apostleship, vs. 7-9. He was determined to refuse any pecu- niary aid from the Christians in Achaia, not because he did not love them, but because he wished to cut off all occasion to question his sincerity from those who sought such occasion, and because he desired to put the false teachers to the same test of disinterestedness, vs. 10-12. These teachers claimed to be apostles, though they had no more right to the office, than Satan had to be regarded as an angel of light, vs. 13-15
1. Would to God ye could bear with me a little in (my) folly : and indeed bear with me.
The self-commendation of the false teachers was the fruit of conceit and vanity ; with the apostle it was self-vindication. Although so different in character and design, they had one element in common. Both included self-laudation. Both, therefore, are designated by the same woid, boasting ; and both, therefore, he calls a^poa-vv-q^ a want of sense. Would to God, in the Greek simply, ocfieXoi', oh that, I vjoidd. In iact, however, every such exclamation is, in the pious mind, a prayer; and, therefore, the rendering, 'I would to God,' is neither irreverent nor inaccurate. Oh that ye coidd hear with me, {avdxdd^c, Hellenistic form, instead of rjvctx^crSe.) The pronoun (xov properly belongs to the verb, and not to the fol- lowing jXLKpov Ti, as if the sense were, a little of my folly . The meaning is, 'Bear with me (fxcKpov n acf>poavvr]<;), as to a little of folly? This reading is, on the authority of the majori- ty of MSS., adopted by the later editors. Knapp and others read, fxiKpov rrj acfipoa-vvyj, a little as to folly ; which amounts to the same thing. A7id indeed bear icith me. So Calvin, Beza, and many others, who take avix'^a-Sf^ as the imperative. This clause is then a repetition of the first, only more vehemently expressed. The former is a wish, the latter a supplication or demand. But the context does not require this vehemence. A more appropriate sense is afforded by taking the word in the indicative, ' But indeed ye do bear with me ; ' i. e. the request is not necessary, I know you are disposed to suffer me to speak as I sec fit.
2. For I am jealous over you with godly jealousy : for I have espoused you to one husband, that I may present (you as) a chaste virgin to Christ.