KJV: For his letters, say they, are weighty and powerful; but his bodily presence is weak, and his speech contemptible.
YLT: because the letters indeed -- saith one -- are weighty and strong, and the bodily presence weak, and the speech despicable.'
Darby: because his letters, he says, are weighty and strong, but his presence in the body weak, and his speech naught.
ASV: For, His letters, they say, are weighty and strong; but his bodily presence is weak, and his speech of no account.
| ἐπιστολαὶ | letters |
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Parse: Noun, Nominative Feminine Plural Root: ἐπιστολή Sense: a letter, epistle. |
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| μέν | indeed |
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Parse: Conjunction Root: μέν Sense: truly, certainly, surely, indeed. |
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| φησίν | they say |
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Parse: Verb, Present Indicative Active, 3rd Person Singular Root: φημί Sense: to make known one’s thoughts, to declare. |
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| Βαρεῖαι | [are] weighty |
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Parse: Adjective, Nominative Feminine Plural Root: βαρύς Sense: heavy in weight. |
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| ἰσχυραί | strong |
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Parse: Adjective, Nominative Feminine Plural Root: ἰσχυρός Sense: strong, mighty. |
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| ἡ | - |
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Parse: Article, Nominative Feminine Singular Root: ὁ Sense: this, that, these, etc. |
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| παρουσία | the presence |
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Parse: Noun, Nominative Feminine Singular Root: παρουσία Sense: presence. |
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| τοῦ | of the |
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Parse: Article, Genitive Neuter Singular Root: ὁ Sense: this, that, these, etc. |
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| σώματος | body |
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Parse: Noun, Genitive Neuter Singular Root: σῶμα Sense: the body both of men or animals. |
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| ἀσθενὴς | weak |
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Parse: Adjective, Nominative Feminine Singular Root: ἀσθενής Sense: weak, infirm, feeble. |
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| λόγος | speech |
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Parse: Noun, Nominative Masculine Singular Root: λόγος Sense: of speech. |
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| ἐξουθενημένος | having been ignored |
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Parse: Verb, Perfect Participle Middle or Passive, Nominative Masculine Singular Root: ἐξουθενέω Sense: to make of no account, despise utterly. |
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Greek Commentary for 2 Corinthians 10:10
(phasin). Reading of B old Latin Vulgate, but Westcott and Hort prefer πασιν phēsin (says one, the leader). This charge Paul quotes directly. [source]
These adjectives can be uncomplimentary and mean “severe and violent” instead of “impressive and vigorous.” The adjectives bear either sense. His bodily presence (βαρειαι και ισχυραι hē parousia tou sōmatos). This certainly is uncomplimentary. “The presence of his body.” It seems clear that Paul did not have a commanding appearance like that of Barnabas (Acts 14:12). He had some physical defect of the eyes (Galatians 4:14) and a thorn in the flesh (2 Corinthians 12:7). In the second century Acts of Paul and Thecla he is pictured as small, short, bow-legged, with eye-brows knit together, and an aquiline nose. A forgery of the fourth century in the name of Lucian describes Paul as “the bald-headed, hook-nosed Galilean.” However that may be, his accusers sneered at his personal appearance as “weak” (η παρουσια του σωματος asthenēs). His speech of no account Perfect passive participle of ο λογος