2 Corinthians 1:12-14

THEY MUST ACKNOWLEDGE HIS SINCERITY OF PURPOSE. He claims that he has always been frank and open in his dealings with the Corinthian Christians: cf. 1 Thessalonians 2:3. ἡ γὰρ καύχησις κ. τ. λ.: for our glorying is this. Note καύχησις, not καύχημα, as at 2 Corinthians 1:14, which is rather the thing boasted of than the act of boasting. καυχάομαι and its cognates are peculiarly frequent in this Epistle (see Introd., p. 27). τὸ μαρτύριον τῆς συνειδήσεως ἡμῶν : viz., the testimony of our conscience. μαρτύριον is the thing testified to by conscience, as contrasted with μαρτυρία, the act of testimony. συνείδησις, “conscientia,” represents the self sitting in judgment on self, a specially Greek idea, and taken over by St. Paul from Greek thought; the word is a favourite one with him, both in his Epistles and in his speeches (Acts 23:1; Acts 24:16). ὅτι ἐν ἁγιότητι καὶ εἰλικρινείᾳ f1Θεοῦ : that in holiness and sincerity of God (cf. chap. 2 Corinthians 4:2). The received reading, ἁπλότητι, probably arose from the fact that while ἁπλότης occurs four times in this Epistle, and is a specially Pauline word, ἁγιότης is rare, only occurring in the Greek Bible twice elsewhere (2Ma 15:2, Hebrews 12:10). The etymology of εἰλικρινεία (see reff.) is uncertain; but the meaning is not doubtful. The force of the genitive τοῦ Θεοῦ is somewhat the same as in the phrase δικαιοσύνη Θεοῦ (Romans 3:21); the holiness and sincerity which St. Paul claims as characterising his conduct are Divine qualities, and in so far as they are displayed in men they are God's gift, as he goes on to explain. οὐκ ἐν σοφίᾳ σαρκικῇ κ. τ. λ.: not in fleshly wisdom, but in God's grace, sc., which had been vouchsafed to him for the due discharge of his apostolic office (Romans 1:5; Romans 12:3; Romans 15:15, 1 Corinthians 3:10; Ephesians 3:2). Especially in the Corinthian letters does St. Paul insist on this, that his power is not that of human wisdom (1Co 2:4; 1 Corinthians 2:13, chap. 2 Corinthians 10:4). The word σαρκικός is found five times in his letters, and only twice elsewhere in N.T. It signifies that which belongs to the nature of the σάρξ of man, as contrasted with σάρκινος, “made of flesh,” which is the stronger word (cf. 2 Corinthians 3:3 below). ἀνεστράφημεν ἐν τῷ κόσμῳ : did we behave ourselves in the world, sc., the heathen world (cf. 1 Corinthians 5:10; Philippians 2:15). περισσοτέρως δὲ πρὸς ὑμᾶς : and more abundantly to you-ward, sc., perhaps because his opportunities at Corinth had been greater than elsewhere of displaying the holiness and sincerity of the Christian life.