16. But be it so<\/em> ] St Paul returns to the charge in 2Co 12:13<\/em><\/span>. He supposes his antagonists to admit that, as far as he himself is concerned, he has given it a satisfactory answer. But he is prepared for any amount of unjust insinuations. He expects (see note on 2Co 12:13<\/em><\/span>, on the words ‘I myself’) that they will attempt to charge him with making use of others to do what he boasted of not doing himself.<\/p>\n nevertheless, being crafty, I caught you with guile<\/em> ] These words are frequently quoted as though the practice here referred to were a defensible one. The next verse shews that St Paul repudiates such an imputation with the utmost distinctness. For crafty<\/em> see ch. 2Co 4:2<\/span>, 2Co 11:3<\/span>.<\/p>\n But be it so – <\/B>This is evidently a charge of his enemies; or at least a charge which it might be supposed they would make. Whether they ever in fact made it, or whether the apostle merely anticipates an objection, it is impossible to determine. It is clearly to be regarded as the language of objectors; for:<\/P> (1) It can never be supposed that Paul would state as a serious matter that he had caught them with deceit or fraud.<\/P> (2) He answers it as an objection in the following verse. The meaning is, We admit that you did not burden us. You did not exact a support from us. But all this was mere trick. You accomplished the same thing in another way. You professed when with us not to seek our property but our souls. But in various ways you contrived to get our money, and to secure your object. You made others the agents for doing this, and sent them among us under various pretexts to gain money from us. It will be remembered that Paul had sent; Titus among them to take up the collection for the poor saints in Judea 2Co 8:6<\/span>, and it is not at all improbable that some there had charged Paul with making use of this pretence only to obtain money for his own private use. To guard against this charge. was one of the reasons why Paul was so anxious to have some persons appointed by the church to take charge of the contribution; see 1Co 16:3<\/span>; compare the notes on 2Co 8:19-21<\/span>.<\/P> Being crafty – <\/B>Being cunning That is, by sending persons to obtain money on different pretences.<\/P> I caught you with guile – <\/B>I took you by deceit or fraud. That is, making use of fraud in pretending that the money was for poor and afflicted saints, when in reality it was for my own use. It is impossible that Paul should have ever admitted this of himself; and they greatly pervert the passage who suppose that it applies to him, and then plead that it is right to make use of guile in accomplishing their purposes. Paul never carried his measures by dishonesty, nor did he ever justify fraud; compare the notes on Act 23:6<\/span>.<\/P><\/p>\n Verse 16. But be it so, I did not burden you<\/B><\/I>] That is: You grant that I did not burden you, that I took nothing from you, but preached to you the Gospel freely; but you say that, BEING CRAFTY, I caught you with guile<\/I>; i.e. getting from you, by means of others<\/I>, what I pretended to be unwilling to receive immediately from yourselves.<\/P> <\/P> Many persons suppose that the words, being crafty, I caught you<\/I> with guile<\/I>, are the words of the apostle and not of his slanderers; and therefore have concluded that it is lawful to use guile, deceit, c., in order to serve a good and a religious purpose. This doctrine is abominable and the words are most evidently those of the apostle’s detractors, against which he defends his conduct in the two following verses.<\/P> <\/p>\n I hear what some say: It is true, that when I was myself with you, I laid no burden upon you, did not put upon you any collection for me; but, like a crafty man, I set others to take money of you for my use; so as, what I did not by myself, I did by those whom I employed. This appeareth to be the sense by what followeth in the next verse, where he appealeth to them for his vindication of this particular. <\/P> <\/p>\n 16. I did not burden you<\/B>The”I” in the Greek<\/I> is emphatic. A possible insinuationof the Corinthians is hereby anticipated and refuted: “But, youmay say, granted that I<\/I> did not burden you myself;<\/I>nevertheless, being crafty, I caught you (in my net) with guile”;namely, made a gain of you by means of others<\/I> (1Th2:3<\/span>).