John Calvin Commentary 2 Corinthians 1:9

"yea, we ourselves have had the sentence of death within ourselves, that we should not trust in ourselves, but in God who raiseth the dead:" — 2 Corinthians 1:9 (ASV)

Nay more, we had the sentence of death. This is as if to say, “I had already resigned myself to dying, or had regarded it as a settled matter.” He borrows, however, an analogy from those who are under sentence of death and expect nothing but the hour when they are to die.

At the same time, he says that this sentence had been pronounced by him upon himself, by which he implies that it was in his own estimation he had been sentenced to death, so that he might not seem to have received it from any revelation from God. In this sentence, therefore, there is something more implied than in the feeling of anxiety (ἐξαπορεῖσθαι) that he had mentioned, because in the former case there was despair of life, but in this case, there is certain death.

We must, however, chiefly note what he adds regarding the purpose: that he had been reduced to this extremity, that he might not trust in himself. For I do not agree with what Chrysostom says—that the Apostle did not need such a remedy but presented himself to others as a pattern merely in appearance. For he was a man who was subject, in other respects, to like passions as other men (James 5:17)—not merely to cold and heat, but also to misdirected confidence, rashness, and the like. I do not say that he was addicted to these vices, but I do say that he was capable of being tempted to them, and that this was the remedy that God timely interposed, so that they might not make their way into his mind.

There are, accordingly, two things to be observed here.

1. In the first place, that the fleshly confidence with which we are puffed up is so obstinate that it cannot be overthrown in any other way than by our falling into utter despair. For as the flesh is proud, it does not willingly give way and never ceases to be insolent until it has been constrained; nor are we brought to true submission until we have been brought down by the mighty hand of God (1 Peter 5:6).
2. Secondly, it is to be observed that the saints themselves have some remains of this disease clinging to them, and for this reason they are often reduced to an extremity so that, stripped of all self-confidence, they may learn humility. Furthermore, this malady is so deeply rooted in the minds of men that even the most advanced are not thoroughly purged from it until God sets death before their eyes. From this we may infer how displeasing confidence in ourselves must be to God, when, for the purpose of correcting it, it is necessary that we should be condemned to death.

But in God that raiseth the dead. We must first die, so that, renouncing confidence in ourselves and conscious of our own weakness, we may claim no honor for ourselves. Even that, however, would not be sufficient if we did not go a step further. Let us begin, therefore, with despairing of ourselves, but with the aim of placing our hope in God. Let us be brought low in ourselves, but so that we may be raised up by His power. Paul, therefore, having brought to nothing the pride of the flesh, immediately substitutes in its place a confidence that rests upon God. Not in ourselves, he says, but in God.

The epithet that follows, Paul has adapted to the connection of the subject, as he does in Romans 4:17, where he speaks of Abraham. For to believe in God, who calleth those things that are not, as though they were, and to hope in God who raiseth the dead, are equivalent to his setting before himself as an object of contemplation the power of God in creating His elect out of nothing and raising up the dead.

Hence Paul says that death had been set before his eyes, so that, as a result, he might more distinctly recognize the power of God, by which he had been raised up from the dead. The first thing in order, it is true, is this: that by means of the strength with which God provides us, we should acknowledge Him as the Author of life. However, because our dullness often causes the light of life to dazzle our eyes, it is necessary that we should be brought to God by having death presented to our view.