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2Co_12:14. After that cutting irony comes the language of paternal earnestness, inasmuch as Paul once more (comp. 2Co_11:9-12) assures them that even on his impending third arrival among them he will remain true to his principle of not burdening them, and explains why he will do s.
ἰδού ] vivid realizing of the position in the changing play of emotio.
τρότον ] emphatically prefixed, belongs to ἐλθεῖν πρὸς ὑμᾶς (comp. 2Co_13:1), not to ἑτοίμως ἔχω , as Beza, Grotius, Estius, Emmerling, Flatt, and others, also Baur (in the Theol. Jahrb. 1850, 2, p. 139 ff.), Lange, Apost. Zeitalt. I. p. 200 f., would have it,[380] since, according to the context, it was not on his third readiness to come that anything depended, but on the third arrival, for only as having arrived, could he be burdensome to the readers. Comp. the Introd., and see Bleek in the Stud. u. Krit. 1830, p. 614 ff.; Neander, I. p. 414; Anger, Rat. temp. p. 71; Wieseler, Chronol. d. ap.Zeitalt. p. 233. Chrysostom aptly says: καὶ δεύτερον παρεγενόμην καὶ τρίτον τοῦτο παρεσκεύασμαι ἐλθεῖν , καὶ οὐ καταναρκήσω ὑμῶν .
οὐ γὰρ ζητῶ κ . τ . λ .] for my endeavour is not directed to yours, but to you; you yourselves (your ψυχαί , 2Co_12:15)—namely, that I may win you for the salvation in Christ (Mat_18:15; 1Co_9:19)—are the aim of my striving. “Dictum vere apostolicum,” Grotius. Comp. Cic. de Fin. ii 26: “Me igitur ipsum ames oportet, non mea, si veri amici futuri sumus.” Comp. also Php_4:17.
οὐ γὰρ ὀφείλει κ . τ . λ .] Confirmation of the principle previously expressed, from a rule of the natural rightful relations between parents and children; for Paul was indeed the spiritual father of the Corinthians (1Co_4:15). The negative part of this confirmation corresponds to οὐ ζητῶ τὰ ἱ μῶν , and the positive to the ὑμᾶς ; for, while Paul ζητεῖ αὐτούς (not τὰ αὐτῶν ), he is the father, who gathers for his children treasures, namely, the blessings of the Messianic kingdo.
οἱ γονεῖς ] sc. ὀφείλουσι θησαυρίζειν , not as Beza holds: θησαυρίζουσι ; for ὀφείλει is not impersonal. That by the first half of the verse, moreover, the duty of children in love to support and provide for their parents is not excluded, is clear from the very θησαυρίζειν , and is just as obvious of itself as that in the second part the θησαυρίζειν is not to be urged as a duty of parents (1Ti_5:8), but always has merely its relative obligation, subordinate to the higher spiritual care (Mat_6:33, 2Co_12:19-21; Eph_6:4; Mar_8:36).
[380] See also Märcker, Stellung d. Pastoralbr., Meiningen 1861, p. 13 f.