Translation & Sermon by
Nate Wilson for Christ The Redeemer Church, Manhattan, KS, 24 August
2025
Underlined words in Scripture quotes indicate words
that are in common with the Greek text of the sermon passage.
Otherwise, underlining indicates words to emphasize when reading this
transcript out loud.
Omitting greyed-out
text should reduce read-aloud time to around 40 minutes.
I have mentioned before that Second Corinthians is largely about the relationship between a church planter/pastor and his church congregation. As we cross from chapter 1 into chapter 2, we will be looking especially at some of the godly leadership strategies Paul employs in shepherding this congregation in Corinth and consider how we may imitate him in the leadership roles God gives us.
Read my translation of this passage, starting at chapter
1, verse 23:
Now, as for myself, I
call upon God as witness over my own soul: I did not yet come to
Corinth because I was going easy on y’all – not because we are
being domineering over y’all’s faith, but rather we are
co-workers of your joy, for it is by faith that y’all have been
standing. So I decided this within myself: not to come again to
y’all with grief. (For, when I grieve y’all, who then is the one
that makes me glad except the one that is grieved by me?) And I
wrote this very thing to y’all in order that, when I come, I might
not have grief from those whom I should be causing to rejoice,
having become confident concerning all of y’all that my own joy is
that of you all. Indeed, out of much stress and worry of heart I
wrote to y’all, through many tears, not in order that y’all
might be grieved, but rather in order that y’all might know the
love which I have more abundantly with y’all.
Paul opens verse 23 with what is almost an oath that he is telling the truth1.
Throughout Second Corinthians, the false teachers that have arisen in Corinth seem to lurk in the background, and here Paul is defending himself2 against their accusation that he had lied to the church. In 2 Corinthians 11:31, Paul feels it necessary to deny it outright and say, “I am not lying!”3
In this formula, Paul says that, if they were to put him on trial in a courtroom for having lied about when he was going to come visit them, and if he could call God Himself to take the witness stand, God would back Paul up, because God watches over everything Paul does (and God holds Paul’s soul in His almighty hand).
God could confirm that Paul had delayed his visit to the church in Corinth because he had wanted to avoid the drama of exercising church discipline against them. (And, let me tell you, as a pastor who has had to exercise church discipline a number of times, it is usually accompanied with drama and is emotionally exhausting, so I don’t blame Paul.) Paul wanted to visit them when they were doing well, so that both he and they could enjoy their time together.
If you think back through all the problems that Paul had identified in 1 Corinthians, the Corinthians were a “hot mess:”
They were splitting up into denominations over different human leaders and “quarreling” with each other,
They had already started questioning the Gospel message and were starting to look for other philosophies which sounded wiser,
They were “fleshly,” “immature,” “jealous,” status-seeking, “arrogant,” and “boastful,”
They were indulging in gross “sexual immorality” of various kinds,
They were suing each other in the public courts,
They were mixed up in idol-worship
Their marriages were messed up - they were getting divorces right and left,
Their worship services were were chaotic with everybody talking at once, and
The rich were getting drunk at the Lord’s Supper and not sharing the food with the poor.
It was a ‘zoo’! If Paul had to return while all this junk was going on, he would have to be like Jesus when He went into the temple with a whip and drove all the merchants out!
Paul wrote in 1 Corinthians 4:21 “What do y'all want: That I should come to y'all with a rod, or in love and spirit of gentleness?” (NAW)
and in 2 Corinthians 13:2 & 10 “I have told you before, and foretell as if I were present the second time, and now being absent I write to those who have sinned before, and to all the rest, that if I come again I will not spare, ... Therefore I write these things being absent, lest being present I should use sharpness, according to the authority which the Lord has given me for edification and not for destruction.” (NKJV)
So Paul “spared4/kept back” from visiting them as soon as he could have, in order to “go easy on” them and give them more time to get their church affairs in order before his arrival.
This is consistent with God’s own character. God gives us time to get right with Him:
Before Paul arrived in Corinth, he preached in Athens, Acts 17:29-31 “Therefore, since we are the offspring of God, we ought not to think that the Divine Nature is like gold or silver or stone, something shaped by art and man's devising. Truly, these times of ignorance God overlooked, but now commands all men everywhere to repent, because He has appointed a day on which He will judge the world in righteousness by the Man whom He has ordained. He has given assurance of this to all by raising Him from the dead.” (NKJV) In other words: “You’ve been worshiping idols, but God is going to give you time to repent, before He judges the world, so get right now before it’s too late!”
It’s also in 2 Peter 3:9-15 “The Lord is not tardy concerning His promise, as some reckon tardiness among themselves. Rather He is longsuffering toward y'all, because He is not willing for any persons to perish but for all of them to find space for repentance. But the Day of the Lord will arrive like a thief /in the night\, in which the heavens will pass away with a rush, and the elements will be disintegrated by being heated, and the earth and the works in it will be burned up. Therefore, concerning all these things being disintegrated, what sort of persons must y'all be in holy lifestyles and godlinesses, anticipating and hastening the coming of the Day of God, on account of which the heavens will be disintegrated by burning, and the elements be melted away by being heated? Furthermore, in accordance with His promise, let us look forward to new heavens and a new earth, in which righteousness resides! Therefore, beloved, while you anticipate these things, start being diligent to be found by Him in peace, unsullied and unblemished, and reckon for yourselves the long-suffering of our Lord to be salvation, just as also our beloved brother Paul [did]...” (NAW) Jesus is delaying His return, in order to give time for everyone that He wants to save, to come to repentance first!
