Translation & Sermon by
Nate Wilson for Christ The Redeemer Church, Manhattan, KS, 8
Feb.
2026
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.
Read my translation of the passage, starting at 2
Corinthians 6:16b:
...God said that, “I will be at home among
and walk among them, and I will be their God and as for them, they
will be my people.” “Therefore y’all must come out from the
midst of them and be separated,” says the Lord, “and don’t be
in contact with uncleanness,” and “I will take y’all in,”
and “I will be to y’all for a father, and you yourselves will be
to me for sons” and daughters, says the Lord Almighty.
Therefore, loved ones, since we have these promises, let us cleanse
ourselves from all defilement of flesh and spirit, perfecting
holiness in the fear of God. Y’all should start making room for
us: there is no one we committed injustice against; there is no one
we corrupted; there is no one we took advantage of. It is not toward
condemnation that I speak; for I have said before that y’all are
in our hearts to the point of dying together and living together.
Great is my openness toward y’all; great is my cause for
celebration concerning y’all. I have been filled with comfort; I
am super-abundant with joy despite all our stress.
In the last sermon, we considered how we are God’s temple and what it means to be holy: that we are in a special relationship with a personal God and therefore we want to remove from influence anything that is out-of-keeping with the character of our God. The application had to do with keeping a holy relationship with God and cutting off unholy relationships.
But what about our relationship with other saints – with people who are also holy to God? In verses 2-4, I think Paul focuses on the effect that holiness should have on our relationships with other Christians.
Back in chapter 6 verse 12, Paul and Timothy used the same Greek root-word which opens verse 2, but combined it with a word that means “narrow,” to observe that the Corinthians had “narrowed down the space” for their affections for their apostles; here the apostles are commanding the Corinthian church to do the opposite – to “make more space” for them.
Jesus used the same Greek verb to exhort His hearers to “make room” for His teachings in their lives (Matt. 19:11-12; Jn. 8:37, 2 Pet. 3:9).
This word is also used in the Gospel of Mark (2:2) in the physical sense of “making space” for guests in one’s home.
So all three of these meanings of “making space” could be at play here:
emotional space for affection,
intellectual space for giving heed to teaching,
and physical space for hosting a visit.
Now, if Paul and Timothy had been violent criminals or thieves or teachers of false doctrine, there would have been good reason for the Christians in Corinth to shut them out of their homes and lives.
Paul had already written in 1 Corinthians 5:11 “...don’t mix together with anyone if, while called a brother, he is being immoral or greedy or an idol-worshipper or an abusive [speaker] or drunkard or grasper – don’t even eat together with such” (NAW),
and in Titus 3:10 “Reject a divisive man…” (NKJV)
There are people you should “make no room for” in your life.
However, Paul and Timothy had never presented any such material or spiritual danger to anybody.
Paul testified the same before Governor Festus later on in Acts 25:10 “...To the Jews I have done no wrong, as you very well know.” (NKJV) And his prosecutors were not able to prove otherwise.
Paul had always stood against spiritual corruption too:
In 2 Corinthians 11:3, he warned the the church against letting their “minds... be corrupted from the simplicity that is in Christ.” (NKJV)
And in Ephesians 4:22, he urged Christians to “...put off of you what pertains to the former way of life – the old man which is being corrupted according to the lusts from deception…” (NAW)
And whether the third word “defrauded/cheated/took advantage of/exploited” refers to sexual immorality or to material theft, he and Timothy were also above reproach in those regards.
Paul had earlier written in 1 Thess. 4:3-7 “For this is the will of God, your sanctification: that you should abstain from sexual immorality; that each of you should know how to possess his own vessel in sanctification and honor, not in passion of lust, like the Gentiles who do not know God; that no one should take advantage of1 and defraud his brother in this matter, because the Lord is the avenger of all such, as we also forewarned you and testified. For God did not call us to uncleanness, but in holiness.” (NKJV)
Paul wrote later in 2 Corinthians 12:17-18 “Did I take advantage of you by any of those whom I sent to you? I urged Titus, and sent our brother with him. Did Titus take advantage of you? Did we not walk in the same spirit?…” The obvious answer is “No, they did not take advantage of anyone. All the apostles walked in the same spirit in that respect.”
The same could not be said of the false apostles2. But, because of the universal human tendency to accuse others of what we ourselves are guilty, perhaps the super-apostles had been raising these slanderous accusations againt Paul and Timothy to deflect attention from their own sins.
