2nd Corinthians Chapter 6 verse 10 Holy Bible

Pulpit Commentary

Pulpit CommentaryVerse 10. - As sorrowful, yet alway rejoicing. The early Christians always insist on "joy" as one of the fruits of the Spirit (comp. Matthew 5:10-12), and especially joy in the midst of grief and anguish (Romans 5:3; Romans 14:17; 1 Thessalonians 5:16, "Rejoice always"). The best proof that this was no mere phraseology, but an amazing and new charism granted to the world, may be seen in the Epistle to the Philippians. It was written when St. Paul was old, poor, deserted, imprisoned, in danger of immediate death. and apparently in the lowest deeps of forsakes sorrow; vet the spontaneous keynote of the whole Epistle is, "I rejoice; rejoice ye" (Philippians 4:6, 12). As poor. The word means even "paupers," and describes a very literal fact. St. Paul, for Christ's sake, had suffered "the loss of all things" (Philippians 3:8). Yet making many rich. Not by getting collections for them (which would be a most unworthy antithesis, though it is strangely accepted by Chrysostom and others); but "by imparting to them the true riches, in the form of spiritual gifts, and the teaching of the gospel" (comp. James 2:5). Possessing all things; rather, as having nothing, and fully having all things. The verb means "possessing all things to the full." For "all things are ours" (1 Corinthians 3:21, 22).

Ellicott's Commentary

Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers(10) As sorrowful, yet alway rejoicing.--Are we still in the region of the taunts and sneers of which we have found such distinct traces in the previous verses? Did men say of him, as others had said of the saints of God before him, that he was "smitten of God, and afflicted"? Was it with him, as with David, that when he wept, that "was turned to his reproof"? that when he "made sackcloth his garment" he "became a proverb unto them"? (Psalm 69:10-11.) This seems, on the whole, the most probable explanation of the words. His Jewish rivals, or the jesters of Corinth, taunted him with his want of cheerfulness, "He was always in trouble." This, at least, enables us to understand the bitterness of spirit in which St. Paul spoke, and to enter into the full force of his answer: "Yea, but with our sorrow there is also the ever-flowing well-spring of joy--a joy not of the world, but of the Holy Ghost."As poor, yet making many rich.--Better, as a beggar. It is not hard to imagine that the outward circumstances of St. Paul's life, his daily toil as a tent-maker, his accepting gifts from the Church of Philippi (2Corinthians 11:8-9; Philippians 4:15), would furnish occasion for some taunting jest. We seem to hear men speaking of him as a "beggar," a "mendicant." "Yes," he answers, "but I am able to make many rich." It is a possible, though perhaps not altogether an adequate, explanation of the words to see in them a reference to the fact that out of his "poverty" he was able to supply the necessities of others (Acts 20:35). We must, at all events, think of his words as including something more than this, and reminding the Corinthians that he had made many rich with the unsearchable riches of Christ.As having nothing, and yet possessing all things.--The series of paradoxes culminates in this. In language which has found echoes in the thoughts of sages, saints, mystics, he utters the truth that in the absolute surrender of the thought of calling anything its own the soul becomes the heir of the universe. All things are his, as with the certainty of an assured inheritance. The beatitude of the meek, of those who claim nothing, is that they "shall inherit the earth," and so all things are theirs--the forces of nature, and the changes and chances of life--for all are working together for their good. (See Note on Matthew 5:5.) . . .