Cambridge Greek Testament Commentary

2 Corinthians 2:3

3. Omit ὑμῖν after ἔγραψα (א1ABC1OP).

3. ἔγραψα τοῦτο αὐτό. I wrote this very thing: see critical note. The interpretation is important; but there are several uncertainties. For τοῦτο αὐτό may mean ‘for this very reason’: see Bigg on 2 Peter 1:5; Winer, p. 178; Blass § 49. But had S. Paul meant ‘for this very reason,’ he would perhaps have written εἰς αὐτὸ τοῦτο, as in Romans 9:17; Romans 13:6. Then what does ‘this very thing’ mean? It may refer back to the τοῦτο in 2 Corinthians 2:1, his decision not to come in sorrow a second time. Or it may refer to the severe rebukes which he had been obliged to send: and with this interpretation 2 Corinthians 2:4 is in harmony. In neither case can the reference be to 1 Corinthians. For (1) in 1 Corinthians 16:5-7 there is no hint that S. Paul ever had any other plan than the one there sketched; and (2) the language here used in 2 Corinthians 2:3-4 would be extravagant if applied to 1 Corinthians, which can scarcely be said to have been written ἐκ πολλῆς θλίψεως καὶ συνοχῆς καρδίας … διὰ πολλῶν δακρύων.

There is yet another possibility: ἔγραψα may be epistolary aorist, and may refer to the present letter. We have ἔπεμψα thus used (Acts 23:30; Philippians 2:28; Philemon 1:11; and 2 Corinthians 8:18; 2 Corinthians 9:3). But in the N.T. there is no clear instance of ἔγραψα as an epistolary aorist. In the N.T. ἔγραψα refers either to former letter (1 Corinthians 5:9; 2 Corinthians 7:12; 3 John 1:9); or to a whole letter just finished (Romans 15:15; Galatians 6:11; Philemon 1:19; Philemon 1:21; 1 Peter 5:12), perhaps marking the point at which the Apostle took the pen from the scribe and wrote himself; or to a passage in the letter just written (1 Corinthians 9:15; 1 John 2:21; 1 John 2:26). But some of these, with 1 Corinthians 5:11, may be epistolary aorists. Here (2 Corinthians 2:3-4; 2 Corinthians 2:9) the reference almost certainly is to a former letter; and, as this cannot be 1 Corinthians, we are once more (see on 2 Corinthians 1:23) directed to the hypothesis of a second lost letter, between 1 and 2 Corinthians, the first lost letter being that of 1 Corinthians 5:9. This hypothesis may be held apart from the hypothesis that 10–13 is part of the second lost letter. But we seem to have here, as in 2 Corinthians 1:23, confirmation of the theory that 10–13 is part of this lost letter. In 2 Corinthians 13:10 he says ταῦτα�, ἴνα παρὼν μὴ�. Here he says ἔγραψα τοῦτο αὐτὸ ἴνα μὴ ἐλθὼν λίπην σχῶ. This looks like a direct reference to 2 Corinthians 13:10. There he says γράφω. In referring to this in a subsequent letter he naturally writes ἔγραψα. In the painful letter he speaks of ‘dealing sharply.’ In this conciliatory letter he speaks of ‘having sorrow.’ All this is consistent. Comp. the correspondence between 2 Corinthians 2:9 and 2 Corinthians 10:6. Scripsi, for the usual scribebam, is sometimes epistolary.

ἀφʼ ὦν ἔδει με χαίρειν. From them from whom I ought to rejoice; from whose hands, as being his children (2 Corinthians 12:14; 1 Corinthians 4:14-15), he ought to receive joy. Comp. ‘wisdom is justified at the hands of (ἀπό) all her children’ (Luke 7:35). The imperfect ἔδει warrants the rendering, I ought to have been rejoicing; it implies what should have been the case at that time.

πεποιθὼς ἐπὶ πάντας ὑμᾶς. Because I reposed trust on you all (2 Thessalonians 3:4; Matthew 27:43). The dative (2 Corinthians 1:9) is more common. In this affectionate outburst he does not care to remember that there may be some who have not yet been won over: he believes all things and hopes all things (1 Corinthians 13:7).

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Cambridge Greek Testament Commentary

2 Corinthians 2:3

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