<\/P><\/p>\n But be it so, I did not burden you<\/strong>,…. These words are not spoken by the apostle in his own person of himself, but in the person of his adversaries, and contain a concession and an objection of theirs, but be it so; they granted that he had not burdened the Corinthians, that he had took nothing of them himself for preaching the Gospel; they owned that he had preached it freely; this was so clear a point, and so flagrant a case, that they could not deny it; yet they insinuated to the Corinthians, and objected to the apostle, that though he did not receive anything from them with his own hands, yet he craftily and cunningly made use of others to drain their purses, and receive it for him; and which is suggested in the next clause:<\/p>\n nevertheless, being crafty, I caught you with guile<\/strong>; so say the false apostles of me; for these are not the words of the apostle in his own person; nor to be understood of any spiritual craft, or lawful cunning and prudent artifices used by him, to allure and draw the Corinthians into a good liking and opinion of the Gospel and of his ministry, and so caught them, and was the happy means of their conversion; but they are spoken in the person of the false apostles, charging him with a wicked and criminal craftiness, by making use of other persons in a sly underhanded way, to get this church’s money, when he pretended to preach the Gospel freely; to which he answers in the next verse.<\/p>\n I did not myself burden you <\/B> ( <\/SPAN><\/span>). First aorist active of late verb <\/SPAN><\/span>, to press a burden down on one. Only here in N.T.<\/P> Crafty <\/B> (<\/SPAN><\/span>). Old word from <\/SPAN><\/span>, all, and <\/SPAN><\/span>, to do anything (good or bad). Good sense is skilful, bad sense cunning. Only here in N.T. and Paul is quoting the word from his enemies.<\/P> With guile <\/B> (<\/SPAN><\/span>). Instrumental case of <\/SPAN><\/span>, bait to catch fish with. The enemies of Paul said that he was raising this big collection for himself. Moffatt has done well to put these charges in quotation marks to make it plain to readers that Paul is ironical. <\/P> <\/p>\n With guile. Alluding to a charge that he availed himself of the collection for the poor to secure money for himself. He uses his adversaries ‘ words.<\/P> <\/p>\n <\/strong><\/p>\n 1) “But be it so,”<\/strong> (esto de) “But let it be,” or let me go on with unrequited or unreturned love.<\/p>\n 2) “I did not burden you,”<\/strong> (ego ou katebaresa humas) “I did not burden you all, still, 2Co 9:9<\/span>; 2Co 9:13<\/span>. They were well able to give what he had solicited from them, for the help of needy saints in Jerusalem and Judea.<\/p>\n 3) “Nevertheless, being crafty,”<\/strong> (alla huparchon panourgos) “but being crafty,” “wise as a serpent and harmless as a dove,” as taught by his Lord, Mat 10:15<\/span>; 2Co 4:2<\/span>; 2Co 8:18<\/span>; 2Co 8:20<\/span>.<\/p>\n 4) “I caught you with guile,”<\/strong> (dolo humas elabon) “I took you with guile,” his adversaries at Corinth continually, incited, jealously insane at his successes, sought to “cut him down” by attributing dishonesty, deceit, and ulterior motives to his solicitation of funds and practically everything that he did, 2Co 1:12<\/span>; 2Co 7:2<\/span>; Mat 5:11<\/span>; 1Co 2:2-5<\/span>.<\/p>\n 16. But be it so. These words intimate, that Paul had been blamed by malevolent persons, as though he had in a clandestine way procured, through means of hired persons, what he had refused to receive with his own hands (934) — not that he had done any such thing, but they “measure others,” as they say, “by their own ell.” (935) For it is customary for the wicked impudently to impute to the servants of God, whatever they would themselves do, if they had it in their power. Hence, Paul is constrained, with the view of clearing himself of a charge impudently fabricated, (936) to defend the integrity of those whom he sent, for if they had committed any error, it would have been reckoned to his account. Now, who would be surprised at his being so cautious as to alms, when he had been harassed by such unfair judgments as to his conduct, after having made use of every precaution? (937) Let his case, however, be a warning to us, not to look upon it as a thing that is new and intolerable, if at any time we find occasion to answer similar calumnies; but, more especially, let this be an admonition to us to use strict caution, not to furnish any handle to