‏ 1 Corinthians 1:6

     6. According as the testimony of (of, and concerning) Christ (who is both the object and author of this testimony [BENGEL]; 1Co 2:1; 1Ti 2:6; 2Ti 1:8) was confirmed among [ALFORD] you; that is, by God, through my preaching and through the miracles accompanying it (1Co 12:3; Mr 16:20; 2Co 1:21, 22; Ga 3:2, 5; Eph 4:7, 8; Heb 2:4). God confirmed (compare Php 1:7; Heb 2:3), or gave effect to the Gospel among (or better as English Version, "in") the Corinthians by their accepting it and setting their seal to its truth, through the inward power of His Spirit, and the outward gifts and miracles accompanying it [CALVIN].

‏ 1 Corinthians 2:1

     1. And I—"So I" [CONYBEARE] as one of the "foolish, weak, and despised" instruments employed by God (1Co 1:27, 28); "glorying in the Lord," not in man's wisdom (1Co 1:31). Compare 1Co 1:23, "We."

      when I came— (Ac 18:1, &c.). Paul might, had he pleased, have used an ornate style, having studied secular learning at Tarsus of Cilicia, which STRABO preferred as a school of learning to Athens or Alexandria; here, doubtless, he read the Cilician Aratus' poems (which he quotes, Ac 17:28), and Epimenides (Tit 1:12), and Menander (1Co 15:33). Grecian intellectual development was an important element in preparing the way for the Gospel, but it failed to regenerate the world, showing that for this a superhuman power is needed. Hellenistic (Grecizing) Judaism at Tarsus and Alexandria was the connecting link between the schools of Athens and those of the Rabbis. No more fitting birthplace could there have been for the apostle of the Gentiles than Tarsus, free as it was from the warping influences of Rome, Alexandria, and Athens. He had at the same time Roman citizenship, which protected him from sudden violence. Again, he was reared in the Hebrew divine law at Jerusalem. Thus, as the three elements, Greek cultivation, Roman polity (Lu 2:1), and the divine law given to the Jews, combined just at Christ's time, to prepare the world for the Gospel, so the same three, by God's marvellous providence, met together in the apostle to the Gentiles [CONYBEARE and HOWSON].

      testimony of God—"the testimony of Christ" (1Co 1:6); therefore Christ is God.

‏ 2 Thessalonians 1:10

     10. "When He shall have come."

      glorified in his saints—as the element and mirror IN which His glory shall shine brightly (Joh 17:10).

      admired in all them that believe—Greek, "them that believed." Once they believed, now they see: they had taken His word on trust. Now His word is made good and they need faith no longer. With wonder all celestial intelligences (Eph 3:10) shall see and admire the Redeemer on account of the excellencies which He has wrought in them.

      because, &c.—Supply for the sense, among whom (namely, those who shall be found to have believed) you, too, shall be; "because our testimony unto (so the Greek for 'among') you was believed" (and was not rejected as by those "who obey not the Gospel," 2Th 1:8). The early preaching of the Gospel was not abstract discussions, but a testimony to facts and truths experimentally known (Lu 24:48; Ac 1:8). Faith is defined by BISHOP PEARSON as "an assent unto truths, credible upon the testimony of God, delivered unto us by the apostles and prophets" (originally delivering their testimony orally, but now in their writings). "Glorified in His saints" reminds us that holiness is glory in the bud; glory is holiness manifested.

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