Cambridge Greek Testament Commentary

2 Corinthians 11:32,33

32, 33. It has been proposed by Holsten, Hilgenfeld, Schmiedel, Baljon, and others to strike out these two verses, with or without all or the first part of 2 Corinthians 12:1, as a rather clumsy gloss upon τὰ τῆς�. It is said that these verses do not fit on well to the context, but interrupt the sequence of thought, which would flow more smoothly if we went direct from οὐ ψεύδομαι to καυχᾶσθαι δεῖ, or to ἐλεύσομαι or to οἶδα ἄνθρωπον. The most reasonable of these hypotheses is that the suspected passage is an interpolation, made, after the completion of the letter, by the Apostle himself. But no such hypothesis is needed. We have here one more example of those abrupt transitions, of which this letter is so full. He perhaps meant to have given several instances of τὰ τῆς�, as the opening of 2 Corinthians 11:32 indicates: he gives only one. He may have meant to give several instances of ὀπτασίαι and ἀποκαλύψεις, as his use of the plural indicates: he gives only one. Perhaps he knew that just these two things had been urged against him by his enemies. The flight from Damascus showed what a coward he was; and his supposed Rapture to heaven showed how mad he was. Having disposed of these two charges, he says a few more words in general terms (2 Corinthians 11:10) about τὰ τῆς�, and then leaves the unwelcome task of defeating his adversaries in a contest of καυχᾶσθαι. All would be intelligible enough, if we only knew the details of the situation at Corinth. As it is, what we have here is not so unintelligible that we need resort to the violent measure of cutting out two or three verses.

Assuming, without misgiving, that 2 Corinthians 11:32-33 are part of the original text, we are confronted by three historical questions.

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Cambridge Greek Testament Commentary

2 Corinthians 11:32,33

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