King James Version
2 Corinthians 7
16 verses with commentary
Paul's Joy
Having therefore these promises, dearly beloved, let us cleanse ourselves from all filthiness of the flesh and spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of God.
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KJV Study Commentary
<strong>Having therefore these promises, dearly beloved, let us cleanse ourselves from all filthiness of the flesh and spirit</strong>—The Greek <em>katharisōmen</em> (καθαρίσωμεν, "let us cleanse") is a hortatory subjunctive, calling for decisive moral action. Paul links this to the promises of 6:16-18 (divine indwelling and father-child relationship). <em>Molysmos</em> (μολυσμός, "filthiness/def...
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**VII.**
(1) **Having therefore these promises . . . let us cleanse ourselves from all filthiness.**—The thought is identical with that of 1John 3:3. In each there is the contrast between the high ideal to which the believer in Christ is called and the infinite debasement into which he may possibly sink. St. John characteristically presents the law of the spiritual life as a generalised fact of ex...
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**42. sown--**Following up the image of seed. A delightful word instead of burial.
**in corruption--**liable to corruption: corruptible: not merely a prey when dead to corruption; as the contrast shows, "raised in incorruption," that is, not liable to corruption: incorruptible.
Receive us; we have wronged no man, we have corrupted no man, we have defrauded no man.
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<strong>Receive us; we have wronged no man, we have corrupted no man, we have defrauded no man</strong>—The imperative <em>chōrēsate</em> (χωρήσατε, "make room for us/receive us") literally means "make space" in your hearts. Paul's triple defense uses strong Greek negatives: <em>oudena ēdikēsamen</em> (οὐδένα ἠδικήσαμεν, "we wronged no one"), <em>oudena eptheiramen</em> (οὐδένα ἐφθείραμεν, "we cor...
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(2) **Receive us; we have wronged no man.**—Better, *Make room for us*; *we wronged no man:* with the same change of tense in the verbs that follow. There is an almost infinite pathos in that entreaty, uttered, we may well believe, as from the very depths of the soul—“Make room for us.” The under-current of thought flows on. He had complained of their being straitened in their affections, had entr...
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**43. in dishonour--**answering to "our vile body" (Php 3:21); literally, "our body of humiliation": liable to various humiliations of disease, injury, and decay at last.
**in glory--**the garment of incorruption (1Co 15:42, 43) like His glorious body (Php 4:21), which we shall put on (1Co 15:49, 53; 2Co 5:2-4).
**in weakness--**liable to infirmities (2Co 13:4).
**in power--**answering to a ...
Read full commentary →I speak not this to condemn you: for I have said before, that ye are in our hearts to die and live with you.
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<strong>I speak not this to condemn you</strong>—<em>Pros katakrisin ou legō</em> (πρὸς κατάκρισιν οὐ λέγω, "I do not speak for condemnation"). Paul clarifies his self-defense isn't counter-accusation. <em>Katakrisis</em> (κατάκρισις) means judicial condemnation or sentencing—Paul refuses to turn reconciliation into litigation.<br><br><strong>For I have said before, that ye are in our hearts to di...
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(3) **I speak not this to condemn you.**—Better, *I do not speak as condemning.* There is no “you” in the Greek, and the form of expression seems intentionally vague, as leaving it an open question whether his words might refer to his readers or to others. We trace here a sudden revulsion of feeling. What he had just said seemed to imply that he condemned them for even listening to the calumnies w...
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**44. a natural body--**literally, "an animal body," a body moulded in its organism of "flesh and blood" (1Co 15:50) to suit the animal soul which predominates in it. The Holy Spirit in the spirit of believers, indeed, is an earnest of a superior state (Ro 8:11), but meanwhile in the body the animal soul preponderates; hereafter the Spirit shall predominate, and the animal soul be duly subordinate...
Read full commentary →Great is my boldness of speech toward you, great is my glorying of you: I am filled with comfort, I am exceeding joyful in all our tribulation.
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<strong>Great is my boldness of speech toward you, great is my glorying of you</strong>—<em>Pollē moi parrēsia pros hymas</em> (πολλή μοι παρρησία πρὸς ὑμᾶς, "great is my frank speech toward you"). <em>Parrēsia</em> (παρρησία) means bold, free, fearless speech—a democratic virtue in Athens. <em>Kauchēsis</em> (καύχησις, "boasting/glorying") typically has negative connotations in Paul (fleshly boas...
