2 Corinthians 7:3

I speak not this to condemn you "It might seem as if this were spoken atthem with indirect reproach. Therefore he adds, -I am not reproaching you for past injustice: I only say these things to assure you of my undiminished love." " Robertson.

for I have said before See ch. 2 Corinthians 1:6; 2 Corinthians 4:10-12; 2Co 4:15, 2 Corinthians 5:11; 2 Corinthians 5:13-15.

you are in our hearts to die and live with you "There is one thing in the character of St Paul which often escapes observation. Carlyle calls him an -unkempt Apostle Paul," and some say of him, -he was a man rude, brave, true, unpolished." We all know his integrity, his truth, his daring, his incorruptible honesty. But besides these, there was a refined and delicate courtesy, which was for ever taking off the edge of his sharpest rebukes, and sensitively anticipating every pain his words might give." Robertson. He refers to Philemon 1:8; Philemon 1:12; Philemon 1:14; Philemon 1:17-20; Acts 26:29; and Philippians 3:18. See also 1 Corinthians 4:14; 2Co 6:11-13; 2 Corinthians 9:4, and the whole of the present chapter. Robertson's whole commentary on this chapter is invaluable to any one who desires to grasp the full meaning of the Apostle. For the expression -in our hearts," see Philippians 1:7. The commentators have pointed out a similar expression to that in the text in Horace, Odes, III. 9. 24, "Tecum vivere amem, tecum obeam libens." Wordsworth refers to the Theban sacred band, and to a similar passage in Athenaeus. But a deeper meaning is suggested by a comparison of ch. 2 Corinthians 4:10-12 and notes. Also cf. ch. 2 Corinthians 3:2.