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2Co_1:24. Guarding against a possible misunderstanding of φειδόμενος . Theodoret says aptly: τοῦτο δὲ ὡς ὑφορμοῦν τέθεικεν ; for the expression φειδόμενος might be interpreted as a pretension to lordship over fait.
οὐχ ὅτι ] is equivalent to οὐκ ἐρῶ , ὅτι . See on Joh_6:46, and Tyrwhitt, ad Arist. Poet. p. 128.
κυριεύομεν κ . τ . λ .] The apostle knows that no lordship over faith belongs to him; how the faith in Christ is to be shaped among the churches as respects contents, vital activity, etc., he has not to command, as if he were lord over it, but only to teach, to rouse, and entreat (2Co_5:20) thereto, to promote it by praise or blame, etc. The order κυρ . ὑμῶν τ . πίστ . depends on the form of conception: we do not lord it over you as to faith. Comp. on Joh_11:32, and Stallbaum, ad Plat. Symp. p. 117 A, Rep. p. 518 C. This prefixing of the pronoun occurs very often in the N. T.; hence it was the more preposterous to supply a ἕνεκα before τῆς πίστ . (Erasmus, Calvin, Estius, Flatt, and others).
ἀλλὰ συνεργοί ] but (it is implied in my φειδόμενος ὑμῶν ) that we are joint helpers of your joy, that it is our business to be helpful to you, so that you rejoice. To this destined aim an earlier coming would have been opposed, because it would have caused grief (2Co_2:1). The συν in συνεργοί refers to the union of the helping efficacy with the working of the Corinthians themselves. Contrary to the context, Grotius suggests: “cum Deo et Christo,” which Osiander also imports. The χαρά is not to be taken of the joy of blessedness (Grotius and others), but of the joy of the church over the improvement and the success of the Christian life amongst them. Only this agrees with the context, for the want of this success had been the cause of Paul’s formerly coming ἐν λύπῃ to the Corinthians, and of the necessity for his coming again ἐν ῥάβδῳ (1Co_4:21).
τῇ γὰρ πίστει ἑστήκατε ] for in respect to faith ye stand; the point of faith, in respect to which you are firm and stedfast, is not now under discussion. Note the emphatic placing of τῇ πίστ . first. Theophylact well says: οὐκ οὖν ἐν τούτοις ( τοῖς κατὰ πίστιν ) εἶχον τι μέμψασθαι ὑμᾶς · ἐν ἄλλοις δὲ ἐσαλεύεσθε . On the dative of more precise definition, comp. Polyb. xxi. 9. 3; Rom_4:19-20; Gal_5:1 (Elzevir). It does not mean per fidem, Rom_11:20, as Bengel and Hofmann hold (through faith you have an independent and firm bearing), in which case we should have for ἑστήκ . a very vague and indefinite conception; but it is, in substance, not different from ἐν τῇ πίστει , 1Co_16:13.