe the soil with greenness; but here it is uselessitdoes no good. Now what a picture this is of the heart that receives and does not obeyGods grace I As the rain would render the soil fertile with grass and corn, so Gods gracewould inspire the heart of man with good thoughts and good actions. As the raindrops,when they fall upon the sand, are wasted and made useless, so the divine grace, thepleadings of the Blessed Spirit, falling upon a heart that obstinately neglects them, orrefuses them, or resists them, not only bring forth no fruit, but lay up for the impenitentsinner a heavy load of guilt and of punishment. (The Literary Churchman.)7. EBC, THE SIGNS OF AN APOSTLE.THE ministry of the Gospel is a ministry of reconciliation; the preacher of the Gospel isprimarily an evangelist. He has to proclaim that wonderful grace of God which madepeace between heaven and earth through the blood of the Cross, and he has to urge mento receive it. Until this is done, there is nothing else that he can do. But when sinful menhave welcomed the glad tidings, when they have consented to accept the peace boughtfor them with so great a price, when they have endured to be forgiven and restored toGods favor, not for what they are, nor for what they are going to he, but solely for whatChrist did for them on the cross, then a new situation is created, and the minister of theGospel has a new task. It is to that situation St. Paul addresses himself here. Recognizingthe Corinthians as people reconciled to God by the death of His Son, he entreats themnot to receive the grace of God in vain. He does so, according to our Bibles, as a fellow-workerwith God. This is probably right, though some would take the word as in 2Co_1:24, and make it mean as fellow-workers with you. But it is more natural, when welook to what precedes, to think that St. Paul is here identifying himself with Godsinterest in the world, and that he speaks out of the proud consciousness of doing so. Allis of God, in the great work of redemption; but God does not disdain the sympatheticco-operation of men whose hearts He has touched.But what is meant by receiving the grace of God in vain, or to no purpose? That might bedone in an infinite variety of ways, and in reading the words for edification we naturallygrasp at any clue suggested by our circumstances. An expositor is bound to seek his cluerather in the circumstances of the Corinthians; and if we have regard to the generaltenor of this Epistle, and especially to such a passage as 2Co_11:4, we shall find the true 16. interpretation without difficulty. Paul has explained his Gospel-his proclamation ofJesus as Universal Redeemer in virtue of His dying the sinners death, and as UniversalLord in virtue of His resurrection from the dead-so explicitly, because he fears lestthrough the influence of some false teacher the minds of the Corinthians should becorrupted from the simplicity that is toward Christ. It would be receiving the grace ofGod in vain, if, after receiving those truths concerning Christ which he had taught them,they were to give up his Gospel for another in which these truths had no place. This iswhat he dreads and deprecates, both in Corinth and Galatia: the precipitate removalfrom the grace of Christ to another Gospel which is no Gospel at all, but a subversion ofthe truth. This is what he means by receiving the grace of God in vain.There are some minds to which this will not be impressive, some to which it will only beprovoking. It will seem irrelevant and pithless to those who take for granted the finalityof the distinction between religion and theology, or between the theory, as it is called,and the fact of the Atonement. But for St. Paul, as for all sufficiently earnest andvigorous minds, there is a point at which these distinctions disappear. A certain theory isseen to be essential to the fact, a certain theology to be the constitutive force in thereligion. The death of Christ was what it was to him only because it was capable of acertain interpretation: his theory of it, if we choose to put it so, gave it its power overhim. The love of Christ constrained him because he thus judged-i.e., because heconstrued it to his intelligence in a way which showed it to be irresistible. If theseinterpretations and constructions are rejected, it must not be in the name of fact asopposed to theory, but in the name of other interpretations more adequate andconstraining. A fact of which there is absolutely no theory is a fact which is withoutrelation to anything in the universe-a mere irrelevance in mans mind-a blankincredibility-a rock in the sky. Pauls theory about Christs death for sin was not to himan excrescence on the Gospel, or a superfluous appendage to it: it was itself the Gospel;it was the thing in which the very soul of God s redeeming love was brought to light; itwas the condition under which the love of Christ became to him a constraining power; toreceive it and then reject it was to receive the grace of God in vain.This does not preclude us from the edifying application of these words which a modernreader almost instinctively makes. Peace with God is the first and deepest need of thesinful soul, but it is not the sum-total of salvation. It would, indeed, be received in vain,if the soul did not on the basis of it proceed to build up the new life in new purity andpower. The failure to do this is, unhappily, only too common. There is no mechanicalguarantee for the fruits of the Spirit; no assurance, such as would make this appealunnecessary, that every man who has received the word of reconciliation will also walkin newness of life. But if an evangelical profession and an