δὲ θλιβόμεθα, ὑπὲρ τῆς ὑμῶν παρακλήσεως καὶ σωτηρίας τῆς ἐνεργουμένης ἐν ὑπομονῇ τῶν αὐτῶν παθημάτων ὧν καὶ ἡμεῖς πάσχομεν, καὶ ἡ ἐλπὶς ἡμῶν βεβαία ὑπὲρ ὑμῶν· εἴτε παρακαλούμεθα, ὑπὲρ τῆς ὑμῶν παρακλήσεως [καὶ σωτη you. For the transference of the sufferings of Christ to the Apostles, see iv. 10.: “ Bearing about in the body the dying of the Lord Jesus," Heb. xiii. 13. "Bearing His reproach," Phil. iii. 10. "The fellowship of His sufferings," Rom. viii. 17., . We suffer with Him." And in still nearer connexion with this passage, Col. i. 24., “ The afflictions of Christ in my flesh." Matt. xx. 22., "Ye shall drink of my cup." 6. There is considerable difference in the order of the words in the MSS., but none in the sense: (1.) " B: D. E. F. F. I. Κ. Lachmann: εἴτε δὲ θλιβόμεθα — πάσχομεν· καὶ ἡ ἔλπις ἡμῶν βεβαία ὑπὲρ ὑμῶν· εἴτε παρακαλούμεθα, ὑπὲρ τῆς ὑμῶν παρακλήσεως καὶ σωτη ρίας· εἰδότες, κ.τ.λ. (2.) Α.C. εἴτε δὲ θλιβόμεθα ὑπὲρ τῆς ὑμῶν παρακλήσεως καὶ σωτηρίας· εἴτε παρακλούμεθα, ὑπὲρ τῆς ὑμῶν παρακλήσεως, τῆς ἐνεργουμένης ἐν ὑπομονῇ τῶν αὐ τῶν παθημάτων ὧν καὶ ἡμεῖς πάσχομεν· καὶ ἡ ἐλπὶς ἡμῶν βεβαία ὑπὲρ ὑμῶν εἰδότες, κ.τ.λ. (3.) Received Text, made by Erasmus from the Latin versions, combined with the Greek MSS., but not found exactly (either in his time or since) in any Greek MS.: εἴτε δὲ θλι βόμεθα πάσχομεν· εἴτε παρα καλοῦμεθα, ὑπὲρ τῆς ὑμῶν παρακλήσεως καὶ σωτηρίας· καὶ ἡ ἐλπὶς ἡμῶν βεβαία ὑπὲρ ὑμῶν, εἰδότες, κ. τ. λ. The first is to be preferred, both as having most authority, and as giving on the whole the best sense. He proceeds to explain himself more fully: "The example of suffering and of comfort in me shows that if you are similarly afflicted, you will be similarly comforted. This is the course of Christian salvation ; your experience will be like mine." This is the general sense; the meaning of the particular words is involved in much obscurity, partly from the abruptness of the construction, partly from the uncertainty of the text, which this abruptness has occasioned. There is no formal apodosis to the sentence; but it is to be found both in the words καὶ ἡ ἐλπὶς ἡμῶν βεβαία ὑπερ ὑμῶν (whether they are to be placed, in the first clause, after πάστ χομεν, or in the second, after σωτηρίας); and also in the words εἰδότες ὅτι ὥσπερ κοινωνοί ἐστε τῶν παθημάτων, οὕτως καὶ τῆς παρακλήσεως. Perhaps the sense is best if καὶ ἡ ἐλπὶς, κ.τ.λ. be placed in the first clause, in which case the whole sentence will run, "Whether we are afflicted for the sake of your 7 ρίας], * εἰδότες ὅτι ὡς κοινωνοί ἐστε τῶν παθημάτων, οὕτως καὶ τῆς παρακλήσεως. d 8 Οὐ γὰρ θέλομεν ὑμᾶς ἀγνοεῖν, ἀδελφοί, περὶ τῆς θλίψεως ἡμῶν τῆς γενομένης ἐν τῇ ̓Ασίᾳ, ὅτι καθ ̓ ὑπερβολὴν ὑπὲρ δύναμιν ἐβαρήθημεν, ὥστε ἐξαπορηθῆναι ἡμᾶς καὶ του ζῆν· 9 ἀλλ ̓ αὐτοὶ ἐν ἑαυτοῖς τὸ ἀπόκριμα τοῦ θανάτου ἐσχήκαμεν, ἵνα μὴ πεποιθότες ὦμεν ἐφ ̓ ἑαυτοῖς, ἀλλ ̓ ἐπὶ τῷ θεῷ τῷ ἐγείροντι τοὺς νεκρούς, 10 ὃς ἐκ τηλικούτου θανάτου ἐῤῥύσατο ἡμᾶς [καὶ ῥύσεται], εἰς ὃν ἠλπίκαμεν [ὅτι] καὶ ἔτι ῥύσεται, 11 συνυπουργούντων καὶ ὑμῶν ὑπὲρ ἡμῶν τῇ δεήσει, • Transpose καὶ ἡ ἐλπὶς . . . ὑπὲρ ὑμῶν, and εἴτε παρακαλούμεθα . . . σωτηρίας. Ο ὥσπερ, ὑπὲρ. comfort and salvation, working itself out as it does by your endurance of the same sufferings as those which we suffer, and in that case our hope for you is firm; or whether we are comforted for the sake of your comfort and salvation, knowing in that case that as you partake in our sufferings, so also you partake in our comfort.” ἐνεργουμένης, here, as always, is middle, not passive, "exercising its powers. εἰδότες should more properly be εἰδότων. But the participle is used in the same abrupt manner as elsewhere, iii. 11. 