Translation & Sermon by
Nate Wilson for Christ The Redeemer Church, Manhattan, KS, 15
March
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 8:16:
Now
thanks be to God Who is supplying the same diligence concerning
yourselves in the heart of Titus. He went out to y’all because, on
the one hand, he received our urging, and on the other hand, he was
more diligent [and] self-determined. And we sent together with him
the brother, the praise of whom is in the good news throughout all
of the churches. And not only that, but he was also ordained by the
churches to be our fellow-traveler together with this grace which is
being administered by us for the glory of the Lord Himself and [for]
our eagerness. We are taking this precaution so that no one may
fault us concerning this wad [of money] while it is being
administrated by us, because we are considering what is good, not
only in the sight of the Lord, but also in the sight of men. So we
sent with them our brother whom we proved diligent often in many
ways, but who is now much more diligent with a great confidence
which is in y’all. Whether it be concerning Titus (a partner in
regards to myself and a fellow-worker among y’all), or whether it
be our brothers, (commissioners from the churches), the glory is
Christ’s.
Paul’s ministry project of raising funds throughout the churches in Europe and sending it back to Jerusalem to assist the poor, persecuted Christians there has already been introduced, but now Paul introduces the team members who will carry out this ministry.
We see in the New Testament that not just any warm body was entrusted with the responsibility of the ministries of the church; one had to be well-qualified and well-supported with approval to minister.
So Paul assures the Corinthians that the team that will be handling their gift is top-notch and trustworthy. In verses 17, 18, and 22, he writes with epistolary aorists (in the past tense as though he has already sent off the team), but he won’t actually send the team off until he finishes writing the letter. (Moule, Robertson)
As we consider what Paul says about these team members, compare yourself to them and praise God for the good qualities God has already worked in you, and ask God to help you grow in the areas where you aren’t so strong yet.
The word “diligence/earnestness/carefulness” (in Greek, σπουδην) is emphasized in verses 16 and 17 as a character trait of Titus.
Thayer’s Greek-English Lexicon defined it as “1) haste… 2a) earnestness in accomplishing, promoting, or striving after anything 2b) to give all diligence, interest one’s self most earnestly.”
I might add that it includes being quick to respond to exhortation, earnest and sincere in committing to action, and diligent to follow through until the task is done.
Who wouldn’t want to have somebody like that on their team?! Most employers would give their right arm to find a worker like that, and those are all attitudes you can cultivate and live out by the grace of God.
In v.16, it says Titus had the “same” diligence, but that raises the question: what is his diligence the “same” as?
We have seen this word “diligence/earnestness/care” already four times before in the previous 22 verses1, every time referring to the diligence of the Corinthian church, so I think Paul is saying that Titus is a good match for ministering in Corinth because he shares their character trait of diligence.
In v.16, Paul said that GOD put “diligence” for ministering to the Corinthians “into Titus’ heart,” and then in v.17, Paul notes two ways that God put that into Titus’ heart:
The first was that he “accepted the exhortation/welcomed our appeal.”
This refers to verse 6 where Paul says that he and others had “urged/exhorted/appealed to Titus ... to complete this grace” in Corinth. (It’s also in 12:18.) So part of the way that God lit a fire under Titus to minister in Corinth was through Paul and Timothy “urging” him to do it.
But Paul quickly points out that Titus isn’t going just because other people told him to...
The second reason in v.17 why Titus went to Corinth is due to his own character – which is described with two adjectives: He was “more diligent/earnest,” and he was “self-determined,” both of which are predicate nominatives of the verb-of-being, “he was” (which the NIV omitted). So, Titus “was diligent and determined.”
Many English versions translated the second adjective as an adverb describing Titus going “of his own accord/initiative” (and the NLT dropped it out completely), but I think the NIV was right to interpret Titus’ diligent “enthusiasm” and self-starting “initiative” as two parallel character traits.
But even though Titus’ ministry in Corinth flowed from his own “diligent” and “determined” character, and even though it was sparked by Paul and Timothy’s “urging,” Paul gives God the thanks in v.16 for getting Titus to go to Corinth to do this fundraising ministry.
Let me encourage you to cultivate “diligence/earnestness/carefulness” in your own life, like Titus did, so that when God puts an idea in your heart – especially if it is at the urging of a godly mentor, and especially if it fits your character well – you will be quick to implement it and diligent to see it through to completion.
Now, in addition to Titus, a second ministry partner is introduced in...
The wording in v.18 is so terse that English translators have to add a word or two to make it make sense. It is normal in New Testament Greek writing to omit the verb-of-being and just assume it’s there, but the question is, Where should the understood verb go?
Do we insert it before “praise/fame,” like the NIV and ESV, “...the brother who is praised/famous…”? To do so requires dropping out the Greek word for “the” before the word for “praise,” switching the order of the rest of the Greek sentence, and adding a whole new prepositional phrase “for the service/preaching,” which is not in any Greek manuscript. I am not comfortable with editing a verse that much.
