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2Co_5:12. Οὐ πάλιν ἑαυτ . συνιστ .] See on 2Co_3:1. The ἑαυτούς (not again self-praise do we practise) does not stand in contrast with the ὑμῖν following after διδ . (Fritzsche, Osiander), because otherwise ὑμῖν must have stood immediately after ἀλλά .
ἀλλὰ ἀφορμ . διδόντες κ . τ . λ .] We should not, with Beza and Flatt, supply ἐσμέν , but λέγομεν ταῦτα , which flows from the previous ἑαυτ . συνιστ … See Matthiae, p. 1534; Kühner, II. p. 604; Buttmann, neut. Gr. p. 336 [E. T. 393].
καυχήματος ὑπὲρ ἡμ .] Here also καύχημα is not (comp. Rom_4:2; 1Co_5:6; 1Co_9:15 f.; 2Co_1:14) equivalent to καύχησις (de Wette and many others), but is materies gloriandi. The thought of the apostle is, that he gives the readers occasion for finding matter to make their boast to his advantage ( ὑπέρ , comp. 2Co_9:3, 2Co_7:4, 2Co_8:24, 2Co_7:14, 2Co_9:2, 2Co_12:5). The whole phrase ἀλλὰ ἀφορμὴν κ . τ . λ . combines with all the strength of apostolic self-confidence a tender delicacy, in which, nevertheless, we cannot help seeing a touch of irony (for Paul presents the cold and adverse disposition towards him, into which a part of the church had allowed itself to be brought by the hostile teachers, as lack of occasion to make their boast on his account!).
After ἔχητε there is supplied either τί (Act_24:19): in order that you may have somewhat to oppose to those who, etc. (so Calvin and the most), or τὶ λέγειν (Theodoret, de Wette, Osiander), or καύχημα (rather καύχ . ὑπὲρ ἡμ ., for these words go together). So Camerarius, Zeger, and others, including Rückert and Ewald. But sinoe give and have are evidently correlative, the context leads us (comp. Hofmann also) to supply ἀφορμὴν καυχήματος ὑπὲρ ἡμ .: in order that ye may have this occasion, have it in readiness (comp. 1Co_14:26) to make use of it, against those who, etc. πρός , according to the context, denotes the direction contra, Matthiae, p. 1390.
πρὸς τοὺς ἐν προσώπῳ καυχ ., κ . οὐ καρδίᾳ ] against those, who make their boast for the sake of countenance and not of heart. A very striking description of the opponents as hypocritical boasters, not of the making a parade of their being immediate disciples of Christ (Hilgenfeld). The object of their self-boasting is the countenance, the holiness, the zeal, the love, etc., which present themselves on their countenance, but of the heart they make no boast; for of that of which they boast, their heart is empty.[223] “Ubi autem inanis est ostentatio, illic nulla sinceritas, nulla animi rectitudo,” Calvin. It is self-evident withal to the reader that this whole description is expressed according to the true state of the case, and not according to the design of the persons described themselves; for these wished, of course, to pass at all events for persons who with their self-boasting exhibited the virtues of their hearts, and not the semblance of their faces. Comp. Theophylact (following Chrysostom): τοιοῦτοι γὰρ ἦσαν εὐλαβείας μὲν ἔχοντες προσωπεῖον (mask), ἐν δὲ καρδίᾳ οὐδὲν φέροντες ἀγαθόν . Usually (also by Emmerling, Flatt, Schrader, Rückert, Räbiger, Neander) ἐν προσώπῳ is taken in the wider sense: de rebus externis, to which is then opposed in καρδίᾳ the purity of the disposition. Learning, eloquence, Jewish lineage, acquaintance with the older apostles, and the like, are held to be included in ἐν προσώπῳ ; comp. Holsten, who recalls the Ἑβραῖοί εἰσιν κ . τ . λ . in 2Co_11:22. But with what warrant from linguistic usage? Even in passages like 1Sa_16:17, Mat_22:16, πρόσωπον means nothing else than countenance. Paul must have chosen some such contrast as ἐν σαρκὶ καὶ οὐ πνεύματι , in order to be understood. Ewald explains it: “who doubtless boast me before the face, when they see myself present, but not in the heart.” But καυχωμένους cannot mean: who boast me, but only: who boast themselves. In the N. T., too, ἐν with καυχᾶσθαι always denotes the object,[224] of which one makes boast, even in Jam_4:16. Comp. Sir_39:8; Sir_50:20. This, at the same time, in opposition to Hofmann’s view: “they make their boast only in presence of others, and not inwardly before themselves.” Neither προσώπῳ (see Winer, p. 116 [E. T. 152]) nor ΚΑΡΔΊᾼ (1Th_2:17; Rom_6:17; Rom_10:10; 2Co_2:4, al.) needed the article; and there was just as little need for the self-evident αὐτῶν to be inserted (1 Thess. l.c.). Indeed, if Paul had meant what Hofmann thinks, he could not but, in order to be intelligible, have added the different genitival definitions ( ἄλλων
ἑαυτῶν ). Bengel subtly and aptly remarks on ΚΑΡΔΊᾼ : “Haec Pauli vena erat: ab ejus corde fulgebat veritas ad conscientias Corinthiorum.”
[223] προσώπῳ , like καρδίᾳ , must refer to the persons concerned, and mean their countenance (as even Beyschlag grants). Hence it may not be taken, in accordance with Luk_13:26, of their having boasted that they had often seen, heard, perhaps even spoken with, Jesus, while yet they had gained no relation of the heart to him. This in opposition to Beyschlag in the Stud. u. Krit. 1865, p. 266. For in that case it would, in fact, be the countenance of Jesus, which they would make it the contents of their boast that they had seen, etc.
[224] In 2Co_10:16 the object is denoted by εἰς , whereby the reference to the locality is given for ἐν ἀλλοτρίῳ κανόνι , so that in this passage the construction is not καυχᾶσθαι ἐν , but καυχᾶσθαι εἰς . On καυχᾶσθαι ἐν , comp. the Latin gloriari in; Cic. N. D. iii. 36. 87; Tusc. i. 21. 49; Catil. ii. 9. 20. The object is conceived as that, in which the καυχᾶσθαι is causally based. In the classics it is joined with ἐπὶ , εἰς , and with the simple accusative.