Online Resource Library
Commentary Index | Return to PrayerRequest.com | DownloadHeinrich Meyer Commentary - 2 Corinthians 1:4 - 1:4
(Show All Books | Show All Chapters)
This Chapter Verse Commentaries:
2Co_1:4. Ἡμᾶς ] Where Paul in this Epistle does not mean himself exclusively, but wishes to include Timothy also (or others, according to the context), although often only as quite subordinate, he speaks in the plural. He does not express himself communicativè, but in the singular, where he gives utterance to his own personal conviction or, in general, to anything concerning himself individually (2Co_1:13; 2Co_1:15; 2Co_1:17; 2Co_1:23; 2Co_2:1-10; 2Co_2:12-13; 2Co_7:4; 2Co_7:7 ff., al.). Hence the frequent interchange between the singular and plural forms of expression.[122]
Chrysostom already gives the force of the present παρακαλῶν correctly: ὍΤΙ ΟὐΧ ἍΠΑΞ , ΟὐΔῈ ΔῚς , ἈΛΛᾺ ΔΙΗΝΕΚῶς ΤΟῦΤΟ ΠΟΙΕῖ … ΔΙῸ ΕἾΠΕΝ Ὁ ΠΑΡΑΚΑΛῶΝ , ΟὐΧ Ὁ ΠΑΡΑΚΑΛΈΣΑς .
ἘΠῚ ΠΆΣῌ Τῇ ΘΛΊΨΕΙ ] concerning all our affliction. The collective sufferings are regarded as one whole. Afterwards, on the other hand, ἐν πάσῃ θλ .: in every affliction. ἐπί marks the ethical foundation, i.e. here the cause, on account of which. See Matthiae, p. 1373. Comp. 2Ma_7:5 f.; Deu_32:36. According to Rück., παρακαλ . denotes the delivering, and hence he takes ἐπί of the circumstances: in. See Matthiae, p. 1370. But throughout the passage παρακ . means to comfort; and it is quite an open question, how the comforting takes place, whether by calming or by delivering. God did both in the apostle’s cas.
εἰς τὸ δύνασθαι κ . τ . λ .] in order that we may be able, etc. For he, who for himself received comfort from God, is by his experience placed in the position of being able to comfort others. And how important was this teleological view of his own sorrows for the apostolic calling! “Omnia sua P. ad utilitatem ecclesiae refert,” Grotiu.
τοὺς ἐν πάσῃ θλίψει ] is erroneously and arbitrarily taken as equivalent to ΠΆΝΤΑς ΤΟῪς ἘΝ ΘΛΊΨΕΙ (see Emmerling, Flatt, Rückert). It means: those to be found in every trouble, the all-distressed; not: those to be found in whatever sort of trouble (Hofmann), but ἐν παντὶ θλιβόμενοι , 2Co_4:8, 2Co_7:5.
ΔΙᾺ Τῆς ΠΑΡΑΚΛ . Κ . Τ . Λ .] i.e. through communication of our own comfort, which we experience from God. This more precise determination of the sense is demanded both by the preceding mention of the purpose εἰς τὸ δύνασθαι κ . τ . λ ., and by the ΑὐΤΟΊ . Olshausen, it is true, holds that Paul conceives the comfort to be a real power of the Spirit, which may again be conveyed to others by the recei2Colossians 1 :But there is no analogy in the whole N. T. for this conception; for Mat_10:13 is merely a concrete illustration of the efficacy or non-efficacy of the ΕἸΡΉΝΗ ὙΜῖΝ .
Ἧς ] Attracted, as in Eph_1:6; Eph_4:1, because one can say ΠΑΡΆΚΛΗΣΙΝ ΠΑΡΑΚΑΛΕῖΝ . See Gieseler in Rosenmüller, Repert. II. p. 124; Buttmann, neut. Gr. p. 247 [E. T. 287]. The attracted genitive instead of the dative in other cases is very rare. See Kühner, ad Xen. Mem. ii. 2. 5.
αὐτοί ] ipsi, for our own selves, in contrast to the others to be comforted.
[122] Even in the plural mode of expression, however, he has always himself and his own relations primarily in view; and, owing to the versatility of his mode of conception, it is often quite a matter of accident whether he expresses himself singulariter or communicative. Hence the interchange of the two modes of expression in one sentence, e.g. 2Co_11:6 f.