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Commentary Index | Return to PrayerRequest.com | DownloadCambridge Greek Testament for Schools and Colleges - 2 Corinthians 11:12 - 11:12
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12. Ὃ δὲ ποιῶ καὶ ποιήσω, ἵνα ἑκκόψω τὴν ἀφορμὴν τῶν θελόντων ἀφορμήν. But what I do, that I will also continue to do, that I may cut off the occasion of those who wish for an occasion. There is no obscurity thus far. He will continue to work δωρεάν, in order that he may give no handle to those who wish to have a handle against him. They might say, if he took anything from his Corinthian converts, that he preached simply for the sake of the loaves and fishes. For ἐκκόπτειν in the literal sense comp. Rom 11:22; Rom 11:24; Mat 3:10; &c.; in a figurative sense, ἐξέκοψε τὴν ἐλπίδα μου (Job 19:10) and ἐπιθυμίαν οὐ δύναται ἑκκόψαι (4Ma 3:2): also ἡ πρόσθε θρασύτης ἐξεκέκοπτο (Plat. Charm. 155 c). For ἀφορμή comp. 2Co 5:12; 1Ti 5:14; Rom 7:8; Rom 7:11.
ἵνα ἐν ᾧ καυχῶνται εὑρεθῶσιν καθὼς καὶ ἡμεῖς. This second ἵνα (comp. Joh 1:7) is not so clear, and opposite interpretations of its meaning are proposed. That wherein they glory, they may be found even as we. In what did his opponents glory? In being superior to Paul both in authority and in message; he was no true Apostle, and what he preached was not the true Gospel. They came from the Twelve, and they preached the truth. Does S. Paul here mean that he wants to show that they are not better than he? If that were his aim, he would hardly have said ‘even as we.’ Moreover, this does not fit on well to his cutting off opportunity for slander. It is clear from 2Co 11:20 (εἴ τις κατεσθίει, εἴ τις λαμβάνει) that his opponents took remuneration for their teaching (comp. 1Co 9:12). Could they have scoffed at him for not taking pay, if they refused it themselves, or even professed to refuse it? They probably said that it was ‘apostolic’ to be worthy of maintenance, and gloried in accepting it, λόγῳ κομπάζοντες, λάθρα δὲ χρηματιζόμενοι (Theodoret). But by so doing they exposed themselves to the charge of greed, which S. Paul believed that they would have brought against him, if he had taken pay. Perhaps he means that his refusal will drive them to refuse maintenance. Imo in hoc instituto pergam, ut et ipsos ad exemplum meum imitandum provocem (Beza). If so, then ‘in that wherein they gloried (viz. in the matter of accepting remuneration) they would be found even as he’ (i.e. they would refuse to accept), and the Corinthians would be freed from an incubus. This would be more probable if he had written γένωνται for εὑρεθῶσιν. But we do not know enough about the details of the situation to be sure of his meaning. For other views as to the interpretation of the words see Alford, Meyer, or Stanley.