Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of 2 Corinthians 12:19
Again, think ye that we excuse ourselves unto you? we speak before God in Christ: but [we do] all things, dearly beloved, for your edifying.
2Co 12:19 to 2Co 13:10. The Apostle’s intentions on his arrival
19. Again, think you that we excuse ourselves ]. Rather, Do ye think that we are defending ourselves again? Many MSS. and versions read, Do you think (or You think) that we have been defending ourselves to you this long time? The word excuse gives a false impression, as though the Apostle were exculpating himself from blame rather than meeting accusations by sufficient answers. If we take the first reading the reference will be to the former Epistle or the commencement of this one. Cf. ch. 2Co 3:1. If the second, the meaning will be ‘you think that I have been making a long and perhaps tedious defence of myself, yet I can assure you that I shall not stand upon my defence when I come. I only desire your improvement. But if words will not suffice, I shall have, when I come, to proceed to deeds.’
we speak before God in Christ ] This sense of saying and doing everything in the sight of God and Christ, Who will avenge all deceit by unmasking the deceiver, is a characteristic of St Paul’s whole nature, but is never more clearly displayed than in this Epistle. See ch. 2Co 1:18; 2Co 1:23, 2Co 2:17 , 2Co 3:4, 2Co 4:2 ; 2Co 4:6, 2Co 5:11, 2Co 7:12 , 2Co 8:21, 2Co 11:10-11; 2Co 11:31.
edifying ] See 1Co 8:1, and ch. 2Co 5:1, 2Co 10:8.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
Again, think ye that we excuse ourselves unto you? – see the note on 2Co 5:12. The sense is, Do not suppose that this is said from mere anxiety to obtain your favor, or to ingratiate ourselves into your esteem. This is said doubtless to keep himself from the suspicion of being actuated by improper motives. He had manifested great solicitude certainly in the previous chapter to vindicate his character; but he here says that it was not from a mere desire to show them that his conduct was right; it was from a desire to honor Christ.
We speak before God in Christ – We declare the simple and undisguised truth as in the presence of God. I have no mere desire to palliate my conduct; I disguise nothing; I conceal nothing; I say nothing for the mere purpose of self-vindication, but I can appeal to the Searcher of hearts for the exact truth of all that I say. The phrase before God in Christ, means probably, I speak as in the presence of God, and as a follower of Christ, as a Christian man. It is the solemn appeal of a Christian to his God for the truth of what he said, and a solemn asseveration that what he said was not for the mere purpose of excusing or apologizing for (the sense of the Greek) his conduct.
But we do all things, dearly beloved, for your edifying – All that I have done has been for your welfare. My vindication of my character, and my effort to disabuse you of your prejudices, has been that you might have unwavering confidence in the gospel and might be built up in holy faith. On the word edify, see the Rom 14:19 note; 1Co 8:1; 1Co 10:23 notes.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
Verse 19. Think ye that we excuse ourselves] ; That we make an apology for our conduct; or, that I have sent Titus and that brother to you because I was ashamed or afraid to come myself?
We speak before God in Christ] I have not done so; I speak the truth before God; he is judge whether I was actuated in this way by any sinister or unworthy motive.
For your edifying.] Whatever I have done in this or any other way, I have done for your edifying; not for any emolument to myself or friends.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
Think ye that we excuse ourselves unto you? Some of you may think, that I speak all this in my own defence, and seek only my own credit and reputation amongst you. I do not so.
We speak before God in Christ; I speak as a Christian, as one who knows that God knoweth, seeth, and observeth what I say; searching my heart, and trying my reins.
But we do all things, dearly beloved, for your edifying; all that I say I speak for your good, that you may be built up in faith, and love, and all other graces: a great hinderance to which, is prejudice against me, and such as are the ministers of the gospel to you; which I therefore desire (what in me lieth) to prevent and obviate: The apostle, not only here, but in several other parts of these and other his Epistles, declares what ought to be the great end of him, and all other ministers, viz. the edification of people; the conversion of the unconverted, and the perfecting of those in whom the foundation is laid, building them up in all good spiritual habits; both of these come under the notion of edification. If we consider Christ as the Foundation, conversion is edification; the building up of souls upon Christ, who is the gospel foundation; and other foundation can no man lay. If we consider the infusion of the first habits of grace into the soul as the foundation, edification signifies a going on from faith to faith; a growing in grace and in the knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ, a going on to perfection. The true minister of Christ ought to make edification in both of these senses his end, and his great end; for by this means is God glorified, the souls of his people benefited, and eternally saved.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
19. AgainThe oldestmanuscripts read, “This long time ye think that we areexcusing ourselves unto you? (Nay). It is before God (asopposed to ‘unto you’) that we speak in Christ” (2Co2:17). English Version Greek text was a correction from2Co 3:1; 2Co 5:12.
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
Again, think you that we excuse ourselves to you?…. The apostle would not have the Corinthians imagine, that by what he had said once and again in this epistle, he meant to excuse himself from coming to them, for he really and sincerely intended it; or that by this long defence of himself against the false apostles, he designed so much an apology for himself, or that he used any feigned words, or artful methods, to exculpate himself from any charge against him, particularly that of covetousness just mentioned; for he had no view to cover himself by studied apologies, and set orations, and evade anything exhibited against him, and make himself look innocent when guilty; it was not with any such intention he had dwelt so long on this subject:
we speak before God in Christ; in all sincerity and uprightness of soul, without colour, guile, or deceit, calling God and Christ to witness the truth of what was said; the apostle spoke all he did, as in the presence of the omniscient God; and as one in Christ, and a preacher of his Gospel, that would not deliver an untruth knowingly, for the whole world:
but we do all things, dearly beloved, for your edification; it was not for himself so much, for his own credit, reputation, and glory, he did what he did; had this been the case, he would not have said the half part of what he had; but it was for their sake, out of love to them, that they might be built up and established in the faith of the Gospel, and not be carried away with the error of the wicked.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
Ye think all this time ( ). Progressive present indicative, “for a long time ye have been thinking.”
We are excusing ourselves (). He is not just apologizing, but is in deadly earnest, as they will find out when he comes.
Fuente: Robertson’s Word Pictures in the New Testament
THE WARNING OF THE BRETHREN
1) “Again, think we that we excuse ourselves unto you?” (palai dokeite hoti humin apologoumetha) “again do you all think that we are making a defence to you?” which is far from his intentions, but preparing them to answer those who falsely accuse their missionaries, 1Co 4:3; 2Co 5:12-13.
2) “We speak before God in Christ,” (katenanti theou en Christou laloumen) “We speak in (the will of) Christ (as if) before God,” at the judgment (bema) seat, 2Co 5:10-11. To please him was Paul’s greatest care.
3) “But we do all things, beloved,” (ta de panta agapetoi) “but all things (kind o? things) beloved,” we do on your behalf, as servants and helpers of you all, as laborers together with him, 1Co 3:9.
4) “For your edifying,” (huper tes humon oikodomes) “are on behalf of your edification,” which we seek above our own interests, 1Co 10:33; Rom 14:19; 1Th 5:19; Eph 4:12; Eph 4:16; Eph 4:29.
Fuente: Garner-Howes Baptist Commentary
19. Do you again think. As those that are conscious to themselves of something wrong are sometimes more anxious than others to clear themselves, it is probable, that this, also, was turned into a ground of calumny — that Paul had in the former Epistle applied himself to a defense of his ministry. Farther, it is a fault in the servants of Christ, to be too much concerned as to their own reputation. With the view, therefore, of repelling those calumnies, he declares in the first place, that he speaks in the presence of God, whom evil consciences always dread. In the second place, he maintains, that he has not so much a view to himself, as to them. He was prepared to go through good report and bad report, (2Co 6:8,) nay, even to be reduced to nothing; but it was of advantage to the Corinthians, that he should retain the reputation that he deserved, that his ministry might not be brought into contempt.
Fuente: Calvin’s Complete Commentary
Butlers Commentary
SECTION 3
Weakness in Behavior (2Co. 12:19-21)
19 Have you been thinking all along that we have been defending ourselves before you? It is in the sight of God that we have been speaking in Christ, and all for your upbuilding, beloved. 20For I fear that perhaps I may come and find you not what I wish, and that you may find me not what you wish; that perhaps there may be quarreling, jealousy, anger, selfishness, slander, gossip, conceit, and disorder. 21I fear that when I come to mourn over many of those who sinned before and have not repented of the impurity, immorality, and licentiousness which they have practiced.
2Co. 12:19 Presumptuousness: All through this epistle Paul has been dealing with the presumptuousness of his opponents at Corinth who thought he was writing to defend himself. That presumes, of course, Paul was in the wrong. His opponents were convinced all their allegations against him were true. The Greek text in 2Co. 12:19 is emphatic: Palai dokeite hoti humin apologoumetha . . . literally, Already you judge that to you we are making a defense. . . . The Greek word apologoumetha is the same word Peter uses (1Pe. 3:15) to urge all Christians to be ready always to make a defense of the gospelit is the word from which we get the English word, apologetics, a defense based on evidence and reasoning.
Paul puts it this way: Are you thinking all this time that I have been trying to justify myself in your eyes? I have said and written everything to you as a man totally responsible to God and as one serving Christ. Paul has said nothing to the Corinthians that God and Christ would not have said. In fact, what the apostle said is what the divine Godhead has given (revealed to) him to say. Pauls message was inspired and inerrant. It was not some defense of his own egotism, it was from Father, Son and Holy Spirit. They assumed all along he was a weakling. He did not come on like they thought an authority would. So, whenever Paul spoke sharply or threatened corrective measures, his opposition assumed he was defending himself.
His exhortations, rebukes, warnings and severe words were actually the words of Christ for their upbuilding (Gr. oikodomes, edification, construction, upbuilding). The Judaizers were in Corinth (and perhaps other opponents of the gospel of grace) tearing down the faith of the Christians, taking away their liberty in Christ, destroying their hope of the resurrection, and enticing them back into their licentious Gentile ways. They were headed for spiritual ruin. All they had gained in Christ was about to be plundered. It called for severe, extreme, uncommon action. This humble apostle was even willing to make a fool of himself and engage in a game of comparisons (boastings). They assumed he was bent on defending his own bruised ego. Actually, he was very nearly compromising his own conscience (in the matter of boasting) in order to rescue the Corinthians from the messengers of Satan. All of his boasting about what he had suffered, what his Jewish heritage was, what he had accomplished was not to build up his reputation so he could take advantage of them financially or religiously. It was to mature them in their spiritual union with Christ. It was to help them benefit from and enjoy their spiritual heritage as Christians. He would sacrifice his own conscience about boasting to keep them giving their attention and loyalty to Gods word and keep them from being seduced by the pseudo-apostles. He did not want to constantly recite his credentials and proofs of his apostleship. But false teachers are so cunning, so deceitful. They do not have the constraints of truth and love that bind Christians. They are at liberty to say anything, do anything, pretend anything. That makes it necessary for Christian messengers to have to continually prove the authority of their message. This problem continues to this day. People still think Christians are egotists when they repeatedly stand up for and defend the word of God. Many think Christians are pig-headed, loud-mouthed, bigots when all they are trying to do is keep the world from being seduced by Satans messengerspseudo-apostles.
2Co. 12:20-21 Perversity: It is almost if some of the Corinthians were daring Paul to make some demonstration of authority or power by reverting to their former heathen ways. As an apostle, an authority in the church he has really done nothing about the sinfulness going on in the Corinthian church. He has said a lottold them a number of things to do, but he has exercised no supernatural powers as he did with Elymas (Act. 13:1-52) or others. They think he is weak.
Pauls fear about his forth-coming third visit to Corinth starts with his fear of what he may find when he gets there (2Co. 12:20). They may not be what he wishes when he gets thereand if that is so, he may not be what they wish he would be. He is going to exercise some chastening power, if they do not correct the sin themselves.
He fears (from reports he gets) that he may find them still quarreling (Gr. eris, strife, in their Pantheon the Greeks even had a goddess of discord named Eris). He also expected to find them jealous (Gr. zelos, zeal in the worst sense, envious), angry (Gr. thumoi), selfish (Gr. eritheiai, rivalrous, competing against one another), slanderous (Gr. katalalia, speaking against one another), gossiping (Gr. psithurismoi, whispering, telling tales), conceited (Gr. phusioseis, puffed up), and discorded (Gr. akatastasiai, rioting, chaotic, separating). To this list he adds in 2Co. 12:21, impurity (Gr. akatharsia, uncleanness, moral or spiritual dirtiness), immorality (Gr. porneia, fornication, porno-) and licentiousness (Gr. aselgeia, lewdness, perversity, wickedness). Most of these have to do with sexual sins and perversions so common in Corinth. It would be difficult to compare modern wickedness with that 2000 years ago, but hardly any perverseness today could be worse than that of Corinth in the first century.
Now what Paul feared was that he would find them continuing in such gross wickedness and that would be proof that his work among them had, after all, been in vain. That would be humbling to Paul. Not that Paul was afraid of humility. That was the essence of his character now as a Christian. But Paul is using the word humble in the sense of being brought to mourn or brought to grief. He would be devastated, should he find them acting wickedly, like a father who had spent himself to lay up a magnificent heritage for his child only to have the child disregard and despise both the heritage and the father.
Paul is closing his letter to Corinthhis last oneand he wants them to know he has tried to be like the father in parable of the Prodigal. That is what ministry is all about. He is not weakbut merciful like a father. But if it is necessary to restore them to the grace of God, his weakness will be exchanged for the chastening authority and power of a father in the faith.
Fuente: College Press Bible Study Textbook Series
(19) 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 questionYou are thinking, and have been thinking for a long time, that it is to you that we have been making our defence. The Greek verb for excuse, is that which is always used of a formal apologia, or vindication (Luk. 12:11; Luk. 21:14; Act. 19:33; Act. 24:10). St. Paul deprecates the idea that he has any wish to enter on such a vindication. He is anxious to explain his conduct, as in 2Co. 1:15-24; 2Co. 8:20-24; 2Co. 11:7-12, but he does not acknowledge that he stands at the bar before their judgment-seat. He speaks, i.e., in the same tone of independence as in 1Co. 4:3-5. The motive which really prompts him to speak as he has spoken is not the wish to clear himself from aspersions, but before God in Christ,under a profound sense that God is his Judge, and that Christ is, as it were, the sphere in which his thoughts revolve,he is seeking to edify, i.e., to build them up in the faith or love of God. He has the same end in view in all this perturbed emotion as in the calm liturgical directions of 1Co. 14:12-26.
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
19. Herein St. Paul cautions against their notion that in these defences he is accepting them as his judge, which God alone is; whereas he has only been showing the rectitude of his character in apostolically judging them.
Again A third time; referring to 2Co 3:1, and 2Co 5:12.
You Emphatic in contrast with God. Instead of , again, another , long since. With this reading, and removing the interrogation point, the rendering would be, You are, for some time, (that is, during my defence,) imagining that I am defending myself to you. This makes good sense; but obviously there is a reference to 2Co 3:1, and the received text is preferable.
Edifying But not as being arraigned before you.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
His Final Wake Up Call ( 2Co 12:19-21 )
‘You think all this time that we are excusing ourselves to you. In the sight of God speak we in Christ. But all things, beloved, are for your edifying.’
Do they really think that all this time he is only making excuses? Never. For let them consider before Whose eyes they speak. They speak in the sight of God. And they also speak ‘in Christ’. And as he has declared before, in them is ‘yes’ and ‘Amen’ (2Co 1:17-24). So there is no way in which, standing before God and dwelling in Christ, he can be trying to deceive them. No, they are beloved by him and by Titus, and their sole purpose is their building up and edifying. All that they do is to that end. And what is the consequence of their concern to build them up and edify them? It is that they must deal in depth with their sins which have again sprouted up.
2Co 12:20-21, ‘For I fear, lest by any means, when I come, I should find you not such as I would, and should myself be found of you such as you would not; lest by any means there should be strife, jealousy, wraths, machinations, backbitings, whisperings, swellings, disorderly behaviour; lest again in my coming my God should humble me before you, and I should mourn for many of them that have sinned heretofore, and repented not of the uncleanness and fornication and lasciviousness which they committed.’