immoral life are the ugliestcombination of which human nature is capable, the force of this appeal ought to be feltby the weakest and the worst. The Son of God loved me, and gave Himself for me: canany of us hide that word in his heart, and live on as if it meant nothing at all?Paul emphasizes his appeal to the Corinthians by a striking quotation from an ancientprophet: (Isa_49:8) At an acceptable time did I hearken unto thee, And in a day ofsalvation did I succor thee; and he points it by the joyful exclamation: Behold, now isthe acceptable time; behold, now is the day of salvation. The passage in Isaiah refers tothe servant of Jehovah, and some scholars would insist that even in the quotation aprimary application must be made to Christ. The ambassadors of the Gospel representHis interest; (2Co_5:20) this verse is, as it were, the answer to His prayer: Father, thehour is come: glorify Thy Son. In answering the Son, the Father introduces the era ofgrace for all who are, or shall be, Christs: behold, now is the time in which God shows usfavor; now is the day on which He saves us. This is rather scholastic than apostolic, and 17. it is far more probable that St. Paul borrows the prophets words, as he often does,because they suit him, without thinking of their original application. What is striking inthe passage, and characteristic both of the writer and of the New Testament, is the unionof urgency and triumph in the tone. Now does certainly mean now or never; butmore prominently still it means in a time so favored as this: in a time so graced withopportunity. The best illustration of it is the saying of Jesus to the Apostles: Blessedare your eyes, for they see; and your ears, for they hear. For verily I say unto you, Thatmany prophets and righteous men have desired to see those things which ye see, andhave not seen them; and to hear those things which ye hear, and have not heard them.Now, that we live under the reign of grace; now, when Gods redeeming love, omnipotentto save, shines on us from the Cross; now, that the last days have come, and the Judge isat the door, let us with all seriousness, and all joy, work out our own salvation, lest wemake the grace of God of no effect.St. Paul is as careful himself as he would have the Corinthians to be. He does not wishthem to receive the Gospel in vain, and he takes pains that it shall not be frustratedthrough any fault of his: working together with God we entreat you giving no occasionof stumbling in anything, that our ministration be not blamed. It is almost implied in asentence like this that there are people who will be glad of an excuse not to listen to theGospel, or not to take it seriously, and that they will look for such an excuse in theconduct of its ministers. Anything in the minister to which objection can be raised willbe used as a shield against the Gospel. It does not matter that in nine cases out of tenthis plea for declining the grace of God is impudent hypocrisy; it is one which the non-Christian should never have. If it is not the chief end of the evangelist to give no occasionof stumbling, it is one of his chief rules.This is a matter on which Jesus lays great stress. The severest words He ever spoke werespoken against those whose conduct made faith hard and unbelief easy. Of course theywere spoken to all, but they have special application to those who are so directlyidentified with the Gospel as its ministers. It is to them men naturally look for the proofof what grace does. If its reception has been in vain in them; if they have not learned thespirit of their message; if their pride, or indolence, or avarice, or ill-nature provoke theanger or contempt of those to whom they preach, -then their ministration is blamed, andthe shadow of that censure falls upon their message. The grace of God which has to beproclaimed through human lips, and to attest itself by its power over human lives, mightseem to be put in this way to too great hazard in the world; but it has God behind it, orrather it is itself God at work in His ministers as their humility and fidelity allow Him;and in spite of the occasions of stumbling for which there is no excuse, God is alwaysable to make grace prevail. Through the faults of its ministers, nay, sometimes even withthose faults as a foil, men see how good and how strong that grace is.It is not easy to comment on the glowing passage (2Co_6:4-10) in which St. Paulexpands this sober habit of giving no occasion of stumbling in anything into adescription of his apostolic ministry. Logically, its value is obvious enough. He meansthe Corinthians to feel that if they turn away from the Gospel which he has preached tothem they are passing censure lightly on a life of unparalleled devotion and power. Hecommends himself to them, as Gods servants ought always to do, by the life which heleads in the exercise of his ministry, and to reject his Gospel is to condemn his life asworthless or misspent. Will they venture to do that when they are reminded of what it is,and when they feel that it is all this for them? No right-minded man will, withoutprovocation, speak about himself, but Paul is doubly protected. Hes challenged, by thethreatened desertion from the Gospel of some, at least, of the Corinthians; and it is notso much of himself he speaks, as of the ministers of Christ; not so much on his own 18. behalf, as on behalf of the Gospel. The fountains of the great deep are broken up withinhim as he thinks of what is at issue; he is in all straits, as he begins, and can speak onlyin unconnected words, one at a time; but before he stops he has won his liberty, andpours out his soul without restraint.It is needless to comment on each of the eight-and-twenty separate phrases in which St.Paul characterises his life as a minister of the Gospel. But there are what might be calledbreathing-places, if not logical pauses, in the outburst of feeling, and these, as ithappens, coincide with the introduction of new aspects of his work.