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3. εἰς ἐλάχιστον. It amounts to the least, i.e. it is of the least possible consequence.
ἵνα ὑφ' ὑμῶν ἀνακριθῶ ἢ ὑπὸ ἀνθρωπίνης ἡμέρας. That I should be arraigned. Faithfulness is no doubt more urgently required in the discharge of this duty than of any other. But it is not man’s province to make the inquiry, but God’s. ἀνακριθῶ is translated judged in A.V. The meaning of the word is tried or examined. See notes on ch. 1Co 2:14-15. As the Apostle ‘could not speak unto the Corinthians as spiritual’ (ch. 1Co 3:1), for they were ‘men’ and ‘walked as men’ (1Co 4:3-4), so he altogether refuses to admit their right, or that of any other purely human tribunal, to institute an inquiry into his motives. Such an inquiry is altogether premature. It can only take place at the great Day of the Lord. Man has not capacity sufficient to undertake it. The word translated judgment in A.V. is ‘day’ in the original. As instances of the use of the word day as in some sense equivalent to judgment, we may adduce the Latin diem dicere, to appoint the day of trial, and our word daysman, i.e. arbitrator, as in Job 9:33. So Chaucer, Chanonnes Yemannes Tale, lines 15, 16:
‘Lene me a mark, quod he, but dayes thre
And at my day I will it quyte the.’
And the Dutch dagh vaerden to fix a day, daghen to cite, as in a legal process.
ἀλλ' οὐδὲ ἐμαυτὸν ἀνακρίνω. Nay, I do not even arraign myself.