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2Co_13:4. Καὶ γὰρ ἐσταυρ . ἐξ ἀσθ ., ἀλλὰ ζῇ ἐκ δυνάμ . θεοῦ ] Reason assigned for the previous ὃς εἰς ὑμᾶς οὐκ ἀσθενεῖ , ἀλλὰ δυνατεῖ ἐν ὑμῖν . for even crucified was He from weakness, but He is living from the power of God.[396] Without μέν after ἐσταυρ . the contrast comes in with the more striking effect. ἐξ ἀσθενείας denotes the causal origin of the ἐσταυρώθη , and is not, with Chrysostom (who complains of the difficulty of this passage), to be interpreted of apparent weakness, but finds its explanation in 2Co_8:9; Php_2:7 f. Jesus, namely, had, in the state of His exinanition and humiliation, obedient to the Father, entered in such wise into the condition of powerless endurance as man, that He yielded to the violence of the most ignominious execution, to which He had, according to the Father’s will, submitted Himself; and accordingly it came ἐξ ἀσθενείας , that He was crucified. But since His resurrection He lives (Rom_5:10; Rom_6:9; Rom_14:9, al.), and that from the power of God, for God has, by His power, raised Him up (see on Rom_6:4) and exalted Him to glory (Act_2:33; Eph_1:20 ff.; Php_2:9). To make the θεοῦ refer to ἀσθενείας also (Hofmann, who inappropriately compares 1Co_1:25) would yield a thought quite abnormal and impossible for the apostle, which the very οὐκ ἀσθενεῖ , 2Co_13:3, ought to have preclude.
καὶ γὰρ ἡμεῖς κ . τ . λ .] Confirmation of the immediately preceding καὶ γὰρ … θεοῦ , and that in respect of the two points ἐξ ἀσθενείας and ζῇ ἐκ δυνάμεως θεοῦ . “That the case stands so with Christ as has just been said, is confirmed from the fact, that these two relations, on the one hand of weakness, and on the other of being alive ἐκ δυνάμ . θεοῦ , are found also in us in virtue of our fellowship with Him.” It is an argumentum ab effectu ad causam issuing from the lofty sense of this fellowship, a bold experiential certainty, the argumentative stress of which, contained in ἐν αὐτῷ and σὺν αὐτῷ , bears the triumphant character of strength in weakness. Hofmann wrongly, in opposition to the clear and simple connection, desires to take καὶ γὰρ ἡμεῖς ἀσθ . ἐν αὐτῷ , which he separates from the following ἀλλὰ κ . τ . λ ., as a proof for the clause ὃς εἰς ὑμᾶς οὐκ ἀσθενεῖ , ἀλλὰ δυνατεῖ ἐν ὑμῖν , for which reason he imports into ἐν αὐτῷ the contrast: not a weakness of the natural man. This contrast, although in substance of itself correct, is not here, any more than afterwards in σὺν αὐτῷ , intentionally present to the mind of the apostl.
ἀσθενοῦμεν ἐν αὐτῷ ] Paul represents his sparing hitherto observed towards the Corinthians (for it is quite at variance with the context to refer ἀσθ , with Chrysostom, Theodoret, Theophylact, Grotius, Estius, and others, to sufferings and persecutions) as a powerlessness based on his fellowship with Christ, inasmuch as Christ also had been weak and ἐσταυρώθη ἐξ ἀσθενείας .[397] But that is only a transient powerlessness; we shall be alive with Him through the power of God in reference to you. As he is conscious, namely, of that impotence as having its ground in Christ, he is conscious also of this being alive in union with Christ as fellowship with His life ( σὺν αὐτῷ ), and hence proceeding ἘΚ ΔΥΝΆΜΕΩς ΘΕΟῦ , as Christ’s being alive also flowed from this source, Rom_1:4; Rom_6:4, al.
Εἰς ὑμᾶς , lastly, gives to the ΖΉΣΟΜΕΝ (which is not, with Theodoret, Anselm, and Grotius, to be referred to the future life) its concrete direction and special reference of its meaning:[398] we shall be alive (vigere, comp. 1Th_3:8) in reference to you, namely, through the effective assertion of the power divinely conferred on us, especially through apostolic judging and punishing (see 2Co_13:1-2). “Non est vivere, sed valere vita,” Martial, vi. 70. Comp. for the pregnant reference of ζῶ , Xen. Mem. iii. 3. 11; Plato, Legg. vii. p. 809 D; Dio Cass. lxix. 19. Calvin well observes: “Vitam opponit infirmitati, ideoque hoc nomine florentem et plenum dignitatis statum intelligit.”
[396] The Recepta καὶ γὰρ εἰ ἐσταυρ . would yield the quite unsuitable sense: for even if, i.e. even in the event that, He has been crucified, etc. Καὶ εἰ should not, with the Vulgate and the majority of expositors, be taken as although, for in that case it would be confounded with εἰ καί . Καὶ εἰ means even if, so that the climactic καί applies to the conditional particle. See Hartung, I. p. 140 f.; Haack. ad Thuc. p. 562 f.; Stallbaum, ad Plat. Ap. S. p. 32 A, Gorg. p. 509 A. De Wette wrongly rejects my view of the Recepta, making καὶ γάρ signify merely for. It always means for even. See Hartung, I. p. 148; Stallbaum, ad Plat. Gorg. p. 467 B. So, too, immediately in the καὶ γὰρ ἡμεῖς that follows. Hofmann quite erroneously takes the Recepta in such a way, that Paul with καὶ εἰ merely expresses a real fact conditionally on account of his wishing to keep open the possibility of looking at it also otherwise. In that case ἐξ ἀσθενείας would really be the point of consequence in the protasis, and the apostle must at least have written καὶ γὰρ εἰ ἐξ ἀσθενείας ἐσταυρώθη . Besides, the leaving open a possible other way of regarding the matter would have no ground at all in the text. A mistaken view is adopted also by Osiander, who has taken καί as the also of comparison, namely, of Christ with His servant (consequently, as if καὶ γὰρ αὐτός had stood in the text).
[397] This impotence is not to be conceived as involuntary (de Wette, following Schwarz in Wolf), but as voluntary (comp. οὐ φείσομαι , ver. 2), as Christ’s weakness also was voluntary, namely, the impotence of deepest resignation and self-surrender, and this was its very characteristic. Comp. Heb_12:2.
[398] Hence εἰς ὑμᾶς is not, with Castalio and Rückert, to be joined to δυνάμ . θεοῦ .