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Commentary Index | Return to PrayerRequest.com | DownloadCambridge Greek Testament for Schools and Colleges - 2 Corinthians 10:9 - 10:9
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9. ἵνα μὴ δόξω ὡς ἂν ἐκφοβεῖν ὑμᾶς τῶν ἐπιστολῶν. The construction is uncertain; but it is very forced to make 2Co 10:9 the protasis of 2Co 10:11, with 2Co 10:10 as a parenthesis; “That I may not seem … let such a one count this.” Moreover the beginning of 2Co 10:9 becomes in that case very abrupt; and so Chrysostom slips in a δέ, and the Vulgate and Calvin an autem, which has no authority of any weight: ut autem non existimer tanquam terrere vos (Vulg.); ne autem videar terrere vos (Calv.). More probably ἵνα μὴ δόξω depends upon 2Co 10:8; and some such thought as ‘I say this,’ or ‘I refrain from using stronger language,’ is to be understood. But nothing need be inserted in English, any more than in the Greek. As ἐκφοβεῖν is a strong word, it is toned down by ὡς ἄν: that I may not seem, as it were, to terrify you by my letters. This is a rare instance of ἄν with the infin. But perhaps ὡς and ἄν coalesce as ὡσάν = quasi. Winer, p. 390 note. In the LXX. ἐκφοβεῖν is frequent (Job 7:14; Job 33:16; Wis 11:19; Wis 17:6; &c.), especially in the phrase οὐκ ἔσται ὁ ἐκφοβῶν (Lev 26:6; Jdg 16:25; Mic 4:4; &c.), but nowhere else in the N.T.: we have ἔκφοβος Mar 9:6; Heb 12:21. We know of two letters, viz. 1 Corinthians and the lost letter of 1Co 5:9; and we have seen that another letter seems to be required (see notes on 2Co 1:23, 2Co 2:3; 2Co 2:9, 2Co 7:8). If 2 Corinthians 1-13 is all one letter, then the Corinthians had received three letters before this was written; but more probably 2 Corinthians 10-12. is part of this third letter