εχουτενημενος exoutheneō to treat as nothing (cf. 1 Corinthians 1:28). The Corinthians (some of them) cared more for the brilliant eloquence of Apollos and did not find Paul a trained rhetorician (1 Corinthians 1:17; 1 Corinthians 2:1, 1 Corinthians 2:4; 2 Corinthians 11:6). He made different impressions on different people. “Seldom has any one been at once so ardently hated and so passionately loved as St. Paul” (Deissmann, St. Paul, p. 70). “At one time he seemed like a man, and at another he seemed like an angel” (Acts of Paul and Thecla). He spoke like a god at Lystra (Acts 14:8-12), but Eutychus went to sleep on him (Acts 20:9). Evidently Paul winced under this biting criticism of his looks and speech. [source]
This certainly is uncomplimentary. “The presence of his body.” It seems clear that Paul did not have a commanding appearance like that of Barnabas (Acts 14:12). He had some physical defect of the eyes (Galatians 4:14) and a thorn in the flesh (2 Corinthians 12:7). In the second century Acts of Paul and Thecla he is pictured as small, short, bow-legged, with eye-brows knit together, and an aquiline nose. A forgery of the fourth century in the name of Lucian describes Paul as “the bald-headed, hook-nosed Galilean.” However that may be, his accusers sneered at his personal appearance as “weak” (η παρουσια του σωματος asthenēs). [source]
Perfect passive participle of ο λογος εχουτενημενος exoutheneō to treat as nothing (cf. 1 Corinthians 1:28). The Corinthians (some of them) cared more for the brilliant eloquence of Apollos and did not find Paul a trained rhetorician (1 Corinthians 1:17; 1 Corinthians 2:1, 1 Corinthians 2:4; 2 Corinthians 11:6). He made different impressions on different people. “Seldom has any one been at once so ardently hated and so passionately loved as St. Paul” (Deissmann, St. Paul, p. 70). “At one time he seemed like a man, and at another he seemed like an angel” (Acts of Paul and Thecla). He spoke like a god at Lystra (Acts 14:8-12), but Eutychus went to sleep on him (Acts 20:9). Evidently Paul winced under this biting criticism of his looks and speech. [source]
The correct reading is φησί sayshe. The Revisers retain they say, but read φησί hesays in their text. The reference is to some well-known opponent. Compare one, any one in 2 Corinthians 10:7; 2 Corinthians 11:20. The only instance of the very words used by Paul's adversaries. [source]
In classical Greek, besides the physical sense of heavy, the word very generally implies something painful or oppressive. As applied to persons, severe, stern. In later Greek it has sometimes the meaning of grave or dignified, and by the later Greek rhetoricians it was applied to oratory, in the sense of impressive, as here. [source]
“No one can even cursorily read St. Paul's epistles without observing that he was aware of something in his aspect or his personality which distressed him with an agony of humiliation - something which seems to force him, against every natural instinct of his disposition, into language which sounds to himself like a boastfulness which was abhorrent to him, but which he finds to be more necessary to himself than to other men. It is as though he felt that his appearance was against him … . His language leaves on us the impression of one who was acutely sensitive, and whose sensitiveness of temperament has been aggravated by a meanness of presence which is indeed forgotten by the friends who know him, but which raises in strangers a prejudice not always overcome” (Farrar). [source]
All the traditions as to Paul's personal appearance are late. A bronze medal discovered in the cemetery of St. Domitilla at Rome, and ascribed to the first or second century, represents the apostle with a bald, round, well-developed head; rather long, curling beard; high forehead; prominent nose; and open, staring eye. The intellectual character of the face is emphasized by the contrast with the portrait of Peter, which faces Paul's. Peter's forehead is flat, the head not so finely developed, the face commonplace, the cheek bones high, the eye small, and the hair and beard short, thick, and curling. An ivory diptych of the fourth century, reproduced in Mr. Lewin's “Life of Paul,” contains two portraits. In the one he is sitting in an official chair, with uplifted hand and two fingers raised, apparently in the act of ordination. The face is oval, the beard long and pointed, the moustache full, the forehead high, the head bald, and the eyes small and weak. The other portrait represents him in the act of throwing off the viper. A forgery of the fourth century, under the name of Lucian, alludes to him as “the bald-headed, hooknosed Galilean.” In the “Apocryphal Acts of the Apostles” mention is made of one Dioscorus, the bald shipmaster, who followed Paul to Rome, and was mistaken for him and beheaded in his stead. In the “Acts of Paul and Thekla,” a third-century romance, he is described as “short, bald, bowlegged, with meeting eyebrows, hook-nosed, full of grace.” John of Antioch, in the sixth century, says that he was round-shouldered, with aquiline nose, greyish eyes, meeting eyebrows, and ample beard. [source]
Lit., made nothing of. Rev., of no account. [source]
Reverse Greek Commentary Search for 2 Corinthians 10:10
Originally, presence, from παρεῖναι , to be present. In this sense in Philemon 2:12; 2 Corinthians 10:10. Also arrival, as in 1 Corinthians 16:17; 2 Corinthians 7:6, 2 Corinthians 7:7; 2 Thessalonians 2:9; 2 Peter 3:12. Of the second coming of Christ: James 5:8; 1 John 2:28; 2 Peter 3:4; 1 Thessalonians 4:15. [source]
Lit., the leader in discourse. Barnabas was called Jupiter, possibly because his personal appearance was more imposing than Paul's (see 2 Corinthians 10:1, 2 Corinthians 10:10), and also because Jupiter and Mercury were commonly represented as companions in their visits to earth. [source]
Only here in New Testament. The word is used in Greek literature in several senses. As λόγος means either reason or speech, so this derivative may signify either one who has thought much, and has much to say, or one who can say it well. Hence it is used: 1. Of one skilled in history. Herodotus, for example, says that the Heliopolitans are the most learned in history ( λογιώτατοι ) of all the Egyptians. 2. Of an eloquent person. An epithet of Hermes or Mercury, as the god of speech and eloquence. 3. Of a learned person generally. There seems hardly sufficient reason for changing the rendering of the A. V. (Rev., learned )especially as the scripture-learning of Apollos is specified in the words mighty in the scriptures, and his superior eloquence appears to have been the reason why some of the Corinthians preferred him to Paul. See 1 Corinthians 1:12; 1 Corinthians 2:4; 2 Corinthians 10:10. [source]
Both verbs, single act and then process. Luke here condenses what was probably a whole year of Paul‘s life and work as we gather from II Corinthians, one of Paul‘s “weighty and powerful” letters as his enemies called them (2 Corinthians 10:10). “This epistle more than any other is a revelation of S. Paul‘s own heart: it is his spiritual autobiography and apologia pro vita sua.” [source]
Because Barnabas was the older and the more imposing in appearance. Paul admits that he was not impressive in looks (2 Corinthians 10:10). And Paul, Mercury (τον δε Παυλον ερμην ton de Paulon Hermēn). Mercury (ερμης Hermēs) was the messenger of the gods, and the spokesman of Zeus. ερμης Hermēs was of beautiful appearance and eloquent in speech, the inventor of speech in legend. Our word hermeneutics or science of interpretation comes from this word (Hebrews 7:2; John 1:38). Because he was the chief speaker Paul was clearly “the leader of the talk.” So it seemed a clear case to the natives. If preachers always knew what people really think of them! Whether Paul was alluding to his experience in Lystra or not in Galatians 4:14, certainly they did receive him as an angel of God, as if “Mercury” in reality. [source]
First aorist middle participle of ασπαζομαι aspazomai old verb from α a intensive and σπαω spaō to draw, to draw to oneself in embrace either in greeting or farewell. Here it is in farewell as in Acts 21:6. Salutation in Acts 21:7, Acts 21:19. Departed for to go into Macedonia (εχηλτεν πορευεσται εις Μακεδονιαν exēlthen poreuesthai eis Makedonian). Both verbs, single act and then process. Luke here condenses what was probably a whole year of Paul‘s life and work as we gather from II Corinthians, one of Paul‘s “weighty and powerful” letters as his enemies called them (2 Corinthians 10:10). “This epistle more than any other is a revelation of S. Paul‘s own heart: it is his spiritual autobiography and apologia pro vita sua.” [source]
