Section IV Vindication of Paul’s Authority
lSee Introduction for the role of these chapters in the letter.
2See Munck, op. cit., pp. 168 ff.
3Denney, op. cil, p. 787.
4For meekness and gentleness see Richard C. Trench, Synonyms of the New Testament (Grand Rapids: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co., 1880, 1953), pp. 152-57.
5Herbert Preisker, “epieikeia, ” TDNT, II, 589.
6Beseech (deomai) here is not the same as beseech (parakalo) in 1. Also in this verse be bold … be bold translates two very different Greek words.
7Lenski, op. cit., p. 1201.
8For Paul’s use of the war metaphor for the Christian life and ministry, see 6:7; Rom. 13:12-13; Eph. 6:11-17; I Thess. 5:8; I Tim. 1:18; II Tim. 2:3-4.
9Tasker, op. cit., p. 134.
10Hughes, op. cit., p. 351.
11Denney, op. cit., p. 788.
12Lenski, op. cit., p. 1210.
13Reading with the better MSS eph instead of aph, which the KJV translates of.
14The Greek does not repeat Christ’s (christou) the third time, as does KJV.
15Paul may be referring in this verse to his opponents in line with the “some” in vv. 2 and 12. Lenski, op. cit., p. 1213, emphatically thinks not; but see Tasker, op. cit., p. 137.
16Op. cit., p. 412.
17Wesley, op. cit., p. 668. See 12:6.
l8The better Greek MSS do not contain us, but this meaning seems obvious.
19The word in 5 and 8 is the same, kathairesin.
20R. A. Knox, The New Testament (New York: Sheed and Ward, Inc., 1944), cited in the text from this point on as “Knox.”
21Op. at, p. 361.
22E. J. Goodspeed and J. M. Powis Smith, The Bible, An American Translation (Chicago: The University of Chicago Press, 1928, 1948), cited in the text from this point on as “Smith-Goodspeed.”
23Paul and His Converts (New York: Abingdon Press, 1962), p. 73.
24Fresh in their minds may have been the “sorrowful letter.” See Introduction.
25For an apocryphal description of Paul see “The Acts of Paul, ” in M. R. James, The Apocryphal New Testament (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1924), p. 273.
26Amdt and Gingrich, op. cit., p. 215. There is a play on words here which Plummer brings out with “ ‘pair’ and ‘compare,'” op. cit., p. 286. See Hughes, op. cit., p. 364, fn. 21.
27Alexander Jones, ed., The Jerusalem Bible (Garden City, New York: Doubleday and Company, Inc.), cited in the text hereafter as “Jerusalem.”
28Tasker, op. cit., p. 140.
29Op. cit., pp. 364 ff.
30Lenski, op. cit., p. 1222. RSV translates “beyond limit.”
31lbid., p. 1225.
32Arndt and Gingrich, op. cit., p. 403.
33: ‘Hughes, op. cit., p. 367.
34Wendland, op. cit., p. 206.
35Or “the things that nobody can measure.” The expression is the same as in 13. See Lenski, op. cit., p. 1223.
36Calvin, op. cit., p. 335.
37Arndt and Gingrich, op. cit., p. 848.
38Greek, kanoni, translated rule in 13 and 15.
39Charles B. Williams, The New Testament (Chicago: Moody Press, 1937). Cited in the text hereafter as Williams.
40Op. cit., p. 253.
41Op. cit., p. 16.
42Op. cit., p. 176.
43Wendland, op. cit., p. 208.
44Ibid.
45J. H. Bernard, “The Second Epistle to the Corinthians, ” The Expositor’s Greek Testament, ed. W. R. Nicoll (Grand Rapids, Mich.: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co., 1951), p. 99.
46Hanson, op. cit., p. 78.
47The indicative is preferable to the imperative, And indeed bear with me. To take anechesthe as indicative fits better the preceding alla kai. Further, an imperative following a wish for the same thing would be redundant.
48Arndt and Gingrich, op. cit., p. 338.
49While not substantially affecting the meaning, the word orders of RSV and Moffatt are not true to the most natural arrangement of the original.
50Paul may also have this image in mind in I Cor. 6:13-17 for the relation of Christ and the individual Christian. But see Denney, op. cit., p. 729.
51Op. cit., p. 1235.
52Strachan suggests that the thought may be: “God created Eve and brought her to Adam. Paul, by the power entrusted to him, brought this community into being and betrothed it to Christ” (op. cit., p. 17).
