2 Coríntios 7
William Barclay · Citado em PreceptAustin
2 Coríntios 7
Barclay writes that the Greeks defined pleonexia as “arrogant greediness,” as “the accursed love of possessing,” as “the unlawful desire for the things which belong to others.” It has been defined as the spirit in which a man is always ready to sacrifice his neighbour to his own desires. Pleonexia is the irresistible desire to have what we have no right to possess. It might issue in the theft of material things; it might issue in the spirit which tramples on other people to get its own way; it might issue in sexual sin....(pleonexia) is, therefore, a sin with a very wide range. If it is the desire for money, it leads to theft. If it is the desire for prestige, it leads to evil ambition. If it is the desire for power, it leads to sadistic tyranny. If it is the desire for a person, it leads to sexual sin " Paul Apple has an interesting introduction to this chapter: PERSPECTIVE: We need some perspective on the overall process of Reconciliation before beginning this study. There was a serious problem between Paul and some of the believers in Corinth. Remember some of the specific charges that had been leveled against him by his opponents: - You are Ambiguous (2Co 1:13) – you are difficult to understand; Paul’s opponents would twist his words and misrepresent his teachings You are Fickle (2Co 1:15-20) You can’t be depended upon; you change your travel plans and back out of previous commitments; we can not depend on your commitment to us You Brag about Yourself (2Co 3:1-3) You are always commending yourself; exalting yourself; boasting in your accomplishments You are an Imposter (2Co 6:8) Your apostolic call is questionable; Christ does not really speak through you (2Co 13:3) You have no real Authority (2Co 10:1-2) – In fact you are timid in person and only bold when you are writing from a safe distance away You are Crafty and Deceitful (2Co 12:16) – You take advantage of others These are all very serious charges that have the potential to undermine the effectiveness of Paul’s ministry. Divine grace was needed not to lash back defensively and vindictively. What type of interaction would Paul choose: Loving Communication (with goal of restoration) or Angry Confrontation (with goal of revenge) The Apostle Paul took the initiative by writing a severe letter and then waiting for Titus to report back with the response of the Corinthians. Loving Communication produces Godly Sorrow which leads to Genuine Repentance and Reconciliation Angry Confrontation produces Worldly Sorrow which leads to Superficial Regret and further Separation 2 Corinthians 7:3 I do not speak to condemn you, for I have said before that you are in our hearts to die together and to live together. KJV 2 Corinthians 7:3 I speak not this to condemn you: for I have said before, that ye are in our hearts to die and live with you. NET 2 Corinthians 7:3 I do not say this to condemn you, for I told you before that you are in our hearts so that we die together and live together with you. BGT 2 Corinthians 7:3 πρὸς κατάκρισιν οὐ λέγω· προείρηκα γὰρ ὅτι ἐν ταῖς καρδίαις ἡμῶν ἐστε εἰς τὸ συναποθανεῖν καὶ συζῆν. NLT 2 Corinthians 7:3 I'm not saying this to condemn you. I said before that you are in our hearts, and we live or die together with you. ESV 2 Corinthians 7:3 I do not say this to condemn you, for I said before that you are in our hearts, to die together and to live together. NIV 2 Corinthians 7:3 I do not say this to condemn you; I have said before that you have such a place in our hearts that we would live or die with you. YLT 2 Corinthians 7:3 not to condemn you do I say it, for I have said before that in our hearts ye are to die with and to live with; ASV 2 Corinthians 7:3 I say it not to condemn you: for I have said before, that ye are in our hearts to die together and live together. CSB 2 Corinthians 7:3 I don't say this to condemn you, for I have already said that you are in our hearts, to live together and to die together. MIT 2 Corinthians 7:3 I do not speak for purposes of condemnation. For I stated earlier that you are in our hearts, making us as close as those who faced death together and live on together. NKJ 2 Corinthians 7:3 I do not say this to condemn; for I have said before that you are in our hearts, to die together and to live together. NRS 2 Corinthians 7:3 I do not say this to condemn you, for I said before that you are in our hearts, to die together and to live together. NAB 2 Corinthians 7:3 I do not say this in condemnation, for I have already said that you are in our hearts, that we may die together and live together. NJB 2 Corinthians 7:3 I am not saying this to condemn anybody; as I have already told you, you are in our hearts -- so that together we live and together we die. GWN 2 Corinthians 7:3 I'm not saying this to condemn you. I've already told you that you are in our hearts so that we will live and die together. BBE 2 Corinthians 7:3 It is not with the purpose of judging you that I say this: for I have said before that you are in our hearts for life and death together. to condemn: 2Co 7:12 2:4,5 13:10 1Co 4:14,15 for I have said before: 2Co 6:11,12 you are in our hearts: 2Co 3:2 11:11 12:15 Php 1:8,9 to die: Ru 1:16-17 1Th 2:8 2 Corinthians 7 Resources - Multiple Sermons and Commentaries Related Passages: Philippians 1:7+ For it is only right for me to feel this way about you all, because I have you in my heart, since both in my imprisonment and in the defense and confirmation of the gospel, you all are partakers of grace with me. Ruth 1:16-17+ But Ruth said, “Do not urge me to leave you or turn back from following you; for where you go, I will go, and where you lodge, I will lodge. Your people shall be my people, and your God, my God. 17 “Where you die, I will die, and there I will be buried. Thus may the LORD do to me, and worse, if anything but death parts you and me.” 2 Corinthians 3:2-3+ You are our letter, written in our hearts, known and read by all men; being manifested that you are a letter of Christ, cared for by us, written not with ink but with the Spirit of the living God, not on tablets of stone but on tablets of human hearts." 