Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of 2 Corinthians 6:13
Now for a recompense in the same, I (speak as unto [my] children,) be ye also enlarged.
13. Now for a recompence in the same ] “St Paul details the circumstances of his ministry, and he asks in return, not the affection of the Corinthians, nor their admiration, but this: that they ‘receive not the grace of God in vain,’ and again ‘be ye also enlarged.’ ” Robertson. Tyndale, whom Cranmer follows, has a curious mistranslation here, I promyse you lyke rewarde with me as to my children.
be ye also enlarged ] i.e. return my affection by shewing a similar sympathy with mine for all who are Christ’s.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
Now for a recompence in the same – By way of recompence, open your hearts in the same manner toward me as I have done toward you. It is all the reward or compensation which I ask of you; all the return which I desire. I do not ask silver or gold, or any earthly possessions. I ask only a return of love, and a devotedness to the cause which I love, and which I endeavor to promote.
I speak as unto my children – I speak as a parent addressing his children. I sustain toward you the relation of a spiritual father, and I have a right to require and expect a return of affection.
Be ye also enlarged – Be not straitened in your affections. Love me as I love you. Give to me the same proofs of attachment which I have given you. The idea in this verse is, that the only compensation or remuneration which he expected for all the love which he had shown them, and for all his toils and self-denials in their behalf 2Co 6:4-5, was, that they would love him, and yield obedience to the laws of the gospel requiring them to be separate from the world, 2Co 6:14-18. One ground of the claim which he had to their affection was, that he sustained toward them the relation of a father, and that he had a right to require and to expect such a return of love. The Syriac renders it well: Enlarge your love toward me. Tyndale renders it: I speak unto you as unto children, which have like reward with us; stretch yourselves therefore out; bear not the yoke with unbelievers.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
Verse 13. Now for a recompense in the same] That you may, in some sort, repay me for my affection towards you, I speak to you as unto my children, whom I have a right to command, be ye also enlarged-love me as I love you.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
Be ye also enlarged, both in love to me, and also in obedience; it is but a just recompence for that great affection which I have borne, and upon all occasions showed to you; and also for that faithfulness which I have showed in discharging the duty of my relation to you. For I speak as a father unto children, it being but reasonable, that children should recompense to their fathers their love to them, and be as exact and faithful in their duty to their parents, as their parents are in their duty towards them.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
13. Translate, “As arecompense in the same kind . . . be enlarged also yourselves”[ELLICOTT]. “In thesame way” as my heart is enlarged towards you (2Co6:11), and “as a recompense” for it (Ga4:12).
I speak as unto mychildrenas children would naturally be expected to recompensetheir parents’ love with similar love.
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
Now for a recompence in the same,…. That your love to me may answer mine to you; that as you have my heart, I may have yours, and the same room in your heart, as you have in mine. The Vulgate Latin version reads, “having the same recompence”; and the Arabic version renders it, “grant to me the same recompence”; and the Syriac version, “recompense to me my usuries that are with you”; that is, repay me with affection, let love be returned for love.
I speak as unto my children; which relation subsisting between us requires mutual affection; for as a father should love his children, so children should love their father:
be ye also enlarged; in your love to me, as I am to you; and then, as if he should say, you will bear with, and take in good part the following exhortation and advice.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
Now for a recompense in like kind ( ). No example of this expressive word outside of this passage and Ro 1:27 and later Christian writers. Paul may have found it in use in the Koine vernacular or he may have coined it from , remunerating (paying back). There is no verb here to explain the accusative which may be the accusative of general reference or the object of a verb not expressed.
Be ye also enlarged ( ). As I have been (verse 11). First aorist passive imperative of .
Fuente: Robertson’s Word Pictures in the New Testament
1) “Now for a recompence in the same.” (ten de auten antimisthian) “but for the same recompence,” in like kind of love, affection. Paul yearned for a return of their love for his largeness of heart and affection to them, 2Jn 1:5; Joh 13:34; Joh 15:12; 1Jn 3:23.
2) “I speak as unto my children,” (hos teknois lego) “I speak (talk) as to very small children, who should love, respect, and imitate or reciprocate their parents’ love and affections, 1Co 4:14-15. This especially speaks of the deep and yearning love of a father for the care of his children.
3) “Be ye also enlarged,” (platunthete kai humeis) “Be ye also enlarged,” swollen up with holy pride, 1Th 2:11-12. Let your love flow out toward us, toward me.