They might have complained that Paul was overbearing because he exercised the authority of an apostle,
that he had destroyed the reputation of the sexually immoral man in 1 Corinthians 5,
and that Paul was embezzling funds from the collections he was taking up for the saints in Jerusalem. (Hughes)
This tradition of a leader defending himself from slander by putting himself up for a trial of his integrity, goes back to Moses and Samuel in the Old Testament:
When Korah and Dathan rebelled against Moses in Numbers 16:15, “Then Moses was very angry, and said to the LORD, ‘Do not respect their offering. I have not taken one donkey from them, nor have I hurt3 one of them.’” (NKJV)
1 Sam. 12:1-5 “Then Samuel [at the end of his life and ministry] said to all Israel, ‘...I have become old and grey... give answer to me in the presence of Yahweh and in the presence of His Anointed: Whose cattle have I confiscated? And whose donkey have I confiscated? And whom have I extorted4? Whom have I crushed? And from whose hand have I taken a bribe that I would avert my eyes on account of it? If so, I will make restitution to y'all.’ And they said, ‘You have not extorted us or crushed us or confiscated anything from the hand of anyone.’ So, he said to them, ‘Yahweh is a witness – and so is His Anointed – concerning y'all this day, that no [confiscated] item has been found in my possession.’...” (NAW)
And so the Apostle Paul used that tradition from time to time:
To the elders at Ephesus he said in Acts 20:33 “I have coveted [ἐπεθύμησα] no one's silver or gold or apparel.” (NKJV)
To the church at Thessalonika he wrote in 2 Thessalonians 3:7 “...we were not disorderly [ἠτακτήσαμεν] among you…” (NKJV)
And now to the Corinthians he repeats what he had already asserted in 2 Corinthians 6:3 “And we are giving not a single offense [προσκοπήν], not even in one way, so that our ministry might not be made defective…” (NAW)
Is that level of scrutiny something you could invite upon yourself? Do you have that kind of integrity? It’s not too late to start living with that kind of integrity.
The point, however, is that a Christian with that kind of integrity, reputation and passion for holiness to the Lord Jesus should be made-space-for – to show love for him, to give heed to his teaching, and to show hospitality to him, especially when it is your own church pastor, as Paul was in this case.
Matthew Henry commented on this passage, “Those who labour in the word and doctrine should be had in reputation, and be highly esteemed for their work's sake: and this would be a help to [you in] making progress in holiness.”
I have been reading the Little House book series by Laura Ingalls Wilder to my children at bedtime recently, and this reminds me of how the Ingalls family “made room” in their lives for their frontier pastor Reverend Alden. The family never knew when he would pass through their part of Dakota Territory, but when he did, they immediately made space in their lives and in their house for him, offering him a meal and eagerly asking him to lead them in worship.
Perfecting holiness involves expanding our hearts for other saints, and in the next verse, Paul sets his own example of how to do this:
I have visited hundreds of churches around the country, and one thing I have noticed is that many churches create a sense of community by condemning other Christians who are not like them. They creates a strong “us versus them” ethos in order to motivate members to avoid being like the condemned outsiders and to stay inside their approved church community.
I’ve attended churches where it was obligatory to make critical remarks about Calvinists in every sermon in order to prove doctrinal purity. I’ve also attended churches where it was obligatory to condemn Arminians in every sermon to prove doctrinal purity.
I’ve been to churches that condemned dancing, and I’ve been to churches that promoted dancing.
I’ve heard preachers rail about how bad Christians are for going to the theater, for eating out on Sundays, for not making Saturday the Sabbath, for being Pro-life, for letting their kids play with action figurines, for having Sunday schools, for singing hymns instead of Psalms, for singing Psalms instead of hymns, for using instruments, for not using instruments, for having pastors, for not having pastors, for using wine in communion, for not using wine in communion – you name it, we humans can use any issue to create a niche in which to gather an affinity group and look down upon all the rest of the Christian world outside of our circle.
I have even talked with religious leaders who believed that having any conviction at all was divisive and whose church services were “anything-goes.” They were very eager to tell me how bad everyone outside their open-minded circle is for being so discriminatory.
Paul was not that way.
He certainly held the line on the important doctrines regarding salvation and the church, but He didn’t condemn all the other Christians with different traditions from his, and he certainly stood by the churches he planted, even when they weren’t loyal to him.
For him, holiness did not mean getting out on a twig of a limb of a branch of exclusive practices of holiness until there were only a handfull of people he could associate with and expect to see in heaven.
