Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of 2 Corinthians 4:9
Persecuted, but not forsaken; cast down, but not destroyed;
9. cast down, but not destroyed ] i.e. struck or thrown down, as in warfare or wrestling, but not yet deprived of life, and therefore not unable to renew the conflict.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
Persecuted – Often persecuted, persecuted in all places. The Book of Acts shows how true this was.
But not forsaken – Not deserted; nor left by God Though persecuted by people, yet they experi enced the fulfillment of the divine promise that he would never leave nor forsake them. God always interposed to aid them; always saved them from the power of their enemies; always sustained them in the time of persecution. It is still true. His people have been often persecuted. Yet God has often interposed to save them from the hands of their enemies; and where he has not saved them from their hands, and preserved their lives, yet he has never left them, but has sustained, upheld, and comforted them even in the dreadful agonies of death.
Cast down – Thrown down by our enemies, perhaps in allusion to the contests of wrestlers, or of gladiators.
But not destroyed – Not killed. They rose again; they recovered their strength; they were prepared for new conflicts. They surmounted every difficulty, and were ready to engage in new strifes, and to meet new trials and persecutions.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
Verse 9. Persecuted, but not forsaken] , ‘ . The , pursued, is peculiar to the , or race, when one being foremost others pursue, and get up close after him, endeavouring to outstrip him, but cannot succeed: this is the meaning of , not outstripped, or outgone, as the word implies. So in PLUTARCH: , they do not crown them that are distanced or left behind. So says the apostle, 1Co 9:24: All run, but only ONE receiveth the PRIZE.
Cast down, but not destroyed.] ‘ . This also belongs to wrestlers, where he that throws the other first is conqueror. And so Hesychius: , , , to cast down is to overcome, to throw. And then, the being not destroyed signifies that, although they were thrown down-cast into troubles and difficulties, yet they rose again, and surmounted them all.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
Persecuted; violently pursued and prosecuted by such as are the adversaries of the gospel, and enemies to our Lord Jesus, because of our profession of him, and preaching his gospel;
but yet not forsaken of God, nor wholly of men; God, by the inward influences of his Holy Spirit, supporting, upholding, and comforting us; and also, by his providence, raising us up some friends that stick by us.
Cast down, either in our own thoughts, (as it is the nature of worldly troubles and afflictions to sink mens thoughts), or cast down by the violence of men, thrown to the earth;
but not destroyed; but yet we live, and are by the mighty power of God preserved, that we are not utterly destroyed.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
9. not forsakenby God andman. Jesus was forsaken by both; so much do His sufferings exceedthose of His people (Mt 27:46).
cast downor “struckdown”; not only “persecuted,” that is, chasedas a deer or bird (1Sa 26:20),but actually struck down as with a dart in the chase (Heb11:35-38). The Greek “always” in this versemeans, “throughout the whole time”; in 2Co4:11 the Greek is different, and means, “at everytime,” “in every case when the occasion occurs.”
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
Persecuted, but not forsaken,…. Pursued from place to place, and followed with menaces, curses, and reproaches; laid hold on, proscribed, imprisoned, and threatened with the severest tortures, and death itself; but our God never leaves us nor forsakes us; though we are followed close by evil men, and left by our friends, we are not forsaken of God:
cast down we sometimes are, as an earthen vessel; 2Co 4:7, which may be cast out of a man’s hands, in order to be dashed to pieces; or as a man in wrestling, see Eph 6:12 may be thrown to the ground by his antagonist, so we are sometimes foiled by sin, Satan, and the world:
but not destroyed; we are still safe in the hands of Christ, and are kept by the power of God; and, indeed, to what else can all this be ascribed? it is surprising that earthen vessels should bear and suffer so much, and not fall, or be dashed to pieces.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
Forsaken (). Double compound of old verb —, to leave behind, to leave in the lurch.
Smitten down (). As if overtaken.
Destroyed (). Perishing as in verse 3. Was Paul referring to Lystra when the Jews stoned him and thought him dead?
Fuente: Robertson’s Word Pictures in the New Testament
Persecuted – forsaken [ – ] . Rev., for persecuted, pursued, the primary meaning of the verb, thus giving vividness to the figure. Forsaken, lit., left behind in (some evil plight). The figure is, pursued by enemies, but not left to their power : left in the lurch. Cast down – destroyed [ – ] . This carries on the previous figure. Though the pursuers overtake and smite down, yet are we not killed. Rev., smitten down. In all these paradoxes the A. V. fails to bring out the metaphors.
Fuente: Vincent’s Word Studies in the New Testament
1) “Persecuted, but not forsaken,” (diokomenoi all’ ouk egkataleipomenoi) “Being persecuted but not being deserted,” or in a deserted state or condition, Heb 13:5-6; Psa 37:24.
2) “Cast down, but not destroyed,” (kataballomenoi all’ ouk apollumenoi) “Being cast down but not perishing,” or in a “lost, destroyed, or perishing state or condition of passivity;” thrown down by foes, but not killed. Foes may even kill the body but they can not kill or destroy the soul of the saint, Mat 10:28; Joh 10:27-29. None as a sinner or backslider may fall so low that God in love will not pardon, rescue, and use the soul that in remorse and repentance asks for pardon through faith in Jesus Christ, Isa 1:18; Isa 55:6-7; Rom 10:9-13.
