Expositor's Greek Testament (Nicoll)

2 Corinthians 1:17

τοῦτο οὖν βουλόμενος κ. τ. λ.: when therefore I was thus minded, did I shew fickleness? The article τῇ before ἐλαφρίᾳ can hardly be pressed so as to convey the meaning “ that fickleness which you lay to my charge”; it is merely generic. ἢ ἃ βουλεύομαι κ. τ. λ.: or the things that I purpose, do I purpose according to the flesh, that there should be with me the Yea, yea, and the Nay, nay? That is, “Are my plans made like those of a worldly man, that they may be changed according to my own caprice, Yes to-day, No to-morrow?” His argument is that, although the details of his original plan had been altered, yet in spirit and purpose it was unchanged; there is no room for any charge of inconsistency or fickleness. His principles of action are unchangeable, as is the Gospel which he preaches. He had promised to go to Corinth, and he would go. For a similar use of the phrase κατὰ σάρκα see reff., and cf. chap. 2 Corinthians 5:16. The reduplication ναὶ ναὶ … οὔ οὔ is not altogether easy to explain; but we have ναὶ ναὶ repeated similarly in Matthew 5:37, and perhaps we may also compare the Ἀμὴν, Ἀμήν of St. John's Gospel (e.g., 2 Corinthians 10:1). Some critics (e.g., Steck) have regarded ναὶ ναὶ … οὔ οὔ here as an actual quotation from Matthew 5:37. But apart from the fact that this opinion rests on a quite untenable theory as to the date of this Epistle (see Introd., p. 12), the context of the words will not lend itself to any such interpretation (see above).

Continues after advertising

BibliaPlus

Expositor's Greek Testament (Nicoll)

2 Corinthians 1:17

Old Testament

New Testament