A second option is that we could insert the verb before the phrase “in all the churches,” like the NASB did2, “...the brother whose fame in the things of the gospel is/has spread through all the churches...” This makes a lot of sense, but it requires adding five words which are not in the original Greek, which is still an awful lot of editing.
A third possibility is to insert the verb-of-being before the phrase “in the gospel,” like the KJV, “...the brother, whose praise is in the gospel...” This is very faithful to the Greek, but the meaning isn’t very clear in English, especially since nowhere in any of the Gospels is any man “praised3” except for Jesus, and we know Paul isn’t talking about Jesus here.
So in what sense could this brother’s “praise” be “in the Gospel”? I suggest that this preposition “in” is one of specification rather than location, in other words, his “praise/fame is [specifically] in [regard to] the Gospel.”
And if we step back from the technical examination of the Greek grammar and look at the big picture of the verse, most of the English versions communicate that.
There was something about the way he communicated the good news about Jesus that Christians appreciated in every church he spoke at.
And it’s o. k. to commend Christians like that for doing good things. Paul wrote in Romans 13:3, in the context of civil government: “...Do what is good, and you will have praise...” (NKJV, cf. 1 Pet. 2:14)
The next question is, Who is this “brother” whose connection with the “gospel” had become famous “throughout all the churches”?
He can’t be Titus, because he “was sent along with” Titus (cf. 12:18),
and it would also stand to reason that he is not Timothy, because Timothy would be included in the plural “we” (with Paul) who sent him out.
We also see in v.19 that this guy was “chosen/ordained/appointed by the churches.”
So, not only was this man sent by Paul and Timothy, he was also appointed by the churches (perhaps the churches in Macedonia or perhaps the churches in Jerusalem in Damascus) to do this ministry of collecting and delivering donations for the poor.
This was the plan all along, as we see from 1 Cor. 16:3-4 “And whenever I do arrive, whomever you shall approve, I will send them, along with letters, to carry up your gift into Jerusalem. And if it happens to be hefty enough for me also to go, they will go with me!”
When we look at the historical account of what was happening in Paul’s life at this time, in Acts 20:1-6, we see that Paul indeed had several other traveling companions, including Sopater, Pyrrhus, Aristarchus, Secundus, Gaius, Tychicus, and Trophimus. All of these guys were from churches in Asia Minor and Macedonia, so they could possibly fit with what verse 19 says about being “appointed by the churches” to travel with Paul, although all the Macedonians would have to be struck from our list since Paul implies in chapter 9 verse 4 that none in that team were Macedonians.
It has been suggested, based on a play on words in Greek, that Epaenetus, mentioned in Romans 16:5 as the “first-fruits [of ministry] from Achaia,” might be the “praiseworthy brother,” because the name Epanenetus means “praiseworthy.” But he was from Achaia, and we have no evidence that he was in Macedonia when 2 Corinthians was written.
But there was one other man in that group who traveled with Paul: the writer of the book of Acts, who included himself when he wrote, “We sailed… we stayed…,” etc. And that raises the very interesting prospect of someone “famous in the Gospel,” since he was the writer of the Gospel of Luke (although he hadn’t published his gospel quite yet)!
The word “preach” is not actually in the Greek of verse 18; it was added in by the ESV and NLT editors. Maybe he wasn’t famous for preaching the gospel like Paul was, but rather for writing a Gospel used by all the churches!
Matthew Henry commented, “It is generally thought that this was Luke,” and my favorite New Testament Greek scholar, A. T. Robertson, suggested further that Luke was actually Titus’ brother, hence the word “brother,” although this is by no means widely-held.4
Luke was indeed “well-beloved” (Col. 4:14), extraordinarily capable of keeping written accounts of detailed information (as evidenced by his authorship of the book of Acts), and a “physician” who could take care of the team’s health, so he would have made a great teammate in this ministry.
Notice the two purposes given in verse 19 for doing this ministry project:
To glorify the Lord Jesus
That should always be our primary goal and motivation. How can I give glory to my Lord Jesus? If it doesn’t glorify Jesus, I won’t do it. And whatever I do, I want to make sure I am moving it in the direction of glorifying Him.
The second purpose of the apostles’ charitable project was to show “our readiness/ready mind/will/eagerness [to help].”
2 Corinthians 8:12 “For if there is first a willing mind, it is accepted according to what one has, and not according to what he does not have.” (NKJV)
2 Cor. 9:2 “for I know your willingness, about which I boast of you to the Macedonians, that Achaia was ready a year ago; and your zeal has stirred up the majority.” (NKJV)
Eagerness/readiness to help/having a will that is bent on doing good to others is an expression of love. Love doesn’t sit back and do nothing when someone is suffering; love motivates us to do something to help those we love.