(1) At first he depicts exclusively, and in single words, its passive side. Christ had shownhim at his conversion how great things he must suffer for His names sake, (Act_9:16)and here is his own confirmation of the Lords word: he has ministered in muchpatience-in afflictions, in necessities, in distresses; in stripes, in imprisonments, intumults-where the enmity of men was conspicuous; in labors, in watchings, infastings - freely exacted by his own devotion. These nine words are all, in a manner,subordinated to much patience; his brave endurance was abundantly shown in everyvariety of pain and distress.(2) At 2Co_6:6 he makes a new start, and now it is hot the passive and physical aspect ofhis work that is in view, but the active and spiritual. All that weight of suffering did notextinguish in him the virtues of the new life, or the special gifts of the Christian minister.He wrought, he reminds them, in purity, in knowledge, in long-suffering, in kindness,in the Holy Spirit, in love unfeigned, in the word of truth, in the power of God. Theprecise import of some of these expressions may be doubtful, but this is of lessconsequence than the general tenor of the whole, which is unmistakable. Probably someof the terms, strictly taken, would cross each other. Thus the Holy Spirit and the powerof God, if we compare such passages as 1Co_2:4, 1Th_1:5, are very nearly akin. The sameremark would apply to knowledge. and to the word of truth, if the latter refers, as Icannot but think it does, to the Gospel. Purity is naturally taken in the widest sense,and undissembled love is peculiarly appropriate when we think of the feelings withwhich some of the Corinthians regarded Paul. But the main thing to notice is how themuch endurance, which, to a superficial observer, is the most conspicuouscharacteristic of the Apostles ministry, is balanced by a great manifestation of spiritualforce from within. Of all men in the world he was the weakest to look at, the mostbattered, burdened, and depressed, yet no one else had in him such a fountain as he ofthe most powerful and gracious life. And then(3) after another pause, marked this time by a slight change in the construction (from ), he goes on to enlarge upon the whole conditions under which his ministry isfulfilled, and especially on the extraordinary contrasts which are reconciled in it. Wecommend ourselves in our work, he says, by the armor of righteousness on the righthand and the left, by glory and dishonor, by evil report and good report: as deceivers,and yet true; as unknown, and yet coming to be well known; as dying, and behold, welive; as chastened, and not killed; as sorrowing, yet ever rejoicing; as poor, yet makingmany rich; as having nothing, and yet possessing all things. Here again it is not thedetails that are important, but the whole, and yet the details require notice. The armor ofrighteousness, is that which righteousness supplies, or it may even be that whichrighteousness is: Pauls character equips him right and left; it is both Spear and shield,and makes him competent either for attack or defense. Without righteousness, in thissense of integrity, he could not commend himself in his work as a minister of God. Butnot only does his real character commend him; his reputation does the same service, 19. however various that reputation may be. Through honor and dishonor, through evilreport and good report-through the truth that is told about him, and through the lies-throughthe esteem of his friends, the malignity of his enemies, the contempt ofstrangers-the same man comes out, in the same character, devoted always in the samespirit to the same calling. It is indeed his very devotion which produces these oppositeestimates, and hence, inconsistent as they are, they agree in recommending him as aservant of God. Some said He is beside himself, and others would have plucked outtheir eyes for his sake, yet both these extremely opposite attitudes were produced by thevery same thing-the passionate earnestness with which he served Christ in the Gospel.There are good scholars who think that the clauses beginning as deceivers, and true,are the Apostles own commentary on through evil report and good report; in otherwords, that in these clauses he is giving samples of the way in which he was spoken of, tohis honor or dishonor, and glorying that honor and dishonor alike only guaranteed morethoroughly his claim to be a minister of God. This might suit the first two pairs ofcontrasts (as deceivers, and true: as unknown, and gaining recognition), but it doesnot suit the next (as dying, and behold we live), in which, as in those that follow, theApostle is not repeating what was said by others, but speaking for himself, and statingtruth equally on both sides of the account. After the first pair, there is no dishonor, orevil report, in any of the states which he contrasts with each other: though opposites,they have each their truth, and the power and beauty of the passage, and of the lifewhich it describes, lie simply in this, that both are true, and that through all suchcontrasts St. Paul can prove himself the same loyal minister of the reconciliation. Eachpair of opposites might furnish by itself a subject for discourse, but what we are ratherconcerned with is the impression produced by the whole. In their variety they give us avivid