263
tvoL'yyiXifypou [if], I preach) This must be taken in the exclusive sense ; if I preach, and do so not gratuitously ; if I do nothing besides. — uvdyxri, necessity) Owing [duty] takes away glorying. — oval be, hut [yea] woe) hut intensive ; not only have I nothing, whereof I may glory, but even woe [to me, if I do not], Jon. i. 4 ; Ex. iv. 14 ; Jer. xx. 9.
17. 'Exwv, willingly) This is here used instead of gratuitously , whence I have a reward makes an oxymoron ;] moreover he defines the reward and gain in the following verses. Paul often, when speaking of his own affairs, uses increase and diminution [uv%7j ff/g and [izioxstg\r not unlike a catachresis, and suitable to express his self-abnegation. He might have willingly preached the Gospel, and yet have received a reward from the Corin- thians ; but if he should receive a reward, he considers that as equivalent to his preaching unwillingly ; so in the follow- ing verse the use of his legitimate c power9 might be without abuse ; but he considers in his case the former in the light of the latter;1 2 comp. Rom. xv. 15; 2 Cor. xi. 8, 9, i. 24, ii. 5, vii. 2, 3. — olxovofitav <7re‘7T/6rev/jJai) a dispensation of the Gospel is com- mitted to me) I cannot withdraw myself, although I should fail of my reward. Again, the language is exclusive, as in ver. 16.
18. ’T i/a, that) This is an answer to the question. — future subjunctive.3 — slg rb ^ xara%pri<!a<sQui) that I abuse not , i.e. that I may withdraw myself as far as possible from any abuse.
19. ’Etc navruv, from all men) Masculine, as we have imme- diately after, unto all ; comp, the more. I was free from all men, i.e. no one could have held me as subject to his power. — idov'kwffu, I made myself a servant) a servant suits himself en- tirely to another. — rovg vKsiovag, the more) The article has a force relative to all , i.e. as many of them as possible. — I might gain) This word agrees with the consideration of a reward.
20. '£lg T ovdaJog, as a Jew) in regard to those things which
1 See Appendix. The pointed combination of contraries. “ Gratuitously , yet I have a reward .” — Ed.
2 i.e . He would regard his using his power as if it were an abuse. — Ed.
3 Fut. subj. is an obsolete form seldom found, but legitimate. Indeed, the subjunctive itself is an old future. — See Donaldson’s New Cratylus. — Ed.
264