When he saw important things that were moving his beloved churches away from devotion to Christ, he confronted them, but it was to move them back toward faith in Jesus, not to condemn them as unworthy of his fellowship or as non-Christians.
They remained “in” his “heart;”
he “cared” (2 Cor. 7:12) about them
and “prayed” (2 Cor. 13:7) for them
and wrote “letters” (2 Cor. 7:8) to them
and “visited” (2 Cor. 12:14) them
and “bragged on” them (2 Cor. 7:4) to others.
Paul & Timothy “lived with” them now “in [their] hearts”, and expected “to die” and go to heaven with them and keep on living together with them in eternity.
Look around you; these church folks – a thousand years from now… ten thousand years from now, you’re still going to be walking in holy community with them, so you might as well start figuring it out now!
Paul notes in v.4 that he had “said before” that they they were “in [his] heart...”
He seems to be referring back to chapter 3 verse 2: “You yourselves are our letter, written in our hearts…” (NAW)
The idea is also there in chapter 6 verse 11: “...our heart has been made expansive toward y’all.” (NAW)
And Paul wrote similar expressions of his affection to other churches:
1 Thessalonians 2:17 “But since we were torn away from you, brothers, for a short time, in person not in heart, we endeavored the more eagerly and with great desire to see you face to face.” (ESV)
Philippians 1:7 “...I have you in my heart, inasmuch as both in my chains and in the defense and confirmation of the gospel, you all are partakers with me of grace.” (NKJV)
This evidences a covenant view of church relationships instead of a consumer view of church relationships.
In the consumer view, Christians see themselves as religious customers who choose what they want from the range of religious services offered to them, and if any church they frequent fails to satisfy them, then they express their dissatisfaction and take their church business somewhere else.
The consumer model of church places all responsibility for the church’s health upon the leadership, expecting the pastor to fill the ever-increasing task of keeping all the church customers happy, then further burdening the leadership with the task of attracting more church-shoppers through ever-increasing levels of entertainment and style.
The covenant view of church relationships, on the other hand, involves making a well-considered choice of a local church, then forming meaningful relationships with other members of that particular church, and sticking loyally to them. Church members with a covenantal view see themselves as a part of a body, dependent on the other parts of that church body, and aware that the rest of the body depends on them too. If they miss a Sunday, they believe that the whole church suffers from their absence. And if a problem emerges, they will feel responsible for the problem and will find ways to help the weak members work through it and will remain committed to their local church and its spiritual health over the long haul.
Some years ago, I took my wife to see a doctor. As we made small talk in his office, it came out that he was Buddhist. When he found out I was a church pastor, he asked, “Why you Christians can’t all get along together? Why so many different churches?” The answer to that question is not as simple as he wanted, because,
throughout history, believers have had to separate themselves from false doctrine,
and over thousands of years of engagement with cultures all over the world, believers have developed different traditions in worship that simply can’t all be done together,
and furthermore, it would be impractical to build structures big enough to accomodate every Christian in existence all at once – there’s value in gathering in smaller social groups.
Nevertheless, I found his question convicting because, if we’re willing to be honest, at least some of the fractured nature of the Christian church is due to us being unwilling to “make room” in our hearts for other saints and unwilling to “live and die with” each other.
Paul’s statement that he’s going “to live and die” with the Corinthian church is an expression of his covenant commitment to them.
He is saying he would rather die with them than live without them5. That’s a level of loyalty I don’t know any of us have attained to.
He is challenging those Corinthians who had joined the new super-apostles’ bandwagon – who had bought into the consumer model of church – to consider his example and correct course.
Holiness means expressing solidarity with other saints instead of condemning them.
Let us pray for God to enlarge our hearts with His love so that we can “make room for” our brothers and sisters in Christ.
And when you see weaknesses in our church, don’t abandon your body to go shopping for a better church experience; determine like Paul that you’re going to “live and die together” with your local church body, and find ways to “start strengthening the drooping hands and the feeble knees” (Heb. 12:12, NAW) and “warn those who are unruly, comfort the fainthearted, uphold the weak, [and] be patient with all.” (1 Thess. 5:14, NKJV)
Speak well of those that you think will probably be in heaven, even if you think some of their doctrine and practice is “off.” Conversely, hold your tongue and avoid passing on negative things you’ve heard about other Christians.
And, how about praying for other churches in addition to ours, even those that are a bit different from us?
