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2Co_11:8. Further information as to the previous δωρεὰν κ . τ . λ .
ἐσύλησα ] I have stripped, plundered, a hyperbolical, impassioned expression, as is at once shown by λαβὼν ὀψώνιον after it. The ungrateful ones are to be made aware, in a way to put them thoroughly to shame, of the forbearance shown to them.
The ἄλλαι ἐκκλησίαι meant were beyond doubt Macedonian. Comp. 2Co_11:9.
λαβὼν κ . τ . λ .] contemporaneous with ἐσύλησα , and indicating the manner in which it was don.
ὀψώνιον ] pay (see on Rom_6:23), i.e. payment for my official labou.
πρὸς τὴν ὑμῶν διακονίαν ] Aim of the ἄλλας ἐκκλ . ἐσύλησα λαβὼν ὀψ ., so that the emphatic ὑμῶν corresponds to the emphatic ἄλλας . Paul had therefore destined the pay taken from other churches to the purpose of rendering (gratuitously) his official service to the Corinthians, to whom he travelled from Macedonia (Act_17:13 f., Act_18:1) in order to preach to them the gospe.
καὶ παρὼν κ . τ . λ .] and during my presence with you I have, even when want had set in with me, burdened no one. He thus brought with him to Corinth the money received from other churches, and subsisted on it (earning more, withal, by working with his hands); and when, during his residence there, this provision was gradually exhausted, so that even want set in ( καὶ ὑστερηθείς ), he nevertheless importuned no one, but (2Co_11:9) continued to help himself on by Macedonian pecuniary aid (in addition to the earnings of his handicraft). Comp. on Php_4:15. Rückert thinks that Paul only sought to relieve his want by the manual labour entered on with Aquila, when the money brought with him from Corinth had been exhausted and new contributions had not yet arrived. But, according to Act_18:3, his working at a handicraft—of which, moreover, he makes no mention in this passage—is to be conceived as continuing from the beginning of his residence at Corinth; how conceivable, nevertheless, is it that, occupied as he was so greatly with other matters, he could not earn his whole livelihood, but still stood in need of supplies! On πρὸς ὑμᾶς , which is not to be taken “after my coming to you” (Hofmann), comp. 1Co_16:6; Mat_13:56.
κατενάρκησα ] Hesychius: ἐβάρυνα , I have lain as a burden on no one. It is to be derived from νάρκη , paralysis, debility, torpidity; thence ναρκάω , torpeo, Il. viii. 328; Plat. Men. p. 80 A B C; LXX. Gen_32:32; Job_33:19; hence καταναρκᾶν τινος : to press down heavily and stiffly on any one (on the genitive, see Matthiae, p. 860). Except in Hippocrates, p. 816 C, 1194 H, in the passive (to be stiffened), the word does not occur elsewhere in Greek; and by Jerome, Aglas. 10, it is declared to be a Cilician expression equivalent to non gravavi vos. Vulgate: “nulli onerosus fui.” Another explanation, quoted in addition to the above by Theophylact (comp. Oecumenius): “I have not become indolent in my office” (so Beza, who takes κατὰ … οὐδενός , cum cujusauam incommodo), would be at variance with the context. See 2Co_11:9. Comp. also 2Co_12:13-14. Besides, this sense would not be demonstrable for καταναρκ . but for ἀποναρκ . (Plutarch, Educ. p. 8 F).