2 Corinthians 6:11-14+ Our mouth has spoken freely to you, O Corinthians, our heart is opened wide. 12 You are not restrained by us, but you are restrained in your own affections. 13 Now in a like exchange–I speak as to children–open wide to us also. 14 Do not be bound together with unbelievers; for what partnership have righteousness and lawlessness, or what fellowship has light with darkness? NO CONDEMNATION ONLY AFFIRMATION OF AFFECTION Kruse has a reasonable explanation of this passage - Paul may have felt that the strong defence of his own integrity in v. 2 might be taken to imply a questioning of the Corinthians’ integrity. If so, these words would constitute an immediate denial of such an attitude on his part. On the contrary, his real attitude towards them is much more positive (Full text of the Tyndale NT Commentary on 2 Corinthians) Paul Apple entitles the following - Tone of Loving Acceptance – Not Judgmental Spirit 1. Not out to Condemn 2. Embracing Them in Loving Acceptance I do (ou = absolutely) not (present tense - continually) speak to condemn (scold, reproach, blame - katakrisis) you - "I'm not saying this to condemn you." (NLT). Msg = "Don’t think I’m finding fault with you." Paul is saying that if the Corinthians are making any of the charges in 2Co 7:2, he is not holding it against them. Pulpit Commentary - My object is to maintain the old love between us; what I say, therefore, is merely to defend myself, not to complain of you (comp. 1 Cor. 4:14 = "I do not write these things to shame you, but to admonish you as my beloved children.") For - Paul explains why he does not hold these accusations against the Corinthians. I have said before -- Said before (prolego) is in the perfect tense indicating stated in the past and what he said still stands true (see 2Co 6:11-14 above). He was not seeking to place blame on the Corinthians but to shore up their loyalty to him. That you are in our hearts (aorist tense) to die together (sunapothnesko) and (present tense) to live together (suzao) - Die together...live together when one gives attention to the tenses more literally reads "I would die with you or continue to live with you.” Amp = "for I have said before that you are [nested] in our hearts, [and you will remain there] together [with us], whether we die or live." Msg = "I told you earlier that I’m with you all the way, no matter what." TLB = "as I have said before, you are in my heart forever, and I live and die with you." You are in our hearts shows Paul's great affection for the Corinthians regardless of negative things they were saying or thinking about Paul. Die together...live together indicates that Paul saw the Corinthians as in relationship to the end of their life. They were his brothers and sisters in Christ no matter what false things were being said about him. Paul is saying that nothing could deter or destroy his affection for the Corinthians. In a passage that conveys a similar truth about Paul's heart for the churches he served, he tells the saints at Thessalonica he is ready to give them his own life writing "Having so fond an affection for you, we were well-pleased to impart to you not only the gospel of God but also our own lives, because you had become very dear to us." (1 Th 2:8+) Warren
2 Coríntios 7
Barclay - The last thing that Paul wished was to rebuke. He did it only under compulsion and because there was nothing else to do. He took no pleasure whatever in inflicting pain. There are those who take a sadistic pleasure in seeing someone wince beneath the lash of their tongue. Who pride themselves on being candid when they are only being rude, and on being blunt when they are only being boorish. It is the simple fact that the rebuke which is given with a certain relish will never prove as effective as the rebuke which is obviously unwillingly dragged out of a man and which he only gives because he can do no other....Paul’s sole object in giving rebuke was to enable people to be what they ought to be. By his rebuke he wished the Corinthians to see the real earnestness they possessed for him in the depths of their hearts in spite of their disobedience and their trouble-making. Such a course might for the moment cause pain, but its ultimate object was not the pain; it was not to knock them down, it was to lift them up; it was not to discourage them, it was to encourage them; it was not simply to eradicate the evil, it was to make the good grow (2 Corinthians 7 Commentary) For (gar - explanation) you were made sorrowful (lupeo) according to the will of God - Will is not in Greek but is added. AMP - "For you felt a grief such as God meant you to