Cambridge Greek Testament Commentary

2 Corinthians 12:16

Ἔστω δέ. But be it so. ‘You will say, We grant all that: we admit that you did not yourself take money from us, but you were cunning enough to get it out of us through others.’ This use of ἔστω is not found elsewhere in the N.T. In Plato’s dialogues we sometimes have ἔστω, when one side grants what the other states (Gory. 516 c), but it is not common.

οὐ κατεβάρησα ὑμᾶς. The verb is late, and occurs nowhere else in Biblical Greek, καταβαρύνειν (Mark 14:40 and LXX.) being more common. In Mark 14:40 καταβεβαρημένοι (א) is one of many variants. The ἐγώ is emphatic; I did not myself burden you; ‘but I got others to do it.’ There was no limit to the insinuations of his opponents.

ἀλλὰ ὑπάρχων πανοῦργος. But being crafty; ‘being in character thoroughly unscrupulous.’ This is not his admission about himself, and it ought never to be quoted as stating a principle which has apostolic authority. It is what his critics have said of him. The ὑπάρχων (2 Corinthians 8:17; Galatians 1:14; Galatians 2:14) indicates that he had all along been regarded as a person of bad character: πανοῦργος, frequent in Psalms and Ecclus, occurs here only in the N.T.; but comp. 2 Corinthians 4:2; 2 Corinthians 11:3. His craftiness consisted in professing to preserve his independence by refusing payment, while he set other people to fleece them.

ἔλαβον. A hunting or fishing metaphor: see on λαμβάνει (2 Corinthians 11:20). For δόλῳ λαβεῖν comp. Soph. Phil. 101, 107.

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Cambridge Greek Testament Commentary

2 Corinthians 12:16

Old Testament

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