w.15-22 His failure to carry out his previous intention of visiting them was not due to fickleness. 123-22 It was due to his desire to spare them. 23-1 Reason for writing the ' severe letter.' w.5-11 Exhortation to forgive the offender. vv.i'-i-l3 His anxiety previous to his meeting with Titoa. vv. 14-17 His thankfulness to God for His use of liim. EL Vindication of St. Paws life and work as ait
AF0STLE(3-7). 31-3 His ' letter of commendation ' is nothing but his relations with them. w.*-* His confidence, based on this, as a minister of
the Xew Covenant. w.7-9 The old and the new dispensations compared in respect of content. w.lO-ll In respect of permanence. rv.12-16 In respect of clearness and openness. w. 17-18 The new dispensation brings liberty and trans- formation into Christ's likeness. 4I-2 Consequent openness of Christian preacher. w.3-4 Any obscurity is due to the blindness of the
hearers. w.5-6 For the content of the preaching is Christ, the Illuminator. V.' Weakness of human preacher makes manifest God's power. w.8-12 His continual difficulties, which are not, however, insuperable, show that the life manifest in his converts comes from Christ. w.13-15 All his efforts are based on faith, and directed
to their conversion to the end of God's glory. w.16-18 So he works on, while the body grows weaker, but the spirit stronger. 61-5 Gradual dissolution of weak earthly bodies suc- ceeded by bestowal of new spiritual bodies. vv.6-8 So death shall mean presence with Christ. w.9-10 Therefore, in view of the Judgment, he strives to do His will. vv.ll-13 This must be his defence against charges alike of
fanaticism and of excessive self-restraint. w.14-15 The constraining motive in everj-thing is Christ's
Love. vv.18-19 This transforms everything, so that he has a new and spiritual knowledge of Christ and Chris- tians. w.80-21 As Christ's ambassador he preaches reconcilia- tion to God, made possible through Christ's Sacrifice. 61-2 His instant appeal to them. W.3-5 As a Christian minister he endures hardships. vv.6-7 He displays supernatural virtues. w.8-10 His life is one of continual contrasts. w.ii-13 He exhorts them to respond to his affection. 614-71 Impossibility of Christians associating with im- moral persons. 7*4 His affectionate and honourable relations with them. W.5-7 The relief brought to him by the coming of Titus. W.8-J2 Satisfactorv result of the 'severe letter.' w.13-16 The joy of Titus. IIL The Collection for tbe poor Christians at Jeru- salem (8. 9). 81-5 The generosity of the churches of Macedonia. w.6-7 His injunctions to Titus to stir up the Corinth- ians in like manner. w.8-9 The example of Christ. w.io-12 Appeal to them to carry out their good resolutions.
254 corhs^thiaxs, epistles to the coeinthians, epistles to the
81315 Need of reciprocity among churches. vv.16-24 Commendation of the deputation which he sends. 91-s Necessity of immediate action if his boasting is not to be falsified. rv.8-7 Cheerful giving. vv.8-11 Generosity brings a blessing, w. 12-18 It also redounds to the glory and praise of God.
7. Integrity of 2 Co 1-9. — Attempts have been made to divide our 2 Cor. still further, or to ascribe portions of it to a later editor or editors. Drastic reconstructions have been proposed, e.g., by A. Halmel,* D. Volter,t and H. Lisco.^ But such elaborations have but little to recommend them. There are, however, reasons for thinking that 2 Co 6"-7^ is a passage which has got misplaced. It occurs in the middle of an aftectionate appeal made by St. Paul to the Corinthians, and appears to have no connexion with what precedes and what follows it. The supposed connexion is that St. Paul urges them to show their affection for him by ceasing from their immorality. But a closer examination of the passage shows that the point is not that they should cease to be immoral, but that they should abstain from intercourse with un- believers. Now we know from 1 Co 5^"'^ that in a letter ■written previously to the Corinthians he had spoken on this subject, and that they had asked for an explanation of his exact meaning, and in the passage referred to he explains that he did not mean, as they supposed, that they were not to have anything to do with non-Christians, but only that immoral Christians were to be avoided. In the absence of definite evidence it is impossible to be certain, but it is clear that 2 Co 6^*-7^ would naturally be interpreted to mean what the Corin- thians did as a matter of fact suppose St. Paul to mean. And for this reason, taken together with its irrelevance in its present position, it seems extremely likely that it is an extract from the ' {previous letter,' which has by some means been misplaced. If it is omitted here, the sense runs on admirably from 2 Co 6^^ to V ; and we avoid the necessity of having to suppose an extremely un- natural digression on the part of St. Paul.
Another view which seems to deserve special consideration is that which finds the situation implied in ch. 8 inconsistent with that in oh. 9. After the earnest exiiortation to liberality con- tained in ch. 8, we hardly expect to find in 9 the words: 'About the ministration to the saints it is superfluous for me to -svrite to you,' JSIoreover, the_3e_ last words would certainly suggest that the 'ministration to the saints' was a new subject, with which he had not so far dealt. J. S. Semler,§ therefore, propounded the hypothesis that ch. 9 was a separate letter, addressed to the Christians of Achaia. Others have supposed that it is ch. 8 that ought to be separated from the rest of the Epistle (e.g. Hagge, Michelson), It is no doubt true that, as the chapters stand, there is a certain amount of repetition, and, as has been noticed above, the beginning of ch. 9 would be more natural if ch. 8 did not precede it. Moreover, the subject of the 'collection' seems to be treated at disproportionate length. Yet these considerations are not really conclusive. There is no question that St. Paul attached very great importance to the ' collection ' alike for religious and political reasons ; and when he feels strongly about a sub- ject he often deals with it in an emotional and rather disconnected manner. This would account also for the disproportionate length of his references to it. And the situation implied in ch. 9, taken as a whole, is not really inconsistent with that im- plied in ch. 8. With some hesitation, therefore,