There is a time to use authority to ‘put your foot down’ and ‘let the chips fall where they may’ in judgment, but there is also a time to be as gracious and patient as possible, to encourage those whose heart is in the right place to do what they need to do, so they won’t suffer unduly-severe consequences5. It’s what we do with those we love; it’s what God does with those He loves too.
However, it appears that Paul’s critics in Corinth had projected a more sinister reason on Paul for delaying his visit. They said he was being “controlling/domineering/lording it over” their faith.
In verse 24, Paul blows these criticisms out of the water, first by denying that he was being domineering over their faith, and then by saying that they already had their own faith in Jesus by which they were standing. There was nothing more for Paul to control about their salvation.
Christianity is not about entering heaven by being under some religious leaders’ control but rather about “standing” on your own “faith” in a relationship with God made right by Jesus.
Jesus alone is “King of kings and master over those who exercise dominion” (1 Tim. 6:15) – He alone is the “author and finisher of our faith” (Heb. 12:2, KJV), and Jesus had taught His disciples NOT to “lord it over” those under them:
Luke 22:25-26 “...The kings of the Gentiles exercise lordship over them, and those who exercise authority over them are called `benefactors.' But not so among you; on the contrary, he who is greatest among you, let him be as the younger, and he who governs as he who serves.” (NKJV)
The Apostle Peter also echoed that teaching in his first epistle, chapter five: “...I exhort the elders among y'all: Start feeding the flock of God among y'all, supervising, not compulsively but rather voluntarily... and not as those who are domineering over their allotment, but rather [as] those who are examples to the flock.” (1 Peter 5:1-3, NAW)
Later on in 2 Corinthians 11:20, Paul will turn his critics’ argument back upon their heads and tell the Christians in Corinth that it is rather his critics who have been “enslaving” them, not Paul and Timothy!
Remember, this letter is from the same guy who had thrown Christians in jail for believing in Jesus (back before he was converted)! That domineering control was in his history, but now he repudiated it: “We’re not trying to control what you believe; you have already been standing by faith in Jesus ever since the time you heard us preaching back at Titius Justice’s house a couple years ago [in Acts 18:7]. We just want you to experience joy!”
“Standing” is a metaphor for being (and continuing) in a right relationship with God.
1 Corinthians 15:1 “Now, I am making known to you, brothers, the gospel: which I preached to you, which also you received, in which also you have been standing” (NAW) It is because God gave them faith to believe the “gospel” that “Jesus died... and rose... according to the scriptures” that they are “standing” in a right relationship with God.
Romans 5:1-2 “Therefore, having been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom also we have access by faith into this grace in which we stand, and rejoice in hope of the glory of God.” (NKJV)
The Jews who enjoyed a national relationship with God – but who did not believe in Jesus when He came to earth – lost “standing” with God. Paul comments on that in Romans 11:20 “...Because of unbelief they were broken off, and you stand by faith. Do not be haughty, but fear.” (NKJV)
And so Paul and Timothy call themselves “co-workers/helpers/fellow workers/workers with [you] for your joy...”
In contrast to the status-seeking, jockeying-for-power influencers in the Corinthian culture, Paul presented himself as a “servant,” a helper, and a “fellow-worker6,”
1 Corinthians 3:6-11 “What, therefore, is Apollos, and what is Paul? They are servants through whom you believed even to each as the Lord gave. As for me, I planted; Apollos watered, but God was increasing... For we are God's co-workers. You are God's field – God's building. According to the grace of God which was given to me as a wise architect, I laid a foundation and another is building upon [it]. But let each look to how he is building upon [it], for no one is able to lay another foundation besides the one which is being laid, which is Jesus Christ.” (NAW)
2 Corinthians 4:5 “For we do not preach ourselves, but Christ Jesus the Lord, and ourselves your bondservants for Jesus' sake.” (NKJV)
And all his efforts were bent toward giving “joy” to the folks in the churches that he planted.
Philippians 1:25 “... I shall remain and continue with you all for your progress and joy of faith” (NKJV)
Here’s a question for you: Do you bring joy to your family? To your co-workers? To our church?
Have you ever known somebody who always had bad news to share? They may have had some interesting ideas and critiques at first, but after a while, you find yourself wanting to avoid them when you see them coming, because you know they’re just going to drag your spirits down. Paul didn’t want to become that guy.
This can also work in the other direction: you don’t want to become that consumer of bad news either. I have found that there are certain media channels which consistently leave me anxious after I read or watch them. Some of them have a perspective I agree with and are excellent in quality, so the problem is not that they are bad; the problem is how I feel after reading or watching them. I have had to stop watching and unsubscribe from some of those things in order to protect my heart and mind from getting more upset than I can handle. That’s just part of our human condition, and Paul understood that. (God understands it too.)
