Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of 2 Corinthians 7:3
I speak not [this] to condemn [you]: for I have said before, that ye are in our hearts to die and live with [you.]
3. I speak not this to condemn you ] “It might seem as if this were spoken at them with indirect reproach. Therefore he adds, ‘I am not reproaching you for past injustice: I only say these things to assure you of my undiminished love.’ ” Robertson.
for I have said before ] See ch. 2Co 1:6, 2Co 4:10-12; 2Co 4:15 , 2Co 5:11; 2Co 5:13-15.
you are in our hearts to die and live with you ] “There is one thing in the character of St Paul which often escapes observation. Carlyle calls him an ‘unkempt Apostle Paul,’ and some say of him, ‘he was a man rude, brave, true, unpolished.’ We all know his integrity, his truth, his daring, his incorruptible honesty. But besides these, there was a refined and delicate courtesy, which was for ever taking off the edge of his sharpest rebukes, and sensitively anticipating every pain his words might give.” Robertson. He refers to Phm 1:8; Phm 1:12; Phm 1:14; Phm 1:17-20; Act 26:29; and Php 3:18. See also 1Co 4:14; 2Co 6:11-13 ; 2Co 9:4, and the whole of the present chapter. Robertson’s whole commentary on this chapter is invaluable to any one who desires to grasp the full meaning of the Apostle. For the expression ‘in our hearts,’ see Php 1:7. The commentators have pointed out a similar expression to that in the text in Horace, Odes, III. 9. 24, “Tecum vivere amem, tecum obeam libens.” Wordsworth refers to the Theban sacred band, and to a similar passage in Athenaeus. But a deeper meaning is suggested by a comparison of ch. 2Co 4:10-12 and notes. Also cf. ch. 2Co 3:2.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
I speak not this to condemn you – I do not speak this with any desire to reproach you. I do not complain of you for the purpose of condemning, or because I have a desire to find fault, though I am compelled to speak in some respect of your lack of affection and liberality toward me. It is not because I have no love for you, and wish to have occasion to use words implying complaint and condemnation.
For I have said before – 2Co 7:11-12.
That ye are in our hearts – That is, we are so much attached to you; or you have such a place in our affections.
To die and live with you – If it were the will of God, we would be glad to spend our lives among you, and to die with you; an expression denoting most tender attachment. A similar well-known expression occurs in Horace:
Tecum vivere amem. tecum obeam libens.
Odes, B. III. IX. 24.
With the world I live, with the world I die.
This was an expression of the tenderest attachment. It was true that the Corinthians had not shown themselves remarkably worthy of the affections of Paul, but from the beginning he had felt toward them the tenderest attachment. And if it had been the will of God that he should cease to travel, and to expose himself to perils by sea and land to spread the knowledge of the Saviour, he would gladly have confined his labors to them, and there have ended his days.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
Verse 3. I speak not this to condemn you] I do not speak to reproach but to correct you. I wish you to open your eyes and see how you are corrupted, spoiled, and impoverished by those whom ye have incautiously preferred to the true apostles of Jesus Christ.
I have said before, that ye are in our hearts] He has in effect and substance said this, 2Co 1:6-8 (note); 2Co 2:4 (note); 2Co 2:12 (note); 2Co 3:2 (note); 2Co 3:13 (note); where see the passages at length, and the notes.
To die and live with you.] An expression which points out the strongest affection, as in cases where love blinds us to the faults of those whom we love, and causes us to prefer them to all others; like that in Horace:-
Quanquam sidere pulchrior
llle est, tu levior cortice, et improbo
Iracundior Adria.
Tecum vivere amem, tecum obeam tibens.
ODAR. lib. iii. Od. ix. ver. 21.
“Though he exceed in beauty far
The rising lustre of a star;
Though light as cork thy fancy strays,
Thy passions wild as angry seas
When vex’d with storms; yet gladly I
With thee would live, with thee would die.”
FRANCIS.
