In journeys often, in perils of waters, in perils of robbers, in perils by my own countrymen, in perils by the Gentiles, in perils in the city, in perils in the wilderness, in perils in the sea, in perils among false brethren;
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Ambrosiaster
AD 400
Paul was in danger from rivers in winter, when there was constant rain and rivers often overflowed their banks. The danger at sea which he is alluding to here was the danger that in a shipwreck the soldiers guarding prisoners on board would kill them all rather than risk letting them swim to safety. Commentary on Paul’s Epistles.
Therefore, there are some who occupy the pastoral chair in order to care for the flock of Christ, but there are others who sit in it to gratify themselves by temporal honors and worldly advantages. These are the two kinds of pastors, some dying, some being born, who must needs continue in the Catholic church itself until the end of the world and the judgment of the Lord. If there were such men in the times of the apostles, whom the apostle lamented as false brothers when he said: “Perils from false brothers,” yet whom he did not proudly dismiss but bore with them and tolerated them, how much more likely is it that there should be such men in our times. Letter , To Felicia.
What great complaints the apostle Paul makes of false brothers. Yet he was not defiled by their physical companionship, because he was set apart from them by this distinction: purity of heart. Letter , To Macrobius.
In perils by my own countrymen. Through the plots that the Jews often entered into against him (Anselm).
In painfulness. rumna (Latin version), which, says Cicero, is laborious toil, as, e.g, when one that is tired out is forced, for the sake of rest, to undertake fresh toils.
The things in which the Apostle glories are those that not only many Christians now-a-days but many clergy would be ashamed of, as S. Bernard laments when commenting on the words, "Lo, we have left all." Whither have we drifted? Where has the apostolic Spirit gone? Whither are fled the humility, labours, sufferings, and zeal of the primitive Church? The Apostles, the princes of the Church, Christ"s lieutenants, do not rejoice in their palaces, their carriages, their silken robes, in an attending crowd of noblemen, domestics, soldiers, horses, and hounds; in banquets and dinners; in fat benefices, in an effeminate, luxurious, and sumptuous life; but they exult and glory in hunger, thirst, painfulness, and wearin...
In perils of rivers.
For he was compelled also to cross rivers. In perils of robbers, in perils in the city, in perils in the wilderness. 'Everywhere were contests set before me, in places, in countries, in cities, in deserts.'
In perils from the Gentiles, in perils among false brethren.
Behold another kind of warfare. For not only did such as were enemies strike at him, but those also who played the hypocrite; and he had need of much firmness, much prudence.