In verse 4, Paul lists four results that can come from “perfecting holiness” in these ways:
The first is that this attitude of holiness which identifies with God and with His people results in experiencing “great confidence/openness” in relationships: Paul says in v.4, “I have/Great is my openness/confidence/boldness of speech toward y’all…”
This goes back to 2 Corinthians 6:11 “Our mouth has opened, Corinthians; our heart has been made expansive6 toward y’all.” (NAW)
and 2 Corinthians 3:12 “Therefore, since we have such a hope [the “greater glory” of “the ministry of the Spirit” which gives us “confidence7 through Christ before God”], we use much openness...” (NAW, cf. 10:1)
That’s not to say that opening your heart to other saints makes life easier or that you’ll always feel great about all your relationships with other Christians. In many ways it makes life more complicated to be open to differences and to relate to people who are different. But there is a certain joy in seeing, in real-life, what we confess in the Apostles’ Creed that we “believe in the communion of the saints.”
I love seeing the wonder on people’s faces when I tell them that I pray every month with dozens of other church pastors in our town; it comes with a certain amount of complicatedness in navigating our differences, but our common faith in Jesus Christ gives us openness/confidence/boldness to do it.
Just last week one of those pastors asked me to give him advice about pastoral concern in his church. What an expression of openness and confidence to ask the pastor of another church about something like that!
Philip. 1:20 “...in nothing will I be ashamed but rather in all open speech, now as always, Christ will be made great through my body, whether through life or through death.” (NAW)
The second result of perfecting holiness Paul mentions in v.4 is “great boasting/glorying/ pride/cause for celebration concerning y’all/on your behalf.”
When Paul was first in Corinth, he bragged to the Corinthians about how devout the Thessalonians had been, and he wrote 2 Thessalonians 1:4 “...we ourselves boast of you among the churches of God for your patience and faith in all your persecutions and tribulations that you endure...” (NKJV)
The Corinthians then had believed in Jesus and formed a church, and Paul made a big deal of that too, giving glory to God: 2 Corinthians 1:12 “For this is our cause for celebration – the testimony of our conscience, that in single-mindedness and integrity from God we conducted ourselves – not in fleshly wisdom but rather – in the grace of God in the world and even moreso toward y'all…” (NAW)
And in the chapters to come, we’ll see that Paul went on to brag to other churches in Macedonia about the exemplary things the Corinthians did out of their love for God. (2 Cor. 8:24, 9:2)
When you are in right relationship with God and you love God’s people, you will see God do wonderful things in and through you and other Christians, and you’ll have stories to tell!
The third result that Paul lists in v.4 is to be “filled with comfort/encouragement...”
This goes back to how he started the whole book in 2 Corinthians 1:3-7 “May the God and Father of our Lord Jesus the Anointed One be blessed! He is the Father of mercies and the God of all comfort – the One Who comforts us in all our stress in order for us to be empowered to comfort those in any stress, by means of the comfort by which we ourselves are being comforted by God, because, inasmuch as the sufferings of the Anointed One are abounding among us, so our comfort also abounds through the Anointed One. So, whether we are distressed for the sake of y'all's comfort and salvation, or whether we are comforted on account of y'all's comfort (and salvation), the exertion is in the enduring of the same sufferings which also we are suffering. So our hope concerning y'all is confirmed, knowing that, even as y'all are partners of the sufferings, thus y'all also are of the comfort.” (NAW)
When you love God’s kingdom and are focused on building it up rather than tearing it down, you are comforted and encouraged to see people come to faith in Jesus and grow in spiritual maturity. It feels good to see that what you and others have sacrificed your lives for is not a lost cause, but a deeply meaningful and vibrantly growing one.
That’s not to say there won’t be stressful things and suffering too. Paul freely speaks of “stress” and “comfort” in the same breath. I think a lot of it has to do with which one you “fill” yourself with. When you open your life to other saints and then fill your mind with thinking about the stress and the suffering you experience as a result, it’s not going to do any good. Like Paul, you have to “be filled with comfort;” let God’s Spirit comfort you and content yourself with that comfort, and think about how comforting He is.
The fourth and final result of perfecting holiness in verse 4 is “I am super-abundant/exceeding/overflowing with joy that knows no bounds in/despite all our affliction.”