revilers. For we see, that it is not enough to give evidence of being ourselves upright, if those, whose assistance we have made use of, are not, also, found to be so. Hence, our choice of them must not be made lightly, or as a matter of mere form, but with the utmost possible care. <\/p>\n (934) “This passage is so far from being friendly to the exercise of guile, that it is a manifest disavowal of it. It is an irony. The Apostle does not describe what had actually been his conduct, but that of which he stood accused by the Corinthian teachers. They insinuated, that he was a sly, crafty man, going about preaching, persuading, and catching people with guile. Paul acknowledges, that he and his colleagues did, indeed, ‘persuade men,’ and could not do otherwise, for ‘the love of Christ constrained them.’ (2Co 5:11<\/span>.) But he indignantly repels the insinuation of its being from mercenary motives. ‘We have wronged no man,’ says he, ‘we have corrupted no man; we have defrauded no man.’ (2Co 7:2<\/span>.) Having denied the charge, he shows the absurdity of it. Mercenary men, who wish to draw people after them, have an end to answer: and ‘What end,’ says Paul, ‘could I have in view, in persuading you to embrace the gospel? Have I gained any thing by you? When I was with you, was I burdensome to you? No: nor, as things are, will I be burdensome. Yet being crafty, forsooth, I caught you with guile. ’” — Fuller’ s Works, volume 3. — Ed. <\/p>\n (935) The reader will find the same proverb made use of by Calvin, when commenting on 1Co 7:36<\/span>. (See vol. 1, p. 265.) He probably alludes, in both instances, to a sentiment of Horace: “ Metiri se quenquam suo modulo ac pede verum est;” — “It is proper, that every one should measure himself by his own measure and foot.” (Hor. Epist. 1.7. 98.) — Ed. <\/p>\n (936) “ Pour refuter et repousser loin de soy le blasme qu’on auoit controuue impudemment;” — “With the view of repelling, and putting far away from himself the blame which they had inpudently contrived.” <\/p>\n (937) “ Veu qu’on semoit de luy des souspectons et iugemens si iniques, apres qu’il auoit si diligemment pourueu a toutes choses ?” — “Inasmuch as they propagated such unfair surmises and judgments respecting him, after he had so carefully used precaution as to every thing?” <\/p>\n (16) But be it so, I did not burden you.<\/strong>The pronoun is again emphatic. The word for burden is not the same as in 2Co. 12:13-14<\/span>, but puts the fact less figuratively. The abruptness of the sentence requires us to trace between the lines the under-currents of unexpressed thoughts. The extreme, almost jealous, sensitiveness of the Apostles nature leads him to imagine the cynical sneer with which these assertions of disinterested work would be received. Be it so, he hears them saying; we admit that he, in his own person, when he was with us, made no demands on our purses; but what are we to think of this collection for the saints? How do we know into whose pockets that money will go? We know him to be subtle<\/em> enough (the adjective is that from which we get the subtlety of 2Co. 4:2<\/span>; 2Co. 11:3<\/span>) to take us in somehow: what if the collection be a trap? There is a specially taunting force in the Greek for being<\/em> crafty, as taking the fact for granted, and assuming that it would inevitably lead on to some new development of that character in act.<\/p>\n 16<\/strong>. <\/strong> So nevertheless<\/strong> Paul passes to the next and last fling of his detractors. He did not, they plainly admit, take pay or gift from them; but he juggled, forsooth, about “contributions,” and takes of the avails. This is said, however, rather in anticipation than from the past. <\/p>\n Be it so<\/strong> The detractor concedes thus much. <\/p>\n Guile<\/strong> Under pretext of making a benevolent collection for the Jerusalem poor.<\/p>\n ‘But be it so, I did not myself burden you, but, being crafty, I caught you with guile.’<\/p>\n And yet if it is to be so, it must be so. For he is aware of what they are saying about him, of the accusations being made against him. They are saying that no, he did not burden them with a requirement for hospitality, but rather he was crafty and caught them with guile. He arranged the big collection which in due course he would come to collect. The implication is that they then expected him to take a percentage for himself. So would he by that means obtain by guile what he was pretending that he would not accept from them. And the benefit that he would thus obtain would be far more. This was no doubt what the pseudo-apostles were pointing out to them. (They probably could not conceive of anyone who actually was willing to evangelise without receiving any material benefit).