g1 Cor. xiii. δ 12, χίν, 37, Τέρως δὲ πρὸς ὑμᾶς. xvi. 18; chaps. vi. 9, xiii. 5.
1 BG om. αλλ’.
13. οὐ γὰρ ἄλλα γράφομεν ὑμῖν ἀλλ᾽} ἢ " ἃ ἀναγινώσκετε, ἢ ὃ καὶ " ἐπιγινώσκετε, ἐλπίζω δὲ ὅτι καὶ ΄ ἕως τέλους
7A om. a
5 B and a few cursives omit η και επιγνωσκετε (through homceoteleuton); GK, the Latin, Peshitto and Bohairic vss. omit η.
* SABCD*EG and most vss. omit και; ins. DCKLMP and the Harclean.
πολλῶν προσώπων “ by many persons " in this verse, an additional difficulty in the way of such a rendering being that it would require ὑπό, not ἐκ. πρόσωπον is a face, and the image in the writer's mind is that of faces upturned in prayer, the early Christian (and the Jewish) atti- tude of prayer being one of standing with uplifted eyes and outstretched arms (cf. Ps. xxvii. 2, Matt. vi. 5, 1 Tim. ii. 8, and Clem. Rom.,§ 29). The general thought, of the united thanksgivings of many persons, is found twice again in the Epistle in somewhat similar contexts (see τε). χάρισμα and εὐχαριστεῖν (the passive is found here only in N.T.) are favourite words with St. Paul, the former occurring sixteen times in his Epistles and only once elsewhere in the N.T. (1 Pet. iv. το).
Vv. 12-14. THEY MUST ACKNOWLEDGE HIS SINCERITY OF Purpose. He claims that he has always been frank and open in his dealings with the Corinthian Chris- tians: cf. 1 Thess. ii. 3.— γὰρ καύχησις κ.τ.λ.: for our glorying is this. Note καύχησις, not καύχ as at ver. 14, which is rather the thing boasted of than the act of boasting. κανχάομαι and its cognates are peculiarly frequent in this Epistle (see Introd., p. 27).---τὸ pe τύριον τῆς συνειδήσεως ἡμῶν: vis., the testimony of our conscience. μαρτύριον is the thing testified to by conscience, as contrasted with μαρτυρία, the act of testimony. συνείδησις, ‘ conscientia,” represents the self sitting in judgment on self, a specially Greek idea, and taken over by St. Paul from Greek thought; the word is a favourite one with him, both in his Epistles and in his speeches (Acts xxiii. 1, xxiv. 16).---ὅτι ἐν ἁγιότητι καὶ εἰλικρινείᾳ Θεοῦ: that in holiness and sincerity of God (cf. chap. iv. 2). The received reading, ἁπλότητι, probably arose from the fact that while ewe occurs four times in this Epistle, and is a specially Pauline word, ἁγιότης is rare, only occurring in the Greek Bible twice elsewhere (2 Macc. xv. 2, Heb. xii. 10). The etymology of εἰλικρινεία (see reff.)
is uncertain; but the meaning is not doubtful. The force of the genitive τοῦ Θεοῦ is somewhat the same as in the phrase δικαιοσύνη Θεοῦ (Rom. iii. 21); the holiness and sincerity which St. Paul claims as characterising his conduct are Divine qualities, and in so far as they are displayed in men they are God's gift, as he goes on to εχρἰαίη.--οὐκ ἐν σοφίᾳ σαρκικῇ κ.τ.λ.: not in fleshly wisdom, but in God's grace, sc., which had been vouchsafed to him for the due discharge of his apostolic office (Rom. i. 5, xii. 3, xv. 15, 1 Cor. iii. το, Eph. iii, 2). Especially in the Corinthian letters does St. Paul insist on this, that his power is not that of human wisdom (1 Ως 13, chap. x. 4. The word σαρκικός is found five times in his letters, and only twice elsewhere in N.T. It signifies that which belongs to the nature of the σάρξ of man, as contrasted with σάρκινος, “made of flesh,”’ which is the stronger word (cf. iii. 3 below).—dverrpddyper ἐν τῷ κόσμῳ: did we behave ourselves in the world, sc., the heathen world (cf. 1 Cor. ν. τὸ, Phil. ii, 15).--περισσοτέρως δὲ πρὸς ὑμᾶς: and more abundantly to you- ward, sc., perhaps because his oppor- tunities at Corinth had been greater han elsewhere of displaying the holiness and sincerity of the Christian life.