2 Corinthians 12:20

12:11-21 We owe it to good men, to stand up in the defence of their reputation; and we are under special obligations to those from whom we have received benefit, especially spiritual benefit, to own them as instruments in God's hand of good to us. Here is an account of the apostle's behaviour and kind intentions; in which see the character of a faithful minister of the gospel. This was his great aim and design, to do good. Here are noticed several sins commonly found among professors of religion. Falls and misdeeds are humbling to a minister; and God sometimes takes this way to humble those who might be tempted to be lifted up. These vast verses show to what excesses the false teachers had drawn aside their deluded followers. How grievous it is that such evils should be found among professors of the gospel! Yet thus it is, and has been too often, and it was so even in the days of the apostles.

Strifes (ἐριθεῖαι) Rev., better, factions. See on James 3:14. Wraths (θυμοί) For the plural, compare deaths, 2 Corinthians 11:33; drunkennesses, Galatians 5:21; bloods, John 1:13 (see note); the willings of the flesh, Ephesians 2:3; mercies, Philippians 2:1. Excitements or outbursts of wrath. Whisperings (ψιθυρισμοί) Psithurismoi, the sound adapted to the sense. Only here in the New Testament. Secret slanders. In Sept., Ecclesiastes 10:11, it is used of the murmuring of a snake-charmer. Ψιθυριστής whisperer, occurs Romans 1:29. Swellings (φυσιώσεις) Only here in the New Testament. Conceited inflation. For the kindred verb φυσιάω to puff up, see on 1 Corinthians 4:6. Tumults (ἀκαταστασίαι) See on 2 Corinthians 6:5.

{8} For I fear, lest, when I come, I shall not find you such as I would, and that I shall be found unto you such as ye would not: lest there be debates, envyings, wraths, strifes, backbitings, whisperings, swellings, tumults: (8) Having confirmed his authority to them, he rebukes them sharply, and threatens them also like an apostle, showing that he will not spare them from now on, unless they repent, seeing that this is the third time that he has warned them.

For I fear, lest, when I come, I shall not find you such as I would; a good man, especially a faithful minister of the gospel, will be concerned at the sins of others, and as to their spiritual welfare. A profane person either rejoiceth in the sins of others, or at least is unconcerned for them; but a good man cannot be so, as knowing the sins of others reflect dishonour upon God. And that I shall be found unto you such as ye would not; he also cannot delight in the punishments of others, or doing any thing which may be ungrateful to them. Paul feareth lest the miscarriages of this church should enforce from him some acts of severity. He instanceth in some particular disorders in the members of this church, which he feared that he should find amongst them not amended; all the effects of pride and passion. Debates, or contentions, such as he had taxed them for, 1 Corinthians 1:11 3:3 . Envyings, or heats of passion; envying of one another for their gifts, &c. The other things which he mentioneth, are all sins against that brotherly love which ought to be found amongst Christians, and tending to ruptures amongst them; and teach us how contrary these are to the duty of Christians, who are one body.

2 Corinthians 12:20 . Οὐχ οἱους , you not such as I would) This is treated of to the end of the chapter. Then, the clause, such as ye would not , is treated of from ch. 2 Corinthians 13:1 and onwards. Such as is the hearer, so is the pastor to him.— ἔρεις , ζῆλοι , θυμοὶ , ἐριθεῖαι ) Galatians 5:20 .

2 Corinthians 12:20 . φοβοῦμαι γὰρ κ . τ . λ .: for I fear lest by any means, when I come, I should find you not such as I would, and should myself be found of you such as ye would not, i.e. , indignant to severity at their backsliding ( cf. 2 Corinthians 10:2 ), lest by any means there should be strife ( cf. 1 Corinthians 1:11 ; 1 Corinthians 3:3 ), jealousy, ragings (this seems to be the force of the plur. θυμοί ; cf. Wis 7:20 ), factions ( ἐριθεῖα is derived from ἔρῑθος , a hired labourer, and signifies a mercenary cabal), backbitings, whisperings ( i.e. , open and secret defamation of character), swellings, i.e. , insolences, tumults (see on 2 Corinthians 6:5 ). Cf. Jam 3:16 , ὅπου γὰρ ζῆλος καὶ ἐριθεία , ἐκεῖ ἀκαταστασία .

Verse 20. - Such as ye would not (see 1 Corinthians 4:21 ). Debates . "Discords," "quarrels." Strifes . "Party intrigues," "factious and emulous rivalries" ( Romans 2:8 ). Backbiting . Detractions, talkings against one another. Swellings . Inflated conceit pompous egotism ( 1 Corinthians 4:6, 18, 19 ; Colossians 2:18 ). Tumults . Disorderly excitement ( 2 Corinthians 6:5 ; 1 Corinthians 14:33 ; comp. 1 Corinthians 13:2, 10 ). 2 Corinthians 12:20

20. For—Assigning cause why they needed to be thus spoken to "for their edification"; namely, his fear that at his coming he should find them "not such as he would," and so he should be found by them "such as they would not" like, namely, severe in punishing misconduct. debates—Greek, "strifes," "contentions." envyings—The oldest manuscripts read "envying," singular. strifes—"factions," "intrigues," "factious schemes" [Wahl]. Ambitious self-seeking; from a Greek root, "to work for hire." backbitings, whisperings—open "slanderings," and "whispering backbitings" (Ga 5:20). swellings—arrogant elation; puffing up of yourselves. Jude 16, "great swelling words" (2Pe 2:18).

