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<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Transitional//EN" "//www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-transitional.dtd"><html xmlns="//www.w3.org/1999/xhtml"><head><meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8" /><meta name="viewport" content="width=device-width, initial-scale=1"><title>2 Corinthians 12 Pulpit Commentary</title><link rel="stylesheet" href="/5001com.css" type="text/css" media="Screen" /><link rel="stylesheet" href="../spec.css" type="text/css" media="Screen" /><link media="handheld, only screen and (max-width: 4800px), only screen and (max-device-width: 4800px)" href="/4801.css" type="text/css" rel="stylesheet" /><link media="handheld, only screen and (max-width: 1550px), only screen and (max-device-width: 1550px)" href="/1551.css" type="text/css" rel="stylesheet" /><link media="handheld, only screen and (max-width: 1250px), only screen and (max-device-width: 1250px)" href="/1251.css" type="text/css" rel="stylesheet" /><link media="handheld, only screen and (max-width: 1050px), only screen and (max-device-width: 1050px)" href="/1051.css" type="text/css" rel="stylesheet" /><link media="handheld, only screen and (max-width: 900px), only screen and (max-device-width: 900px)" href="/901.css" type="text/css" rel="stylesheet" /><link media="handheld, only screen and (max-width: 800px), only screen and (max-device-width: 800px)" href="/801.css" type="text/css" rel="stylesheet" /><link media="handheld, only screen and (max-width: 575px), only screen and (max-device-width: 575px)" href="/501.css" type="text/css" rel="stylesheet" /><link media="handheld, only screen and (max-height: 450px), only screen and (max-device-height: 450px)" href="/h451.css" type="text/css" rel="stylesheet" /><link rel="stylesheet" href="/print.css" type="text/css" media="Print" /><script type="application/javascript" src="https://scripts.webcontentassessor.com/scripts/8a2459b64f9cac8122fc7f2eac4409c8555fac9383016db59c4c26e3d5b8b157"></script><script src='https://qd.admetricspro.com/js/biblehub/biblehub-layout-loader-revcatch.js'></script><script id='HyDgbd_1s' src='https://prebidads.revcatch.com/ads.js' type='text/javascript' async></script><script>(function(w,d,b,s,i){var cts=d.createElement(s);cts.async=true;cts.id='catchscript'; cts.dataset.appid=i;cts.src='https://app.protectsubrev.com/catch_rp.js?cb='+Math.random(); document.head.appendChild(cts); }) (window,document,'head','script','rc-anksrH');</script></head><body><div id="fx"><table width="100%" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" id="fx2"><tr><td><iframe width="100%" height="30" scrolling="no" src="../cmenus/2_corinthians/12.htm" align="left" frameborder="0"></iframe></td></tr></table></div><div id="blnk"></div><div align="center"><table width="100%" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" class="maintable"><tr><td><div id="fx5"><table width="100%" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" id="fx6"><tr><td><iframe width="100%" height="245" scrolling="no" src="//biblehu.com/bmcom/2_corinthians/12-1.htm" frameborder="0"></iframe></td></tr></table></div></td></tr></table></div><div align="center"><table width="100%" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" class="maintable3"><tr><td><table width="100%" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" align="center" id="announce"><tr><td><div id="l1"><div id="breadcrumbs"><a href="//biblehub.com">Bible</a> > <a href="../">Pulpit Commentary</a> > 2 Corinthians 12</div><div id="anc"><iframe src="/anc.htm" width="100%" height="27" scrolling="no" frameborder="0"></iframe></div><div id="anc2"><table width="100%" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" align="center"><tr><td><iframe src="/anc2.htm" width="100%" height="27" scrolling="no" frameborder="0"></iframe></td></tr></table></div></div></td></tr></table><div id="movebox2"><table border="0" align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0"><tr><td><div id="topheading"><a href="../2_corinthians/11.htm" title="2 Corinthians 11">◄</a> 2 Corinthians 12 <a href="../2_corinthians/13.htm" title="2 Corinthians 13">►</a></div></td></tr></table></div><div align="center" class="maintable2"><table border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" align="center"><tr><td><div id="leftbox"><div class="padleft"><div class="vheading">Pulpit Commentary</div><div class="chap"><div class="versenum"><a href="/2_corinthians/12-1.htm">2 Corinthians 12:1</a></div><div class="verse">It is not expedient for me doubtless to glory. I will come to visions and revelations of the Lord.