Remember the “stress/tribulation/affliction/troubles” that the apostles had been experiencing? We ran into that word in:
2 Corinthians 1:8 “...we don't want y'all to be ignorant, brothers, concerning our distress which happened to us in Asia... we were weighed down to the extreme – beyond ability – such that we despaired even of life.” (NAW, cf. 2:4 & 4:17)
2 Corinthians 6:4-10 “...but we are recommending ourselves as ministers of God in much perseverance, in stresses, in forced circumstances, in restrictions, in wounds, in imprisonments, in upheavals, in labours, in night-watches, in fastings... through adulation and dishonor, through being spoken-ill-of and being spoken-well-of, as being in error yet true, as unknown yet well-known, as dying yet see, we are alive, as being punished yet not put to death, as grieving yet always rejoicing…” (NAW)
Paul wrote similarly
to the Roman church in Romans 5:3 “And not only that, but we also glory in tribulations, knowing that tribulation produces perseverance… 11 And not only that, but we also rejoice in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received the reconciliation.” (NKJV)
And he wrote to the church in Philippi in Philippians 2:17 “Yes, and if I am being poured out as a drink offering on the sacrifice and service of your faith, I am glad and rejoice with you all.” (NKJV)
And to the church in Colossae – Colossians 1:24 “I now rejoice in my sufferings8 for you...” (NKJV)
For those in a holy relationship with God and His saints, there is an inexplicable joy9 which grows out of persevering through stressful circumstances and enduring persecution for our faith.
ByzantineB |
NAW |
KJVC |
RheimsD |
MurdockE |
CopticF |
7:2 ΧωρήσατεG ἡμᾶς· οὐδέναH ἠδικήσαμενI, οὐδένα ἐφθείραμενJ, οὐδένα ἐπλεονεκτήσαμεν.K. |
2 Y’all should start making room for us: there is no one we committed injustice against; there is no one we corrupted; there is no one we took advantage of. |
2 Receive us; we have wronged no man, we have corrupted no man, we have defrauded no man. |
2 Receive us. We have injured no man: we have corrupted no man: we have overreached no man. |
2 Bear with us, my brethren; we have done evil to no one; we have corrupted no one; we have wronged no one. |
7:2 Receive us: we wronged not any: we corrupted not any: we cheated not any. |
7:3 ουL̓ πρὸς κατάκρισινM λέγωN· προείρηκα γὰρ ὅτι ἐν ταῖς καρδίαις ἡμῶν ἐστε εἰςO τὸ συναποθανεῖνP καὶ συζῆν. |
3 It is not toward condemnation that I speak; for I have said before that y’all are in our hearts to the point of dying together and living together. |
3 I speak not this to condemnX you: for I have said before, that ye are in our hearts X to die X and live with you. |
3
I speak not [thisQ]
to [your]
condemnation.
For |
3 I speak thus, not to condemnX [you]; for I have said before, that ye are [treasuredS] in our hearts, X to die X and to live together. |
7:3
I amS/ |
7:4 πολλή μοι παρρησία πρὸς ὑμᾶς, πολλή μοι καύχησις ὑπὲρ ὑμῶν· πεπλήρωμαι τῇT παρακλήσει, Uὑπερπερισσεύομαι τῇ χαρᾷ ἐπὶ πάσῃ τῇV θλίψει ἡμῶν. |
4 Great is my openness toward y’all; great is my cause for celebration concerning y’all. I have been filled with comfort; I am super-abundant with joy despite all our stress. |
4
Great is
my boldness
of
speech toward you, great is
my glorying
of you: I am filled with comfort, I
am exceeding
X joy |
4 Great is my confidence for you: great is my glorying for you. I am filled with comfort: I exceedingly abound with joy in all our tribulation. |
4
I have great assurance
before you, [andW]
have much glorying
|
7:4
I have a great boldness of
speech toward you, I have a great boast
about you: I wasB/ amS full of [yourB]
theS comfort, I
abound |
5 ΚαὶX γὰρ ἐλθόντων ἡμῶν εἰς Μακεδονίαν οὐδεμίαν ἔσχηκεν ἄνεσιν ἡ σὰρξY ἡμῶν, ἀλλ᾿ ἐνZ παντὶ θλιβόμενοι·AA ἔξωθεν μάχαιAB, ἔσωθεν φόβοιAC. |
5 Indeed, even when we came to Macedonia, our flesh didn’t have any relief; rather, we were stressed-out by everything – fights outside, fears inside, |
5 For X, when we were come into Macedonia, our flesh had no rest, but we were troubled on every side; without were fightings, within were fears. |
5 For also, when we were come into Macedonia, our flesh had no rest: but we suffered X all tribulation. Combats without: fears within. |
5
For, |
5
For even when weS had come into Makedonia our
flesh |
6 ἀλλ᾿ ὁ παρακαλῶν τοὺς ταπεινοὺςAE παρεκάλεσεν ἡμᾶς ὁ Θεὸς ἐν τῇ παρουσίᾳAF ΤίτουAG· |
6 but God – the One who comforts those who are low – comforted us by the presence of Titus, |
6 Nevertheless God, that comforteth those that are cast down, comforted us by the coming of Titus; |
6 But God, who comforteth the humble, comforted us by the coming of Titus. |
6 But God who comforteth the depressed, comforted us by the arrival of Titus. |
6 But God, who consoleth those who are humble, consoled us in the coming of Titos [unto usS]; |
1ὑπερβαίνειν
2Chrysostom: “And at the same time he also alludes to the false apostles.”