From all appearance there never was a Church less worthy of an apostle’s affections than this Church was at this time; and yet no one ever more beloved. The above quotation applies to this case in full force.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
The apostle deals very tenderly with this church, which was (as he knew very well) full of many touchy members; who upon all occasions were ready to reflect upon him, and to take occasion from any expressions of his in letters, as well as other things, to that purpose; to obviate whose whisperings, the apostle tells them, that he did not speak this to reflect upon or expose them, as if they had wronged or defrauded him; for the love which he bare to them was such, as would admit of no such thing; he so loved them, as that he could live and die with them.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
3. In excusing myself, I do notaccuse you, as though you suspected me of such things [MENOCHIUS],or as though you were guilty of such things; for I speak only of thefalse apostles [ESTIUS andGreek commentators]. Rather, “as though you wereungrateful and treacherous” [BEZA].
I have said beforein2Co 6:11; 2Co 6:12;compare Php 1:7.
die and live with youtheheight of friendship. I am ready to die and live with you and for you(Phi 1:7; Phi 1:20;Phi 1:24; Phi 2:17;Phi 2:18). Compare as to Christ,Joh 10:11.
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
I speak not this to condemn you,…. Referring either to the exhortations before given, to have no sinful conversation with unbelievers, and to cleanse themselves from all impurity, external and internal; and to go on in a course of holiness, in the fear of God, to the end of life; or to the account just given of himself and fellow ministers; and his sense is this, the exhortations I have given must not be so understood, as though I charged and accused you with keeping company with unbelievers, or as though you were not concerned for purity of life and conversation; or when I remove the above mentioned things from myself and others, I mean not to lay them upon you, as if I thought that you had wronged, corrupted, or defrauded any; when I clear myself and others, I do not design to accuse or condemn you; my view is only to the false apostles, who have done these things, when we have not, and therefore we have the best claim to your affections:
for I have said before, you are in our hearts; you are inscribed on our hearts, engraven there, “ye are our epistle written in our hearts”, 2Co 3:2 ye are not straitened in us, 2Co 6:12 you have a place and room enough in our affections, which are strong towards you, insomuch that it is our desire and resolution
to die and live with you; or together: neither death nor life shall separate our love, or destroy our friendship; there is nothing we more desire than to live with you; and should there be any occasion for it, could freely die with you, and for you.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
Not to condemn you ( ). “Not for condemnation.” Late word from , found in Vettius Valens, and here only in N.T.
To die together and live together ( ). “For the dying together (second aorist ingressive active infinitive of ) and living together (present active infinitive).” One article () with both infinitives. You are in our hearts to share death and life.
Fuente: Robertson’s Word Pictures in the New Testament
1) “I speak not this to condemn you,” (pros katakrisin ou lego) “I speak not for (to or toward) condemnation,” or to blame you all, or to accuse you of mistrusting me.
2) “For I have said before,” (proeireka gar) “For I have previously said,” 2Co 6:11.
3) “That ye are in our hearts,” (hoti en tais kardiais hemon este) “That you all are in our hearts,” or affections, in our practical love, 2Co 3:2; Php_1:7; 1Th 2:8.
4) “To die and live with you “ (eis to sunapothanein kai suzen) “For to live and to die with you all,” is in our hearts; your image or an image of you (a picture) is in my heart in life and in death. For “love never fails,” 1Co 13:4-8.
Fuente: Garner-Howes Baptist Commentary
3. I say not this to condemn you. As the foregoing apology was a sort of expostulation, and we can scarcely avoid reproaching when we expostulate, he softens on this account what he had said. “I clear myself,” says he, “ in such a way as to be desirous to avoid, what would tend to your dishonor.” The Corinthians, it is true, were unkind, and they deserved that, on Paul’s being acquitted from blame, they should be substituted in his place as the guilty party; nay more, that they should be held guilty in two respects — in respect of ingratitude, and on the ground of their having calumniated the innocent. Such, however, is the Apostle’s moderation, that he refrains from recrimination, contenting himself with standing simply on the defensive.