idea of the range of St. Pauls experiences; in the regularity with which he puts thehigher last, and in the climax with which he concludes, they show the victorious spiritwith which he confronted all that various life. An ordinary Christian-an ordinaryminister of the Gospel-may well feel, as he reads, that his own life is by comparisonempty and commonplace. There is not that terrible pressure on him from without; thereis not that irrepressible fountain of grace within; there is not that triumphant spiritwhich can subdue all the world contains - honor and dishonor, evil report and goodreport-and make it pay tribute to the Gospel, and to himself as a Gospel minister. Yet theworld has still all possible experiences ready for those who give themselves to the serviceof God with the whole-heartedness of Paul: it will show them its best and its worst; itsreverence, affection, and praise; its hatred, its indifference, its scorn. And it is in thefacing of all such experiences by Gods ministers that the ministry receives its highestattestation: they are enabled to turn all to profit; in ignominy and in honor alike they aremade more than conquerors through Him who loves them. St. Pauls plea risesinvoluntarily into a paean; he begins, as we saw, with the embarrassed tone of a manwho wishes to persuade others that he has taken sincere pains not to frustrate his workby faults he could have avoided-giving no occasion of stumbling in anything, that theministry be not blamed; but he is carried higher and higher, as the tide of feeling riseswithin him, till it sets him beyond the reach of blame or praise- at Christs right hand,where all things are his.Here is a signal fulfillment of that word of the Lord: I am come that they might havelife, and might have it more abundantly. Who could have it more abundantly, moretriumphantly strong through all its vicissitudes, than tile man who dictated these lines?The passage closes with an appeal in which Paul descends from this supreme height tothe most direct and affectionate address. He names his readers by name: Our mouth isopen unto you, O Corinthians; our heart is enlarged. He means that he has treated them 20. with the utmost frankness and cordiality. With strangers we use reserve; we do not letourselves go, nor indulge in any effusion of heart. But he has not made strangers ofthem; he has relieved his overcharged heart before them, and he has established a newclaim on their confidence in doing so. Ye are not straitened in us, he writes; that is,The awkwardness and constraint of which you are conscious in your relations with meare not due to anything on my side; my heart has been made wide, and you have plentyof room in it. But you are straitened in your own affections. It is your hearts that arenarrow: cramped and confined with unworthy suspicions, and with the feeling that youhave done me a wrong which you are not quite prepared to rectify. Overcome theseungenerous thoughts at once. Give me a recompense in kind for my treatment of you. Ihave opened my heart wide, to you and for you; open your hearts as freely, to me and forme. I am your father in Christ, and I have a right to this from my children.When we take this passage as a whole, in its original bearings, one thing is plain: thatwant of love and confidence between the minister of the Gospel and those to whom heministers has great power to frustrate the grace of God. There may have been a realrevival under the ministers preaching-a real reception of the grace which he proclaims-butall will be in vain if mutual confidence fails. If he gives occasion of stumbling insomething, and the ministry is blamed; or if malice and falsehood sow the seeds ofdissension between him and his brethren, the grand condition of an effective ministry isgone. Beloved, let us love one another, if we do not wish the virtue of the Cross to be ofno effect in us.8. HAWKER, The ministers sent by the Holy Ghost to preach the word, can hardly becalled workers together with Him. It is too high an honor. Neither is it correct. Foralthough the Lord speaks in his word, and by his word, in the labors of those servants hesends; yet the word is wholly his, the work his, and the sole glory his. It is always best, inorder to hide pride from the eyes, to lay low in the dust before God. And Paul had toohumble an opinion of himself to make use of the phrase in any way of self-importance.But, leaving the consideration of this part of the subject in this verse, to those of theministry, whom it more immediately concerns; it will be more suited to the purpose of aPoor Mans Commentary, to enquire into the meaning of the Apostles words, when hesaith: we beseech you also that ye receive not the grace of God in vain. Paul could not besupposed, by this expression, to imply the possibility of receiving the graces of God theHoly Ghost, in his Almighty work on the soul, in vain. When God the Holy Ghostregenerates a child of God, and quickens the soul which was before dead in trespassesand sins; the spiritual life the Lord the Spirit then gives, can never die. This, hissovereign act, is equal to the gift of the Father, in choosing, and the grace of the Son, inredeeming; and which brings the child of God into a life-being of apprehension, to all theblessings of the Covenant. He is then made a partaker of the divine nature, havingescaped the corruption that is in the world through lust, 2Pe_1:3-4. He is then bornagain, not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible, by the word of God, which liveth andabideth forever, 1Pe_1:23. A child of God, therefore, cannot receive this grace of God invain; for it hath no one dependence whatever