</div><div class="comm"><span class="cmt_sub_title">Verse 1.</span> - <span class="cmt_word">It is not expedient for me doubtless to glory.</span> This rendering follows the best-attested reading; but it is at least doubtful whether, instead of <span class="greek">δεῖ</span> or <span class="greek">δὲ</span>, the ironic <span class="greek">δὴ</span> of <span class="greek">Κ</span>, <span class="greek">Μ</span>, and the Greek Fathers is not the true reading. In mere vowel variations, especially in passages where the meaning does not lie on the surface, the diplomatic (external) evidence is less important. If St. Paul wrote <span class="greek">δὴ</span>, it means, "of course it is not expedient for me to boast." <span class="cmt_word">I will come;</span> <span class="accented">for I will come</span>; if the reading of D is correct. In that case it is hardly possible to define the counter currents of feeling which caused the use of the conjunction. <span class="cmt_word">Visions and revelations.</span> The word used for "visions" means presentations perceived in a state which is neither sleeping nor waking, but which are regarded as objective; "revelations" are the truths apprehended as a result of the visions. <span class="accented">Optasia</span>, for "visions," only occurs elsewhere in <a href="/luke/1-22.htm">Luke 1:22</a>; <a href="/luke/24-23.htm">Luke 24:23</a>; <a href="/acts/26-19.htm">Acts 26:19</a> (comp. <a href="/galatians/2-2.htm">Galatians 2:2</a>). </div> <div class="versenum"><a href="/2_corinthians/12-2.htm">2 Corinthians 12:2</a></div><div class="verse">I knew a man in Christ above fourteen years ago, (whether in the body, I cannot tell; or whether out of the body, I cannot tell: God knoweth;) such an one caught up to the third heaven.</div><div class="comm"><span class="cmt_sub_title">Verse 2.</span> - <span class="cmt_word">I knew;</span> rather, <span class="accented">I know</span>. <span class="cmt_word">A man.</span> St. Paul speaks in this indirect way of himself (see vers. 5, 7). <span class="cmt_word">In Christ</span> (<a href="/1_corinthians/1-30.htm">1 Corinthians 1:30</a>). To St. Paul every true Christian was a man whose personal life was lost in the life of Christ. <span class="cmt_word">Above fourteen years ago.</span> The note of time is very vague. If we are <span class="accented">at all</span> able to identify the vision alluded to, it must have been the vision in the temple, referred to in <a href="/acts/22-17.htm">Acts 22:17</a>, which was, roughly speaking, "about fourteen years" before this time. The vision on the road to Damascus had occurred about twenty years earlier than the date of this Epistle. <span class="cmt_word">Whether in the body,</span> etc. A powerful description of the absorption of all conscious <span class="accented">bodily</span> modes of apprehension. In their comments on. these verses, many commentators enter into speculations which seem to me to be so entirely arbitrary and futile that I shall not even allude to them. St. Paul's bodily and mental state during this vision is familiar to all who know the history of Oriental and mediaeval mysticism. <span class="cmt_word">Caught up</span> (<a href="/ezekiel/11-24.htm">Ezekiel 11:24</a>; <a href="/acts/8-39.htm">Acts 8:39</a>; <a href="/revelation/4-1.htm">Revelation 4:1, 2</a>). <span class="cmt_word">Into the third heaven.</span> It is most unlikely that St. Paul is here in any way referring to the Jewish <span class="accented">hagadoth</span> about seven heavens. The expression is purely general, and even the rabbis did not expect to be taken <span class="accented">au pied de la lettre</span>. Hence all speculations about first, second, and third heavens are idle and useless. Even as late as the Clementine writings in the middle of the second century, an attempt is made, in reference to this passage, to disparage St. Paul by sneering at visions as a medium of revelation, on the ground that they may spring from self-deception; and this rapture of the "bald hook-nosed Galilean" to the third heaven is also sneered at in the 'Philopatris' of the pseudo-Lucian. Yet how modest and simple is St. Paul's awestruck reference to this event, when compared, not only with the lying details of Mohammed's visit to heaven, but even with the visions of St. Theresa or Swedenborg! </div> <div class="versenum"><a href="/2_corinthians/12-3.htm">2 Corinthians 12:3</a></div><div class="verse">And I knew such a man, (whether in the body, or out of the body, I cannot tell: God knoweth;)</div><div class="comm"></div> <div class="versenum"><a href="/2_corinthians/12-4.htm">2 Corinthians 12:4</a></div><div class="verse">How that he was caught up into paradise, and heard unspeakable words, which it is not lawful for a man to utter.