Ver. 13. διὰ τῆς δοκιμῆς τῆς διακ. κ.τελ.; inasmuch as they, i.e,, the Judean Christians, through the proof, sc., of you, afforded by this ministration (cf. viii. 2 for a similar gen. after δοκιμή), glorify God (cf. Matt. v. 16, 1 Pet. ii. 12) for the obedience of your confession in regard to
94
Ρ Reft. ii. 9. τῷ Θεῷ - 13. διὰ 2 τῆς " δοκιμῆς τῆς διακονίας ταύτης δοξάζοντες
q Gal. ii.
1 Tim, ng τὸν Θεὸν ἐπὶ τῇ ᾿ ὑποταγῇ τῆς "ὁμολογίας ὑμῶν εἰς τὸ εὐαγγέλιον
11, iii.
rx Tim: vi. τοῦ Χριστοῦ, καὶ "ἁπλότητι τῆς "κοινωνίας εἰς αὐτοὺς καὶ εἰς πάντας, iii. 1,iv. 14. καὶ αὐτῶν δεήσει ὑπὲρ ὑμῶν," " ἐπιποθούντων ὑμᾶς διὰ τὴν " ὑπερ-
14, X. 23 a - ‘in - - - ε oniy. τ βάλλουσαν χάριν τοῦ Θεοῦ ἐφ᾽ ὑμῖν. 15. "χάρις δὲ ὁ "τῷ " Θεῷ etl. Vill. .. ἐπὶ τῇ * ἀνεκδιηγήτῳ αὐτοῦ 7 δωρεᾷ. επ. Vi. 14. u Reff. v. 4 v Reff. iii. 1ο, w Reff.ii.14. x» Hereonly. y Rom. v. 15,17; Eph. iii. 7, iv. 7. ' B has Χριστῳ for Θεῳ. * B has και δια. 5 BE have νπερ ἡμων.
*ScC*DbcEKLP, the Syriac and Bohairic vss. give δε after χαρις; om.
N*BC*D*G 17 and the Latins.
the Gospel of Christ (cf. ii. 12). The sentence is an anacoluthon ; δοξάζοντες cannot be taken as in apposition with πλουτιζόμενοι of ver. 11, for the persons referred to are different. It would be grammatically admissible to take δοξάζ. τὸν Θεὸν with els τὸ εὐαγγ. τοῦ Xp., but the order of words and the sense both support the connexion ὁμολογίας εἰς κ.τ.λ. Of the A.V. * by the experiment of this ministration they glorify God for your professed subjection unto the Gospel of Christ’ Lightfoot truly remarks that “a concurrence of Latinisms obscures the sense and mars the English”. The con- tribution of money for the relief of the Christian poor is a ὁμολογία, inasmuch as it is the manifestation to the world of belief in Christ’s Gospel; ὁμολογία is a ‘‘confession” or “vow,” and so (as in Deut. xii. 17, Amos iv. 5) = “a free will offering ".—kal ἁπλότητι τῆς κοινωνίας κ.τ.λ.;: and for the liberality of your con- tribution unto them and unto all. This would suggest that the rich Corinthian Church had been liberal to other Churches besides that of Jerusalem, but we have no knowledge of anything of the sort. Ver. 14. καὶ αὐτῶν δεήσει κ.τ.λ. This is again an independent sentence, beginning with a gen. abs.: while they also, with supplication on your behalf, long after you (sc., apparently, long to see you) by reason of the exceeding grace of God upon you; t.e., you have the prayers of those whom you are helping, who feel the yearnings of affection for their benefactors in whom the working of God’s grace has been so signally dis- played. aah ο, Ver. 15. χ ᾧ Θεῷ κ.τ.λ.;: thanks be to God ἘΣ His es eakable gift. δωρεά is always in the N.T. (see reff., etc.) used of the gifts of God, not of men; and the “unspeakable” gift (cf. Rom, xi. 33, Eph. iii. 20) for which the
Apostle bursts out here into a character- istic doxology is the gift of Christ Him- self (John iii. 16) and of salvation in Him, thankful appreciation of which had borne such fruit in Christian lives.
III. The Vindication of his Apos- tolic Authority. It would appear that while Titus had brought favourable news as to the loyalty with which the Cor- inthians had received St. Paul’s message of reproof in the matter of the incestuous person (vii. 9-11), he had also brought distressing intelligence as to the deprecia- tion of the Apostle’s authority by certain active Judaisers at Corinth. The case is 80 serious that it requires immediate attention, and the third (and last) section . of the latter is occupied with St. Paul’s reply in vindication of his claims. See Introd., p. 22.