For I have before said. Those that love do not assail; (635) nay more, if any fault has been committed, they either cover it over by taking no notice of it, or soften it by kindness. For a disposition to reproach is a sign of hatred. Hence Paul, with the view of showing that he has no inclination to distress the Corinthians, declares his affection towards them. At the same time, he undoubtedly in a manner condemns them, while he says that he does not do so. As, however, there is a great difference between gall and vinegar, so there is also between that condemnation, by which we harass a man in a spirit of hatred, with the view of blasting him with infamy, and, on the other hand, that, by which we endeavor to bring back an offender into the right way, that, along with safety, he may in addition to this regain his honors unimpaired.
Ye are in our hearts — that is, “I carry you about with me inclosed in my heart.” To die and live with you — that is, “So that no change can loosen our attachment, for I am prepared not merely to live with you, but also to be associated with you in death, if necessary, and to endure anything rather than renounce your friendship.” Mark well, in what manner all pastors. (636) ought to be affected.
(635) “ Ceux qui aiment vn autre, ne prenent point plaisir ale poursuyure et picquer;” — “Those who love another take no pleasure in pursuing and stinging him.”
(636) “ Pasteurs et ministres;” — “Pastors and ministers.”
Fuente: Calvin’s Complete Commentary
(3) I speak not this to condemn you.Better, I do not speak as condemning. There is no you in the Greek, and the form of expression seems intentionally vague, as leaving it an open question whether his words might refer to his readers or to others. We trace here a sudden revulsion of feeling. What he had just said seemed to imply that he condemned them for even listening to the calumnies which had been circulated against him, for joining in any measure even of outward friendship with men of evil lives; and then there rushes on his memory the recollection of all the good news which Titus had brought. Indignation and jealous sensitiveness are swallowed up in the overflowing thankfulness to which those tidings had given birth at the time, and which were now renewed.
I have said before . . .He had not used the form of expression before, as far as this letter is concerned, but the fact was implied in what he had said in 2Co. 6:11 : Our heart is enlarged. The words that follow are partly an almost proverbial expression for strong attachment, as in Horace (Odes, iii. 9): Tecum vivere amem, tecum obeam libens
With thee I fain would live,
With thee I fain would die;
partly with a profounder meaning, that, whether in death or life (the order of the words throws us back on dying, but behold, we live, in 2Co. 6:9), his heart and prayers would be with them and for them.
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
3. Condemn you The apostle is checked in his self-assertion by a delicate fear lest he should seem to retain in his heart a lurking feeling of resentment at the Corinthians for listening for even a moment to the insinuations of his traducers in his absence.
Condemn Blame, impute wrong.
Said before Above, at 2Co 6:12.
To die and live So prominent with Paul is the readiness and liability for death that it stands as first and most probable. It contradicts the favourite fancy of Alford and others, that he expected not to die, but to live until the second advent, and undergo the resurrection “change.”
Die with you If it is to be martyrdom, I could lay my neck upon the same block; if by quiet death, upon a simultaneous pillow.
Live He could spend his days, so far as affection was concerned, under the shadow of the Acro-corinthus, in the bosom of his dear Corinthian Church. So did James, at Jerusalem; and John, at Ephesus. But Paul was by mission the great itinerant. He could stay in one place only by imprisonment, as at Cesarea and at Rome.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
2Co 7:3 . Not for the sake of condemning do I say it , namely, what was said in 2Co 7:2 . I do not wish thereby to express any condemnatory judgment, as if, although we have done wrong to no one, etc., you failed in that love to which lays claim. was taken of the reproach of covetousness (so Theodoret, and comp. Emmerling and Neander), but this is an arbitrary importation into the word. According to Rckert, is not to be supplemented by , but Paul wishes here to remove the unpleasant impression of 2Co 7:2 , in which he confirms the severity of his former Epistle, so that there is to be regarded as object of primarily the incestuous person, and secondarily the whole church, in so far as it has acted towards this man with unchristian leniency. This explanation falls to the ground with Rckert’s view of 2Co 7:2 ; the that follows puts it beyond doubt that is really to be supplied with . for its explanation. According to de Wette, . . . applies in form, no doubt, to 2Co 7:2 , but in substance more to the censure, of which the expostulatory tone of 2Co 7:2 had created an expectation; in other words, it applies to something not really said , which is arbitrary, since what was said was fitted sufficiently to appear as .
