as "a minister of Christ." If glorying _here_ is inadmissible, it is because glorying in every sense is "folly." FOOTNOTES: [93] This (observe the aorist λαβών) implies that he brought some money with him from Macedonia to Corinth. [94] That is, the two ἵνα are co-ordinate. [95] That is, the ἵνα are not co-ordinate, but the second is subordinate to τῶν θελόντων ἀφορμήν. [96] There has been some discussion as to the precise force of δικαιοσύνη ("righteousness") in this place. It seems to me most natural to take it, without suspicion, in a perfectly simple sense: a minister of righteousness is the truly good character which these bad men affect. To suppose a covert sneer at their "legalism," or that they had pointed to such matters as are discussed in 1 Cor. v., viii., and x., as indicating the need of a gospel which would pay more attention to righteousness than Paul's, is surely too clever. [97] This is the force of the ὡς: it leaves it open whether the idea has reality answering to it or not. [98] This, which is the second alternative given in the margin of the Revised Version, seems to me the true meaning of χωρὶς τῶν παρεκτός. XXVI _STRENGTH AND WEAKNESS_ "If I must needs glory, I will glory of the things that concern my weakness. The God and Father of the Lord Jesus, He who is blessed for evermore, knoweth that I lie not. In Damascus the governor under Aretas the king guarded the city of the Damascenes, in order to take me: and through a window was I let down in a basket by the wall, and escaped his hands.