upon any act of his own. In the new-birthof grace, as much as the birth of nature, the receiver of the mercy hath no agency in thedeed. They that are born again, are born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor ofthe will of man, but of God, Joh_1:13. But the outward means of grace may beadministered, and even Gods children, from the remains of indwelling corruption, andthe powers of Satan, and the cares of the world, too often receive them with the ear,while the heart, is for a time, uninterested in them. The Church of old, is described in 21. this state, from a sleepy frame into which she had fallen; and out of which, Jesus rousedher. See Son_5:2 and the Poor Mans Commentary upon it. Reader! it is blessed, when achild of God is kept alive by inward grace, in the use of outward means; , that theadministration of the word, and ordinances, may never be barren, and unprofitable.The blessed words which follow, in the former part of them; for he saith, I have heardthee in a time accepted, and in the day of salvation have I succoured thee: these are notPauls words, but God the Fathers words to his dear Son, as Mediator. In Isaiahsprophesy, Isa_49:8, we have them recorded. They form a part, of what God the HolyGhost hath been pleased to inform the church, concerning the gracious transactionswhich took place between the Almighty Persons of the Godhead, in relation to theChurch, before all worlds. The Reader will do well to read the whole Chapter, for it ismost blessed. But the words Paul quotes in this place, are chosen by him to shew, thatduring the whole time-state of Christ upon earth, Jehovah heard him, and succouredhim, and accepted him, for his Church and People. This, therefore, might well be calledthe accepted time. In another Scripture, it is called the acceptable year of the Lord, Isa_61:2 with Luk_4:19. And elsewhere, Jesus by the spirit of prophecy stiles it, the year ofmy redeemed, Isa_63:4. And truly it was an accepted time for the Church in Christ,when the Person, blood-shedding, sufferings, obedience, and death, of Christ, wasaccepted, for the everlasting salvation of his People. But the words Which follow, are thewords of the Apostle. Behold! now is the accepted time! Behold, now is the day ofsalvation! The Apostle, under God the Holy Ghost, very blessedly makes this conclusion,for the joy, and encouragement of the Church. For as in the day of Christ upon earth,this was the day for his accomplishing salvation, and which he most effectually did, bythe sacrifice of himself: so now, during the time-state of the Church upon the earth, andthe time-state of every individual of the Church, this is the accepted time, and the day ofsalvation; in which God the Fathers everlasting love, in the choice of each child of Godin Christ, is proved: an interest, and union, and oneness with Christ, as Christ, isdiscovered; and the quickening, regenerating, renewing, and sealing grace of God theHoly Ghost, is felt, and enjoyed; when the Lord by his sovereignty, makes the souls ofthe redeemed willing, in the day of his power. And this now, the Apostle speaks of, anddwells upon, is not a limited now, as some, to their own souls distresses, and to thedistresses of others, have supposed, as if a poor sinners receiving grace depended uponhis receiving it now, which may be refused to him tomorrow: which would be makingGods grace depend upon mans will; and the Omnipotency of the Lord rest, foraccomplishment, upon the sovereign pleasure of man. But the now the Apostle speaksof, is a now, which to the Church at large, continues, as long as the world shall continue;and to every individual of the Church, as long as that individual shall continue in hispresent time state. For it must remain, until all the redeemed, for whom Christ died, arebrought in. All that the Father giveth me, said Jesus, shall come to me, Joh_6:37. Andthe accepted time is not the time of mans appointing, but the Lords. The now of God, isthe day, when God makes willing, Psa_110:3. The laborers in the vineyard called at theeleventh hour, never had the now, until that eleventh hour. The thief on the cross knewnothing of the day of salvation, but in the moment of death. Reader! there is always tothe child of God the accepted time, when Gods time comes. And every child of Godfinds, that the blessed now, when the fulness of time is come, and He who first sent forthhis Son to redeem, sends forth His Son to redeem, sends forth the Spirit of his Son intothe hearts of his redeemed, to quicken, whereby they cry Abba, Father! Gal_4:6. 22. 2. For he says, In the time of my favor I heardyou, and in the day of salvation I helped you.[a] Itell you, now is the time of God's favor, now is theday of salvation.1. BARES, For he saith - see Isa_49:8. In that passage the declaration refers tothe Messiah, and the design is there to show that God would be favorable to him; that hewould hear him when he prayed, and would make him the medium of establishing acovenant with his own people, and of spreading the true religion around the earth; seemy note on that place. Paul quotes the passage here not as affirming that he used it inexactly the sense, or with reference to the same design for which it was originally spoken,but as expressing the idea which he wished to convey, or in accordance with the generalprinciple implied in its use in Isaiah. The general idea there, or the principle involved,was, that under the Messiah God would be willing to hear; that is, that he would bedisposed to show mercy to the Jew and to the Gentile. This is the main idea of thepassage as used by Paul. Under the Messiah, it is said by Isaiah, God would be willing