2 Corinthians 10
LenskiCHAPTER X
The Third and Last Part of the Epistle
Chapters Ten to Thirteen
Paul’s Answer to the Personal Attacks of the False Apostles. He Destroys the Last Effect of these Attacks so as to Complete the Preparation for His Happy Coming
Introductory These Four Chapters an Integral Part of the Epistle
To what we have stated in the Introduction regarding the unity of the epistle we add the following.
(1) The first nine chapters involve what the last four contain to such an extent that the nine cannot be properly understood without the four. The reverse is also true: the last four rest upon the preceding nine to such an extent that these four cannot be understood without the nine.
All of the hints found in the first seven chapters in regard to opposition and opponents in Corinth leave us at sea until the last four chapters bring the complete answer to the questions raised by those hints.
The last four chapters reveal why the collection for the saints in Jerusalem began to lag, and why Paul wrote chapters 8 and 9 in order to expedite the matter of the collection.
Already this shows why the three parts of the epistle are arranged in the order in which these parts appear. The first seven chapters must come first; then must come chapters 8 and 9 in regard to the collection, and not until then the last four chapters about the Judaizers and their personal attacks on Paul, which included also Paul’s assistants but chiefly the apostle himself.
(2) The first nine chapters are addressed to the congregation as such. The congregation as such has returned to its full allegiance to Paul. In these nine chapters Paul embraces the congregation, removes a few doubts from its mind, and stimulates it to full activity in the great joint work of all Paul’s congregations for the relief of the saints cat Jerusalem. Paul purposely puts all this first and does not interject it into what he has to say in answer to the personal attacks of the Judaizers who recently invaded Corinth and caused the disturbances in the congregation. No “psychological” question is involved in this arrangement of the material as the critics claim; it is simply good sense on Paul’s part to postpone his answer to the personal attacks made on him by these outsiders, to attend to these attacks in the last part of his epistle.
All of these attacks deal with secondary issues, assaults on Paul himself. He vindicates his unselfishness, he reveals in extenso his sufferings while engaged in the work, he tells about the high revelations granted to him. Paul force a comparison between himself and these attackers. The real issue, that of his apostolic standing, has already been decided as far as the Corinthians are concerned. The first nine chapters reveal that decisive fact. Only in the light of these chapters are we able to understand the last four chapters, for in these chapters Paul annihilates the last contentions and assumptions of the Judaizers and thus destroys the last hold which they will seek to maintain upon some of the Corinthians—we cannot say upon the congregation as such.
If we separate the first nine and the last four chapters, eliminate this vital connection between the two, both sections become fragments, buildings unfinished, curiosities. This is especially true regarding the last four chapters. If they are severed from the first nine, what are we to do with them, where shall we place them? They are not an independent unit; they must have had a connection with some other good-sized section. If that section is not the first nine chapters of this epistle, what has become of that section? Whatever preceded the last four chapters must have been more important, more fundamental than these four chapters.
Would that become lost and the secondary chapters alone be preserved? And how were these secondary chapters attached to Second Corinthians if this originally consisted of only nine chapters? How does it happen that all texts have thirteen chapters?
More than this. If, as the critics claim, it is impossible that the thirteen chapters were written as one epistle, at one time, in one situation, would the people of whom it is claimed that they attached the four incongruous chapters to Paul’s epistle of nine chapters not have seen this fact? Would they not have left the four chapters in the document in which they found them, where alone, as the critics assure us, they belonged?
2 Corinthians 10:1
1 Now for my own person I, Paul, urge you by the meekness and gentleness of Christ (I) who, as far as appearance goes, (am) lowly (when) among you but when absent act brave toward you—now I beg (you) that when present I be not brave with the confidence with which I am counting on challenging certain ones, those who are counting us as walking in a fleshly manner!
We see that in 9:15 Paul has concluded all that he has to say regarding the matter of the collection. With transitional δέ he turns to the third and last part of his letter. In sharp contrast with the entire preceding nine chapters, which he and Timothy (1:1) unite in addressing to the Corinthians, Paul alone now continues, for this last part of the letter concerns him personally in the most direct manner.
It is perfectly correct to say that chapters 1 to 9 are “we” chapters, and that these last are “I” chapters. Only incidentally does “I” appear in the nine chapters when Paul here and there refers only to himself. All the “we” refer to Paul and to Timothy, his assistant, this “we” occasionally includes other assistants. So in these last four “I” chapters a “we” appears here and there when something is said that affects or includes also Paul’s assistants. This occasional “we” is entirely natural, for the attacks made on Paul include also, more or less, the men who are his official assistants. All the “I” and all the “we” in this entire epistle are thus perfectly clear.
In the whole letter not a single literary “we” appears, which refers to Paul alone. The “us” in v. 2 is not Paul alone but he and his assistants. No careful writer, to say nothing of one as expert as Paul, would confuse “I” and “we” ad libitum when he is designating himself; here in v. 1, 2 they would occur in the same sentence. Such a mixture is out of the question when “we” is required, as it is in this letter, to include assistants.
The αὑτός, which is placed forward, adds great emphasis to the already emphatic ἐγὼΠαῦλος: “I, in my own person, I, Paul,” in this new matter in which I am involved and my helpers only because of me. Paul begins the subject regarding his opponents in Corinth in a striking manner. He urges and begs the Corinthians not to put his courage to the test when he gets to Corinth, i.e., not to listen to his enemies who say that Paul is brave only when he is away from Corinth, brave only in his letters. It is very likely that some of these enemies even said that Paul was afraid to come to Corinth.
Paul tells the Corinthians that, when he comes, he will certainly use his bravery to dare and to challenge these enemies of his. It will not be good for those enemies when Paul comes and gives them a dose of his courage face to face, that courage of which they have been making sport. He certainly intends to demolish them completely. And he literally begs the Corinthians not to become involved with these enemies, not to listen to them or in any way to take sides with them so that, when he comes and makes short work of these enemies, he will have to deal equally with any of the Corinthians. Paul would very much dislike to do that to any of his Corinthians, to any of the congregation so dear to him; but he certainly counts on doing that very thing, most thoroughly too, to these slanderous and boastful enemies who in no way belong to the congregation, who have come from elsewhere just to invade and to disturb the congregation.
What Paul says is similar to 2:1, where he states that he does not want to go back to Corinth in grief because of the congregation or because of some of its members. It is even more like 1 Cor. 4:21, where he asks whether the Corinthians want him to come with a rod or in love and meekness. He knows that he will have to defeat those enemies. It is a task which he will not be able to avoid, and he intends to do it most thoroughly; but he certainly hopes and prays that he will not have to include any of his dear Corinthians in that painful operation.
So, to begin with, he urges them “by the meekness and gentleness of Christ” not to force him to use his courage also upon any of them. One article makes a unit of “the meekness and gentleness of Christ,” for these two belong closely together. Note the use of “meekness” in 1 Cor. 4:21. Paul would delight to use that in Corinth as he always used it when he founded and built up a congregation. Jesus was ever “meek and lowly in heart” (Matt. 11:29; 21:5). “Meekness” is the quality in the heart, and its expression is “gentleness” in dealing with poor sinners. Both qualities were manifested by Jesus during his entire life. He is ever, also now, the gentle Shepherd who leads his flock, who gently carries the lambs in his bosom, who goes out and finds the lost sheep and bears it back to the fold.