53This is seen in Joseph’s resolve “to divorce her quietly” when he discovered that Mary had become pregnant between the time of betrothal and the consummation of the marriage (Matt. 1:18-19). The word “divorce” is the same as in Matt. 5:31-32; 19:9; and Mark 10:11-12. See George Foot Moore, Judaism (Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1944), II, 121.
54See comments on 5:1-10.
55Hering, op. cit., p. 84. Panourgia is the “craftiness” which Paul renounced in 4:2. See 12:16.
56Arndt and Gingrich, op. cit., p. 865.
57Haplotes. See comments on 1:12; 8:2; 9:11, 13. In Christ should be “toward [eis] Christ” (ASV).
58So (outo) is absent from the better MSS, though its addition does not essentially change the meaning.
59Lenski, op. cit., p. 1239.
60Ye might well bear with him is based on a less attested reading. Anechesthe should be read in place of aneichesthe.
61See 3:17; Rom. 8:15; 14:17; I Cor. 2:12; Eph. 3:20; Col. 1:11; 5:1, 22; II Tim. 1:7.
62See Introduction for the identification of Paul’s opponents in Corinth.
63Op. cit., p. 81.
64Phanerosantes rather than phanerothentes is the preferred reading; that is, not “having been made manifest, ” but “having made manifest.” An object is understood.
65See Hummer, op. cit., p. 302.
66Hughes, op. cit., p. 383.
67Deissmann, Bible Studies, op. cit., p. 266. See Arndt and Gingrich, op. cit., p. 606: “ration (money) paid to a soldier.”
68The verb comes from narke, a fish that shocks its victim into numbness. From narke and narkao we get the English word “narcotic.”
69Lenski, op. cit., pp. 638 ff., 1252.
70Munck, op. cit., p. 22.
71Bis erne, “in regard to me.”
72Hughes, op. cit., p. 389.
73The RSV interprets the meaning of the verse even more clearly: “And what I do I will continue to do, in order to undermine the claim of those who would like to claim that in their boasted mission they work on the same terms as we do.”
74See Arndt and Gingrich, op. cit., p. 202, on dolos and dolios.
75Op. cit., p. 1256.
76Diakonoi. See 3:3, 9; 4:1; 5:18; 6:3.
77See comments on 5:21.
78Ps. 62:12; Prov. 24:12; Matt. 16:27; II Tim. 7:14; I Pet. 1:17.
79Op. cit., p. 279.
80Hering, op. cit., p. 87.
81Lenski, op. cit., p. 1261.
82See Hering, loc. tit.
83Lenski, loc. tit.
84From the same root as boasting. See comment on 1:12.
85Op. cit., p. 1263.
86lbid.
87Arndt and Gingrich, op. cit., p. 281.
88J. A. Beet, A Commentary on St. Paul’s Epistles to the Corinthians (5th ed., London: Hodder and Stoughton, 1892), p. 448.
89Op. cit., p. 401.
90Arndt and Gingrich, op. cit., p. 119.
91See vv. 17-18 for the other two norms indicated by concerning (kata).
92Wendland, op. cit., p. 215.
93Hering, op. cit., p. 88. Or the terms may be roughly synonymous, all variants of the same idea. So Lenski, op. cit., p. 1269.
94Ralph Earle, “The Acts of the Apostles, ” Beacon Bible Commentary, ed. A. F. Harper, et al, VII (Kansas City, Mo.: Beacon Hill Press, 1965), 323.
95Tarsus or Jerusalem, tr. George Ogg (London: The Epworth Press, 1962), p. 52. But see Longenecker, op. cit., pp. 22-27, who is of the opinion that Paul did not come to Jerusalem from Tarsus until he was in his teens. Acts 22:3 can be punctuated as in RSV, “brought up in this city at the feet of Gamaliel, educated according…”
96Diafeonoi. See 3:3, 6-9; 6:4.
97Arndt and Gingrich, op. cit., p. 628.
98Op. cit., p. 321.
99Munck, op. cit., p. 184.
100See comments on 1:5-10; 4:7-12; and 6:4-5.
101Lenski, op. cit., p. 1271.
102Ibid.
103The better Greek MSS have this order. See RSV.
104Plummer, op. cit., p. 322.
1050p. cit., p. 1272.
106Hughes, op. cit., p. 405.
107Tlummer, op. cit., p. 325. But see Lenski, op. cit., p. 1274.
108See Acts 9:30; 13:4, 13; 14:25-26; 16:11; 17:14; 18:18.
109Hughes, op. cit., p. 408.
