2 Yes, I beg you that I may not, when present, show courage with the confidence with which I intend to be bold against some, who consider us to be walking according to the flesh.
*Minor differences ignored. Grouped by changes, with first version listed as example.
I beseech you, that I may not be bold, when I am present. Some think, that the discourse is incomplete, and that he does not express the matter of his request. [1] I am rather of opinion, however, that what was wanting in the former clause is here completed, so that it is a general exhortation. "Show yourselves docile and tractable towards me, that I may not be constrained to be more severe." It is the duty of a good pastor to allure his sheep peacefully and kindly, that they may allow themselves to be governed, rather than to constrain them by violence. Severity, it is true, is, I acknowledge, sometimes necessary, but we must always set out with gentleness, and persevere in it, so long as the hearer shews himself tractable. [2] Severity must be the last resource. "We must," says he, "try all methods, before having recourse to rigor; nay more, let us never be rigorous, unless we are constrained to it." In the mean time, as to their reckoning themselves pusillanimous and timid, when he had to come to close quarters, he intimates that they were mistaken as to this, when he declares that he will stoutly resist face to face the contumacious [3] "They despise me," says he, "as if I were a pusillanimous person, but they will find that I am braver and more courageous than they could have wished, when they come to contend in good earnest." From this we see, when it is time to act with severity -- after we have found, on trial being made, that allurements and mildness have no good effect. "I shall do it with reluctance," says Paul, "but still I have determined to do it." Here is an admirable medium; for as we must, in so far as is in our power, draw men rather than drive them, so, when mildness has no effect, in dealing with those that are stern and refractory, rigor must of necessity be resorted to: otherwise it will not be moderation, nor equableness of temper, but criminal cowardice. [4] Who account of us. Erasmus renders it -- "Those who think that we walk, as it were, according to the flesh." The Old Interpreter came nearer, in my opinion, to Paul's true meaning -- "Qui nos arbitrantur, tanquam secundum carnem ambulemus;" -- ("Those who think of us as though we walked according to the flesh;" [5] ) though, at the same time, the phrase is not exactly in accordance with the Latin idiom, nor does it altogether bring out the Apostle's full meaning. For logizesthai is taken here to mean -- reckoning or esteeming. [6] "They think of us," says Paul, "or they take this view of us, as though we walked according to the flesh." To walk according to the flesh, Chrysostom explains to mean -- acting unfaithfully, or conducting one's self improperly in his office; [7] and, certainly, it is taken in this sense in various instances in Paul's writings. The term flesh, however, I rather understand to mean -- outward pomp or show, by which alone the false Apostles are accustomed to recommend themselves. Paul, therefore, complains of the unreasonableness of those who looked for nothing in him except the flesh, that is, visible appearance, as they speak, or in the usual manner of persons who devote all their efforts to ambition. For as Paul did not by any means excel in such endowments, as ordinarily procure praise or reputation among the children of this world, (Luke 16:8,) he was despised as though he had been one of the common herd. But by whom? [8] Certainly, by the ambitious, who estimated him from mere appearance, while they paid no regard to what lay concealed within.
1 - "Et le sens seroit, Ie vous prie, afin qu'il ne faille point vser de hardiesse;" -- "And the meaning would be, I beseech you, in order that I may not have occasion to use boldness."
2 - "Docile et traittable;" -- "Teachable and tractable."
3 - "Aux rebelles et obstinez;" -- "The rebellious and obstinate."
4 - "Couardice ou nonchalance;" -- "Cowardice or indifference."
5 - Wiclif (1380) renders it: "that demen" (i.e., judge) "us as if we wandren aftir the fleisch." Tyndale (1534,) Cranmer (1539,) and Geneva (1557,) read as follows: "which repute us as though we walked carnally." Rheims (1582) -- "which thinke us as though we walke according to the flesh." -- Ed.
6 - "The sense is, I entreat, I say, that I may not have to be bold when I am present, with that confidence, wherewith I intend to be bold against certain, who regard me as walking after the flesh,' i.e., guided by worldly principles. There seems to be a paraniomasia in logizomai and logizomenous, which, if introduced into English, may perhaps be best expressed by reckon." -- Bloomfield. -- Ed.
