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2Co_2:3 appends what Paul had done in consequence of the state of things mentioned in 2Co_2:1 f.: And I have written (not reserved till I could communicate orally) this very thing, i.e. exactly what I have written, in order not, when I shall have come, to have affliction, et.
ἔγραψα ] placed first with emphasis, corresponds to the following ἐλθών , and does not at all refer to the present Epistle (Chrysostom and his followers, Grotius, and others, including Olshausen), against which opinion 2Co_2:4; 2Co_2:9 are decisive, but to out first Epistle, the contents of which in reference to this point are rendered present by τοῦτο αὐτό ; as indeed οὗτος is used often of what is well known, which is pointed to as if it were lying before one (Kühner, II. p. 325). That Paul is thinking of the passages of censure and rebuke in the first Epistle (especially of chap. 5[139]), results from the context, and suffices for its explanation, so that the reference to a lost letter sent along with Titus (Bleek, Neander, Ewald, Klöpper; see Introd. § 1) is not required. With Theodoret, Erasmus, Morus, Flatt, Rückert, Hofmann,[140] to take τοῦτο αὐτό as in 2Pe_1:5, for this very reason, cannot in itself be objected to (Bernhardy, p. 130; Kühner, § 549, A. 2; Ast, ad Plat. Leg. p. 214; and see on Gal_2:10 and on Php_1:6); but here, where Paul has just written in 2Co_2:1 τοῦτο as the accusative of the object, and afterwards in 2Co_2:9 expresses the sense for this reason by εἰς τοῦτο , there is no ground for it in the contex.
ἽΝΑ ΜῊ Κ . Τ . Λ .] Since his arrival was at that time still impending, and Paul consequently denotes by ἽΝΑ … ἜΧΩ a purpose still continuing in the present, the subjunctive ἜΧΩ (or ΣΧῶ , as Lachmann, Rückert, and Tischendorf read, following A B à *, Chrysostom, Theophylact, Oecumenius) after the preterite ἜΓΡΑΨΑ is quite accurate (Matthiae, p. 1180); and Rückert is wrong when he takes ἘΛΘΏΝ hypothetically (if I had come), and refers σχῶ to the past. In that case, Paul could not but have used the optative.
ἀφʼ ὧν ] ἀπὸ τούτων , ἀφʼ ὧν . See Bornem. Schol. in Luc. p. 2.
ἈΠΌ , on the part of. Χαίρειν does not elsewhere occur with ἀπό , but εὐφραίνεσθαι is similarly joined with ἀπό , Xen. Hier. iv. 6; Jdt_12:20.
ἜΔΕΙ ] The imperfect indicates what properly (in the nature of the relation) ought to be, but what, in the case contemplated of the λύπην ἔχω , is not. See Matthiae, p. 1138 f.
ΠΕΠΟΙΘῺς Κ . Τ . Λ .] subjective reason assigned for the specified purpose of the ἜΓΡΑΨΑ : since I cherish the confidence towards you all, etc. Paul therefore says that, in order that he might find no affliction when present among them, he has communicated the matter by letter, because he is convinced that they would find their own joy in his joy (which, in the present instance, could not but be produced by the doing away of the existing evils according to the instructions of his letter).
ἐπί ] of the direction of the confidence towards the readers. Comp. 2Th_3:4; Mat_27:43; Psa_124:1. In classical authors usually with the dative, as 2Co_1:9.
ΠΆΝΤΑς ὙΜᾶς ] This, in spite of the anti-Pauline part of the church, is the language of the love which ΠΆΝΤΑ ΠΙΣΤΕΎΕΙ , ΠΆΝΤΑ ἘΛΠΊΖΕΙ , 1Co_13:7. “Quodsi Pauli opinioni judicioque non respondeant Corinthii, indigne eum frustrantur,” Calvin.
[139] Not merely 1Co_4:21, wherein the μὴ ἐν λύπῃ ἑλθεῖν is held to be contained (Calovius, Osiander). 1Co_4:21 was only a casual threat.
[140] Hofmann, in accordance with his interpretation of τοῦτο αὐτό , “for this very reason,” which serves to point to the following ἵνα μὴ κ . τ . λ ., thus defines the relation of vv. 1 and 3 : This is what I resolved for myself, that I would not again come to you in sorrow of heart. And this is the very reason why I wrote to you: I did not wish to have sorrow of heart on my arrival, etc. This is what Paul by the composition of his Epistle had wished to obtain for his sojourn, when he should come.