Let no one tell you that Paul probably did not know how meek and gentle Jesus was during his earthly ministry; the very words he uses here regarding him show how fully he knew. Yet do not misunderstand this meekness and gentleness of Christ, as some do, when they think that Christ could never be anything but meek and gentle. He twice drove the traffickers out of the Temple. The woes with which he denounced the scribes and Pharisees to their very faces are no less than terrific (Matt. 23:13). Christ was also severe, scathing, fiery, and crushing. He was not an anaemic Jesus, whose every word was soft. The thunders of his denunciations are terrible. Yet this is true, he used severity only when he had to use it; he ever longed to use only gentleness.
We thus understand the appeal which Paul is making to the Corinthians. Think of that meekness and gentleness of Christ, Paul tells them, how sweet it is to you. Surely, you Corinthians want such meekness and gentleness extended to you and not their opposites. Let my reminding you of this meekness and gentleness draw you wholly away from these false apostles, who will be treated with severity. Paul is following the example of Christ in treating the flock with meekness and with gentle hands; but he also follows Christ’s example when he is dealing with deadly severity with arrogant enemies and with those who second their enmity. May none of the Corinthians invoke that severity when Paul gets to Corinth.
With stunning effect Paul inserts the significant relative clause: “(I) who, as far as appearance goes, (am) lowly (when) among you but when absent act brave toward you.” This is a quotation. This is what those enemies say regarding Paul: “Yes, when he is here with you in Corinth he puts on a lowly face and acts, oh, so humble! Brave?—well, only when he is away at a safe distance from you he becomes brave and sends brave, strong language in his letters! He has not the courage to face you in regard to anything; he struts courageously only when he is far away.” So Paul tells the Corinthians: “I, about whom they say this, ask you by the very meekness and gentleness of Christ not to join in this challenge to my bravery when I come to face the fellows who thus insult me.” Already when he wrote 1 Cor. 4:18 Paul knew that some boasted that he would never come to Corinth—he was afraid. And in that very connection Paul had replied that he would, indeed, come and would take the measure of these braggarts.
Κατὰπρόσωπον, “according to face” = as far as his personal presence is concerned, and μέν balances that with ἀπὼνδέ, his being away or absent. The idea is: at one time, when you see him and have him face to face—again, when he does not need to face you, when he is at a safe distance. This shows how the contrast between the adjective ταπεινός and the verb θαρρῶ is intended, namely as a contrast in bearing. When he is face to face with them Paul is humble and lowly in his bearing, quite a coward; when he is away from people, his comb swells, he uses stern words. But that he does only when he is away. You do not need to be afraid of him; when he gets to face you again—if he, indeed, has courage enough ever to do that!—he will be as humble as ever.
When we note that two kinds of bearing are referred to, that one bearing is contrasted with an opposite bearing, we shall not regard the κατά phrase and the adjective as a reference to Paul’s physical appearance, to the fact that Paul was a little man with sore eyes, at least a neurasthenic, some even say epileptic. Read what Paul writes and keep to that. A little man who is nothing as far as outer appearance is concerned and is even physically weak may be a lion in courage when he is face to face with you. What these slanderers say is that when he is face to face with them Paul is a lamb and a lion only when he is at a safe distance; he turns tail when you face him, he roars only when he is far off in the woods. Paul’s appearance is not referred to at all.
2 Corinthians 10:2
2 Δέ is not “but” (A. V.), it does not begin a new sentence, it only repeats the δέ used at the beginning of v. 1 (“yea” of the R. V.). It introduces the stronger verb “I beg.” Paul urges, yes, begs the Corinthians. Because the verbs belong together, the pronoun “you” is not repeated: “I urge you, yes, I beg (of you).” The object infinitive clause states what Paul urges and begs for, namely that, when he is present with the Corinthians as he soon will be, he may not have to turn his courage against them as he counts on doing even more against “certain ones,” namely his insulting enemies. These he counts on challenging (τολμῆσαι, aorist, challenging decisively).
The aorist θαρρῆσαι likewise refers to one decisive exercise of courage. No, no, Paul begs, do not make me use my courage against you! I want to use only my gentleness when I come to you. The sharpness used in my letters has only one aim, namely to remove anything that might need sharpness when I arrive in your presence. Παρών as a nominative is quite regular, its case is not determined by the infinitive; the reference is to the subject of the main verb, R. 1037, etc., also 490; B.-D. 405, 1.
The Corinthians shall, indeed, see Paul’s bravery, for he speaks about “the confidence with which I am counting on challenging certain ones.” He will not bluff, he has complete confidence. Τολμῆσαι refers to a decisive act of boldness: “to challenge decisively,” and states how Paul will show his courage (θαρρη̄σαι). Let none of the Corinthians be deceived by the remarks of these slanderers anent Paul’s courage. These fellows will get their full dose of it; and Paul begs only that he may not have to include a few deceived Corinthians.
Paul scornfully designates the Judaizers as τινές, “certain ones,” and then characterizes them with an apposition: “those who are counting us as walking in a fleshly manner.” “I am counting” is followed by the infinitive while “who are counting” has the pronoun and the participle: “us as walking” i.e., that we make a practice of walking in a fleshly manner. Paul counts on demolishing what they count on. His challenge will defy these slanderers to prove their slander, and he is confident that they will be exposed. Ὡς marks this as being their slander. Yet Paul does not quote the slanderers, he states only what their slander is in substance and in effect. It amounts to this: “that we are walking according to the flesh” (see 1:12, “in fleshly wisdom”). These slanderers count on this as if it were a fact, as if they could prove it and show the Corinthians what unchristian men Paul and his assistants are. To be sure, they are hostile chiefly to Paul, but “us” does not refer to Paul; Timothy, Titus, and others who assist Paul are included in the same charge, for they would not serve as Paul’s agents if they were not like him.
There is considerable difference of opinion regarding what this charge of walking in a fleshly manner means. Paul has just stated what this slander means, namely that he acts so lowly and harmless when he faces people and then acts so brave and powerful when he is away. At one time he plays the coward, then he plays the brave man. His assistants abet him in this and play the same game. This makes clear what Paul means by his confidence when his challenge faces the showdown. It will not be an argument or a defense on Paul’s part.
It will be the very act of bravery, the very act of the public challenge right in Corinth, face to face, before the whole congregation—if these slanderers will, indeed, dare to show their faces when Paul comes. It will be a dramatic demonstratio ad oculos. They will be confronted with the man whom they call a mere lamb when he is face to face with them, and they will find that they have run face to face into a lion. They will have to show what lions they are—they who stole into Corinth behind Paul’s back and did their slanderous work which resulted in so much damage to the Corinthians. Brave fellows to do that while Paul is away! Will they be so brave when Paul faces them?
Paul herewith sends them his challenge in advance. It is the writer’s opinion that they turned tail and left Corinth before Paul arrived there. All that we know about Paul’s visit in Corinth for three months, of the plans he made to go to Rome and then on to Spain (Rom. 15:23, etc.), the entire tenor and tone of the magnificent letter which Paul wrote to the Romans in Corinth, lead to this conclusion. By getting out and never facing the man they had vilified these slanderers themselves demonstrated the kind of men they were so that the Corinthians thus also saw how much wrong they themselves had done to themselves and to Paul by ever having listened to such slanders and slanderers. It may well be possible that Paul counted on this effect and sent his challenge for this very reason, namely to drive these fellows out of Corinth. A wise move, indeed!