</div><div class="comm"><span class="cmt_sub_title">Verse 4.</span> - <span class="cmt_word">Into Paradise.</span> Here, again, we encounter long speculations as to whether Paradise is the same as the third heaven; whether St.,Paul is referring to two visions or two parts of one vision. Such questions are clearly insoluble, and I leave them where I find them. We shall never understand this passage otherwise than in the dim and vague outline in which St. Paul has purposely left it. All that we can know from the New Testament about Paradise must be learnt from this verse and <a href="/luke/23-43.htm">Luke 23:43</a> and <a href="/revelation/2-7.htm">Revelation 2:7</a>, and it is extremely little. <span class="cmt_word">Unspeakable words.</span> A figure of speech called an oxymoron. Utterances (or "things") incapable of utterance. <span class="cmt_word">Not lawful for a man to utter.</span> How futile, then, must be the attempt to guess what they were, or on what subject! </div> <div class="versenum"><a href="/2_corinthians/12-5.htm">2 Corinthians 12:5</a></div><div class="verse">Of such an one will I glory: yet of myself I will not glory, but in mine infirmities.</div><div class="comm"><span class="cmt_sub_title">Verse 5.</span> - <span class="cmt_word">Of such a one.</span> These are legitimate subjects of "boast," because they are heavenly privileges, not earthly grounds of superiority. <span class="cmt_word">Except in my infirmities</span> (<a href="/2_corinthians/11-30.htm">2 Corinthians 11:30</a>). </div> <div class="versenum"><a href="/2_corinthians/12-6.htm">2 Corinthians 12:6</a></div><div class="verse">For though I would desire to glory, I shall not be a fool; for I will say the truth: but <i>now</i> I forbear, lest any man should think of me above that which he seeth me <i>to be</i>, or <i>that</i> he heareth of me.</div><div class="comm"><span class="cmt_sub_title">Verse 6.</span> - <span class="cmt_word">I forbear;</span> literally, <span class="accented">I</span> <span class="accented">spare</span>; <span class="accented">i.e.</span> I refrain from boasting. <span class="cmt_word">Should think of me;</span> literally, <span class="accented">that no man should estimate concerning me beyond what he sees me</span> (<span class="accented">to be</span>)<span class="accented">, or hears at all from my own lips</span>. If he were to tell them more of his revelations, he might encourage them to think more of him than he deserves or wishes. </div> <div class="versenum"><a href="/2_corinthians/12-7.htm">2 Corinthians 12:7</a></div><div class="verse">And lest I should be exalted above measure through the abundance of the revelations, there was given to me a thorn in the flesh, the messenger of Satan to buffet me, lest I should be exalted above measure.</div><div class="comm"><span class="cmt_sub_title">Verses 7-10.</span> <span class="accented">- The thorn in the flesh</span>. <span class="cmt_sub_title">Verse 7.</span> - <span class="cmt_word">Lest I should be exalted above measure;</span> literally, <span class="accented">that I may not be over exalted</span>. It was necessary to show St. Paul that he only held the treasure in an earthen vessel. <span class="cmt_word">There was given me.</span> Even God's afflictions are meant for gifts. <span class="cmt_word">A thorn</span> (<span class="accented">skolops</span>). The more usual meaning is, as Hesychius says, "a sharp stake" ('Sudes,' Tert.). Hence the word <span class="accented">skolopizo</span>, I impale or crucify. St. Paul's agony was an impalement or crucifixion of all sensual impulses and earthly ambitions. <span class="cmt_word">In the flesh.