He now summarises why he has previously spoken so strongly. It is because he is afraid of what he will find is true of them when he comes. (The use of subjunctives leaves the question open. It is a probability but not a certainty). He is afraid that what he discovers then will but add to his sufferings, will result in another humbling, another heavy burden added to his ‘care for all the churches’.
This sudden bombardment at the end of these chapters, and bombardment it is, is intended to make the whole church sit up and think, and it is something that he has been preparing for. As they have listened to this last part of his letter being read they will have, as it were, largely been the audience considering his arguments against the false apostles. But now he wants them to know that his battle will not only be with the false teachers (2Co 10:2), but with them, for it is not so much the false teachers that he is concerned about as the Corinthians themselves. It is they who are his great concern. Let them then consider themselves (2Co 13:5). For he is afraid of what he will find when he looks at them, that he will find that they are still torn apart in dissension and strife, and riddled with immorality in spite of all his past efforts.
So he challenges them with the fact that his fear is very much that when he comes he will not find them as he would like to find them, as those over whom he can rejoice. But rather that he will find that they have not repented and put away their sins about which he had already warned them (in 1 Corinthians and in the severe letter).
Then he outlines those sins. They are the sins of infighting, of jealousy and anger towards each other as they support different sections and views, of continual bursts of antagonism towards one another (plural form), of intrigue and plotting, of party spirit and rivalry, of rumour spreading and pernicious talk, of pride and boasting and puffing out of chests, of disorderly behaviour and anarchy in the assembly, and indeed of all uncleanness, and especially those particular sins of being unequally yoked with idolatrous associations, together with their sins of sexual misbehaviour which partly result from this. (The news about all this had probably come from those who had warned him of the arrival of the false apostles).
And if all this is true let them be assured of one thing, that they also will not find him as they would like to find him. Indeed because of their behaviour, they will find him coming in anger, rather than in meekness and love. Let them then recognise that they are not sheep on the sidelines considering a case. They, and what they are, is in the end the central issue.
And his further fear is then that his forceful words will only result in further strife, in further jealousy, in further expressions of wrath, this time both ways, in an intensifying of their splitting up into factions, in continual backbiting, in more whisperings behind the hand, in further swellings of the chest through pride, and in further disorderly behaviour. Yet he knows that, unless they right themselves, it will have to be.
For he is aware that when he comes, if he does face a church in complete disarray, he will have to tackle it head on with all guns blazing. The time for gentleness and meekness will be past. And he does not like the thought of the consequences. For the result can only be that he will once again arrive to be insulted and humiliated as he was before, and thus be humbled by God as it will be a testimony to his failure. (He still feels that this is something that many would wish to avoid). And to be greatly grieved as he sees among them those who have committed uncleanness, fornication and lasciviousness, and have not repented. He is thus making quite clear that he does not view the prospect of his visit with any pleasure, accompanied as it will be by humiliation and grief, and is giving them the opportunity to do something about it before it is too late.
And the implication is (already stated in 2Co 12:20) that, unless they do so, he is going to have to himself do something about it, and when he does, it will be a something which will not be very pleasant. And he is fearful of what the effect might be on the church and its future.
So after all that he has been writing he makes clear that in the final analysis it is their state that he is still concerned about, and what he might find, and more so now as a result of the presence of the false apostles. This sudden list of sins may seem to come unexpectedly, but it actually brings them back to the main purpose of his letter, the reconciling of the whole church, although expressed more strongly now because of the new situation which makes him doubtful of their genuine continued repentance. It is an attack at the very root of their failures. It brings out his renewed fears of those old failures which had hoped had been dealt with but have again apparently sprouted up as a result of the effects of the pseudo-apostles on them. He fears that they will have aroused all the old tensions which he had hoped had been mainly settled as a result of 1 Corinthians, his forceful letter and Titus’ visit. He therefore wants them to consider their ways and to recognise that he has no illusions about what their true state might well be, unless they will now take heed to what he has written. It is in fact up to them to decide what his attitude will be when he comes.
This forceful statement accords well with the earlier suggestion that, while earlier writing his letter rejoicing in their seeming reformation, and in the good spirit of unity and wellbeing that Titus had described as now being among them, he had suddenly received news of the working among them of men who had caused all the old problems to resurface, so that he had now not only felt it necessary not only to repudiate those men and compare himself with them in strongest terms, but also to appeal to the Corinthians in the strongest terms not to allow the worst to happen to them. The letter of rejoicing has become a desperate plea for them not to be so foolish as to revert to what they had been, and worse, and a warning of what it will do to their relationship with him. Thus does he bear the cares of this particular church. This is Apostolic authority at its strongest.
Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett
2Co 12:19. Again, think ye that we excuse, &c. He had before given the reason, ch. 2Co 1:23 for his not coming to them, with the same asseveration as in the present verse. If we trace the thread of St. Paul’s discourse, we may observe that, having concluded the justification of himself and his apostleship by his past actions, 2Co 12:13 he had it in his thoughts to tell them how he would deal with the false apostle and his adherents when he came, as he was now ready to do; and therefore he solemnly begins, 2Co 12:14 with Behold; and tells them, that now the third time he was ready to come to them: to which joining what was much upon his mind, that he would not be burdensome to them when he came, an objection was presented to his thoughts, namely, that this personal shyness in him was but cunning, for that he designed to draw gain from them by other hands; from which he clears himself by the instance of Titus, and a brother, whom he had sent together with him; who were as far from receiving any thing from them as he himself. Titus and his other messenger being thus mentioned, he thought it necessary to obviate another suspicion which might be raised in the minds of some of them, as if he mentioned the sending of those two as an apology for his not coming himself. This he utterly disclaims; and, to prevent any thoughts of that kind, solemnly protests to them, that, in all hisconduct towards them, he had done nothing but for their edification; that he had no other aim in any of his actions; and that he forbore coming, merely out of respect and good-will to them. So that the whole, from 2Co 12:14 to ch. 2Co 13:1 must be looked upon as a discourse which fell in occasionally, though tending to the same purpose with the rest:a way of writing very usual withour Apostle, and with other writers, who abound in quickness and variety of thoughts, as he did. Such men, by new matter rising in their way, are often put by from what they were going, and had begun to say; which therefore they are obliged to take up again, and continue at a distance, as St. Paul does here, after the interposition of eight verses. But we must never forget that, however the Holy Spirit was pleased to operate on the Apostle’s mind, the whole was written under his infallible direction.
Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke
2Co 12:19 . His vindication itself is now concluded. But in order that he may not appear, by thus answering for himself, to install the readers as judges over him, he further guards his apostolic dignity against this risk. Carrying them in mediam rem , he says: For long you have been thinking that we are answering for ourselves to you! Comp. 1Co 4:3 . Correction of this opinion: Before God we speak in Christ ; it is God in presence of whom (as Judge) we speak in Christ’s fellowship (as the element in which we subsist and live). . gives to its definite Christian character (which, with Paul, was at the same time the apostolic one). Comp. 2Co 2:17 . But, that he may not suppress the proper relation of his apology to the readers , he adds lovingly: but the whole, beloved , (we speak) for your edification , for the perfecting of your Christian lif.
.] After adopting the reading (see the critical remarks) this sentence is no longer to be taken interrogatively , because otherwise an unsuitable emphasis would be laid on . Lachmann, Tischendorf, and Rckert have also deleted the mark of interrogation. means nothing else than for a long time , in which, however, the past to be thought of may be very short according to the relative nature of the notion of time, as e.g . Hom. Od . xx. 293 f. , , Plat. Gorg . p. 456 A; Phaed. p. 63 D, al. ; see Stallbaum, ad Plat. Apol . p. 18 B; Xen. Anab . iv. 8. 14, iv. 5. 5; Ellendt, Lex. Soph. II. p. 481. So also the Latin dudum, jamdudum . Here the meaning is, that the readers are already for long, during the continuation of this apology , remaining of opinion, etc. As respects the connection with the present , see further, Plato, Phaedr. p. 273 C; Xen. Anab . vii. 6. 37. There exists no reason for attaching to 2Co 12:18 (Hofmann, then taking interrogatively), and it would, standing after , come in after a tame and dragging fashion, while it would have had its fitting position between and .
] Dative of destination. Comp. Act 19:33 ; Plato, Protag. p. 359 D; Pol. x. p. 607 B. Vobis , i.e. vobis judicibus , has here the chief emphasis , which Rckert has aptly vindicated. The earlier expositors, not recognising this, have accordingly not hit on the purpose and meaning of the passage; as still Billroth: “It might seem that he wished to recommend himself” (comp. 2Co 3:1 , 2Co 5:12 ). To this his answer is: “I speak before God in Christ, i.e. my sentiments in what I say are not selfish, but upright and pure.” Comp. Chrysostom, Erasmus, Beza, Calvin, Grotiu.
. ] to be taken together, [384] as in 2Co 2:17 .
] sc. . Grotius and others, including Griesbach, Scholz, Olshausen, and Ewald, read as one word, and connect it with the previous . But for what end? The mode of expression in the usual way of writing it is quite Pauline, and makes the important thought more emphatically prominent; never occurs with Paul, and the reference of to what goes before would at least not be in accordance with the common usage (comp. on Luk 10:39 ).
[384] So that the chief emphasis is laid on , opposed to the previous .
Fuente: Heinrich August Wilhelm Meyer’s New Testament Commentary
XVIREPROOF OF SOME MORAL IMPERFECTIONS NOT YET REMOVED, AND ADMONITION TO SPARE HIM THE NECESSITY OF APOSTOLIC DISCIPLINE. CONCLUDING ENCOURAGEMENTS AND BENEDICTION
2Co 12:19-21. 2Co 13:1-14
19Again, think ye that we excuse ourselves unto you? [For a long time 22 ye are thinking that it is to you that we are excusing ourselves ; ]; we speak before 23 God in Christ: but we do all things, dearly beloved, [but all, beloved,] for your edifying. 20For I fear, lest, [haply ] when I come, I shall not find you such as I would, and that I shall be found unto you such as ye would not: lest [haply] there be. debates [discord]24, envyings [emulation, ], wraths,25 21 strifes, backbitings, whisperings, swellings, tumults: And lest, when I come 26 again, my God will humble27 me among [with respect to, ] you, and that I shall bewail many which have sinned already, [before, ], and have not repented of the uncleanness and fornication and lasciviousness which they have committed.
2Co 13:1. This is the third time28 am coming to you. In the mouth of two or three witnesses shall every word be established. 2I told you before, and foretell you, as if I were present, the second time; and being absent now I write [I have said before, and now say beforehand as I did when I was present the second time, so now also in my absence, om. I write] 29 to them which heretofore have sinned, and to all others, that, if I come again, I will not spare: 3Since ye seek a proof of Christ speaking in4 me, which [who] to you-ward is not weak, but is mighty in you. For though 30 he [For He also, ] was crucified through weakness, yet he liveth by the power of God. For we also [om. also]31 are weak in him,32 but we shall live33 with him11 by the power of God toward you.34 5Examine yourselves, whether ye be in the faith; prove your own selves, Know [or, know] ye not your own selves, how that Jesus6 Christ is in you, except ye be reprobates? [to some extend unapproved, ?] But I trust that ye shall know that we are not reprobates [unapproved]. 7Now I pray to [yet we pray, ]35 God that ye do no evil; not that we should appear approved, but that ye should do that which is honest, [excellent], though we be as reprobates [as if unapproved]. 8For we can do nothing against the truth, but [we can do something] for the truth. 9For we are glad, [rejoice, ], when we are weak, and ye are strong: and also 36 we wish, [pray for, ], even your perfection10 [prefect restoration, ]. Therefore I write these things being absent, lest being present I should use sharpness, according to the power which the Lord hath given me to [for, ] edification, and not to [for] destruction. 11Finally, brethren, farewell, [rejoice, ] Be perfect [be restored to order, ], be of good comfort, 12 be of one mind, live in peace; and the God of love and peace shall be with you, greet one another with a holy kiss. 13All the saints salute you. The grace of our Lord 14Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the communion of the Holy Ghost, be with you all. Amen. [om. Amen].37
EXEGETICAL AND CRITICAL
2Co 12:19-21. For a long time ye are thinking that we are excusing ourselves unto you (ver.1).Paul here guards against the erroneous impression which he anticipated some might receive from his self-defence, that he was standing in judgment before them; he assures them that his only object was to do them good. Nothing was then of more importance to him than their amendment, unless he was willing to have their whole conduct come before him in his judicial capacity. The interrogative form of the sentence would become necessary if we adopt the word of the Receptus (a reading perhaps occasioned by 2Co 3:1); but it would be quite unsuitable if be adopted. With this latter reading Paul must be understood to refer to what would take place, when his Epistle should be read or heard at Corinth, especially that part which was of an apologetical character. stands at the commencement of the sentence for the sake of emphasis. It is the dative of direction or tendency (with, or before you) as in Act 19:33. He was about to set before them the positive bearing of his self-defence upon them, i.e., to show them that its true object was to promote their spiritual life (). This required that all obstructions to his Apostolical influence, and all prejudices and wrong thoughts against him and his conduct among them, should be removed, and that all dependence upon their false teachers should be broken off. But before he presented this it was of consequence to assure them that he was standing with his apology at the bar of God, to whom alone he was responsible.we speak before God in Christ, but all things, beloved, for your edification (2Co 12:19 b).In these words (comp. 2Co 2:7) his object was not to affirm the sincerity of his purpose, but to let them know that it was to God that he was accountable, and from God that he expected an acquittal. The words in Christ ( ) point out the sphere in which he was speaking, one far above every human tribunal, as a Christian and an Apostle, conscious of his fellowship with Christ. In connection with the last clause ( ) we must supply (we speak) from the preceding sentence. Some would join the sentence with the preceding [and unite and together] so as to read: , etc; but usually refers to that which follows it, and never is made use of by Paul in any other passage. [It refers here to something definite, and not to all things in general, for it is confined to those matters of which he had been speaking, and especially his apology for himself]. In this last clause also, he makes, by way of conciliation, a direct appeal to them as his beloved ones (), before entering upon a more severe remonstrance. The reason for this is apparent in 2Co 12:20-21.For I fear that haply when I come, I shall not find you such as I would, and that I shall be found unto you such as ye would not (2Co 12:20 a).He here notices the unhappy condition he had reason to fear they were in, and which called for these efforts on his part for their benefit. His first reference to this condition is very tender. He merely mentions the impression which such a state of things would necessarily make upon him when he should come among them, and he alludes to the proceedings which such a state would necessarily call forth from him. Even when he says, I fear lest, etc., he expresses the solicitude of a father, and his earnest desire that his intercourse with them might be free from annoyance; but in we have something likewise of a conciliatory nature. [The word is used in two successive clauses (anaphora), but in the third (2Co 12:21) it is exchanged for , inasmuch as the hesitation to express his thought in decisive terms wears away as he proceeds. The expressions: such as ye would not, and such as I would, are euphemistic, to avoid a more disagreeable phrase. The use of the verb for was not uncommon, and yet we may recognize something of the specific meaning of here, inasmuch as the Apostle meant perhaps to express some determination of the will in the case]. In he shows that he was painfully conscious of an Apostolic power of discipline which he would be obliged to exert; and he now reappears in that triumphant attitude of authority which he had formerly assumed (comp. Meyer). has not the sense of: by you, but to you, or for you, as in Rom 7:10. The position of the second before the is especially emphatic.38 What he meant by such as he would not, he shows in greater detail in the second part of 2Co 12:20 and in 2Co 12:21.lest I shall find, perchance, among you debate, emulation, passions, contentions, slanderings, whisperings, insolences, tumults (2Co 12:20).The unpleasant things which he found are arranged under two different relations, according to the two different kinds of moral defect he knew to be in the Church. [Bengel: That which was not such as he would, is treated of to the end of the chapter, then what was such as they would not, is treated of from 2Co 8:1 and onwards. Such vices indicate how great were the difficulties to be met with in churches just emerged from heathenism, but we are not to suppose them prevalent among that portion which Paul had described in chap. 7 as penitent and obedient]. Not, however, until the commencement of the next chapter does he come to speak of the exercise of his Apostolic power to punish offenders (for in the next verse he brings before us another kind of offences). To , etc., must be supplied (or ) . We have and in 1Co 3:3, and in 1Co 1:11; on comp. Winer, 9 [p. 59, Philad. ed.]