Second perfect active participle of ιστημι histēmi to place, but intransitive to stand. Dramatic scene. Paul had faced many audiences and crowds, but never one quite like this. Most men would have feared to speak, but not so Paul. He will speak about himself only as it gives him a chance to put Christ before this angry Jewish mob who look on Paul as a renegade Jew, a turncoat, a deserter, who went back on Gamaliel and all the traditions of his people, who not only turned from Judaism to Christianity, but who went after Gentiles and treated Gentiles as if they were on a par with Jews. Paul knows only too well what this mob thinks of him. Beckoned with the hand (κατεσεισε τηι χειρι kateseise tēi cheiri). He shook down to the multitude with the hand (instrumental case χειρι cheiri), while Alexander, Luke says (Acts 19:33), “shook down the hand” (accusative with the same verb, which see). In Acts 26:1 Paul reached out the hand (εκτεινας την χειρα ekteinas tēn cheira). When there was made a great silence Genitive absolute again with second aorist middle participle of γινομαι ginomai “much silence having come.” Paul waited till silence had come. In the Hebrew language (τηι Εβραιδι διαλεκτωι tēi Ebraidi dialektōi). The Aramaean which the people in Jerusalem knew better than the Greek. Paul could use either tongue at will. His enemies had said in Corinth that “his bodily presence was weak and his speech contemptible” (2 Corinthians 10:10). But surely even they would have to admit that Paul‘s stature and words reach heroic proportions on this occasion. Self-possessed with majestic poise Paul faces the outraged mob beneath the stairs. [source]
Genitive absolute again with second aorist middle participle of γινομαι ginomai “much silence having come.” Paul waited till silence had come. In the Hebrew language (τηι Εβραιδι διαλεκτωι tēi Ebraidi dialektōi). The Aramaean which the people in Jerusalem knew better than the Greek. Paul could use either tongue at will. His enemies had said in Corinth that “his bodily presence was weak and his speech contemptible” (2 Corinthians 10:10). But surely even they would have to admit that Paul‘s stature and words reach heroic proportions on this occasion. Self-possessed with majestic poise Paul faces the outraged mob beneath the stairs. [source]
The Aramaean which the people in Jerusalem knew better than the Greek. Paul could use either tongue at will. His enemies had said in Corinth that “his bodily presence was weak and his speech contemptible” (2 Corinthians 10:10). But surely even they would have to admit that Paul‘s stature and words reach heroic proportions on this occasion. Self-possessed with majestic poise Paul faces the outraged mob beneath the stairs. [source]
Σῶμα in earlier classical usage signifies a corpse. So always in Homer and often in later Greek. So in the New Testament, Matthew 6:25; Mark 5:29; Mark 14:8; Mark 15:43. It is used of men as slaves, Revelation 18:13. Also in classical Greek of the sum-total. So Plato: τὸ τοῦ κόσμου σῶμα thesum-total of the world (“Timaeus,” 31). The meaning is tinged in some cases by the fact of the vital union of the body with the immaterial nature, as being animated by the ψυξή soulthe principle of individual life. Thus Matthew 6:25, where the two are conceived as forming one organism, so that the material ministries which are predicated of the one are predicated of the other, and the meanings of the two merge into one another. -DIVIDER- -DIVIDER- In Paul it can scarcely be said to be used of a dead body, except in a figurative sense, as Romans 8:10, or by inference, 2 Corinthians 5:8. Commonly of a living body. It occurs with ψυχή soulonly 1 Thessalonians 5:23, and there its distinction from ψυχή rather than its union with it is implied. So in Matthew 10:28, though even there the distinction includes the two as one personality. It