2 Corinthians 10:1

1. πραὔτητος (אBFGP) rather than πραότητος (א3CDKL).

1. Αὐτὸς δὲ ἐγὼ Παῦλος. It is putting too much meaning into αὐτός to suppose that here the Apostle ceases to dictate and writes the remainder of the letter with his own hand (2 Thessalonians 3:17; 1 Corinthians 16:21; Colossians 4:18). No doubt he sometimes wrote himself, without expressly saying that he did so; and he sometimes wrote more than the last few words. Galatians 6:11 implies that at least the last eight verses were written by himself; and Philemon 1:19 seems to indicate that the whole letter was written with his own hand. Others suggest that αὐτός intimates that the Apostle is going to enter upon personal matters. More probably the αὐτός simply anticipates what is coming; ‘That very Paul, who you think is so humble when he is with you, and so bold when he is away.’ This emphatic αὐτὸς ἐγώ is found again 2 Corinthians 12:13; Romans 7:25; Romans 9:3; Romans 15:14; and neither here nor in any of those passages does it mean that he is writing with his own hand. For ἐγὼ Παῦλος comp. Galatians 5:2; Ephesians 3:1; Philemon 1:19.

It is possible to bring this opening into connexion with the conclusion of 9 in some such way as this; ‘I exhort you to be kind to your brethren in Judea in consideration of the gentleness of Christ; and I pray God that I may not be driven to do more than exhort’ (comp. παραγγέλλων οὐκ ἐπαινῶ in 1 Corinthians 11:17). But this is rather forced, and leaves too much to be understood. The appeal to the gentleness of Christ refers to what follows, not to the preceding request for a liberal contribution; and δέομαι means ‘I pray you,’ not ‘I pray God.’

διὰ τῆς πραΰτητος. See critical note: throughout the N.T. and the LXX. πραύτης should probably be read rather than πραότης. The virtue of ‘meekness’ is exhibited first towards God, in accepting His treatment of us without questioning, secondly towards men, in accepting their treatment of us as being in accordance with His will. In Aristotle it is the due regulation of the temper between ὀργιλότης and ἀοργησία (Eth. Nic. II. vii. 10; IV. v.), and he opposes it to χαλεπότης (Hist. An. ix. i. 1). Plato opposes it to ἀγριότης (Symp. 197 D). Plutarch several times, as S. Paul does here, combines it with ἐπιείκεια (Peric. 39; Caes. 57), that ‘sweet reasonableness’ which shrinks from insisting upon its full rights for fear of inflicting the smallest wrong. While πραότης may be wholly passive, ἐπιείκεια involves action; it rectifies the errors of strict justice and makes allowances for particular cases: ἔστιν αὕτη ἡ φύσις, ἡ τοῦ ἐπιεικοῦς, ἐπανόρθωμα νόμου, ᾖ ἐλλείπει διὰ τὸ καθόλου (Eth. Nic. V. x. 6). In the Gospels the πραότης and ἐπιείκεια of Christ are conspicuous (Matthew 11:29), and S. Paul uses these characteristics of the Redeemer as the medium of his entreaty. He points to them as a motive (Winer, p. 477) to induce the Corinthians not to drive Christ’s Apostle to be other than meek and gentle: comp. 1 Corinthians 1:10; Romans 12:1; Romans 15:20. The two virtues are discussed by Trench, Syn. §§ 42, 43; and Wetstein gives many illustrations. See also Hatch, Biblical Greek, p. 73.

δς κατὰ πρόσωπον μὲν ταπεινὸς ἐν ὑμῖν. Who to your face (2 Corinthians 10:7) am lowly among you. Here only does the A.V. render ταπεινός ‘base,’ which is wanted for ἀγενής (1 Corinthians 1:28). Elsewhere it renders ταπεινός either ‘lowly’ (Matthew 11:29), or ‘of low estate’ (Romans 12:16), or ‘of low degree’ (James 1:9; Luke 1:52), or ‘humble’ (James 4:6; 1 Peter 5:5). ‘Lowly’ (R.V.) is best here: see on 2 Corinthians 7:6. S. Paul is here taking what was said of him by his enemies, and (with some irony) adopting it as true. There is no Hebraism in κατὰ πρόσωπον (Acts 3:13; Acts 25:16; Galatians 2:11); it occurs several times in Polybius. See Dalman, The Words of Jesus, p. 29.

θαρρῶ. See on 2 Corinthians 7:16; am of good courage; comp. 2 Corinthians 10:6; 2 Corinthians 10:8.

APPENDIX A

THE PERSONAL APPEARANCE OF S. PAUL

2 Corinthians 10:1; 2 Corinthians 10:10

Lanciani, in his New Tales of Old Rome (Murray, 1901, pp. 153 ff.), makes the following remarks on portraits of S. Paul:

“Let us now turn our attention to the discoveries made quite lately in connection with the basilica and grave of Paul the Apostle, whose figure appeals to us more forcibly than any other in the history of the propagation of the gospel in Rome. I do not speak so much of reverence and admiration for his work, as of the sympathy and charm inspired by his personal appearance. In all the portraits which have come down to us by the score, painted on the walls of underground cemeteries, engraved in gold leaf on the love-cups, cast in bronze, worked in repoussé on silver or copper medallions, or outlined in mosaic, the features of Paul never vary. He appears as a thin, wiry man, slightly bald, with a long, pointed beard. The expression of the face is calm and benevolent, with a gentle touch of sadness. The profile is unmistakably Jewish.” It may be added that S. Paul is almost always represented in company with S. Peter, who is tall and upright, with short hair and beard, and with a long flat nose. Very often our Lord, or a monogram which represents him, is placed between the two Apostles.
Descriptions of the Apostle exhibit a similar type. The apocryphal Acta Pauli et Theklae have come down to us in Latin, Greek, Armenian, and Syriac. Of these the Syriac seems to represent the oldest form of the story, which (Professor Ramsay believes) “goes back ultimately to a document of the first century” (The Church in the Roman Empire, p. 381). The description of S. Paul comes near the beginning of the story (§ 3). It runs thus in the Syriac; “A man of middling size, and his hair was scanty, and his legs were a little crooked, and his knees were projecting (or far apart); and he had large eyes, and his eyebrows met, and his nose was somewhat long; and he was full of grace and mercy; at one time he seemed like a man, and at another he seemed like an angel.” The Armenian Version gives him crisp or curly hair and blue eyes, traits which are found in no other account. Malelas or Malala, otherwise called John of Antioch, a Byzantine historian of uncertain date (?A.D. 580), describes the Apostle as κονδοειδής, φαλακρός, μιξοπόλιος τὴν κάραν καὶ τὸ γένειον, εὔρινος, ὑπόγλαυκος, σύνοφρυς, λευκόχρους, ἀνθηροπρόσωπος, εὐπώγων, ὑπογελῶντα ἔχων τὸν χαρακτῆρα (Chronographia, x. 332, p. 257 ed. Bonn). The worthless Dialogue Philopatris, wrongly ascribed to Lucian, but of a much later date, gives S. Paul an aquiline nose, as also does Nicephorus. But the description in the Acts of Paul and Thekla is the only one which is likely to be based upon early tradition. See F. C. Conybeare, Monuments of Early Christianity, p. 62; Kraus, Real-Encycl. d. Christ. Alter. II. pp. 608, 613; Smith and Cheetham, Dict. of Chr. Ant. II. p. 1622.