Fuente: Garner-Howes Baptist Commentary
13. Now the same requital He softens his reproof by addressing them kindly as his sons, and also by this exhortation, by which he intimates that he still entertains good hopes of them. By the same requital he means — mutual duty, for there is a mutual return of duty between a father and his sons. For as it is the duty of parents to nourish their children, to instruct them, to direct them by their counsel, and to defend them, so it is the dictate of equity, that children should requite their parents. (1Ti 5:4.) In fine, he means what the Greeks call ἀντιπελαργίαν — affection exercised in return. (606) “I cherish,” says he, “towards you paternal affection: show yourselves then to be my sons by affection and respect in return.” At the same time there is a particular circumstance that must be noticed, That the Corinthians, having found so indulgent a father, may also show gentleness in their turn, and may requite his kind condescension by their docility, he exhorts them with this view to be enlarged in their own bowels. The Old Interpreter, not having caught Paul’s meaning, has added the participle having, and has thus expressed his own view rather than Paul’s. In our exposition, on the other hand, (which is Chrysostom’s, also,) there is nothing forced. (607)
(606) The term ἀντιπελαργία is compounded of αντι over against, and λαργος, a stork. It is employed to denote reciprocal affection, from an interesting peculiarity in the disposition of the stork. “This bird,” says Paxton, in his Illustrations of Scripture, (Edin. 1842,) volume 2, p. 432, “has long been celebrated for her amiable and pious dispositions, in which she has no rival among the feathered race. Her kind benevolent temper she discovers in feeding her parents in the time of incubation, when they have not leisure to seek their food, or when they have become old, and unable to provide for themselves.” The English word stork is derived from στοργὴ, affection, while the Hebrew name for this animal, חסידה, ( chasidah,) is derived from חסד ( chesed,) beneficence, because, says Bythner, “the stork nourishes, supports, and carries on its back, when weary, its aged parents.” See Calvin on the Psalms, vol. 4, p. 158, n. 2 Calvin, when commenting on 1Ti 5:4, says, “ Ips’ quoque ciconi’ gratitudinem suo exemplo nos docent. Unde et nomen ἀντιπελαργία;” — “The very storks, too, teach us gratitude by their example. Hence the term ἀντιπελαργία — affection in return.” — Ed.
(607) The rendering of the Vulgate — “ Eandem remunerationem habentes ;” — “ Having the same reward,” — is followed by. Wiclif, (1380,) ye that haw the same reward and also in the Rheims version, (1582,) hauing the same reward. — Ed.
Fuente: Calvin’s Complete Commentary
(13) Now for a recompence in the same.Better, perhaps, as a return, as expressing the idea of reciprocity. Children should requite the care and love of parents. (Comp. 2Co. 12:14.) They, the Corinthians, are his spiritual children. (Comp. 1Co. 4:15.) What does he demand of them, but that they should love him in return for his love? What they needed in their spiritual life was breadth and expansiveness of affection.
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
13. A recompense in the same A reciprocity in the largeness of affection. I speak of mutuality in love as unto my children As a parent claims the natural love of its child, so I claim your Christian love.
Be enlarged Let a richer Christian love expand your hearts, so as to return to your founder-apostle a recompense of equal love. Let large, full heart, flow out to large, full heart.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
2Co 6:13 . A demand for the opposite of the said . . just said.
The accusative is not to be supplemented either by habentes (Vulgate), nor by (Oecumenius, Theophylact), nor to be connected with (Chrysostom, Beza, and others); it is anacoluthic (accusative absolute), so that it emphatically sets forth an object of discourse, without grammatically attaching to it the further construction. It is otherwise in 2Co 3:18 . There is not an inter ruption, but a rhetorical breaking off of the construction. These accusatives, otherwise explained by , are therefore the beginning of a construction which is not continued. See Schaefer, ad Dem . V. pp. 314, 482 f.; Matthiae, p. 955. Comp. Bernhardy, p. 132 f.; Dissen, ad Pind. p. 329, ad Dem. de Cor . p. 407; Winer, p. 576 [E. T. 774].
] Paul has blended by way of attraction the two conceptions and . See Fritzsche, Dissert. II. p. 114 ff. Rckert arbitrarily says: Paul wished to write , , but, by prefixing the latter, he brought the idea of also into the first clause, where it necessarily had now to appear as an adjective. He certainly has not only placed , but also thought first, but at the same time was also in his mind.
The parenthetic justifies the expression . ; for it is the duty of children to recompense a father’s love by love in return. Comp. 1Ti 5:4 . Chrysostom: , . The notion of children yet untrained (Ewald) would be indicated by something like (1Co 3:1 ).
Fuente: Heinrich August Wilhelm Meyer’s New Testament Commentary
13 Now for a recompence in the same, (I speak as unto my children,) be ye also enlarged.
Ver. 13. I speak as unto my children ] Here are soft words, hard arguments. This is the way to win; and that was a sad complaint,2Co 12:152Co 12:15 . Love lost is a bitter affliction.