. occurs also in Gal 5:20, and signifies vehement passion, boiling emotion. signifies the heart as the seat of passionate emotion, and then this emotion itselfpassion, wrath, rage; the plural is found also in the classic writers. signifies hired work, mercenariness, love of intrigue, a disposition to foment parties. See Rom 2:8; Gal 5:20; Php 1:17; Php 2:3; Jam 3:14; Jam 3:16 (not of ) Com. Meyer and Fritzsche on Rom 2:8. signifies, evil reports in general; , secret slanderings. The original verb of is used with reference to the insolence of faction, an arrogant conceit of knowledge, and arrogance with respect to gifts in general, in 1Co 4:6; 1Co 8:1; 1Co 13:4. occurs in 2Co 6:5; 1Co 14:33. In addition to these moral defects, which had their origin in the factious spirit prevailing at Corinth, and hence called for decisive measures, the Apostle now proceeds (2Co 12:21) to mention some manifestations of that sensuality for which their city was noted.Lest again when I come, my God shall humble me with respect to you (2Co 12:21 a).There is no need of commencing a new period here, and so of giving this whole verse an interrogative form. The reading does not require this, for this word, like the (previously ), indicates simply an increased anxiety that such a sad calamity should not come upon him. We may also notice that a question calling for a negative answer (comp. 2Co 12:17-18) would not be appropriate in this connection (2Co 12:20). The qualifies the whole phrase: (comp. 2Co 2:1), and not merely either or . He does not intend to say that he had experienced a similar mortification during some former visit [and yet comp. 2Co 2:1. We see not how can have its force without supposing some reference to a former visit, even if it should be made to qualify alone. And yet this could not have been his first visit when he had great success and general joy in spite of his persecutions, but certainly no such humiliations. We are obliged to think of a second unrecorded visit between his first and second Epistle. See on 2Co 12:1 of the next chapter]. The genitive absolute here is remarkable, and hence the reading in the Receptus. The has reference not to the exercise of discipline among them, as if this would produce a feeling of humiliation on account of his love to the Church and to the Lord, and would be traceable to God because it would take place according to the Divine will, but rather to the mortification the Apostle would experience if he were compelled to see the fruit of his labors among them utterly destroyed, and thus to find all his boasting either much abated or completely wrested from him. Should such a humiliation come upon him, he would trace it to the hand of God, and receive it as a wholesome discipline. He would therefore humbly submit himself to it, and find consolation in the reflection that the God who did it was his God (Rom 1:8; 1Co 1:4), the God whom he served, and with whom he was in such intimate fellowship that the interests of one were the interests of both. If we give the word the sense of: to trouble, or to grieve, it will have precisely the same signification with . has here the sense, not of: with or among you, for with such a meaning it would be superfluous, but of: in respect to you.And I shall bewail many of those who have sinned before and have not repented of the uncleanness and fornication and lasciviousness which they have committed (2Co 12:21 b). The word signifies, to mourn, to lament, lugere, especially for the dead, etc. It expresses the genuine feeling of a spiritual pastor (comp. Calvin), and perhaps it alludes to the idea of a spiritual death. It expresses either the sorrow he would feel on account of their impenitence (Meyer), or the grief he would feel in denouncing punishment or in excommunicating them (De Wette, et al.). [In ancient times sentence of condemnation in the Church was pronounced with outward signs of sorrow and mourning; see 1Co 5:2; 2Co 7:7; 2Co 7:9 (Old Paraphrase). Perhaps the customs attending excommunication were derived from an extreme interpretation of such passages]. The objects of this sorrow are mentioned when he says: , etc. This is not an inexact form for designating a general class, instead of saying ; many, i.e., who have not repented. But the Apostle had not in mind all unconverted sinners, in every congregation, among whom he gave especial prominence to those in Corinth by using the word (Lcke), for nothing in the context warrants us in giving such an extension to- the idea. He unquestionably had his eye upon sinners in Corinth alone, when he used the phrase , etc. But our further explanation must depend upon the answer to the question, whether etc., should be connected with or with . The first method would be without analogy, so far as the New Testament is concerned, for in every instance there, . is construed with or (with only in the Old Testament, in Joe 2:13, and Amo 7:3, where the in both cases is the act of God). And yet it is probably admissible, even if the idea of a mere change of mind without that of sorrow for sin, be connected with the word. It would then signify, a change of mind in respect to, or on account of, etc. [Osiander draws attention to the contrast of : and :] The connection of the words with seems rather unusual and strange, inasmuch as in other places we meet with in the sense of: to lament over something, but not with . It is, however, not altogether unallowable on this account. If we adopt the first mode of connecting the words, we must understand by the worst among the class of persons mentioned (De Wette, Osiander), i.e., those whom he would be obliged to punish by excluding them from the Church ( would then be: to mourn for them as dead persons; and it is used with respect to such an act in 1Co 5:2). If we adopt the other mode, etc., would signify those who had in any manner sinned, etc., and we should make the Apostle say that he feared he should have to mourn over many of these on account of the sins of the flesh, of which they were guilty; and he designs to mention here the other class of sins which were most prevalent at Corinth i.e., besides those mentioned in 2Co 12:20). We prefer the second of the methods, because the reference to the excommunication of the worst contains something unnatural, and 1Co 5:2 by no means justifies us in referring to such a transaction. Against this second method no objection should be urged on account of the position of , nor of the thought itself, to mourn for one on account of such things. stands at the commencement of the clause for the sake of emphasis, and stands not at a very extraordinary distance from it. The Apostle might very reasonably be understood to mourn over such impenitent persons on account of their sins, even though he does not in this place, as in other places (comp. 1Co 6:9-10), bring prominently before us the consequences of those sins. The , however, refers not to the period before their conversion, but to the time preceding his second visit, when misunderstandings had begun to prevail, and when he had admonished them to repent (comp. 2Co 13:2), though with so little success that he found the peculiar faults mentioned in 2Co 12:20-21 were still prevalent among them. signifies sins of a sensual nature generally, such as defiled both soul and body, Rom 1:24; Gal 5:19; Eph 4:19. (1Co 5:1), and (wantonness, shamelessness, voluptuousness, Rom 13:13; Gal 5:19, et al.), are particular exhibitions of . signifies, to bring about, achieve (comp. Passow). We do not (with Meyer and Osiander) make refer to those who should be impenitent at the anticipated coming of the Apostle at Corinth: and shall not have repented, but to the fruitlessness of his admonitions when he was among them the second time. [The perfect in . has here a special force and significance, implying that the sins were continued, and were not overcome by a true repentance. The aorist of . is in contrast with this, and we see no reason why it may not be taken in the sense of a futur. exact, i.e., those who will not have repented when I shall be with you].
2Co 13:1-4. This is the third time I am coming to you (2Co 13:1 a).Now follows the Apostles announcement of his determination to proceed with an unsparing judicial severity, in accordance with what he had said in 2Co 12:20 : , . signifies here: this is the third time, as in Joh 21:14, et al. speaks of his actual coming, and presupposes that he had been at Corinth twice before this (it cannot refer to a mere purpose or plan of such a journey, nor to a coming by letters).
[General note on Pauls visits to Corinth. It seems to us impossible to interpret 2Co 13:1, on any other view than that Paul had previously been twice at Corinth. It cannot be made to mean simply, this is the second time have been ready, and if it could it would have been a most unfortunate reference, in which he would rather remind his readers of his failure actually to come. The usual appeal to 2Co 12:14, is unsatisfactory, not only because our passage should not be a repetition of that, but because the proper idea of that is, I am ready to come the third time. The word in 1Co 16:5, is not quite to the point (Wordsworth), since it would only show how the will was taken for the fact, but would not account for his expected coming, being the third of a series of the same kind. Certainly no one, reading 2Co 13:1, without a previous bias, would ever think of anything but a third actual visit. In 2Co 2:1, Paul also implies that he had once visited them in heaviness, evidently on account of the misconduct of Christians there; in 2Co 12:21 he intimates that God had then humbled him; and in 2Co 13:2 (rightly rendered) he implies that he had then given them warning that if he came again he would not spare them. Now when could that visit have been paid? The whole idea is unsuitable to the first visit when the church was formed. Nor could it have been after that which we now call the First Epistle, when he announced his intention to remain at Corinth until Pentecost (1Co 16:8), and after the Epistle in which he had written to them not to keep company with fornicators (1Co 5:9), and answered the inquiries the Corinthians had made of him (1Co 7:1). See Introd. 6. But we know that Paul resided at Ephesus during the whole time between his first visit to Corinth and his journey through Macedonia, during which he wrote our present Second Epistle. There must, however, have been time enough after his departure from Corinth for the springing up of the disorders which were censured in that unrecorded visit, and the subsequent lost Epistle, and for the sending of a letter and perhaps a deputation from the Corinthian Church to Paul (1Co 7:1; 1Co 1:11; 1Co 16:17). On the supposition that Paul came to Ephesus late in the year 54, Alford ventures to place the unrecorded journey in the Spring of 55, and the lost Epistle in the Spring of 57, or at least early in the same year in which he left Ephesus for Macedonia (1Co 16:8). As Ephesus and Corinth were the usual points of transit between Asia and Europe, Paul might easily have made a brief visit of the kind supposed, but as it was attended with no special results, it was not mentioned in the Acts. The shipwrecks and disasters at sea mentioned in 2Co 11:23-28, indicate that Paul must have made several voyages during his missionary life, which are not recorded. Comp. Alford, Introd. to Cor. 5., and Essay on How to use the Epistles in Sun. Mag. for 1867. J. L. Davies, Art. Paul in Smiths Dict. of the Bible].
In the mouth of two witnesses and of three shall every word be established (ver. l b).By a citation from the very letter of the Law in Deu 19:15, the Apostle lets them see how rigid and precise were to be his disciplinary proceedings when he should come to them this third time. He would so arrange the proceedings that the witnesses should be heard in the presence of the congregation (comp. 1Co 5:12-13; 1Co 5:3, etc.), for in the trial of notorious offences, it would be necessary to adhere strictly to all legal forms, that he might avoid any appearance of partiality. [the word, after the Hebrew manner] stands here for the matter, cause, conduct or charge in dispute., signifies: shall be established, determined or brought to a decision. , i.e., on account of what is spoken. The instead of before was designed to imply, and by three, as if there are so many; or, also by three, if he had said, from two to three. The free application which some have made of this citation from the law, (either to his repeated warnings and their certainty and validity; or to those repeated announcements of his coming with the accompanying warnings and threatenings which were equally sure to prove true; or to the various occasions on which he had been or was about to be present among them, as if these were distinct personal witnesses to establish the truth of the matter) seems to us by no means ingenious or plausible, even if we accept the more delicate and profound explanation which Osiander proposes, viz., that his apostolic visits among them were, in consequence of their repetition, not merely means by which he directly saw them, but distinct practical attestations of his faithful testimony among them, deposing against those who should continue impenitent (comp. Mat 8:4; Mat 10:18).1Whether any relation was intended between and is very uncertain. Inasmuch as he was about to announce in 2Co 13:2, that he was now determined to proceed in an unsparing manner against them, it is difficult to perceive in what way he can imply that he was especially patient in delaying and in repeatedly warning them.What is said in 1Ti 5:19 shows that the law in such matters was not looked upon as abrogated. [Its validity, however, depended upon its general reasonableness and upon Christs recognition and re-institution (Mat 18:15) and not upon the perpetual obligation of the Mosaic precept].I have said already and now say beforehand, as when I was present the second time so now also in my absence, to them which heretofore have sinned and to all the rest (2Co 13:2 a).The verb (I have said before) has reference to previous announcements which still remained in force (perfect tense), and (I foretell) to what he was then writing [in which he probably used precisely the same words, viz.: If I come again, etc.] With respect to the former, he says: that he had said when present the second time, i.e., as I did when I was present the second time; and with respect to the latter he says, I say beforehand, now when I am absent (, comp. 2Co 13:10). There is a correspondence between the two clauses and on the one hand, and and on the other, and hence the should not be separated from and connected with . It is evident from 2Co 13:1 ( ) and other passages, that the Apostle had already been twice at Corinth, and hence there is no need of the interpretation here: as if I were present the second time, although I am now absent. The were those in general who had previously sinned (and even then [open perfect] continued to do so), whether before his second visit ( ), or until his present writing ( ). The were not those who had become impure after those just mentioned, as if . were related to and to , for such an expression would be not only forced but indistinct. It means rather the remaining members of the congregation, either such as witnessed his threatenings, or (better) such as should be brought by his warnings and their own reflection to a reformation, and hence such as would not fall under discipline. The substance of what he had thus told them, and now foretold them, was:that if I come again I will not spare (2Co 13:2 b).In the words the which had been used as a noun, is converted by the back again into an adverb. Why it was that he had been so lenient on his second visit is not told us; it may have been because he had hoped that they would themselves come to a better mind by reflection, or because he had feared that he would only make matters worse, etc. With is intimately connected what is said in 2Co 13:3.Since ye seek a proof of Christ speaking in me, who toward you is not weak, but is strong among you (2Co 13:3).The reason he would not spare them, is introduced by : I will not spare, since now ye seek, and indeed challenge by your conduct a proof, etc. Others make the protasis or conditional proposition to 2Co 13:5, and regard the words, Who is not weak toward youby the power of God toward you, or at least the whole of 2Co 13:4, as a parenthesis. Such a construction, however, seems unnecessary and awkward. , which stands for emphasis at the commencement of the sentence, signifies: proof, trial, verification by experiment [see on 2Co 2:9]. The genitive, however, may be either of the object: the proof of the fact, etc., i.e., the proof that Christ is speaking in me; or of the subject: that Christ may give proof that He is in me. That which follows, who is not weak toward you, etc., is rather in favor of the latter interpretation. In the words, Christ speaking in me, he had reference not merely to Christs speaking through him (=), but to Christs being and acting in him. By their impenitent conduct they were putting Him to the proof whether he could carry out what He had threatened against them, and so they challenged Him to make a demonstration of His power to punish them. What is said in the relative sentence, was intended to make them consider how dangerous such a challenge was: who is not weak with respect to you [], but is mighty among [] you. In this he refers not to earlier manifestations of this power among them by means of spiritual gifts and miracles, etc., but to such an exercise of it among them as would become indispensable to punish them if they continued impenitent. The word occurs nowhere else except here and in Rom 14:4, though it is analogous to , and was perhaps occasioned by the use of . The reason for the assertion that Christ was not weak but mighty, he now proceeds to give in 2Co 13:4 :For he also was crucified on account of weakness, but he lives on account of the power of God (2Co 13:4 a). The Apostle here reminds them that Christ was once reduced to an extremity of weakness, but that he now lived by the power of God. That extremity was when He endured crucifixion in consequence of the human infirmity which He had experienced in the season of His (voluntary) humiliation and privation (Php 2:7-11). here designates the cause or origin. The refers to the life of absolute power (energy) which began with Christs resurrection, was derived from God, and was afterwards proved by influences among men (comp. Rom 6:4; Act 2:33; Eph 1:20-23; Php 2:9). If we accept the reading: (which Osiander with Tischendorf adopts as the lect. diffic.), must be taken as concessive, and by itself it seems not inconsistent with the which follows. But does not correspond with very well, inasmuch as it signifies not merely: for, but: for even. would then signify: for even (although) if. But indicates that the condition must be looked upon as an extreme one, and not to be expected. On the other hand would have implied that this condition was probable or certain, but that for the argument in hand it was a matter of indifference. We are obliged in this case to suppose that there has been an exchanging of for , which must be ascribed to some transcriber having interpolated the , rather than to Paul. A concessive protasis appears appropriate on account of the . The solution of the difficulty which Osiander proposes, viz., that the implies that the case of Christ was similar to that of his ministers, does not seem clear to us, and indeed appears unintelligible. The best way would seem to be, to leave out the , as it may easily have been inserted. It is evident that the Apostle looked upon this as the actual condition in which Christ was, for he now proceeds to show that he himself was in the same condition of weakness and life through the power of God:for we also are weak in him, but we shall live together with him through the power of God toward you (2Co 13:4 b).It is evident, therefore, that he leaves us to infer what must be the condition of Christ from that of one who stood in fellowship with Christ (); inasmuch as the condition of the former was reflected or was repeated in that of his followers, or was the consequence of it. refers not to the Apostles sufferings, but to his appearing to lack power when he spared the Corinthians It must be regarded, therefore, as something which was like Christs own weakness, voluntarily assumed. He describes it also by the words as something which was the consequence of his fellowship with Christ [Winers Idioms, 52, p. 311 note], and therefore like Christs own weakness transient and temporary, inasmuch as the Divine power which made Christ alive would necessarily and in that very act make alive all who were connected with him (). And indeed, indicates that his being alive would be manifested in the energy by which they would be directed. There is no reference in the word , as here used, to the future resurrection, but it means simply to be vigorous, to be full of life. Neander: In the discharge of our Apostolic authority among you will be manifested the Divine power of a risen and glorified Christ. [The Apostle, in this passage, surely claims that Christ spoke and acted in him, and we reasonably infer that his Apostolic words, Epistles and acts were those of an infallible Christ within him. It has been said that he never advanced such a claim. Not only in the , which occurs in both clauses of 2Co 13:4, but in the use of the present () and the future () in opposition to (), we have a strong contrast with the resurrection and all its endless and perpetual influences through Christ and His people].