So here we have Jesus’ two Greatest Commandments in action: “‘...love the Lord your God with your whole heart…’ and ‘love your neighbor as yourself.’ In these two commandments is framed the whole law and the prophets.” (Matt. 22:37-40, NAW)
I like the idea of interpreting the dative passive participle towards the end of v. 20 (“being administered”) in a temporal sense - “while this sum is being administrated by us,” since before it came into Paul’s hands in Corinth (and after he passed it off in Jerusalem), the gift was still a gift, but it was in other people’s hands, so Paul only needed to worry about people criticizing his management during the time when he was actually managing it.
What was “this course of action/precaution/act of avoidance” which v.20 says Paul and Timothy took? It was their action of sending someone along with Titus, as they said in v.18.
Also, back in 6:3 they had written, “And we are giving not a single offense, not even in one way, so that our ministry might not be faulted…”
They wanted to operate this charitable “ministry” initiative in such a way that “no one could blame/discredit/criticize/accuse” them of any fault.
The amount of money that they would be handling, it says in v.20 was “abundant/lavish/generous/liberal.
The Greek word ἁδρότητι literally means “thick,” as in a “wad of money” or a “fat sum.”
And the more money is managed, the more careful one has to be with it!
Accountability is one of the keystones of guarding against mismanagement of funds.
That’s one reason why our church treasurer often pulls one of our congregation aside after the church service to count the offering money with him.
When I was Director of Development for The TentMaker Project, one of the things I did was to help qualify The TentMaker Project for membership in the Evangelical Council for Financial Accountability. To be a member of the ECFA, your organization has to meet a set of standards for wise organizational management, including:
“...a written statement of faith clearly affirming a commitment to the evangelical Christian faith...”
“Every organization shall be governed by a responsible board of not less than five individuals, a majority of whom shall be independent, who shall meet at least semiannually to establish policy and review its accomplishments.”
“Every organization shall prepare complete and accurate financial statements. The board or a committee consisting of a majority of independent members shall approve the engagement of an independent certified public accountant, review the annual financial statements, and maintain appropriate communication...”
“In securing charitable gifts, all representations of fact, descriptions of the financial condition of the organization, or narratives about events must be current, complete, and accurate...”5
I moved on to a different ministry, but I stayed on the board of the TentMaker Project, and as board member, I took responsibility (for a time) of conducting an annual audit to examine the bank accounts and the checkbooks to make sure no money was spent inappropriately.
Such standards of financial accountability should be normal practice for anyone who wants to conduct ministry in a way that is beyond reproach.
This principle of avoiding the appearance of evil and preventing reproach shows up several other places in the New Testament, such as:
When Paul explained to the church in Thessalonica in 1 Thess. 5:19-24 “Quench not the Spirit. Despise not prophesyings. Prove all things; hold fast that which is good. Abstain [ἀπέχεσθε] from all appearance of evil. And the very God of peace [will] sanctify you wholly; and I pray God your whole spirit and soul and body be preserved blameless unto the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. Faithful is he that call[s] you, who also will do it.” (KJV)
By “not quenching the Spirit,” you stay under the influence of the Holy Spirit, so that you can have the power you need from God to do good.
By “not despising prophecy,” you keep yourself open to warnings and correction so you don’t go off the rails into evil,
and as you “cling to what is good and avoid evil,” God promises to protect you from doing wrong, so that no blame can stick to you on Judgment Day!
What a relief to know that it is not ultimately up to me to control other people’s opinions of me and protect myself from blame; God Himself will protect my reputation!
Paul also brought this up in 1 Timothy 5:14 “Therefore I desire that the younger widows marry, bear children, manage the house, [and] give no opportunity to the adversary to speak reproachfully [λοιδορίας].” (NKJV) This is not an exhaustive list of the good things that a woman of childbearing age can do to glorify God, but it does list some of the most common good things she could do to keep a blameless reputation.
The Apostle Peter also expressed his concern about the reputation of Christians in 1 Peter 2:12 “...keep your lifestyle among the nations good, in order that, in that which they are trash-talking you about as though you were evildoers, they might glorify God after observing for themselves some of your good works, during a day of supervision.” (NAW)
V.21 is a quote from the Septuagint Greek of Proverbs 3:3-4 “Let not mercy and truth forsake thee; but bind them about thy neck: so shalt thou find favour: and... provide things honest in the sight of the Lord, and of men.” (Brenton)
It states positively what verse 20 expressed in a negative way.
I don’t understand why the Greek word for “good things” (καλα) got translated so many different ways in the various English versions – “honorable/right/honest/good/ commendable,” but I suppose they are all “good things” to consider and provide for.
It is right and good to “have regard/take pains to consider/aim at” what both God and man consider to be “good.”