20. For ] The connection of thought is, ‘I do this for your edification, of which there is much need, for there are many disorders among you.’ such as ye would not ] “He here completely and finally throws off the apologist and puts on the Apostle.” Alford. He will rule by love rather than by fear, if possible. But if it be not possible, in the last resource he must use his Apostolic power. See notes on ch. 2 Corinthians 10:8 ; 2 Corinthians 10:11 . debates ] Rather, strifes . The word debate , however, derived from the French débattre , had, like the French débat , a stronger meaning than it has now. So Shakespeare, K. Hen. IV . Pt II. Act iv. Scene iv.: “Now, lords, if Heaven doth give successful end To this debate that bleedeth at our doors.” envyings ] See note on ch. 2 Corinthians 7:7 . strifes ] Our translators have been misled by an apparent similarity between this word and that rendered debates above. It is derived from a word signifying a hired labourer, and may either mean (1) party spirit , (2) personal aims in public life, in which sense Aristotle seems to have used the word in his Politics , and hence (3) self-seeking in general, and (4) faction. The word occurs in Romans 2:8 ; Galatians 5:20 ; Php 1:16 ; Php 2:3 ; James 3:14 ; James 3:16 . backbitings, whisperings ] “Open slanders, secret revilings.” Alford. Wiclif renders detracciouns, privie spechis of discord . He is followed by the Rhemish in the rendering detractions .

Tyndale, Cranmer and the Geneva render as A. V. See 1 Peter 2:1 for the first word, which is there rendered evil speakings . Its literal meaning is speakings against , but no idea of secrecy is implied, as in our version, but rather the contrary. Whisperings , on the other hand, imply secrecy as a matter of course. swellings ] Rather, puffings up (Wiclif, well, bolnyngis in pride ). See 1 Corinthians 4:6 ; 1 Corinthians 4:18-19 . The word and its cognates occur only in these two Epistles and in Colossians 2:18 . tumults ] See ch. 2 Corinthians 6:5 .

(20) F or I fear, lest, when I come . . . —Something of the old anxiety which had led him to postpone his visit ( 2Corinthians 1:23 ; 1Corinthians 4:21 ) comes back upon his spirit. He and some of those Corinthians are likely to meet under very unfavourable conditions, neither of them acceptable to the other, severity meeting with open or masked resistance. Lest there be debates . . . .—The list that follows forms a suggestive parallelism of contrast to that in 2Corinthians 7:11, the ethical imagination of the Apostle, with its keen perception of the shades of human character, dwelling now on the manifold forms of opposition, as before it had dwelt on the manifold fruits of repentance. It will be worth while to attempt to fix the exact significance of each word somewhat more accurately than is done in the Authorised version. “Debates,” rather strifes or quarrels, had in older English a darker shade of meaning than it has now. Men spoke of a “deadly debate” between friends. Chapman’s Homer makes Achilles complain that he has cast his life into “debates past end” (Iliad, ii. 331). “Envyings” better jealousies, another Greek word being appropriated for “envy” in the strict sense. The word, like “jealousy,” is capable of a good sense, as in 2Corinthians 7:11; 2Corinthians 9:2; 2Corinthians 11:2.

It is well, perhaps, to notice how closely allied are the qualities which the word expresses, how soon “zeal” (2Corinthians 7:11; Philippians 3:6) passes into “jealousy” in a good sense, and that again into “jealousy” in a bad sense. “Wrath.” The passion so described is treated by great ethical writers (Aristotle, Eth. Nicom. iii. 8) as almost inseparable from true courage. In the New Testament it is always used either of human wrath in its evil aspects (Luke 4:28; Acts 19:28; Hebrews 11:27), or—but only in the Apocalypse, where it occurs in this sense frequently—of the wrath of God (Revelation 14:10; Revelation 14:19; Revelation 15:1; Revelation 15:7; Revelation 16:1; Revelation 16:19). There is, therefore, no need to alter the English here. The three words occur in the same connection in Galatians 5:20, a nearly contemporary Epistle. Strifes.—The Greek word (eritheia) begins with the same three letters as that for “strife,” and till a comparatively recent period was supposed to be connected with it, and so to be identical in meaning. It has, however, a very different history, not without interest, even for the English reader. The concrete form of the noun (erîthos) meets us in Homer and elsewhere as a day-labourer, as in the description of the shield of Achilles: “And there he wrought, a meadow thick with corn, And labourers reaping, sickles in their hand.” —Iliad, xviii. 550.