<\/p>\n Others interpret it as a straight statement, a statement that, because of his love for them, instead of being a burden to them he had used all his guile to win them to Christ, that like a fisherman he had offered them bait and reeled them in, using ‘guile’ to win them to Christ, with the sole aim that they should receive from him that wonderful benefit without cost.<\/p>\n Well, whichever view they had about him, let them consider the facts.<\/p>\n 2Co 12:16<\/span><\/em><\/strong>. <\/strong>But be it so, I did not burden you, <\/em><\/strong>&c.<\/strong> But be it so that I did not burden you, yet <\/em>[perhaps it will be suggested] that, being a crafty deceiver, I circumvented you with guile.<\/em> <\/p>\n 2Co 12:16-18<\/span> . Refutation of the possible slander, which assuredly was also actually ventured on the part of his adversaries, that, if he had not himself directly burdened the Corinthians, he had still done so in a cunning way indirectly by means of his emissaries.<\/p>\n In 2Co 12:16<\/span> Paul does not, indeed, speak in the person<\/em> of his opponents, for otherwise, instead of , he must have expressed himself in the third<\/em> person; but he clothes his speech in the words of his adversaries. [382]<\/p>\n ] concessive: but be it so<\/em> , it may, however, be the case that I<\/em> have not oppressed you. Comp. Plat. Gorg<\/em> . p. 516 C, al.<\/em> (Krger, 54, 4. 2); also the , very common in classical writers, Stallbaum, ad Plat. Euthyph<\/em> . p. 13 D; Reisig, ad Oed. Col.<\/em> 1303, and for the similar use of the Latin esto, sit ita sane<\/em> , Cicero, Tusc.<\/em> i. 43. 102; De Fin.<\/em> iv. 45.<\/p>\n ] my own perso.<\/p>\n <\/em><\/strong> <\/em><\/strong> <\/em><\/strong> <\/em><\/strong> <\/em><\/strong> .<\/em><\/strong> <\/em><\/strong> .<\/em><\/strong> <\/em><\/strong> .<\/em><\/strong> ] no longer depends on <\/em><\/strong> <\/em><\/strong> <\/em><\/strong> , but is the contrast to be read as an exclamation of <\/em><\/strong> <\/em><\/strong> <\/em><\/strong> , <\/em><\/strong> <\/em><\/strong> <\/em><\/strong> <\/em><\/strong> <\/em><\/strong> <\/em><\/strong> . <\/em><\/strong> <\/em><\/strong> : but cunningly I<\/em> , et.<\/p>\n ] This would have been the case, if he had made plunder of them indirectly by a third han.<\/p>\n <\/em><\/strong> ] caught<\/em> , figure taken from hunting. See on 2Co 11:20<\/span> . Comp. on . Soph. Phil.<\/em> 101, 107, 1266. 2Co 12:17-18<\/span> now show in lively questions, appealing to the reader’s own experience, how untrue that was. Have I then overreached you by one of those whom I sent to you?<\/em> namely, by claims for money, and the like. The construction<\/em> is anacoluthic<\/em> , inasmuch as Paul, for emphasis, prefixes absolutely the as the object of what he wishes to say, and then subjoins the further statement independently of it, so that the accusative remains the more emphatically pendent<\/em> a usage found also in classical writers. See Bernhardy, p. 133.<\/p>\n ] . Comp. Rom 15:18<\/span> .<\/p>\n In 2Co 12:18<\/span> he now mentions, by way of example, Titus<\/em> , whom he had encouraged to travel to Corinth, and his fellow-envoy, and he asks, significantly repeating . and prefixing it: Has Titus overreached you?<\/em> This journey of Titus to Corinth is not, as is otherwise usually supposed, the one mentioned in chap. 8, which had yet to be made, and in which Titus had two<\/em> companions (2Co 8:18<\/span> ; 2Co 8:22<\/span> ), but the one made soon after our first Epistle, and mentioned in chap. 7. The fact that Titus ‘only is here mentioned, and not also Timothy (1Co 4:17<\/span> ; 1Co 16:10<\/span> ), is made use of to support the opinion that Timothy had not come to Corinth at all (see the Introd.). Comp. Rck. pp. 380, 409. But how groundlessly! From the long and close connection of the apostle with the Corinthians it may be even priori<\/em> concluded, that he had sent various persons to Corinth beside Titus; and he himself testifies this by the plural . But here he names only Titus instar omnium<\/em> as the one last<\/em> sent. Besides, it would not have been even proper to say: I have sent Timothy to you, since Timothy, in fact, was joint-sender of the letter<\/em> (2Co 1:1<\/span> ).