a

7. The point of connexion with the foregoing seems to be, "Such is the authority which I claim, the power which I am prepared to wield. But there are those among you who doubt it; because you regard (not the inward reality, but) the outside appearance of things." By the outside appearance (rà κατὰ πρόσωπον) he alludes to the various points of alleged superiority in his opponents, to which he refers in this Section; their outward connexion with Christ, their commanding personal address, and their commendatory letters. Each of these he proceeds to attack. That this (and not any of the other meanings attached to it, "conspicuous," "what lies before you," &c.) is the signification of τὰ κατὰ πρόσωπον is clear from the sense of πpóσwπρόσωTOV in this Epistle (see v. 12. ἐν προσώπῳ καυχωμένους καὶ μὴ καρδίᾳ. x. 1., κατὰ πρόσωTOV pèv (where it is used, not merely as an equivalent to πápov, but "in external appearance"), and in the similar phrase BRETTELS Eis Tò Tрóσwπоv, Matt. xxii. 16.; Mark, xii. 14. Comp. also Jude, 16.; Luke, xx. 21.;

ὅτι

Gal. ii. 6., and the universal sense of προσωπολήπτης, Acts, x. 34. -ía, Rom. ii. 11.; Eph. vi. 9.; Col. iii. 25.; Jam. ii. 1. -πτείτε, Ib. 9. That βλέπετε is to be understood, not as interrogative or imperative, but as indicative, appears (though more doubtfully), because if it were interrogative or imperative it would probably be at the beginning of the sentence; and, if interrogative, would probably be preceded by rì or some similar word; if imperative, it would require to be taken in an ironical sense, hardly justified by the context.

He now proceeds to point out the various outward shows which the Corinthians regarded instead of the inward realities. The first of these was the profession made by the false teachers of a closer connexion with Christ than that enjoyed by St. Paul. That there were some at Corinth who prided themselves on a peculiar connexion with Christ, appears from the enumeration of the party watchwords in 1 Cor. i. 10., amongst which is found, "I am of Christ;" and that the false teachers whom he now attacks did so, may

xai

a

b

= add χριστοῦ.

be inferred, although not so certainly, from the pretensions which they made to be "Ministers of Christ," "Apostles of Christ." (xi. 23. 13.)

From the fact that these false teachers were Judaizers (xi. 22.), it may also be inferred with great probability that the connexion with Christ, on which they prided themselves, was the bond of union which they supposed themselves to have with Him, through some earthly relationship, either as being Jews, or as having seen Him, or been His companions in His lifetime, or as claiming some immediate connexion with His kinsmen after the flesh, "the brethren of the Lord." This would agree with the express sion Tà Kaтà πрóowTov in this κατὰ πρόσωπον passage, and with the Apostle's answers to the charges of this or a similar party in 1 Cor. ix. 1., "Am I not an Apostle?

language of the same party of Judaizers at a later period, as expressed in the Clementines (Clem. Hom. xvii. 17.),

Whether the phrase, "If any one" (TS) (in the singular), points to an individual, or not, must be left in uncertainty. Similar expressions are repeated in x. 10. 11. 18.; xi. 4. 20.

Táv, "again," i. e. "once more," as in 1 Cor. xii. 21.

nuais, i. e. the Apostle: here, as in the earlier portion of his Epistle, using the plural for the singular.

8. The connexion is, "I truly belong to Christ; for even if my boast extended far beyond this (TeploσÓTEρov), it (περισσότερον), would be true." The transition from the singular to the plural is occasioned by the mixture of personal and general feelings which the passage contains. The parenthesis "which the Lord hath given us for building up (oixodoμnv), not for pulling down" (kabaípeow), is a recurrence to the former image of the fortress, in verse 5., which he here modifies, apparently under the same feeling as in i. 23– 24., "To spare you I came not to Corinth... not that we are lords of your faith.”

τῶν ἐπιστολῶν.

