KJV: Moreover I call God for a record upon my soul, that to spare you I came not as yet unto Corinth.
YLT: And I for a witness on God do call upon my soul, that sparing you, I came not yet to Corinth;
Darby: But I call God to witness upon my soul that to spare you I have not yet come to Corinth.
ASV: But I call God for a witness upon my soul, that to spare you I forbare to come unto Corinth.
δὲ | however |
Parse: Conjunction Root: δέ Sense: but, moreover, and, etc. |
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μάρτυρα | as witness |
Parse: Noun, Accusative Masculine Singular Root: μάρτυς Sense: a witness. |
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τὸν | - |
Parse: Article, Accusative Masculine Singular Root: ὁ Sense: this, that, these, etc. |
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Θεὸν | God |
Parse: Noun, Accusative Masculine Singular Root: θεός Sense: a god or goddess, a general name of deities or divinities. |
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ἐπικαλοῦμαι | call |
Parse: Verb, Present Indicative Middle, 1st Person Singular Root: ἐπικαλέω Sense: to put a name upon, to surname. |
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ἐπὶ | upon |
Parse: Preposition Root: ἐπί Sense: upon, on, at, by, before. |
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τὴν | - |
Parse: Article, Accusative Feminine Singular Root: ὁ Sense: this, that, these, etc. |
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ἐμὴν | my |
Parse: Personal / Possessive Pronoun, Accusative Feminine 1st Person Singular Root: ἐμός Sense: my, mine, etc. |
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ψυχήν | soul |
Parse: Noun, Accusative Feminine Singular Root: ψυχή Sense: breath. |
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ὅτι | that |
Parse: Conjunction Root: ὅτι Sense: that, because, since. |
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φειδόμενος | sparing |
Parse: Verb, Present Participle Middle or Passive, Nominative Masculine Singular Root: φείδομαι Sense: to spare. |
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οὐκέτι | not yet |
Parse: Adverb Root: οὐκέτι Sense: no longer, no more, no further. |
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ἦλθον | have I come |
Parse: Verb, Aorist Indicative Active, 1st Person Singular Root: ἔρχομαι Sense: to come. |
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Κόρινθον | Corinth |
Parse: Noun, Accusative Feminine Singular Root: Κόρινθος Sense: an ancient and famous city of Greece, on the Isthmus of Corinth, and about 40 miles (65 km) west of Athens. |
Greek Commentary for 2 Corinthians 1:23
Solemn attestation, “calling heaven to witness is frequent in literature from Homer onwards” (Plummer). Thus God is described above (cf. 1 Thessalonians 2:5, 1 Thessalonians 2:10; Romans 1:9; Galatians 1:20; Philemon 1:8). [source]
Present middle participle (causal rather than final) of πειδομαι pheidomai old verb, to hold back, to spare. Ablative case υμων humōn f0). [source]
Rev., better, witness. A common classical idiom. Compare Plato: “Next will follow the choir of young men under the age of thirty, who will call upon the god Paean to testify to the truth of these words” (“Laws,” 664). Homer: “For the gods will be the best witnesses” (“Iliad,” xxii., 254). Compare Romans 1:9; Galatians 1:20; Philemon 1:8; 1 Thessalonians 2:5, 1 Thessalonians 2:10; Genesis 31:50, Sept. This particular form of expression occurs nowhere else in the New Testament. The verb is often translated appeal, as Acts 25:11, Acts 25:12. Also to call upon, in the sense of supplication, Romans 10:12, Romans 10:13, Romans 10:14; 1 Corinthians 1:2. [source]
Reverse Greek Commentary Search for 2 Corinthians 1:23
Not by Christ, as the formula of an oath, Christ being never used by the apostles in such a formula, but God. Romans 1:9; 2 Corinthians 1:23; 2 Corinthians 11:31; Philemon 1:8. For this favorite expression of Paul, see Galatians 2:17; 1 Corinthians 1:2; 2 Corinthians 2:14, 2 Corinthians 2:17; 2 Corinthians 12:19, etc. [source]
From ψύχω tobreathe or blow. In classical usage it signifies life in the distinctness of individual existence, especially of man, occasionally of brutes. Hence, generally, the life of the individual. In the further development of the idea it becomes, instead of the body, the seat of the will, dispositions, desires, passions; and, combined with the σῶμα bodydenotes the constituent parts of humanity. Hence the morally endowed individuality of man which continues after death. Scripture. In the Old Testament, answering to nephesh primarily life, breath; therefore life in its distinct individuality; life as such, distinguished from other men and from inanimate nature. Not the principle of life, but that which bears in itself and manifests the life-principle. Hence spirit (ruach πνεῦμα ) in the Old Testament never signifies the individual. Soul ( ψυχή ), of itself, does not constitute personality, but only when it is the soul of a human being. Human personality is derived from spirit ( πνεῦμα ), and finds expression in soul or life ( ψυχή ). -DIVIDER- -DIVIDER- The New-Testament usage follows the Old, in denoting all individuals from the point of view of individual life. Thus the phrase πᾶσα ψυχή everysoul, i.e., every person (Romans 