Now I Paul myself beseech you by the meekness and gentleness of Christ, who in presence am humble among you, but being absent am bold toward you:
All Commentaries on 2 Corinthians 10:1 Go To 2 Corinthians 10
Cornelius a Lapide
AD 1637
Now I Paul myself beseech you. Hitherto I have pleaded the cause of others, the poor; now I am going to speak for myself. I beseech you to observe my admonitions and the precepts which, as your Apostle, I have given you concerning a true Christian life.
By the gentleness of Christ. He beseeches them, says Theophylact, by the meekness and gentleness of Christ, that reverencing them they may lovingly hear, receive, and obey the entreaty of Paul. In the second place, he does it to signify that he imitates the meekness of Christ, not His severity. I do not order you, he seems to say, although by virtue of my apostleship I might, but I beseech you by the gentleness of Christ, which I imitate and ever keep before me. For Christ in rebuking, teaching, and guiding men, showed wondrous patience, kindness, and gentleness, as when He received into grace Matthew , the Magdalene, and other sinners, and most lovingly forgave them all their guilt and punishment without harsh words or blows.
In presence am base among you. When I am with you, I seem in outward appearance mean and base (cf. ver10); but when away from you, I am bold and confident. He speaks ironically; for, as the next verse tells us, the false apostles, who held him up to execration, used to say: "Why do you make so much of Paul? He is a base and worthless fellow. Apollos and others have far more grace and eloquence; there is no comparison between them. By the side of them he is ignorant and unpolished. Why, then, does he take upon himself, why does he presume, when away from you, to send you such threatening letters, rebuking you, ordering, scolding, excommunicating you?" S. Paul imitates the false apostles, and repeats their words, as much as to say. "I am not the domineering, insolent, severe, threatening Prayer of Manasseh , when absent, that my detractors make me, but I beseech you by the meekness and gentleness of Christ." Cf. vers9 , 10 (Chrysostom).
