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2Co_10:9 is taken by Chrysostom, Calvin, Schulz, Morus, Zachariae, Emmerling, Vater, Rückert, Olshausen, de Wette, Ewald, Maier, Hofmann, as the protasis of 2Co_10:11, so that 2Co_10:10 becomes a parenthesis. But by Erasmus, Luther, Castalio, Beza, Grotius, Bengel, and others, also Billroth and Schrader, it is attached to 2Co_10:8, in which case, however, some (Beza, Bengel, comp. Billroth) supply before ἵνα a “quod ego idcirco dico,” others (Grotius, comp. Erasmus): “non addam plura ea de re.” The latter is pure invention; and from the supplement of Beza there would not at all logically result what is said in 2Co_10:9. No; let ἵνα μὴ δόξω κ . τ . λ . be joined immediately, without assuming any intervening thought, to οὐκ αἰσχυνθήσομαι : I shall not be put to shame (now comes the definition, in a negative form, of the divine aim with reference to the charge in question), in order that I may not appear, etc., that the matter may not remain on the footing of the mere word, but it may be apparent in point of fact that I am something quite other than the man who wishes to frighten you by his letters. If in this way the passage proceeds simply and correctly without logical difficulty, the less simple connection of Chrysostom et al. (see above) is superfluous, and is, moreover, not to be accepted, because the new part of the passage would begin, in a very palpably abrupt way, with ἵνα without any connecting particle,[304] and because what Paul says in 2Co_10:11 could not destroy the appearance indicated in 2Co_10:9, to which belonged matter of fact.
ὡς ἂν ἐκφοβεῖν ὑμᾶς ] The Vulgate rightly has: “tanquam terrere vos,” and Beza: “ceu perterrefacere vos.” The ὡς ἄν modestly takes away from the harsh and strong ἐκφοβεῖν the offensiveness, which in the feeling of the apostle it would have had, if taken by itself and in its full sense. It is not modal (“in any way,” Hofmann), but comparative, corresponding quite to our modifying as [German wie]: that I may not appear to put you as in dread. In later Greek ὡς ἄν certainly has the meaning tanquam, quasi, ἄν having lost its specific reference. See Hermann, de part. ἄν , 4. 3, p. 184; Bornemann, in d. Sächs. Stud. 1846, p. 61; Buttmann, neut. Gram. p. 189 [E. T. 219]. To resolve it into ὡς ἂν ἐκφοβοῖμι ὑμᾶς (Olshausen) is arbitrary, as if it were oratio directa. The classical ὡς ἄν with optative and subjunctive (Klotz, ad Devar. p. 767), as in 1Th_2:7, is not to be brought into comparison her.
διὰ τῶν ἐπιστ .] namely, which I write to you (article); he had already written two. The plural does not justify the hypothesis of a third letter already written (Bleek).
The compound ἐκφοβεῖν (comp. ἔκφοβος , Mar_9:6; Heb_12:21) is stronger than the simple form, Plato, Gorg. p. 483 C; Ephesians 3, p. 318 B; Thuc. iii. 42. 4; Polyb. xiv. 10. 3; Wis_17:9; Wis_17:19; 1Ma_14:17.
[304] Hence also at a very early time there crept in after ἵνα a δέ , which we still find in Syr. Vulg. Chrys. Theophyl. Pel. Ambrosiast. and several cursives.