Of course, if the opinions of God and men are in conflict, then “we should obey God rather than men” (Acts 5:29),
but usually they won’t be in conflict, as Galatians 5:23 says, “Against [the fruits of the Spirit] there is no law.”
The police aren’t going to stop by your house and say, “I caught you being kind and patient with your neighbor again – you’re gonna rot in jail for good!”
Romans 12:17 “Repay no one evil for evil. Have regard for good things in the sight of all men.” (NKJV, cf. 14:16-19)
The things which are “good in the eyes of God” are moral absolutes, based on God’s own character, such as Leviticus 19:35 “Y'all may not do what is unfair in justice with the measurement of size, with the measurement of weight, or with the measurement of volume...” (NAW) It will always be good not to steal.
But what’s good “in the eyes of men” isn’t always universal.
For instance, I’m told that if you are eating a meal in France, it is rude to put one hand in your lap, because it suggests that you are hiding something.
But in the United States, it is considered rude to eat with both hands on the table because it suggests that you are being aggressive or impatient.
Since God tells us to love our neighbor but doesn’t tell us where we should put our hands while we’re eating, we can eat with both hands on the table in France and with one hand in our lap in the United States and thus do what is “good in the eyes” of both “God” and “men.”
Likewise, God commands us to live with honesty and integrity, but He doesn’t mandate that all Christians be members of the Evangelical Council for Financial Accountability, but if you are conducting ministry that is supported by evangelicals who think it’s a good idea to have that credential (and you’re not corrupt), then getting that credential is a way you can do “what is good before God” and “men.”
Matthew Henry commented: “[I]t is the duty of all Christians, to provide for things honest, not only in the sight of the Lord, but also in the sight of men; that is, to act so prudently as to prevent, as far as we can, all unjust suspicions concerning us, and all occasions of scandalous imputations... We live in a censorious world, and should cut off occasion from those who seek occasion to speak reproachfully.”
Now, in v. 22, we either have a statement that repeats and sums up verses 16-19, or we are introduced to another member of this charitable ministry team: a brother characterized by diligence.
The Greek text doesn’t actually say who it is that had this “great confidence in” the Corinthian church.
English Bibles translated before 1850 suggested that it was Paul who had this “great confidence,”
and English Bibles translated after 1850 suggest that it was the “diligent brother” who had this confidence.
I lean toward it being the “brother” – and Chapter 7 verses 13-15 would suggest that Titus’ warm and responsive reception by the believers in Corinth when he delivered the letter of 1 Corinthians to them is what gave him “great confidence in them.”
(But we know from 2 Corinthians 3:4 that it was Paul’s confidence in God’s work among the Corinthians in the first place that led Titus to gain this confidence, so both are true.)
But who is this “brother?”
I don’t think that this is a new teammate in addition to the “famous/praiseworthy brother” from verse 18; I think the “diligent brother” in v. 22 must be either Titus or the “famous/praiseworthy brother.”
The same words for “diligent” and “more diligent” here in v. 22 were applied to Titus in vs. 16 & 17, so I think that settles it in favor of Titus, which means v. 22 is summarizing what Paul and Timothy have already written in the previous verses. And Titus has certainly been “tried/proven” through carrying messages from Paul to and from the Corinthians.
It could be argued, however, that this “diligent brother” in v.22 is – not Titus but – the unnamed “praiseworthy brother” who was “sent along with Titus,” since the same Greek verb συνεπεμψαμεν (“we sent along/together”) is used in this passage for both the “praiseworthy brother” in v. 18 and the “diligent brother” in v. 22 (and of no one else in the Bible). Many think it could have been Apollos.6
But that doesn’t rule out Titus, and Titus’ name shows up again in v.23 without signs of a shift in the grammar of who is being written about, so I think the “diligent brother” of v.22 is Titus, and the “praiseworthy brother” in verse 18 is Luke.
Most of verse 23 lists titles or roles for the members on this ministry team.
Titus is called Paul’s κοινωνὸς/partner and συνεργός/fellow-worker7.
So, Titus is not a Junior Partner, but a full-partner in ministry.
Paul “endorses Titus up to the hilt.” ~A. T. Robertson
Currently Titus is working on ministry with Paul among the Christians in Corinth, and it appears that Titus is the leader of this particular team.
(In time, Titus will settle into the role of pastor of the church in Crete.)
These titles put the Corinthians on notice that they should treat Titus with all the respect they would give to Paul, because Paul considers him his peer in ministry.8
The other team members (one of whom I assume to be Timothy) are also given a title in v. 23: that of “ἀπόστολοι/messengers/representatives/commissioners of the churches.”
It’s the same Greek word used for the “apostles,” so they also were due the same respect as was due the Apostle Paul.
