Online Resource Library
Commentary Index | Return to PrayerRequest.com | DownloadCambridge Greek Testament for Schools and Colleges - 2 Corinthians 12:8 - 12:8
(Show All Books | Show All Chapters)
This Chapter Verse Commentaries:
8. ὑπὲρ τούτου. Not propter quod (Vulgate), nor super quod (Beza); but super hoc, sc. hoc hoste: the τούτου is masc. and refers to ἄγγ. Σ. This is rendered almost certain by ἵνα ἀποστῇ, a verb which in the N.T. is used of persons only: comp. especially Luk 4:13; Act 12:10, and see Chase, The Lord’s Prayer in the Early Church, p. 114. Both A.V. and R.V. have ‘this thing,’ and neither has ‘thing’ in italics. With this use of ὑπέρ = ‘concerning’ comp. 2Th 2:1; 2Co 7:4; 2Co 7:14 : also multa super Priamo rogitans, super Hectore multa (Virg. Aen. I. 750). Concerning this foe, or concerning him, is the meaning.
τρίς. To be understood literally. Had S. Paul meant πολλάκις (Chrysostom, Calvin), he would have said πολλάκις, or used a larger number. Ter, ut ipse Dominus in monte Oliveti (Bengel). He prayed twice, and received no answer. He prayed a third time, and the answer here reported was given. After this he considered that it would be disloyal to pray to have the trouble removed. We may surmise that he would not have prayed in this way to be free from persecution: persecution was the law of such a life as his. Not much is gained by trying to find the three occasions to which the Apostle here alludes; but it is probable that an attack following the Rapture was one of them. In Act 16:6-10 we have three special intimations of God’s will respecting the Apostle’s movements, and it has been proposed to connect these with the τρίς here: but the connexion is not probable.
τὸν κύριον. Christ, as is shown by ἡ δύναμις τοῦ χριστοῦ (2Co 12:9)
παρεκάλεσα. The verb is frequent in Scripture of beseeching or exhorting men (2Co 2:8, 2Co 6:1, 2Co 8:6, 2Co 9:5, &c.), but not of praying to God. Josephus uses it of prayer to God (Ant. VI. ii. 2). But its use in the Gospels of those who besought Christ for help (Mat 8:5; Mat 14:36; Mar 1:40; Mar 8:22; Luk 7:4; Luk 8:41, &c.) is the true analogy: it implies the Apostle’s personal communication (Stanley) with the Lord. To suppose that S. Paul uses this word in order to indicate that Christ is man and not God, is quite out of place.