] for I have said before (2Co 6:11 f.), antea dixi , as 3Ma 6:35 , 2Ma 14:8 , and often in classical writers. Comp. Eph 3:3 . This contains the proof that he ; for, if he spoke now unto condemnation , he would contradict his former word.
. . . .] Comp. Phi 1:7 . In 2Co 6:11 f. he has expressed not these words , but their sense . By his adding the definition of degree, . . . ., Paul becomes his own interprete.
] is usually taken (see still Rckert, de Wette, Ewald, also Osiander, who, however, mixes up much that is heterogeneous) as: so that I would die and live with you , and this as “vehementissimum amoris indicium, nolle nec in vita nee in morte ab eo quem ames separari,” Estius, on which Grotius finely remarks: “egregius boni pastoris, Joh 10:12 .” Comparison is made with the Horatian tecum vivere amem, tecum obeam lubens (Od. iii. 9. 24), and similar passages in Wetstein. But against this may be urged not only the position of the two words, of which the must logically have been put last, but also the perfectly plain construction, according to which the subject of must also be the subject of and .: you are in our hearts in order to die and to live with ( us ), [256] i.e. in order not to depart from our hearts (from our love) in death, if it is appointed to us to die, and in life, if it is appointed to us to remain in life. For he, whom we love, dies and lives with us, when regarded, namely, from the idea of our heartfelt love to him, and from our sympathetic point of view feeling this consciousness of love which has him always present to our heart a consciousness according to which we, dying and living, know him in our hearts as sharing death and life with us. And how natural that Paul, beset with continual deadly perils (2Co 6:9 ), should have put the first! in which case is to be referred to eternal life just as little as in 2Co 6:9 (Ambrosiaster, comp. Osiander). Hence the thought can as little surprise us, and as little appear “tolerably meaningless” (de Wette), as the conception of alter ego . Hofmann, too, with his objection (“since they, nevertheless, in fact do not die with him,” etc.) mistakes the psychological delicacy and thoughtfulness of the expression; and wishes to interpret it which no reader could have hit on (expressly as . does not point back further than to 2Co 6:11 ) from 2Co 6:9 and 2Co 4:11 to the effect that the life of the apostle is a continual dying, in which he yet remains always in life, and that consequently it is his life so constituted which the readers share, when they are in his heart.
[256] There is no justification for departing in any passage from the telic reference of with the infinitive. Comp. on 2Co 8:6 .
Fuente: Heinrich August Wilhelm Meyer’s New Testament Commentary
DISCOURSE: 2030
THE GROUNDS OF A MINISTERS REGARD FOR HIS PEOPLE
2Co 7:3. Ye are in our hearts to die and live with you.
THERE is in every man a quick sensibility with respect to any thing that may affect his character: even a slight insinuation, that seems to convey reproof, is keenly felt. On this account we ought to be extremely cautious, not only when criminating others, but even when vindicating ourselves; because a necessary self-vindication may easily be construed as an oblique censure upon others. We cannot but admire the delicacy of the Apostles mind, when asserting the integrity of his conduct towards the Church at Corinth. There were some in that place who had traduced his character: for the sake of others therefore it was necessary that he should declare his innocence with respect to the things that were laid to his charge. But fearing that, in doing this, he might appear to cast a reflection indiscriminately on the whole body, he adds, with exquisite tenderness and affection, that, so far from intending to condemn them all, he was willing, if his other duties would admit of it, to live and die among them.
In order to promote in all this amiable disposition, we shall consider,
I.
The grounds of the Apostles love
St. Paul felt a love towards the whole human race: but he was filled with a peculiar affection towards the Corinthians on account of,
1.