It doesn’t mean, however, that they had the same office in the church of Apostle. The Greek word apostellw literally means “sent off” – they had been “chosen” by the churches and “sent off” on this particular mission to raise funds and deliver them to the saints in Jerusalem.
Paul drives home the fact that since these team members were carrying out what all the churches had agreed to do, the Christians in Corinth had better comply with them and show them respect.9
The end of verse 23 is extraordinarily terse, like some of the verses before it, so it requires adding English words to make sense of it, and different versions add different words like “and” or “to,”
but the general idea is that it’s all for “the glory of Christ” (corresponding with the first reason for the charitable gift mentioned in v. 19).
“Churches” and “apostles” are plural, but “glory” is singular, so it’s not saying that the “glory of Christ” consists of the churches or the apostles.
Glory is the subject (spelled in the nominative case in Greek), and Christ is genitive, so Christ also goes with the subject, as in, “the glory of Christ...” I think what it’s saying is that regardless of the considerable merits of Titus and the honorable merit of the other team members, the glory is to be Christ’s and Christ’s alone for this ministry of financial aid.
2 Corinthians 4:5 “For it is not ourselves that we proclaim, but rather the Anointed One, Jesus the Master (and ourselves your servants on account of Jesus).” (NAW)
Are you working on any projects that will bring glory to Christ?
Cultivate “diligence/earnestness/carefulness” in your life, so that, like Titus, you can be quick to respond to exhortations, earnest in making commitments, and diligent in seeing them through to completion.
Let the Greatest Commandments characterize you like they did the Apostles: “‘...love the Lord your God with your whole heart…’ and ‘love your neighbor as yourself.’
Cultivate your relationship with the church like the “praiseworthy brother” did, and invest in some sort of gospel ministry which is praiseworthy.
Think through what both God and man consider to be “good,” and do those things.
Abstain from all appearance of evil, and give no opportunity for the reputation of Christ to be brought into reproach.
And “...whatever you do, continue to do all things to the glory of God!” (1 Cor. 10:31, NAW)
ByzantineB |
NAW |
KJVC |
RheimsD |
MurdockE |
CopticF |
16 Χάρις δὲ τῷ Θεῷ τῷ Gδιδόντι τὴν αὐτὴν σπουδὴν ὑπὲρ ὑμῶν ἐν τῇ καρδίᾳ Τίτου, |
16 Now thanks be to God Who is supplying the same diligence concerning yourselves in the heart of Titus. |
16 But thanks be to God, which put the same earnest care into the heart of Titus for you. |
16 And thanks be to God, who [hath] given the same carefulness for you in the heart of Titus. |
16 But thanks be to God, who put into the heart of Titus this solicitude for you. |
l6 ButB/XS thanks be to God, this who gaveB/ givethS the same earnestness for you in (the) heart of Titos. |
17 ὅτι τὴνH μὲν παράκλησιν ἐδέξατο, σπουδαιότεροςI δὲ ὑπάρχων αὐθαίρετοςJ ἐξῆλθε πρὸς ὑμᾶς. |
17 He went out to y’all because, on the one hand, he received our urging, and on the other hand, he was more diligent [and] self-determined. |
17 For indeed he accepted the exhortation; but being more forward, of his own accord he went unto you. |
17 For indeed he accepted the exhortation: but, being more careful, of his own will he went unto you. |
17 For he X received [our] exhortation; and, because he was very anxious, he cheerfully set out to [visit] you. |
17 Because he received indeed theB/ ourS exhortation, but being more in haste to come to you {in his readiness of heartB/XS} |
18 συνεπέμψαμεν δὲ μετ᾿ αὐτοῦ τὸν ἀδελφὸν οὗ ὁ ἔπαινος ἐνK τῷ εὐαγγελίῳ διὰ πασῶν τῶν ἐκκλησιῶν· |
18 And we sent together with him the brother, the praise of whom is in the good news throughout all of the churches. |
18 And we [have] sentX with him the brother, whose praise is in the gospel throughout all the churches; |
18
We [have]
sent |
18
And we |
18
we sent the |
19 οὐ μόνον δὲ, ἀλλὰ καὶ χειροτονηθεὶςL ὑπὸ τῶν ἐκκλησιῶν συνέκδημοςM ἡμῶν σὺν τῇ χάριτι ταύτῃ τῇ διακονουμένῃ ὑφ᾿ ἡμῶν πρὸς τὴν αὐτοῦN τοῦ Κυρίου δόξαν καὶ προθυμίαν ἡμῶνO· |
19 And not only that, but he was also ordained by the churches to be our fellow-traveler together with this grace which is being administered by us for the glory of the Lord Himself and [for] our eagerness. |