2Co 13:5-10.Examine your own selves whether ye are in the faith, prove your own selves (2Co 13:5 a).In opposition to the thought represented in 2Co 13:3, according to which they desired a proof of Christ in him, the Apostle presents the demand that they should direct their examination to their own selves. For the sake of emphasis is put first. signifies, to make proof or trial of one, to tempt (1Co 10:9, which is here the same as , etc.). [On the ordinary distinction to be observed between these expressions, see Trench, Synn. 2d Part, p. 119ff]. He then more particularly defines the point to which that self-examination should be directed, i.e., whether they were in the faith; thus probably intimating that their betrayed a serious defect in that respect, inasmuch as they would hardly have needed any proof of Christ in him if they had been in the faith. To be in the faith, or, to esteem themselves standing in the faith, were phrases which designated a living Christianity, the original principle of which is a faith laying hold of Christ, surrendering the whole heart to Him, and in this way bringing us into fellowship with Him (not: fides qa creditur, in contrast with erroneous doctrines; and also not the faith of miracles). The also is not in this passage equivalent to but as in 1Co 11:28, it signifies, to try, to inquire into the worthiness of a thing, with the view of accurately distinguishing between what is and what is not genuine. The word here properly refers back to their seeking a proof of Christ ( ). The essential nature of the faith is further pointed out in the succeeding clause.Or know ye not your own selves, that Jesus Christ is in you, except ye are to some extent unapproved (ver.5b) ?(Comp. Eph 3:17; Gal 2:20). The use of the entire name indicates more than usual solemnity, and implies that the presence of Christs spirit, by faith, in the Church and in the hearts of its members, produces a practical fellowship with the whole person of Christ (comp. 2Co 6:16; 1Co 3:16; Eph 2:21-22). In , we have an attraction of a peculiar kind (where the attracted word is not the subject of the succeeding sentence). [Winers Idioms, 63, 3. a. p. 396]. Yourselves () in this connection is emphatic, since it is contrasted with Christ speaking in you, in 2Co 13:3. [Our English version entirely overlooks the at the head of the clause.] There are two ways by which . etc., may be connected in sense with that which precedes it; according to the first, the spiritual relation which Christ sustained toward them, and of which indeed they must be conscious if they were Christians, imposed on them the obligation to examine more carefully into their relation to Him and their conduct toward Him, and of course into their faith, in order to ascertain whether it was not wavering (Osiander). According to the second, he appeals to their sense of honor, and implies that for this reason they should not shrink from self-examination; i.e., they surely ought not to be so entirely destitute of a Christian spirit as not to know their own selves (Meyer, deWette). In either case there was a motive for self-examination; but the argues in favor of the latter method. In , he intended to say, that they would find this to be the case with themselves, unless they should prove to be unworthy, spurious Christians (Osiander: He throws out a doubt of that gracious state to which they laid claim, in the same proportion in which they were ignorant of their relation to Christ and did not examine themselves). is used in 1Co 7:5; and the has the effect rather to soften the force of the expression [unless ye are somewhat reprobates, or to some extent abide not the proof]. has reference to and which he had previously used.But I trust ye shall know that we are not unapproved (2Co 13:6).This verse is intimately connected with the latter part of 2Co 13:5. , in this verse, has reference to Pauls power as an Apostle to punish offenders, and he expresses the hope that (in case he should be compelled to exercise it) they would find him [if they ventured to put him to the proof] (in this respect) not unapproved, i.e., as one who throws out empty threatenings, but is too feeble to execute the but rather one who would make those who perseveringly resisted him feel his power (comp. 2Co 13:7; 2Co 13:9). This was the which they sought (2Co 13:3). His hope, however, was not fixed exclusively upon the punishment in itself, but upon the proper authentication of his office, the maintenance of his Apostolic authority by such means. The interpretation which maintains that (ye shall know) is to be understood, not of an experimental knowledge, but of a knowledge gained by their reformation in consequence of his warning, or by an observation of his life and works as an Apostle [i.e., if you put our Apostolical power to the test by appealing to our clemency], is not quite consistent with the general scope of the passage. The same may be said of the view which aims to mediate between the different explanations, and maintains that the knowledge was to be obtained partly by an examination of themselves and partly by their experience of ecclesiastical discipline.But in 2Co 13:7 he shows that he would gladly be spared such an authentication of his power:But we pray God that ye do no evil (2Co 13:7 a);His desire is expressed in the form of a prayer. The explanation which makes the object and the Apostle himself the subject of [that I may do you no evil], is unsatisfactory: 1, because he could not apply such a designation to the punishment he inflicted; 2, because has an evident reference to [the one being what is morally bad or worse, and the other what is morally honorable, beautiful and right].not that we should appear approved, but that ye should do what is good, though we be as unapproved (2Co 13:7 b).He here expresses what was more particularly the purport of his prayer. (We should observe the change which here takes place in the construction: the infinitive and , comp. Col 1:9; 2Th 1:11). The prayer was not (I pray or I desire), that he might appear approved (in consequence of the infliction of punishment, or the accomplishment of his threatenings) but that the Corinthians might do well (that which is right), though he should be unapproved (inasmuch as his threatenings would remain unfulfilled, or seem needless and uncalled for). [In this case he would use the word in two different senses: in the one sense he would not be unapproved, since the reformation of the Corinthians would be the best proof of his Apostolic power, but in another sense he would be unapproved, because he would fail in the fulfilment of his threatenings, on account of their reformation. He meant to say that he cared not for being unapproved in the latter sense, since they would be saved and edified. Comp. Stanley]. Another explanation is given by Meyer, who takes in the sense of, that, in order that, and understands of the approbation which would be awarded to him as their spiritual father, if they should conduct themselves well; but he makes . refer to his failure in exercising and applying his power as an Apostle to inflict punishment. It must be conceded that the idea advanced in this first explanation lies not within the range of thought pursued by the context, and yet it would not be inconsistent with Pauls manner, to say that the good conduct of his readers might make him seem in one aspect and in another . He certainly gives reason in 2Co 13:8 for saying that if they did well he would have no occasion for exercising his power as an Apostle to punish them, and therefore would in that same degree appear unapproved, inasmuch as he had laid down the rule by which he would be governed in his course with them:For we can do nothing against the truth, but for the truth (2Co 13:8).The truth here may be explained either as equivalent to moral truth (comp. 1Co 5:8) or righteousness (a sense which is not allowable unless it is made necessary by the context); or as signifying that he could do nothing which did not accord with the facts of the case, a meaning very appropriate to a judicial proceeding, but entirely unsuitable when we come to the phrase for the truth. Meyer makes the word mean the truth , i.e., the gospel: If their good conduct had not been his. object ( ) he would have been working against the Gospel; since that was a system designed to promote morality on Christian principles. Osianders explanation is preferable: The Divine law was the truth from which we deduce all our rules of discipline; and in Pauls Apostolic work he could do nothing against this, but every thing he did would finally result in the advancement of that Divine truth which was dispensed in the Gospel. against, for its interests. In the latter sentence should be supplied.For we rejoice when we are weak and ye are strong: this also we pray for, even your restoration to complete order (2Co 13:9).His object here was to confirm what he had said an 2Co 13:8, by assuring them that he would rejoice, even if he were weak, i.e., powerless, so far as relates to the exercise of discipline among them (from want of occasion); and they were strong, i.e., should conduct themselves so wisely as to disarm him of all judicial authority against them. If this were so, how could he do anything in opposition to the truth, and to those rules of action which the truth prescribed? He furthermore assures them that it was the object of his constant prayer, that they might in this way be made strong. As in 2Co 13:7 signifies not merely to wish, for it is an advance beyond the thought expressed in . is added after epexegetically, and signifies your restoration to complete order, i.e., perfection. The verb is used in 2Co 13:11 and in 1Co 1:10, and in Eph 4:12. It contains a reserved hint that their condition at that time was disorderly.For this cause being absent I write these things, lest being present I should use sharpness according to the power which the Lord gave me for edification and not for destruction (2Co 13:10).In this he adds an explanation of his design in writing this Epistle: I have written because my joy and my great anxiety before God is, that ye may be strong and restored to your proper state. In this expression he had reference to the whole Epistle, but especially to the latter part of it.lie here uses the singular number, because he begins to treat of conduct and purposes which belonged only to himself. (Tit 1:13, the noun is in Rom 11:22) signifies roughly, rigorously, with strict severity (from a verb signifying to cut or tear off). is here used absolutely, and signifies to proceed, to act; in other places it is used with the dative of the mode of proceeding or acting, but here, with an adverb, there is no need of supplying . The reason for his wishing not to act thus, he gives when he says that his power was given him for edification and not for destruction (comp. 2Co 10:8). [He had no power or authority for the injury of men: it was all for their edification. Except for the latter purpose therefore it was not only null and void as to authority, but it was actually powerless in result. By a beautiful figure he conceives himself as a builder intrusted with no right or means to do anything except for the welfare of his fellow-men, to advance the true interests of humanity. Such were the Apostles views of the limits of ecclesiastical power with respect to Comp. on 2Co 5:1; 2Co 10:8. Also J. S. Howson, on Pauls use of Metaphore in Sund. Mag., 1867].
2Co 13:11-13. Finally, brethren, rejoice. Be perfectly joined together, be comforted, be of one mind, be at peace (2Co 13:11 a).Having in the previous verses resumed his original mildness of manner, he now concludes with some friendly admonitions, though without relaxing anything in the earnestness of his purpose. [The word , which he so often uses in his other Epistles and especially in his First Epistle but so seldom (only four times) in his Second Epistle to the Corinthians, indicates here the importance of what he was about to say, and his transition to a new section, in which his affectionate spirit breathes forth with especial power.] In 2Co 13:11, does not signify: for the future, henceforth, but it is a concluding particle in the sense of, as for the rest (ceterum), as in the Eph 6:10 etc.; 2Th 3:1. Osiander: His object was to say, that he had something of importance to them, still upon his heart. This was addressed not exclusively to those whose minds were best disposed toward him, but like the preceding verses, to the whole congregation. is not here a parting salutation, for that is given afterwards in 2Co 13:13; but an exhortation to rejoice in the Lord (Php 3:1; Php 4:4), very appropriately pressed upon them after all that he had said in this Epistle to grieve them. But this could take place only on condition of the and the i.e., on condition of their complete restoration to order and to their perfection. These are here urged upon them as acts which they must themselves perform [middle voice and reflexive] under the power of the , which again is conditioned by the W. F. Besser: In the alarm cry: Be perfect, (prepare yourselves)! hear the call of your commander, to form into rank and file, and to get into order of battle (Col 2:5). But both the and the were the conditions on which the was dependent. This is here not an admonition or an exhortation that they should make progress in spiritual things (give attention to it among you), but that they should be comforted (comp. 2Co 1:4-7; 2Co 7:7-13) with respect to all those things which had grieved them. An exhortation to mutual comfort (to comfort one another) would have been differently expressed: or (1Th 4:18; 1Th 5:11; Heb 3:13). Finally he calls upon them to be of one mind ( ), which may be regarded as implying an humble estimate of each ones own self, a love for one another, and a tender interest in each others welfare, on the ground that they had a community of interests in the Christian life (Php 3:15-16; Php 4:2; Rom 12:16; Rom 15:5; Beck See lenl. p. 61), and to live in peace, i.e., to maintain unity of action in the outer life (Mar 9:50; Rom 12:18; 1Th 5:13). To these admonitions he attaches yet further a promise:And the God of love and peace shall be with you (2Co 13:11 b)i.e., if ye do these things, the God who is the author of love ( ) and of peace (comp. 1Co 14:33; Rom 15:33; Rom 16:20; Php 4:9; 1Th 5:23; Heb 13:20) will be with you, will be near you o bless you, and to grant you the enjoyment of His gracious communion. That God from whom love and peace proceeds, makes those who yield to His influences in these respects, and are faithful in such things, experience how rich is His grace, and how abundant are His blessings.Salute one another with a holy kiss (2Co 13:12).On this verse comp. 1Co 16:20. [With respect to the . see on 1Th 5:26; Rom 16:16, and 1Co 16:20. Among the Greeks the kiss had only an erotio signification, but among the Jews and Oriental nations it was generally a token of affection among kindred and friends. The Jews refused it to all except the holy seed of Israel. Thence it passed into the Christian community, and Justin says, (Apol. II. p. 37), After the prayers, are ended (in the church), we greet one another with a kiss. Cyril (Hier.) says that before the sursum corda,) a deacon proclaimed to the communicants in the words of this verse: Salute etc. In the Eastern, churches it was given before, and in the Western after the consecration of the sacramental emblems, and before their distribution, as a sign of reconciliation and love. In the Apost. Constt. it is said: Let the men salute one another, and the women also one another, with a holy kiss in the Lord. Paul anticipated that his Epistle would be read before the whole Church, and he, therefore, connected with it this ecclesiastical or hieratic usage, as a sign of the common covenant by which they were all members one of another and the body of Christ. Bingham, Chr. Antt. B. XII. Ch. IV. 5. Smiths Dict, of the Bible, Osiander and Wordsworth, on 1Th 5:26].All the saints salute you (2Co 13:13).The words refer to those saints who lived in the region from which he was writing (Macedonia), but a more comprehensive sense of the words is not excluded (comp. Osiander, who very thoroughly discusses the meaning of this whole verse). In place of his own salutation, he gives us finally that precious Benediction which has acquired such a liturgical importance in every age and in every part of the Christian world:The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the communion of the Holy Ghost, be with you all (2Co 13:14).[It is the most formal and solemn of all Pauls forms of benediction, and accordingly has been universally selected as the one to be used by the Church in its worship. It ascribes to each Person of the Trinity a special but not an exclusive part in the work of redemption. Each of those Persons share in the work of grace and love and communion, but each of them is distinguished for a peculiar prominence in one of these departments. Each of them are mentioned with equal, but with a distinct honor and efficiency. They are presented, not according to their ontologic or metaphysical nature, but to their economic relation to sinful men in the work of salvation. That salvation comes to us from () God the Father, through () God the Son, and by God the Holy Ghost.] The Benediction itself is divided into three parts in accordance with the relations of the sacred Trinity. We have first, the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ (comp. 2Co 8:9; Rom 5:15), that grace which is continually bestowed upon, intercedes for (Rom 8:34), and strengthens (2Co 12:9) those whom he has redeemed, and by means of which they come into the possession and enjoyment of the love of God. The communion of the Holy Ghost, the participation in Him and in His gracious influences, is the product of that grace and this love, and is His continual direction and application of them to believers (comp. Rom 8:9-27; Rom 7:6; Rom 8:11; Gal 4:6; Gal 6:8. , as in Php 2:1, and 1Co 1:9, signifies not communication merely, for . is the gen. subj.). He thus desires that the whole Church [even that portion which he had been obliged in some respects to censure] may enjoy all the blessings of Gods salvation, as they are shed forth by the Lord of the Church, including that Spirit which is the bond of its fellowship and the source of its organic life. Neander: We have in this passage the practical doctrine of the Trinity, the Father revealing His love in Christ; Christ, in and through whom he reveals Himself, and by whom the work of redemption (grace) is accomplished; and the fellowship of Divine life, which proceeds from Christ.Ewald: We cannot but feel an intense interest in knowing what was the effect of a letter containing such an unusual amount of severity. Fortunately we have some reason to conclude from Rom 15:25-27, and Act 20:2, that the result was all that could be wished. Paul actually returned to Corinth soon after sending this Epistle, and remained there for some time in peace, as he certainly could not have done, if this letter had not smoothed the way for him there, and enabled him to return to his beloved Church in triumph.
