Acts 26:29
29. I would to God, &c.—What unequalled magnanimity does this speech breathe! Only his Master ever towered above this.
not only . . . almost . . . but altogether—or, "whether soon or late," or "with little or much difficulty." except these bonds—doubtless holding up his two chained hands (see on Ac 12:6): which in closing such a noble utterance must have had an electrical effect.1 Corinthians 4:8-13
8. Irony. Translate, "Already ye are filled full (with spiritual food), already ye are rich, ye have seated yourselves upon your throne as kings, without us." The emphasis is on "already" and "without us"; ye act as if ye needed no more to "hunger and thirst after righteousness," and as if already ye had reached the "kingdom" for which Christians have to strive and suffer. Ye are so puffed up with your favorite teachers, and your own fancied spiritual attainments in knowledge through them, that ye feel like those "filled full" at a feast, or as a "rich" man priding himself in his riches: so ye feel ye can now do "without us," your first spiritual fathers (1Co 4:15). They forgot that before the "kingdom" and the "fulness of joy," at the marriage feast of the Lamb, must come the cross, and suffering, to every true believer (2Ti 2:5, 11, 12). They were like the self-complacent Laodiceans (Re 3:17; compare Ho 12:8). Temporal fulness and riches doubtless tended in some cases at Corinth, to generate this spiritual self-sufficiency; the contrast to the apostle's literal "hunger and thirst" (1Co 4:11) proves this.
I would . . . ye did reign—Translate, "I would indeed," &c. I would truly it were so, and that your kingdom had really begun. that we also might reign with you— (2Co 12:14). "I seek not yours, but you." Your spiritual prosperity would redound to that of us, your fathers in Christ (1Co 9:23). When you reach the kingdom, you shall be our "crown of rejoicing, in the presence of our Lord Jesus" (1Th 2:19).9. For—assigning the reason for desiring that the "reign" of himself and his fellow apostles with the Corinthians were come; namely, the present afflictions of the former.
I think—The Corinthians (1Co 3:18) "seemed" to (literally, as here, "thought") themselves "wise in this world." Paul, in contrast, "thinks" that God has sent forth him and his fellow ministers "last," that is, the lowest in this world. The apostles fared worse than even the prophets, who, though sometimes afflicted, were often honored (2Ki 1:10; 5:9; 8:9, 12). set forth—as a spectacle or gazing-stock. us the apostles—Paul includes Apollos with the apostles, in the broader sense of the word; so Ro 16:7; 2Co 8:23 (Greek for "messengers," apostles). as it were appointed to death—as criminals condemned to die. made a spectacle—literally, "a theatrical spectacle." So the Greek in Heb 10:33, "made a gazing-stock by reproaches and afflictions." Criminals "condemned to die," in Paul's time, were exhibited as a gazing-stock to amuse the populace in the amphitheater. They were "set forth last" in the show, to fight with wild beasts. This explains the imagery of Paul here. (Compare TERTULLIAN [On Modesty, 14]). the world—to the whole world, including "both angels and men"; "the whole family in heaven and earth" (Eph 3:15). As Jesus was "seen of angels" (1Ti 3:16), so His followers are a spectacle to the holy angels who take a deep interest in all the progressive steps of redemption (Eph 3:10; 1Pe 1:12). Paul tacitly implies that though "last" and lowest in the world's judgment, Christ's servants are deemed by angels a spectacle worthy of their most intense regard [CHRYSOSTOM]. However, since "the world" is a comprehensive expression, and is applied in this Epistle to the evil especially (1Co 1:27, 28), and since the spectators (in the image drawn from the amphitheater) gaze at the show with savage delight, rather than with sympathy for the sufferers, I think bad angels are included, besides good angels. ESTIUS makes the bad alone to be meant. But the generality of the term "angels," and its frequent use in a good sense, as well as Eph 3:10; 1Pe 1:12, incline me to include good as well as bad angels, though, for the reasons stated above, the bad may be principally meant.10. Irony. How much your lot (supposing it real) is to be envied, and ours to be pitied.
fools— (1Co 1:21; 3:18; compare Ac 17:18; 26:24). for Christ's sake . . . in Christ—Our connection with Christ only entails on us the lowest ignominy, "ON ACCOUNT OF," or, "FOR THE SAKE OF" Him, as "fools"; yours gives you full fellowship IN Him as "wise" (that is, supposing you really are all you seem, 1Co 3:18). we . . . weak . . . ye . . . strong— (1Co 2:3; 2Co 13:9). we . . . despised— (2Co 10:10) because of our "weakness," and our not using worldly philosophy and rhetoric, on account of which ye Corinthians and your teachers are (seemingly) so "honorable." Contrast with "despised" the "ye (Galatians) despised not my temptation . . . in my flesh" (Ga 4:14).11. (2Co 11:23-27).
naked—that is, insufficiently clad (Ro 8:35). buffeted—as a slave (1Pe 2:20), the reverse of the state of the Corinthians, "reigning as kings" (Ac 23:2). So Paul's master before him was "buffeted" as a slave, when about to die a slave's death (Mt 26:67).12. working with our own hands—namely, "even unto this present hour" (1Co 4:11). This is not stated in the narrative of Paul's proceedings at Ephesus, from which city he wrote this Epistle (though it is expressly stated of him at Corinth, compare Ac 18:3, 19). But in his address to the Ephesian elders at Miletus (Ac 20:34), he says, "Ye yourselves know that these hands have ministered unto my necessities," &c. The undesignedness of the coincidence thus indirectly brought out is incompatible with forgery.
13. defamed, we entreat—namely, God for our defamers, as Christ enjoined (Mt 5:10, 44) [GROTIUS]. We reply gently [ESTIUS].
filth—"the refuse" [CONYBEARE and HOWSON], the sweepings or rubbish thrown out after a cleaning. of all things—not of the "World" only.Galatians 4:12
12. be as I am—"As I have in my life among you cast off Jewish habits, so do ye; for I am become as ye are," namely, in the non-observance of legal ordinances. "The fact of my laying them aside among Gentiles, shows that I regard them as not at all contributing to justification or sanctification. Do you regard them in the same light, and act accordingly." His observing the law among the Jews was not inconsistent with this, for he did so only in order to win them, without compromising principle. On the other hand, the Galatian Gentiles, by adopting legal ordinances, showed that they regarded them as needful for salvation. This Paul combats.
ye have not injured me at all—namely, at the period when I first preached the Gospel among you, and when I made myself as you are, namely, living as a Gentile, not as a Jew. You at that time did me no wrong; "ye did not despise my temptation in the flesh" (Ga 4:14): nay, you "received me as an angel of God." Then in Ga 4:16, he asks, "Have I then, since that time, become your enemy by telling you the truth?"