2:9; Romans 13:1), marking them off from inanimate nature. So Romans 11:3; Romans 16:4; 2 Corinthians 1:23; 2 Corinthians 12:15; Philemon 2:30; 1 Thessalonians 2:8, illustrate an Old-Testament usage whereby the soul is the seat of personality, and is employed instead of the personal pronoun, with a collateral notion of value as individual personality. -DIVIDER- -DIVIDER- These and other passages are opposed to the view which limits the term to a mere animal life-principle. See Ephesians 6:6; Colossians 3:23; the compounds σύμψυχοι withone soul; ἰσοψύχον like-minded(Philemon 1:27; Philemon 2:20), where personal interest and accord of feeling are indicated, and not lower elements of personality. See, especially 1 Thessalonians 5:23. -DIVIDER- -DIVIDER- As to the distinction between ψυχή souland πνεῦμα spiritit is to be said:-DIVIDER- 1. That there are cases where the meanings approach very closely, if they are not practically synonymous; especially where the individual life is referred to. See Luke 1:47; John 11:33, and John 12:27; Matthew 11:29, and 1 Corinthians 16:18. -DIVIDER- -DIVIDER- 2. That the distinction is to be rejected which rests on the restriction of ψυχή to the principle of animal life. This cannot be maintained in the face of 1 Corinthians 15:45; 1 Corinthians 2:14, in which latter the kindred adjective ψυχικός naturalhas reference to the faculty of discerning spiritual truth. In both cases the antithesis is πνεῦμα spiritin the ethical sense, requiring an enlargement of the conception of ψυχικός naturalbeyond that of σαρκικός fleshlyThat ψυχή soulmust not be distinguished from πνεῦμα ; spirit as being alone subject to the dominion of sin, since the πνεῦμα is described as being subject to such dominion. See 2 Corinthians 7:1. So 1 Thessalonians 5:23; 1 Corinthians 7:34, imply that the spirit needs sanctification. Compare Ephesians 4:23. -DIVIDER- -DIVIDER- 4. Ψυχή soulis never used of God like πνεῦμα spiritIt is used of Christ, but always with reference to His humanity. -DIVIDER- -DIVIDER- Whatever distinction there is, therefore, is not between a higher and a lower element in man. It is rather between two sides of the one immaterial nature which stands in contrast with the body. Spirit expresses the conception of that nature more generally, being used both of the earthly and of the non-earthly spirit, while soul designates it on the side of the creature. In this view ψυχή soulis akin to σάρξ , flesh, “not as respects the notion conveyed by them, but as respects their value as they both stand at the same stage of creatureliness in contradistinction to God.” Hence the distinction follows that of the Old Testament between soul and spirit as viewed from two different points: the soul regarded as an individual possession, distinguishing the holder from other men and from inanimate nature; the spirit regarded as coming directly from God and returning to Him. “The former indicates the life-principle simply as subsistent, the latter marks its relation to God.” Spirit and not soul is the point of contact with the regenerating forces of the Holy Spirit; the point from which the whole personality is moved round so as to face God. -DIVIDER- -DIVIDER- Ψυχή soulis thus:-DIVIDER- 1. The individual life, the seat of the personality. -DIVIDER- -DIVIDER- 2. The subject of the life, the person in which it dwells. -DIVIDER- -DIVIDER- 3. The mind as the sentient principle, the seat of sensation and desire. -DIVIDER- -DIVIDER- [source]
No word for “I protest.” Paul takes solemn oath by the use of νη nē (common in Attic) with the accusative. Only here in N.T., but in lxx (Genesis 42:15f.). For other solemn oaths by Paul see 2 Corinthians 1:18; 2 Corinthians 1:23; 2 Corinthians 11:10.; 2 Corinthians 11:31; Romans 9:1. For καυχησις kauchēsis see note on 1 Thessalonians 2:19. The possessive pronoun (υμετεραν humeteran) is objective as εμην emēn in 1 Corinthians 11:24. [source]
Meaning, apparently, the apostle's own sorrowful state of mind. This is wrong. He refers to the sorrow which his coming would bring to the Church. Compare to spare, 2 Corinthians 1:23. Rev., with sorrow. [source]
The list seems so absurd and foolish that Paul takes solemn oath about it (cf. 2 Corinthians 1:23). For the doxology see note on Romans 1:25, note on Romans 9:5. [source]
Comp. Romans 1:9; 2 Corinthians 1:23; Philemon 1:8; 1 Thessalonians 2:10. God or the Lord is witness is a common O.T. formula: see Genesis 31:44, Genesis 31:50; 1 Samuel 12:5, 1 Samuel 12:6; 1 Samuel 20:23, 1 Samuel 20:42; Wisd. 1:6. For testimony to his conduct, he appeals to the Thessalonians (as ye know )testimony to his motives, he appeals to God. Comp. 1 Thessalonians 2:10, where there is the double appeal. [source]
Pretext This is the charge of self-interest rather than the mere desire to please people. Pretext of greediness is Frame‘s translation. Πλεονεχια Pleonexia is merely “having more” from πλεονεκτης pleonektēs one eager for more, and πλεονεκτεω pleonekteō to have more, then to over-reach, all old words, all with bad meaning as the result of the desire for more. In a preacher this sin is especially fatal. Paul feels so strongly his innocence of this charge that he calls God as witness as in 2 Corinthians 1:23; Romans 9:1; Philemon 1:8, a solemn oath for his own veracity. [source]