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1Co_16:10-11. Recommendation of Timothy (1Co_4:17) to be well received and escorted back. He is not the bearer of our Epistle (Bleek), but journeyed through Macedonia (Act_19:22), and must arrive in Corinth later than the Epistl.
ἐὰν δὲ ἔλθῃ ] if, indeed, he shall have come. Rückert holds that ὅταν would have been more correct. Either one or other was correct, just according to the conception of the writer. He conceives of the arrival of Timothy as conditioned by the circumstances, and therefore places it under the hypothetical, not under the temporal ( ὅταν ), point of vie.
ἵνα κ . τ . λ .] design of the βλέπετε : be careful, in order that he, etc. Paul might also have written negatively: βλέπετε , μὴ ἐν φόβῳ (1Co_2:3), or ἵνα μὴ ἐ . φ . (2Jn_1:8), etc. The positive expression, however, demands more; his going out and in among the readers is to be free from fear. Comp. on γίνεσθαι with the adverb of the mode of the going out and in, Herod. i. 8, ix. 109; Plut. Alex. 69, Demetr. 11, Mor. p. 127 A; also Plato, Prot. 325 B; Tob_7:9; Tob_7:11; 1Ma_8:29. They are so to conduct themselves towards him that he shall not be intimidated among them. This peculiar ἀφόβως , as well as the reason assigned which follows τὸ γὰρ ἔργον κ . τ . λ ., and the conclusion again drawn from it: μή τις οὖν αὐτ . ἐξουθενήσῃ , make it probable that Paul has in view not the ill-will of his own opponents, which his friend might encounter. (Osiander, Neander), with which the τὸ γὰρ … ὡς καὶ ἐγώ does not well agree, but the youth of Timothy (1Ti_4:12), on account of which, in a church to some extent of a high-minded tendency, he might easily be not held in full respect, slighted and intimidated. So already Chrysostom and the majority of interpreters. The conjecture that Timothy was of a timid nature (de Wette) is without a trace of historical support, and is superfluous. Regarding τὸ ἔργ . τοῦ κυρ ., see on 1Co_15:58.
ἐν εἰρήνῃ ] is not to be explained from the formula: πορεύεσθαι ἐν εἰρήνῃ (so Calvin: “salvum ab omni noxa,” comp. Beza, Flatt, Maier), since, on the contrary, the context would lead us to think, in accordance with ἀφόβως and μή τις ἐξουθ ., of a peaceful escort, a προπέμπειν in peace and concord, χωρὶς μάχης κ . φιλονεικίας (Chrysostom, Theophylact). Flatt and Hofmann refer ἐν εἰρ . to what follows (that he may come to me safely and without danger). But the subsequent reason assigned contains nothing referable to ἐν εἰρήνῃ , which must have been the case, had it been so emphatically put first. Besides, the escort to be given was not for protection, but in testimony of love and reverenc.
ἵνα ἔλθῃ πρός με ] There is implied, namely, in προπέμψατε κ . τ . λ ., with its aim as here defined: “in order that he may come (back) to me,” the admonition not to detain him too long in Corinth—for Paul is expecting hi.
μετὰ τῶν ἀδελφῶν ] Several others, therefore, besides Erastus (Act_19:22), had journeyed with Timothy.[107]
[107] To refer it to ἐκδέχ .: I with the brethren who are here (Bengel and de Wette undecidedly, older interpreters in Calovius, and again Hofmann), has the analogy of ver. 12 against it. It was usual that several should be sent together on such missions.