Cambridge Greek Testament Commentary

2 Corinthians 11:10

φραγήσεται (אBDFKLMP) rather than σφραγίσεται, which Rec. has de conjectura vel errore (Tisch.).

10. ἔστιν�. The truth of Christ is in me that. This is not exactly an oath; ‘I swear by the truth of Christ’; but it is an appeal to a spirit of truthfulness in him, which is not his own but Christ’s, and which guarantees his sincerity. Comp. κατέναντι θεοῦ ἐν χριστῷ λαλοῦμεν (2 Corinthians 2:17; 2 Corinthians 12:19), ἀλήθειαν λέγω ἐν χριστῷ (Romans 9:1); and conversely, τοῦ ἐν ἑμοὶ λαλοῦντος Χριστοῦ (2 Corinthians 13:3). As the νοῦς χριστοῦ (1 Corinthians 2:16) and the πνεῦμα Χριστοῦ (Romans 8:9) dwells in him, so also the ἀλήθεια Χρ. Thus all possibility of hypocrisy or vanity is excluded. For the ὅτι comp. Romans 14:11; Jdt 12:4. See note on 2 Corinthians 1:18.

ἡ καύχησις αὕτη οὐ φραγήσεται εἰς ἐμέ. See critical note. This glorying shall not be stopped with regard to me. He will never do anything that will hinder him from glorying that he has not been a burden to the community. The metaphor is from blocking a road with a fence or a wall (Hosea 2:6; Job 19:8; Lamentations 3:7-9), and hence of having the mouth stopped (Romans 3:19; Hebrews 11:33). An allusion to the wall across the Isthmus of Corinth is not likely. Chrysostom refers the metaphor to rivers rather than roads.

ἐν τοῖς κλίμασι τῆς Ἀχαίας. This unusual expression possibly indicates that his rights as Apostle to the Gentiles extend further than Corinth; or it may be used as less personal than ἐν ὑμῖν, which (immediately after εἰς ἐμέ) would have been πληκτικώτερον (Chrys.). The word κλίμα is found only in Paul in the N.T. (Romans 15:23; Galatians 1:21); in the LXX. in a variant of Judges 20:2, ἔστη τὸ κλίμα παντὸς τοῦ λαοῦ, and in Symmachus of ‘the corners of Moab’ (Numbers 24:17). It occurs several times in Polybius.

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Cambridge Greek Testament Commentary

2 Corinthians 11:10

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