2 Corinthians 1:21–2:4

Having received the sacraments, you have fully understood everything that you were baptized in the name of the Trinity. In all that we have done, the mystery of the Trinity has been preserved. Everywhere, there is the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, one operation, one sanctification, although some things may seem special. How? God who anointed you, and sealed you, and placed the Holy Spirit in your heart. Therefore, you have received the Holy Spirit in your heart.

Paul is saying that Christ confirms the Gentiles in the faith promised to the Jews, because he has made us both one.

For this reason righteousness and peace are now far departed from you, inasmuch as every one abandons the fear of God, and has become blind in His faith, neither walks in the ordinances of His appointment, nor acts a part becoming a Christian, but walks after his own wicked lusts, resuming the practice of an unrighteous and ungodly envy, by which death itself entered into the world. [Wisdom 2:24]

After these words, after the renunciation of the devil and the covenant with Christ, inasmuch as you have henceforth become his very own and have nothing in common with that evil one, he straightway bids you to be marked and places on your forehead the sign of the cross. That savage beast is shameless, and when he hears those words, he grows more wild—as we might expect—and desires to assault you on sight. Hence God anoints your countenance and stamps thereon the sign of the cross. In this way God holds in check all the frenzy of the Evil One, for the devil will not dare to look on such a sight. Just as if he had beheld the rays of the sun and had leaped away, so will his eyes be blinded by the sight of your face and he will depart. For through the chrism the cross is stamped on you.… And that you may again know that it is not a man but God himself who anoints you by the hand of the priest, listen to St. Paul when he says: "It is God who makes both us and you stand firm in Christ, who has anointed us."

"Now He which stablisheth us with you in Christ, and anointed us, is God; Who also sealed us, and gave us the earnest of the Spirit in our hearts."

Again, from the past He stablisheth the future. For if it is He that establisheth us in Christ; (i.e., who suffereth us not to be shaken from the faith which is in Christ;) and He that anointed us and gave the Spirit in our hearts, how shall He not give us the future things?

For if He gave the principles and the foundations, and the root and the fount, (to wit, the true knowledge of Him, the partaking of the Spirit,) how shall He not give the things that come of these: for if for the sake of these those are given, much more will he supply those. And if to such as were enemies he gave these, much more when now made friends will He "freely give" to them those. Wherefore He said not simply "the Spirit," but named "earnest," that from this thou mightest have a good hope of the whole as well. For did He not purpose to give the whole, He would never have chosen to give "the earnest" and to waste it without object or result.

And observe Paul's candor. For why need I say, saith he, that the truth of the promises standeth not in us? The fact of your standing unwavering and fixed is not in us, but this too is of God; "for" saith he, "He who stablisheth us is God." It is not we who strengthen you: for even we also need Him that stablisheth. So then let none imagine that the Preaching is hazardous in us. He hath undertaken the whole, He cared for the whole.

And what is, "anointed," and "sealed?" Gave the Spirit by Whom He did both these things, making at once prophets and priests and kings, for in old times these three sorts were anointed. But we have now not one of these dignities, but all three preeminently. For we are both to enjoy a kingdom and are made priests by offering our bodies for a sacrifice, (for, saith he, "present your members a living sacrifice unto God;) and withal we are constituted prophets too: for what things "eye hath not seen, nor ear heard," these have been revealed unto us.

But if repentance is a thing human, its baptism must necessarily be of the same nature: else, if it had been celestial, it would have given both the Holy Spirit and remission of sins. But none either pardons sins or freely grants the Spirit save God only. Even the Lord Himself said that the Spirit would not descend on any other condition, but that He should first ascend to the Father.

Having said above that God will fulfill His promises, he now confirms this. That you and I, your teacher, stand firm in faith in Christ, he says, was given by God, Who also anointed us and sealed us, that is, made us prophets, kings, and priests. For such is every baptized person: he is a prophet, as one who sees what eye has not seen and ear has not heard; he is a priest, as one who must offer himself as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God; he is a king, as a son of God the King and an heir of the coming Kingdom, and as one who even now reigns over improper thoughts and is set above the whole world. Just as in ancient times priests and kings were anointed with oil, so now we have been anointed with the Spirit, when God gave the pledge of the Spirit in our hearts. And if He gave a pledge, then He will certainly give everything. By "pledge" he means the gifts of the Spirit bestowed now; for we know in part and prophesy in part, but we shall receive what is perfect then, when Christ appears in His glory. Therefore, do not think that we make promises only so as not to appear liars. For it is not we who establish you, but God both promises and establishes both me and you; for He Himself will fulfill everything. Therefore understand also that God, Who does this and that, will Himself fulfill His promises.