2 Corinthians 10:3
3 Paul states the reason that he urges and begs the Corinthians as he does not to allow themselves to become involved with these slanderers. The reason in brief is that he and his assistants are ever warring with divine weapons. For while walking in what is (weak, bodily) flesh we are not campaigning after the manner of what is (weak, bodily) flesh, for the equipment for our campaign (is) not fleshly (weak, bodily, sinful) but powerful for God, (fit) for wrecking of fortifications—(we) continuing to wreck (foolish human) reasonings and every height raised up against the (real) knowledge of God, and capturing every device (of human thought) for the obedience to Christ, and continuing in readiness to bring to justice every disobedience as soon as your obedience shall be completed.
As poor, weak, human beings Paul and his assistants are, of course, walking ἐνσαρκί, in what is flesh. C.-K. 983 points out that “in flesh” does not mean simply “in the body,” but that “flesh” includes the kind of thing it is. Neither Paul nor his assistants present an imposing appearance; they would frighten no one. They are just as weak as other men and lack even the show of outward power which some men are able to put on. But let no one for a moment imagine that in this great gospel campaign in which they are engaged they are campaigning “after the manner of what is (weak, bodily) flesh,” i.e., with weak human skill which resorts to fighting “in a fleshly (sinful) manner,” in the way in which worldly men seek to gain their victories. This second κατὰσάρκα denies the first but obtains an added meaning from ἐνσαρκί. Paul says that we do not campaign in a sinful manner as men do who are only weak human beings and who as such know no other way in which to fight except such a weak and thus also sinful way.
That is exactly where these opponents are making their mistake regarding Paul and his assistants. They regard Paul and his assistants as being only men like themselves and thus think that in a fight they will be more than a match for this apostle and his little crew. These opponents imagine that they can outdistance them in trickery and underhand work. Their heavy artillery has thus far been vilification and slander. They were sure that they would win the day by this kind of bombardment. But Paul tells the Corinthians not to become involved in this fight. Paul and his lieutenants operate with a surprisingly different armament. Even to get within range of some shots from that as mere hangers-on is mighty dangerous.
Several things should be noted in this connection. Paul uses strong figures of war. The opponents want bravery, being so heroically brave themselves; Paul lets them get their ears full of war music. He is sending a declaration of war. The opponents say that Paul is mighty brave and warlike when he is at a safe distance. Ironically Paul justifies this talk; still at a distance from Corinth, he is using tremendously brave language. Let his opponents make the most of it. Let their courage rise, let them wait until Paul comes. Ah, but somehow this brave language of war on the part of Paul has an ominous ring for these opponents; there is a most disquieting confidence (v. 2) behind it. There is, indeed!
Paul also broadens his thought. Corinth is only one corner of the field of battle; Paul and his lieutenants are waging a complete campaign with a hundred objectives. This great general Paul regards the conflict at Corinth as only a little skirmish. He has been away from Corinth for so long a time simply because he is busy on a wide battlefront. Let his opponents catch what he is saying. They see him as a little, lowly man whom they can easily defeat; he is little, he is lowly, but a giant, the general-in-chief of a mighty campaign. All of this Paul writes to the Corinthians, only to the Corinthians; his opponents get it only indirectly. All that he asks of the Corinthians is not to get in the way lest they, too, get hurt. These few lines must have had a stunning effect on the opponents.
2 Corinthians 10:4
4 The grand figure continues. We prefer the reading στρατεία, “military service” (M.-M. 572); Kriegsdienst, Feldzug, “campaign” (B.-P. 1235); to στρατιά, “army.” So also the plural ὅπλα = “equipment” and not really “weapons” or “arms” although they belong to the equipment of a campaign. R., W. P., calls “we war” in v. 3 a literary plural, but our equipment certainly does not refer to Paul’s alone but also to that of his assistants. Some have “our” refer to all Christians. To be sure, all of us have this equipment; Paul, however, speaks only about himself and his aids in the campaign they are conducting.
To be sure, if they had no other equipment than one that is fashioned “according to (weak, bodily, perhaps even sinful) flesh” they could not possibly win against the opponents who were adepts at using this kind of equipment, the only one they had. But Paul and his lieutenants operate with nothing of this kind. Theirs is an equipment, every piece of which is “powerful for God” (ethical dative: to do God’s mighty work), “fit for (πρός, R. 626) wrecking of fortifications.” This has no similarity to Eph. 6:11, etc., which speaks of the armor of the Roman hoplite. To wreck fortifications mighty rams and ballistae are needed. Paul is speaking about divine artillery, about the greatest engines of war. This campaign is “for God,” and God furnishes the whole equipment. It is folly to pit anything of a kind that is “flesh” against it.
Get the picture that is in Paul’s mind with all its crushing irony. He paints the opponents as a handful of hostiles who, by harassing Corinth, imagine that they can defeat the whole military enginery of God which is employed in the great campaign that has been entrusted to Paul by God. Ps. 2:4 shows how ridiculous that is. Paul wants his Corinthians to see all of it in this light; then not one of them will ever again listen to these foolish opponents.
But is Paul’s language not entirely too extravagant? Did he not worry about the outcome in Corinth (2:13)? Are these engines of his so invincible? Might he not have lost the battle in Corinth? One answer is that in less than three centuries the Roman Empire was stormed by these engines, the emperor himself was then a Christian. This war could not lead to anything but victory.
The other part of the answer is that this is war down to single places and even single persons. That at times does mean worry, especially when one has his whole soul in it as Paul did. It may thus also mean losses, never, however, defeats. Paul lost some whom he could not win or could no hold for Christ. He grieved over these. Jesus shed tears over Jerusalem. But none of these losses, not even the loss of Jerusalem and of the Jews as a nation, constituted a defeat of the gospel. The victories went on and on. Paul was leading them right now. Even those lost only attest the greatness of the victories that are actually won.
2 Corinthians 10:5
5 We do not make v. 4 a parenthesis. The three participles used in v. 5, 6 with their number and their case are by the Greek reader automatically connected with “we” in “we are campaigning” in v. 3. The more important point to be noted is the fact that Paul puts the whole mighty campaign into one grand sentence and inserts even the description of the equipment (v. 4) and with iterative present participles pictures the entire course of victory. The figures of battle and campaign continue, but they unroll before us the subjugation of some entire kingdom, the demolishing of its forts, the capturing of its soldiery, even the suppressing of any rebellious move that may linger or that may be renewed here or there. It is the picture of imperial Rome subjugating one nation after another and incorporating it into the empire.
Those do not rise to the height of Paul’s thought who think only of a Roman soldier or only of one battle or one siege. Paul has a far higher estimate of his work. Consider what he accomplished in that grand series of churches that had the gospel standard floating above them throughout all Galatia and along the Asian coast, across southern Europe, into faraway Spain. Here is the voice of the commander-in-chief of this far-flung campaign.
“For wrecking of fortifications” is a figure, but Paul now weaves in enough of the reality to define his figures. In his introduction to The Parables of our Lord Trench calls this interweaving of figure and reality “Biblical allegory.” It is very beautiful, a cloth woven of two kinds of thread, the gold of reality, the silver of figure. John 15:1, etc., furnishes a lovely example; Ps. 23 another. “I am (reality) the vine (figure); you are (reality) the branches (figure), etc.” We are at once told what the “fortifications” are: “(we) wrecking (poor human) reasonings” that men set up against the war engines of the Word and imagine that these forts are impregnable.
The absence of the article means that any and all such reasonings are included. They may be impressive philosophies, findings of science, or the arguments of the common man with which he tries to satisfy the little thinking that he is able to do. Paul says: “we continue to wreck them.” And the engines of divine truth do, indeed, wreck them. The whole course of history is full of these wrecks. It is pitiful to see men trying to repair some of these wrecked reasonings today as if they could afford safe refuge in such repaired redoubts.