DOCTRINAL AND ETHICAL
1. Where an impenitent spirit which disregards all warning and admonition becomes manifest in a congregation, there is no other way than to administer discipline with severity. And yet the minister of Christ should always be careful to produce the impression that he is by no means proud of his official authority, but that he rather feels humbled under the hand of God when he finds that he is compelled to administer discipline with severity. He must indeed never spare, when he is called to act in behalf of Christs authority, if it is evident that his forbearance will be imputed to a want of power in that Lord whom he represents, and whose organ he is known to be. Every one should be made to see not only that a minister, in imitation of his Divine Master, may for awhile lay aside his power and oven appear feeble as he bears and forbears with his brethren, but that through the same Divine power which raised his Lord from the weakness of the cross to the might of an absolute and all-sufficient life, he possesses a living power for the accomplishment of those objects which are essential to the office he has received, and to his-triumph over all who oppose him in his lawful work. But the same love which, on suitable occasions, refrains from all assertions of authority, will also incline him to make every exertion to avoid any necessity for its exercise. He will admonish, entreat and implore God that every thing which insolently puts Christ in him to the proof whether His threatenings are seriously intended, and whether He will venture to execute them, may disappear; that all who have been refractory and disorderly may have their attention turned rather to themselves to see whether they are in the faith and whether Christ is in them, and that so they may be restablished in Christian fellowship, may do that which is good, and may be saved from the necessity of discipline. It will be a pleasure to him when he is able to exchange severity for gentleness, even though he may thus have the appearance of weakness. His only care will be so to conduct himself that Divine truth may be vindicated, that complete order may be secured, and that practical religion may be promoted.
2. Where Jesus Christ causes His grace to abound, and abundantly forgives, blesses and saves men, the love of God is revealed, and God Himself is freely and powerfully communicated to our souls. When this is the case and our souls are sealed by His grace, this love will be shed abroad in the heart by the Holy Ghost, we shall be of one mind, we shall seek for the things that make for peace, we shall rejoice in the Lord, we shall earnestly aspire after perfection, and never want consolation when we are in trouble. In this manner the Church will be built up; and it is a blessed work to co-operate in the production of such a result by praising this grace and love, by bringing men into the communion of the Holy Ghost and by confirming them in it. No one, however, can perform such a work unless he knows by experience what it is to rejoice in this grace, love and communion, and regards it as his highest privilege to continue to do so.
HOMILETICAL AND PRACTICAL
Starke:2Co 12:19. That no impediments may be thrown in the way of our work, we must, though with humble diffidence, repel those assaults which may be made upon it; but we must be especially careful lest we use such means of defence as will only make matters worse. Those who truly servo God, speak as though they were conscious of being ever before God in Christ, as though they were in communion with Him, and were under His direction.
2Co 12:20. Where love is wanting, hatred will be found, and will break forth into every kind, of discord, though all its forms will show a family likeness to one another.
Hedinger: 2Co 12:21. How distressing to look upon such disorders! Those whose hearts are still bleeding from the wounds which former sins, especially those of lewdness and impurity, have left upon the conscience, should be careful that those wounds be properly healed, and that the old sore is not liable to break out afresh. Isa 38:15.Spener:
Chap. 13. If. Even when we conclude that spiritual discipline does not call for a public judicial process, it should not be entered upon without reflection. If sinners have no fear of punishment, they will flatter themselves with the hope of impunity in sin.Hedinger:To bear long is not necessarily to bear always. Even Elisha finally called for the bears, Samuel grasped the sword, and Elijah invoked fire from heaven, when time and patience were exhausted. Scoff not at God, who will surely give testimony in behalf of His servants.
2Co 13:3. Let us see to it, that we do not so conduct ourselves that Christ is obliged to put forth His hand to punish rather than to assist us. The threatenings of Gods faithful ministers will not be found empty words.Hedinger:
2Co 13:4. Rejoice, for the Lord is King, and reigns in the midst of His enemies! Let no one be intimidated when the powers of darkness seem to prevail! If we would be exalted, we must humble ourselves and cheerfully bear Christs cross.Spener:
2Co 13:5. Many know not their own selves; for while some think too well of their own goodness, others are faint-hearted. A faithful self-examination would rectify all such errors. Most of us by nature have the bad habit of trying our neighbors and seeking a proof of what is in them, but of neglecting the same thing with respect to ourselves, Mat 7:1-3.Hedinger:Thou sayest: I am a Christian, a child of glory! But hast thou proved this? Art thou really sure of it? Is it not possible that thou hast taken up with a vain conceit and received base coin for gold? Let every one search his own heart diligently, and if he finds Christ and the graces of Christs Spirit there, if Christian love and a fraternal spirit reigns there, all is well.Spener:While we examine ourselves, we almost invariably are led to pray that the Lord also would search and make us know our hearts, Psa 139:23-24.If we have a faith which works by love, we have good evidence of our gracious state and of our salvation. Such an examination of ourselves is of great importance: 1, because our hearts are naturally so corrupt and our self-love is so inordinate that we never discover evil in ourselves without great difficulty; 2, because in the midst of so many cares and so much intercourse with our fellow-men, we are in danger of neglecting to watch over our thoughts, words, etc.; 3, because of the injury which is sure to follow the omission of this duty, in our continuance under delusive fancies, or our relapse into them; 4, because of the benefits which a frequent self-examination must bring, in the increase of faith, in assurance of salvation, in our security against apostasy, in our growing union and intimacy with God, in our better acquaintance with our faults, and in our purification from them by Divine grace. But the object or this trial is, to ascertain: 1, whether we have been truly converted, believe in Christ, and are united to Him, and whether we have the comforts and put forth the fruits of faith, such as the love of God and of our neighbor, delight in spiritual things, an inclination to every form of obedience, earnestness in prayer, lively hope, patience, etc.; 2, how successful we have been in following Jesus. The result will be, that we shall recognize what is good in ourselves with humility and thankfulness to God, and what is wrong with contrition, and prayer for forgiveness; we shall lay hold upon Divine grace with greater eagerness; and we shall arouse ourselves to walk before God with increased earnestness. It should be a special object of such an examination to discover what sins most easily beset us, and to what extent we have succeeded in laying them aside.
2Co 13:7. Preachers will find it better to use their staff of office with gentleness, than to put forth the power given them so as to give pain.
2Co 13:10. Think it not for thy injury that thy spiritual guide has touched thee rather roughly, for proud flesh needs a corrosive plaster.
2Co 13:11. We must not be surprised that believers should not unfrequently be depressed with internal as well as external afflictions, notwithstanding the seeds of spiritual joy they always possess. The admonition therefore can never come amiss, that they should be of good cheer and be joyful in the Lord.Many heads, many minds! Look therefore continually to Christ or thou canst never come to Him. God dwells in souls exercised to good works through faith in Christ.
2Co 13:13. Every minister should reflect whether such a salutation could go forth from him to his hearers in the spirit of the Apostle, with an earnest desire for their salvation and with a sincere faith in God; but it equally becomes these hearers to consider carefully whether they are prepared to appropriate such a salutation to themselves, and to confirm it with an earnest prayer and a hearty amen before God.There are many who are unreasonable enough to long for the grace of Jesus Christ and the love of the Father, but are unwilling to be directed and sanctified by the Holy Ghost.Let every one who reads and desires a part in the blessings promised in Gods word, unite in applying this benediction to all, and add his hearty amen!
Berlenb. Bible, 2Co 12:20 :Such are the disorders which follow a removal from the simplicity of the Gospel.How much reason has a sincere child of God for sorrow and humiliation when he thinks of the abomination of desolation in the holy places of the Church at the present time, and when he finds that everything there is disordered, that self-conceit, false wisdom, and confusion so generally prevails, and that almost every mans hand is turned against his brother!2Co 13:2 : We must never connive at wickedness. But if it is willing to come to the light it should be freely forgiven.
2Co 12:4. It is Gods way sometimes to seem very small in His servants, but if they are despised, He manifests Himself in His greatness.
2Co 12:5. There is no point on which men are so liable to be deceived as with reference to their own faith. On no point therefore should they be more careful to examine themselves. Unconverted men and hypocrites never prove their own selves. And yet no one can enjoy communion with God without it, for such a communion requires us to give up self-love for Gods love, and to pass an impartial judgment upon ourselves.Those who pay no attention to their condition, and never reflect whether they are prepared for another world, will surely be unable to abide the fiery trial of Gods justice and will be cast away and dashed in pieces as worthless vessels.The human heart is a fathomless abyss; we only need closely and properly to observe it to find in it every day some new thing to humble us before God and to make us willing to be judged by God and man. We must not, however, be insensible of the good which God has wrought in our hearts, for we shall never have courage to fight against our sins, if we know not our interest in Christ.Especially should we examine whether we have that peace with God through Jesus Christ, which excites us to pray, to strive against sin, to praise God, to walk before Him, and to hunger and thirst after righteousness; and whether all our hope is built upon a consciousness of faith in Christ and love to God. Nor should we be satisfied unless we find these evidences during the whole course of our lives.No one will become free from sin unless he is willing truly to know himself.
2Co 12:11. Where love and peace reign, the heart becomes a temple in which God is adored and praised in spirit and in truth.
2Co 12:13. Such is the order in which God conveys His blessings to men. Christ and His grace must precede everything else, or our evil consciences will prevent us from trusting to the love of God. Both are united together in our hearts by the fellowship of the Holy Ghost, This three-fold band encircles all who are willing to be the Lords, and makes them children of the Father, members of the Son, and temples of the Holy Ghost. Amen!
Rieger:2Co 12:20 f. We are sometimes too careful to conceal those sins which take place in our own hearts and in our Christian community, and the consequence is they are not thoroughly removed. Where we do not bring what has been done in former times with sufficient honesty into the light of Divine truth, and to the forgiving and sanctifying grace of God, great mischief will afterwards spring from them.2Co 13:1. In matters of conscience we should hold ourselves to the strictest method of proceeding. Even those remarks and judgments which Christians pass upon one another, should be so thoroughly considered that they will bear an examination like that which is given to the most suspected witness in a judicial process.
2Co 12:4. From His advent into the world until the close of His earthly career, Christ made Himself so weak that sinners thought they could do with Him as they pleased. But He now possesses through Divine power a life, in which He not only has life in Himself, but He gives life to the world, and sends His Spirit to make even the word of His cross the power of God unto salvation. A life of faith in the Son of God is even now a life of Divine power. Those who are troubled about their infirmities, will find that in losing life they receive a life eternal.
2Co 12:5. A faith which does not bring us into communion with God, nor bring Christ and His Spirit into the heart, will never abide the test.
2Co 12:7. Our threatenings and punishments must have the unction of prayer, or they will accomplish no good results. We not unfrequently find that we can get no access to men until we have found access to God.
2Co 12:11. Even where considerable faults are known to exist among brethren, we must come back to the common relation in which we all stand to one another, that by its means all may be awakened to joy without giving up their faith.
2Co 12:13. Every good thing we have or hope for from God, must come to us through the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ. The love of God can be exercised only toward those who find pardon and access to him through Jesus Christ. And it is only through the fellowship of the Holy Ghost that God will have or maintain any union with those whom he loves (Joh 14:23).May we all be justified by grace, as pardoned sinners be the objects of Divine love, and as temples of the triune God be restored and glorified by Spiritual communion. May every soul have a part in this faith and in this prayer. Amen.
Heubner:2Co 12:20 f. Every Church should be always ready to let any of Christs ministers examine carefully into its affairs. Chap. 13. If. There are certain limits beyond which Christian meekness cannot go, whether in the use of gentle or severe measures. But whatever change circumstances may call for in our outward action, our hearts should always be animated by the same benevolent spirit. The Christian should always act with energy.
2Co 12:3. God not unfrequently disciplines His people with severity, and they should not be unwilling to be severe with themselves. What is a single preacher against an army of soldiers? And yet he has mighty power with them. Christ will live forever and will hold His sceptre over the world. Few worldly men imagine how completely He is their Lord.
2Co 12:5. To be displeased with Christs word shows plainly that faith is dying or dead. Only those who examine themselves can truly know whether they have this faith, for no other one can determine this for them. Then the only evidence which can prove that we possess it is Christ living and working in our hearts, and our hearts burning with love at the thought of Him. How few tried Christians would be found, if this only true test were faithfully applied!
2Co 12:7. A faithful minister thinks only of the interest of souls, and not of his own authority or reputation among men.
2Co 12:9. A genuine teacher always rejoices to see his pupil become wiser than himself.
2Co 12:10. The church which gives heed to gentle and kind suggestions is much more advanced than one which can be moved only by harsh measures. The object of all spiritual power is the salvation of the Church.
2Co 12:11. God is never in a church except where the conditions required in this verse are fulfilled. Where these are complied with, Gods Spirit reigns.
2Co 12:13. Through the Son we become children of the Father and temples of the Holy Ghost.
W. F. Besser:
2Co 12:4. We may derive much benefit and comfort from contemplating the form of weakness which Christ endured during His life and on the cross, since it is the form of One who has been invested with Divine power, having entered into His glory by the power of that Father who has raised him from the dead, and of that Son who was raised from the dead, and of that Holy Ghost who declared and demonstrated that this Son of God and this Son of Mary was the Prince of life (Rom 6:4; Rom 1:4). The same Divine power which raised up Christ from the dead and set Him upon the throne of heaven, is the source of all faith in the hearts of believers (Eph 1:19-20), and is concerned in the whole work of the ministry for the consolation of the penitent and the punishment of the impenitent.
2Co 12:5. We learn two things here: a. that we may imagine ourselves to be in the faith when we are not; and b. that whoever deceives himself in this matter, so essential to his everlasting salvation, is criminally guilty for it; for God has made it the privilege and the duty of every man by faithful self-examination to ascertain with confidence whether he is in the faith.
2Co 12:7. A ministers fitness for his work will appear in two ways: a. from the good results of his labors (2Co 3:3); b. from his seasonable punishment of evil conduct.
2Co 12:11. This friendly admonition: Live in peace, throws the peaceful bond of brotherly love around the whole body of believers (Eph 4:3), and is like a lock which holds together the whole chain of exhortations running through both these Epistles. Oh, that the peace which breathes here these Apostolic words might be imparted to all men! To all sons of peace, who rest in peace as on a mothers bosom, belongs the promise: The God of love and peace shall be with you!
2Co 12:13. The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ and the love of God will not be far off, but pervadingly nigh the assemblies of Gods saints; for among them the Holy Spirits communion has its especial habitation and sphere of action (1Co 3:16). As the Holy Spirit communicates Himself to them through the word and sacraments, He produces and maintains in them a holy fellowship with the Triune God and with each other. As often as we hear these words of Apostolic benediction, it is only as the spirit of that faith which has for centuries communicated so many blessings to those who have received it, awakes within us, that the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the communion of the Holy Ghost, is with us and with all saints!
Florey:
2Co 12:13. How happy is our lot if our souls are united by a perpetual bond of living faith to the Triune God! This thoughta. keeps before us every day the great object that we should seek for ourselves, viz.: forgiveness through Christ, assurance of Gods love, and strength by means of the Spirits power; b. makes us see that in every event of life we should strive to confirm and strengthen our fellowship with God; c. gives us strong consolation in every affliction in the consciousness that Almighty aid is always at hand; and d. instructs us with respect to the true wisdom, the true reason, the spirit, the object, and the proper range of all our prayers.
