ἔκρινα δὲ ἐμαυτῷ τοῦτο κ. τ. λ.: _but I decided this for my own sake, that I would not come again to you with sorrow; i.e._, I determined that my next visit should not be painful, as my last was. The juxtaposition of πάλιν with ἐν λύπῃ (see crit. note) requires that interpretation. Hence the former... [ Continue Reading ]
εἰ γὰρ ἐγὼ κ. τ. λ.: _for if I make you sorry, who then is he that makes me glad, but he who is made sorry by me?_ His argument is: When I make you sorry, it is that you may repent (see chap. 2 Corinthians 7:9), and so gladden me: my change of purpose was not prompted by the desire of giving pain, b... [ Continue Reading ]
καὶ ἔγραψα τοῦτο αὐτὸ : _and I wrote this very thing; i.e._, I communicated my change of plan (1 Corinthians 16:5 ff.). So ἔκρινα τοῦτο in 2 Corinthians 2:1. (The translation “just for this reason,” taking τοῦτο αὐτό adverbially, is also admissible; _cf._ 2 Peter 1:5). ἵνα μὴ ἐλθὼν λύπην κ. τ. λ.: _... [ Continue Reading ]
ἐκ γὰρ πολλῆς θλίψεως κ. τ. λ.: _for out of much affliction and anguish of heart I wrote to you with many tears_. This describes the state of mind in which he wrote 1 _Cor._, if the view of the situation which has been adopted in this commentary be correct (see _Introd._, p. 13). διὰ πολλῶν δακρύων... [ Continue Reading ]
εἰ δέ τις λελύπηκεν κ. τ. λ.: _but if any one, sc._, the incestuous person of 1 Corinthians 5:1, his name being suppressed with a rare delicacy of feeling, _hath caused sorrow, he hath caused sorrow, not to me, sc._, I am not the person directly aggrieved, _but to some extent_ (_that I press not too... [ Continue Reading ]
THE OFFENDER HAS BEEN SUFFICIENTLY PUNISHED: THE APOSTLE ACQUIESCES IN THEIR REMISSION OF THE PENALTY OF 1 Corinthians 5:1-5.... [ Continue Reading ]
ἱκανὸν τῷ τοιούτῳ κ. τ. λ.: _sufficient to such an one_ (the word used in 1 Corinthians 5:5 to indicate the offender) _is this punishment_ (_which was inflicted_) _by the majority_. The directions given by the Apostle for dealing with the offender had probably been carried out with harshness and sev... [ Continue Reading ]
ὥστε τοὐναντίον μᾶλλον κ. τ. λ.: _so that contrariwise ye should rather forgive him and comfort him_ (_cf._, for the sentiment, Sir 8:5, Colossians 3:13; Ephesians 4:32). We should expect some verb like δεῖν, but it is perhaps sufficiently suggested by ὥστε. χαρίζεσθαι is generally found in the N.T.... [ Continue Reading ]
διὸ παρακαλῶ ὑμᾶς κ. τ. λ.: _wherefore I beseech you_ (or “exhort you,” see on 2 Corinthians 1:4) _to confirm your love toward him_. Authority “to bind” and “to loose” had been committed to the Apostles (Matthew 18:18); St. Paul had exercised the former function (1 Corinthians 5:5), and he now disch... [ Continue Reading ]
εἰς τοῦτο γὰρ κ. τ. λ.: _for to this end also did I write, viz., that I might know the proof of you, whether ye were obedient in all things; i.e._, his object in writing the former letter (1 _Cor._) was not only the reformation of the offender, but the testing of the Corinthians' acceptance of his a... [ Continue Reading ]
ᾧ δέ τι χαρίζεσθε κ. τ. λ.: _but to whom ye forgive anything, I forgive also; for what I also have forgiven_ (_if I have forgiven anything_) _for your sakes have I forgiven it in the face of Christ_. This is not a general principle, but a statement of the Apostle's feelings at the present juncture;... [ Continue Reading ]
ἵνα μὴ πλεονεκτηθῶμεν κ. τ. λ.: _lest we, sc._, you and I together, _be robbed by Satan; i.e._, lest we drive sinners to despair and so let Satan capture them from us. “The offender was to be delivered over τῷ Σατανᾷ εἰς ὄλεθρον τῆς σαρκός (1 Corinthians 5:5) care must be taken lest we πλεονεκτηθῶμε... [ Continue Reading ]
ἐλθὼν δέ κ. τ. λ.: _but_ (the particle δέ marking the resumption of his original subject) _when I came to Troas, for the purposes of the Gospel of Christ_ (_cf._ 2 Corinthians 9:13). He stayed there seven days preaching and teaching on his return from Greece (Acts 20:6-12). We are not to press the a... [ Continue Reading ]
HE WAS DISAPPOINTED AT NOT MEETING TITUS IN TROAS, BUT HE REJOICES NOW TO LEARN THAT HIS MESSAGE OF REPROOF HAS BEEN LOYALLY RECEIVED IN CORINTH.... [ Continue Reading ]
οὐκ ἔσχηκα ἄνεσιν τῷ πν.: _I had no relief for my spirit_. So he says again (2 Corinthians 7:5) ἐλθόντων ἡμῶν εἰς Μακεδονίαν οὐδεμίαν ἔσχηκεν ἄνεσιν ἡ σὰρξ ἡμῶν. We are not to lay much stress on πνεῦμα being used here and σάρξ there (yet _cf._ chap. 2 Corinthians 7:1); σάρξ in the later passage is u... [ Continue Reading ]
τῷ δὲ Θεῷ χαρις κ. τ. λ.: _but thanks be to God, etc._ Instead of giving details of the information which Titus brought to him in Macedonia (chap. 2 Corinthians 7:6), he bursts out into a characteristic doxology, which leads him into a long digression, the main topic of the Epistle not coming into v... [ Continue Reading ]
ὅτι Χρ. εὐωδία κ. τ. λ.: _for_ _we are a sweet savour of Christ unto God_. Not only “through us” is the ὀσμή made manifest; we ourselves in so far as we realise and manifest our membership of Christ are, in fact, that εὐωδία. The influence of the lives of the saints is sweet and penetrative, like th... [ Continue Reading ]
οἷς μὲν ὀσμὴ κ. τ. λ.: _to the one a savour from death unto death; to the other a savour from life unto life_; and yet it is the same ὀσμή in both cases; _cf._ Luke 2:34. ἐκ θανάτου εἰς θάνατον may be illustrated by Romans 1:17, ἐκ πίστεως εἰς πίστιν (see also chap. 2 Corinthians 3:18); emphasis is... [ Continue Reading ]
οὐ γάρ ἐσμεν ὡς κ. τ. λ.: _for we are not as the many, viz._, the ordinary teachers with whom you meet. The _indirect_ reference is to his opponents at Corinth, though they are not named. At least he is more worthy to fill the high office of which he has been speaking than many who would be only too... [ Continue Reading ]