In this first participial clause Paul states what the fortifications are that are being wrecked (“reasonings”) and secondly against what they are erected: “wrecking … every height raised up against the knowledge of God” to prevent this knowledge from spreading. Forts are erected on heights. Gnosis is the knowledge of true realization which involves a relation of the subject to the object, of the knower to whom or to what he knows (not the reverse as in mere intellectual perception). To know God, as Jesus states in John 17:3, is life eternal. Here, too, we see how the wrecking is done. The knowledge of God, against which the heights are raised, demolishes them.
The Word of God brings this knowledge. Let us not confuse Paul’s imagery. He is speaking, not about men as men, but about the reasonings which they set up as forts. These, Paul says, we wreck with the Word. Silly men may crawl into these wrecks and imagine themselves safe in such shelters; but their forts are just wrecks, and who does not know that such wrecks afford no safety whatever?
The second participle goes a step farther. When a fort is stormed, prisoners of war are taken. Paul uses the regular term for that idea: “making war captive of every device (of human thought or reasoning) for the obedience to Christ” (objective genitive). Again he does not speak concretely about so many persons won for Christ but more incisively, more in harmony with the figure of making war captives. Converts are not war captives. Read the exposition of 2:14.
The senate granted a triumphal procession to some great commander after a glorious campaign. War captives were paraded in the procession to grace the the triumph; then, however, they were as a rule executed. Even apart from this bloodiness the figure would not fit persons at all. Paul’s converts are not led as captives in his triumph; they become no exiles as so many war captives did, they are not sold into slavery, they are not even made a poor subject nation under foreign domination.
Every νόημα is made a war captive; it is the same word that was used in 2:11: the noēmata, “the devices” of Satan. Paul first speaks of “reasonings” that are set up against the knowledge of God and uses a plural; now he speaks of “every device” and employs a distributive singular which exposes what these reasonings are, each is a “device,” a scheme, a concoction that is directed against the true knowledge of God. Paul is a master in combining singulars and plurals. Every such hostile device Paul pictures as falling a helpless and a hopeless war captive to a victor who abolishes that device. It is captured “for the obedience of Christ.”
Let us keep to Paul’s abstract thought. Persons have reasonings, and these consist in little groups of arguments, each being a device of human thinking that is set against the knowledge of God. Since they are just reasonings they are wrecked by the men who preach the Word. More than that. Being thus wrecked in themselves, in the case of every convert every device is wiped out by capture, wiped out “for the true obedience to Christ” to take its place. There are no more devisings of our own thinking.
They are put into chains, dragged away, executed. Now there is only listening with hearts and thoughts that are completely obedient only to Christ. “The knowledge of God” is thus advanced to “the obedience of Christ.” We know God when we obey Christ; and to obey Christ = to trust and to follow him alone.
C.-K. 766 has νόημα mean das Denken; others do better by translating “every thought” (our versions) since the suffix -μα denotes result, the result of thinking is an actual thought. It is a product of the νοῦς or intelligent mind. The interpretation would then be that by an act of the will we ourselves bring all our intellectual activity into complete subjection to Christ. R., W. P., follows this trend: “That is Paul’s conception of intellectual liberty, freedom in Christ.” It is true, we do subject our thinking and our thoughts to Christ. But Paul says that he and his assistants do the capturing.
And he says that they make war captives. These war captives are put to the sword! That cannot apply to all our thinking or all our thoughts! That applies to “every device” of reasoning thoughts, every scheme they concoct against God’s knowledge. This explains the singular: every one of these devices is led up and—off with its head! Thinking and thoughts?
Most certainly, all your mind can produce! But never another “device”; now only delighted and happy obedience to Christ.
2 Corinthians 10:6
6 Paul’s grand imagery can be carried a step farther: “continuing in readiness to bring to justice every disobedience,” etc. We may translate “holding ourselves in readiness,” etc. When imperial armies had subjected some nation, garrisons were installed. These were ever on the alert to squelch any incipient disobedience, to nip in the bud any revolt. When he was in Palestine the author saw a detachment of English troops rush by with machine guns. What was wrong?
Oh, a little “disobedience” in Transjordania! So Paul and his lieutenants are ready to bring to decisive justice (ἐκδικῆσαι, effective aorist) “every disobedience” that may arise in the domain which they have conquered. “Disobedience” fits the preceding “obedience to Christ” but means any “device,” any hostile “reasonings” that may again arise in any congregation under the control of Paul and his lieutenants. They are ever ready for this last task. “To bring to justice” is the proper verb. Such “disobedience” deserves to get its due. On arriving at the scene of disturbance the Roman troops took matters in hand, inquired for the disturbers, then meted out justice. That is exactly what Paul means.
The point of this clause is obvious. “Disobedience” had showed its head in Corinth. Rebels had broken into the congregation. Paul would have been a foolish commander if he had not taken measures to frustrate this movement, and if he would not plan to bring those rebel invaders to summary justice. He purposely speaks only about disobedience and about bringing to justice. He does not specify who the disobedient are or what the justice will be. Let the Corinthians think what they must. Paul has mentioned “certain ones” in v. 2 and also their contemptible actions. Do the Corinthians want to join them and get their dose of justice from Paul? Note the significant repetition: every height—every device—every disobedience.
“As soon as your own obedience shall be completed” (or fulfilled) applies to the Corinthians what the last participle clause states regarding every disobedience that may occur anywhere in Paul’s fields. It answers the question as to why Paul did not at once rush to Corinth when he first heard of the disturbance occurring there. He did send First Corinthians, he followed this by sending Titus. He had refrained from coming himself because he did not want to bring to justice any of the Corinthians themselves—a most painful task for him. He trusted that the Corinthians would right themselves under the measures he was taking so that only the opponents who had come to Corinth would need to be served with due justice, if they, indeed, had courage enough to stay and finally to face Paul when he would come. For this reason he writes: “whenever (or as soon as) your obedience is fulfilled,” i.e., you yet your own obedience into complete order again.
It is what Paul has repeatedly said; he is giving the Corinthians time. This was wisdom. When trouble arises, it is not always well at once to leap in with all one’s might in order to crush it. Christians often right themselves under proper advice and counsel if they are given time; they thus obviate the need of extreme measures.
The sum of this paragraph is plain: It is not well to challenge Paul’s courage or his weapons; he is altogether too mighty and too victorious.
II. It Is well for the Corinthians to Look at what Is before Their very Eyes
2 Corinthians 10:7
7 The figures of war are ended. The asyndeton marks the turn of thought. At what is right before your eyes, just keep looking at that! The object is placed forward for the sake of emphasis; this removes the verb to the end and makes it equally emphatic. The present imperative urges the Corinthians to keep looking at what it is so easy to see. The A.
V. and the R. V. margin translate this sentence as though it were a question, which implies blame: “Are you looking only at what is before your face?” The R. V. translates it as a declaration: “You are looking,” etc., which implies the same blame. Both imply that the Corinthians ought not to look at what is before their faces, at the outward appearance of things. If Paul intends to state that he should say why it is a mistake for the Corinthians to look at what is before the eyes. Yet he does nothing of the kind, in fact, he does the opposite, he points to what is right before everybody’s eyes and lets the simple, obvious, undeniable facts tell the Corinthians what the Corinthians should have seen all along.