The Greek word for “sorrow/heaviness/pain” which appears in verse 1 is lupē. It literally means “pain” (and that Greek word is behind the name of a disease called “lupus”), but it is also used figuratively in the New Testament to describe “grief” over things that have gone wrong in relationships:
Romans 9:2-3 “...I have great sorrow and continual grief in my heart. For I could wish that I myself were accursed from Christ for my brethren, my countrymen according to the flesh” (NKJV) This is Paul’s grief over people he loves being eternally lost.
Hebrews 12:11 “So, all discipline for the time doesn't seem to be a joy (but rather a grief!), yet afterward, it pays back, to the ones who have been exercised by it, the peaceful fruit of righteousness.” (NAW) This speaks of the way God uses hardship to train us in what is right.
And then there is the situation between Paul and the Corinthian church, where he had called them out for several things they were doing wrong, and it had put a strain on their relationship. He explains further in 2 Corinthians 7:8-10 “For even if I made you sorry with my letter, I do not regret it; though I did regret it. For I perceive that the same epistle made you sorry, though only for a while. Now I rejoice, not that you were made sorry, but that your sorrow led to repentance. For you were made sorry in a godly manner, that you might suffer loss from us in nothing. For godly sorrow produces repentance leading to salvation, not to be regretted; but the sorrow of the world produces death.” (NKJV) Not all grief is bad; according to Second Corinthians, some of the challenging things Paul raised in First Corinthians achieved the good results of repentance from sin and growth in godliness.
So, here in chapter 2 verse 1, Paul is saying that he doesn’t want to strain the relationship further by visiting them while the remaining problems have not yet been fixed.
Sometimes we get impatient and we want to nag people about their faults, perhaps hoping that that if we can escalate the tension high enough, maybe they will do something about it. But that can backfire big-time. Turning up the intensity of the conflict can destroy a relationship instead of motivating the other party to make things right, so we need God’s wisdom in how to strike the right balance between being too aggressive, on the one hand, and too passive on the other (because it is also possible to destroy a relationship by being too afraid to disturb the peace).
Paul wrote in 2 Corinthians 13:10 that he wanted to use “...the authority which the Lord has given [him] for edification and not for destruction.” (NKJV)
As Paul evaluated his relationship with the church that he had planted in Corinth, he decided not to take the risk of continuing push on the sin issues he had already raised with them. He decided instead to wait for a better time to visit, when their relationship could be soothed by being able to rejoice together.
In verse 2, the present indicative verb (“I grieve/make sorry/cause pain”) indicates that Paul sees the condition as being true that he actually has brought grief to the Corinthians.
Verse 2 could be interpreted in a couple of different ways:
Either Paul is saying that the Christians in Corinth whom he offended are all he has to make him happy again, so he is desperate for them to make up with him because he can’t be happy otherwise.
Or Paul is saying that, what will make him happy is if these Christians, whom he has reprimanded in First Corinthians, will actually feel sorry for doing the wrong things he brought to their attention and repent.
I believe the latter is the case here, for Paul has many friends and co-workers outside of Corinth who could bring him gladness, but his ‘happy thought’ right now is: that the Christians in Corinth would became sorry for their sins and get right with God.
It wasn’t that he wanted them to be unhappy but that he wanted his exhortation to be effective in bringing them to the place where both he and they could “rejoice” in what is good.
We’ll see later, in 2 Corinthians 12:20-21, the alternative that Paul wanted to avoid: of them not being sorry for their sin, resulting in great sorrow for him: “For I fear lest, when I come, I shall not find you such as I wish, and that I shall be found by you such as you do not wish; lest there be contentions, jealousies, outbursts of wrath, selfish ambitions, backbitings, whisperings, conceits, tumults; lest, when I come again, my God will humble me among you, and I shall mourn for many who have sinned before and have not repented of the uncleanness, fornication, and lewdness which they have practiced.” (NKJV)
So, Paul says in verse 3, that he wrote7 this very thing – that is (as he said in verse 1) that he would not come back for a visit right away (which is also what he had written in 1 Cor. 16:5, “I will come to you AFTER I have gone through Macedonia”). And later on in 2 Cor. 2:9, he will explain this delay as a “test” designed to give them an opportunity to be “obedient.”
Paul,
knowing that the church in Corinth still needed to take some important actions in dealing with sin and disorder in its midst,
and realizing that his ultimate goal was to cheer on – and rejoice together with – a healthy church that was doing well,
and being confident that this church could indeed work out its problems in his absence,
decided to delay his visit and come at a time when he wouldn’t have to scold anybody, but would be able to cheer-on (and be cheered-by) this church that he loves.
The Greek grammar in the middle of verse 3 is a bit odd, so folks have translated it two different ways: either Paul is saying
that he ought to be bringing joy to the Corinthians,
or that the Corinthians should be making him rejoice.
It literally reads “from those whom it was necessary me to rejoice8.”
But the very ambiguity of that statement adds to the force of the final statement in verse 3 that “my joy is the [joy] of you all” – what makes me happy is to make you happy.