Their relation to God
[The Apostle had reason to believe that the Corinthians, notwithstanding some great evils which obtained among them [Note: 1Co 1:11; 1Co 3:1-4; 1Co 5:1-2; 1Co 6:5-8; 1Co 8:9-12; 1Co 11:18-22; 1Co 14:26.], were truly converted to God; and that the greater part of them were very eminent Christians [Note: 1Co 1:5-7 and 2Co 8:7.].
This was a just ground for loving them. Indeed, if he had not been penetrated with an unfeigned regard for them, he would have had no evidence of his own love to God: for he who loveth him that begat, must love those who are begotten of him [Note: 1Jn 5:1.].]
2.
Their relation to himself
[Having been, in Gods hand, the instrument of their conversion, he stood related to them as their spiritual father [Note: 1Co 4:15 and 2Co 12:14. with Act 18:1-18.]. Now, as a peculiar affection subsists between those who bear this relation according to the flesh, so it is reasonable that there should be a mutual regard between those also who are thus united in the bonds of the Spirit. Doubtless the Apostle did not confine his regards to these [Note: Col 2:1.]: but, having travailed in birth with them, he felt all the anxieties and affections of a parent towards them.]
The fervour of his love will appear from,
II.
The way in which he manifested it
We may notice in the context,
1.
His affectionate remembrance of them
[He boasted of them wherever he went: he held them up as peculiarly worthy of imitation [Note: 2Co 7:14 and 2Co 8:24; 2Co 9:1-2.]: and so great was the satisfaction which he felt in hearing of their welfare, that it far over-balanced all the sufferings he endured. What clearer proof could he give of his affection for them?]
2.
His faithful admonitions
[Though he loved them, he was not blind to their faults. When he saw them deviating from the path of duty, he performed the office of a monitor and guide. He changed his voice towards them, as he saw occasion: sometimes he spake with the authority of an Apostle [Note: 1Co 4:18-19.], and sometimes with the tenderness of a friend or parent [Note: 2Co 2:1-5 and 1Co 4:14.]. This was an eminent proof of his love, because it shewed that his concern for their souls swallowed up every other consideration [Note: Lev 19:17. with ver. 12.].]
3.
His devotion to their service
[He regarded not wealth, or ease, or honour; but would have been contented to live and die with them who had but ill requited all his past kindness: yea, he declared, that he would most gladly spend and be spent for them, though the more abundantly he loved them, the less he were loved [Note: 2Co 12:15.]. Nothing short of laying down our life for any person could testify more love than this.]
Application
1.
Let us improve our intercourse with each other in life
[It is the happiness of a minister and his people to have frequent and familiar intercourse with each other. We have through the mercy of our God enjoyed it; but alas! how little have we improved it! Let us look unto our God for his blessing upon us in future [Note: 2Co 6:11-13.]: for without that neither Paul can plant, nor Apollos water, to any good purpose [Note: 1Co 3:5-7.].]
2.
Let us prepare for our separation in death
[As the priests under the law could not continue by reason of death, so neither can we under the Gospel. We must go to give an account of our stewardship; and you to answer for the advantages you have enjoyed. Let us be looking forward to that solemn meeting which we shall have at the bar of judgment. Let us implore help from God, that we may discharge our duties towards each other aright; and meet again, not as witnesses against each other, but as fellow-heirs of his glory. And the Lord grant that we may then be your joy, and that you may be our joy and crown of rejoicing to all eternity [Note: 1Th 2:19-20 and 2Co 1:14.]!]
Fuente: Charles Simeon’s Horae Homileticae (Old and New Testaments)
3 I speak not this to condemn you : for I have said before, that ye are in our hearts to die and live with you .
Ver. 3. I speak not this, &c. ] Though cause enough he had to condemn them for their shameful tenacity toward him, whom they basely suffered to labour for his living and to preach gratis, against all right and reason.
To die and to live with you ] Such faithful friends are in this age all for the most part gone on pilgrimage, and their return is uncertain, as once the Duke of Buckingham said to Bishop Morton in Richard III’s time. Jonathan and David, Pylades and Orestes, Polistratus and Hippoclides, are famous for their love one to another. These two last, being philosophers of Epicurus’ sect, are said to have been born the same day, to have lived together all their days, and to have died in the same moment of time, being well stricken in years. (Valer. Max.) But the love of Irish foster-brothers is said far to surpass all the loves of all men. (Camd. Elizab.)