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(4) **Great is my boldness of speech.**—The context shows that he is not apologising for bold and plain speaking, but uses the word as implying confidence (1Timothy 3:13; Philemon 1:8). He can speak without reticence now, because he is going to express his comfort and joy at what had been reported to him.
**I am exceeding joyful.**—Literally, *I exceedingly abound* (or, *overflow*)* in joy.* The v...
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**45. so--**in accordance with the distinction just mentioned between the natural or animal-souled body and the spiritual body.
**it is written--**(Ge 2:7); "Man became (was made to become) a living soul," that is, endowed with an animal soul, the living principle of his body.
**the last Adam--**the LAST Head of humanity, who is to be fully manifested in the last day, which is His day (Joh 6:3...
Read full commentary →Paul's Joy Over the Church's Repentance
For , when we were come into Macedonia, our flesh had no rest, but we were troubled on every side; without were fightings, within were fears.
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KJV Study Commentary
<strong>For, when we were come into Macedonia, our flesh had no rest</strong>—<em>Elthontōn gar hēmōn eis Makedonian oudemia eschēken anesin hē sarx hēmōn</em> (ἐλθόντων γὰρ ἡμῶν εἰς Μακεδονίαν οὐδεμίαν ἔσχηκεν ἄνεσιν ἡ σὰρξ ἡμῶν, "when we came to Macedonia, our flesh had no relief"). <em>Anesis</em> (ἄνεσις, "relief/relaxation") appears in 2:13 where Paul had 'no rest in spirit' awaiting Titus. H...
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(5) **For, when we were come into Macedonia . . .**—His feeling has led him back to the narrative from which he had digressed in 2Corinthians 2:13. He had come from Troas full of anxiety and agitation. He arrived in Macedonia. Much remained the same. His body was still suffering from want of rest, even though his spirit had found relief in the thought that the coming of Titus could not now be far ...
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**46. afterward--**Adam had a soul not necessarily mortal, as it afterwards became by sin, but "a living soul," and destined to live for ever, if he had eaten of the tree of life (Ge 3:22); still his body was but an animal-souled body, not a spiritual body, such as believers shall have; much less was he a "life-giving spirit," as Christ. His soul had the germ of the Spirit, rather than the fulness...
Read full commentary →Nevertheless God, that comforteth those that are cast down, comforted us by the coming of Titus;
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<strong>Nevertheless God, that comforteth those that are cast down, comforted us by the coming of Titus</strong>—<em>All' ho parakalōn tous tapeinous parakalesen hēmas ho Theos</em> (ἀλλ' ὁ παρακαλῶν τοὺς ταπεινοὺς παρακάλεσεν ἡμᾶς ὁ θεός, "but God who comforts the humble/downcast comforted us"). <em>Tapeinous</em> (ταπεινούς) can mean "humble" or "cast down/depressed"—God specializes in consoling...
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(6) **God, that comforteth those that are cast down.**—The fact of his own experience seems almost to present itself to his thoughts as constituting an attribute of the divine character. In the word for “cast down” (*lowly*) we may, perhaps, trace an allusion to the same word used of him by others as a disparaging epithet. (See Note on 2Corinthians 10:1.)
Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary
**47. of the earth--**inasmuch as being sprung from the earth, he is "earthy" (Ge 2:7; 3:19, "dust thou art"); that is, not merely earthly or born upon the earth, but terrene, or of earth; literally, "of heaped earth" or clay. "Adam" means red earth.
**the Lord--**omitted in the oldest manuscripts and versions.
**from heaven--**(Joh 3:13, 31). Humanity in Christ is generic. In Him man is imper...
Read full commentary →And not by his coming only, but by the consolation wherewith he was comforted in you, when he told us your earnest desire, your mourning, your fervent mind toward me; so that I rejoiced the more.
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<strong>And not by his coming only, but by the consolation wherewith he was comforted in you</strong>—<em>Ou monon en tē parousia autou alla en tē paraklēsei hē parekēlthē eph' hymin</em> (οὐ μόνον ἐν τῇ παρουσίᾳ αὐτοῦ ἀλλὰ ἐν τῇ παρακλήσει ᾗ παρεκλήθη ἐφ' ὑμῖν, "not only by his coming but by the comfort with which he was comforted in you"). Paul's joy is two-fold: Titus's physical presence and th...
