your fervent mind toward me; so that I rejoiced the more.
It was not the pleasure of seeing Titus, so much as the intelligence which he brought, which comforted the apostle. By the consolation wherewith he
was comforted in you, (ejf uJmin,) in reference to, or, as concerns you. The fact that Titus was comforted in Corinth was a great consolation to the apostle, and he was made to share in the comfort which Titus had experienced, as the latter reported to him (ajnagge>llein to bring back word, to recount, <441427>
Acts 14:27; <441638>
16:38,) your earnest desire, i.e. either you; earnest desire to see me and to secure my approbation; or, your earnest desire to correct the evils existing among you. The former is to be preferred, both on account of the context and the signification of the word ejpipo>qhsiv, which means strong affection. Your mourning, (ojdurmo>v, i.e. wailing, lamentation, <400218>
Matthew 2:18,) either, mourning on account of their sins, or on account of having offended and pained the apostle. The latter is the more probable on account of what follows. Your fervent mind toward me, (zh~lov uJpe<r ejmou~,) zeal for me, i.e. the great interest which you took in me. <480417>
Galatians 4:17, 18. As the zeal of which the apostle speaks is expressly said to be a zeal of which he was the object, it is probable that the preceding words (earnest desire and mourning) express their feeling and conduct in reference to him. What was so specially gratifying to him was that in a church in which he had met with so much opposition, and in which the false teachers had exerted so great and so evil an influence, the mass of the people proved themselves devoted to him.
Devotion to Paul, however, involved devotion to the truth and holiness, just as zeal for the false teachers involved the opposite. So that I rejoiced the more, i.e. I had more joy than the mere coming of Titus and the satisfaction which he experienced in Corinth were able to impart.
8. For though I made you sorry with a letter, I do not repent, though I did repent: for I perceive that the same epistle hath made you sorry, though (it were) but for a season.
This and the following verses assign the reason why he rejoiced. It was because the letter which he had written them, although it made them sorry, yet did them good. Though I made you sorry (i.e. caused you grief) with a letter, rather, by the letter, i.e. the letter which related to the incestuous person. I do not repent, though I did repent. That is, he regretted writing as he had done until he learned through Titus the good effect his letter had produced. Calvin says the word metame>lomai must not be taken here to express repentance, for that would imply that his former letter was written under the influence of human feeling, and not by the direction of
the Holy Spirit. He thinks that all Paul meant to say is, that he was grieved at having given the Corinthians pain. This, however, is not the meaning of the word. See <402129>
Matthew 21:29, 32. We must accommodate our theory of inspiration to the phenomena of Scripture, and not the phenomena to our theory. Inspiration simply rendered its subject infallible in writing and speaking as the messenger of God. Paul might doubt
whether he had in a given instance made a wise use of his infallibility, as he might doubt whether he had wisely exercised his power of working
miracles. He never doubted as to the truth of what he had written. There is another thing to be taken into consideration. Inspiration did not reveal itself in the consciousness. It is perfectly conceivable that a man might be inspired without knowing it. Paul was no doubt impelled by the Spirit to write his former epistle as well as divinely guided in writing; but all he was conscious of was his own thoughts and feelings. The believer is not
conscious of the operations of grace, neither were the apostles conscious of inspiration. As the believer, however, may know that he is the subject of divine influence, so the apostles knew that they were inspired. But as the believer may doubt the wisdom of some of his holiest acts, so the apostles might doubt the wisdom of acts done under divine guidance. Such acts are always wise, but the agent may not always see their wisdom.
For I perceive that the same epistle made you sorry. This gives the reason why he at first regretted having written. He knew that his letter had excited much feeling in Corinth, and until he learned the nature and effects of that feeling, he repented having written. Though but for a season. That is, although the sorrow which he had occasioned was only temporary, yet it made him regret his former letter. This interpretation supposes a
different punctuation of the passage from that found either in the common editions of the Greek text, or in the English version. It supposes that the proper place for the period or colon is after “I did not repent,” and not after the following clause, “I did repent.” In this latter case the whole sense is different, and the latter clause of the verse (ble>pw ga>r) is connected with the first clause, and is intended to give the reason why he said he had made them sorry, and not the reason why he regretted having done so. The sense of the whole would then be, ‘I made you sorry for I perceive from what I hear from Titus, that my former letter did, although only for a while, grieve you.’ The next verse then begins a new sentence.
But this is an unnatural construction; it requires the verse to be
paraphrased in order to bring out the sense; and after all it amounts to little to say, ‘I made you sorry, for I see I made you sorry.’ The construction is simpler and the sense better if we put a colon or semi-colon after “I do not repent,” and make v. 9 a part of the same sentence. ‘Though I made you sorry I do not repent: although I did repent, (for I see that my letter made you sorry, though only for a time, I now rejoice.’ The meaning is, ‘Though I did repent, I now rejoice.’ Thus the passage is printed in the Greek of Stier and Thiele’s Polyglott, and, so far as the pointing is concerned, (omitting the marks of parenthesis,) in Tischendorf’s Greek Testament. In the Vulgate the same sense is expressed. “Quoniam etsi contristavi vos in epistola, non me poenitet; et si poeniteret, videns quod epistola illa (etsi ad horam) vos contristavit, nunc gaudeo, etc.” So also Luther.
9. Now I rejoice, not that ye were made sorry, but that ye sorrowed to