19 And not that only, but who was also chosen of the churches to X travelX with us with this grace, which is administered by us to the glory of the same Lord, and declaration of your ready mind: |
19 And not that only: but he was also ordained by the churches companion of our travels, for this grace, which is administered by us, to the glory of the Lord X and our determined will: |
19
inasmuch |
19
but not only (so), but also having
had hand laid upon him by the churches, to X travelX
with us in this grace,
this which was ministered by us unto |
20 στελλόμενοιQ τοῦτο, μή τις ἡμᾶς μωμήσηταιR ἐν τῇ ἁδρότητιS ταύτῃ τῇ διακονουμένῃT ὑφ᾿ ἡμῶν, |
20 We are taking this precaution so that no one may fault us concerning this wad [of money] while it is being administrated by us, |
20 Avoiding this, that no man should blame us in this abundance which is administered by us: |
20 Avoiding this, lest any man should blame us in this abundance which is administered by us. |
20 And we hereby guarded, that no one should cast censure on us, in respect to this abundance which is ministered by us. |
20 withdrawing ourselves from this, that [by any meansS] any one should blame usB/XS in this amount which is ministered by us: |
Byzantine |
NAW |
KJV |
Rheims |
Murdock |
Coptic |
21 προνοούμενοιU καλὰ οὐ μόνον ἐνώπιον Κυρίου, ἀλλὰ καὶ ἐνώπιον ἀνθρώπων. |
21 because we are considering what is good, not only in the sight of the Lord, but also in the sight of men. |
21 Providing for honest things, not only in the sight of the Lord, but also in the sight of men. |
21 For we forecast what may be good, not only before God but also before men. |
21 For we are attentive to things commendable, not only before God, but also before men. |
21 for we take care for good things, not only before the Lord, but also before [the] men. |
22 συνεπέμψαμεν δὲ αὐτοῖς τὸν ἀδελφὸν ἡμῶν, ὃν ἐδοκιμάσαμεν ἐν πολλοῖς πολλάκις σπουδαῖον ὄντα, νυνὶ δὲ πολὺ σπουδαιότερον πεποιθήσειV πολλῇ τῇ εἰς ὑμᾶς. |
22 So we sent with them our brother whom we proved diligent often in many ways, but who is now much more diligent with a great confidence which is in y’all. |
22 And we [have] sent with them our brother, whom we [have] oftentimes proved diligent in many things, but now X much more diligent, upon the great confidence which I have in you. |
22 And we [have] sent with them our brother [also], whom we have often proved diligent in many things, but now X much more diligent: with much confidence in you, |
22
And we [also]
sent with them that brother of ours, who hath often, [and]
in many things, |
22
But we sent our brother [also] with themB/ |
23 εἴτε ὑπὲρ Τίτου, κοινωνὸς ἐμὸς καὶ εἰς ὑμᾶς συνεργός· εἴτε ἀδελφοὶ ἡμῶν, ἀπόστολοι ἐκκλησιῶν, δόξα Χριστοῦ. |
23 Whether it be concerning Titus (a partner in regards to myself and a fellow-worker among y’all), or whether it be our brothers, (commissioners from the churches), the glory is Christ’s. |
23 Whether any do enquire of Titus, he is my partner and fellowhelper concerning you: or our brethren be enquired of, they are the messengers of the churches, and the glory of Christ. |
23 Either for Titus, who is my companion and fellow labourer towards you, or our brethren, the apostles of the churches, the glory of Christ. |
23
And
[therefore],
if
Titus be
inquired about,
he is my associate
and assistant among
you: or
if
our o |
23
Whether (any
enquire)
about Titos, (he is) my
|
12 Cor. 7:11-12 “For see, what this very thing – your grieving with respect to God – worked out in y'all: how much diligence, even defending, even indignation, even fear, even longing, even zeal, even vengeance! In everything y'all proved yourselves to be holy in this matter. So, although I wrote to y'all, it was not for the sake of the unjust one, or for the sake of the one who was treated unjustly, but rather for the sake of your diligence concerning us being brought to light before God toward y'all… 8:7-8 “Moreover, just as y'all abound in everything (in faith and in word and in knowledge and in all diligence and in love that is from us among yourselves), that y'all should abound also in this grace. It is not exactly an order that I am dictating; it is rather giving proof through the diligence of others and the genuineness of your love for each other...” (NAW)
2cf. Vincent: “‘Is’ should be joined with ‘throughout all the churches’...”
3The Greek root epain- which Paul uses here does not occur in any form in any of the Gospels, and the Greek words for praise which ARE used in the Gospels (ainew/ainos, doxa, & eulogew) are only ever applied to God and Jesus.
