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1. T pirov) The decisive number, the third time. So the LXX. rp/rov rovroy Num. xxii. 28. — zpyo^aiy I am coming ) I am now in readiness to come. — pa prvpuv, of witnesses ) Therefore in this matter the apostle thought of depending not on an immediate revelation, but on the testimony of men ; and he does not com- mand the culprits to be cast out of the Church before his arrival.
2. Upoeipyixa nut tfpo'ks'yojy 1 told you before and I tell you before- hand) Refer to the former the words, as if 1 were present the second time ; to the latter, the words, being now absent. He seriously forewarns them. There is in the text, which excludes the word ypdpu as an inferior reading,1 an uninterrupted chiasmus throughout the three members of the sentence, in the following order :
I told before ,
and I tell beforehand ,
as if I were present the second time and being absent now (viz. no doubt when he had come to the neighbourhood towards Corinth, and had already determined to go thither himself also, although he afterwards forbore),
to those who have heretofore sinned , namely before this second visit,
and to all others , who afterwards sinned, after my second coming, and yet before my third.
— ou (ptlffofiui, I will not spare) He had formerly spared, i. 23.
1 ABD (A) corrected later, 6 fg Vulg. reject ypdtya. Rec. Text supports it without any of the oldest authorities for it. — Ed.
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3. Aox//x^v tyrsTre, ye seek a proof) A metonymy for, you pro- voke me ; you tempt me ; you desire to find out what I am ; see ver. 5 [ga urovg dox/jua^srs, prove your own selves]. — doxi/tir; has its conjugates in ver. 5, 6 [a hoxi^oi]. — rou Xpiarov) i.e.y whether Christ is speaking in me. The Corinthians had doubts ; he presently proves that they ought not to doubt. — sk l/xag, iv ufi?v, to yoiv-wardy in you ) The particles differ ; see ch. x. i. — oux affhvs/'y is not weak) by me and this very epistle.1 — dumre?) The ardour of his mind produced this new word by a para- phrase in respect to &<r6mT,
4. E/, if [though]) a concessive particle. — icraupudriy was crucified) The cross , the utmost weakness ; it includes death, for life, is put in antithesis to it. — Jg uaOsvs/ag, owing to [ through ] weakness) It is the part of weakness to be crucified. This is the force of the particle. — a<rds vovfisv iv avrw, we are weak in Him) Presently after, the particle is varied, cvv, with Him, being em- ployed instead of the iv here ; we are weak , we do not exercise dvvapiv, power , and therefore we ourselves are less sensible of it, inasmuch as the sense of tribulation prevails.
5. ‘Ea vrovg, your own selves) not Paul. If you examine your- selves, you will perceive what we are. Where there are true teachers and true learners, we may judge from the feeling of the one party concerning the other, what is the character of that other. — iv rp nticruy in the faith) and therefore in Christ. — boxi/jjdtsriy prove) The milder admonition [ dox/^aggrg, prove'] is subjoined to the severer word [crg/>d£grf, lit. tempt , make trial of] test [Engl. Vers., examine yourselves] : if you are in the faith , prove yourselves to he so ;2 g/, if is used as presently after in si — r\) an , the second part of a disjunctive interrogation ; i.e.y you can truly prove yourselves : for J esus Christ is in you, and you know Him to be in you. [In fact , any one may test him- self whether he he in the faith or not ; no man can prove him- self and search out his own true character unless he he a believer. — V. g.] — inyivuffxsrs, do you perceive ?) an emphatic com- pound.— or/, how that) the grounds upon which. — T>j aovg, Jesus)