We regard the verb form as an imperative. It is the caption of this entire paragraph.
For this reason the elaboration starts with another asyndeton, and starts with the singular by addressing one of the Corinthians who, with the rest, is to look at a few obvious facts. If anyone has been confident in his own mind (the perfect implying and thus still holds this confidence) that he belongs to Christ, let him count on this again before his own mind, that just as he himself belongs to Christ, thus also do we!
Paul is addressing one of the Corinthians, one who was impressed by the opponents of Paul, one who repeats their slander of Paul. He represents a number of such foolish Corinthians, all of whom do not see what should be so plain to them, which is lying, as it were, on the very surface. The person addressed is not one of Paul’s opponents, one of the Judaizers, as some think. Paul never addresses them, he scorns to do so. He always addresses only the Corinthians, he speaks only of and never to the outside opponents, never speaks of them as belonging to the Corinthians but ever only as hostiles who have crept in.
This singular τὶς is continued in φησί in v. 10 and in ὁτοιοῦτος in v. 11. All of these are the same person, one of the Corinthian members, one of those who especially ought to open their eyes and to see a few obvious facts. Not for a moment would Paul admit that the Judaizers belong to Christ. They are false apostles, deceitful workers, pretending to be apostles of Christ (11:13); they beguile as the serpent beguiled Eve, they are snakes to poison simple minds (11:3); they preach another Jesus, have another spirit, offer another gospel, all of these being contrary to what Paul has brought the Corinthians (11:4). Not for one minute does Paul admit that they are Christians. This τὶς is a misled church member.
He is not one of the τινές mentioned in v. 2 and in v. 12, who are the false apostles. Paul always speaks of them in the plural: “certain ones,” and always characterizes them by what they do.
The condition is one of reality (εἰ with the indicative). This Corinthian member has long been confident that he is “of Christ” (the predicate genitive with “to be”), i.e., that he is a Christian. The emphasis is on the reflexive pronoun: “has been confident (and is so now) for himself,” in his own mind and judgment. Paul does not dispute or question the fact that this Corinthian is a Christian. Paul does this: judging thus in his own mind regarding himself, this Corinthian admits that he thinks he knows what a Christian is; very well, then let him put his mind to work again: “let him count on this again before his own mind, that just as he himself belongs to Christ, thus also do we” (Paul and his assistants).
Ἐφʼ ἑαυτοῦ corresponds to ἑαυτῷ, both thus being emphatic. This is the juridical ἑπί, “before” a forum or judge, this Corinthian being the judge. He knows what a Christian is, is confident that he is one. Then he must know what makes other men Christians, what makes Paul and his assistants Christians like himself. Paul just asks him to count in “also us.” This Corinthian will certainly do that. Paul has no doubt about it; he merely asks that this be done.
The whole Corinthian congregation got its Christianity from Paul and his assistants. They learned from Paul what really makes a Christian. Any man in Corinth who thus judged himself a Christian would certainly not deny that Paul and his assistants were likewise Christians—unless he had been so deceived by these outside enemies of Paul’s as to count them true Christians and had exchanged the Jesus, the gospel, the spirit preached by Paul for what these invading false apostles preached to tear down Paul’s work (11:3, 4, 13). For this reason Paul writes “if”; but he writes it without fear on this score.
Paul puts this matter of being “of Christ” and a true Christian first. Only a man who is such a Christian will see the plain things that are right under his eyes, which Paul is about to point out. One who regarded the false apostles as Christians would be blind regarding these plain things. All that Paul intends to point out as being so very plain, so easy for any Corinthian to see, rests on these two things, that the Corinthian himself be a Christian and know it, and that, in the same way and judged by the same criterion, he knows that Paul and his assistants are equally Christians. This is the simple basis. For any Corinthian Christian who sees in Paul and his assistants fellow Christians it will be as plain as day that all the personal slanders against Paul and his helpers reveal only the gulf between them and the false apostles, reveal only that there is no comparison at all, that these false apostles are only invaders who break into other men’s labors and make that their grand boast.
2 Corinthians 10:8
8 The close connective τε is in place because what Paul adds about his and his assistants’ “authority” is necessarily closely bound up with their being Christians They were the Christians whom the Lord himself sent to build the church. “For” states that the reason for referring to their being accepted as Christians is that something is going to be said about their “authority.”
For also if I boast of something beyond that, (namely) concerning our authority which the Lord gave for building you up and not for wrecking you, I shall not be put to shame—that I may not appear as if scaring you by means of the letters. For, The letters, he says, are heavy and strong, but the bodily presence is weak; and the word of no account. Let such an one count on this that the kind we are with the word by letters when absent just that kind also when present (we are) with the deed!
The texts vary between the aorist subjunctive καυχήσομαι and the future indicative καυχήσωμαι (a frequent occurrence in the texts); the Koine may use either after ἐάν. The punctiliar aorist is best, for it refers to some one instance when Paul may boast. He says “if I boast” (singular) and not “we”; but he says “concerning our authority” (plural, including his assistants). Paul will do this boasting, and he takes all the responsibility; but his boast will be about the authority which his assistants have as well as he. All of them act as a unit.
The comparative neuter with τὶ = “something that goes beyond,” something that goes beyond just belonging to Christ like every other Christian. What this is the phrase states, namely “concerning our authority,” the right and power which we exercise in our office as ministers of Christ. If at any time Paul boasts regarding this authority he certainly “will not be put to shame.” As far as he is concerned, he has so much of which he can rightly boast regarding the ministry of himself and his assistants that he certainly does not need to exaggerate; and no one will then be able to show that any boast he makes is hollow.
It is the Lord, Paul says, who gave us this authority of ours, gave it “for upbuilding, not for wrecking you” (objective genitive). We see why Paul prefaces this with the request that he and his assistants be acknowledged as Christians by this man who regards himself as a Christian. This man’s Lord, who is equally the Lord of Paul and his helpers, established the ministry of the gospel, called Paul and his assistants into this ministry and thus invested them with the blessed “authority” which they have. In a little while we shall see how Paul points out that it is authority which first brought the gospel to Corinth and will also carry it far beyond. But the great point of this relative clause lies in the two εἰς phrases which denote purpose. Our whole authority as given by the Lord, Paul says, is “for upbuilding, not for wrecking you.” In this way we use this authority, with this as the aim and object, ever to build you up spiritually in the Lord, never to tear you down and to wreck you spiritually. It is the aim which the Lord set for us; and when we boast of our authority, it is as having accomplished this blessed purpose, and no one can put us to shame for boasting thus.
Here there is a direct blow against the false apostles. What Paul and his assistants had built up so beautifully, a very temple of God, these apostles, stealing in later when Paul and his assistants were far away, went on to tear down, to wreck. Paul puts it personally: for upbuilding and not for wrecking “you.” The false apostles reversed that. They used their spurious authority “not for upbuilding but for wrecking you.” Every reader felt that this is what Paul meant with reference to these pseudo-apostles as Paul indeed did. Note that καθαίρεσις is the same noun that was used in v. 4. Paul and his assistants were also to do some “wrecking,” some tremendous wrecking with great engines of war.
See the description in v. 4, 5. These false apostles wrecked the Lord’s building, yea, wrecked it by stealthy undermining.