Then when he says, but it is God who establishes us with you in Christ, and has anointed us, the Apostle proves that he has not lied by the efficient cause. For although a man by his free will can employ his tongue for speaking truth or falsity, God can establish a man so well in the truth, that he would speak nothing but the truth. Therefore, if God established someone in the truth, it is obvious that he could not say anything false; but God establishes us in the truth. And therefore he says, it is God who establishes us with you in Christ, i.e., in the true preaching of Christ. As if to say: if Christ were outside us, we could lie, but because he is with us and we in Christ, we do not lie: "It is I who keep steady its pillars" (Ps. 75:3). Therefore we are in Christ in two ways, namely, by grace and by glory: by grace, inasmuch as we have been anointed with the grace of the Holy Spirit and made members of Christ and joined to him; by which grace Christ as man was also anointed: "God, your God, has anointed you with the oil of gladness above your fellows" (Ps. 45:7). And from the fullness of that anointing it has overflowed to all of us as "the precious oil on the head", namely of Christ, "has flowed down on the beard, the beard of Aaron" (Ps. 133:2). Therefore, he says that God has anointed us. He anointed us, I say, as kings and priests: "You made them a kingdom and priests to our God" (Rev. 5:10); "You are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation" (1 Pet. 2:9).

I have learned from your letter, as well as from the statement of the bearer, that you ardently desire a letter from me, in the belief that it will bring you the greatest consolation. I must not refuse or delay this letter, but you will have to see what good you can draw from it. Let the faith and hope and charity, which are diffused through the hearts of the faithful by the Holy Spirit, be your consolation. We receive a little of it in this life as a pledge to make us learn how to long for its fullness. You must not think of yourself as left alone, since in the interior life you have Christ, present in your heart by faith.

To realize that Paul was filled with the Holy Spirit, and like him all the apostles, and all who after them believe in Father, Son and Holy Spirit, pay attention to the clear words of Paul himself.… "God who also stamped us with his seal and gave us the Spirit as a pledge."

Shepherds brand their sheep so as to distinguish the ones which belong to them from others. This is what Christ has done to us.

What shall we say then? Has not the flesh even now (in this life) the spirit by faith? so that the question still remains to be asked, how it is that the animate (or natural) body can be said to be sown? Surely the flesh has received even here the spirit-but only its "earnest; " whereas of the soul (it has received) not the earnest, but the full possession.

God is the source of all good things. He has given us firm faith in Christ. He has anointed us and made us worthy to receive the seal of the Holy Spirit.

Wherefore such men have necessarily lost the wisdom of God, and have not found the truth. If you please, then, study these things carefully, that you may have a compendium and pledge of the truth.

But the union which is according to glory we do not yet have in reality, but in sure hope, inasmuch as we have a firm hope of attaining to this union. And we have a twofold certainty of hope resulting from the hope of this union. One is by a sign, the other by a pledge. The first is by an evident sign, which is of faith. Hence he says, he has put his seal upon us with the sign of Christian faith: "Put a mark on their foreheads" (Ez. 9:4), i.e., the sign of the cross: "Till we have sealed the servants of our God upon their foreheads" (Rev. 7:3). And this is done through the Holy Spirit: "Anyone who does not have the Spirit of Christ does not belong to him" (Rom. 8:9). Therefore the special and certain sign of obtaining eternal life is configuration to Christ: "Set me as a seal upon your heart" (Sg. 8:6). Or he sealed us with the sign of life. The second is by the greatest pledge, i.e., of the Holy Spirit; and so he says and given us his Spirit in our hearts as a guarantee, and we are certain that no one can take him from us.

But note that there are two things to be considered in a pledge, namely, that it produces a hope of obtaining the reality, and that it is as valid as the reality or more so. And these two things are in the Holy Spirit, because if we consider the substance of the Holy Spirit, he is as valid as eternal life, which is God, because he is as valid as the three persons. But if we consider the manner in which he is possessed, then it produces the hope but not the possession of eternal life, because we do not yet have him perfectly in this life. Therefore we are not perfectly happy until we have him perfectly in heaven: "You were sealed with the promised Holy Spirit" (Eph. 1:13).

