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.: lest when I came I should have sorrow from them from whom I ought to rejoice. ἀφʼ ὧν is for ἀπ ἐκείνων ἀφʼ ὧν; cf. 1 Peter 2:12; 1 Peter 3:16. πεποιθὼς ἐπὶ πάντας ὑμᾶς κ. τ. λ.: having confidence in you all, that my joy is the joy of you all; i.e., having confidence in the perfect sympathy between himself and his correspondents. He could only be made glad if they were made glad; and so to visit them for the purpose of rebuking them would be as painful to him as to them. Observe the repeated πάντας … πάντων : despite the factions in Corinth (1 Corinthians 3:4) he must think of them all as his friends (cf. 2 Corinthians 13:13).

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Old Testament