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(7) **And not by his coming only.**—There was joy, doubtless, in seeing his true son in the faith (Titus 1:1) once again, but the great comfort was found in the news which he brought with him. On the part of the majority, at least, of those who had been present when the Epistle was read, there had been all the feelings which he most desired to rouse—longing to see him as he longed to see them (see...
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**48. As is the earthy--**namely, Adam.
**they ... that are earthy--**All Adam's posterity in their natural state (Joh 3:6, 7).
**the heavenly--**Christ.
**they ... that are heavenly--**His people in their regenerate state (Php 3:20, 21). As the former precedes the latter state, so the natural bodies precede the spiritual bodies.
For though I made you sorry with a letter, I do not repent, though I did repent: for I perceive that the same epistle hath made you sorry, though it were but for a season.
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<strong>For though I made you sorry with a letter, I do not repent, though I did repent</strong>—<em>Hoti ei kai elypēsa hymas en tē epistolē, ou metamelomai, ei kai metelomēn</em> (ὅτι εἰ καὶ ἐλύπησα ὑμᾶς ἐν τῇ ἐπιστολῇ, οὐ μεταμέλομαι, εἰ καὶ μετεμελόμην, "although I caused you sorrow with the letter, I do not regret it, though I did regret it"). Paul uses <em>metameleomai</em> (μεταμέλεομαι, "t...
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(8) **For though I made you sorry with a letter.**—Better, *For even if,* and, as the Greek has the article, *with my letter.* This Titus had told him; and commonly to have caused pain to others would have been a source of grief to him, but he cannot bring himself now to say, *I regret.* (This is, perhaps, better than *repent.* On the words, see Notes on Matthew 21:29; Matthew 27:3.) He owns, howe...
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**49. as--**Greek, "even as" (see Ge 5:3).
**we shall also bear--**or wear as a garment [Bengel]. The oldest manuscripts and versions read, "We must also bear," or "let us also bear." It implies the divine appointment (compare "must," 1Co 15:53) and faith assenting to it. An exhortation, and yet implying a promise (so Ro 8:29). The conformity to the image of the heavenly Representative man is to...
Read full commentary →Now I rejoice, not that ye were made sorry, but that ye sorrowed to repentance: for ye were made sorry after a godly manner, that ye might receive damage by us in nothing. after: or, according to God
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<strong>Now I rejoice, not that ye were made sorry, but that ye sorrowed to repentance</strong>—<em>Nyn chairō, ouch hoti elypēthēte alla hoti elypēthēte eis metanoian</em> (νῦν χαίρω, οὐχ ὅτι ἐλυπήθητε ἀλλ' ὅτι ἐλυπήθητε εἰς μετάνοιαν, "now I rejoice, not that you were grieved but that you were grieved unto repentance"). Paul distinguishes pain as means from repentance as goal. <em>Eis metanoian<...
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(9) **That ye sorrowed to repentance.**—Here the true word for “repentance” is used in all the fulness of its meaning. (See Notes on Matthew 3:2; Matthew 3:8.) There is nothing in the Greek corresponding to the variation “ye sorrowed” and “were made sorry,” the same word being used in both clauses.
**After a godly manner.**—The English is but a feeble equivalent for the Greek. Literally, *accordin...
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50. (See on 1Co 15:37; 1Co 15:39). "Flesh and blood" of the same animal and corruptible nature as our present (1Co 15:44) animal-souled bodies, cannot inherit the kingdom of God. Therefore the believer acquiesces gladly in the unrepealed sentence of the holy law, which appoints the death of the present body as the necessary preliminary to the resurrection body of glory. Hence he "dies daily" to th...
Read full commentary →For godly sorrow worketh repentance to salvation not to be repented of: but the sorrow of the world worketh death.
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<strong>For godly sorrow worketh repentance to salvation not to be repented of</strong>—<em>Hē gar kata Theon lypē metanoian eis sōtērian ametamelēton katergazetai</em> (ἡ γὰρ κατὰ θεὸν λύπη μετάνοιαν εἰς σωτηρίαν ἀμεταμέλητον κατεργάζεται, "godly sorrow produces repentance unto salvation not to be regretted"). <em>Katergazomai</em> (κατεργάζομαι, "to produce/work out/accomplish") suggests active,...
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(10) **For godly sorrow.**—Again we note the needless variation which is the easily besetting sin of the English version. Better, as before, *the sorrow which is after the will of God.*
**Repentance to salvation not to be repented of.**—Here the English effaces a distinction in the original. (See Note on Matthew 27:3,) Better, *repentance unto salvation, giving no matter for regret.* The adjective...
