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2Co_7:9. Νῦν χαίρω ] see on 2Co_7:8. To take the νῦν not in a temporal, but in a causal sense (proinde, jam vero, with Emmerling and Billroth), is quite at variance with the context, because the thought is implied in the previous clause: I no longer regret i.
οὐχ ὅτι ἐλυπ .] not regarding the sadness caused to you in itself.
κατὰ θεόν ] according to God, i.e. in a way in keeping with the divine will. See on Rom_8:27. Bengel aptly remarks: “Secundum hic significat sensum animi Deum spectantis et sequentis.” Not: by God’s operation, which (in opposition to Hofmann) Paul never expresses by κατά (nor yet is it so even in 1Pe_4:6); with the Greeks, however, κατὰ θεόν means according to divine disposal.
ἵνα ἐν μηδενὶ ζημιωθ . ἐξ ἡμῶν ] not: ita ut, etc. (so Rückert), but the divinely-ordained aim of the previous ἐλυπήθητε κατὰ θεόν : in order that ye in no point (comp. 2Co_6:3; Php_1:28; Jam_1:4), in no sort of way (not even in the way of severe, saddening reproof), should have hurt (injury as to the Messianic salvation) from us, from whom, in fact, only the furtherance of your true welfare ought to proceed. See 2Co_7:10. According to Osiander, ἐν μηδενί means: in no part of the Christian life (neither in the joyfulness of faith nor in purity of morals). At variance with the context: for to the matters negatived by ἐν μηδενί must belong the λύπη itself caused by him, which, had it not occurred κατὰ θεόν , would have injured the σωτηρία of the readers (2Co_7:10).
The clause of purpose is to be connected with the ἐλυπ . γ . κατὰ θεόν immediately preceding, which is no parenthetic remark, but is the regulative thought controlling what follows (in 2Co_7:10-11); wherefore ἵνα κ . τ . λ . is not, with Hofmann, to be attached to ἐλυπ . εἰς μετάνοιαν .