2 Corinthians 10:9
9 The ἵνα clause belongs to the entire preceding sentence. What Paul says about “our authority,” about its being the Lord’s own gift not for wrecking but for upbuilding you, and about his not being put to shame when he so boasts of it, all this is for the purpose “that I may not appear (as the false apostles would like to make me appear) as if scaring you by means of the letters” I write to you. Write a dash before the clause, and it becomes clear. The dash has the sense: “I am writing or saying this” that I may not appear, etc. Various attempts to connect the clause with only one word in v. 8 lose the thought.
Ἐκ in the infinitive is causative: “to cause you fear.” Ὡςἄ is not the classic ἄν with an infinitive used for the conditional optative or indicative with ἄν (B.-D. 396); here it = “as if.” This is the only instance in the New Testament where it is found with a simple infinitive (B.-D. 453, 3; R. 969). The article “with the letters” refers to the ones which Paul writes and includes the present one. We know about two others, the first is mentioned in 1 Cor. 5:9, the second is First Corinthians. That makes three. Paul may have written one for Timothy’s mission, another for the mission of Titus; if he did, we know nothing about it. The “tear-letter” which is found by the critics in 2 Cor. 2:3, is hypothetical. Nor would a tearful letter such as the critics have in mind frighten anybody, it would make the readers rather pity Paul.
2 Corinthians 10:10
10 ʼ′Οτι states the point regarding scaring the Corinthians with letters. It is the slander which is bandied about in Corinth: “The letters are heavy and strong (so as to scare one), but the bodily presence is weak (never scares anybody), and the word of no account” (“contemptible,” A. V.; a perfect passive participle with present connotation: “ever having been and continuing to be treated as nothing”). See v. 1: lowly and humble when present, bold and brave when far away, at a safe distance. Μέν and δέ contrast and balance the two parts of the statement. “The presence of the body” uses a genitive noun where we have the adjective “the bodily presence.” Paul’s λόγος is not only his delivery but also the substance of his oral preaching.
Instead of regarding Paul as a sorry-looking individual with sore eyes, a neurasthenic, epileptic, and what not, bald-headed, bowlegged, of unusually small stature, and not a speaker with either fire or thought, we should do better to get our picture from the hints which Paul himself furnishes and which Luke gives (Acts 14:12). Barnabas looked more imposing, but Paul was the superior speaker. In the next verse Paul says that he and his assistants would show themselves as being mighty in act as they showed themselves mighty in writing. The man who made the addresses which Luke sketches in Acts, which on occasion were very dramatic, some of them impromptu at that, was indeed no shallow, glittering Tertullus (Acts 24:1–8) but a real speaker. What else could a man be who stormed the citadels of the great pagan world with indomitable courage and established churches everywhere in spite of fierce opposition? Let no Corinthian slander deceive us in regard to Paul.
We prefer the reading φησί (A. V. margin), “he says,” to φασίν, “they say.” In v. 7 it is “anyone” (or “someone”), and in v. 11 “such an one,” both are singulars. Between them the singular “he says” is correct as also the texts show. Paul is speaking about one of the Corinthians who is impressed by this slander, who himself also repeats it, silly though it is. Derogatory flings find such easy lodgement. People who ought to know better repeat them and often act as if they had to be true.
2 Corinthians 10:11
11 “Our authority,” Paul says, about which I shall boast and shall certainly not be put to shame in doing so, is not brought forward as if I intend to scare you so that you need someone to tell you that I am brave and strong only in my letters, that you should not be frightened and take seriously what I write, that my bodily presence and my word when I am present amount to nothing. Just to silence such talk “let such an one count on this” so that he may not deceive himself and deceive others of you Corinthians who hear him talk so, “that the kind we are with the word by letters when absent” and away from you “just that kind also when present,” when face to face with you, “(we are) with deed.” This foolish member among you has only repeated what he heard the false apostles say about me in order to alienate you from me. He is wise if he counts on the very opposite of such talk. I will say to him that he had better count on this, and then when we meet face to face we will make good by actual deed every word that has been written in the letters. It will be much safer for him to count on this.
“Such an one” refers directly to the one who is speaking in v. 10; both are in the singular. Paul does not say: “The kind I am by word and letter when absent, that kind I am when present with deed.” He uses “we”; his assistants are of the same kind with him, he would otherwise not have them as assistants. Paul’s thought includes also his assistants. The reflection cast on him involves them. What kind of men would they be to be under a chief who frightened people with mighty words in letters and then did not make good his words by deeds when he came to face the people to whom he had sent those letters, these assistants at times even carrying the letters? By using the plural “we” Paul sets all of his assistants over against this man’s foolish talk, the very fact of their being Paul’s assistants testifies to the kind of man Paul is as well as to the kind they are.
Need we add how effective this reply is? To say that “Paul winced under the biting criticism of his looks and speech” conceives Paul as too little a man entirely. Here he merely pricks this bubble in passing in order to let the wind out of it, and he pricks it more for the sake of his assistants than for his own sake. Incidentally, Paul does seek to frighten this Corinthian a little by telling him that he had better count on seeing the word of the letters made good by the deed.
2 Corinthians 10:12
12 An explanatory γάρ goes to the bottom of this slander. When the false apostles started it they implied that they were better men than Paul, that although they wrote no letters, their bodily presence and their face-to-face speech were vastly superior to Paul’s. The church member who echoed this slander implied the same thing: Paul was not very great when he was compared with these new apostles who had come to Corinth. For this reason Paul says in v. 8 that he intends to do some boasting. But before he begins he makes this explanation which is ironically deadly for the comparison that was being made between him and the false apostles.
For we are not bold enough to classify ourselves or to compare ourselves with certain ones of those who (merely) recommend themselves; yea, they, measuring themselves (only) by themselves and comparing themselves (only) with themselves, are not (even) sensible. These are “the certain ones” mentioned in v. 2, the false apostles. Why, Paul says, I and my assistants would not dare to put ourselves into the same class with these men as though we were as high as they, or even to compare ourselves with them as if we were in anything as high and as great as they are, they who merely recommend themselves and never need anything more! The last assertion cuts the Corinthians deeply, for they received these men on such self-recommendation alone.
We could not think of it, Paul says, I especially who am looked down upon when one sees me present as ταπεινός, “lowly” (v. 1), as weak and of contemptible speech (v. 10). “To classify ourselves with” = aequiparare, as being on the same high level; “to compare with” = comparare so that at least some kind of a comparison can be made (Bengel). The irony lies in the fact that Paul and his assistants could not have done this in sober reality. They actually were not in the same class with these deceivers; there was not even one point of likeness for the purpose of comparison. For these deceivers belong to that great class which merely “recommend themselves.” That is the mark of so many deceivers: they everlastingly sing their own praises. Yet they always find foolish people who accept them on that basis. This had happened in Corinth.
So high they are, Paul says, and they put themselves there! We are counted out, not even a comparison is possible. For, of course, we could not possibly recommend ourselves in such a way.
Ἀλλά is not adversative; by translating it “but” (our versions) a number of commentators turn off on the wrong track. They refer the statement to Paul and to his assistants and not to the false apostles and therefore cancel from the text οὑσυνιοῦσιν as well as the following ἡμεῖςδέ, for which procedure textual authority is entirely too slight, Συνιοῦσιν and συνιᾶσιν are only different forms of the same word. This conjunctive ἀλλά simply carries the story forward to another point and is thus at times climacteric, making the new point exceed the previous one; see R. 1185, etc. It does so here: “yea,” they go as far as this, etc. It is no wonder that we would not dare to compare ourselves with these false apostles: they (αὑτοί) are incomparable. They know only one standard of measurement and comparison great and exalted enough to apply to themselves, and that is “themselves,” “measuring themselves (only) by themselves and comparing themselves (only) with themselves.” Thus they always rate 100 per cent according to their own measurement and comparison. How could anyone class himself with them or even faintly compare himself with them unless, of course, he be or become one of them?