This is the kind of attitude a Godly leader should have – whether you are a parent or a Bible study leader or an employer or a pastor. Your leadership should not be about you controlling the people under you – and being served by them – and them making you feel good. Your leadership should be about you working together with them for what will bring them the greatest joy.
And Paul is emphatic about nobody being left out of this joy. He says it is for “all of y’all” – “What will give joy to every one of y’all, is what will bring me joy as well.”
That tips us off that Paul isn’t just into making everybody feel good (which isn’t possible, as any of you in leadership have probably discovered!), but that he is actively strategizing as to how the eternal “joy” of the Lord can be brought to bear (through trusting in Jesus) to every person in the church.
He’s talking about that “joy” which is the number-two “fruit of the Spirit” in Galatians 5:22 after “love,” and which is given by the Holy Spirit Who has the power to give “joy” to every single member of the church.
Notice also the word “confident.” Here is yet another example from the Apostle about how to be a good leader in your home, in your classroom, in your workplace, in the church: Instead of expressing distrust toward the people God has given you to lead, express “confidence” that, by the grace of God, they will get things right.
You’ve seen the wrong way to do it: Parents, bosses, teachers, and preachers9 that say,
“You are so stupid and dull, you’ll never understand!”
“I don’t know why I even bother with you.”
“I have to keep an eye on you because you’re just going to make a mess of it.”
“It’ll all end in tears, I know.”
In contrast, Paul says three times in 2 Corinthians, “I am confident about y’all.”
We see it here in chapter 2 verse 3,
and again in 2 Cor. 7:16 “...I rejoice that I have confidence10 in you in everything.”
and in 2 Corinthians 8:22 “...the great confidence which we have in you.”
He also said the same thing to other churches:
Galatians 5:10 “I have confidence in you, in the Lord...” (NKJV)
2 Thessalonians 3:4 “And we have confidence in the Lord concerning you, both that you do and will do the things we command you.” (NKJV)
Philemon 1:21 “Having confidence in your obedience, I write to you, knowing that you will do even more than I say.” (NKJV)
A good coach says, “I know you can do it! You’ve got this!”
A good spiritual coach says, “I [believe you] can do all things through Christ who strengthens [you],” (to borrow another saying of Paul’s from Philippians 4:13).
This is not mere “positive thinking” or “human potential;” it’s God’s plan of salvation, being carried out by the power of the Holy Spirit that gives us confidence that the church will do well, despite all her problems.
And so, as Paul said to the church in Rome, it is “the God of hope [Who] fills you with all joy and peace in believing, that you may abound in hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.” (Romans 15:13, NKJV) God is the basis of our confidence.
If you love someone, it will affect your emotions. Perhaps the thought of a good friend
relaxes your body physically,
brings a smile to your face,
or perhaps the thought brings a lump to your throat
or even tears to your eyes.
The more you love them, the deeper that response will be, and it is good for your relationship – whether you are a teacher or a parent or a sibling or a spouse or a fellow church-member – to let them know how their relationship impacts you emotionally.
Paul let the Corinthians know in verse 4 that he loved them so much that he “worried” about them, felt “anguish” in his “heart,” and spilled “tears” on the paper as he wrote his letter to them.
The concerns he brought up with them were not done with a cavalier attitude, but out of deep and genuine concern for them. (These are not AI-generated letters designed to raise money; they are “A.T.” letters, the “A” standing for “Anguish” and the “T” standing for “Tears”!)
It seems that tears came readily for Paul:
He described his years of ministry in Ephesus by saying “...for three years I did not cease to warn everyone night and day with11 tears” (Acts 20:31, NKJV),
and he told the Philippians how he “wept” over the “enemies of the Cross of Christ” (Philip. 3:18).
It has been said, “We shall not make others weep for that for which we have not wept.” (Denney, quoted by Hughes)
The point is not so much whether you cry but whether you care.
Paul circles back to the letter he wrote and says that, not only did he not want his visit with them to be “painful/sorrowful,” but he also didn’t want them to “be grieved” by his letter either. His main intent in writing, he says, was to show them “the love which I have more abundantly with y’all.”
Later on in 2 Corinthians 7:12 he says it again, “...I wrote to you... that our care for you in the sight of God might appear to you.” (NKJV)
This is exactly what Jesus commanded12: that we “love one another,” and that we do so through:
“Be[ing] kindly affectionate to one another with brotherly love, in honor giving preference to one another” (Rom. 12:10, NKJV),
“...through love serv[ing] one another” (Gal. 5:13, NKJV),
“in all humility and gentleness, with patience, putting up with one another in love, hurrying to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace” (Eph. 4:2-3, NAW),
“...studying one another towards provocation of love and good works” (Heb. 10:24, NAW),
“...fervently loving each other from a clean heart” (1 Pet. 1:22, NAW),
“...cover[ing] over many sins” (1 Pet. 4:8),
and “Greet[ing] one another with a kiss of love…” (1 Pet. 5:14, NAW).
