2 Corinthians 10
I myself, Paul, exhort you through the gentleness and forbearance of Christ — lowly face to face, bold when absent. We walk in flesh but do not soldier according to flesh — our weapons are powerful to God to tear down strongholds, reckonings, heights, taking every thought captive to the obedience of Christ. You look at what is before your face. Boasting of the authority the Lord gave for building up, I shall not be ashamed. ‘The letters are heavy and strong, the bodily presence weak,’ someone says — what we are in word when absent, we are in deed when present. They measure themselves by themselves and do not understand. We boast by the measure of the rule God apportioned — reaching as far as you, to bring the good news beyond you. Let the one who boasts boast in the Lord — the one the Lord commends is approved.
Why this rendering
2Cor.10.1 Observation
Syntactic observation
Αὐτὸς δὲ ἐγὼ Παῦλος παρακαλῶ ὑμᾶς διὰ τῆς πραΰτητος καὶ ἐπιεικείας τοῦ Χριστοῦ, ὃς κατὰ πρόσωπον μὲν ταπεινὸς ἐν ὑμῖν, ἀπὼν δὲ θαρρῶ εἰς ὑμᾶς· δέομαι δὲ τὸ μὴ παρὼν θαρρῆσαι τῇ πεποιθήσει ᾗ λογίζομαι τολμῆσαι ἐπί τινας τοὺς λογιζομένους ἡμᾶς ὡς κατὰ σάρκα περιπατοῦντας — Now I myself, Paul, exhort you through the gentleness and forbearance of Christ — I who face to face am lowly among you, but when absent am of good courage toward you. But I beg that when present I may not be of good courage … ‘I myself, Paul’ steps forward in the first person singular (chapters 1-9 were ‘we’). ἀπών ↔ παρών, the pair of 1 Cor 5:3 (absent / present), recurs in vv.1, 2, 11. λογίζομαι comes twice in v.2 — what I reckon and how they reckon us. In v.3 ἐν σαρκί (‘in’) ↔ κατὰ σάρκα (‘according to’) differ by one preposition. The opponents’ words enter without quotation marks — ‘walking according to flesh’; in v.10 ‘the letters are heavy …’.
Rendering options · 3
Basis ἄπειμι · πάρειμι were fixed as a pair at 1 Cor 5:3; the pair recurs three times and is the axis of the chapter.
Basis The familiar rendering.
Rejected It breaks the pair and merges κατὰ πρόσωπον with πάρειμι.
Basis ἐν and κατά kept as ‘in / according to’ so the contrast rides on one word σάρξ.
Lost in translation
ἀπών ↔ παρών (vv.1, 2, 11) — ‘absent / present’ stand as a pair three times.
λογίζομαι ×2 (v.2) — one ‘reckon’ for both.
The opponents’ unmarked words (vv.2, 10) — the text has no quotation marks; v.10 with φησίν receives them.
Why this rendering
2Cor.10.4 Observation
Syntactic observation
τὰ γὰρ ὅπλα τῆς στρατείας ἡμῶν οὐ σαρκικὰ ἀλλὰ δυνατὰ τῷ θεῷ πρὸς καθαίρεσιν ὀχυρωμάτων— λογισμοὺς καθαιροῦντες καὶ πᾶν ὕψωμα ἐπαιρόμενον κατὰ τῆς γνώσεως τοῦ θεοῦ, καὶ αἰχμαλωτίζοντες πᾶν νόημα εἰς τὴν ὑπακοὴν τοῦ Χριστοῦ, καὶ ἐν ἑτοίμῳ ἔχοντες ἐκδικῆσαι πᾶσαν παρακοήν — for the weapons of our soldiering are not fleshly but powerful to God for tearing down strongholds — tearing down reckonings and every height lifted up against the knowledge of God, and taking every thought captive to the obedience of Christ, and being in readiness to bring justice upon every disobedience. στρατεία (two places — here and 1 Timothy) is the noun of στρατεύομαι, ‘serve as a soldier’ (v.3). The dative in δυνατὰ τῷ θεῷ — ‘powerful to God’ (divinely) or ‘for God’ — the text does not decide. καθαίρεσις (here, v.8, 13:10 — three places, all in this letter) ↔ καθαιρέω (Luke 12:18 ‘pull down barns’; Acts 13:19) come as noun and verb in one verse. ὀχύρωμα occurs once in the New Testament. ὑπακοή (vv.5, 6) ↔ παρακοή (v.6; Rom 5:19) face each other by prefix. The genitive in τὴν ὑπακοὴν τοῦ Χριστοῦ — obedience to Christ or Christ’s obedience — stays open.
