330 WORD STUDIES IN THE NEW TESTAMENT. ([Ca. VII.
comforted, transfer the 5€ and (yea) from after mepsccotépas exceedingly the more to directly after émé a (your comfort), and instead of your read our. The whole, as Rev., therefore we have been comforted. And in our comfort we joyed the more exceedingly, etc.
In our comfort (éré). In addition to. Stanley, wath this comfort before me, I was still more rejoiced, ete.
16. | have confidence in you (Sappa év tpiv). Wrong. Rey., correctly, J am of good courage. In you expresses the ground of his encouragement as lying 2 them.
1. We do you to wit (ywpifouerv). An obsolete, though correct rendering. Jo is used in the sense of cause or make, as Chaucer:
‘¢ She that doth me all this woe endure.”
To wit is to know: Anglo-Saxon, witan; German, wissen ; English, w2t. So “ Legend of King Arthur:” “Now go thou and do me to wit (make me to know) what betokeneth that noise in the field.” Rev., we make known.
Trial of affliction (Sonia Irivews). Rev., better, proof. See on experience, Rom. v. 4. In much affliction, which tried
and proved their christian character, their joy and liberality abounded.
Deep (xata BdJouvs). An adverbial expression: their pov- erty which went down to the depths.
Liberality (aadornTos). Or singleness. See on simplicity, Rom. xii. 8. It is better to throw the verse into two parallel clauses, instead of making abundance of joy and deep poverty the joint subject of abownded. Render: How that in much proof of affiction was the abundance of their joy, and their deep poverty abounded unto the riches, ete.
Cu. VIIL] THE SECOND EPISTLE TO THE CORINTHIANS. 30
3. They were willing (avSaipero.). The adjective stands alone. Only here and ver. 17. Lit., self-chosen, and so Rev., of their own accord.
4, Praying us—that we would receive the gift and take upon us the fellowship (Seduevor judy thy ydpwv Kal THY KoL- veviav). Trev., beseeching us, etc., in regard of this grace and the fellowship in the ministering. The Greek reads simply, praying us for the favor and the fellowship of the ministry. The renderings of both A. V. and Rev. are clumsy. Paul means that they earnestly besought him as a favor that they might have a share in ministering to the poor saints. Xdpus means grace, gift, and favor. Here the last.
5. As we hoped (xaJws 7Amicapev). Better, expected. They took part in this contribution in a manner beyond our expectation. Supply, as A. V., thes they did, or, Rev., and this.
Their own selves. ‘Their liberality began in sedf-surrender to God and to the apostles as His agents: to us by the will of God.
6. Had begun (zpoevypEato). Only here and ver.10. Rev., giving the force of apo before, had made a beginning before: on his first visit to Corinth.
Complete—this grace also (ézrutehéon Kal tiv ydapw Tav- tnv). Should complete among you the act of love (yapuv), the contribution already begun, in addition to whatever else He has yet to complete among you (xa also).
8. Sincerity (yvjcvov). Used by Paul only. Contracted from yevnovos legitimately born: hence genuine. Paul calls Timothy his lawful son in the faith (1 Tim.i.2). The kindred adverb yvnaiws sincerely (A. V. naturally), oceurs once, Philip. ii. 20. See note.
9. He became poor (értayevcev), Only here in the New Testament. Primarily of abject poverty, beggary (see on Matt. y. 3), though used of poverty generally. “ Became poor” is correct, though some render “was poor,” and explain that
382 WORD STUDIES IN THE NEW TESTAMENT. (Cu. VIII.
Christ was both rich and poor simultaneously ; combining di- vine power and excellence with human weakness and suffering. But this idea is foreign to the general drift of the passage. The other explanation falls in better with the key-note—an act of self-devotion—in ver. 5. The aorist tense denotes the en- trance into the condition of poverty, and the whole accords with the magnificent passage, Philip. ii. 6-8. Stanley has some interesting remarks on the influence of this passage in giving rise to the orders of mendicant friars. See Dante, ‘ Paradiso,” xi., 40-139; xii., 180 sqq.