110Tasker, op. cit., p. 163.
111Op. cit., p. 1276. The repetition of often (polldkis) from the end of 23 brings out this continuity of thought.
112Op. cit., p. 327.
113In (en) is not found in the better MSS.
114Hughes, op. cit., p. 414.
115So ASV and Lenski, op. cit., p. 1280.
116See Hughes, op. cit., pp. 414 ff.
117Tasker, op. cit., p. 166.
118Ibid.
119Plummer, op. cit., p. 331, interprets burn in the sense of the shame that Paul would feel with the fallen one. So The Jerusalem Bible has it: “When any man is made to fall, I am tortured.” Plummer would keep the two questions parallel, with the second “a studied advance on the first.” Both would present Paul’s identifying sympathy with his converts.
120Op. cit., p. 1282.
121This saying echoes Mark 9:49 and 12:34 and may be genuine. It is quoted from Joachim Jeremias, Unknown Sayings of Jesus, trans. R. H. Fuller (London: S.P.C.K., 1958), p. 54.
122The better MSS do not contain Christ, but its omission does not change the meaning.
123See the interpretation of this phrase in connection with 1:3.
124On the problem of Aretas’ authority over Damascus at this time see Hughes, op. cit., pp. 424 ff.
125The better MSS do not contain desirous.
1260p. cit., p. 424.
127Ibid., p. 422.
128Op. cit, p. 363.
129Hughes, op. cit., p. 422.
130Rather than de, reading dei with the better MSS. So RSV: “I must boast.”
131For me (mot) is omitted by the better MSS. NASB translates the verse quite literally: “Boasting is necessary, though it is not profitable; but I will go on to visions and revelations of the Lord.”
132Some feel that Paul is here distinguishing himself “from opponents who preen themselves on the ecstatic experiences and seek to supplant him on this ground” (Rengstorf, op. cit., p. 440). But see Hughes, op. cit., p. 428.
133Hanson, op. cit., p. 90. See his expanded “Note on St. Paul’s Conception of the Function of Religious Experience, ” pp. 88 ff.
134The Church as the Body of Christ (London: S.P.C.K., 1965), p. 31.
135See comments on 5:17. Plummer points out that en christo belongs to anthropora harpagenta (op. cit., p. 340).
1360p. cit., p. 367.
137See Wendland, op. cit., p. 219.
138Lenski, op. cit., p. 1292.
139See Plummer, op. cit., p. 341.
140See The Testaments of the Twelve Patriarchs, “Testament of Levi, ” Chapter 3. Clarke, op. cit,, p. 236, lists the seven. Only here does the NT speak of the third heaven, but Eph. 4:10 speaks of “all the heavens” (RSV).
141Op. cit., p. 426: “The first heaven is that of the clouds; the second is that of the stars; the third is spiritual.”
1420p. cit., p. 368.
143Some see two experiences here (e.g., Plummer, op. cit., p. 344). See v. 7. See also Hughes, op. cit., pp. 435 ff.
1440p. cit., p. 286.
l45Calvin, op. cit., p. 370.
146Ibid., p. 371.
147Tiering, op. cit., p. 95. See comments on v. 2.
148The better MSS omit mine, but the sense is not changed.
149Bernard, op. cit., p. 110.
150Lenski, op. cit., p. 1298.
151Hughes, op. cit., p. 441.
152Ibid.
153See Neil Gregor Smith, “The Thorn That Stayed, An Exposition of II Corinthians 12:7-9, ” Interpretation, XIII (October, 1959), 411 ff.
154J. H. Moulton and G. Milligan, The Vocabulary of the Greek New Testament (Grand Rapids: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co., 1949), p. 578. See Arndt and Gingrich, op. cit., p. 763.
155Light Through an Eastern Window (New York: Robert Speller and Sons, 1963), p. 109.
156Tasker, op. cit., p. 175.
157Op. cit., pp. 373 ff.
158Tasker, op. cit., p. 176; Hughes, op. cit., p. 448.
159Chrysostom, Homilies on II Corinthians, Horn. XXVI
160Op. cit., p. 325, fn. 1.
161Op. cit., p. 109.
162This is not to deny that Satan is also portrayed in Scripture as the agent of physical affliction: Job 2:5; Luke 13:16.
1630p. cit., p. 176.
164Tertullian, De Pudis., xiii, 16.
165Joseph Klausner, From Jesus to Paul (New York: The Macmillan Co., 1943), pp. 325-30.
