"If, then, a marriage of this kind (contracted before conversion) stands ratified before God, why should not (one contracted after conversion) too go prosperously forward, so as not to be thus harassed by pressures, and straits, and hindrances, and defilements, having already (as it has) the partial sanction of divine grace? "Because, on the one hand, the wife in the former case, called from among the Gentiles to the exercise of some eminent heavenly virtue, is, by the visible proofs of some marked (divine) regard, a terror to her Gentile husband, so as to make him less ready to annoy her, less active in laying snares for her, less diligent in playing the spy over her. He has felt "mighty works; he has seen experimental evidences; he knows her changed for the better: thus even he himself is, by his fear, a candidate for God.
Paul humbles himself only to rise to his true height. He talks about his patience because for a long time he put up with them as if they were sick people. His intention was to cure them of their errors by using the medicine of signs and wonders.
"Although I be nothing, the signs of an Apostle were wrought among you."
'Look not thou at this,' he says, 'whether I be mean and little, but whether thou hast not enjoyed those things which from an Apostle it was meet thou shouldest enjoy.' Yet he did not say 'mean,' but what was lower, "nothing." For where is the good of being great, and of use to nobody? even as there is no advantage in a skilful physician if he heals none of those that be sick. 'Do not then,' he says, 'scrutinize this that I am nothing, but consider that, that wherein ye ought to have been benefitted, I have failed in nothing, but have given proof of mine Apostleship. There ought then to have been no need for me to say aught.'
"The signs of an Apostle were wrought among you in all patience, and by signs and wonders." Amazing! what a sea of good works hath he traversed in a few words! And observe what it is he puts first, "patience." For this is the note of an Apostle, bearing all things nobly. This then he expressed shortly by a single word; but upon the miracles, which were not of his own achieving, he employs more. For consider how many prisons, how many stripes, how many dangers, how many conspiracies, how many sleet-showers of temptations, how many civil, how many foreign wars, how many pains, how many attacks he has implied here in that word, "patience!" And by "signs" again, how many dead raised, how many blind healed, how many lepers cleansed, how many devils cast out! Hearing these things, let us learn if we happen upon a necessity for such recitals to cut our good deeds short, as he too did.
Though "I am nothing," he says, but do not pay attention to that; rather, notice that I omitted nothing of what is proper to the apostles, for you yourselves are witnesses that I fulfilled everything.
The first quality of an apostle is patience and the courageous endurance of all things. But notice his humility. How many dangers, how many outward and inward struggles he summed up in a single word — patience. For that which was his own doing, that is, patience, he expressed in one word; but as for the signs, which belonged not to him but to the grace of God — in many words. Listen.
What the difference is between a sign and a wonder has been said in another place. But lest anyone think that this was said only about beneficial acts, he adds: "and powers." For "power" clearly points to something punitive as well. Notice here too how many dead, lepers, blind, demoniacs — all who received his benefactions, as well as those punished by him, such as Elymas — he encompasses so briefly.
But granting that I did nothing in regard to the other churches for which I might be commended, nevertheless I have done many special things among you, and for these you could have commended me; hence he says, even though I am nothing, i.e., granting that I did nothing in comparison to them, nevertheless, the effect of my power is present among you. First, as to our preaching, by which you were converted to the faith, and I am your apostle. Yet the signs of a true apostle, i.e., of my preaching, were performed among you by God, inasmuch as believing, you were converted: "You are the seal of my apostleship in the Lord" (1 Cor. 9:2); "For I became your father in Christ Jesus through the gospel" (1 Cor. 4:15). Secondly, by the manner of life through which faith is strengthened, because when one's life agrees with his doctrine, the doctrine has greater authority, and the virtue of the preacher is more apparent through patience: "The learning of a man is known by patience" (Prov. 19:11, Vulgate); therefore he says, in all patience. Thirdly, as to working miracles; hence he says, with signs and wonders and mighty works: "And they went forth and preached everywhere, while the Lord worked with them and confirmed the message by the signs that attended it" (Mk. 16:20).
These three things are distinct, because "might" [virtus] is common to all miracles, for might is the full extent of a power. Therefore, something is called mighty [virtuosum] because it proceeds from great power [virtute]. Therefore, because miracles come from great power, namely the divine, they are therefore called "powers" [virtutes]. But "sign" refers to a lesser miracle, and "wonder" to a greater one. Or he says "signs" as to miracles performed in regard to the present and "wonders" in regard to miracles concerning the future. Or signs and wonders refer to miracles done contrary to nature; for example, giving sight to the blind, raising from the dead, and so on. But mighty deeds are things according to nature, not performed in the way nature does, as for a sick man to be healed immediately, when one's hands are placed on him; for nature produces the same effect step by step. Or mighty deeds mean the virtues of the mind, such as chastity and so on.
[AD 220] Tertullian on 2 Corinthians 12:12