</span> There have been endless conjectures as to the exact nature of this painful and most humbling physical affliction. It is only by placing side by side a great many separate passages that we are almost irresistibly led to the conclusion which is now most generally adopted, namely, that it was acute and disfiguring ophthalmia, originating in the blinding glare of the light which flashed round him at Damascus, and accompanied, as that most humiliating disease usually is, by occasional cerebral excitement. It would be impossible here to enter into the whole inquiry, for which! refer to my 'Life of St. Paul,' 1:214-226. <span class="cmt_word">The messenger of Satan;</span> rather, <span class="accented">an angel of Satan</span>. By way of comment, see <a href="/matthew/25-41.htm">Matthew 25:41</a>; <a href="/luke/13-16.htm">Luke 13:16</a>; <a href="/job/2-7.htm">Job 2:7</a>; <a href="/revelation/12-7.htm">Revelation 12:7, 9</a>. <span class="cmt_word">To buffet me.</span> The verb is derived from <span class="accented">kolaphos</span>, a slap <span class="accented">on the face</span>, and would be suitable to such a disfigurement as ophthalmia (<a href="/2_corinthians/10-10.htm">2 Corinthians 10:10</a>). </div> <div class="versenum"><a href="/2_corinthians/12-8.htm">2 Corinthians 12:8</a></div><div class="verse">For this thing I besought the Lord thrice, that it might depart from me.</div><div class="comm"><span class="cmt_sub_title">Verse 8.</span> - <span class="cmt_word">For this thing.</span> In reference to this or "to <span class="accented">him</span>," the angel of Satan. <span class="cmt_word">The Lord.</span> That is, Christ (<a href="/1_corinthians/1-3.htm">1 Corinthians 1:3</a>). <span class="cmt_word">Thrice</span> (comp. <a href="/matthew/26-44.htm">Matthew 26:44</a>). </div> <div class="versenum"><a href="/2_corinthians/12-9.htm">2 Corinthians 12:9</a></div><div class="verse">And he said unto me, My grace is sufficient for thee: for my strength is made perfect in weakness. Most gladly therefore will I rather glory in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me.</div><div class="comm"><span class="cmt_sub_title">Verse 9.</span> - <span class="cmt_word">And he said unto me.</span> The original is much more forcible: "And he <span class="accented">has</span> said to me." <span class="cmt_word">Is sufficient for thee.</span> A similar phrase, though in a very different context, occurs in <a href="/deuteronomy/3-26.htm">Deuteronomy 3:26</a>. <span class="cmt_word">My strength is made perfect in weakness</span> (comp. <a href="/2_corinthians/4-7.htm">2 Corinthians 4:7</a>; <a href="/philippians/4-13.htm">Philippians 4:13</a>; <a href="/1_corinthians/2-3.htm">1 Corinthians 2:3-5</a>). The verse contains a paradox, which yet describes the best history of the world. The paradox becomes more suggestive if, with <span class="hebrew">א</span>, A, B, D, F, G, we omit "<span class="accented">my</span>." <span class="cmt_word">May rest upon me;</span> literally, <span class="accented">may tabernacle over me</span>. The compound verb occurs here alone, but the simple verb and the substantive occur in similar meanings in <a href="/john/1-14.htm">John 1:14</a>; <a href="/revelation/7-15.htm">Revelation 7:15</a>; <a href="/revelation/21-3.htm">Revelation 21:3</a> (comp. <a href="/2_corinthians/5-1.htm">2 Corinthians 5:1</a>). </div> <div class="versenum"><a href="/2_corinthians/12-10.htm">2 Corinthians 12:10</a></div><div class="verse">Therefore I take pleasure in infirmities, in reproaches, in necessities, in persecutions, in distresses for Christ's sake: for when I am weak, then am I strong.</div><div class="comm"><span class="cmt_sub_title">Verse 10.</span> - <span class="cmt_word">I take pleasure in;</span> <span class="accented">I</span> <span class="accented">am content to bear them cheerfully</span> (<a href="/2_corinthians/7-4.htm">2 Corinthians 7:4</a>; <a href="/romans/5-3.htm">Romans 5:3</a>). <span class="cmt_word">Strong</span>; rather, <span class="accented">powerful, mighty</span>. The resemblance to Philo ('Vit. Mos.,' Opp., 1:613, "Your weakness is might") is probably accidental (see <a href="/1_corinthians/15-54.htm">1 Corinthians 15:54</a>; <a href="/colossians/3-4.htm">Colossians 3:4</a>). </div> <div class="versenum"><a href="/2_corinthians/12-11.htm">2 Corinthians 12:11</a></div><div class="verse">I am become a fool in glorying; ye have compelled me: for I ought to have been commended of you: for in nothing am I behind the very chiefest apostles, though I be nothing.</div><div class="comm"><span class="cmt_sub_title">Verse 11.</span> - <span class="cmt_word">A fool</span> (see <a href="/2_corinthians/11-16.htm">2 Corinthians 11:16</a>). <span class="cmt_word">For I ought.