II. CORINTHIANS 11, 6. 257

been urged as an objection to Paul that he did not speak with the Avisdom of words. 1 Cor. 1, 17. He was no rhetorician, and did not api^ear in the character of an orator. This he here, as in the former epistle, concedes. If that were an ob- jection, he had no answer to make other than that his depend- ence was on the demonstration of the Spirit, and not the per- suasive words of man's wisdom. 1 Cor. 2, 4. Et 8e Kai is concessive. ' But if, as is true, I am rude in speech ; ' ZSicott^s Tw Xoyo), untrained, or unskilful in speech. The word tStwr?;? means a private person as opposed to those in official station ; a commoner as opposed to a patrician; an uneducated, or unskilful man, as opposed to those who were specially trained for any service or work, corporeal or mental. What Paul concedes is not the want of eloquence, of which his \\a-itings afford abundant evidence, but of the special training of a Grecian. He spoke Greek as a Jew. It is not improbable that some of his opponents in Corinth, although themselves of Hebrew origin, prided themselves on their skill in the use of the Greek language, and made the apostle's deficiency in that respect a ground of disparagement. JSut not in knowl- edge. He was no iStwrT^s r-^ yvwo-et. Having been taught the gospel by immediate revelation from Christ, Gal. 2, 12, he had complete possession of that system of truth which it was the object of the apostleship to communicate to men. He there- fore everywhere asserts his competency as a teacher instructed of God and entitled to full credence and implicit confidence, 1 Cor. 2,6-11. Eph. 3,4.5. But ice have been thoroughly made manifest among you in all things. In this clause, after ^ai/epoj^eVres, ia-fxiv is to be supplied ; iv 7rai/rt, rendered thoroughly^ is in every point, or in every respect ; kv Tracnv, iti all things^ so that in every j^oint in all departments he was manifest, i. e. clearly known ; cts v/xa?, as it concerns you, (not among you, which would require Iv vfuv). So far from being deficient in knowledge, he stood clearly revealed before them as thoroughly furnished in every respect and in all things as an apostle of Jesus Christ. In nothing did he fall behind the very chief of the apostles. Luther's translation of this clause is, Doch ich bin bei euch allenthalben wohl bekannt. It is in this view a correction of what goes before. ' I am not de- ficient in knowledge. Yet I am in all respects perfectly known by you; there is no need to tell you what I am.' Beza and Olshausen give the same explanation. This, how- ever, does not agree with what follows in the next verse.