toshow mercy. That would be an acceptable time. That time says Paul, has arrived. TheMessiah has come, and now God is willing to pardon and save. And the doctrine in thisverse is, that under the Messiah, or in the time of Christ, God is willing to show mercy topeople. In him alone is the throne of grace accessible, and now that he has come, God iswilling to pardon, and people should avail themselves of the offers of mercy.I have heard thee - The Messiah. I have listened to thy prayer for the salvation ofthe pagan world. The promise to the Messiah was, that the pagan world should be givento him; but it was a promise that it should be in answer to his prayers and intercessions.Ask of me, and I shall give thee the pagan for thine inheritance, and the uttermost partsof the earth for thy possession; Psa_2:8. The salvation of the pagan world, and of allwho are saved, is to be in answer to the prevalent intercession of the Lord Jesus.In a time accepted - In Isaiah, in an acceptable time. The idea is, that he hadprayed in a time when God was disposed to show mercy; the time when in his wisearrangements he had designed that his salvation should be extended to the world. It is atime which he had fixed as the appropriate period for extending the knowledge of histruth and his salvation; and it proves that there was to be a period which was thefavorable period of salvation, that is, which God esteemed to be the proper period formaking his salvation known to people. At such a period the Messiah would pray, and theprayer would be answered.In the day of salvation - In the time when I am disposed to show salvation.Have I succored thee - The Messiah. I have sustained thee, that is, in the effort tomake salvation known. God here speaks of there being an accepted time, a limitedperiod, in which petitions in favor of the world would be acceptable to him. That timePaul says had come; and the idea which he urges is, that people should avail themselvesof that, and embrace now the offers of mercy.Behold, now is the accepted time ... - The meaning of this passage is, theMessiah is come. The time referred to by Isaiah has arrived. It is now a time when God 23. is ready to show compassion, to hear prayer, and to have mercy on mankind. Onlythrough the Messiah, the Lord Jesus, does he show mercy, and people should thereforenow embrace the offers of pardon. The doctrine taught here, therefore. is, that throughthe Lord Jesus, and where he is preached, God is willing to pardon and save people; andthis is true wherever he is preached, and as long as people live under the sound of thegospel. The world is under a dispensation of mercy, and God is willing to showcompassion, and while this exists, that is, while people live, the offers of salvation are tohe freely made to them. The time will come when it will not be an acceptable time withGod. The day of mercy will be closed; the period of trial will be ended; and people will beremoved to a world where no mercy is shown, and where compassion is unknown. Thisverse, which should be read as a parenthesis, is designed to be connected with theargument which the apostle is urging, and which he presented in the previous chapter.The general doctrine is, that people should seek reconciliation with God. To enforce that,he here says, that it was now the acceptable time, the time when God was willing to bereconciled to human beings. The general sentiment of this passage may be thusexpressed:(1) Under the gospel it is an acceptable time, a day of mercy, a time when God iswilling to show mercy to people.(2) There may be special seasons which may be especially called the acceptable, oraccepted time:(a) When the gospel is pressed on the attention by the faithful preaching of hisservants, or by the urgent entreaties of friends;(b) When it is brought to our attention by any striking dispensation ofProvidence;(c) When the Spirit of God strives with us, and brings us to deep reflection, or toconviction for sin;(d) In a revival of religion, when many are pressing into the kingdom - it is at allsuch seasons an accepted time, a day of salvation. a day which we shouldimprove. It is now such a season, because:(i) The time of mercy will pass by, and God will not be willing to pardon thesinner who goes unprepared to eternity.(ii) Because we cannot calculate on the future. We have no assurance,no evidence that we shall live another day, or hour.(iii) It is taught here, that the time will come when it will not be an acceptedtime. Now is the accepted time; at some future period it will not be.If people grieve away the Holy Spirit; if they continue to reject the gospel; if they gounprepared to eternity, no mercy can be found. God does not design to pardon beyondthe grave. He has made no provision for forgiveness there; and they who are notpardoned in this life, must be unpardoned forever.2. CLARKE, For he saith - That is, God hath said it, by the prophet Isaiah, Isa_49:8; which place the apostle quotes verbatim et literatim from the Septuagint. Andfrom this we may at once see what is the accepted time, and what the day of salvation.The advent of the Messiah was the ethratson, the time of Gods pleasure orbenevolence, of which all the faithful were in expectation; and the day of salvation, 24. yomyeshuah, was the time in which this salvation should be manifested and applied.The apostle therefore informs them that this is the time predicted by the prophet; andthe ministry of reconciliation being exercised in full force is a proof that the prophecy isfulfilled; and therefore the apostle confidently asserts, Behold, Now is this acceptedtime, Now the Messiah reigns, Now is the Gospel dispensation, and therefore Now is theday of salvation; that is, the very time in which the power of God is present to heal, andin which every sinner believing on the Lord Jesus may be saved.I rather think that this second verse should be read immediately after the last verse ofthe preceding chapter; as where it now stands it greatly disturbs the connection betweenthe first and the third verses. I will set down the whole in the order in which I think theyshould stand. 