But when they are doing this, Paul adds, “they are not (even) sensible.” Anybody can do this, namely make himself the standard and then find that he fully comes up to the standard. But that is silly. It is no measurement at all. It is like only recommending oneself, like singing one’s own praises (v. 12a). This is irony, but irony that states only the cold, literal fact.
2 Corinthians 10:13
13 Over against this folly Paul places ἡμεῖς, what we do, Paul and his assistants; and now he starts to boast as he said he would in v. 8, after having cleared the way for this boasting by the intervening verses. But we on our part (when we now boast) will (of course) not boast in regard to things that nobody can measure but (will boast only) according to the measure of the rule which as a measure God measured out to us, (namely) our getting as far as even you. For not as not having gotten out to you are we overstretching ourselves (in our boasting to you), for as far as even up to you we were the first to arrive with the gospel of Christ—not making other men’s labors our boast in regard to the things that nobody can measure but cherishing (some) hope, as your faith keeps growing, to be magnified in your midst according to our own rule for still more, (namely) for evangelizing the parts way beyond you, (certainly) not for making another man’s rule our boast in regard to things already prepared (by another man).
We, Paul says, have a standard, measure, and rule for measuring ourselves, not one that we set up, not our own selves, by which we always and easily rate 100 per cent; but one which God gave us, and by which you Corinthians and anybody who cares to do so can measure us. It is the distance and the extent of territory into which, by God’s help, we have already carried the gospel and are about to carry it, from Syrian Antioch onward through Galatia, the province of Asia, Macedonia, even reaching to you in Corinth and in Achaia.
These are τὰἕτοιμα (v. 16), “the things already prepared,” already done. It is the measure which God gave us to be measured by. Anybody can measure us by taking this yardstick. We expect to carry the gospel even far beyond you Corinthians, even into Spain (Rom. 15:23, 24), all of this being new territory. Measure us by that! We are not crowding into other men’s labors, into Christian congregations which other men have built, stealing the fruits of their work, and then boasting about ourselves by making our own selves the standard of measurement.
This is what Paul has in mind in v. 7 when he tells the Corinthians to look at what is right before their eyes. A blind man could see this. But that is often the trouble: people do not see the forest for the trees.
The chapter is a unit. Paul is such a lowly fellow, and he cannot face anyone with manly courage, he is courageous only when he is at a safe distance (v. 1). The answer to that is the tremendous campaign which he is directing as commander-in-chief by demolishing the mightiest enemy fortifications (v. 2–6). Timid, little cowards who make fists at a distance do not wreck fortresses! Again, Paul is nothing in appearance, and his word amounts to nothing, and he scares you only in letters that are written from a safe distance (v. 10). The answer to that is the extensive territory into which Paul had actually carried the gospel by the authority which God had given him.
He had certainly not established all of these Christian congregations by means of merely writing letters, to say nothing about letters that were intended merely to scare people. This Paul who is slandered as being nothing in appearance and nothing in face-to-face speech was the first on the ground in all of these lands and these cities and by his personal presence and personal speech accomplished all of these results.
Paul is not comparing himself with the false apostles, elevating himself above them, and casting aspersions upon them. There is no comparison. Paul could not make one if he tried. This is the thing, which is so evident in itself, that Paul asks the Corinthians to see, actually to see. If the Corinthians merely see it, this will be enough.
We, Paul says, are going to boast, “not in regard to things that nobody can measure”; we, as you Corinthians surely can see for yourselves, are not in that class of people at all. Such people, among whom are these false apostles, do as they please about setting up a standard of measurement as to what they really are, they make themselves the standard, measure and compare themselves with themselves. They are the 100 per cent standard, and then, of course, when they measure themselves by this standard, they always rate 100 per cent. How could they avoid it?
This is the trick that is still constantly worked. Religious fakes and imposters, pseudo-scientists and philosophers are arrogant specialists in this sort of thing. They make 100 per cent fit themselves so that, when they measure themselves, they always rate 100 per cent; and then they scoff at everybody else as these false apostles scoffed at Paul.
Is it so difficult to see that these men are merely tricking the Corinthians with τὰἄμετρα, with “the things not measured at all”? This word is sometimes understood as meaning masslos, “measureless,” exceeding all measure. Our versions translate it “beyond our measure.” The word means “the things not measured at all” because nobody really measures them, cannot measure them because they are tricked out of applying a real rule of measurement. It is not measuring at all to measure oneself by oneself. To insist on being measured thus is to prevent all real measuring. No, says Paul, we are going to boast, but never in order to deceive either ourselves or you Corinthians by such a trick, by offering a measurement that actually measures nothing at all. εἰς = “in regard to.”
We are going to apply a real norm of measurement (κατά), a norm that you Corinthians or anybody else can most easily apply to us. It is not a deceptive measuring that has been devised by ourselves in order to prevent a real measuring; it is “the measure of the rule which as a (genuine) measure God measured out to us.” God himself stretched this tape by which he, we, you, anybody can take our exact measure. This is the tape that has the feet, the yards, the rods marked off so that anybody can see them: “our getting as far as even you.” Look at the distance which we have come with the gospel, count the line of cities where we planted congregations, count onward to Corinth, “up even to you”—that is our measure! Is that not right under your eyes (v. 7a)?
“According to the measure of the rule” has the explicative or appositional genitive. Κανών has given us our word “canon,” i.e., standard of measurement. It acts as the μέτρον or measure which one applies. Οὗ is attracted from ὅν; it is made genitive because of its antecedent; its predicative noun μέτρου naturally also becomes genitive. The second aorist middle infinitive is in apposition to “which as a measure” (R. 1078).
2 Corinthians 10:14
14 Paul and his assistants had certainly gotten as far as Corinth with the gospel: “For, not as not having gotten out to you are we overstretching ourselves” (in our boasting to you). We are not exaggerating in the least. But this is only the minor point which emphasizes the infinitive used in v. 13. R., W. P., thinks that Paul may have coined ὑπερεκτένομεν since it has been found only in Gregory Nazianzen who lived years later.
The major point is brought by the second γάρ and the new verb: ‘for as far as even up to you we were the first to arrive with the gospel of Christ.” This is the great point: not just getting there first with the gospel. The false apostles also got to Corinth. They made it their business to follow in Paul’s tracks, to steal into his congregations, and then to undermine his gospel work. They had not even a commission from God, to say nothing of a mark of measurement that had been set by God, which they were to reach. Theirs was the devil’s work (11:3, 4).
Note ἡμῖν in v. 13. The Holy Spirit set Paul apart for the special work of carrying the gospel to the Gentiles (Acts 13:2; especially 26:16–18). Thereby God himself set the mark for measuring Paul and his assistants: “God measured out the measure to us” (v. 13). The farther Paul penetrated the Gentile world with the gospel, the nearer he came to the mark and the measure which God had set for him. Of course, God enabled Paul so that he got as far as he did. City after city he reached as the first herald of the gospel—“even as you.” You Corinthians first heard the gospel from me. Measure me with this canon, which is the one God set for me!
The verb φθάνω should not be reduced in meaning from “to come first” (ahead of anyone else) to the paler meaning “to arrive” (no matter when). “We came first as far as even you” is in contrast with “getting as far as even you,” in contrast because it says more. “As far as even you” means that Paul arrived first with the gospel also in all of the other places which he had evangelized.