Footnotes:
[1][Stanley (with whom Wordsworth agrees) thinks it unlikely that Paul would express himself so formally and yet so imperfectly if he merely intended to speak of the usual legal process. He therefore contends that the journeys of the Apostle, accomplished or intended, occupy throughout the Epistle a prominent place in his mind; and now they seem to him to assume almost a distinct personal existence, as though each constituted a separate attestation to his assertion. He, as it were, appears to himself, a different person, and, therefore, a different witness in each journey accomplished or proposed. The first witness was that which he had delivered during his first visit, or in his first Epistle (1Co 4:20); to which he refers in the words: I have said before (). The second witness was that which he now bore on his present journey and through his present Epistle, which was intended to supply the place of the journey once intended (2Co 1:15; 1Co 16:7) but now abandoned by him. To this he refers in the word I speak beforehand, i.e., before my next visit; and he strengthens this witness by representing himself as in a manner present on that second visit which had really been postponed ( ). It is by thus reckoning his second Epistle as being virtually a second visit, or at least a second witness, that he was enabled in the first verse, to call the visit which was now about to be actually accomplished, his third visit. And this hird visit would be reckoned as the third witness, if it were necessary that the words quoted from Deut. were to be literally complied with. We have thought it fair that this view (which had so general a support in ancient, and until recent, times), should be thus fairly presented, but we agree with Barnes when he says, that with all respect due to such great names, it seems to us that this is trifling and childish in the extreme. Hodge: Three visits are not the testimony of three witnesses.]
[22]2Co 12:19.Rec. has [with D. E. K. L. Sin. (3d hand), many cursives, versions, and Greek Fathers], but the preponderating evidence is in favor of [with A. B. F. G. Sin. the Vulg. and several ancient Lat. versions. The latter word standing at the beginning of a sentence is without an example in the N. T., and is in itself so difficult a reading as to seem improbable; inasmuch as it makes the whole sentence refer to past instead of present time (Heb 1:1); but this only makes it more likely to have been altered. Bloomfield and Wordsworth and Conybeare still adhere decidedly to , but Tisch., Lachm., Alford, Stanley, and most recent editors are equally decided in behalf of , and are disposed to regard either as the mistake of transcribers, or as a conjectural emendation and reminiscence of the parallel 2Co 3:1.]
[23]2Co 12:19.Rec. has for , as it had also in 2Co 2:17.
[24]2Co 12:20.Lachmann has for , but it has no sufficient authority. [That of Sin. has since been added to that of A. a number of cursives, Syr. Arm.verss., and Chrys. and Theophyl. in favor of Lachmanns reading. B. D. E.F. G. K. L., et al., the Ital. Syr. (later) Copt. Goth. versions, Theodt. Damasc. Tert. Ambrosiast. have .]
[25]2Co 12:20.Rec. has . but has better evidence in its favor. [The plural never occurs in classical nor Septuagint Greek. This, as well as the preceding may have been a correction to conform to the other plurals in the verse and to usage. Bloomf. thinks they were a provincialism, and probably genuine. Tisch. has with , while Sin. has with ].
[26]2Co 12:21.Rec. has .; but it is the lectio facilior, and it has the least authority. [ has A. B. F. G. Sin. and many Fathers in its favor. Most MSS. which have the accus. omit also the subsequent before . This suggests that both must have been attempted corrections.]
[27]2Co 12:21.Rec. has , but is better authenticated. The former was an attempt to make the word conform to the preceding subjunctive; [and yet it has A. K. Sin. and many Fathers. It may have been as Alford suggests, an itacism. The latter word has been adopted by Lachm. and Tisch.]
[28]2Co 13:1.Cod. A.reads . . . has in its behalf also Sin. (3d hand), many cursives (some omit ), the Vulg. and Ethiop. verss., and Damasc. Theophyl. and Aug.; but it was doubtless borrowed from 2Co 12:14. The . . has also for it the Syr. and Copt. verss., but it was probably taken from the same passage. Sin. also has . before with some less important authorities, and instead of , with the Vulg. and Arm. versions. Such authority, however, is hardly sufficient for either.]
[29]2Co 13:2.Rec. has after . It appears to have been an addition to conform to 2Co 12:10. The best MSS. [A. B. D. F. Sin.] are against it.
[30]2Co 13:4.After the first the Rec. has , but it is not found in the best MSS. [B. D. F. G. K. Sin. (3d hand inserts , as do also the Syr. Vulg. Goth. and several Greek Fathers). It appears to have been a correction on account of the doctrinal offence which the text without it gave]. See Exeget notes.
[31]2Co 13:4.The second of the Rec. [after and before ], has only feeble authority.
[32][2Co 13:4.For before A. F. Sin. have , and for before the last some less important MSS. have , by an obvious interchange].
[33]2Co 13:4.Much better authority [A. B. D. F. Sin. Damasc.] is found for than for of the Rec. [D. (3d hand) E. K. L. Chrys. Theodt].
[34]2Co 13:4.Lachmann puts in brackets, but it has ample authority in its favor. [The only important authorities for its omission are B. and Chrysostom].
[35]2Co 13:7.Rec. has so as to conform to . has decidedly better evidence.
[36]2Co 13:9.Rec. has . The best MSS. leave out the .
[37]2Co 13:14.The is not critically well established. It is wanting in the best MSS. [A. B. F. L. Sin. et al.]
[38][The whole comment of Chrysostom on this verse is so characteristic a specimen of his discrimination and acuteness, that I cannot resist the inclination to transcribe it:It was not hiere out of arrogance, nor the authority of a teacher, hut out of a fathers tender concern, when he is more fearful and trembling than the sinners are themselves at that which is likely to reform them. And not even so does he run them down (), nor make an absolute assertion, but says doubtingly (): lest perchance when I come etc. Nor does he call them not virtuous or wicked (), but: I shall not find you such as I would; everywhere employing terms of affection. And the words: I shall find, are those of one who would express what is out of natural expectation ( ), as are also those: I shall be found by you: For the thing is not of deliberate choice, hut of a necessity originating with you. Wherefore he says: I shall be found such as ye would not. He said not here: such as I would not, but with more severity: such as ye wish not for it would in that case become his own will, not indeed what he would first have willed, but his will nevertheless. For he might indeed have said again, such as I would not, and so have shown his love; but he wishes not to relax () his hearer. Yea, rather, his words would in that case have been even harsher (), but now he has at once dealt them a smarter blow, and showed himself more gentle. For this is the characteristic of his wisdom ( , ), cutting more deeply, to strike more gently].
Fuente: A Commentary on the Holy Scriptures, Critical, Doctrinal, and Homiletical by Lange
19 Again, think ye that we excuse ourselves unto you? we speak before God in Christ: but we do all things, dearly beloved, for your edifying.
Ver. 19. That we excuse ourselves ] And so yield a fault.
I speak before God ] The witness of my innocence,Job 16:19Job 16:19 ; Gen 20:6 .
For your edifying ] While ye conceive no ill opinion of us, which, like muddy water in a vessel, might cause the most precious liquor of our doctrine to run over.
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
19 21. ] He refutes the notion which might arise in the minds of his readers, that he was vindicating himself BEFORE THEM as judges , see 1Co 4:3 ; and assures them that he does all for their good, fearing in what state he might find them on his arrival .
Fuente: Henry Alford’s Greek Testament
19. ] was misunderstood, and appears to have been a conjectural emendation, from ch. 2Co 3:1 ; 2Co 5:12 . does not suit the interrogative form of the sentence, which would throw it out into too strong emphasis. Lachmann, Tischdf. (Exo 7 [and 8]), Meyer, De Wette read it as in text: Ye have been some time imagining (i.e. during this my self-defence) that it is to you that I am defending myself . Then the answer follows: the assumption being made, and elliptically answered, as in 2Co 12:16 .
. is emphatic, and opposed to .
. , as in ch. 2Co 2:17 , which see.
] supply either , or better understand as ‘all our things ’ ( 1Co 16:14 ), i.e. our words and deeds, and supply , as there. Grot., Gries-bach, Scholz, and Olsh., would read , and join with . But (1) Paul never uses the pronoun ; and (2) if he did, it must apply to what follows, not to what has preceded.
The insertion of the personal pronoun between the article and the noun, as in . , occurs, as A. Buttmann has correctly remarked (see Moulton’s Winer, p. 193, note 4), in Paul only (see reff.), and with no other pronoun than .
Fuente: Henry Alford’s Greek Testament
2Co 12:19-21 . HIS GLORYING HAS NOT BEEN BY WAY OF APOLOGY, BUT TO EDIFY THEM UNTO REPENTANCE.
Fuente: The Expositors Greek Testament by Robertson
2Co 12:19 . f1 . . .: ye are thinking this long time ( i.e. , since they read 2Co 11:1 ff.; for cf. Mat 11:21 , Heb 1:1 , 2Pe 1:9 ) that we are excusing ourselves to you , which is very far from his intention ( cf. 1Co 4:3 ). On the contrary, in the sight of God speak we in Christ (as he had said before, 2Co 2:17 ). But all the things, sc. , which we speak, beloved, are for your edifying, sc. , of which you sorely stand in need.
Fuente: The Expositors Greek Testament by Robertson
NASB (UPDATED) TEXT: 2Co 12:19-21
19All this time you have been thinking that we are defending ourselves to you. Actually, it is in the sight of God that we have been speaking in Christ; and all for your upbuilding, beloved. 20For I am afraid that perhaps when I come I may find you to be not what I wish and may be found by you to be not what you wish; that perhaps there will be strife, jealousy, angry tempers, disputes, slanders, gossip, arrogance, disturbances; 21I am afraid that when I come again my God may humiliate me before you, and I may mourn over many of those who have sinned in the past and not repented of the impurity, immorality and sensuality which they have practiced.
2Co 12:19 “All this time” Paul is referring to his current letter (i.e., 2 Corinthians ).
“you have been thinking that we are defending ourselves to you” This is a sarcastic remark. Paul knew this church well. They had an inflated estimation of their own worth and freedom.
“it is in the sight of God” Paul used this very phrase in 2Co 2:17, where he takes an oath of truthfulness before God.
“all for your upbuilding” Paul mentions his authority using this very term in 2Co 10:8. He defended himself to defend and protect this misguided church. His actions were for them, not for himself. See SPECIAL TOPIC: EDIFY at 1Co 8:1.
“beloved” Paul addresses this church with forthrightness, yet great love. This was a term of endearment (cf. 1Co 10:14; 1Co 15:58; 2Co 7:1; 2Co 12:19).
2Co 12:20 This accurately reflects the 1 Corinthian description of this church toward each other and towards Paul.
“strife” See full note at 1Co 2:11.
This term and the next are singular (cf. MSS P46, , A), but the other terms in the list are plural.
“jealousy” In this context it refers to a party or factious spirit (cf. 1Co 3:3). See note at 2Co 9:2.
“angry tempers” This refers to an outburst of rage (cf. Gal 5:20; Eph 4:31; Col 3:8).
“disputes” This term (i.e., eritheia) originally meant “to spin for hire.” It came to be used for an aristocratic arrogance against those who had to work for a living. This attitude fits the factional rivalry of 1 Corinthians, especially chapter 11. This term is used often by Paul (cf. Rom 2:8; Gal 5:20; Php 1:17; Php 2:3; and also see James’ use in Jas 3:14; Jas 3:16).
“slanders” This refers to speaking evil of another person, to defame them (cf. Rom 1:30; 2Co 12:20; Jas 4:11; 1Pe 2:1; 1Pe 2:12; 1Pe 3:16). This activity is used to describe the activity of Satan.
“gossip” This is the term “whisper,” which refers to tale-bearing behind someone’s back in private.
“arrogance” The Greek term phusio originally meant to inflate or puff up something (i.e., Robertson, Word Pictures in the New Testament, p. 105 and Vincent, Word Studies, p. 766, from phusa – bellows). It came to be used in Christian literature (possibly coined by Paul) metaphorically for pride or arrogance. This was a major spiritual problem for the church at Corinth. Paul uses this word in 1Co 4:6; 1Co 4:18-19; 1Co 5:2; 1Co 8:1; 1Co 13:4; and in a list of sins in 2Co 12:20. It is only used outside the Corinthian letters in the NT in Col 2:18, where it refers to gnostic visions of special knowledge.
NASB”disturbances”
NKJV”tumults”
NRSV, TEV”disorder”
NJB”disorders”
See note at 1Co 14:33. This was a factious church. This term is also used in Jas 3:16.
There are several lists of vices in Paul’s writings (cf. Rom 1:29-31; 1Co 5:11; 1Co 6:9; Gal 5:19-21; Eph 4:31; Eph 5:34; Col 3:5-9). In many ways they parallel the vice lists of the Stoics. Christianity demands an ethical response. Eternal life has observable, moral characteristics.
2Co 12:21 Paul worried that if this church did not repent he would be forced to exercise his Apostolic authority when he came back (cf. 2Co 13:2). Some of the factions (i.e., 1 Corinthians) and false teachers (i.e., 2 Corinthians ) were apparently leading godless lives of self indulgence.
NASB, TEV,
NJB”humiliate”
NKJV, NRSV
NIV”humble”
Paul uses this root term in several senses in his Corinthian letters (taken from Harold K Moulton, The Analytical Greek Lexicon Revised, p. 397.
1. tapeinos
a. low in situation, depressed (2Co 7:6)
b. to love meekly or without excess (2Co 10:1)
2. tapeino
a. (Middle voice) to live in humble condition (2Co 11:7)
b. to be humble with respect to hopes and expectations; to be depressed with disappointment (2Co 12:21)
“mourn” See note at 1Co 5:2.
“those who have sinned in the past” This whole phrase translates one article and participle used only here and in 2Co 13:2. It is a perfect active participle of the Greek preposition pro (i.e., before) and hamartan (i.e., to sin). The combined sense is those who have sinned and continue to sin. The concept of “past” is not included, but an addition of the translators. Time is only included in the indicative mood.
“repented” This verse obviously refers to Christians who continue to sin. Repentance is crucial, not only initially (cf. Mar 1:15; Act 2:38; Act 2:41; Act 3:16; Act 3:19; Act 20:21), but continuously (cf. 1Jn 1:9). Repentance for a believer restores ellowship, not salvation! Repentance is an attitude toward God and self more than a specific set of spiritual acts or steps. See full note at 2Co 7:8-11
“the impurity, immorality and sensuality” We must remember the godless, lustful culture out of which these new believers from Corinth came. They had grown up with sexual excess and debauchery in the name of the gods. However, notice that this verse also mentions the means by which Christians deal with sin in their livesrepentance (cf. 1Jn 1:9; Psa 19:12-14). Faith and repentance are both initial and ongoing spiritual experiences in the Christian’s life.
This list may reflect the actions of the false teachers who emphasized Greek rhetorical style, which may imply that they had also been exposed to Gnosticism, which emphasized knowledge, but depreciated ethical standards. All of these terms are listed in Paul’s sins of the flesh in Gal 5:19. Justification must not/cannot be separated from sanctification!
Fuente: You Can Understand the Bible: Study Guide Commentary Series by Bob Utley
excuse ourselves = are making an apology. Greek. apologeomai. See Act 19:33.
speak. Greek. laleo, as in 2Co 12:4.
dearly beloved. Greek. agapetos. App-136.
edifying. Greek. oikodome. See 1Co 3:9.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
19-21.] He refutes the notion which might arise in the minds of his readers, that he was vindicating himself BEFORE THEM as judges, see 1Co 4:3; and assures them that he does all for their good, fearing in what state he might find them on his arrival.
Fuente: The Greek Testament
2Co 12:19. ) Some read :[88] a reading indeed, which would imply a more determined aversion of mind from Paul on the part of the Corinthians; comp. ch. 2Co 3:1; for , with a verb in the present tense, denotes long-continued perseverance. Plato in Gorgias, , but as I said long before, so I still say. The more approved reading is ; comp. again ch. 2Co 3:1.-, to you) as if it were necessary for our own sake in this way to retain your favour.- , for your edification) that you may rather see, than experience with sorrow, how much I am an apostle.
[88] ABGf Vulg. read . Only D () g of the oldest authorities support the of the Rec. Text.-ED.
Fuente: Gnomon of the New Testament
2Co 12:19
2Co 12:19
Ye think all this time that we are excusing ourselves unto you.-They thought it was to them that he was making his defense; but he repudiated the idea that he had any wish to enter into such a vindication. He had explained his conduct (2Co 1:15-24; 2Co 8:20-24; 2Co 11:7-12), but he did not acknowledge that he stood before their judgment seat. [It would have been impossible, under any circumstances, for an apostle to place himself before a human tribunal for judgment (1Co 2:15; 1Co 4:4), but it was strikingly necessary to repudiate the jurisdiction of that section of his readers which he was then addressing, because they had shown a bias in favor of his accusers.]
