2 Corinthians 2:4

ἐκ γὰρ πολλῆς θλίψεως κ. τ. λ.: for out of much affliction and anguish of heart I wrote to you with many tears. This describes the state of mind in which he wrote 1 Cor., if the view of the situation which has been adopted in this commentary be correct (see Introd., p. 13). διὰ πολλῶν δακρύων : we have διά used, somewhat similarly, with the genitive of the attendant circumstances, in Romans 2:27; Romans 4:11; Romans 8:25; Romans 14:20, chap. 2 Corinthians 5:7; Hebrews 12:1; Revelation 21:24, etc. οὐχ ἵνα λυπηθῆτε κ. τ. λ.: not that ye should be made sorry, but that ye should know the love which I have so abundantly to you. ἀγάπη, as a grace especially to be exhibited in Christian intercourse, is repeatedly dwelt on by St. Paul. The word has been described as “ecclesiastical” and as having been first introduced to literature in the LXX. But it has been recently found in papyri of the Ptolemaic period (Deissmann, Bibel-studien, p. 81), and it thus appears that the LXX only took over a word already current in the speech of Greek Egypt. Here the position of ἀγάπην before ἵνα gives it special emphasis; cf., for a like order, Acts 19:4; Romans 11:31. περισσοτέρως may mean “more abundantly,” sc., than to other Churches; but it is quite legitimate to take it as used without any special comparative force (cf. 2 Corinthians 10:8).