John Calvin on 2 Corinthians 12:21

21. Lest, when I come, my God should humble me His abasement was reckoned to him as a fault. The blame of it he throws back upon the Corinthians, who, when they should have honored his Apostleship, loaded it, on the contrary, with disgrace; for their proficiency “Qu’ils eussent proufite en sainctete de vie;” — “That they had made progress in holiness of life.” would have been the glory and honor of Paul’s Apostleship. When, therefore, they were, instead of this, overrun with many vices, they heaped disgrace upon him to the utmost of their power. He does not, indeed, charge them all with this crime, but only a few, who had impudently despised all his admonitions. The meaning, then, is this: “They think contemptuously of me, because I appear contemptible. Let them, then, give me no occasion of abasement: nay more, let them, on the contrary, laying aside their forwardness, begin to feel shame; and let them, confounded at their iniquities, prostrate themselves on the ground, instead of looking down upon others with disdain.”

In the mean time, he lets us know the disposition of a true and genuine Pastor, when he says that he will look upon the sins of others with grief. And, undoubtedly, the right way of acting is this — that every Christian shall have his Church inclosed within his heart, and be affected with its maladies, as if they were his own, — sympathize with its sorrows, and bewail its sins. We see, how Jeremiah entreats, that there may be given him a fountain of tears, (Jeremiah 9:1,) that he may bewail the calamity of his people. We see, how pious kings and prophets, to whom the government of the people was committed, were touched with similar feelings. It is, indeed, a thing that is common to all the pious, to be grieved in every case in which God is offended, and to bewail the ruin of brethren, and present themselves before God in their room as in a manner guilty, but it is more particularly requisite on the part of Pastors. “Des Pasteurs et Ministres;” — “Of Pastors and Ministers.” Farther, Paul here brings forward a second catalogue of vices, which, however, belong to one general head — unchastity.

CHAPTER 13

2 Corinthians 13:1-4

1. This is the third time I am coming to you. In the mouth of two or three witnesses shall every word be established.

1. Hic tertius erit adventus meus ad vos. In ore duorum aut trium testium stabilietur omne verbum. (Deuteronomy 19:15; Matthew 18:16; John 8:17; Hebrews 10:28.)

2. I told you before, and foretell you, as if I were present, the second time; and being absent now I write to them which heretofore have sinned, and to all other, that, if I come again, I will not spare:

2. Praedixi et praedico, ut praesens quum essem iterum, ita et absens nunc scribo iis, qui ante peccaverunt, et reliquis omnibus: quod, si venero denuo, non parcam.

3. Since ye seek a proof of Christ speaking in me, which to you-ward is not weak, but is mighty in you.

3. Quandoquidem esperimentum quaeritis in me loquentis Christi: qui erga vos non est infirmus, sed potens est in vobis.

4. For though he was crucified through weakness, yet he liveth by the power of God. For we also are weak in him, but we shall live with him by the power of God toward you.

4. Nam quamvis crucifixus fuit ex infirmitate, vivit tamen ex virtute Dei: siquidem et nos infirmi sumus in illo, sed vivmus cum illo ex virtute Dei erga vos.