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2Co_3:10. A more precise grounding of the previous πολλῷ μᾶλλον περισσεύει κ . τ . λ . by the highest climax of this relation. For even ( καὶ γάρ ) that which is glorious is without glory in this point by reason of the superabundant glory.
οὐ δεδόξασται ] The chief element is prefixed, and combined into one idea (Hartung, Partikell. I. p. 122; Baeuml. p. 278): gloria destitutum est. The perfect denotes the continuance of what had taken place; Kühner, II. p. 70.
τὸ δεδοξασμένον ] is referred to the Mosaic religious economy by Emmerling and Olshausen, following older expositors, quite against the context. Most refer it to the ministry of Moses, which had been made glorious through the radiance on his countenance, 2Co_3:7-9. But see belo.
ἐν τούτῳ τῷ μέρει ] in this respect (2Co_9:3; 1Pe_4:16; Col_2:16; often in Greek authors), is joined with τὸ δεδοξασμένον by Fritzsche, l.c. p. 31 (also de Wette and Ewald): “quod collustratum fuit hac parte h. e. ita, ut per splendorem, qui in Mosis facie conspiciebatur, illustre redderetur.” But on the one hand—supposing that τὸ δεδοξασμ . denotes the ministry of Moses—the ἐν τρύτῳ τῷ μέρει so taken would be an utterly superfluous addition, since the reader would already have had full information in accordance with the context through τὸ δεδοξασμ . having the article; on the other hand, we should expect τούτῳ to point to something said just before, which, however, is not the case, since we must go back as far as 2Co_3:7. If, again, with Ewald, we take ἐν τούτῳ τῷ μέρει as “in all that is Jewish, apart from what is Christian,” and refer it to the then still subsisting state of the temple, synagogue, etc., how enigmatically Paul would have expressed himself, without any hint of his meaning in the context! Following Chrysostom ( κατὰ τὸν τῆς συγκρίσεως λόγον ) and Theodoret ( ἀποβλέπων εἰς τούτους , namely, to the ministers of the N. T.), most commentators (including Billroth, Olshausen, Osiander, Hofmann) join it with οὐ δεδόξ ., so that it would indicate the reference in which the sentence οὐ δεδόξ . τὸ δεδοξ . holds good (see Hofmann), and consequently would have the meaning: “over against the office of Moses.” But how utterly superfluous, and in fact cumbrous, would this ἐν τούτῳ τῷ μερ . be if so taken, especially seeing that there still follows ἕνεκεν τ . ὑπερβ . δοξ ., which serves to throw light upon the relation asserted! How surprising would this amplification be at this very point, where the comparison is carried to the highest pitch, and the representation is so forcibly and pithily begun by the oxymoron οὐ δεδόξ . τὸ δεδοξ .! Rückert (following Flatt) connects also with οὐ δεδόξασται , but explains it: in this respect, that is, in so far as the first διακονία was the διακονία τῆς κατακρίσεως . At variance with the connection. For not in so far as the Mosaic διακονία ministered to condemnation and death, is its splendour darkened, but in so far as its splendour is outshone by a far greater splendour,—that of the διακονία of the N. T. Besides, if the assumed reference of ἐν τούτῳ τῷ μέρει were to be held correct, the κατάκρισις would necessarily be the principal element (predicate) in what precedes, not merely an attributive definition of the subject. On the whole, the following explanation, against which none but quite irrelevant objections[163] are made, seems to be the right one: ἐν τούτῳ τῷ μέρει is certainly to be connected with οὐ δεδόξασται ; τὸ δεδοξασμένον , however, is not to be taken as a designation of the Mosaic διακονία in concreto, but signifies that which is glorified generally, in abstracto; so that, in addition to the οὐ δεδόξασται said of it, there is also given with ἐν τούτῳ τῷ μέρει the reference to the particular concrete thing of which the apostle is speaking, the reference to the ministry of Moses, namely, thus: “for in this respect, i.e. in respect of the relation of glory in which the Mosaic δισκονία stands to the Christian (2Co_3:9), it is even the case that what is glorified is unglorified.” Analogously, the δόξα of the moon, for instance, is no δόξα , when the δόξα of the sun beams forth (1Co_15:14).
ἕνεκεν τῆς ὑπερβαλλ . δόξης ] by reason of (Stallbaum, ad Plat. Rep. p. 329 B) the superabundant glory, which obscures the δεδοξασμένον , exhibits its δόξα as relatively no δόξα . This applies to the future glory of the N. T. διακονία , setting in at the αἰὼν μέλλων , but already conceived as present.
[163] The objection made by Osiander is a dilemma logically incorrect. Hofmann urges that ἐν τούτῳ τῷ μέρει cannot mean: in this case. But it is not at all alleged to have that meaning, but rather: in this point, i. e. hoc respectu, in the relation under discussion. See on this adverbial usage, C. Fr. Herm. ad Lucian. hist. concer. p. 8.