2Co_5:20 : Now then we are ambassadors for Christ; as though God didbeseech you by us, we pray you in Christs stead, to be reconciled to God. For he hathmade him a sin-offering for us, who knew no sin, that we might be made therighteousness of God in him: for he saith, I have heard thee in a time accepted, and inthe day of salvation have I succoured thee. Behold, now is the accepted time; behold,now is the day of salvation. Immediately after this, the sixth chapter will very properlycommence, and we shall see that the connection will be then undisturbed: -We then, as fellow workers, beseech you also, that ye receive not this grace of God invain, giving no offense in any thing, that this ministry be not blamed. This change of theplace of the second verse, which every one allows must, if it stand here, be read in aparenthesis, preserves the whole connection of the apostles discourse, and certainly setshis argument before us in a stronger light. Let us review the whole:1. God was in Christ, reconciling the world to himself, 2Co_5:18.2. He appointed the apostles to proclaim to mankind the doctrine of reconciliation,2Co_5:19.3. The apostles, in consequence, proclaim this doctrine; and show that Christ was asacrifice for sin, and that through him we may be perfectly saved, 2Co_5:20, 2Co_5:21.4. They show also that all this was agreeable to the declaration of God by the prophetIsaiah, Isa_49:8, where he predicts the days of the Messiah, and the grace then tobe communicated, 2Co_6:2.5. The apostle then, speaking in the person of all his fellow laborers, who had thisministry of reconciliation intrusted to them, exhorts them not to receive such abenefit of God in vain, 2Co_6:1.6. He exhorts those who had embraced the Gospel not to put a stumbling block in theway of others, by acting irreligiously, lest this ministry of reconciliation should bereproached on their account, 2Co_6:3.7. He shows what conscientious and scrupulous care he and his fellow apostles tookto preach and walk so that this ministry might have its full effect, 2Co_6:4, etc.This view of the subject, if I mistake not, shows a beautiful consistency throughout thewhole.3. GILL, For he saith, I have heard thee in a time accepted,.... These words area citation from Isa_49:8 and are spoken by the Father to Christ, declaring he had heardhim, as he always did. He heard him when he put up that prayer to him, recorded Joh_ 25. 17:1 for the glorification of himself, by strengthening him as man in his work, by raisinghim from the dead, setting him at his own right hand, and giving him the glory he hadwith him before the world was; for the good of his people, the preservation of those thatwere called, the conversion of them that are called, and the glorification of all the Fatherhad given him: he heard him in the garden, and answered him; the will of God was doneaccording to his desire, and his will was conformed to the will of his Father, and he wasdelivered from the fear of death; his ends in his prayer there were answered, which wereto show the greatness of his sufferings, the impossibility of man's salvation in any otherway, and that there could be no alteration made in the methods of obtaining it. He heardhim on the cross with respect to the deliverance of him from man, with regard to hisbeing forsaken by God, and for the forgiveness of his enemies. Now this period of time inwhich he was heard on account of these several things, is called a time accepted; or, as inthe Hebrew text, , a time of good will, or acceptance; a season in which Godexpressed good will to the sons of men, by sending his own Son to work out salvation forthem; this was good will to men, and not to angels, to such as were ungodly, enemies,sinners, and the worst of sinners: it was a time very grateful to him; it was the acceptedyear of the Lord; the sufferings, sacrifice, satisfaction, and righteousness of his Sonwere well pleasing to him; because his purposes, promises, and covenant transactionshad their accomplishment, his perfections were glorified, and his people saved. And itwas a time of acceptance, or an acceptable time to men, since it was the day of theirsalvation, and therefore must be exceedingly agreeable to all such who see their need ofit, know the worth of it, and are sensible that there is no other way of salvation than byhim.And in the day of salvation have I succoured thee. These words are still spoken toChrist, who whilst he was in human nature, working out the salvation of his people, byhis obedience, sufferings, and death, was succoured, or helped by his Father. This helpwas promised to him as man, and he expected it, and exercised faith on God for it, andwhich was actually and punctually given him; and which is no instance of weakness inChrist, who is the mighty God, and was mighty to save; but an indication of the Father'sregard to the human nature of Christ, and of his concern for the salvation of men; andalso shows what power and strength were necessary to accomplish it.Behold, now is the accepted time; behold, now is the day of salvation. Theseare the words of the apostle, applying the former to the present Gospel dispensation;which he introduces with prefixing a behold to each