Here Paul is addressing people who apparently wanted to reform but were not making much of an effort in that direction. It was to spare them until they pulled themselves together that he went elsewhere for the time being. Paul did not want them to think that he despised them as unworthy. Once they realized that, they would mend their ways, and then the apostle would come to visit them.

"But I call God for a witness upon my soul, that to spare you I forbare to come unto Corinth."

What sayest thou, O blessed Paul? To spare them thou camest not to Corinth? Surely thou presentest us with something of a contradiction. For a little above thou saidst that thou therefore camest not, because thou purposest not according to the flesh nor art thine own master, but art led about every where by the authority of the Spirit, and didst set forth thine afflictions. But here thou sayest it was thine own act that thou camest not, and not from the authority of the Spirit; for he saith, "To spare you I forbare to come to Corinth." What then is one to say? either, that this too was itself of the Spirit, and that he himself wished to come but the Spirit suggested to him not to do so, urging the motive of sparing them; or else, that he is speaking of some other coming, and would signify that before he wrote the former Epistle he was minded to come, and for love's sake restrained himself lest he should find them yet unamended.

What is the expression, "to spare you?" I heard, he saith, that some among you had committed fornication; I would not therefore come and make you sorry: for had I come, I must needs have enquired into the matter, and prosecuted and punished, and exacted justice from many. I judged it then better to be away and to give opportunity for repentance, than to be with you and to prosecute, and be still more incensed.

Above he said that he did not come to them because he did not have authority over himself and was not permitted by the Spirit. How then does he now say that he did not come in order to spare them? Because either this very thing happened by the will of the Spirit, that is, the Spirit suggested to him the thought of not going in order to spare them, or — at first the Spirit forbade him, and then he himself, having reasoned that this was better, remained. Note the wisdom of the apostle. While they were saying: you did not come because, it seems, you have come to hate us, he asserts the opposite: I did not come because I am sparing you. He says this because some among them were those who had sinned and not repented, whom he would have punished if, upon arriving, he had found them uncorrected. Therefore, he remained so as to come only when they had corrected themselves, and not have cause for punishment.

Then he says, but I call God to witness, he gives his excuse for not coming; and this is by oath which is greater. In regard to this he does three things: first, he states the excuse; secondly, he answers a tacit question (v. 24a); thirdly, he explains what he says (v. 24b). He excuses himself with a double oath: one of attestation, when he says, I call God to witness; the other of execration, when he says, against me, i.e., against my soul: "For God is my witness" (Rom. 1:9). As witness, I say, I call upon God, because I refrained from coming, i.e., after the first time or after I departed from you; and this I did to spare you, namely, because he knew that they were incorrigible. Hence, if he had gone then, he would either have punished them, and they perhaps would have left the faith altogether, or he would not have punished them, and then he would have been giving them occasion to sin more.

Paul says this because faith is not a matter of compulsion but of free will.

In these things, therefore, let every one who approaches God be of a good conscience, and of a proper confidence, so far as his own judgment is concerned. And I, for my part, have thus set forth my opinions in public, not as a teacher, but only as it becomes us with all simplicity to confer with each other. And when you have examined this opinion of mine, my most intelligent son, you will write back to me your notion of these matters, and let me know whatever may seem to you to be just and preferable, and whether you approve of my judgment in these things.

"Not for that we have lordship over your faith."

That is, I did not therefore say, "To spare you I came not," as lording it over you. Again, he said not you, but "your faith," which was at once gentler and truer. For him that hath no mind to believe, who hath power to compel?

"But are helpers of your joy."

For since, saith he, your joy is ours, I came not, that I might not plunge you into sorrow and increase my own despondency; but I stayed away that ye being reformed by the threat might be made glad. For we do every thing in order to your joy, and give diligence in this behalf, because we are ourselves partakers of it. "For by faith ye stand."

Behold him again speaking repressedly. For he was afraid to rebuke them again; since he had handled them severely in the former Epistle, and they had made some reformation. And if, now that they were reformed, they again received the same reproof, this was likely to throw them back. Whence this Epistle is much gentler than the former.

Paul says that he finds no fault with their faith. However, there are some other things which need to be put right, and he is concerned with those.

Paul added this because his authority was evidently what the Corinthians were afraid of.