We’ve all got a bit of growing to do to fulfill those commands for loving perfectly, but will you look to Jesus to make you more like that – and to make you more like Paul:
who knew how to bring joy through going-easy on people rather than always being fault-finding,
who humbly worked to bring joy to his church instead of being controlling,
who exhorted people over sin, but didn’t nag them about it,
who brought spiritual joy to – and expressed confidence in God’s work with – his people,
and who did everything out of love for others, even if it brought him tears.
ByzantineB |
NAW |
KJVC |
RheimsD |
MurdockE |
1:23 ᾿Εγὼ δὲ μάρτυρα τὸν Θεὸν ἐπικαλοῦμαι ἐπὶ τὴν ἐμὴν ψυχήνF, ὅτι φειδόμενος ὑμῶν οὐκέτι ἦλθον εἰς Κόρινθον. |
1:23 Now, as for myself, I call upon God as witness over my own soul: I did not yet come to Corinth, because I was going easy on y’all – |
1:23 Moreover I X call God for a record upon my soul, that to spare you I came not as yet unto Corinth. |
1:23 But I X call God to witness upon my soul that to spare you, I came not any more to Corinth: |
1:23 Moreover, I X call God for a witness on my soul, that it was in order to spare you, that I came not X to Corinth. |
1:24 οὐχ ὅτι κυριεύομενG ὑμῶν τῆς πίστεως, ἀλλὰ συνεργοί ἐσμεν τῆς χαρᾶς ὑμῶν· τῇ γὰρ πίστει ἑστήκατεH. |
1:24 not because we are being domineering over y’all’s faith, but rather we are co-workers of your joy, for it is by faith that y’all have been standing. |
1:24
Not for that we have dominion over your faith, but are |
Not
because
we exercise dominion over your faith: but we are |
1:24
Not that we are lords over your faith, but we are |
2:1 ῎Εκρινα δὲI ἐμαυτῷJ τοῦτο, τὸ μὴ πάλινK ἐν λύπῃ ἐλθεῖνL πρὸς ὑμᾶς. |
2:1 So I decided this within myself: not to come again to y’all with grief. |
2:1 But I determined this with myself, that I would not come again to you in heaviness. |
2:1 But I determined this with myself, to come to you again in sorrow. |
2:1 And I determined this with myself, that I would not again come to you in sadness. |
2:2 εἰ γὰρ ἐγὼ λυπῶM ὑμᾶς, καὶ τίς N ὁ εὐφραίνωνO με εἰ μὴ ὁ λυπούμενοςP ἐξ ἐμοῦ; |
2:2 (For, when I grieve y’all, who then is the one that makes me glad except the one that is grieved by me?) |
2:2
For if I make
you sorry,
who is he then that maketh me glad, |
2:2
For if I make
you sorrowful,
who is he then that [can]
make me glad, |
2:2 For if I should make you sad, X who would make me joyful, unless he whom I had made sad? |
2:3 καὶ ἔγραψα ὑμῖνQ τοῦτο αὐτὸR, ἵνα μὴ ἐλθὼν λύπην ἔχωS ἀφ᾿ ὧν ἔδει μεT χαίρειν, πεποιθὼς ἐπὶ πάντας ὑμᾶς ὅτι ἡ ἐμὴ χαρὰ πάντων ὑμῶν ἐστιν. |
2:3 And I wrote this very thing to y’all in order that, when I come, I might not have grief from those whom I should be causing to rejoice, having become confident concerning all of y’all that my own joy is that of you all. |
2:3 And I wrote this same unto you, lest, when I came, I should have sorrow from them of whom I ought to rejoice; having confidence in you all, that my joy is the joy of you all. |
2:3 And I wrote this same to you: that I may not, when I come, have sorrow [upon sorrow] from them of whom I ought to rejoice: having confidence in you all, that my joy is the [joy] of you all. |
2:3
And I wrote that
very thing to you, lest when I
came, X those
persons whom I ought to make joyful,
should |
2:4 ἐκ γὰρU πολλῆς θλίψεως καὶ συνοχῆςV καρδίας ἔγραψα ὑμῖν διὰW πολλῶν δακρύων, οὐχ ἵνα λυπηθῆτε, ἀλλὰ τὴν ἀγάπην ἵνα γνῶτεX ἣν ἔχω περισσοτέρωςY εἰς ὑμᾶς. |
2:4 Indeed, out of much stress and worry of heart I wrote to y’all, through many tears, not in order that y’all might be grieved, but rather in order that y’all might know the love which I have more abundantly with y’all. |
2:4 For out of much affliction and anguish of heart I wrote unto you with many tears; not that ye should be grieved, but that ye might know the love which I have more abundantly unto you. |
2:4 For out of much affliction and anguish of heart, I wrote to you with many tears: not that you should be made sorrowful: but that you might know the charity X I have more abundantly towards you. |
2:4
And |
1᾿Εγὼ δὲ μάρτυρα τὸν Θεὸν ἐπικαλοῦμαι (where “God” and “witness” are accusatives in apposition to each other, equating “God” with “witness,” both as objects of the verb “I call upon”). It’s a unique oath formula not found anywhere else in the Bible, but similar to the phrase, “God is my witness,” which Paul uses in Rom. 1:9 and Philip. 1:8 and 1 Thess. 2:5 – μάρτυς [γάρ μού ἐστιν ὁ] θεός (Where “God” and “witness” are subject and predicate nominative of the verb of being). John Calvin commented “our oaths may promote the honor of God and promote also the advantage of our neighbors in a matter that is befitting.” Matthew Henry added that this is “a way of speaking not justifiable where used in trivial matters.”