In the sight of God speak we in Christ.-The motive which really prompted him to speak as he had spoken was not the wish to clear himself from aspersion, but before God in Christ-under a profound sense that God was his judge, and that Christ is, as it were, the sphere in which his thoughts revolve.
But all things, beloved, are for your edifying.-[All he had done was for their welfare. The vindication of his character, and his effort to free their minds from prejudices, had been that they might have unwavering confidence in the gospel, and be built up in their faith in Christ.]
Fuente: Old and New Testaments Restoration Commentary
think: 2Co 3:1, 2Co 5:12
we speak: 2Co 11:10, 2Co 11:31, Rom 9:1
but: 2Co 5:13, 2Co 10:8, 2Co 13:10, 1Co 9:12-23, 1Co 10:33, 1Co 14:26
dearly: 2Co 12:15, 2Co 7:1, Rom 12:19, 1Co 10:14, Phi 4:1
Reciprocal: Joh 8:14 – yet Act 9:31 – were edified Act 22:1 – my Rom 8:37 – Nay 1Co 4:6 – for 1Co 4:14 – write 1Co 10:23 – edify Gal 1:10 – do I seek Eph 4:12 – the edifying 1Th 5:11 – and edify
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
2Co 12:19. Paul did not make the preceding argument as an excuse (he needed no such defence), but was speaking the truth in the fear of God in Christ. He was speaking for the sake of these brethren whom he loved, and for their edification.
Fuente: Combined Bible Commentary
2Co 12:19. Ye think all this time[1] that we are excusing ourselves unto you. In this ye much mistake me.
[1] , not , as in the received text.
In the sight of God speak we in Christ:We look higher; having respect before the great Searcher of hearts, in every word we write, only to the Master whom we represent (the same words occur in chap. 2Co 2:17).
But all things, beloved, are for your edifying. Your good throughout has been our object; and there was need.
Fuente: A Popular Commentary on the New Testament
As if the apostle had said, “Think not that for any sinister or by-ends of my own, I excuse myself so often to you, for deferring so long my promised and intended journey among you; for all I do is with an eye to your advantage. ‘Tis your benefit and reformation I aim at; for verily I fear, whenever I come, I shall find those sins unrepented of, and unhumbled for, by many of you, which will be matter of humiliation, sorrow, and lamentation, to me; and that I must be necessitated, contrary to my inclinations and desires, to inflict censures and corporal punishments upon many among you, for the schisms, debates, and strifes, of some; for the uncleanness, fornication, and lasciviousness, of others.”
Note here, 1. What great disorders and scandalous crimes were found in the church of Corinth, and yet she retained the denomination and character of a true church: the apostle fears, and not without cause, that he should find debates, envyings, wrath, and strifes, among them, the usual and necessary consequences of schisms and factions in the church.
Note, 2. That notwithstanding all these corruptions and scandalous abuses, St. Paul neither separate from them. Nothing will justify a separation from a church, but that which makes a separation between God and that church, namely, heresy in doctrine, or idolatry in worship.
Fuente: Expository Notes with Practical Observations on the New Testament
Verse 19 Instead of defending himself before them, Paul was laying out the facts in the sight of God, who is the judge. Paul had done all to teach them, as God knew.
Fuente: Gary Hampton Commentary on Selected Books
2Co 12:19-21. Again, think ye that we excuse ourselves That I say all this to insinuate myself into your esteem for any secular ends? We speak before God in Christ As if he had said, I have a higher end in view, namely, the glory of God, in whose presence I speak it; for we do all things for your edifying Your edification is the end I have in view, in this and all other things that I do concerning you. For I fear And have I not reason so to do? lest when I come With a heart full of Christian tenderness, and with all imaginable readiness to do every thing in my power to comfort and refresh your spirits; I shall not find you such as I would Namely, truly reformed persons; and that I should be found unto you By inflicting necessary censures and punishments upon you; such as ye would not I should be. I fear I shall have some work before me of a very unpleasant kind, and which I would desire, if possible, by this admonition to prevent. Lest there should be debates , contentions; envyings Or emulations, as also signifies; wraths
For injuries received; strifes Arising from a clashing either of opinions or secular interests; backbitings Speaking evil of the absent; whisperings Insinuations uttered secretly against others; swellings Vain boastings, by which proud and ambitious men endeavour to make themselves look big in the eyes of their fellows; tumults Factions, disorderly parties raised against me, and your proper authorized ministers; lest when I come my God will humble me By showing me your church, which I planted, corrupted with many vices; and I shall bewail Shall mourn over; many who have sinned, and have not repented Notwithstanding my many admonitions. The incestuous person was not of this number; for he had repented, 2Co 2:7-8. Those of whom the apostle speaks, were probably such as had not refrained from partaking in the idolatrous sacrifices of the heathen, and from the lewd practices connected with idolatry, to which, by their former customs and habits, they were still addicted. Of the uncleanness, &c., which they have committed By uncleanness, Estius thinks the apostle meant those sins of the flesh, which are against nature; by fornication The conjunction of male and female out of marriage; lasciviousness He says, consists in lustful looks, touches, motions, and other things of that kind. But by lasciviousness, Bengelius understands sodomy, bestiality, and other vices contrary to nature. But, says Macknight, although some of the faction at Corinth may have been guilty of uncleanness, fornication, and lasciviousness, in the ordinary sense of these words, fancying, through the prejudices of their education, that these things were no sins, I scarcely think that any of them, after their conversion, would continue in the commission of the unnatural crimes mentioned by Estius and Bengelius. One thing is evident: in the absence of the apostle, the exercise of a proper Christian discipline must have been awfully neglected in this church, otherwise such scandalous sinners would have been excluded from it.
Fuente: Joseph Bensons Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
Ye think all this time that we are excusing ourselves unto you. In the sight of God speak we in Christ. But all things, beloved, are for your edifying.
Fuente: McGarvey and Pendleton Commentaries (New Testament)
Verse 19
That we excuse ourselves; that we wish to defend ourselves.
Fuente: Abbott’s Illustrated New Testament
SECTION 19. UNLESS THE OFFENDERS REPENT, PAUL WILL RELUCTANTLY GIVE THEM SEVERE PROOF OF HIS AUTHORITY CHS. 12:19-13:10.
For a long time you are thinking that to you we are making reply. Before God, in Christ, we speak. But all things, beloved ones, are on behalf of your edification. For I fear lest in any way, when I come, not such as I wish I find you, and I be found by you such as you do not wish, lest in any way there be strife, jealousy, outbursts of fury, factions, evil-speakings, whisperings, self-inflations, disorders; lest again when I have come my God will humble me with regard to you and I bewail many of those who sinned-before and have not repented, about the uncleanness and fornication and wantonness which they practiced. This third time I am coming to you. At the mouth of two witnesses and of three every word shall stand. (Deu 19:15) I have said before and I say beforehand, as when present the second time and absent now, to those who have before sinned and to all the rest, that if I come again I will not spare. Since a proof you seek of Him who speaks in me, even Christ, who towards you is not weak but is strong in you. For indeed He was crucified through weakness, but He lives through the power of God. For we also are weak in Him, but we shall live with Him, through the power of God, towards you.
Try yourselves whether you are in faith: prove yourselves. Or, do not understand yourselves, that Jesus Christ is in you? Except perhaps you are reprobates. But I hope that you will know that we are not reprobates. But we pray to God that you do nothing bad; not that we may be seen to be approved, but that you may do the good and we be as unapproved. For we cannot do anything against the truth but on behalf of the truth. For we rejoice when we are weak but you are strong. This we also pray, your full equipment. Because of this, these things while absent I write, that when present I may not act severely, according to the authority which the Lord gave to me, for building up and not for pulling down.
Pauls boasting is now complete. He therefore returns to the matter which prompted it, viz. the misconduct of some whom he has already (2Co 10:2) threatened to punish. He writes fearing that there are evils at Corinth which will make his visit painful to him, 2Co 12:19-21 : if the sinners do not repent he will give them severe proof of his authority, 2Co 13:1-4 : but he begs them to prevent this by self-examination and well doing, 2Co 13:5-10.
2Co 12:19. For-a-long-time: viz. while listening to Pauls boasting, 2Co 11:1 to 2Co 12:18.
Making reply: anglicized into apology: same word in Rom 2:15; Act 26:1-2; Act 26:24; 1Co 9:3; 2Co 7:11.
We: as in 2Co 10:2-11 : suggested perhaps by Pauls defence (2Co 12:18) of Titus.
To you: emphatic: your approval being my aim.
Before God, in Christ, we speak: 2Co 2:17 : in the presence of God, and prompted by spiritual contact with Christ as the encompassing element of Pauls life. Cp. Rom 9:1.
All things: all he says and does, including the foregoing boast.
On behalf of your edification: to help forward your spiritual development. Notice the triple reference of Pauls words, before God, in Christ, for the spiritual growth of men. So 2Co 5:13 f. These three are ever united.
2Co 12:20-21. Explanation of the kind of edification Paul has in view in his self-defence. He has magnified his authority and has threatened to punish, to lead some guilty ones to repentance, lest he find them, and they him, other than he and they wish.
In any way: as in 2Co 11:3.
When I come: on the visit proposed in 2Co 9:4; 1Co 16:2 ff.
Be found by you: literally to you, as in Rom 7:10, denoting the influence upon them of this discovery.
Lest lest lest; expounds in full Pauls fear. The second lest introduces two classes of sins which Paul fears that he will find but does not wish to find at Corinth.
Strife, jealousy, outbursts of fury, factions: same words in same order in Gal 5:20. See under 1Co 3:3; Rom 2:8.
Evil-speakings, whisperings: Rom 1:29. Their place here reveals the evil of them.
Self-inflations: special failing of the Corinthian Christians: cognate to puffed up, 1Co 4:6; 1Co 4:18 f.
Disorders: 2Co 6:5; 1Co 14:33.
2Co 12:21. Will humble] Nothing brings a Christian teacher into the dust so much as the defection of those whom he has looked on as fruits of his labor and as his crown of rejoicing. This humiliation Paul now fears.
Again: i.e. will again humble. Its conspicuous position allows no other connection. Thus understood it has almost tragic force. For it implies (cp. 2Co 2:1) that on a previous visit Paul had already been thus humbled. And, remembering that time, he now fears that it will be so again.
My God: as in (1Co 1:4,) Rom 1:8. It is a reverent acknowledgment that even the feared humiliation, though caused by mans unfaithfulness, will be from God, i.e. taken up into His plan to work out His purposes of mercy for Paul. In regard of you, or in reference to you. Contrast 2Co 3:4; Rom 4:2.
I shall bewail: sorrow for the guilty will accompany Pauls own humiliation.
Before-sinned: probably before Pauls second visit, to which the word again refers. So before-sinned in 2Co 13:2. This does not necessarily imply that before Pauls second visit they had committed the gross sins mentioned immediately afterwards, but simply that they had committed sin. He fears that he shall find that the sins he reproved long ago (2Co 13:2) had developed into these aggravated forms.
And have not repented: at the time of Pauls expected visit, of which he is now speaking. Not all but many of those who had before sinned were, Paul fears, guilty of the gross sins mentioned below.
About the uncleanness etc.; may go with repented, but has more force as giving the specific matter of Pauls sorrow about these unrepentant ones.
Uncleanness: general sensuality.
Fornication: a specific form of it, viz. intercourse with harlots.
Wantonness: insolent casting aside of all restraint. Same three words together in Gal 5:20.
Which they have practised; gives vividness to, and lingers over, the picture.
2Co 12:21 forms with 2Co 12:20 a climax, touching what Paul fears he will find when he comes to Corinth. He has written for his readers good (2Co 12:19) strong words, because he fears there are at Corinth the evils enumerated in 2Co 12:20. He also remembers those who before his last visit had committed sins, and who have not yet repented. And he now writes fearing lest, touching many of these, he will find and will have to mourn over their gross sensuality and reckless insolence, sins far more terrible than those of 2Co 12:20. To find this at Corinth, will fill him with sorrow and smite him down to the very dust. Cp. 2Co 2:3. Therefore, seeking their edification, (2Co 12:19,) he has defended his own apostolic authority, which Jewish strangers have taught them to despise; that thus he may with more force reprove those who have sinned. He hopes thus to save himself from pain and humiliation. And the pain and humiliation which he dreads reveal the greatness of the sins he reproves.
2Co 13:1-2. Paul has already (2Co 12:20 b, 2Co 12:21) told his readers what sort of men he expects, but does not wish, to find them. He will now tell them what sort of man they will find him.
This third time; implies clearly that he has twice before been at Corinth. For the first coming was an actual visit. And Paul refers now to what will happen, not on his way towards Corinth, but after his arrival. With this he could not compare a never-completed second journey. Song of Solomon 2Co 12:14. He evidently wishes to recall, in view of a third visit, his conduct on two earlier visits.
I am coming: written from Macedonia on the way from Ephesus to Corinth. Cp. 1Co 16:5.
At the mouth etc.: word for word from Deu 19:15. When Paul comes, a church court will be held: and every charge will be judged, according to the Mosaic Law, on the evidence of two witnesses and, where available, of three. A similar quotation with the same purpose in Mat 18:16. There is no indication whatever that, as some have suggested, Pauls journeys were the witnesses; or that this word has here any but its common meaning of one who has seen and can testify.
2Co 13:2. Said-before; contrasts with his previous words on his second visit Pauls present words by letter: say-before; contrasts his present words with their approaching fulfillment. Pauls words by letter now when absent correspond with his words of mouth when present the second time, i.e. on his bygone second visit.
To those who before-sinned: i.e. before his second visit, as in 2Co 12:21. But his present words by letter apply of course to any who sinned subsequently. Before, reminds us that some had sinned long ago.
And to all the rest: all the church-members, by way of warning. The tone of uncertainty, if I come again, when Paul was actually on his way to Corinth, suggests that he here quotes his own words on the second visit.
He would then speak naturally of his next visit as coming again. Notice the emphatic prominence (cp. 2Co 2:1; 2Co 12:21) of this word.
I will not spare; is more than exclusion from the church, and suggests bodily punishment similar to that of 1Co 5:5; Act 5:5; Act 13:11. The miraculous powers in the apostolic church made more inexcusable the case of those who by open sin set at nought such powers. And now this dread power is ready to fall in supernatural punishment on those who are continuing to treat it with contempt.
Of this INTERMEDIATE VISIT of Paul to Corinth, we have no express mention. But without it the conspicuous and emphatic word again in 2Co 2:1 and 2Co 12:21, and this third time in 2Co 12:14 and 2Co 13:1, are practically meaningless; whereas with it they have almost tragic force; and xiii. 2 would otherwise be uncouth. No doubt is cast on it by absence of reference to it in the Book of Acts. For, how much of Pauls career is not mentioned there, 2Co 11:23-26 proves. That no reference is made to it in the First Epistle, is more remarkable; especially as on this unmentioned visit Paul found at Corinth the sins which in that epistle he severely condemns. (This objection is well put in Baurs Apostle Paul pt. ii. ch. 2.) Certainly the visit cannot have been later than the First extant Epistle: or the explanation in 2Co 2:3 f about that epistle would be needless. But if it took place some time before the lost letter was written, the fact that by this letter Paul had given the Corinthians a later expression of his mind about sensuality might account for his silence about the visit: whereas his thoughts, while writing this second extant letter, about his approaching visit to Corinth would naturally and sadly recall his last visit It is much easier to suppose this than to reconcile the passages referred to above with the supposition that Paul had visited Corinth only once. Opportunities of going there would be frequent during his three years (Act 19:10; Act 20:31) sojourn at Ephesus: and his anxiety about the church at Corinth would be a constant motive for such a journey. It has been suggested that the unmentioned visit was a return to Corinth after a temporary absence during Pauls eighteen months residence there But the lapse of time between his departure from Corinth narrated in Act 18:18 and the writing of this epistle, which included three years at Ephesus, makes the other supposition more likely. The whole subject is well discussed in Conybeares St. Paul, ch. xv. Dr. Farrar (Life of St. Paul vol. ii. p. 118) silently agrees with Baur in rejecting an intermediate journey.
The silence of the Book of Acts, and the indications in this epistle, suggest that the visit was short. To Paul it was (2Co 2:1; 2Co 12:21) painful and humiliating. But, instead of punishing at once those whom he then found guilty of gross sin, he threatened that, if they did not repent, he would do so at his next visit. And he now fears that; with similar sorrow and humiliation, he shall be compelled to fulfill his threat.
