Ver. 2. δέομαι δὲ τὸ μὴ παρὼν κ.τ.λ.: nay (sc., ‘‘ however that be,” δέ recom- mencing the sentence) I beseech you, that I may not (the use of the article with μή and the inf. is somewhat unusual; but cf. ii. τ, Rom. xiv. 13; τὸ adds emphasis to the thing asked), when present, shew courage with the confidence (almost = “ peremptoriness ”) wherewith I count on
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myself (mid., not passive) to be bold against some (for the vague tives see on ili, 1) which count of us as if we walked according to the flesh. His opponents charged him with low motives (cf. ii. 17) which he will indignantly and sternly repudiate.
Ver. 3. ἐν σαρκὶ yap κ.τ.λ.:; for though we walk in the flesh, sc., as all men must do (see reff.), we do not war, {.6., CaIry ON Our campaign against evil and the enemies of God, according to the flesh (cf. John xvii. 15)—for the weapons of our warfare (see on vi. 7) are not carnal (see on i. 12), but are mighty before God, 1.e., in God’s sight, in His esti- mation (or, perhaps, ‘‘ exceeding mighty,” which is the force of τῷ Θεῷ at Jonah iii, 3, Acts vii. 20; the A.V. ‘‘ mighty through God,” z.e., ‘‘ by His aid,” cannot be right), to the casting down of strong- holds, which is the ultimate object of every campaign, and which, being achieved, is the seal of victory ; καθαίρειν τὰ ὀχυρώ- pata is the regular LXX phrase for the reduction of a fortress (see Prov. xxi. 22, Lam. ii. 2, 1 Macc. v. 65, viii. το).
Ver. 4 is an explanatory parenthesis, and the constr. of ver. 5 is continuous with ver. 3, the metaphor of the destruc- tion of the citadel being carried on.
Ver. 5. λογισμοὺς καθαιροῦντες κ.τ.λ.; casting down, as if they were centres of the enemy’s force, reasonings (St. Paul’s message, as he told the Corinthians at 1 Cor. ii. 4 was not ἐν πειθοῖς σοφίας λόγοις, but “in demonstration of the