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
13. ] ., as Jud 1:7 , , Luk 9:14 , not governed by understood, but in fact an accus. of a remoter object , answering in many cases exactly to the further removed of the two accusatives in the double accusative government. The sense seems to be compounded of and , In the same manner, as a return for my largeness of heart to you .
. explains , it being naturally expected of children that they should requite the love and care of their parents, by corresponding love and regard.
Fuente: Henry Alford’s Greek Testament
2Co 6:13 . . . .: now for a recompense in like kind (an accus. abs.) I speak as unto children, sc. , who should respect and imitate their parents ( cf. 1Co 4:14 ) be ye also enlarged, sc. , in heart.
Fuente: The Expositors Greek Testament by Robertson
a recompense, &c. = the same recompense. Greek. antimisthia. Only here and Rom 1:27.
unto = to.
children. Greek. teknom App-108.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
13.] ., as Jud 1:7, , Luk 9:14, not governed by understood, but in fact an accus. of a remoter object, answering in many cases exactly to the further removed of the two accusatives in the double accusative government. The sense seems to be compounded of and , In the same manner, as a return for my largeness of heart to you.
. explains ,-it being naturally expected of children that they should requite the love and care of their parents, by corresponding love and regard.
Fuente: The Greek Testament
2Co 6:13. ) supply , according to.-) the same; that you may have the same feeling, as we.-, recompense) which you owe to me as a father; comp. Gal 4:12.- , I speak as to children) He hints in this parenthesis, that he demands nothing severe or bitter.-, be ye enlarged) A double exhortation. Throw yourselves open before the Lord, and then before us; comp. 2Co 8:5; be enlarged, that the Lord may dwell in you, 2Co 6:14-ch. 2Co 7:1, receive us, ch. 2Co 7:2.
Fuente: Gnomon of the New Testament
2Co 6:13
2Co 6:13
Now for a recompense in like kind (I speak as unto my children), be ye also enlarged.-Now in turn for his overflowing love for them, he appealed to them to enlarge their affections for him and love him more devotedly as children should a father-they were his children in the gospel. He asked no more from them than that candor and love which as his children they should be glad to give. These words show how deeply pained he was by misunderstanding and reserve on the part of those whom he loved, and how sorely he hungered for their affection. He gave them a great place in his own heart, and he could not bear to have but a little place in theirs.
Fuente: Old and New Testaments Restoration Commentary
I speak: 1Co 4:14, 1Co 4:15, Gal 4:19, 1Th 2:11, Heb 12:5, Heb 12:6, 1Jo 2:1, 1Jo 2:12-14, 1Jo 3:7, 1Jo 3:18, 3Jo 1:4
be: 2Ki 13:14-19, Psa 81:10, Mat 9:28, Mat 9:29, Mat 17:19-21, Mar 6:4-6, Mar 11:24, Jam 1:6, Jam 1:7, 1Jo 5:14, 1Jo 5:15
Reciprocal: 2Co 12:15 – though
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
2Co 6:13. This verse requests the Corinthians to “loosen up” or enlarge their heart to make room for the apostle’s affections, and thus recompence (or reward) him for the love he has been showing for them.
Fuente: Combined Bible Commentary
2Co 6:13. Now for a recompense in like kind (I speak as unto my children), be ye also enlargedAs a spiritual father to his children in the faith, let me ask you to open your hearts frankly to me, as mine is opened to you, and suffer me now freely to counsel you.
Fuente: A Popular Commentary on the New Testament
Now for a recompense in like kind (I speak as unto my children), be ye also enlarged. [When Paul had written his former letter his heart had been narrowed by his suspicious as to the loyalty of the Corinthians, and he had spoken to them as with compressed and guarded lips, weighing not only his words, but mindful, as it were, of the tone in which he uttered them. But by their obedience to the instructions which he gave them his confidence in them had been restored, his heart had dilated to its former largeness and wealth of affection toward them, and his mouth had been set free to speak to them unreservedly and openly. If any strained or straitened relations existed between them, they arose from the hearts of the Corinthians themselves. Paul therefore beseeches them to recompense his love with their love, his largeheartedness with corresponding largeness of heart on their part, and he does this in the spirit and with the expectation which a father has when talking with his children. Thus, after the long parenthetical digression which began at verse 3, the apostle comes back to the subject-matter of verses 1 and 2. Having put himself in a proper position to give an admonition, and the Corinthians in the right attitude to receive it, he imparts the warning which he began to introduce in [2Co 6:1]
Fuente: McGarvey and Pendleton Commentaries (New Testament)
Verse 13
For a recompense; that is, that they might make a suitable return for his kindness and love for them.