Still more important is the fact that the false apostles broke into other men’s work, where these other men (Paul and his assistants) had first built up the work. Their work would not have been so damnable if they had gone out into new territory as the first ones to preach their false Jesus; but no, they made it their business to invade other men’s work. Our proselyters still continue this. The whole world is open to them in order to spread their errors if they must do so; but they make it their business and their delight to invade the congregations which were long ago built up in the true gospel. The devil could not remain in hell, he had to break into Eden (11:3).
2 Corinthians 10:15
15 Unifying his thought, Paul continues with two participles. Since these have case and number in the Greek they naturally refer to “we” (ἡμεῖς in v. 13 and the “we” in the verbs of v. 13 and 14): “(we) not making other men’s labors our boast in regard to things that nobody can measure,” etc. This is the negative side. Both phrases are emphatic; both refer to the nefarious work of the false apostles. Comparison with Paul and his assistants? None is even possible.
The one thing which Paul never did was to build on another man’s foundation, to preach where the gospel had already been preached by the Lord’s preachers (Rom. 15:20). For this reason he told the Romans that he would only visit them on his way to pagan Spain. Paul’s calling was ever to be first with the gospel, ever to conquer new fields. But these despicable false apostles never started a single new congregation of their own. Noxious parasites, they feasted on what other men, true men, had built up with arduous, wearying labors (κόποις, plural and with this significant sense).
Again, these fellows boast “in regard to the things that no one can measure” (the same phrase that was used in v. 13 and having the same sense). They, of course, have to do that, for otherwise people would measure them and would soon see through them. Craftiness is their game: their measure, which is in no sense a measure so that the things which they do remain ἄμετρα, not measured at all—that is where their boast lies. These two go together: breaking into other men’s labors—preventing the things they do from being measured. Despicable? There is little that is more so!
Now the positive side of our godly boasting: “but cherishing (some) hope, as your faith keeps growing, to be magnified in your midst according to our own rule quite abundantly,” etc. Note the spirit and the beauty with which this is expressed. Paul does not say “having the hope” but only “having hope.” It is only hope, only some hope. He may be disappointed as he intimates. Boasting deceivers are so often magnified, praised to the skies. God’s great apostles and true ministers may have to do without praise from men. “The Master praises, what are men?” Paul is not now hoping for praise. “As your faith keeps growing” looks to the future.
The faith of the Corinthians will grow; deceivers will presently have a difficult time to get near them. The Corinthians have had one experience which ought to serve them for a long time.
But it would be normal for well-grown faith to fulfill Paul’s hope that he and his loyal assistants “be magnified in your midst” and not, as hitherto, slandered. Yet magnified only “according to our own rule” (canon), the one just stated in v. 13, that by God’s will and his grace we get as far as possible with the gospel. This “rule” does not glorify men as men, especially such as “recommend themselves” (v. 12) and do this by “measuring themselves by themselves” (v. 12 again); it glorifies God by using his rule with reference to the men who apply it to themselves as their own rule. It thus magnifies these men because of their faithfulness to God and because of the extent of work which he has laid out for them in the gospel.
Paul says: “to be magnified according to our own rule εἰςπερισσείαν,” which does not mean “to the highest height.” Paul wants no extravagant praise. The noun means “surplus” (M.-M. 508). But the phrase does not mean “abundantly” (A. V.), i.e., magnified with a surplus of praise. The R. V.: “unto further abundance” comes nearer to the mark, though only nearer.
The idea of being magnified is not that the Corinthians may presently sing Paul’s praises, that he may revel in this sweet music. He is not even thinking about having a bed of roses spread for him. He means “be magnified so as to be encouraged by the Corinthians for something more” than he has done thus far. This εἰς phrase denotes an aim or object. Paul hopes that the Corinthians will make him great for a surplus of work, a surplus he is already planning, for which he feels that he needs all the support that he can get. In a short time we see him writing to the Romans in the same way and asking also for their support to carry the work into Spain (Rom. 15:24).
How could Paul go on into new territory and leave behind a congregation like Corinth that was still a prey to disaffection, still listening to deceivers? The old work must be safe before a surplus can be undertaken. The two phrases go together: “according to our own rule—for still more”; God’s rule for Paul was: ever more and more new fields, ever a new surplus in territory.
2 Corinthians 10:16
16 It is plain that the negative infinitive is only the obverse: to evangelize those fields that lie beyond Corinth; hence not to boast in another man’s work, in regard to things already prepared. Both are aorist infinitives, both are effective: actually to evangelize and certainly not merely to boast. Paul does not repeat “in other men’s labors” from v. 15. He now uses a singular; he also advances the thought by not repeating labor but by now stating the rule according to which the labor is done. We see the force of this: to boast “in another man’s rule” (canon again) is to try to reap credit from this rule that Paul follows, to build on virgin fields. These false apostles are so cunning, they let Paul go ahead, build up churches in pagan cities, and then steal after him and do their nefarious work in those churches.
Would they, for instance, be the first to go to pagan Spain? That thought would not enter the heads of these parasites and proselyters! Deep scorn throbs in Paul’s stunning phrase.
To make sure that we get its full impact he adds the εἰς phrase. He will never stoop to make his boast in taking advantage of another man’s rule, the noble rule of going first into pagan territory, stealing in after that man, and then making boast “in regard to things already prepared” by that other true and noble man. Τὰἕτοιμα are the things which the other man put into condition at great labor, which he has carefully built up. Then these parasites make their soft nest in them, eat their way in farther and farther, and boast about it, try to get praise and honor for it. Disgusting! No, not thus Paul! Cannot the Corinthians see it all? It is so plain (v. 7a).
2 Corinthians 10:17
17 Now he who boasts, in the Lord let him boast! Note the emphasis. Let him make the Lord his boast. When the Lord sends and blesses him, when he really does the Lord’s work according to the Lord’s rule and method, then he may boast, not, indeed, as taking glory for himself but as praising the Lord. This is the true principle. Paul follows it in all of his apostolic work. But it applies to every one of us wherever the Lord has placed us, and whatever he gives us to do. Paul thus brings his discussion to a focus and a resting point. It is his way of doing throughout.
2 Corinthians 10:18
18 For he who (only) recommends himself, not he is approved; but (only) he whom the Lord recommends. We noted the great class of self-commenders in v. 12; the false apostles are excellent samples. All that needs to be said now is that self-recommendation never makes a man δόκιμος, a man tested and tried and found true and genuine. The emphatic ἐκεῖνος lends added emphasis: not he, not he at all. Drop the notion. Quite the contrary (ἀλλά), “he (alone) whom the Lord commends” (Luke 19:17).
A man likes to flatter himself. Like the deceivers in Corinth, he may not even be honest. He may use false standards. The Lord sees through and through. Blessed is he whom the Lord recommends! In a phrase “Lord” may readily be used without the article; when it is a nominative it is more likely to have the article.
It is fruitless to seek a difference in the meanings here.
R. A Grammar of the Greek New Testament in the Light of Historical Research, by A. T. Robertson, 4th ed.
B.-D. Friedrich Blass’ Grammatik des neutestamentlichen Griechisch, vierte, voellig neugearbeitete Auflage, besorgt von Albert Debrunner.
C.-K. Biblisch-theologisches Woerterbuch der Neutestamentlichen Graezitaet von D. D. Hermann Cremer, zehnte, etc., Auflage, herausgegeben von D. Dr. Julius Koegel.