9. ἵνα μὴ δόξω ὡς ἂν ἐκφοβεῖν ὑμᾶς διὰ τῶν ἐπισπτολῶν. This clause may be taken either: (1.) as part of the sentence contained in verses 10. 11., őrt Ai μév ovdεvnuévos being parenthetical, and TOUTO XOyoow the principal clause, "In order that I may not seem to terrify you by letters (for his letters, they say, are powerful, but his bodily presence is weak;") or, (2.) as an abrupt sentence, standing by itself, as the reason for some unexpected thought. As if it were, "I will not be ashamed to boast, only let me not seem to terrify you." Compare a similarly abrupt use of καὶ μὴ in Rom. iii. 8. ei μý, 1 Cor. vii. 17. On the whole, the second seems preferable.

as av, is used adverbially like os ei," as if."

66

διὰ τῶν ἐπιστολῶν.

The plural (by his Epistles") need not imply anything more than an allusion to his Epistles generally, not meaning to indicate that he had written more than one to Corinth before this.

10. "His Epistles are weighty (Bapɛial, effective, impressive)

and powerful (ισχυραί, vigorous), but his bodily presence (ἡ δὲ παρουσία τοῦ σώματος, his arrival in person) is weak, and his speech contemptible" (ovdevnμévos, i. e., "contemned," but with the sense of "to be contemned," like KATEYνWσμÉVOS κατεγνωσμένος in Gal. ii. 11.). This passage is remarkable, as being the only instance, as it would appear, of the very words used by St. Paul's opponents. Lachmann, with B., reads paot; but onor of the Received Text is supported by D. E. F. G. J. K., and may well be the true reading. If so, it points to a single person, as confirmed by x. 7., xi. 20. It is also remarkable as giving a cotemporary judgment on his Epistles, and a personal description of himself. It is doubtless to the First Epistle to Corinth, that the phrases are chiefly applied, and the account of its effects, as given in chapter vii., sufficiently illustrate the epithets here employed to express the heavy blows which it dealt on the hearts of its readers. The description of the personal appearance of the Apostle is in accordance with all that we

correct.

a

gather of it from the New Testament and from other sources. The representations of it, with which we are familiar from the pictures of Raphael, are probably in a high degree delusive. The express statement of his arrival at Corinth, "in weakness and with fear and much trembling" (1 Cor. ii. 3.), agrees with the general impression derived from this Epistle, and that to the Galatians, of the nervous susceptibility and agitation of his temperament and his manner. The comparison of Barnabas to Jupiter and of himself to Mercury, by the people of Lystra (Acts, xiv. 12.), implies that he was the least commanding of the two. The traditional description, as preserved in the allusions or detailed accounts of Lucian (Philop. c. 12.), the Acts of Paul and Thecla (Fabric. Cod. Pseudep.), Malalas (Chronog. 10. p. 257.), Nicephorus (H. E. ii. 37.), is of a man of low stature, bent figure, and awkward gait; a white complexion; bright gray eyes, under overhanging eye-brows; a strong aquiline nose; nearly bald, but with a thick bushy beard, interspersed with grey hairs.

βαρύς, οι βαρύτης, was the word commonly used by later

Rhetoricians, for energetic impressive oratory, see Lucian, Dial. Mort. 10.; Hermogenes, ii. 6.; Aristides, ii. p. 191. Schol. (in Wetstein).

11. ὁ τοιοῦτος, see ii. 8. 12. The thought which runs through the previous verses 7-10. is that the power which he threatened to exercise in verses 1-6. was not an empty boast, but a reality. From this he passes on to contrast the reality of his claims with the emptiness of the claims of his adversaries; his own claims being grounded entirely on his own labours, theirs apparently on labours of which they appropriated the glory to themselves, but which were really his (12.-18.). These two thoughts, which are here blended together, are brought out separately in 1 Cor. iv. 1 6. and Rom. xv. 17-24., with both of which this passage must be carefully compared. Such is the general sense; the particulars must, to a great extent, depend on the readings of the MSS.

-

(1.) The Received Text, with which Lachmann and Tischendorf substantially agree, and which is founded on B. D3. E. J. Κ. has οὐσυνιούσιν (οι συνιᾶσιν.) ἡμεῖς δὲ . . . καυχησόμεθα. Of this the sense must be as fol