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Commentary Index | Return to PrayerRequest.com | DownloadJohn Bengel Commentary - 2 Corinthians 12:4 - 12:4
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2Co 12:4. Ἄῤῥητα) unspeakable words, not in themselves; otherwise Paul could not have heard them; but not to be spoken by man, as the word follows presently after, and therefore, by Paul himself. Who spoke those words? God, or Christ, or an angel or angels, or the spirits of the just? and to whom? Paul does not tell, if he knew. They were certainly words of great sublimity, for all heavenly words are not unspeakable, for example Exo 34:6; Isa 6:3, and yet these are very sublime.-οὐκ ἐξὸν, it is not lawful) ἐξὸν and δυνατὸν, lawful and possible are said of that which neither the thing itself, nor the law forbids. Therefore, unspeakable words, and it is not lawful mutually explain each other, and affirm either that man cannot speak these words, or that it is not lawful for him to do so. Others, who did not hear them, cannot; Paul, who did hear them, is not sufficiently able; and though he were able, yet it would not be lawful, it would not be proper in the state of mortality; because the inhabitants of the earth would not understand them, Joh 3:12. Hearing has a wider range than speaking.-ἀνθρώπῳ, for a man) construed with it is lawful. The power of speaking is often narrower than that of knowledge.