Rendering options · 3
Basis δυνατός ‘powerful’ with the bare dative kept as ‘to God’ — neither ‘by God’s power’ nor ‘for God’ is chosen.
Basis The familiar rendering.
Rejected It closes the dative to means and adds ‘divinely’.
Basis καθαιρέω ‘tear down’ carried to the noun; set against οἰκοδομή, ‘building up’, in v.8.
Lost in translation
στρατεία ↔ στρατεύομαι — ‘soldiering / serve as soldiers’ keep the root.
ὑπακοή ↔ παρακοή — ‘obedience / disobedience’ keep the prefixed opposition.
The dative of δυνατὰ τῷ θεῷ — ‘powerful to God’ keeps both readings.
καθαίρεσις ↔ καθαιρέω — ‘tearing down / tear down’ here; Luke 12:18 ‘pull down’ and Acts 13:19 ‘destroy’ differ by place.
Why this rendering
2Cor.10.10 Observation
Syntactic observation
ὅτι Αἱ ἐπιστολαὶ μέν, φησίν, βαρεῖαι καὶ ἰσχυραί, ἡ δὲ παρουσία τοῦ σώματος ἀσθενὴς καὶ ὁ λόγος ἐξουθενημένος — for, ‘The letters,’ someone says, ‘are heavy and strong, but the presence of the body is weak and the word treated with contempt.’ φησίν has no subject — who says it, the text does not tell (the φησίν of 1 Cor 6:16). The opponent’s antithesis is threefold — letters ↔ body · heavy and strong ↔ weak · word ↔ despised. παρουσία (Matt 24:3 ‘coming’; 7:6 the coming of Titus) is here ‘the παρουσία of the body’, ‘presence’ — one word split three ways is recorded. In v.7 βλέπετε is one form for indicative (‘you look’) and imperative (‘look’). In v.8 οἰκοδομή ↔ καθαίρεσις pairs with the tearing down of v.4. In v.9 ἐκφοβέω occurs once in the New Testament — the verb ‘fear’ with ἐκ-.
Rendering options · 3
Basis As at 1 Cor 6:16; ‘someone’ is the least the English can supply, and the supplement is recorded.
Basis The familiar rendering, supplying a plural.
Rejected The verb is singular; it may be one man’s word.
Basis Read as imperative it would be ‘Look’; the context rebukes judging by appearance, so the indicative is kept and the other reading recorded.
Lost in translation
The empty subject of φησίν — ‘someone says’ must supply a word.
βλέπετε (v.7) — indicative and imperative are one form; ‘you look’ closes it.
παρουσία — ‘coming’ (Matt 24:3; 7:6) and ‘presence’ (10:10): two words.
οἰκοδομή ↔ καθαίρεσις (v.8) — ‘building up / tearing down’ stand as opposites.