166W. M. Ramsay, St. Paul the Traveller and the Roman Citizen, 7th ed. (London: Hodder and Stoughton, 1903), p. 97.
167Ibid., pp. 95 ff. Allo, op. cit., pp. 316 ff., espouses the fever theory. Barclay, op. cit., pp. 288 ff., also appears to favor it.
168Op. cit., p. 1301.
169The earlier Greek MSS omit my. That it is Christ’s strength, however, is plain from the context.
170See Hughes, op. cit., p. 452, fn. 141. Lenski, op. cit., p. 1307, denies this.
171Wendland, op. cit., p. 223.
172On this interpretation of very chiefest apostles, see comments on 11:5.
173Op. cit., p. 383.
174Wendland, op. cit., p. 226.
175The same verb as in 11:9, “I was chargeable to no man.”
176Hughes, op. cit., p. 459.
l77Munck, op. cit., p. 173.
178See Introduction.
179See comments on 13 and 11:9.
180Op. cit., p. 227.
181Reading ei … agapo rather than ei kai … agapon.
182Op. cit., p. 414.
183Huparchon is to be distinguished here from einai and carries the sense of “being by nature.” On crafty (panourgos) see comments on 4:2 and 11:3, where Paul uses the cognate panourgia (see I Cor. 3:19; Eph. 4:14).
184Op. cit., p. 387.
185Op. (At., p. 365.
186This is not the same as the intended visit of Titus mentioned in 8:18, but the one first mentioned in 8:6. The aorists in v. 18 are not to be considered epistolary, as in 8:18.
187See comments on 1:18-20.
l88Not “Spirit, ” as NEB. See ASV, NASB.
189Again(palin) is a less attested reading than palai.
19OThe first sentence is more apt to be a statement (ASV, NASB) than a question (KJV, RSV).
191Op. cit., p. 470.
192Filson, op. cit., p. 415.
193Me pos occurs twice and me the third time.
194The Greek form of the two statements is contrasting: thelo euro … euretho…thelete.
195Op. ctt., p. 1322.
196See I Cor. 1:11; 3:3; 5:2; 6:1-10.
197Some have felt that Paul was in cryptic or perhaps rabbinic fashion referring to his visits as witnesses against them. So Plummer, op. cit., pp. 372 ff. But with Hughes, op. cit., pp. 474 ff., who discusses the matter fully, it seems best to take it literally.
198See also RSV, which clearly brings out the sense.
199See comments on 1:3-7.
200Op. cit., p. 806.
20lIbid., p. 807.
202Ibid.
203Note the parallel construction of the two parts of this verse as indicated by the repetition of kai gar and alla.
204Op. cit., p. 231.
205This word and its cognates occur six times in vv. 3, 5-7; proof, prove, reprobates, reprobates, approved, reprobates. The basic idea involved is that of having succeeded or failed to meet a test, e.g., the purity of metals or the genuineness of coins.
206Wendland, loc. cit.
207For an interpretation of 2-7 which sees the possibility here, not of severe church disciplines and exclusion from the church, but something far worse, see Munck, op. cit., pp. 189 ff. The suggestion is some miraculous punishment such as that mentioned possibly in I Cor. 5:4, which he thinks is alluded to in 10:11, the deliverance of the church over to Satan. It would thus be separated from Christ and exposed to the sufferings which Satan controls.?
208Wish is a weak translation; the word is euchomai, as in 7.
209Artios, ex-, katartizo, katartismos, katartisis, ” TDNT, I, 476. See Clarke’s comment, op. cit., p. 374.
210Op. cit., p. 676.
211Hughes (op. cit., p. 486) feels that chairete should be translated here in the stronger sense of “rejoice” (Phil. 3:1).
212Op. cit., p. 1338.
213If middle, the force would be “keep perfecting yourselves.”
214If middle, we could translate “keep exhorting [or encouraging] one another.”
215Arndt and Gingrich, op. cit., p. 874.
216Rom. 14:20; 15:33; Phil. 4:9; I Thess. 5:23. The order of the two genitives which are formed into one unit by the article is no doubt suggested by the two preceding imperatives.
217Rom. 16:16; 1 Cor. 16:20; I Thess. 5:26; I Pet. 5:14.
218See comments on 1:1.
219Hanson, op. cit., p. 74.
220Ibid.
221Strachan, op. cit., p. 146.
222Christology, p. 2.
223Greek koinonia. See on 8:4.
224Some would keep the third also subjective, translating, “The fellowship created by the Holy Spirit.”
225See Introduction.