3Ἐκάκωσα, a close synonym to ἠδικήσαμεν in 2 Cor. 7:2.
4The English version renders the Hebrew …לֹא עֲשַׁקְתָּנ ... עָשַׁקְתִּי… as “...have I extorted… you have not extorted us…,” using the same root-word like the Hebrew does, but the LXX translated it ...κατεδυνάστευσα ... ἠδίκησας...
5cf. Chrysostom: “‘For should it chance,’ saith he, ‘that danger should invade, for your sakes I am ready to suffer every thing; and neither death nor life seemeth aught to me in itself, but in whichever ye be, that is to me more desirable, both death than life and life than death.’”
6πεπλάτυνται, somewhat synonymous with παρρησία in 7:4.
7πεποίθησιν, a synonym to παρρησία in 7:4.
8παθήμασί, a synonym to θλίψει in 2 Cor. 7:4.
9“For the joy it brings to be loved in any degree by those one passionately loves, is great by reason of our loving them exceedingly. So that this again was a proof of his affection.” ~J. Chrysostom
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.
FThis is a conflation of the English translations of the Northern Bohairic and Southern Sahidic traditions published by Oxford Clarendon Press in 1905 and 1920 respectively, neither of which named the translator or editor. The beginnings and ends of multiple-word variants are marked out with brackets, with a superscript “S” for Sahidic or “B” for Bohairic. The editor of the Sahidic compilation did not have manuscripts for vs. 8-11 and 13-15, and it does not appear that subsequently-discovered manuscripts have been translated into English, so variants in that section for that tradition are not listed.
Gcf. the use of this root in 6:12 οὐ στενοχωρεῖσθε ἐν ἡμῖν, στενοχωρεῖσθε δὲ ἐν τοῖς σπλάγχνοις ὑμῶν·
HThe word “no one” is in the emphatic position in all three denials.
IThis was evidentally a problem among the Corinthian church: 1 Cor. 6:8 “...you yourselves are treating unjustly and cheating [ἀποστερεῖτε] even brothers!” (NAW)
J“The
second is, the corruption that springs from false doctrine.” ~J.
Calvin
“It may refer to money, or morals, or doctrine”
~Plummer.
“He is answering the Judaizers.” ~A. T.
Robertson
K“Used by Paul only. It adds the idea of wrong for the sake of gain, which is not necessarily implied in either of the other verbs.” ~M. Vincent
LThis placement of the negative particle with “condemnation” is the reading of the majority of manuscripts (the oldest being the 6th century Bezae) and therefore of the Textus Receptus and Greek Orthodox editions of the GNT and the ancient Peshitta and Vulgate versions dating to the 3rd Century. However all the contemporary critical editions of the GNT follow seven Greek manuscripts (including all four of the oldest-known ones dating from the 3rd to the 5th centuries AD) which place the negative later with the verb “speak.” Although the latter is somewhat awkard from the standpoint of Greek grammar, it still conveys the same overall meaning.
MAlthough the Geneva, NIV, NASB, ESV, and NLT follow the ancient Peshitta and Sahidic versions in rendering “condemn[ing]” as a verb and inserting the pronoun “you[r]” as its object, there is not a single Greek manuscript which does this, and the ancient Vulgate and Boharic versions support the Greek in rendering “condemnation” as a noun with no prepositional object. The practical meaning however, still comes out the same, so it can’t really be considered a corruption of the original text.