Since what was said smacked of authority (for he who has the power to punish others can also spare them), he softens the harshness of his speech: I did not say that I am sparing you, he says, because I wished to lord it over your faith, for faith is a matter of free will and no one is compelled to believe against their will; but rather, considering your joy as my own joy, I did not come so as not to plunge you into sorrow and not to be grieved myself. For I do everything for your joy, and I stayed away so that by threat alone I might correct the sinners and cause you no grief whatsoever.

He converses with them gently, since in the first epistle he had already struck them sufficiently. His words mean the following: as far as the faith is concerned, you stand firm in it, and I had no reason to complain about you, but in other matters you wavered, and if you had not corrected yourselves and I had risen against you, I would have both grieved you and caused grief to myself.

But because someone could say, Why do you say spare us? Are you our lord? He removes this, saying, not that we lord it over your faith; we work with you for your joy. As if to say: I do not say this as a lord, but as a helper: "Not as those domineering over those in your charge, but being examples to the flock" (1 Pet. 5:3). A helper, I say, for your joy, or for your improvement. Why he says, of your faith, he explains, saying, for you stand firm in your faith, i.e., you stand in that grace of Christ by faith.

Paul was afraid that if he rebuked a few he would cause pain to many, because all the members of a body suffer when one of them is in pain.

"But I determined for myself that I would not come again to you with sorrow."

The expression "again" proves that he had already been made sorry from thence, and whilst he seems to be speaking in his own defence he covertly rebukes them. Now if they had both already made him sorry and were about again to make him sorry, consider how great the displeasure was likely to be. But he saith not thus, "Ye made me sorry," but turns the expression differently yet implying the very same thing thus, "For this cause I came not that I might not make you sorry:" which has the same force as what I said, but is more palatable.

The word "again" shows that he had been grieved before as well. However, he did not say openly: "you also grieved me before," but in another way: "I did not come so as not to grieve you again," which, nevertheless, has one and the same force (for he grieved them with reproaches because they had grieved him with their sins), but for them it was more bearable.

After giving a general excuse for his delay in visiting the Corinthians, the Apostle now gives the cause of his delay and how he spared them. In regard to this he does two things: first, he mentions that one cause of his delay was that he might not pain them by coming; secondly, he shows that another cause was that the fruit he hoped for from others and which was beginning to ripen, might not be hindered (v. 12). In regard to the first he does two things: first, he shows that the cause of his delay in general was to avoid paining them; secondly, he speaks in particular about a certain person who had grieved him (v. 5). In regard to the first he does three things: first, he tells why he postponed his visit; secondly, he gives the reason for his statement (v. 2); thirdly, he explains what he said (v. 4).

He says, therefore: I have said that it was in order not to grieve you that I did not come to you. Therefore, I made up my mind, i.e., about what I mentioned when I sent the other letter: "Reason is the beginning of every work, and counsel precedes every undertaking" (Sir. 37:16); not to make you another painful visit, i.e., not to cause you pain. The reason he did not wish to grieve them is the same one whereby the Lord did not wish his disciples to fast, namely, in order that they be drawn to Christ and be joined to him not by fear but by love. For the Lord wished to strengthen and nourish them in the faith in all sweetness and heartfelt desire, so that, being thus established in love, they would not easily turn away from him because of tribulations, for "many waters cannot extinguish love" (Sg. 8:7). For the same reason the Apostle does not want to pain them on this account.

Paul did not want to hurt the Corinthians, but he saw it as the necessary prelude to the joy which would come from their obedience.

It is shameful, indeed, that they who are sick in body place so much confidence in physicians that, even if these cut or burn or cause distress by their bitter medicines, they look upon them as benefactors, while we do not share this attitude toward the physicians of our souls when they secure our salvation for us by laborious discipline. The apostle says, however: "Who is he then who can make me glad, but the same who is made sorrowful by me." … It behooves one who looks to the end, therefore, to consider him a benefactor who causes us pain which is according to God.

"For if I make you sorry, who then is he that maketh me glad, but he that is made sorry by me?"

What is this consequence? A very just one indeed. For observe, I would not, he saith, come unto you, lest I should increase your sorrow, rebuking, showing anger and disgust. Then seeing that even this was strong and implied accusation that they so lived as to make Paul sorry, he applies a corrective in the words, "For if I make you sorry, who then is he that maketh me glad, but he that is made sorry by me?"

