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2Co_8:7. Ἀλλʼ ] is not equivalent to οὖν (Beza and others, also Flatt), nor to agedum (Emmerling), but is the Latin at, breaking off the preceding statement, like the German doch. Hermann, ad Viger. p. 812, aptly says: “Saepe indicat, satis argumentorum allatum esse.” Comp. Baeumlein, Partik. p. 15. Olshausen has a more far-fetched idea, that it is corrective: yea rather. And Billroth imports quite arbitrarily: “When I entreated Titus, I knew beforehand that this time also you would not deceive me, but that, as you are distinguished in all that is good, so also you would zealously further this collection;” and Rückert also (similarly Calvin): “I have entreated Titus, etc.; yet let it not happen that he should need first to encourage you (?), yea rather, etc.” According to Hofmann, ἀλλά forms the transition to the οὐ κατʼ ἐπιταγὴν λέγω which follows in 2Co_8:8; but this supposes a very involved construction (comp. afterwards on ἵνα κ . τ . λ .).
ὥσπερ ἐν παντὶ κ . τ . λ .] as you in every relation are abundant (excellitis) through faith (strength, fervour, and efficacy of faith), and discourse (aptitude in speaking), and knowledge (see regarding both on 1Co_1:5), and every diligence (“studium ad agendas res bonas,” Grotius), and your love to us, so should you abound in showing this kindness. If πίστει κ . τ . λ . be taken as a specification of ἐν παντί (Luther, Grotius, and most), the meaning is more uncertain, since ἐν is not repeated. Comp. 2Co_6:4; 1Co_1:5; it comes in again only before ταύτῃ τ . χάρ . Grotius aptly remarks: “non ignoravit P. artem rhetorum, movere laudando.” Amidst the general praise, however, he wisely here also leaves the distingue personas to the feeling of the reader.
τῇ ἐξ ὑμῶν ἐν ὑμῖν ἀγάπῃ ] Paul here conceives the active love as something issuing from the disposition of the person loving, and adhering to the person loved. Thus he felt the love of the Corinthians to him in his heart; comp. 2Co_7:3. This view alone suits the context, inasmuch as the other points mentioned are points purely subjective, belonging to the readers, and serving to recommend them; hence we are not to understand it as the love dwelling in the apostle, but owing its origin to the readers (Hofmann). Calvin aptly remarks: “Caritatem erga se commemorat, ut personae quoque suae respectu illis addat animos.” On the form of the expression, comp. Winer, p. 181 f. [E. T. 241].
ἵνα καὶ ἐν ταύτῃ τῇ χάριτι περισσ .] A periphrasis for the imperative, to be explained by supplying a verb of summoning, on which ἵνα depends in the conception of the speakers. See Buttmann, p. 208 [E. T. 241]; Fritzsche, ad Matth. p. 840, ad Marc. p. 179. In the old Greek ὅπως is used in the very same way ( ἵνα late and seldom, as in Epictetus, Dissert, iv. 1. 142). See Matthiae, p. 1187; Viger. ed. Herm. pp. 435, 791 f.; Hartung, Partikell. II. p. 148. According to Grotius and Bengel, whom Hofmann follows, the connecting of ἵνα κ . τ . λ . with the following οὐ κατʼ ἐπιταγὴν λέγω would yield no unsuitable sense (in opposition to Rückert); but the construction of the passage in 2Co_8:7-8, so as to form one period, would be a construction assumed without sufficient ground, ill-arranged and ambiguous, and would not accord with the apostle’s way of beginning a new sentence by οὐ … λέγω in order to guard against an incorrect judgment of the previous one (2Co_7:3; 1Co_4:14. Comp. 2Co_5:12).
In καὶ ἐν ταύτῃ τῇ χάριτι , ταύτῃ has the emphasis (it was otherwise in 2Co_8:6); also in this showing of kindness, as in other works of beneficence,—which was embraced in ἐν παντί .