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**51. Behold--**Calling attention to the "mystery" heretofore hidden in God's purposes, but now revealed.
**you--**emphatical in the Greek; I show (Greek, "tell," namely, by the word of the Lord, 1Th 4:15) YOU, who think you have so much knowledge, "a mystery" (compare Ro 11:25) which your reason could never have discovered. Many of the old manuscripts and Fathers read, "We shall all sleep, but ...
Read full commentary →For behold this selfsame thing, that ye sorrowed after a godly sort, what carefulness it wrought in you, yea, what clearing of yourselves, yea, what indignation, yea, what fear, yea, what vehement desire, yea, what zeal, yea, what revenge! In all things ye have approved yourselves to be clear in this matter.
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<strong>For behold this selfsame thing, that ye sorrowed after a godly sort, what carefulness it wrought in you</strong>—<em>Idou gar auto touto to kata Theon lypēthēnai posēn kateirgasato hymin spoudēn</em> (ἰδοὺ γὰρ αὐτὸ τοῦτο τὸ κατὰ θεὸν λυπηθῆναι πόσην κατειργάσατο ὑμῖν σπουδήν, "behold this very thing—your godly grief—what earnestness it produced in you"). <em>Spoudē</em> (σπουδή, "earnestne...
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(11) **That ye sorrowed after a godly sort.**—Better, as before, *that ye sorrowed after the will of God.* The series of emotional words that follow represent the Apostle’s estimate of what he had heard from Titus. There was (1) *earnestness* where there had been indifference to evil, or even approval of it (1Corinthians 5:2); and this was shown (2) in the *vindication* of their conduct which they...
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**52. the last trump--**at the sounding of the trumpet on the last day [Vatablus] (Mt 24:31; 1Th 4:16). Or the Spirit by Paul hints that the other trumpets mentioned subsequently in the Apocalypse shall precede, and that this shall be the last of all (compare Is 27:13; Zec 9:14). As the law was given with the sound of a trumpet, so the final judgment according to it (He 12:19; compare Ex 19:16). A...
Read full commentary →Wherefore, though I wrote unto you, I did it not for his cause that had done the wrong, nor for his cause that suffered wrong, but that our care for you in the sight of God might appear unto you.
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<strong>Wherefore, though I wrote unto you, I did it not for his cause that had done the wrong, nor for his cause that suffered wrong</strong>—<em>Ara ei kai egrapsa hymin, ouk heneken tou adikēsantos oude heneken tou adikēthentos</em> (ἄρα εἰ καὶ ἔγραψα ὑμῖν, οὐχ ἕνεκεν τοῦ ἀδικήσαντος οὐδὲ ἕνεκεν τοῦ ἀδικηθέντος, "so although I wrote to you, it was not for the sake of the wrongdoer nor the one w...
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(12) **Wherefore, though I wrote unto you.**—The reference to the man that had suffered wrong implies that the offender in 1Corinthians 5:1 had married his step-mother during his father’s life. All other inter pretations—such as those which make St. Paul or the community the injured party—are fantastic. But in what sense was the father injured? The union was a marriage, not a mere concubinage or a...
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**53. this--**pointing to his own body and that of those whom he addresses.
**put on--**as a garment (2Co 5:2, 3).
**immortality--**Here only, besides 1Ti 6:16, the word "immortality" is found. Nowhere is the immortality of the soul, distinct from the body, taught; a notion which many erroneously have derived from heathen philosophers. Scripture does not contemplate the anomalous state brought...
Read full commentary →Therefore we were comforted in your comfort: yea, and exceedingly the more joyed we for the joy of Titus, because his spirit was refreshed by you all.
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<strong>Therefore we were comforted in your comfort</strong>—<em>Dia touto parakeklēmetha</em> (διὰ τοῦτο παρακεκλήμεθα, "therefore we have been comforted"). The perfect tense indicates ongoing comfort resulting from the Corinthians' repentance. Paul's comfort isn't self-referential but participatory—he rejoices in their spiritual restoration, not his vindication.<br><br><strong>Yea, and exceeding...
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(13) **Therefore we were comforted.**—The tense of the Greek verb implies a different structure of the sentence: *Therefore we have been comforted: and upon *(*i.e.,* over and above) *our comfort we rejoiced more exceedingly at the joy of Titus.* That was to St. Paul a new source of happiness. The intense sympathy of his nature would have made him share the disappointment of his delegate, and in l...