What he saith is of this kind. "Even though I were to be in sorrow, being compelled to rebuke you and to see you sorry, still nevertheless this very thing would have made me glad. For this is a proof of the greatest love, that you hold me in such esteem as to be hurt at my being displeased with you."

Behold too his prudence. Their doing what all disciples do, namely, smarting and feeling it when rebuked, he produces as an instance of their gratifying him; for, saith he, "No man maketh me so glad as he that giveth heed to my words, and is sorry when he seeth me angry."

Yet what followed naturally was to say, "For if I make you sorry, who then is he that can make you glad?" But he doth not say this, but turns his speech back again, dealing tenderly with them, and says, "Though I make you sorry, even herein ye bestow on me a very great favor in that ye are hurt at what I say."

Although I grieve you, he says, with reproaches and indignation toward you, yet because of this very thing I also rejoice, seeing that you respect me to such a degree that my indignation and reproaches produce sorrow in you. For no one gladdens me so much as the one who grieves in this way at the sight of my indignation. This shows that he does not despise me. He gladdens me, because in this way he gives hope of his own correction.

He assigns the reason for what he says, namely, that he does not want to pain them, when he says, for if I cause you pain, who is there to make me glad but the one whom I have pained? In regard to this he does two things: first, he deals with the reason why he did not wish to pain them; secondly, he shows why he tells them this (v. 3).

He says, therefore: the reason why I did not wish you to fall into sadness was that your sadness pains me, and I rejoice in your consolation; and you only console me when I am with you. Hence, if I had come and pained you, I would be sad at your sadness; then there would be no one among you to gladden me, because you would be sad on my account. For one who is sad does not easily console another person: "A wise son makes a glad father, but a foolish son is a sorrow to his mother" (Prov. 10:1); "He who loves wisdom makes his father glad" (Prov. 29:3). Or in another way, there are two kinds of sadness. One is according to the world, and the other according to God who produces repentance leading to salvation. The Apostle is not speaking of the first, but of the second. He says: I will be consoled if I cause you pain, i.e., if by scolding you I bring you to repentance; but if I had come and seen you unrepentant of your sins, I would have had no consolation, because no one is sad and repentant because of me, i.e., because of my correction and rebuke.

The purification of the people is the apostle's joy.

"And I wrote this very thing unto you."

What? That for this cause I came not, to spare you. When wrote he? In the former Epistle when he said, "I do not wish to see you now by the way?" I think not; but in this Epistle when he said, "Lest when I come again, my God should humble me before you." I have written then towards the end this same, saith he, "lest when I come, my God will humble me, and I should mourn for many of them that have sinned heretofore."

But why didst thou write? "Lest when I came I should have sorrow from them of whom I ought to rejoice, having confidence in you all, that my joy is the joy of you all?" For whereas he said he was made glad by their sorrow, and this was too arrogant and harsh, again he gave it a different turn and softened it by what he subjoined. For, he saith, I therefore wrote unto you before, that I might not with anguish find you unreformed; and I said this, "lest I should have sorrow," out of regard not to my own interest but yours. For I know that if ye see me rejoicing ye rejoice, and if ye behold me sad ye are sad.

What? That I did not come to you, sparing you. Where did he write? In this very epistle.

For this reason I wrote to you now, so that you would correct yourselves, and so that, finding you uncorrected, I would not have sorrow from you, from whom it was fitting to provide me occasions for joy.

I wrote, he says, hoping that you would correct yourselves, and thereby gladden me. And my joy is joy for all of you. And I said "so that, when I come, I might not have sorrow" because I have in mind not my own benefit, but yours. For I know that if you see me rejoicing, you will rejoice, and if you see me grieving, you will grieve.

But the reason I write this to you is that you so adjust yourselves, that when I come, I will not be sad at seeing you uncorrected, in addition to the sadness I experienced when I heard that you had sinned. In regard to this he does two things: first, he gives his admonition; secondly, he shows that he is confident it will be obeyed (v. 3b). The admonition is this: I wrote as I did, namely, that I am pained at the sin you committed: "he was vexed in his righteous soul day after day with their lawless deeds" (2 Pet. 2:8), in order that you might prepare and arrange yourselves by correction, so that when I came I might not suffer pain at your sins from those who should have made me rejoice, i.e., I ought to rejoice and be glad in your presence: "There is joy before the angels of God over one sinner who repents" (Lk. 15:10). The confidence he had that they would follow his admonition is indicated when he says, for I felt sure of all of you. As if to say: I have this confidence in you, that you will be so disposed, that when I come, all of you will give me reason for joy; and you should do this cheerfully, that my joy would be the joy of you all, i.e., it would contribute to your joy, or it is for the sake of your joy, which you have from the recovery of grace: "Rejoice with those who rejoice" (Rom. 12:15).

