XII. (1) IT IS NOT EXPEDIENT FOR ME DOUBTLESS TO GLORY. I WILL COME... — The English “doubtless” corresponds to a Greek illative particle. _To boast, then, is not expedient for me._ The MSS., however, present a considerable variety of readings. The best-authenticated text is probably that which wou... [ Continue Reading ]
I KNEW A MAN IN CHRIST ABOVE FOURTEEN YEARS AGO. — Better, _I know a man._ The Greek verb, though a perfect tense in form, is invariably used with the force of a present. It is all but impossible to connect the facts that follow with any definite point of time in the Apostle’s life as recorded in th... [ Continue Reading ]
AND I KNEW SUCH A MAN. — Better, as before, _I know. _... [ Continue Reading ]
(4)THAT HE WAS CAUGHT UP INTO PARADISE. — The stress laid on this second vision hinders us from thinking of it as identical with the former, either in time or in object-matter. Paradise (see Note on Luke 23:43) was emphatically the dwelling-place of the souls of the righteous, the reproduction in th... [ Continue Reading ]
OF SUCH AN ONE WILL I GLORY. — There is, if we rightly understand it, an almost exquisite sadness in the distinction which is thus drawn by the Apostle between the old self of fourteen years ago, with this abundance of revelations, and the new self of the present, feebler and sadder than the old, wo... [ Continue Reading ]
FOR THOUGH I WOULD DESIRE TO GLORY... He had said in the preceding verse that he will glory only in his infirmities. He is about to lay bare to their gaze the greatest of all those infirmities. “If I should boast of that,” he says, “I shall not be acting as a madman does” (the thought of insanity is... [ Continue Reading ]
THERE WAS GIVEN TO ME A THORN IN THE FLESH. — The vague mystery with which St. Paul thus surrounds the special form of “infirmity” of which he speaks, has given rise to very different conjectures, which will require to be treated with more or less fulness. It will be well to begin with getting as cl... [ Continue Reading ]
FOR THIS THING I BESOUGHT THE LORD THRICE. — We are reminded of our Lord’s three-fold prayer in Gethsemane (Matthew 26:36; Luke 22:42). Was St. Paul himself reminded of it? There also the answer to the prayer was not compliance with its petition, but the gift of strength to bear and to endure.... [ Continue Reading ]
AND HE SAID UNTO ME, MY GRACE IS SUFFICIENT FOR THEE. — The words fit in, more or less, with each of the two views that have been discussed above. From one point of view, however, it seems infinitely more in harmony with our thoughts of God, that the prayer to be relieved from pain should be refused... [ Continue Reading ]
THEREFORE I TAKE PLEASURE IN INFIRMITIES. — The thoughts of the Apostle go back to the sufferings of which he had spoken fully in 2 Corinthians 11 and elsewhere. One new word is added, “reproaches” (better, _insults_)_,_ which elsewhere in the New Testament meets us only in Acts 27:10; Acts 27:21, i... [ Continue Reading ]
I AM BECOME A FOOL IN GLORYING. — The two last words are wanting in the better MSS., and the verse opens with a somewhat thrilling abruptness, — _I am become insane_ — _it was you_ (emphatic) _who compelled me._ The words are partly ironical — partly speak of an impatient consciousness that what he... [ Continue Reading ]
TRULY THE SIGNS OF AN APOSTLE WERE WROUGHT AMONG YOU. — The passage is remarkable for using the word “signs,” first, in the general sense, as “notes” or “tokens,” and then more specifically for works of supernatural power. On the special meaning of the three words, “signs,” “wonders,” “power,” see N... [ Continue Reading ]
WHAT IS IT WHEREIN YE WERE INFERIOR TO OTHER CHURCHES? — His mind travels back to the insinuation that he cared less for them than he did for the churches of Macedonia, because he had maintained his independence and had received no gifts from them. If they complained of this, they should, at least,... [ Continue Reading ]
BEHOLD, THE THIRD TIME I AM READY TO COME TO YOU. — The visit to Corinth of Acts 18:1. followed by a long sojourn, may perhaps be reckoned as the first occasion; then came the projected journey from Ephesus to Corinth and thence to Macedonia (2 Corinthians 1:16); now he was preparing for the third j... [ Continue Reading ]
AND I WILL VERY GLADLY SPEND AND BE SPENT. — The pronoun is emphatic, _I, for my part._ The latter verb implies spending to the last farthing. As he sought not _theirs,_ but _them,_ so he is ready to spend for them not only all that he has, but even, as if to the verge of exhaustion, all that he is.... [ Continue Reading ]
BUT BE IT SO, I DID NOT BURDEN YOU. — The pronoun is again emphatic. The word for “burden” is not the same as in 2 Corinthians 12:13, but puts the fact less figuratively. The abruptness of the sentence requires us to trace between the lines the under-currents of unexpressed thoughts. The extreme, al... [ Continue Reading ]
BY ANY OF THEM WHOM I SENT UNTO YOU? — The English expresses the meaning of the Greek, but does not show, as that does, the vehement agitation which led the writer, as he dictated the letter, to begin the sentence with one construction and finish it with another. _Did any of those I sent_... _did I... [ Continue Reading ]
I DESIRED TITUS, AND WITH HIM I SENT A BROTHER. — Better, _the brother._ The Greek has the article, and he refers definitely to the first of the two unnamed brethren alluded to in 2 Corinthians 8:18. The Greek idiom of what is known as the “epistolary aorist,” hinders the English reader from seeing... [ Continue Reading ]
AGAIN, THINK YE THAT WE EXCUSE OURSELVES UNTO YOU? — Many of the best MSS. present the reading _palai_ (long ago), instead of _palin_ (again). In this case the sentence is better taken as an assertion, not as a question — ”You are thinking, and have been thinking for a long time, that it is to you t... [ Continue Reading ]
FOR I FEAR, LEST, WHEN I COME... — Something of the old anxiety which had led him to postpone his visit (2 Corinthians 1:23; 1 Corinthians 4:21) comes back upon his spirit. He and some of those Corinthians are likely to meet under very unfavourable conditions, neither of them acceptable to the other... [ Continue Reading ]
AND LEST WHEN I COME AGAIN... — The words do not imply more than one previous visit (Acts 18:1), but it can scarcely be said that they exclude the supposition of another. (See Note on 2 Corinthians 13:1.) MY GOD WILL HUMBLE ME AMONG YOU. — We lose the force of the Greek verb by not seeing that it re... [ Continue Reading ]