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2Co_11:7. That Paul meant by his ἐν παντὶ φανερωθ . an advantageous manifestation, was obvious of itself; comp. 2Co_5:11. Hence, in order now to make good a distinctive peculiar point of his φανέρωσις , he continues with a question of bitter pain, such as the sense of being maliciously misunderstood brought to his lips: Or have I committed sin—abasing myself in order that ye might be exalted—that I gratuitously preached to you the gospel of God? No doubt the opponents had turned this noble sacrifice on his part, by way of reproach, into un-apostolic meannes.
ἐμαυτὸν ταπεινῶν ] namely, by my renouncing, in order to teach gratuitously, my apostolic ἐξουσία , 1 Corinthians 9, and contenting myself with very scanty and mean support (comp. Act_18:3; Act_20:34). Chrysostom and others exaggerate it ἐν στενοχωρίᾳ διήγαγον , for καὶ ὑστερηθείς , 2Co_11:8, is only a temporary increased degree of the ταπείνωσις .
ἵνα ὑμεῖς ὑψωθῆτε ] viz. from the lowness of the dark and lost pre-Christian condition through conversion, instruction, and pastoral care to the height of the Christian salvation. It is much too vague to take it of prosperity in general (Schulz, Rosenmüller, Flatt); and when Zachariae explains it: “in order to prefer you to other churches,” or when others think of the riches not lessened by the gratuitous preaching (Mosheim, Heumann, Morus, Emmerling), they quite fail to see the apostle’s delicate way of significantly varying the relations. Comp. 2Co_8:9. Chrysostom already saw the right meaning: μᾶλλον ᾠκοδομοῦντο καὶ οὐκ ἐσκανδαλίζοντο .
ὅτι ] that, belongs to ἁμαρτ . ἐποίησα (to which ἐμαυτ . ταπεινῶν is an accompanying modal definition), inserted for the sake of disclosing the contrast of the case as it stood to the question. Ὅτι may also be taken as an exegesis of ἐμαυτ . ταπειν . κ . τ . λ ., so that already with the latter the committing of sin would be described as regards its contents; comp. Act_21:13; Mar_11:5 (so Luther, Beza, and many others, also Osiander). But our view interweaves more skilfully into one the question with its contradictory content.
δωρεάν ] has the emphasi.
τοῦ θεοῦ ] Genitivus auctoris. Note the juxtaposition: δωρεὰν τὸ τοῦ θεοῦ εὐαγγ .: gratuitously the gospel of God (“pretiosissimum,” Bengel).