13.; Rom. xii. 9-13., xiii. 11. * Add ἡμῖν. Ο • ῥύεται. may have occurred in the tumult of Demetrius (Acts xix.), or as is referred to in 1 Cor. xv. 32. (I have fought with beasts at Ephesus). On the other hand, the words θλίψεως, ἐβαρήθημεν, αὐτοὶ ἐν ἑαυτοῖς, and the general context, point either to illness or to inward care occasioned probably by his anxiety for the Corinthian Church: also, had he alluded to the tumult at Ephesus, he would have probably used the expression (as in 1 Cor. xv. 32.) ἐν Ἐφέσῳ, not ἐν τῇ Ἀσίᾳ. Here, as elsewhere, we may observe the understatement of his sufferings in the Acts. ἵνα ἐκ πολλῶν προσώπων τὸ εἰς ἡμᾶς χάρισμα διὰ πολλῶν εὐχαριστηθῇ ὑπὲρ ἡμῶν. 11. Whether ἐκ πολλῶν προσώπων πроσάπ should be taken with with τὸ χάρισμα (as in the Authorised Version), or with εὐχαριστηθή, is difficult to decide, and makes no difference as to the sense. Probably the latter, as the thanksgiving more properly proceeded from the Corinthians, the gift to the Apostle through them. προσ TV may have the later Greek sense of person; but it is more in conformity with the other wise invariable usage of the New Testament to make it "that thanks may be sent up from many upturned faces." The use of the word χάρισμα for "deliverance from affliction" is remarkable, as showing the general application of the phrase to what are now termed natural occurrences. συνυπουργούντων, “ helping with me." For the thought see iv. 15., ix. 12. PARAPHRASE I. 1-11.-"I return my usual thanks to Him in whom we recognise not only the supreme God, but the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ; the Father also, from whose fatherly mercy all mercies descend, the God who is the source of that strengthening comfort which in manifold forms is sent to support us under manifold forms of affliction, so that we in turn may be called to support others in like afflictions by the example and the sympathy of the comfort which we ourselves enjoy; for as we are identified with Christ in His sufferings, so also are we identified with you through Him in our comfort. Your comfort, in fact, is the end and object of our existence: if we suffer, it is for your welfare; if we are comforted, it is that out of your like sufferings may grow a like comfort. What my sufferings were you know; how the hope of life itself seemed to vanish away; and it is from that depth that I have been raised, by the deliverance for which I now thank God, and which was the result of your prayers." THERE are two remarks of Bengel on this portion of the Epistle, which sum up its characteristics well. First, "Experientiæ quanta est necessitas: quâ qui caret, quàm ineptus magister est!" Secondly, "Communio Sanctorum in corde Pauli, Titi, Corinthiorum, aliarum Ecclesiarum exercita, egregiè representatur in hâc Epistolâ. Hæc corda fuere quasi specula imagines inter se reciprocantia." The sympathy with which the Apostle makes himself one with his converts,—their joys his joys, their sorrows his sorrows, their thoughts his thoughts, is throughout this Epistle a striking instance of the lively and manifold susceptibility with which he was endowed, and of his capacity for throwing himself into the position of others, becoming "all things to all men,"1 transferring 2 the feelings of others to his own person. It is the same largeness and depth of heart which embraced so wide a circle of personal friends, which "suffered when the weaker brother suffered,"3 which would not allow him to "eat meat whilst the world standeth lest he make his brother to offend." It is in fact the Gentile side of his character which so remarkably qualified him for his mission to the Gentile world—the effect of God's blessing on that boundless versatility of nature which had formed the especial mark of the Grecian mind for good and evil in all ages; the significant maxim of the Roman poet, "Homo sum, humani nihil a me alienum puto," transfigured for the first time in the pure radiance of truth and holiness. For the right understanding of the Epistle, this identity of feeling between the Apostle and his converts must be borne in mind throughout. It accounts for a large portion, even in detail, of the peculiarities of style and language which it contains; the double self, which creates, as it were, a double current of feeling and thought, now taking the form of passionate sympathy, now of anxiety, now of caution and prudence. It is also important as the liveliest instance of the real communion or community of feeling introduced by Christianity into the world. Never had there been seen amongst heathens, so close a bond between those who had no local, natural, or hereditary connexion with each other. 11 Cor. ix. 22. Rom. vii. 7-23.; 1 Cor. iv. 6., vii. 1., viii. 1-6. The closest resemblance to this passage in its expression of personal affection is 1 Thess. ii. 7-12. 32 Cor. xi. 29.; 1 Cor. viii. 13. |