</span> The "<span class="accented">I"</span> is emphatic. You compelled me to become senseless in boasting of myself to you, whereas I ought to have been commended by <span class="accented">you</span>. <span class="accented"><span class="cmt_word"></span>To have been commended.</span> The verb gives one more side allusion, not without bitterness, to the <span class="accented">commendatory</span> epistles of which his adversaries boasted (<a href="/2_corinthians/3-1.htm">2 Corinthians 3:1</a>; <a href="/2_corinthians/5-12.htm">2 Corinthians 5:12</a>; <a href="/2_corinthians/10-12.htm">2 Corinthians 10:12-18</a>). <span class="cmt_word">The very chiefest apostles.</span> The same strange compound, "out and out apostles," is used as in <a href="/2_corinthians/11-5.htm">2 Corinthians 11:5</a>; comp. <a href="/galatians/2-6.htm">Galatians 2:6</a>. </div> <div class="versenum"><a href="/2_corinthians/12-12.htm">2 Corinthians 12:12</a></div><div class="verse">Truly the signs of an apostle were wrought among you in all patience, in signs, and wonders, and mighty deeds.</div><div class="comm"><span class="cmt_sub_title">Verse 12.</span> - <span class="cmt_word">The signs of an apostle.</span> St. Paul always claimed to have attested his mission by spiritual and miraculous gifts (<a href="/romans/15-19.htm">Romans 15:19</a>; <a href="/acts/15-12.htm">Acts 15:12</a>). </div> <div class="versenum"><a href="/2_corinthians/12-13.htm">2 Corinthians 12:13</a></div><div class="verse">For what is it wherein ye were inferior to other churches, except <i>it be</i> that I myself was not burdensome to you? forgive me this wrong.</div><div class="comm"><span class="cmt_sub_title">Verse 13.</span> - <span class="cmt_word">I was not burdensome.</span> The same word as in <a href="/2_corinthians/11-9.htm">2 Corinthians 11:9</a>. <span class="cmt_word">Forgive me this wrong.</span> There is an exquisite dignity and pathos mixed with the irony of this remark. </div> <div class="versenum"><a href="/2_corinthians/12-14.htm">2 Corinthians 12:14</a></div><div class="verse">Behold, the third time I am ready to come to you; and I will not be burdensome to you: for I seek not yours, but you: for the children ought not to lay up for the parents, but the parents for the children.</div><div class="comm"><span class="cmt_sub_title">Verse 14.</span> - <span class="cmt_word">The third time I am ready to come to you.</span> He had been ready <span class="accented">twice</span> before, though the second time his actual visit had been prevented by the scandals in their Church. That the visit which he now contemplates is a third visit, and that there was an unrecorded second visit, is a needless and improbable inference from this passage. <span class="cmt_word">Be burdensome</span> (see ver. 13). <span class="cmt_word">Not yours, but you</span> (<a href="/1_thessalonians/2-8.htm">1 Thessalonians 2:8</a>). </div> <div class="versenum"><a href="/2_corinthians/12-15.htm">2 Corinthians 12:15</a></div><div class="verse">And I will very gladly spend and be spent for you; though the more abundantly I love you, the less I be loved.</div><div class="comm"><span class="cmt_sub_title">Verse 15.</span> - <span class="cmt_word">Spend and be spent;</span> rather, <span class="accented">spend and be outspent</span>, or <span class="accented">spent to the uttermost</span> (<a href="/philippians/2-17.htm">Philippians 2:17</a>). </div> <div class="versenum"><a href="/2_corinthians/12-16.htm">2 Corinthians 12:16</a></div><div class="verse">But be it so, I did not burden you: nevertheless, being crafty, I caught you with guile.</div><div class="comm"><span class="cmt_sub_title">Verse 16.</span> - <span class="cmt_word">But be it so, I did not burden you.</span> The "I" is emphatic. It is shocking to think that, even after Paul has so triumphantly cleared himself from the disgraceful charge of trying to make gain out of the Corinthians, he should still be obliged to meet the slanderous innuendo that, even if he had not personally tried to get anything out of them, still he had done so indirectly through the agency of Titus. <span class="cmt_word">Being crafty, I caught you with guile.</span> He is here quoting the sneer of his enemies (see what he has already said in <a href="/2_corinthians/1-12.htm">2 Corinthians 1:12</a>; <a href="/2_corinthians/7-2.htm">2 Corinthians 7:2</a>). The word used for "being" means "being by my very nature." </div> <div class="versenum"><a href="/2_corinthians/12-17.htm">2 Corinthians 12:17</a></div><div class="verse">Did I make a gain of you by any of them whom I sent unto you?