2Chrysostom noted in his homily on this passage that Paul “frequently defends himself, without being ashamed; for if God doth so, saying, ‘O My people, what have I done unto thee?’ (Micah 6:3) much more might Paul...”
3Paul makes the same denial again in Rom. 9:1, Gal. 1:20, and 1 Tim. 2:7.
4Chrysostom observed that “a man spares those whom he has also power to punish,” so he is still “asserting authority.”
5Cf. Augustine’s Letter #211, “As severity is ready to punish the faults which it may discover, so charity is reluctant to discover the faults which it must punish.” (as quoted by Hughes in loc.)
6In Rom. 16, Paul called Priscilla, Aquilla, Urbanus, and Timothy his συνεργοί (“co-workers”). Paul adds Titus to his list of “co-workers” in 2 Cor. 8:23 (and 1 Thess. 3:2), Epaphroditus in Philippians 2:25, then Aristarchus, Barnabas, and Justus in Colossians 4:11, and Philemon, Mark, Aristarchus, Demas, and Luke in Philemon 1:1 &24.
7The verb “I wrote” could be an epistolary aorist referring to 2 Cor. itself, or it could be referring to 1 Cor. (Chrysostom, Hughes), or it could be referring to a lost letter between 1 & 2 Cor. (A.T. Robertson, Geoffrey Wilson, and, according to Hughes, Lietzmann, Bachmann, Windisch, Allo, and Tasker) Overlap in content between the issues raised in 1 Cor. and the issues severely highlighted in a lost letter could explain why some think it is 1 Cor. and others think it was a lost letter, but, the content of 1 Cor. is enough to explain all that Paul is saying here in 2 Cor.
8ἀφ᾿ ὧν ἔδει με χαίρειν
9“...in pastors, it will be the best restraint, to keep them back from alarming with terrors those minds, which they ought rather to have encouraged by means of a cheerful affability. For from this arises an excessively morose harshness — so that we do not rejoice in the welfare of the Church, as were becoming… It is, however, the part of a pious pastor, to weep within himself, before he calls upon others to weep: to feel tortured in silent musings, before he shows any token of displeasure; and to keep within his own breast more grief, than he causes to others.” ~J. Calvin, 1546 AD
10Θαρρω, a synonym to the word πεποιθὼς in 2 Cor. 2:3.
11Μετα, a synonym to the preposition δια (lit. “through”) used in 2 Cor. 2:4.
12John 13:34-35; 15:12 & 17; Rom. 12:10; 13:8; Gal. 5:13; Eph. 4:2; 1Th. 3:12; 4:9; Heb. 10:24; 1Pe. 1:22; 3:8; 4:8; 5:14; 1Jn. 3:11 & 23; 4:7-12; and 2Jn. 1:5.
AWhen
a translation adds words not in the Greek text, but does not
indicate it has done so by the use of italics or greyed-out text, I
put the added words in [square brackets]. When one version chooses a
wording which is different from all the other translations, I
underline it. When a version chooses a translation which, in my
opinion, either departs too far from the root meaning of the Greek
word or departs too far from the grammar form of the original text,
I use strikeout. And when a version omits a word
which is in the original text, I insert an X. I also place an X at
the end of a word if the original word is plural but the English
translation is singular. I occasionally use colors to help the
reader see correlations between the various editions and versions
when there are more than two different translations of a given word.
NAW is my translation. My original chart includes annotated copies
of the NKJV, NASB, NIV, and ESV, but I erase them from the online
edition so as not to infringe on their copyrights.
BThis Greek New Testament is the 1904 "Patriarchal" edition of the Greek Orthodox Church. As published by E-Sword in 2016. The Robinson-Pierpont Byzantine majority text of the GNT and the Textus Receptus are very similar. The Westcott-Hort, Nestle-Aland, and UBS editions, however, are a slightly-different family of GNTs developed in the modern era, focusing on the few manuscripts which are older than the Byzantine manuscripts. Even so, the practical differences in the text between these two editing philosophies are minimal.
C1769 King James Version of the Holy Bible; public domain. As published by E-Sword in 2019.
DRheims New Testament first published by the English College at Rheims, A.D. 1582, Revised and Diligently Compared with the Latin Vulgate by Bishop Richard Challoner, Published in 1582, 1609, 1752. As published on E-Sword in 2016.
EJames Murdock, A Literal Translation from the Syriac Peshito Version, 1851, Robert Carter & Brothers, New York. Scanned and transcribed by Gary Cernava and published electronically by Janet Magierra at http://www.lightofword.org and published on E-Sword in 2023.
FMoule’s Idiom Book of The New Testament is cited by Hannah as saying that this phrase means “on my life.” Calvin interpreted it as an oath, agreeing for God to take his life if he lied, thus the NKJV/ESV “against my soul/me.”
