4 Great is my boldness of speech toward you. Great is my boasting on your behalf. I am filled with comfort. I overflow with joy in all our affliction.
*Minor differences ignored. Grouped by changes, with first version listed as example.
Great is my boldness. Now, as if he had obtained the enlargement of heart that he had desired on the part of the Corinthians, he leaves off complaining, and pours out his heart with cheerfulness. "What need is there that I should expend so much labor upon a matter already accomplished? For I think I have already what I asked. For the things that Titus has reported to me respecting you are not merely sufficient for quieting my mind, but afford me also ground of glorying confidently on your account [1] Nay more, they have effectually dispelled the grief, which many great and heavy afflictions had occasioned me." He goes on step by step, by way of climax; for glorying is more than being of an easy and quiet mind; and being freed from grief occasioned by many afflictions, is greater than either of those. Chrysostom explains this boldness somewhat differently, in this manner -- "If I deal with you the more freely, it is on this account, that, relying on the assurance of your good will towards me, I think I may take so much liberty with you." I have stated, however, what appeared to me to be the more probable meaning -- that the report given by Titus had removed the unfavorable impression, which had previously racked his mind. [2]
1 - "Timothy is despatched" (by Paul) "to Corinth, and after him Titus is sent. In the mean time, a door is opened of the Lord' to the Apostles to preach Christ's gospel at Troas; but, strange to relate! he who panted so earnestly for such opportunities, had neither heart nor tongue to improve the present. The expected messenger from Corinth had not arrived -- he had no rest in his spirit,' and abandoning the rich harvest which invited his labors, he wandered into Macedonia. Nor yet did he find ease: For when we were come into Macedonia, our flesh had no rest, but we were troubled on every side -- without were fightings; within were fears.' At last Titus arrives with tidings from Corinth. The Apostle's letter had been well received; it had produced the intended effects; a spirit of repentance had fallen upon the Church; they had applied themselves vigorously to the correction of abuses; the love which they bore to their spiritual father had revived with additional strength. Now! thanks be unto God, who always causeth us to triumph in Christ, and maketh manifest the savour of his knowledge by us in every place!' Great is my boldness of speech towards you, great is my glorying of you; I am filled with comfort, I am exceeding joyful in all our tribulation.' (2-Corinthians 2:14; 2-Corinthians 7:4.) What a sudden change! what a wonderful transformation! Formerly we saw him like a soldier, wounded, weak, disabled, dispirited, fallen to the ground; now he is lifted up, victorious, and borne on the triumphant car." -- M'Crie's Sermons, p. 39. -- Ed.
2 - "La mauuaise opinion ou le souspecon qu'il auoit d'eux, et dont il estoit tourmente en son coeur;" -- "The bad opinion or suspicion that he had of them, and with which he had been tormented in his heart."
Great is my boldness of speech toward you - This verse seems designed to soften the apparent harshness of what he had said 2-Corinthians 6:12, when he intimated that there was a lack of love in them toward him (Bloomfield), as well as to refer to the plainness which he had used all along in his letters to them. He says, therefore, that he speaks freely; he speaks as a friend; he speaks with the utmost openness and frankness; he conceals nothing from them. He speaks freely of their faults, and he speaks freely of his love to them; and he as frankly commends them and praises them. It is the open, undisguised language of a friend, when he throws open his whole soul and conceals nothing.
Great is my glorying of you - I have great occasion to commend and praise you, and I do it freely. He refers here to the fact that he had boasted of their liberality in regard to the proposed collection for the poor saints of Judea 2-Corinthians 9:4; that he had formerly boasted much of them to Titus, and of their readiness to obey his commands 2-Corinthians 7:14; and that now he had had abundant evidence, by what he had heard from Titus (verses 5ff), that they were disposed to yield to his commands, and obey his injunctions. He had probably often had occasion to boast of their favorable regard for him.
I am filled with comfort - That is, by the evidence which I have received of your readiness to obey me.
I am exceeding joyful - I am overjoyed. The word used here occurs nowhere else in the New Testament except in Romans 5:20. It is not found in the classic writers; and is a word which Paul evidently compounded (from ὑπὲρ huper and περισσεύω perisseuō), and means to superabound over, to superabound greatly, or exceedingly. It is a word which would be used only when the heart was full, and when it would be difficult to find words to express its conceptions. Paul's heart was full of joy; and he pours forth his feelings in the most fervid and glowing language. I have joy which cannot be expressed.
In all our tribulation - see the note, 2-Corinthians 1:4.
Great is my boldness of speech - He seems to refer to the manner in which he spoke of them to others.
Great is my glorying of you - They had probably been very loving and affectionate previously to the time in which they were perverted by their false apostle. He therefore had boasted of them in all the Churches.
I am filled with comfort - My affection for you has still the most powerful ascendancy in my soul. Here we may see the affection of the most tender father to his children.
I am exceeding joyful - Ὑπερπερισσευομαι· I superabound in joy; I have a joy beyond expression. Ὑπερπερισσευω is an extremely rare verb. I have not met with it in any Greek author; and it occurs no where in the New Testament but here and in Romans 5:20.
In all our tribulation - Perhaps επι here should be rendered under instead of in, as it signifies, Mark 2:26; Luke 3:2; Acts 11:28. Under all our tribulations, I feel inexpressible joy on your account.
Great is my boldness of speech towards you,.... Or "liberty of speaking", which I use with you; I very freely, and without any disguise, open my mind to you; I faithfully tell you your faults; I am free in my exhortations and counsels to you, as in the case of the incestuous person, and in other instances, which is a sign of true friendship; for had I any suspicion of you, or not cordial affection for you, I should have been more reserved, more upon my guard, and have spoke and wrote with more caution: besides,
great is my glorying, or "boasting of you"; of your faith in Christ, your love to the people of God, respect to the ministers of the Gospel, obedience to us, and very great liberality to the poor saints, of which the apostle frequently boasts in this epistle: now as speaking freely to them when present with them, or in writing to them, so glorying in them, and speaking well of them when absent, clearly showed what an opinion he had of them, and what true hearty respect he had for them:
I am filled with comfort, says he; not only with divine and spiritual consolations from God, but with the news Titus brought of the state of this church, of the good effect the apostle's reproof and advice had both upon them, and the offender among them, and of their tender and affectionate regard to him: this filled him brimful of comfort, yea, adds he,
I am exceeding joyful; I abound, I over abound in joy; such is the joy that possesses my soul, at the tidings brought me, that it superabounds all the sorrow and anguish of spirit, out of which I wrote unto you, occasioned by the unhappy affair among you: yea, it makes me inexpressibly joyful in all our tribulation; which is not small we meet with, wherever we go, in preaching the Gospel of Christ.
boldness of speech--(compare 2-Corinthians 6:11).
glorying of you--Not only do I speak with unreserved openness to you, but I glory (boast) greatly to others in your behalf, in speaking of you.
filled with comfort--at the report of Titus (2-Corinthians 7:6-7, 2-Corinthians 7:9, 2-Corinthians 7:13; 2-Corinthians 1:4).
exceeding joyful--Greek, I overabound with joy (2-Corinthians 7:7, 2-Corinthians 7:9, 2-Corinthians 7:16).
our tribulation--described in 2-Corinthians 7:5; also in 2-Corinthians 4:7-8; 2-Corinthians 6:4-5.
I am filled with comfort - Of this he treats, 2-Corinthians 7:6, &c.; of his joy, 2-Corinthians 7:7, &c.; of both, 2-Corinthians 7:13.
*More commentary available at chapter level.