Truly the signs of an apostle were done among you in all patience, in signs, and wonders, and mighty deeds.
All Commentaries on 2 Corinthians 12:12 Go To 2 Corinthians 12
Cornelius a Lapide
AD 1637
Truly the signs of an apostle. The genuine tokens of an Apostle were: (1.) patience under contempt, poverty, persecutions, dangers (Anselm). (2.) Miracles. He calls these signs of the true faith, of heavenly doctrine, or signs given by God working supernaturally and all-powerfully, and consequently bearing witness to the truth of Paul"s doctrine and to his Divine mission. He calls them also wonders, from the effect they were calculated to produce on the mind, and also mighty deeds or works of God"s omnipotence, of which he was the instrument.
It was incumbent on the Apostles, as the bearers of a new Gospel to the world, to prove their doctrine and apostleship by miracles, otherwise they would have exacted a credulous assent, and could not have been distinguished from impostors, like the false apostles. This should be observed by Protestants and their new apostles, Calvin and Luther, who are bringing in a reformed doctrine: this, being new, demands to be supported by miracles. Since they do not produce these credentials—unless they think it to be a miracle that when they promise to raise a dead man they put to death a living one (but from such miracles and such apostles, good Lord, deliver us)—they practically confess that they are no apostles, but impostors.