GCalvin quoted Erasmus that “there is no spiritual dominion except that of God only” but that “false prophets, resembling tyrants … rule with rigor and authority, as in Ezek 34:4,” so Paul was endeavoring “to maintain them in the possession of a peace that was free and full of joy,” thus Paul was “arguing from contraries” when he wrote “by faith you stand.”
HIt is curious that none of the English versions rendered this verb in the Perfect tense in which it was spelled in Greek. It can’t be because there is no present tense form, because this verb occurs in present tense in 6 verses in the Greek Bible (incl. Rom. 3:31), nevertheless, the perfect and pluperfect forms (occurring 40 and 59 times, respectively, in the Greek Bible) are more common than the present (6) and imperfect (1) forms, but not nearly as common as the future (130) and Aorist (359) forms. It should be noted that this is a different verb from the one which the NIV translated “stand firm” back in v. 21. The word here has the simpler meaning of “stand” and only occurs in 2 Cor. here and at 13:1.
ICf.
1:15 “...I was wanting to come...” “This was the settled
decision at which he subsequently arrived, and the verb indicates…
a careful and deliberate weighing up of the situation.”
~Hughes
This “but/so”
is the reading of the majority of Greek manuscripts (including
4 of the 6 pre-8th
century manuscripts) and
of the Textus
Receptus, Greek
Orthodox,
Tischendorf, and
Tregelles editions of
the New Testament (and
the Vulgate and Peshitta seem to support it too),
but 9 Greek manuscripts
(including the two oldest-known) instead read γαρ
(“for”),
which is followed, among the critical editions, only by the
Nestle-Aland/UBS and, among the English versions, by the ESV alone.
J“To myself” is effectively omitted by the NIV, NET, and ESV. It is interpreted as an internal “deciding” by the Geneva, KJV & NKJV (“in/with/within myself”), but as “a dative of advantage” in Turner’s Grammar and by Vincent, and thus by the NASB (“for my own sake”). However, it seems a bit of a stretch to make a dative mean the latter (If Paul had meant “for me,” I think he would have used a preposition like προς), and furthermore, Paul is clearly not talking about how he took advantages for himself but rather about how altruistic he was being, so I think the former is the better interpretation.
KA.T. Robertson neatly summarized the possible meanings in his Word Pictures as follows, “What does Paul mean by ‘again’ (palin)? Had he paid another visit besides that described in Acts 18 which was in sorrow (en lupēi)? [This was Hughes’ position, and he cited Alford, Denney, Lightfoot, Bernard, Sanday, and Zahn in agreement.] Or does he mean that having had one joyful visit (that in Acts 18) he does not wish the second one to be in sorrow? [Hughes attributes this position to Stanley, and Calvin held a similar position that the letter itself was the “visit.”] Either interpretation is possible as the Greek stands and scholars disagree. So in 2 Cor. 12:14 ‘The third time I am ready to come’ may refer to the proposed second visit (2 Cor. 1:15.) and the present plan (a third). And so as to 2 Cor. 13:1. There is absolutely no way to tell clearly whether Paul had already made a second visit. If he had done so, it is a bit odd that he did not plainly say so in 2 Cor. 1:15, when he is apologizing for not having made the proposed visit (‘a second benefit’).”
LThis
is the reading of the Greek Orthodox edition of the New Testament.
It is based on 10 manuscripts, including the oldest-known papyrus.
Other editions of the GNT place this infinitive verb two words
earlier (Textus Receptus, supported only by one 14th
century manuscript) or two words later in the sentence (which is the
reading of the majority of Greek manuscripts – including 4 of the
6 pre-8th-century manuscripts, and of all the critical editions of
the GNT). However, there is no difference in translation between the
three placements of this word.
“
with the infinitive is in apposition to ,
“for I determined this for myself, that I would not come again to
you with sorrow.” ~A.T.
Robertson’s Grammar
MThis present indicative verb indicates that Paul sees the condition as being true that he has brought grief to the Corinthians. Cf. ATR “The kai accepts the condition (first class ei̇̇lupō) and shows the paradox that follows.”
NThis is the reading of 6 Greek manuscripts (including the 4 oldest-known dating back to the 4th century), reflected in the 1904 Patristic edition and all the contemporary critical editions of the GNT. The majority of Greek manuscripts (the oldest-known being the 7th century Bezae), followed by the Textus Receptus and St. Spyridon Greek Orthodox editions insert the verb of being (εστιν) here. It makes no difference in translation, because the verb of being is assumed when no explicit verb is present, as is the case in this clause. Note that the KJV (which followed the Textus Receptus) translated this verbal structure the same as the NIV & ESV (which followed the contemporary critical editions), both reading “who is.” (NASB and NLT read “makes,” which uses the causative meaning of the ensuing participle as the main verb of the clause and ignores the definite article with the participle, so their translation is less-precise here.)
