Great is my boldness of speech toward you, great is my boasting of you: I am filled with comfort, I am exceedingly joyful in all our tribulation.
Read Chapter 7
Ambrosiaster
AD 400
Paul is confident because of the way the Corinthians responded to his reproof in the first letter. The fact that they did not take it badly has given him the confidence to admonish them again. He also says that he has been consoled by this to such an extent that in spite of all his affliction he is overflowing with joy. Seeing that there is hope for the people on whose behalf he is enduring hardships, he is rejoicing in spite of his tribulations, being certain that he will please God for the fact that they have received salvation. Commentary on Paul’s Epistles.
Great is my boldness of speech toward you. My boldness is great because my love is so great. Hence comes my "glorying of you" (Theophylact and Ambrose). Paul says all this to banish all suspicion of his good faith, and to gain credence to his declaration, "We have wronged no Prayer of Manasseh ," &c. "I have not said this," he seems to sail, "out of any distrust of your good opinion of me, but out of the boldness engendered by my great love for you; hence it is that I am wont to glory of you." Let superiors learn of S. Paul, to beware lest those under them distrust them, from a belief that their superiors do not believe them, do not trust in them, and do not therefore confidently entrust themselves and their goods to their superior; let them rather endeavour to deal openly with them, and let them know that they are loved; let them show that they have a good opinion of their inferiors, and by so doing they will bind their hearts to themselves, and turn them wherever they please.
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Some might think that these expressions of praise contradict the admonitions which have gone before. But this is not so, for they help the rebukes to be more acceptable by putting them in the wider context of Paul’s great love for the Corinthians.
Let the earth also cause compassion to spring up to its inhabitants; for I am filled with comfort; I am exceeding joyful since I have seen Thee, the Saviour of men.