NPaul breaks into first person singular here in verses 3-4, which he did a fair amount in chapters 1 & 2, but only a couple of times since 2:13 (5:11 & 6:13). From here to the end of the book, the first person verbs are fairly frequent. In the entire book, there are 148 first person singular verbs and 95 first person plural verbs (not counting participles), but, unlike the singulars, the plurals are sprinkled evenly throughout every chapter.
ONIV “such a place that” and NET “so that” are the only standard versions I found which even attempted to translate this preposition. Most translations (including all the ancient ones) rolled this preposition “into” into the infinitive verb “to live together,” but, in Greek, this preposition stands apart from and is not part of the infinitive expression.
PThe only other Biblical uses of this word have to do with our union with Christ in which we, like Peter, are resolved to follow Him even at the risk of death (Mark 14:31), and in which we, like Paul, consider ourselves to have died together with Him in His crucifixion (2 Tim. 2:11). There are also only two other Biblical uses of the next verb, both referring to our union with Christ in death and in “living together” with Him (Rom. 6:8 & 2 Tim. 2:11).
QNeither the “this” nor the “your” are in the Vulgate Latin. They were added interpretively in the English translation.
RThis is an English translation error. The Latin Vulgate reads praedixi “I foretold” not “we!”
SWhereas the Greek has the verb of being here, the Peshitta has no verb (and therefore has an understood verb of being). Murdock added the verb “treasured” (following Etheridge’s version “laid up”) in his English translation of the Peshitta.
T“The Greek has the comfort, the article apparently pointing to the special comfort he had received through the coming of Titus (v.6).” ~M. Vincent, cf. Coptic versions which rendered this definite article “your/the.”
UThis superlative form of perisseuw (“abound”) is only found in the Greek Bible here and Romans 5:20.
VPeshitta and Coptic versions interpreted this definite article pronomially, which is allowable in Greek (L&N Supplement #92.11a), but the Peshitta mistakenly pluralized the object (not a single known Greek or Latin or Coptic manuscript pluralizes it), and the NIV followed the Peshitta’s erroneous pluralization (“troubles”).
WAll the English translations of the Peshitta separate the phrases of this verse by conjunctions which are not in any Greek manuscript.
XGeneva, King James, NIV, and NLT dropped this conjunction out of their English translations. “Paul now returns to the incident mentioned in 2:12 before the long digression on the glory of the ministry.” ~A.T. Robertson
YThis parallels the statement in describing the exact same circumstances in 2:13 “ I had no rest in my spirit, because I did not find Titus…” and suggest that no significant difference in meaning is intended between “flesh” and “spirit.” Hughes suggested it could be synechdoche in which either term could be used to “signify the entirety of [Paul’s] human existence and experience, outward and inward.”
ZEnglish versions historically have interpreted this locatively or temporally (in, at, on, from), but the instrumental meaning of this Greek preposition (“by means of”) makes more sense to me and doesn’t require making up an object for the preposition out of thin air like most English versions did, when they added the word “way/turn/side/direction.”
AA“He was troubled when he did not meet with Titus at Troas, and afterwards when for some time he did not meet with him in Macedonia: this was a grief to him, because he could not hear what reception he met with at Corinth, nor how their affairs went forward. And, besides this, they met with other troubles...” ~M. Henry
ABThe only other times Paul used this simple noun were in his warnings to Timothy (2 Tim. 2:23) and Titus (3:9) to “avoid foolish and ignorant disputes... genealogies, contentions, and strivings about the law; for they are unprofitable and useless ... they generate strife.” (NKJV) Compound forms show up in the same kind of warnings in two other places in the pastoral letters (1 Tim. 6:3-6 “If anyone teaches otherwise and does not consent to wholesome words, even the words of our Lord Jesus Christ, and to the doctrine which accords with godliness, he is proud, knowing nothing, but is obsessed with disputes and arguments over words [λογομαχίας], from which come envy, strife, reviling, evil suspicions, useless wranglings of men of corrupt minds and destitute of the truth, who suppose that godliness is a means of gain. From such withdraw yourself.” and 2 Tim. 2:14 Remind them... not to strive about words [λογομαχεῖν] to no profit, to the ruin of the hearers.” ~NKJV) Phillip Hughes commented that this phrase “seem[s] to indicate a state of disharmony within the Macedonian church...” (Its verbal form occurs in 1 Cor. 15:32 “If I fought wild beasts in Ephesus…” - the meaning of which is debated to the extent that it may not thow much light upon the meaning here in 2 Cor. 7.)