OThis is a different word from the one I translated “celebrate” back in 1:12 & 1:14. This word is used throughout the LXX especially to describe religious celebrations with feasting. This verb is followed by an accusative personal pronoun, which doesn’t happen anywhere else in the GNT, but in the LXX, it denotes “causing [that person] to be glad” (Isaiah 56:7 εὐφρανῶ αὐτοὺς, Prov. 22:18 εὐφρανοῦσίν σε, Prov. 12:25 εὐφραίνει αὐτόν, Psalm 91:5 εὔφρανάς με, Psalm 44:9 ηὔφρανάν σε, Psalm 20:7 εὐφρανεῖς αὐτὸν, Neh. 12:43 ηὔφρανεν αὐτοὺς, Ezra 6:22 εὔφρανεν αὐτοὺς, 2 Chron. 20:27 εὔφρανεν αὐτοὺς)
PNASB, NIV and ESV render this with a past-tense active verb in English. The KJV accurately preserves the present passive form which is in all of the Greek manuscripts.
QThis is the reading of the majority of Greek manuscripts (the oldest-known being from the 7th century) and thus of the Textus Receptus and Greek Orthodox editions (It is also the reading of the ancient Vulgate and Peshitta versions), and thus, not only of the KJV but also the NASB. But a dozen Greek manuscripts (including the five oldest-known, dating as far back as the year 200) read without the “to y’all,” and that omission is reflected by the contemporary critical editions, followed by the NIV and ESV. It makes no difference in meaning because, if Paul is referring to something he wrote, expecting them to know about it, then obviously he not only “wrote” it, but wrote it “to them.”
RGeneva, KJV, NKJV, NASB, and ESV all render literally (“this very/same thing”). AGNT agreed, labeling auto with Louw & Nida semantic domain #58.31 (“identical… same”), but Blass & Debrunner, in their Greek Grammar advocated for turning it into a purpose phrase (“for this very reason”). On the other hand, NIV, NLT, and ESV strangely render it as a comparative prepositional phrase (“as I did”), even though there is neither preposition nor verb in this Greek phrase in any manuscript.
SThis present-tense form of the verb (“I might/should/would be having”) is the reading of the majority of Greek manuscripts (the oldest being the 5th century Ephraemi) and of the Textus Receptus and Greek Orthodox editions. However, 15 Greek manuscripts (including the 4 oldest-known, one of which dates to the year 200) read with the aorist-tense spelling σχω (“I might/should/would have”). The same change happened back in 1:15, suggesting that the aorist subjunctive form may have been in more common use in the first few centuries AD, but fell out of use around the 5th century, and since the present subjunctive has basically the same meaning, Greek readers may not have even considered it a variant.
TNormally an accusative pronoun next to an infinitive verb would signal the subject (“I rejoice”), but all the English versions interpreted it instead as the object of this infinitive, surprisingly making the genitive ὧν the subject (“from those who [it should be] make me rejoice.” This popular interpretation is suspect, not only for breaking grammar rules (and it is surprising that Wallace had nothing to say about that), but also for hermeneutical reasons, for it presents Paul with an attitude opposite to that which the rest of the passage displays, to wit, that Paul is not discussing what the Corinthians ought to do for him, but what he feels obligated to do for them.
UAlmost all the English versions render this with a causal “for,” but there doesn’t appear to be a causal link here. It appears instead to be an ascensive “indeed” (Arndt & Gingrich Lexicon definition #4, or semantic domain #89.93a in Smith’s Supplement to Louw & Nida).
VAlthough almost all the English versions agree on translating this word “anguish” here, the only other time this word occurs in the GNT, almost all English versions translate it “distress” (Luke 21:25). In the Greek Old Testament it occurs four more times to describe living among enemies (Jdg. 2:3), living in a desert (Job 30:3), and living in a besieged city (Mic. 4:14; Jer. 52:5). The picture that comes to mind is that of a raccoon or opossum “worried” by hounds, having to deal with the potential of being attacked from any side at any time. Vincent, however, argued in favor of translating it “anguish” because the Latin root angere means “to choke/throttle.” That would be appropriate for translating the Vulgate (angustia), but is not directly relevant to translating the Greek original.
WLiterally “through,” but figuratively “with attendant circumstances” (Moule’s Idioms) as all the English versions say – which would be semantic domain #89.79a in Smith’s Supplement to L&N, and definition A.III.c in Arndt & Gingrich’s Lexicon. A literal interpretation is possible, however.
XATR saw in the aorist tense an “ingressive” meaning (“that you might come to know”), but I do not think it appropriate to emphasize the process of knowledge here. The apostle just wants them to know that he really loves them.
YESV followed the Peshitta in turning this comparative adverb (which modifies the verb “I have”) into an adjective (modifying instead the noun “love”). The NIV was rather inventive, turning it into a noun! Cf. Calvin “The adverb more abundantly may be explained in a comparative sense... I take it, however, in a more simple way, as meaning that Paul commends his affection towards them…” G. Wilson commented that “‘More abundantly’ should not… be taken to mean that Paul loved the Corinthians more than his converts in other places. It rather refers to the greater demands which they made upon his love by their folly.”
ZThis pronoun, which is not in the Greek manuscripts, is added in the Peshitta. Lamsa’s translation ignored it, but “these things” is in the translations by Etheridge and Murdock.