feel, so that in nothing you might suffer loss through us or harm for what we did." The idea is that God intended for the Corinthians to have a sorrowful response to his letter to fulfill the following purpose. Stated another way this sorrow is the kind that God likes to see! Clearly the Spirit had used Paul's letter in which he spoke the truth in love to convict them of sin, righteousness and judgment. (Jn 16:8) Homer Kent - They had been grieved “according to God” (literal, kata theon), that is, in accordance with God’s will. Theirs had been a distress produced by godly conviction, and it had proceeded along lines that God intended. (A Heart Opened Wide: Studies in 2 Corinthians) So that (hina - purpose clause) you might not suffer loss (zemioo) in anything through us - AMP - "so that in nothing you might suffer loss through us or harm for what we did." Some versions render zemioo as "harm" rather than loss. The idea of harm leads some writers to favor that Paul was saying that while he knew the "severe letter" hurt them (so to speak), it did not "harm" them. I favor the other rendering of "not suffer loss" because zemioo is used again by Paul in his first letter of those who would suffer loss at the Bema Seat (1Co 3:15+). This purpose of the pain (so to speak) recalls Paul's warning in 2Co 6:1 for the Corinthians not to "receive the grace of God in vain." Grace wasted in time can never be re-used. In vain (and suffer loss) could refer to that future appointment at the Bema Seat when "each one may be recompensed for his deeds in the body, according to what he has done, whether good or bad." (2Co 5:10+). As Paul wrote in his first letter "If any man’s work which he has built on it remains, he will receive a reward (misthos). If any man’s work is burned up, he will suffer loss (zemioo - same verb Paul uses here); but he himself will be saved, yet so as through fire." (1Co 3:14-15+) Not suffer loss in anything recalls Paul's soul stirring, sobering words in 1Co 9:26-27+ Therefore I run in such a way, as not without aim; I box in such a way, as not beating the air; I (present tense - continually) discipline (hupopiazo) my body and make it my slave, so that, after I have preached to others, I myself will not be disqualified. (cf "suffer loss in anything") It also recalls the warning of Jesus in Revelation 2:4-5+ But I have this against you, that you have left your first love. 5‘ Therefore remember (aorist imperative see our need to depend on the Holy Spirit to obey) from where you have fallen, and repent (aorist imperative see our need to depend on the Holy Spirit to obey) and do (aorist imperative see our need to depend on the Holy Spirit to obey) the deeds you did at first; or else I am coming to you and will remove your lampstand out of its place (cf "suffer loss in anything")–unless you repent. Paul's purpose (not suffer loss) also reminds me of John's word of warning "Watch (present imperative see our need to depend on the Holy Spirit to obey) yourselves, that you do not lose (apollumi) what we have accomplished, but that you may receive (apolambano) a full reward (misthos)." (2Jn 1:8) I agree completely with MacArthur's comments on what if meant to suffer loss - There were many blessings God could pour out on the Corinthians through his ministry. Had they remained alienated from him, they would have forfeited those blessings. The phrase suffer loss also appears in 1 Corinthians 3:15+, where it refers to the future judgment of believers’ works. The loss of blessings from Paul’s ministry would have resulted in the Corinthians accumulating valueless “wood, hay, [and] straw,” fit only to be burned (1 Cor. 3:12). Paul’s selfless love made him anxious not only that the Corinthians might experience God’s chastening and lose their present blessings, but also that they might forfeit their future rewards (cf. 2 John 8). His concern was not for his loss, but theirs. (2 Corinthians Commentary) Wick Broomall - By suffer loss (ASV) Paul is thinking of the eternal damage that might result from his irresponsibility and leniency (cf. I Cor 3:15+; Phil 3:8). (Wycliffe Bible Commentary - online) Kruse - The grief they experienced was not a useless remorse without any corresponding action to rectify the situation. It was a godly grief leading to repentance, which brought positive results so that they suffered no loss by the receipt of Paul’s ‘severe’ letter. What loss Paul thought they might have experienced is not specified. However, he uses the same verb (zēmioō) in 1 Corinthians 3:15 of the person who suffers loss of reward if his or her works do not pass God’s test on the last day. Paul may have felt that the Corinthians’ positive response to his ‘severe’ letter had saved them from such a loss. (Full text of the Tyndale NT Commentary on 2 Corinthians) Repentance (3341) metanoia from meta = after + noéo = to understand) literally means "afterthought" or "to think after" and implies a change of mind. From the NT uses, it is clear that metanoia means however much more than merely a change of one's mind but also includes a complete change of heart, attitude, interest, and direction. Originally in Greek culture metanoia referred to a change of mind regarding anything, but when brought over into the New Testament, the usage is limited to a change of mind in the religious sphere. Repentance is a thorough change of man's natural heart, upon the subject of sin.