Fuente: Garner-Howes Baptist Commentary
(9) Persecuted, but not forsaken.Better, perhaps, as expressing in both terms of the clause the condition of a soldier on the field of battle, pursued, yet not abandoned. The next clause is again distinctly military, or, perhaps, agonistic: stricken down (as the soldier by some dart or javelin), yet not perishing. In the faint, yet pursuing, of Jdg. 8:4, we have an antithesis of the same kind in a narrative of actual warfare.
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
2Co 4:9 . Being persecuted, but not left (by God) in the lurch (Plato, Conv. p. 179 A: ). Comp. 2Ti 4:16 ; Heb 13:5 . Paul here varies the mode of presentation, since the contrast does not again negative an action of enemies . Lydius ( Agonistic. sacr . 24, p. 84 ff.), Hammond, and Olshausen think that we have here the figure of a foot-race, in which the runner overtaken (see the passages in Lydius); but the figure would be unsuitable, since the runners have a common goal (1Co 9:24 ). Hostile persecution in general is meant. Comp. , 2Co 12:10 ; Rom 8:35 ; 2Th 1:4 , al.
. . . .] Figure of those seized in the act of flight, who are thrown to the ground (Hom. Odyss. iv. 344, viii. 508; Herod. ix. 63), but not deprived of life . This part thus appears in a most suitable relation of climax to what precedes; hence we should not think, as many do, of wrestlers in the games (comp. Plato, Hipp. min . p. 374 A).
Fuente: Heinrich August Wilhelm Meyer’s New Testament Commentary
9 Persecuted, but not forsaken; cast down, but not destroyed;
Ver. 9. Persecuted, but not forsaken ] The Church may be shaken, not shivered; persecuted, not conquered. ( Concuti, non excuti.) Roma cladibus animosior, said one; it is more true of the Church. She gets by her losses, and, as the oak, she taketh heart to grace from the maims and wounds given her. Duris ut ilex tonsa bipennibus.
” Niteris incassum Christi submergere navem:
Fluctuat, at nunquam mergitur illa ratis:
as the pope wrote once to the Great Turk.
Cast down, but not destroyed ] Impellere possunt, said Luther of his enemies, sed totum prosternere non possunt: crudeliter me tractare possunt, sed non extirpare: dentes nudare, sed non devorare: occidere me possunt, sed in totum me perdere non possunt. They may thrust me, but not throw me; show their teeth, but not devour me; kill me, but not hurt me.
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
forsaken = abandoned. Greek. enkataleipo. See Act 2:27.
cast down. Greek. kataballo. Only here, Heb 6:1. Rev 12:10.
destroyed. Greek. apollumi, as in 2Co 4:3. Notice the four”note” in these two verses. Fig, Mesodiplosis. App-6.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
2Co 4:9. , persecuted) , cast down, is something more [worse] than persecution, viz., where flight is not open to one.
Fuente: Gnomon of the New Testament
2Co 4:9
2Co 4:9
pursued, yet not forsaken;-He was persecuted of men, but not forsaken of God. Although God allowed men to persecute him, and to seek to destroy his life and usefulness, yet he never deserted him or gave him up to the power of those who followed him.
smitten down, yet not destroyed;-Jesus had said to his apostles: But when they deliver you up, be not anxious how or what ye shall speak: for it shall be given you in that hour what ye shall speak. (Mat 10:19). When men seemed to have him in their power, God delivered him, and he had confidence in God that he would uphold him in all trials. [This occurred so often, and in cases so extreme, as to make it manifest that the power of God was exerted on his behalf. No man left to his own resources could have endured or escaped so much. This was not an occasional experience, but his life was like that of Christ, in uninterrupted succession of indignities and sufferings.]
Fuente: Old and New Testaments Restoration Commentary
but: Psa 9:10, Psa 22:1, Psa 37:25, Psa 37:28, Isa 62:4, Heb 13:5
cast: 2Co 7:6, Job 5:17-19, Job 22:29, Psa 37:24, Psa 42:5, Psa 42:11, Isa 43:2
Reciprocal: Jdg 8:4 – faint Jdg 15:18 – he was sore 1Sa 2:4 – stumbled Job 19:10 – destroyed Psa 25:17 – General Psa 62:2 – I shall Psa 102:10 – thou hast Jer 38:6 – into Act 16:25 – sang Act 20:24 – none Act 27:22 – I exhort Heb 12:5 – nor faint
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
pursued, yet not forsaken; smitten down, yet not destroyed [The apostle again changes his figure, and describes the Christian minister as a warrior defending a divine treasure. His enemies press upon him very closely, yet still leave him room to wield his weapons. He is greatly disturbed in mind because of his imperiled position, yet does not lose hope; as the conflict grows more strenuous he seeks refuge in flight, but feels that Providence has not forsaken him; finally the overtaking enemy strikes him down, and would overcome him, did not God deliver him for the sake of the treasure committed to his defense];