2 Corinthians 10:12

οὐ γὰρ τολμῶμεν κ. τ. λ.: for we do not venture (an ironical refusal to put himself on a level with his adversaries, whose shallow pretensions he thus quietly exposes) to number or compare ourselves (note the paronomasia in the Greek) with certain of them that commend themselves (the charge made against him see on 2 Corinthians 3:1 he retorts with great effect on his opponents); but they themselves measuring themselves by themselves and comparing themselves with themselves are without understanding (cf. Proverbs 26:12). This sentence is so much involved, that it is not surprising to find the Western authorities (see crit. note) giving it a quite different turn by the omission of the words οὐ συνιοῦσιν (or συνιᾶσιν) ἡμεῖς δὲ … καυχησόμεθα. Following this shorter text, the meaning would be: “but we are measuring ourselves by ourselves and comparing ourselves with ourselves, not going into spheres beyond our measure,” etc. This gives a connected sense, and is favoured by the fact that the balance of the sentence leads us to expect that αὐτοὶ after ἀλλὰ shall refer to the Apostle, and not to his opponents, as it must do with the longer reading. Nevertheless we believe that the omission is simply an attempt to evade the difficulty of the true text; it would be quite unlike St. Paul to speak of himself as his own standard of conduct, and would not be harmonious with the thought of 2 Corinthians 10:13. Others take συνιοῦσιν as a dative participle and adopt the rendering: “but we (i.e., St. Paul) measure ourselves by ourselves, and compare ourselves with ourselves, unwise as we are” (sc., in their opinion). This, however, is not only open to the objection just mentioned, but would require τοῖς before οὐ συνιοῦσιν. On the whole, therefore, we prefer to follow the best MS. authority by reading συνιᾶσιν, and to treat the Western text as an abbreviation, which misses the point of the argument in the attempt to simplify the construction.