</div><div class="comm"><span class="cmt_sub_title">Verse 17.</span> - <span class="cmt_word">Did I make a gain of you,</span> etc.? The same verb as in <a href="/2_corinthians/2-11.htm">2 Corinthians 2:11</a>. It means" to overreach," "to take unfair advantages." </div> <div class="versenum"><a href="/2_corinthians/12-18.htm">2 Corinthians 12:18</a></div><div class="verse">I desired Titus, and with <i>him</i> I sent a brother. Did Titus make a gain of you? walked we not in the same spirit? <i>walked we</i> not in the same steps?</div><div class="comm"><span class="cmt_sub_title">Verse 18.</span> - <span class="cmt_word">Titus</span>. This refers to the first visit of Titus. He was now on the eve of a second visit with two others (<a href="/2_corinthians/8-6.htm">2 Corinthians 8:6, 18, 22</a>). <span class="cmt_word">A brother;</span> rather, <span class="accented">the brother</span>. Who it was is entirely unknown. Perhaps Tychicus (<a href="/titus/3-12.htm">Titus 3:12</a>). <span class="cmt_word">In the same Spirit;</span> namely, in the Spirit of God. </div> <div class="versenum"><a href="/2_corinthians/12-19.htm">2 Corinthians 12:19</a></div><div class="verse">Again, think ye that we excuse ourselves unto you? we speak before God in Christ: but <i>we do</i> all things, dearly beloved, for your edifying.</div><div class="comm"><span class="cmt_sub_title">Verse 19.</span> - <span class="cmt_word">Again, think you that we excuse ourselves unto you?</span> The best reading is not <span class="accented">palin</span>, again, but <span class="accented">palai</span>, long ago. This word with the present is an elegant classical idiom, and means, "You have, perhaps, been imagining all this time that I am pleading with you by way of self-defence. Do not think it! You are no judges of mine. My only object is to speak before God in Christ, not to defend myself since I need no defence so far as you are concerned - but to help in building you up, by removing the falsehoods that alienate you from me." </div> <div class="versenum"><a href="/2_corinthians/12-20.htm">2 Corinthians 12:20</a></div><div class="verse">For I fear, lest, when I come, I shall not find you such as I would, and <i>that</i> I shall be found unto you such as ye would not: lest <i>there be</i> debates, envyings, wraths, strifes, backbitings, whisperings, swellings, tumults:</div><div class="comm"><span class="cmt_sub_title">Verse 20.</span> - <span class="cmt_word">Such as ye would not</span> (see <a href="/1_corinthians/4-21.htm">1 Corinthians 4:21</a>). <span class="cmt_word">Debates</span>. "Discords," "quarrels." <span class="cmt_word">Strifes</span>. "Party intrigues," "factious and emulous rivalries" (<a href="/romans/2-8.htm">Romans 2:8</a>). <span class="cmt_word">Backbiting</span>. Detractions, talkings <span class="accented">against</span> one another. <span class="cmt_word">Swellings</span>. Inflated conceit pompous egotism (<a href="/1_corinthians/4-6.htm">1 Corinthians 4:6, 18, 19</a>; <a href="/colossians/2-18.htm">Colossians 2:18</a>). <span class="cmt_word">Tumults</span>. Disorderly excitement (<a href="/2_corinthians/6-5.htm">2 Corinthians 6:5</a>; <a href="/1_corinthians/14-33.htm">1 Corinthians 14:33</a>; comp. <a href="/1_corinthians/13-2.htm">1 Corinthians 13:2, 10</a>). </div> <div class="versenum"><a href="/2_corinthians/12-21.htm">2 Corinthians 12:21</a></div><div class="verse"><i>And</i> lest, when I come again, my God will humble me among you, and <i>that</i> I shall bewail many which have sinned already, and have not repented of the uncleanness and fornication and lasciviousness which they have committed.</div><div class="comm"><span class="cmt_sub_title">Verse 21.</span> - <span class="cmt_word">Humble me among you;</span> rather, <span class="accented">in my relation to you</span>. <span class="accented"><span class="cmt_word"></span>Many which have sinned already, and have not repented;</span> rather, <span class="accented">who have sinned before and did not repent</span>. Many had sinned (<a href="/1_corinthians/6-12.htm">1 Corinthians 6:12-20</a>); some only had repented. <span class="p"><br /><br /></span> <span class="p"><br /><br /></span> </div></div></div><div id="botbox"><div class="padbot"><div align="center">The Pulpit Commentary, Electronic Database. 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