2Co 13:3-4. Since you seek a proof: reason why he will not spare. By punishing he will prove, to those who doubt it, his apostolic authority.
Proof of Him etc.: probably (cp. 2Co 9:13) proof afforded by Christ. But such proof is also proof that Christ speaks in Paul.
Not weak but powerful: and therefore able to give the proof sought.
Towards you: as influencing from without.
Among you: as working in the midst of you. A climax: Of Christs power towards and among the Corinthians, Paul has already given full proof, viz. (2Co 12:12) the miracles wrought in their midst and (2Co 3:2) the spiritual effects of the Gospel in their hearts. He will now add the more terrible proof of special punishment.
2Co 13:4. Proof of the (2Co 13:4 a) power of Christ (2Co 13:4 b) in Paul, in view of admitted human weakness. The crucifixion of Christ was a result of His human weakness. This involves, as does 2Co 8:9, the mystery of the Incarnation. And the dread reality of these words must not be set aside. We are here told expressly that Christ was crucified because He had not power to save Himself. Yet He is unchangeably divine, and had dwelt from eternity in infinite power. We must therefore conceive the Eternal Son as willingly taking upon Himself at His incarnation, in a mode to us inconceivable but divine, for a time and for our salvation, real human weakness; and as being in His dying moments forsaken (Mat 27:46) by God, and powerless in the hands of His enemies. The ridicule of the Jews, (Mat 27:42) others He saved: Himself He cannot save, was solemn truth. So in the garden (Mat 26:53) the only way of deliverance which Christ mentions is prayer to His Father for angelic assistance. Thus in all things He was made like His brothers: Heb 2:17.
But He lives: upon the throne.
By the power of God: who raised Him from the dead and gave Him glory, 1Pe 1:21. The resurrection of Christ is ever attributed to the Fathers power: 2Co 4:14; 1Co 15:15; Rom 4:24; Rom 6:4; Rom 8:11, etc. He who was so weak that He could not save Himself from the cross now lives by the outstretched arm of God. And the power thus manifested is proof that (2Co 13:3) Christ is powerful in His Church to save and to punish. For the power of the Father abides in those whom it rescues; even, we may reverently suppose, in the Risen God-Man. (Cp. Joh 5:26; Joh 6:57; Col 1:19.) Therefore the power of God which raised Christ is proof that Christ has power to inflict punishment in His Church.
2Co 13:4 b. Expounds speaks in me: as 2Co 13:4 a expounds who is not weak. It shows how Christs life by the power of God bears upon Paul and his readers.
Weak in Him: helpless amid peril, as Christ was and because the Spirit of Christ moves Paul to similar self-devotion for the salvation of men.
We shall live, on earth rescued from imminent peril by the power of God so as to minister for you. And, just as Christs rescue from death by the power of God is a proof of His present power towards and among His professed servants so Pauls frequent and almost miraculous deliverance from impending death, from perils endured for Christs sake, proves that in him the power of God is enabling him to exercise apostolic authority. Compare and contrast 2Co 4:7 ff; 2Co 10:1 ff. Guilty men may well fear both Him who was raised from the dead and His servant who, even within the jaws of death protected by the arm of God, continues and will continue to live.
2Co 13:5. Direct appeal, coming with great force after the solemn words of 2Co 12:20 to 2Co 13:4.
Try, or tempt: put to the test, with good or bad intention. Same word in 1Co 7:5; 1Co 10:9; 1Co 10:13; Mat 4:1; Mat 16:1; Heb 11:17; Jas 1:13; Mat 4:3; 1Th 3:5 : cognate to temptation, 1Co 10:13; Gal 4:14; 1Ti 6:9, etc.
In faith: i.e. having belief of the gospel promise of eternal life as the element of life. [The article presents this as a well-known and therefore definite object of thought.] Cp. stand in the faith, 1Co 16:13; continue in faith, 1Ti 2:15; live in the faith, Gal 2:20. Paul has in mind men guilty of open sin. But such cannot (see under Rom 10:9) believe the Gospel. He therefore urges his readers generally to search their hearts whether they are continuing in faith; that thus the guilty ones may find that they have lost the condition of salvation and no longer belong to Christ, and may by this discovery be led to repentance.
Prove: a nobler word than try, only used of a trial with good intent: find out, by testing, your own genuineness. So 2Co 8:8; 1Co 3:13; 1Co 11:28; 1Co 16:3. The addition of it here suggests a hope that the trial will be satisfactory. These words are very emphatic. Yourselves, test ye: yourselves prove ye.
Or do you not etc.: alternative appeal, which ought to supersede those going before. For, Christ in them is a proof that they are in faith. Is it needful to make the examination? do you not read your own hearts and find there marks of the presence of Christ?
Christ Jesus in you: by His Spirit giving victory over sin, prompting filial confidence in God, and reproducing the whole mind of Christ. Cp. Rom 8:9 ff; Eph 3:17. This is a result of faith; and a proof that it is not vain.
Except perhaps etc.; adds force to this question by stating the only alternative.
Reprobate, or disapproved: rejected after trial. Same word in 1Co 9:27; Rom 1:28; 2Ti 3:8; Tit 1:16; Heb 6:8.
2Co 13:6. A severe but disguised warning, in view of the foregoing alternative.
We: emphatic transition from the readers to Paul and his colleagues. Whether or not the Corinthians test themselves, their conduct will put to the proof Pauls apostolic faithfulness. In this trial he will not fail. And he hopes that they will know this. That he refers to proof given by inflicting punishment, 2Co 13:7 shows.
Reprobate: as in 2Co 13:5, one who fails in trial: chosen in order to contrast Pauls faithfulness with the faithlessness of some at Corinth. It also suggests that his faithfulness will compel him to punish. It is, like 2Co 13:3, a severe warning to those who question his authority.
I hope: 2Co 5:11. He desires that, in case of obstinacy, they may have, and may recognize, the proof.
2Co 13:7-9. A disinterested prayer for the readers, appropriately concluding the warning.
Pray to God: formal transition from the presence of men to the presence of God. Cp. 2Co 5:13.
May be seen to be approved: as is every teacher by the excellence of his pupils. Pauls prayer that they do nothing bad is not prompted, as it might easily be, by a selfish wish to gain approval through their goodness, but simply by a desire that they may do what is good And their well-doing will deprive Paul of a proof of his apostolic authority, viz. that afforded by the punishment he would inflict. In this case, he will not be reprobate i.e. one who has failed in trial; but, as destitute of the proof afforded by inflicting supernatural punishment, he may speak of himself comparatively as unapproved: same word as reprobate, 2Co 13:5. (Similarly unscrupulous rulers have sometimes wished for a weak rebellion as an occasion for showing their power to crush it.) Paul thus reminds his readers that his prayer for their good behavior is not self-seeking, but self-denial. For their continued obstinacy would magnify his power.
2Co 13:8-9 a. The foregoing unselfish prayer traced to a necessity of Pauls nature.
We cannot: because it would be contrary to our inmost disposition.
The truth: the word of God, which corresponds always with absolute reality. See under Rom 1:18. It is designed to mold mens conduct in correspondence with Gods will, that thus they may do the truth. Consequently, to lead men into sin, is to act against the truth. This, to Pauls renewed nature, was impossible. His powers like those of Christ, can be put forth only on behalf of the truth.
For we rejoice etc.: reason of this impossibility.
We, you: each emphatic.
Strong: capable of spiritual activity and endurance. Cp. Rom 15:1.
Weak: not spiritual weakness, which could not be a joy to Paul or help others to be strong. It is, as in 2Co 13:4, human incapacity for doing anything great. The spiritual strength of his readers was a joy to Paul: and this joy was not lessened by the fact that, in order to impart to them this strength, Paul himself went into positions of weakness. And this was with him an abiding principle. For the objects which give us joy determine our whole character. And this joy of Paul kept him back from doing anything to hinder the truth from molding his readers conduct; and compelled him to put forth his powers on behalf of the truth.
Consequently, since for their strength he was willing to be weak, he cannot wish them to persevere in sin that thus he may have an opportunity of showing his apostolic power. For this would run counter to his very heart, which rejoices in their spiritual strength. 2Co 13:7-9 a are full of terrible warning. So completely are the unfaithful ones in Pauls power that selfish motives would suggest a wish that they would continue obstinate. Consequently, desire for their repentance is pure self-sacrificing love for them.
2Co 13:9 b. Leads us back to the starting point in 2Co 13:7.
Also pray: as well as rejoice when you are strong.
Your full equipment: in apposition to this. Paul prays that his readers be strong; or, what is practically the same, that they be fully equipped. Cognate word in 1Co 1:10. See note. He prays that they be thoroughly furnished with all gifts of the spiritual life, fitting them to do the work and fight the battles of God. For the fallen ones, this implied complete restoration. That of these Paul here thinks chiefly, is proved by foregoing and following warnings.
2Co 13:10. Concludes DIV. III., by giving its purpose, with a solemn warning; and by restating a principle of clemency which has been kept in mind throughout. It is thus an epitome of the whole.
Because of this: because I rejoice in and pray for your spiritual strength and complete restoration. This prompts him to write to them while absent. For the same reason (2Co 1:23 to 2Co 2:4) Paul changed his purpose of coming to Corinth direct from Ephesus, and wrote his First Epistle. This implies that the reformation (2Co 7:11) wrought by the First Epistle was not a complete one. Even after its good results Paul finds it needful to add the severe words of DIV. III. of the Second Epistle.
That when present etc.; develops because of this, in view of the readers present state.
Severely: by inflicting punishment. Cognate word in Rom 11:22.
The authority which etc.: almost word for word as in 2Co 10:8. Even if Paul act severely, he will act according to his divinely-given authority. But he remembers that the purpose of this authority is not to pull down but to build up the church. Therefore, if he is obliged to pull down he will do so as little as possible. And these are his last words to the refractory church-members.
Building up, or edification; takes hold of 2Co 12:19, marking the completion of (19 there begun.
REVIEW. Throughout his long boasting, in 15-18 or 2Co 11:1 to 2Co 12:18, Paul has been appealing, in self-defence, to his readers. He now tells them, with the dignity of a true servant of God, that their approval has not been the aim of this self-defence. He has spoken before God, resting in and united to Christ. Not the approval, but the spiritual good, of his readers has been his aim. His fear about them prompts him to write, lest when he comes the gross and unrepented sins of some of them humble him into the very dust. His readers know him well. Already he has been with them twice. When he comes again he will fulfill his threat, and punish those who by sufficient witnesses are proved to be guilty. Those who call in question his apostolic authority will then have the proof they profess to seek. Just as Christ, though powerless to save Himself even from the cross, yet reigns now by the power of God, so they will find Paul, though apparently a poor weak man, but weak for Christs sake, yet armed with divine power. He bids them put themselves to the test whether they continue believing and whether Christ still dwells in them: else they are already rejected as unfaithful. They will soon find that Paul is not unfaithful. He prays for them with disinterested love. For their obstinacy will magnify his apostolic authority. But this he does not desire: for he cannot but wish for their highest good. He therefore writes these severe words, that thus he may be spared from severe actions, remembering that severity is not the purpose of the authority with which he has been invested by Christ.
DIVISION III. opens to us a terrible view of the church of Corinth in Pauls day. As we look from our modern standpoint into the confusion which reigned then and there and into the strange mixture of diverse and mutually opposing elements, we distinguish two groups of opponents to Paul, each one with marked characteristics. One of these comes into view gradually, assuming greater definiteness as we watch it, until at last the features of its leaders are clearly seen. The second group startles us by its sudden appearance in distinct and dark colors. The former group was Jewish; the latter, probably Gentile. Doubtless both came under Pauls warning at the outset of DIV. III. (2Co 10:2) to those who reckoned him as walking according to flesh. For, both they who openly disputed his authority and they who set it at nought by open sin looked upon the apostle as acting from merely human motives and as armed only with human powers.
Pauls Jewish opponents were professed Christians: for they boasted (2Co 10:7; 2Co 11:23) that they belonged to Christ. He that comes (2Co 11:4) suggests that they were not inhabitants of Corinth, but arrivals from elsewhere. They claimed (2Co 11:5; 2Co 11:13; 2Co 12:11) the highest rank in the Church, viz. to be apostles of Christ. Doubtless it was they who needed (2Co 3:1) commendatory letters. They professed to be disinterested friends (2Co 11:12) of the Corinthians: but their claim was (2Co 11:13) falsehood and guile. For they were bad men, doing Satans work, and on the way to perdition. they (2Co 11:20) ate up the Corinthian church and caught it unawares: they tried to bring it into bondage to the Mosaic Law, or rather to themselves: and treated it with insolence. They openly charged the apostle with being bold only at a distance, and powerless when present; and insinuated (2Co 12:16) that he had guilefully made others his instruments for plundering the Corinthians. Yet even these men were listened to and tolerated (2Co 11:19) in the church which owed its existence to the long toil and the dauntless courage of Paul. In Gal 2:4 we find similar men in the birthplace of Christianity.
The second group of adversaries was guilty of gross sensuality. Such men, Paul was humiliated at finding (2Co 12:21; 2Co 13:2) even on his unrecorded second visit. He forbore to punish them, but threatened to do so when he should come again if they were still unrepentant. This sensuality seems (1Co 5:9) to have prompted his lost letter. A very aggravated case of it, which Paul could not tolerate even while absent, he deals with (1Co 5:1 ff) in his first extant letter. And the general unfaithfulness was his chief reason (2Co 1:23) for writing that letter instead of coming, as he first intended, direct from Ephesus to Corinth. Although the letter moved the church generally to repentance, it failed to reach some of the worst cases of sensuality. And Paul wrote the severe threatenings of DIV. III. of this Second Epistle to avoid, if possible, severe discipline, painful both to them and to him, when he comes to see them.
Paul declared that these disorders at Corinth would, if continued evoke a proof of his apostolic authority. They have done so, in a way beyond his thought and to us most valuable. For Pauls reproof of these disorders is an infallible mark of the genuineness of the Epistles before us. That against the Corinthian church we find charges of sensuality far more terrible than anything else we have from his pen, accords with the world-wide infamy of the city whose temple to the goddess of lust had once been served by a thousand impure priestesses. And certainly no forger personating the apostle after his death would venture to write thus about the early days of a church which in the second century was well known and important. The severity of these Epistles proves that they came from the only man who would have dared to write thus.
In dealing with these serious disorders Paul begins with an implied threat of punishment, which he supports by appealing to the supernatural results which his gospel has already produced in the hearts of his readers. And then, since his authority had been openly questioned by his Jewish opponents, he boldly contrasts himself with them. This leads to his long boasting, of which I have given a summary under 2Co 12:18. And this is followed by an explanation of his purpose in writing to them these bold words, an explanation full of warning and of disinterested love.
Fuente: Beet’s Commentary on Selected Books of the New Testament
12:19 {7} Again, think ye that we excuse ourselves unto you? we speak before God in {n} Christ: but [we do] all things, dearly beloved, for your edifying.
(7) He concludes that he does not write these things to them as though he needed to defend himself, for he is guilty of nothing: but because it is appropriate for them to doubt nothing of his fidelity, who instructed them.
(n) As it becomes him to speak truly and sincerely, that professes himself to be in Christ, that is to say, to be a Christian.
Fuente: Geneva Bible Notes
1. Paul’s concerns 12:19-21
Fuente: Expository Notes of Dr. Constable (Old and New Testaments)
The first part of this verse may have been a statement or a question. The meaning is the same in either case. Paul said what he did, especially in 2Co 10:1 to 2Co 12:18, primarily to build up the Corinthian believers in their faith. His self-defense was only a means to that end. It was for that worthy goal that he was willing to speak "foolishly." He recognized that he, as a man in Christ, was ultimately responsible to God, not to his critics (cf. 2Co 2:17; 2Co 5:11).
Fuente: Expository Notes of Dr. Constable (Old and New Testaments)
C. Exhortations in view of Paul’s approaching visit 12:19-13:10
As he concluded his epistle Paul looked forward to his anticipated return to Corinth in the immediate future (cf. 2Co 12:14). He shared his concerns about what he might experience and warned his readers to make certain changes before he arrived. He did this so he would not have to shame or discipline them when he arrived.