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**54. then--**not before. Death has as yet a sting even to the believer, in that his body is to be under its power till the resurrection. But then the sting and power of death shall cease for ever.
**Death is swallowed up in victory--**In Hebrew of Is 25:8, from which it is quoted, "He (Jehovah) will swallow up death in victory"; that is, for ever: as "in victory" often means in Hebrew idiom (Jr...
Read full commentary →For if I have boasted any thing to him of you, I am not ashamed; but as we spake all things to you in truth, even so our boasting, which I made before Titus, is found a truth.
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KJV Study Commentary
<strong>For if I have boasted any thing to him of you, I am not ashamed</strong>—<em>Hoti ei ti autō hyper hymōn kekauchaēmai, ou katēschynthēn</em> (ὅτι εἴ τι αὐτῷ ὑπὲρ ὑμῶν κεκαύχημαι, οὐ κατῃσχύνθην, "if I have boasted anything to him about you, I was not put to shame"). <em>Kataischynō</em> (καταισχύνω, "to shame/disappoint/humiliate") uses the intensive prefix—Paul's confidence in the Corinth...
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(14) **For if I have boasted any thing to him of you.**—It is obviously implied that he had boasted. He had encouraged Titus, when he sent him, with the assurance that he would find many elements of good mingled with the evil which he was sent to correct. And now St. Paul can add: “*I was not shamed*” (the tense requires this rendering) “when he came back with his report.”
**Even so our boasting, ...
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55. Quoted from Ho 13:14, substantially; but freely used by the warrant of the Spirit by which Paul wrote. The Hebrew may be translated, "O death, where are thy plagues? Where, O Hades, is thy destruction?" The Septuagint, "Where is thy victory (literally, in a lawsuit), O death? Where is thy sting, O Hades? ... Sting" answers to the Hebrew "plagues," namely, a poisoned sting causing plagues. Appr...
Read full commentary →And his inward affection is more abundant toward you, whilst he remembereth the obedience of you all, how with fear and trembling ye received him. inward: Gr. bowels
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KJV Study Commentary
<strong>And his inward affection is more abundant toward you</strong>—<em>Kai ta splanchna autou perissoteros eis hymas estin</em> (καὶ τὰ σπλάγχνα αὐτοῦ περισσοτέρως εἰς ὑμᾶς ἐστιν, "and his affections are even more abundantly toward you"). <em>Splanchna</em> (σπλάγχνα, literally "bowels/intestines") refers to the seat of emotions in ancient physiology—deep visceral affection. Philemon 7, 12, 20 ...
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(15) **His inward affection.**—The margin gives the literal meaning of the Greek, which is used here with the same meaning as in 2Corinthians 6:12. Perhaps “heart,” or “feelings,” would be the best English equivalent. The recollection of what had passed at Corinth had bound him by ties of closest sympathy with the disciples there.
**With fear and trembling.**—The combination is a favourite one wit...
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56. If there were no sin, there would be no death. Man's transgression of the law gives death its lawful power.
**strength of sin is the law--**Without the law sin is not perceived or imputed (Ro 3:20; 4:15; 5:13). The law makes sin the more grievous by making God's will the clearer (Ro 7:8-10). Christ's people are no longer "under the law" (Ro 6:14).
I rejoice therefore that I have confidence in you in all things.
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<strong>I rejoice therefore that I have confidence in you in all things</strong>—<em>Chairō hoti en panti tharrō en hymin</em> (χαίρω ὅτι ἐν παντὶ θαρρῶ ἐν ὑμῖν, "I rejoice that in everything I have confidence in you"). <em>Tharreō</em> (θαρρέω, "to be confident/courageous") appears in 5:6, 8 regarding confidence before God. Here Paul expresses restored confidence in the Corinthians after their re...
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(16) **I rejoice therefore that I have confidence in you in all things.**—Most of the better MSS. omit “therefore,” which may have been inserted for the sake of connecting the verse. “I have confidence in you,” though, in one sense, a literal translation of the Greek, fails to give its exact meaning. He does not mean, “I trust you,” but “*I am of good cheer,* I take courage *in* you, being what yo...
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**57. to God--**The victory was in no way due to ourselves (Psa 98:1).
**giveth--**a present certainty.
**the victory--**which death and Hades ("the grave") had aimed at, but which, notwithstanding the opposition of them, as well as of the law and sin, we have gained. The repetition of the word (1Co 15:54, 55) is appropriate to the triumph gained.