4Phillip Hughes’ commentary adds that Origen, Eusebius, Jerome, Ambrose, Anselm, Grotius, Olshausen, Wordsworth, Plummer, Bachmann, Strachan, and Tasker also thought it was Luke, and there is also the subscript to 2 Cor. which mentions Luke, although it is not of very ancient origin. He notes evidence against Luke, including the fact that Luke's Gospel had not been written yet and that Paul didn’t use euangelion to mean a book, and that Luke mentioned nothing of it in his account in Acts. Meanwhile, Chrysostom, Theodoret, Theophylact, Luther, and Calvin opted for Barnabas, who is mentioned in the subscript of a few minuscules, but Barnabas wasn’t with Paul.
5Source: https://www.ecfa.org/Standards.aspx – There are 3 more standards in addition to the ones mentioned above.
6Cf. Matthew Henry (A. T. Robertson suggested it could have been Tychicus or Apollos. P. E. Hughes found Tychicus most likely, but Apollos unlikely since Apollos was so well-known to the Corinthians that he would have been mentioned here like he was mentioned in 1 Cor. 16:12.)
7Paul also called Aquilla & Priscilla “fellow-workers” in Rom. 16:3, and Timothy a “fellow laborer” [συνερὸν] in 1 Thess. 3:2.
8He did the same thing with Onesimus in Philemon 1:17 “If then you count me as a partner, receive him as you would me.” (NKJV)
9P. E. Hughes “[T]he three... had been selected and sent forth by the churches for this particular purpose… and as such should be welcomed with respect and attention.”
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, UBS, and Tregelles 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 my 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 parts of vs. 18, 19, 22, and 23, and I have not discovered a published English translation of the subsequently-discovered manuscripts, so variants in that section for that tradition are not listed.
GThis present participle spelling is the reading of the majority of Greek manuscripts (the oldest of which are from the 4th and 5th centuries), and so is the reading of the Greek Orthodox, Textus Receptus, Tischendorf, and Tregelles Greek New Testament (GNT) editions. (Tischendorf and Tregelles accepted the traditional reading because both the Sinaiticus and Vaticanus support it.) But 16 Greek manuscripts (the oldest of which are from the 3rd and 6th centuries), supported by the 4th century Latin Vulgate and Syriac Peshitta, omit the first two letters, turning it into an aorist participle, and this is the reading of the Nestle-Aland and UBS GNT editions. If the Oxford translations of the Coptic text are accurate in this respect, then the Sahidic represents the Present tense and the Bohairic represents the Aorist tense. Among the English versions, the Geneva, KJV, NIV, ESV, NET, and NLT went with the Aorist, while the RV, ASV/NASB, and NKJV went with the Present tense. The only difference in meaning is whether God began (Aorist) to give Titus this attitude or whether God continued (Present) to give Titus this attitude, a distinction which is not important to the meaning of this text.
HAll Greek manuscripts have a definite article (“the”), not a pronoun (“our”) here, but a pronominal interpretation of a definite article is possible (92.11a in the Supplement to the Louw & Nida Greek-English Lexicon). Latin and Bohairic versions (followed by the Geneva, KJV, and NKJV) interpret it as a simple definite article, while the Peshitta and Sahidic Coptic tradition (Followed by all other English versions) interprets this pronominally “our.”
IThe only other time the comparative of spoudos occurs in the Greek Bible is in v.22.
JThe only other occurrence of this word in the Greek Bible is in 2 Cor. 8:3.
KIn what sense is his “praise” “IN the gospel”? Grammatically it could be a locative “in” (L&N#83:13, suggested by the KJV), as in, “the Gospels contain an account of Jesus praising this person.” But I think it is rather an “in” of specification (“in regards to the gospel specifically” – L&N#89.5, as the NASB interpreted it). The NIV attempted to interpret it as “service to/in behalf of the gospel” (L&N#90.56), but this requires adding words with a new concept not in Paul’s wording. Similarly, the ESV attempted to interpret it as “in [the attendant circumstance of] preaching the gospel” (L&N #89.80) – but that also puts too many extra words in Paul’s mouth. Paul’s wording is rather sparse here, so contemporary English versions have added all kinds of different words (such as “preach-” “service” “spread”) which are not in the original text Paul wrote. Moulton’s Grammar suggested: “in the sphere of the gospel.”
LThis verb only occurs in one other place in the Greek Bible, and that is Acts 14:23 “...they ordained elders for them in every church…” It is a compound of the Greek words for “hand” and for “stretch.” Congregationalists picture it as people “raising their hands” to vote on him, and Presbyterians picture it as elders “extending their hands” toward him to ordain/appoint him to a specific role of ministry. I’m not sure that the Greek scholars are able to settle the matter conclusively, although I could mention that the Egyptian (Bohairic) Coptic Bible, dating back to the 3rd Century, interpreted it as “laying-on of hands.”
MThis word which literally means “one who is together away from home” appears only here and in Acts 19:29 in the Greek Bible. It is a noun, but the only versions I found which translated it as a noun were the Vulgate, Geneva, and NET.
