For I will not dare to speak of any of those
things
He suggests that the false teachers did speak of things which
were not done by them at all, and much less were what Christ had
done by them; and signifies that he was a conscientious man, and
could speak nothing but what was truth; his conscience would not
suffer him, nor could he allow himself to make mention of
anything, that was not done by him, as if it was; nor of anything
that was done by himself, nor of anything that was done, as if it
was done by himself, but as it was wrought by Christ; nor had he
any need to speak of any other things which he had wrought
himself, as he could not of what he had not wrought at all; or,
as he says,
which Christ hath not wrought by me:
signifying that what he had wrought, and which he could with good
conscience speak of to the honour of Christ, and the glory of his
grace, were not wrought by himself, but what Christ wrought by
him; he was only the instrument, Christ was the efficient cause:
as a Christian, it was not he that lived, but Christ lived in
him; as a minister, it was not he that spoke, but Christ spoke in
him; nor was it he that laboured, but the grace of Christ that
was with him; much less was it he that converted souls, but
Christ did it by him:
to make the Gentiles obedient;
the nations of the world, who had been brought up in blindness
and ignorance of God, in rebellion and disobedience to him. The
Gospel was sent among them, and was blessed unto them, to make
them, of disobedient, obedient ones; not to men, but to God; not
to magistrates and ministers, though they were taught to be so to
both, but to Christ; to him as a priest, by being made willing to
be saved by him, and him only, renouncing their own works, and
disclaiming all other ways of salvation; and to submit to his
righteousness for their justification before God, and acceptance
with him; and to deal with his precious blood for pardon and
cleansing; to rely on his sacrifice for the atonement of their
sins, and to make use of him as the new and living way to the
Father, as their one and only mediator, advocate, and
intercessor; and to him as a prophet, to the faith of the Gospel,
and the doctrines of it; not barely by hearing it, and notionally
assenting to it, but by embracing it heartily, and professing it
publicly and sincerely; and to him as a King, by owning him as
such, and as theirs; and by subjecting to his ordinances, and
obeying his commands in faith and fear, and from love to him: the
means whereby these persons were brought to the obedience of
Christ, and of faith, are
by word and deed;
or "deeds", as the Vulgate Latin, Syriac, and Ethiopic versions
read: by the former is meant, the word of the Gospel and the
preaching of it, being sent unto them, and coming with power, and
not as the word of man, but as the word of God; and by the
latter, either the labour of the apostle, the pains he took, the
hardships he endured, in ministering: the Gospel to them; or his
agreeable life and conversation, which were a means of
recommending the word, and of engaging an attention to it; or
rather the miraculous works and mighty deeds which were wrought
by the apostle, in confirmation of the doctrine he preached, as
it seems to be explained in ( Romans 15:19
) .