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
3. ] I do not say it ( 2Co 7:2 ) for condemnation (with a condemnatory view, in a spirit of blame: there is no expressed, nor should it be supplied. He means, ‘I do not say 2Co 7:2 in any but a loving spirit’): for (and this shews it) I have said before (viz. ch. 2Co 6:11 f. see note there) that ye are in our hearts (this was implied in , 2Co 6:11 . In the qualifying words, . . . ., Paul, as Meyer says, is his own commentator), to die together and live together . This is ordinarily understood, ‘ so that I could die with you or live with you ,’ as Hor., ‘Tecum vivere amem, tecum obeam libens,’ Od. iii. 9. 24: which Meyer controverts, owing to being the subject of the sentence, and renders, ‘in order to die and to live with us:’ i.e. ‘if our lot is to die, in death , and if our lot is to live, in life , never to be torn from our hearts.’ But to this I would reply, that though is the subject of . . , it is but an accidental and secondary subject as regards the whole sentence ; that they are present in his heart, is a sign, not of their state of mind, but of his : therefore the purpose, , must refer logically to him , the main subject, of whom only the purposes can come into consideration.
Fuente: Henry Alford’s Greek Testament
2Co 7:3 . . . . .: I do not say this by way of condemnation ( i.e. , do not think that I accuse you of mistrusting me); for I have said before ( viz. , in 2Co 3:2 , 2Co 6:11 ) that ye are in our hearts ( cf. Phi 1:7 ) to die together and to live together ( cf. 2Co 1:6 ), i.e. , your image is in my heart in life and in death. Where there is such a wealth of sympathy as this, there can be no thought of “condemnation”. Wetstein gives a good verbal parallel from Athenus (vi., 249), .
Fuente: The Expositors Greek Testament by Robertson
not. Greek. ou. App-105.
to condemn you = for (Greek. pros. App-104.)
condemnation. Greek. katakrisis. See 2Co 3:9.
to die, &c. Literally unto (Greek. eis) the dying, &c.
die = die with. Greek. sunapothnesko. Only here, Mar 14:31. 2Ti 2:11.
live with. Greek. aurae. See Rom 6:8.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
3.] I do not say it (2Co 7:2) for condemnation (with a condemnatory view, in a spirit of blame: there is no expressed, nor should it be supplied. He means, I do not say 2Co 7:2 in any but a loving spirit): for (and this shews it) I have said before (viz. ch. 2Co 6:11 f. see note there) that ye are in our hearts (this was implied in , 2Co 6:11. In the qualifying words, . …, Paul, as Meyer says, is his own commentator), to die together and live together. This is ordinarily understood, so that I could die with you or live with you,-as Hor., Tecum vivere amem, tecum obeam libens, Od. iii. 9. 24: which Meyer controverts, owing to being the subject of the sentence, and renders, in order to die and to live with us: i.e. if our lot is to die, in death,-and if our lot is to live, in life, never to be torn from our hearts. But to this I would reply, that though is the subject of . . , it is but an accidental and secondary subject as regards the whole sentence; that they are present in his heart, is a sign, not of their state of mind, but of his: therefore the purpose, , must refer logically to him, the main subject, of whom only the purposes can come into consideration.
Fuente: The Greek Testament
2Co 7:3. , not [for condemnation] to condemn you) He shows that he does not say, what he has said at 2Co 7:2, because he supposes that the Corinthians dislike Paul and his colleagues, but that he speaks with a paternal spirit, ch. 2Co 6:13 : and in order to prove how far he is from entertaining that supposition, he calls it a condemnation, thus humbling himself anew.-, I have said before) ch. 2Co 6:2.-, for) The reason why he himself does not condemn them, and why they ought to receive the apostle and his associates [2Co 7:2 Receive us.]- , in our hearts) So Php 1:7.- , to die and live with you) ch. 2Co 1:6, 2Co 4:12. The height of friendship.