Why this rendering
2Cor.10.12 Observation
Syntactic observation
Οὐ γὰρ τολμῶμεν ἐγκρῖναι ἢ συγκρῖναι ἑαυτούς τισιν τῶν ἑαυτοὺς συνιστανόντων· ἀλλὰ αὐτοὶ ἐν ἑαυτοῖς ἑαυτοὺς μετροῦντες καὶ συγκρίνοντες ἑαυτοὺς ἑαυτοῖς οὐ συνιᾶσιν — For we do not dare to class or compare ourselves with some of those who commend themselves; but they, measuring themselves by themselves and comparing themselves with themselves, do not understand. The reflexive ἑαυτοῦ comes six times in one verse — self measuring self by self. ἐγκρίνω (once in the New Testament) and συγκρίνω (1 Cor 2:13) differ only by prefix on κρίνω. Verses 12-16 weave the words of measuring — μετρέω (measure) · μέτρον (measure, twice in v.13) · ἄμετρος (unmeasured, vv.13, 15) · κανών (rule, vv.13, 15, 16 — three of its four New Testament places). In v.13 μερίζω is the verb, and μέτρον the noun, of Rom 12:3, ‘the measure of faith God apportioned to each’. καυχάομαι comes six times in this chapter.
Rendering options · 3
Basis The repetition is the point — men whose only rule is themselves; ‘one another’ would be ἀλλήλων.
Basis The familiar rendering.
Rejected It reads ἑαυτοῖς as ἀλλήλοις; the text says self with self.
Basis ‘Measure’ as at Rom 12:3, with ἄμετρος its negative; κανών kept separate as ‘rule’.
Lost in translation
ἑαυτοῦ ×6 — ‘themselves’ stands six times.
μετρέω · μέτρον · ἄμετρος — ‘measure · measure · unmeasured’ keep one root.
ἐγκρίνω / συγκρίνω — ‘class / compare’ lose the shared κρίνω.
μερίζω … μέτρου (v.13) ↔ Rom 12:3 — ‘apportioned … measure’ stand as the same two words.
Why this rendering
2Cor.10.14 Observation
Syntactic observation
οὐ γὰρ ὡς μὴ ἐφικνούμενοι εἰς ὑμᾶς ὑπερεκτείνομεν ἑαυτούς, ἄχρι γὰρ καὶ ὑμῶν ἐφθάσαμεν ἐν τῷ εὐαγγελίῳ τοῦ Χριστοῦ … εἰς τὰ ὑπερέκεινα ὑμῶν εὐαγγελίσασθαι … Ὁ δὲ καυχώμενος ἐν κυρίῳ καυχάσθω· οὐ γὰρ ὁ ἑαυτὸν συνιστάνων, ἐκεῖνός ἐστιν δόκιμος, ἀλλ’ ὃν ὁ κύριος συνίστησιν — for we are not overstretching ourselves, as though not reaching you; for we came even as far as you in the gospel of Christ … to bring the good news to the regions beyond you … But let the one who boasts boast in the Lord; for it is not the one who commends himself that is approved, but the one whom the Lord commends. Two verbs of arriving — ἐφικνέομαι (vv.13, 14 — two places, both here) and φθάνω (Matt 12:28 ‘the kingdom of God has come upon you’). ὑπερεκτείνω and ὑπερέκεινα each occur once and share ὑπέρ. Verse 17 has the same words as 1 Cor 1:31, but there καθὼς γέγραπται precedes and here it does not — no quotation marks. In v.18 συνίστημι splits between a man commending himself (vv.12, 18) and the Lord commending.
Rendering options · 3
Basis φθάνω is fixed as ‘come upon’ (Matt 12:28), so ἐφικνέομαι takes ‘reach’; ‘came as far as’ here differs by place from ‘come upon’.
Basis One word for both verbs.
Rejected Two Greek verbs become one.
Basis 1 Cor 1:31 is introduced as scripture; here the same words stand as Paul’s own imperative, so no marks.
Lost in translation
ἐφικνέομαι / φθάνω — ‘reach / came as far as’ keep two verbs apart.
ὑπερεκτείνω · ὑπερέκεινα — ‘overstretch · beyond’ do not share a piece.
v.17 ↔ 1 Cor 1:31 — the same words stand identical, with and without quotation marks.
συνίστημι (vv.12, 18) — one ‘commend’ for the man and for the Lord.