NThis emphatic pronoun is found in the majority of Greek Texts (the oldest being the Sinaiticus) and thus in the Textus Receptus, Greek Orthodox, Tischendorf, Nestle-Aland, and UBS editions of the GNT. The ancient Peshitta also supports it. However, four of the five pre-7th-century Greek manuscripts read without it, along with 9 later Greek manuscripts and the ancient Latin Vulgate and Coptic versions, so the Tregelles edition reads without it, and N-A/UBS marked it as questionable. The only English versions I found which omitted this emphatic were the RV, ASV, and NLT, and it is significant that the updated editions of the RV and ASV (the ESV and the NASB) put the emphatic back in.
O“Our” is the reading of all but 5 Greek manuscripts (all of which are dated between the 9th and 15th centuries AD) which read “your.” At least a couple of those 5 variant manuscripts must have been in Erasmus’ collection when he compiled the Textus Receptus, because “your” made it in to his edition (even though it is in no other Greek edition of the New Testament in history), and that was the only edition available to the translators of the Geneva and King James Bibles. All the ancient versions in other languages support the majority. The difference in meaning, however, is minimal, since it is just a matter of whether Paul and Timothy were including themselves together with the Corinthians or not, and since Paul has already stated in Gal. 2 that he was eager to remember the poor, it is true both ways.
PThe emphatic αὐτοῦ in Greek was translated into the Peshitta as ܕ݁ܺܝܠܶܗ, but Murdock omitted it in his English translation. Lamsa (“very”) and Etheridge (“himself”) included it in their English versions of the Peshitta.
QRare verb in the Greek Bible, occurring only here, Prov. 31:25 (“...she _____ orderliness in her lips.” – There is no verb in the MT, so it is understood as the verb of being in most translations, but the LXX supplied this verb. The meaning of “withdraws/avoids” makes no sense here.), Mal. 2:5 (“and from the face of my name ____ it [neuter singular, matching the neuter singular Name]” – translating the MT נִחַת “fear/revere/be awestruck”), and 2 Thess. 3:6 (“...withdraw yourselves/keep away from every brother who walks disorderly...”). It is consistently used in the Apocrypha to describe leaving one place (especially one’s home) to go to another place (often on board a ship): 2 Ma. 5:1; 3 Ma. 1:19; 4:11; Wis. 14:1.
RThis verb is rare, occurring in the GNT only here and 6:3 (“...so that our ministry might not be faulted…”), and in the LXX, Prov. 9:7 (“accusing/blame” from the ungodly); Wis. 10:14 ([false] “accusers” of a blameless woman), and Sir. 34:18 (“blemished sacrifice”).
SHapex legomenon with a root meaning of “wide/thick.”
TThis dative participle is interpreted by the Geneva, KJV, NET, and ESV as adjectival describing which gift, and that interpretation fits the grammar. The NIV, NASB, and NLT interpret it more as a substantive separate from the dative phrase which precedes it (“not be blamed concerning our administration/the way we minister...”), which is not true to the Greek grammar here. I suggest it should be interpreted temporally, since before and after Paul’s administration of it, it would still be a generous gift, but it would be in other people’s hands and so he wouldn’t be responsible for how it was handled at those times.
UThis
is the reading of the majority of Greek manuscripts (the oldest of
which date to the 9th century AD), and therefore of the
Greek Orthodox and Textus Receptus editions and the Geneva
and King James English versions. But 20 Greek manuscripts (including
all 5 known manuscripts from before the 9th century)
insert the conjunction γαρ (“For”),
so that is in all the contemporary critical editions, all
the ancient versions, and all the
contemporary English versions (except the NKJV). Another
variant here is that the verb is spelled as a participle in the
majority of manuscripts (the oldest dating
to the 5th
century), but it’s spelled as
an indicative in about 10 Greek manuscripts (including 3 of the 4
pre-9th-century
manuscripts). The meaning is
the same either way; the only difference is that the participle
could allow for other possible meanings besides the causal
connection which the gar
would limit it to, but even those other possible meanings (for
example, a temporal connection - “while we prepare”) would not
change the overall meaning significantly.
As
for the root meaning, it is a compound of the Greek words for
“before” and “think.” It only occurs two other places in the
New Testament: Romans 12:17 (where
Paul essentially repeats this verse from 2 Cor.)
and 1 Tim. 5:8 (which
speaks of providing for one’s household).
In the Greek Old Testament, it shows up as a translation for
מצא
(“find”) in
Prov. 3:4 and for בין
(“think/reckon/consider”)
in Daniel 11:37. (It’s also in the Apocrypha: 1 Es. 2:24; 2 Ma.
14:9; 3 Ma. 3:24; 4 Ma. 7:18; Wis. 6:7; 13:16).
VMost English versions interpret the dative case of this word “confidence” as denoting causation (“for/upon the grounds of/because of”).