2 CORINTHIANS CHAPTER 6
Admonition to Flee the Fellowship of Unbelievers. 2 Cor. 6, 11-18.
V.11. O ye Corinthians, our mouth is open unto you, our heart is enlarged. V.12. Ye are not straitened in us, but ye are straitened in your own bowels. V.13. Now for a recompense in the same, (I speak as unto my children,) be ye also enlarged.
The enthusiasm of the inspired writer has carried him forward to a wonderful height of eloquence in picturing true faithfulness in the ministry of the Gospel. Before making the application of the appeal of v.1 to the various relations of life, therefore, the apostle here pours forth some of the affectionate feeling which he cannot hide from them: Our mouth is open to you, O Corinthians; our heart is enlarged.
He feels constrained to speak openly and without reserve to them; for it is his love which causes him to speak with such plain candor and frankness, which will not suffer him to remain silent, but urges him to show such confidence toward them.
A similar thought is contained in the thought of the enlargement of his heart in their behalf, for the expression indicates the widening of his sympathy for them. In speaking to them so frankly, Paul had really become aware of the depth and extent of his affection for them.
This fact being so, the other thought follows: You are not straitened in us, but you are straitened in your own affections; you have no small room in us, but you have very little room for us in yourselves.
The apostle’s heart was enlarged in love for them, it widened out in sympathy and love for them and encompassed them all, but they, on their part, did not feel an equal love and sympathy for the apostle. He was not a man of narrow sympathies, as his opponents may have suggested, but the lack of sympathy was all on their side.
And yet, he had a right to expect that: But as a retribution, a recompense, of the same kind (I speak as to my children) be enlarged also you. Because children are bound to make a return of love for a father’s lore, because they should feel obliged to pay back the same amount of love that they have received, therefore he calls upon them to be enlarged in heart, to exhibit a wider affectionate sympathy toward him. That he expected.