not only to be bound, but to die for the name of the Lord Jesus. Acts 21, 13.
2. But I beseecli (jou), that I may not be bold when I am present with that confidence, wherewith I think to be bold against some, which think of us as if we walked according to the flesh.
The particle (Se), but, serves to resume the exhortation in the first clause of v. 1. There it is {-n-apaKaXu) ^/xas) I exhort you, here it is (Sco/xat) I beseech. This shows that r/xas and not ^iov is to be supplied as the object of the verb. The sense is, ' I beseech you,'' not, ' I pray God.'' "What Paul be- seeches of them is, that they would not force him to have recourse to severity. This he expresses by saying, to fxrj -rrapibv Sappyja-at, that I may not be bold when present. The article {to) serves to render the object of the verb more prominent ; and Trapwv is in the nominative because the subject of both verbs is the same. To be bold, i. e. to act with decision and courage ; to exhibit the character which the opponents of the apostle said he assumed only when absent. With the confi- dence, i. e. with the conviction of his right to exercise the au- thority which he claimed, and with the consciousness of power to carry his decisions into effect. Wlierewith I think ; Xoyt- ^o/xai, which means to reckon, to reason, and then, as here, to purpose. Paul had determined in his own mind that if per- suasion failed to bring his opponents to a right state of mind, he would resort to that power with which God had armed him to put down all opposition. The Vulgate gives the word Xoyt^o/xai a passive sense, qua existimor, ' which I am thought, or supposed to assume.' So Luther, " die man mir zumisset," which men ascribe to one. Bengel and many other commen- tators adopt the same interpretation. This has the advantage of giving Xoyt^o/xat and the following participle A-oyt^o/xeVons the same sense. But it is objected to this interpretation that it would reqmre airoiv to be used. ' The confidence wherewith I am thought ichen absent to assume.' The common interpre- tation, therefore, is to be preferred. To be bold. The word is here not ^apprjo-ai as before, but ToXfjirjaaL, to dare ; to act without fear and without regard to consequences. Paul had determined, if forced to it, to set his opponents at defiance and to act with utter disregard of all they could say or do.