sentence, in order to raise bothattention to, and admiration at what is delivered:now is the accepted time; not that the Gospel dispensation is a milder dispensationof things, in which God will accept of an imperfect sincere obedience to his law, in theroom of a perfect one; or in which Christ is now offered to sinners, and it is left to themwhether they will accept of him or not: but it is so called, because God and Christ nowtestify their good will to the sons of men, and are ready to accept of, and embrace poorsensible sinners coming to them; and because the Gospel publishes salvation by Christ,which, as it is worthy of their acceptation, cannot but be acceptable to them: now is theday of salvation: now is salvation preached, as being done, already obtained by Christ forsinners, the chief of sinners; it is now brought home to their souls by the ministration ofthe Gospel under the influence of the Spirit of God; now sinners are convinced of theirneed of it, and that it cannot be had elsewhere; now they are made to submit to Christ, tobe saved by him, and him alone, are encouraged to believe in him, and are by him 26. actually possessed of it. Now is, and not yesterday was, the day of salvation; andnow, and that for ever, that is, as long as the Gospel dispensation continues; for it willbe always now till all the elect of God are gathered in. This day of grace and salvation willnever be over till that time comes; it is still now is the day of salvation: though menmay have long withstood the ministration of the Gospel, and notwithstanding theirmanifold sins and transgressions. There is no withstanding the now of grace when itcomes with the power of the Holy Ghost.4. HERY, The arguments and method which the apostle used. And here he tellsthem,1. The present time is the only proper season to accept of the grace that is offered, andimprove that grace which is afforded: NOW is the accepted time, NOW is the day ofsalvation, 2Co_6:2. The gospel day is a day of salvation, the means of grace the means ofsalvation, the offers of the gospel the offers of salvation, and the present time the onlyproper time to accept of these offers: Today, while it is called today. The morrow isnone of ours: we know not what will be on the morrow, nor where we shall be; and weshould remember that present seasons of grace are short and uncertain, and cannot berecalled when they are past. It is therefore our duty and interest to improve them whilewe have them, and no less than our salvation depends upon our so doing.5. JAMISO, For Gods own promise is the ground of our exhortation.he saith God the Father saith to God the Son, and so to all believers who areregarded as one with Him.heard thee In the eternal purposes of my love I have hearkened to thy prayer forthe salvation of thy people (compare Joh_17:9, Joh_17:15, Joh_17:20, Joh_17:24).accepted ... accepted The Greek of the latter is more emphatic, well-accepted.What was an accepted time in the prophecy (Isa_49:8, Hebrew, in the season ofgrace) becomes the well-accepted time in the fulfillment (compare Psa_69:13). As itis Gods time of receiving sinners, receive ye His grace: accept (2Co_6:1) the word ofreconciliation in His accepted time.in the day of salvation in a day of salvation (Luk_4:18, Luk_4:19, Luk_4:21;Luk_19:42; Heb_3:7).5B. CALVIN, For he saith, In an acceptable time. He quotes a prediction of Isaiah,exceedingly appropriate to the exhortation of which he speaks. It is without doubt of thekingdom of Christ that he there speaks, 576 as is manifest from the context. The Father,then, appointing his Son a leader, for the purpose of gathering together a Church,addresses him in these words:I have heard thee in an acceptable time. (Isaiah 49:8.)We know, however, what a degree of correspondence 577 there is between the Headand the members. For Christ was heard in our name, as the salvation of all of us isentrusted into his hand, and nothing else has he taken under his charge. Hence we areall admonished in the person of Christ not to slight the opportunity that is affordedfor obtaining salvation. While the rendering of the Greek interpreter is, ,(acceptable,) 578 the word made use of by the Prophet is, ,(ratson,)thatis,benevolence,orfreefavour.579 27. Thequotationmustbeappliedtothesubjectinhandinthisway:AsGodspecifiesaparticulartimefortheexhibitionofhisgrace,itfollowsthatalltimesarenotsuitableforthat.Asaparticulardayofsalvationisnamed,itfollowsthatafreeofferofsalvationisnotmadeeveryday.NowthisaltogetherdependsontheprovidenceofGod,fortheacceptabletimeisnootherthanwhatiscalledinGalatians4:4,thefullnessofthetime580Theorderofarrangementalsomustbeobserved.First,hemakesmentionofatimeofbenevolence,andthenafterwardsofadayofsalvationBythisitisintimated,thatsalvationflowstousfromthemercyofGodexclusively,asfromafountainhead.Hencewemustnotseekthecauseinourselves,asifwebymeansofourownworksmovedGodtoassigntoushisfavor,forwhencecomesthedayofsalvation?Itisbecauseitistheacceptabletime,thatis,thetimewhichGodhasinhisfreefavorappointed.Inthemeantime,wemustkeepinviewwhatPauldesignstoteachthatthereisneedofpromptexpedition,thatwemaynotallowtheopportunitytopassunimproved,inasmuchasitdispleasesGod,thatthegracethatheofferstousshouldbereceivedbyuswithcoolnessandindifference.BeholdnowisthetimeTheProphethadspokenofthetime,whenChristwastobemanifestedinthefleshfortheredemptionofmen.PaultransferstheprophecytothetimewhenChristisrevealedbythecontinuedpreachingofthegospel,anditiswithgoodreasonthathedoesso,forassalvationwasoncesenttothewholeworld,whenChristappeared,sonowitissenttouseveryday,whenwearemadepartakersofthegospel.Herewehaveabeautifulpassage,andaffordingnoordinaryconsolation,b