2 Corinthians 13:9

τοῦτο καί (אABDFGP) rather than τοῦτο δὲ καί (א3D3KL). Chrys. inserts γάρ, 73 δή.

9. χαίρομεν γάρ. This is not a second justification of 2 Corinthians 13:7, but a justification of 2 Corinthians 13:8. ‘Why, so far from being able to violate the spirit of the Gospel by wishing you to transgress, in order that my authority may be proved, I rejoice when, through your good behaviour, I lose the opportunity of showing my authority.’

ὅταν ἡμεῖς�.τ.λ. Whenever we are weak, through being unable to prove our power, and ye are strong, through having nothing for which you can be punished. Comp. 2 Corinthians 12:10. It would have been like Jonah, lamenting that through the repentance of the Ninevites his prediction of their destruction had been falsified, to wish that through the unrepentance of the Corinthians the Apostle might be able to demonstrate that he possessed the power of Christ. The Clementine Vulgate reads gaudemus quoniam, which represents no Greek text; Cod. Am. has quando.

τοῦτο καὶ εὐχόμεθα. See critical note. This we also pray for, even your perfecting. This is a larger petition than the εὐχόμεθα in 2 Corinthians 13:7. In both places the verb must be rendered ‘pray.’ The καί means that this is a subject not only for joy (χαίρομεν) but for prayer. With κατάρτισιν comp. καταρτίζεσθε (2 Corinthians 13:11) and καταρτισμός (Ephesians 4:12). The verb is common, but neither substantive is found elsewhere in N.T. or LXX. All three have the idea of making fit (2 Timothy 3:17), equipping, remedying defects, rendering complete. ‘Perfecting’ (R.V.) rather than ‘perfection’ (A.V.), because it is the process, and not the result, that is contemplated.

For ὑμῶν between the article and the verb see last note on 2 Corinthians 12:19.