by John Lowe
(Woodruff, S.C.)
13 Now in return for the same (I speak as to children), you also be open.
Now in return for the same
“Now in return for the same” expresses the idea of reciprocity; that their love for him may be in response to his love for them; that just as you have my heart, I may have yours, and that I have the same room in your heart, as you have in mine. The Vulgate Latin version reads, “having the same recompense”; and the Arabic version renders it, “grant to me the same recompense”; and the Syriac version, “recompense to me my usuries that are with you”; that is, repay (or, compensate) me with affection, let love be returned for love. He is saying, “By way of recompense, open your hearts in the same manner toward me as I have done toward you. It is all the reward or compensation which I ask from you; all the return which I desire. I do not ask for silver or gold, or any earthly possessions. I ask only a return of love, and a devotedness to the cause which I love, and which I endeavor to promote."
I speak as to children
They, the Corinthians, are his spiritual children—“For though you might have ten thousand instructors in Christ, yet you do not have many fathers; for in Christ Jesus I have begotten you through the gospel” (1 Corinthians 4:15). They might have had many tutors, who taught them as children, but Paul was their father who had begotten them in the gospel; that is, converted them. The relationship existing between them requires mutual affection; for as a father should love his children, so children should love their father. Paul uses the same metaphor in other places:
• 1 Thessalonians 2:11: “as you know how we exhorted, and comforted, and charged every one of you, as a father does his own children” Not only in an authoritative, but in an affectionate way, and also with solid wisdom and judgment; for in such a relationship, in a Spiritual sense, did the apostle and his fellow ministers substitute for their fathers.
• 1 Corinthians 4:15: “For though you might have ten thousand instructors in Christ, yet you do not have many fathers; for in Christ Jesus I have begotten you through the gospel.” I speak as a
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