It is obvious that when someone admonishes another and in the process he himself suffers more grief over it than the person being rebuked, he is not doing this in order to cause grief but to show what deep love he has for the other. Someone who rebukes another without feeling this way merely tramples on his feelings.

"For out of much affliction and anguish of heart I wrote unto you with many tears, not that ye should be made sorry, but that ye might know the love which I have more abundantly unto you."

What more tenderly affectioned than this man's spirit is? for he showeth himself to have been not less pained than they who had sinned, but even much more. For he saith not "out of affliction" merely, but "out of much," nor "with tears," but "with many tears" and "anguish of heart," that is, I was suffocated, I was choked with despondency; and when I could no longer endure the cloud of despondency, "I wrote unto you: not that ye should be grieved, but that ye might know the love," saith he, "which I have more abundantly unto you." And yet what naturally followed was to say, not that ye might be grieved, but that ye might be corrected: (for indeed with this purpose he wrote.) This however he doth not say, but, (more to sweeten his words, and win them to a greater affection,) he puts this for it, showing that he doth all from love. And he saith not simply "the love," but "which I have more abundantly unto you." For hereby also he desires to win them, by showing that he loveth them more than all and feels towards them as to chosen disciples.

Since he said above that he rejoices when they grieve, lest they say: you endeavor to sadden us so that you yourself may rejoice, he explains that he himself grieves greatly, grieves more than the sinners themselves. Not from sorrow only, but "from great sorrow," and not with tears only, but "with many tears" I wrote. That is, grief, compressing and constricting my heart, was crushing it, and therefore I wrote like a father and at the same time a physician who, performing incisions and cauterizations on his son, grieves doubly—both because the son is sick and because he himself must subject him to the incision—but, on the other hand, also rejoices because he hopes for the son's recovery. So, he says, I too, in grieving you who are sinning, sorrow, but on the other hand also rejoice when you grieve, for I have hope in your correction.

Not "to grieve you" should he have said, but "to correct you"; however, he does not say this, but sweetens his speech, wishing to attract them with the assurance that he loves them more than his other disciples, and that if he grieves them, he grieves them out of love, not out of anger. For it is a sign of the greatest love that I grieve over your transgressions and hasten to rebuke you and thereby grieve you. If I did not love you, I would have left you without healing.

But because someone might be in doubt at his saying, so that when I came I might not suffer pain, and ask what sort of pain he had for them, he explains this saying, for I wrote you out of much affliction and anguish of heart. In regard to this he does two things: first, he mentions the pain he has already suffered; secondly, he answers a tacit question (v. 4b).

First, therefore, he says: I would be pained if I found you uncorrected—a greater pain than I had when you sinned and I was obliged to sadden you with a sharp rebuke: for I wrote you in the first epistle out of much affliction and anguish of heart and with many tears, which I shed for you when you were already dead in sin: "O that my head were waters, and my eyes a fountain of tears" (Jer. 9:1); "It is a disgrace to be the father of an undisciplined son" (Sir. 22:3); "The righteous man perishes and no one lays it to heart" (Is. 57:1). But it should be noted that he mentions two things that amplify his pain, namely, affliction and anguish, because one added to the other increases sadness. For sometimes a person is sad but without anguish, namely, when he is pricked by some adversity as though by a very sharp thorn; and yet various ways of escape seem open to him, because if no way is open, anguish is joined to affliction. He says, therefore, for I wrote you out of much affliction, with which he was pricked by your deeds and your evil, and anguish of heart, because he could not see where a remedy could easily be found: "Trouble and anguish have come upon me" (Ps. 119:143).

But because they could say, O Apostle, you even write these things to pain us, he anticipates this, saying, not to cause you pain do I write these things to you, but to let you know the abundant love that I have for you. For there are two signs of love, namely, to rejoice in the good of another and to be pained at his evil; and I have these toward you: "For the love of Christ controls us" (2 Cor. 5:14). More abundantly than you think, or more abundantly than toward others.