<\/p>\n ] the brother<\/em> (fellow-Christian) well known<\/em> to them (but unknown to us). [383] That in that mission he was quite subordinate<\/em> to Titus is clear from ., and from the fact that in what follows the conduct of Titus<\/em> alone is spoken o.<\/p>\n .] with the same Spirit<\/em> , namely, with the Holy<\/em> Spirit determining our walk and excluding all . The dative<\/em> is that of manner<\/em> to the question how?<\/em> Comp. Act 9:31<\/span> ; Act 21:21<\/span> ; Rom 13:13<\/span> . It may, however, also be just as fitly taken as dative of the norm<\/em> (Gal 5:16<\/span> ; Gal 6:16<\/span> ). We cannot decide the point. If the inward<\/em> agreement is denoted by ., the likeness of outward<\/em> procedure is expressed by (comp. Plat. Phaed.<\/em> p. 276 D: ). But here the dative is local<\/em> , as in Act 14:16<\/span> ; Jud 1:11<\/span> (comp. Fritzsche, ad Rom.<\/em> I. p. 225 f.). So Pind. Pyth.<\/em> x 20: , comp. with Nem.<\/em> vi 27: . Whose<\/em> are the footsteps, in which the two walked? The footsteps of Paul<\/em> , in which Titus followed his predecessor (comp. Lucian, Herm<\/em> . 73), so that they thereby became the same<\/em> , in which both<\/em> walked said with reference to the unselfishness maintained by both. The context does not yield any reference to Christ<\/em> (1Pe 2:21<\/span> ).<\/p>\n [382] Let us conceive that they had asserted regarding Paul: . . . This Paul makes use of, inasmuch as he, entering into their meaning, says of himself<\/em> , what they<\/em> have said of him<\/em> a mimesis, which is almost a parody.<\/p>\n [383] According to Wieseler, Chronol<\/em> . p. 349, it was Tychicus<\/em> , as also at 2Co 8:22<\/span> . This rests on a combination drawn from Tit 3:12<\/span> .<\/p>\n 16 But be it so, I did not burden you: nevertheless, being crafty, I caught you with guile. <\/p>\n<\/p>\n <\/strong><\/p>\n Ver. 16. Being crafty I caught<\/strong> ] A blessed craft, a high point of heavenly wisdom, Dan 12:3<\/span> . It is written of the fox, that when he is very hungry after prey, and can find none, he lieth down and feigneth himself to be a dead carcase, and so the fowls fall upon him, and then he catcheth them. St Paul hungering after the souls’ health of his Corinthians, denies himself to gain them. <\/p>\n 16 18.<\/strong> ] He refutes a possible<\/em> , perhaps an actual calumny, that though he had acted disinterestedly towards them himself, he had some side-way of profiting by them, through others<\/em> .<\/p>\n 16.<\/strong> ] <\/strong> ‘but let us suppose the former matter dismissed:’ let the fact be granted, that I myself<\/strong> (emphatic) did not burden<\/strong> (= ) you<\/strong> . Then the sense breaks off, and the force of the concession goes no farther, the following words making a new hypothesis. Nevertheless, being<\/strong> (by habit and standing, .) crafty<\/strong> (unprincipled, and versatile in devices), I caught yon with guile<\/strong> (with some more subtle way. Caught<\/em> you, in order to practise upon you for my own ends; but is not , as Chrys., Hom. xxviii. p. 633: see ref. and note).<\/p>\nFuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges<\/b><\/i><\/h4>\n
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible<\/b><\/i><\/h4>\n
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible<\/b><\/i><\/h4>\n
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole<\/b><\/i><\/h4>\n
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible <\/b><\/i><\/h4>\n
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible<\/b><\/i><\/h4>\n
Fuente: Robertson’s Word Pictures in the New Testament<\/b><\/i><\/h4>\n
Fuente: Vincent’s Word Studies in the New Testament<\/b><\/i><\/h4>\n
Fuente: Garner-Howes Baptist Commentary<\/b><\/i><\/h4>\n
Fuente: Calvin’s Complete Commentary<\/b><\/i><\/h4>\n
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)<\/b><\/i><\/h4>\n
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments<\/b><\/i><\/h4>\n
Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett<\/b><\/i><\/h4>\n
Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke<\/b><\/i><\/h4>\n
Fuente: Heinrich August Wilhelm Meyer’s New Testament Commentary<\/b><\/i><\/h4>\n
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)<\/b><\/i><\/h4>\n
Fuente: Henry Alford’s Greek Testament<\/b><\/i><\/h4>\n