Fuente: Gnomon of the New Testament
2Co 7:3
2Co 7:3
I say it not to condemn you:-He did not tell them this to reproach or condemn them for having been estranged in their feelings for him, but because he loved them and wished their highest good, and where there is such abundance of affection there is no room for condemnation.
for I have said before, that ye are in our hearts to die together and live together.-He had already told them that his love for them was so earnest and so strong that his heart yearned to live and die with them. So he desired their confidence and love. [To have persons so in ones heart that he is ready to die with them, that he has no desire to live without them is one of the strongest tokens of love.]
Fuente: Old and New Testaments Restoration Commentary
to condemn: 2Co 7:12, 2Co 2:4, 2Co 2:5, 2Co 13:10, 1Co 4:14, 1Co 4:15
for: 2Co 6:11, 2Co 6:12
ye: 2Co 3:2, 2Co 11:11, 2Co 12:15, Phi 1:8, Phi 1:9
to die: Rth 1:16, Rth 1:17, 1Th 2:8
Reciprocal: Exo 28:30 – upon his heart 2Sa 15:21 – surely 2Co 5:10 – receive 2Co 6:10 – sorrowful Phi 1:7 – because 3Jo 1:8 – to receive
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
2Co 7:3. Speak not to condemn. Paul knew that some of the Judaizers had accused him of such treatment toward the Corinthian church, but he was not making the application to all of them. Said before refers to the passage cited in the preceding paragraph.
Fuente: Combined Bible Commentary
2Co 7:3. [1] I say it not to condemn youI charge none of you with having said this of me; but since it has been insinuated in some quarters, I must repel it as a cruel wrong; against yourselves I have nothing to say,
[1] Here the apostle resumes the singular in speaking of himself (from chap. 2Co 2:13), and after this the singular and the plural alternate to the end of the chapter.
for I have said before (several times in effect, 2Co 1:14, 2Co 2:4, 2Co 3:2, 2Co 6:11-12), that ye are in our hearts (so Php 1:7) to die together and live togetheran expression of enduring affection, not unknown in classical writings (and see 1Th 3:8).
Fuente: A Popular Commentary on the New Testament
Verse 3 He did now say these things to condemn them as if they were ungrateful or falsely accusing him. As he had told them before, he would have like to live and die with them.
Fuente: Gary Hampton Commentary on Selected Books
I say it not to condemn you: for I have said before, that ye are in our hearts to die together and live together. [I do not say these things as though I would complain of you that you are so ungrateful and unjust as to accuse me of them. I am merely defending myself and not condemning you. I have no desire to do the latter, for as I have before said, I love you so that I am ready to die with you or live with you. Compare 1Th 2:8; Phi 1:7; Phi 1:20; Phi 1:24; Phi 2:17-18; also Joh 10:11 . The apostle mentions death first, because to him death seemed daily more probable than life. He would have loved to dwell among the Corinthians as James then dwelt with the church at Jerusalem, and afterwards John took up his abiding-place at Corinth, but his duties as apostle to the Gentiles made him a wanderer.]
Fuente: McGarvey and Pendleton Commentaries (New Testament)
7:3 I speak not [this] to {c} condemn [you]: for I have said before, that ye are in our hearts to die and live with [you].
(c) To condemn you of unkindness or treachery.
Fuente: Geneva Bible Notes
Paul did not say what he did to pass the blame for bad conditions off on his readers. He was not implying that everyone in the Corinthian church blamed him as his critics did either. He explained that they had a secure place in his affections. Neither death nor the trials of life, including charges against him, would alter his love for this church. There was no reason they should feel restraint in their dealings with him. Regardless of their reaction he promised he would never exclude them from his love. This is a good example of unconditional love.
"The caveat that one was writing something not to stir negative emotion but to demonstrate affection (2Co 7:3; 1Co 4:14) was an appropriate way of showing love (Cicero Fam. 2.4.2)." [Note: Keener, p. 197.]