7 - "Nec satis recte (ut opinor) Chrysostomus kata sarka perinde exposuit, acsi accusaretur Apostolus eo nomine quod Spiritu Dei non duceretur, sed pravis carnis affectibus;" -- "Nor is it altogether with propriety, in my opinion, that Chrysostom has explained kata sarka, as if the Apostle were accused on this ground -- that he was not led by the Spirit of God, but by the depraved affections of the flesh." -- Beza -- Ed.
8 - "Mais qui estoyent ceux qui le mesprisoyent ainsi?" -- "But who are those that despised him thus?"
That I may not be bold - I entreat you so to act that I may not have occasion to exercise the severity which I fear I shall be compelled to use against those who accuse me of being governed wholly by worldly motives and policy. In other words, that I may not be compelled to be bold and decisive in my measures by your improper conduct.
Which think of us - Margin, "reckon." They suppose this; or, they accuse me of it. By the word "us" here Paul means himself, though it is possible also that he speaks in the name of his fellow apostles and laborers who were associated with him, and the objections may have referred to all who acted with him.
As if we walked - As if we lived or acted. The word "walk" in the Scriptures is often used to denote the course or manner of life; see the Romans 4:12, note; 2-Corinthians 5:7, note.
According to the flesh - see the note on 2-Corinthians 1:17. As if we were governed by the weak and corrupt principles of human nature. As if we had no higher motive than carnal and worldly policy. As if we were seeking our own advantage and not the welfare of the world. The charge was, probably, that he was not governed by high and holy principles, but by the principles of mere worldly policy; that he was guided by personal interests, and by worldly views - by ambition, or the love of dominion, wealth, or popularity, and that he was destitute of every supernatural endowment and every evidence of a divine commission.
Some, which think of us as if we walked according to the flesh - As it is customary for cowards and overbearing men to threaten the weak and the timid when present; to bluster when absent; and to be very obsequious in the presence of the strong and courageous. This conduct they appear to have charged against the apostle, which he calls here walking after the flesh - acting as a man who had worldly ends in view, and would use any means in order to accomplish them.
But I beseech [you], that I may not be bold when I am present with that confidence, wherewith I think to be bold against some, which think of us as if we walked (b) according to the flesh.
(b) As though I had no other aid and help than that which outwardly I seem to have: and therefore Paul contrasts his flesh, that is, his weak condition and state, with his spiritual and apostolic dignity.
But I beseech you, that I may not be bold when I am present,.... That is, he entreated them that they would so behave for the future, that he might have no occasion, when he came among them, to use that power and authority they called boldness, which he had received from Christ for edification, and not destruction; as for that asperity and roughness with which he wrote, and which was thought to be too severe, it was in order to reclaim them, and so prevent that sharpness he was empowered by Christ to use: for though he had said in his former epistle, 1-Corinthians 4:21 "shall I come unto you with a rod or in love? and in the spirit of meekness?" he chose to come in the latter, rather than with the former; namely, not
with that confidence wherewith, says he,
I think to be bold: by "confidence" he means the faith of miracles he was possessed of, and particularly the power he, and other apostles had, of striking dead or blind incorrigible offenders, or of delivering them to Satan to undergo some corporeal punishment; which he had been thinking of, and reasoning about in his own mind, and was almost come to a conclusion concerning it, to inflict it upon, and with it to be bold,
against some which think of us as if we walked according to the flesh; who not barely thought so within themselves, but reasoned the matter with others, and would fain persuade them to believe that they did walk in a carnal manner; not that they had the face to say, that they walked after the dictates of corrupt nature, or lived in open vice and profaneness; but that they walked in craftiness, had their conversation in the world with fleshly wisdom, seeking their own worldly interest and secular advantage; which is denied by the apostle, 2-Corinthians 1:12 and was the real case, and true picture of the false teachers themselves.
I beseech you--Intimating that, as he can beseech in letters, so he can be severe in their presence.
that I may not be--that I may not have to be bold, &c.
with that confidence--that authoritative sternness.
I think--I am minded to be.
as if we walked according to the flesh--His Corinthian detractors judged of him by themselves, as if he were influenced by fleshly motives, the desire of favor or fear of giving offense, so as not to exercise his authority when present.
Do not constrain me when present to be bold - To exert my apostolical authority. Who think of us as walking after the flesh - As acting in a cowardly or crafty manner.
*More commentary available at chapter level.