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2Co_3:4. Πεποίθησιν is emphatic, and therefore precedes (otherwise in 2Co_1:15); confidence, however, of such a kind as is indicated in 2Co_3:2-3; for there Paul has expressed a lofty self-consciousness. Hence there is no reason for seeking a reference to something earlier instead of to what immediately precedes, and for connecting it with 2Co_2:17 (Grotius and others, including de Wette; comp. Rückert), or with 2Co_2:14-17, as Hofmann has done in consequence of his taking ἀρχόμεθα in 2Co_3:1 as not interrogative. Brief and apt is Luther’s gloss: “Confidence, that we have prepared you to form the epistle.”
διὰ τοῦ Χριστοῦ ] through Christ, who brings it about in us: for in his official capacity Paul knows himself to be under the constant influence of Christ, without which he would not have that confidence. Theodoret says well: τοῦ Χριστοῦ τοῦτο ἡμῖν δεδώκοτος τὸ θάρσος .
πρὸς τὸν θεόν ] in relation to God, as bringing about the successful results of the apostolic activity. It denotes the religious direction, in which he has such confidence (comp. Rom_4:2; Rom_5:1), not the validity before God (de Wette).