ACThere
is only one place where Paul mentions this negative kind of fear,
and that is 1 Corinthians 2:3 “And as for me, I came to
y'all in weakness and in fear and in much trembling…” Most
commentators consider these fears to be related to failures in the
church. Viz Calvin: “For he saw how great was the infirmity
of many, nay of almost all, and in the mean time what, and how
diversified, were the machinations, by which Satan attempted to
throw every thing into confusion — how few were wise, how few were
sincere, how few were steadfast, and how many, on the other hand,
were either mere pretenders, and worthless, or ambitious, or
turbulent. Amidst these difficulties, the servants of God must of
necessity feel alarmed, and be racked with anxieties; and so much
the more on this account — that they are constrained to bear many
things silently, that they may consult the peace of the
Churches.”
Massie wrote that this fear was primarily about
“the effects of his letter and of the mission of Titus” in
Corinth.
ADThe Peshitta renders the second of the two Greek conjunctions as ܡܢ (“from”). Murdock translated it “after,” Etheridge translated it “even,” and Lamsa translated it “ever.”
AEQuoting
Isaiah 49:11 “...the Lord has had mercy on his people, and
has comforted the lowly ones of his people.”
(Brenton, cf. Lk. 1:52 “He exalts the lowly,” and Jas.
4:6 & 1 Pet. 5:5 “He gives grace to the lowly.”)
“Hence
a most profitable doctrine may be inferred — that the more we have
been afflicted, so much the greater consolation has been prepared
for us by God. Hence, in the epithet here applied to God, there is a
choice promise contained, as though he had said, that it is
peculiarly the part of God to comfort those that are miserable and
are abased to the dust.” ~J. Calvin
Prov. 28:23
“He that rebuketh a man afterwards shall find more favour than he
that flattereth with his tongue.”
“He ascribes all his
comfort to God as the author. It was God who comforted him by the
coming of Titus…” ~M. Henry
AFNote that Titus’ “παρουσίᾳ/coming/arrival/presence” is a different word – and therefore of a different quality – than Paul and Timothy’s “ἐλθόντων/coming” in v.5. Paul’s comfort seems more likely to stem from the literal meaning of the former “being alongside” (i.e. “presence”) than in the derivative meaning of “coming” (i.e. a “celebrity appearance”). Titus was, as Paul wrote later in his letter to Titus, as dear to him as his “own son in the common faith” (Titus 1:4).
AG“At
last Titus arrives with tidings from Corinth. The Apostle’s letter
had been well received; it had produced the intended effects; a
spirit of repentance had fallen upon the Church; they had applied
themselves vigorously to the correction of abuses; the love which
they bore to their spiritual father had revived with additional
strength…” ~Thomas McCrie’s sermon on this passage
“For
the things that Titus has reported to me respecting you are not
merely sufficient for quieting my mind, but afford me also ground of
glorying confidently on your account Nay more, they have effectually
dispelled the grief, which many great and heavy afflictions had
occasioned me.” ~J. Calvin
“[I]t was likely that they would
mourn and grieve why the blessed Paul was so much displeased, why he
had kept away from them so long... [T]hey displayed [zeal] both
about him that had committed fornication and about those who were
accusing him. ‘For,’ saith he, ‘ye were inflamed and blazed
out on receiving my letters.’ On these accounts he abounds in joy…
Such also now should be the feelings of those who are reprehended;
thus should they lament and mourn; thus yearn after their teachers;
thus, more than fathers, seek them… join in the anger of your
rulers whenever they are indignant justly; that when ye see any one
rebuked, ye may all shun him more than does the teacher. Let him
that hath offended fear you more than his rulers. For if he is
afraid of his teacher only, he will readily sin: but if he have to
dread so many eyes, so many tongues, he will be in greater safety.
For as, if we do not thus act, we shall suffer the extremest
punishment; so, if we perform these things, we shall partake of the
gain that accrues from his reformation. Thus then let us act; and if
any one shall say, ‘be humane towards thy brother, this is a
Christian’s duty;’ let him be taught, that he is humane who is
angry [with him], not he who sets him at ease prematurely and
alloweth him not even to come to a sense of his transgression… No
one so loved him that committed fornication amongst the Corinthians,
as Paul who commandeth to deliver him to Satan; no one so hated him
as they that applaud and court him; and the event showed it. For
they indeed both puffed him up and increased his inflammation; but
[the Apostle] both lowered it and left him not until he brought him
to perfect health. ~Chrysostom