is used by Paul:-DIVIDER- 1. Of the living human body, Romans 4:19; 1 Corinthians 6:13; 1 Corinthians 9:27; 1 Corinthians 12:12-26. -DIVIDER- -DIVIDER- 2. Of the Church as the body of Christ, Romans 12:5; 1 Corinthians 12:27; Ephesians 1:23; Colossians 1:18, etc. Σάρξ fleshnever in this sense. -DIVIDER- -DIVIDER- 3. Of plants and heavenly bodies, 1 Corinthians 15:37, 1 Corinthians 15:40. -DIVIDER- -DIVIDER- 4. Of the glorified body of Christ, Philemon 3:21. -DIVIDER- -DIVIDER- 5. Of the spiritual body of risen believers, 1 Corinthians 15:44. -DIVIDER- -DIVIDER- It is distinguished from σάρξ fleshas not being limited to the organism of an earthly, living body, 1 Corinthians 15:37, 1 Corinthians 15:38. It is the material organism apart from any definite matter. It is however sometimes used as practically synonymous with σάρξ , 1 Corinthians 7:16, 1 Corinthians 7:17; Ephesians 5:28, Ephesians 5:31; 2 Corinthians 4:10, 2 Corinthians 4:11. Compare 1 Corinthians 5:3with Colossians 2:5. An ethical conception attaches to it. It is alternated with μέλη membersand the two are associated with sin (Romans 1:24; Romans 6:6; Romans 7:5, Romans 7:24; Romans 8:13; Colossians 3:5), and with sanctification (Romans 12:1; 1 Corinthians 6:19sq.; compare 1 Thessalonians 4:4; 1 Thessalonians 5:23). It is represented as mortal, Romans 8:11; 2 Corinthians 10:10; and as capable of life, 1 Corinthians 13:3; 2 Corinthians 4:10. -DIVIDER- -DIVIDER- In common with μέλη membersit is the instrument of feeling and willing rather than σάρξ , because the object in such cases is to designate the body not definitely as earthly, but generally as organic, Romans 6:12, Romans 6:13, Romans 6:19; 2 Corinthians 5:10. Hence, wherever it is viewed with reference to sin or sanctification, it is the outward organ for the execution of the good or bad resolves of the will. -DIVIDER- -DIVIDER- The phrase body of sin denotes the body belonging to, or ruled by, the power of sin, in which the members are instruments of unrighteousness (Romans 6:13). Not the body as containing the principle of evil in our humanity, since Paul does not regard sin as inherent in, and inseparable from, the body (see Romans 6:13; 2 Corinthians 4:10-12; 2 Corinthians 7:1. Compare Matthew 15:19), nor as precisely identical with the old man, an organism or system of evil dispositions, which does not harmonize with Romans 6:12, Romans 6:13, where Paul uses body in the strict sense. “Sin is conceived as the master, to whom the body as slave belongs and is obedient to execute its will. As the slave must perform his definite functions, not because he in himself can perform no others, but because of His actually subsistent relationship of service he may perform no others, while of himself he might belong as well to another master and render other services; so the earthly σῶμα bodybelongs not of itself to the ἁμαρτία sinbut may just as well belong to the Lord (1 Corinthians 6:13), and doubtless it is de facto enslaved to sin, so long as a redemption from this state has not set in by virtue of the divine Spirit” (Romans 7:24: Dickson).DestroyedSee on Romans 3:3.He that is dead ( ὁ ἀποθανὼν )Rev., literally, he that hath died. In a physical sense. Death and its consequences are used as the general illustration of the spiritual truth. It is a habit of Paul to throw in such general illustrations. See Romans 7:2. [source]
Explanatory use of λεγω legō Each has his party leader. Απολλω Apollō is genitive of Απολλως Apollōs (Acts 18:24), probably abbreviation of Απολλωνιυς Apollōnius as seen in Codex Bezae for Acts 18:24. See note on Acts 18:24 for discussion of this “eloquent Alexandrian” (Ellicott), whose philosophical and oratorical preaching was in contrast “with the studied plainness” of Paul (1 Corinthians 2:1; 2 Corinthians 10:10). People naturally have different tastes about styles of preaching and that is well, but Apollos refused to be a party to this strife and soon returned to Ephesus and refused to go back to Corinth (1 Corinthians 16:12). Χηπα Cēphā is the genitive of Χηπας Cēphās the Aramaic name given Simon by Jesus (John 1:42), Πετρος Petros in Greek. Except in Galatians 2:7, Galatians 2:8 Paul calls him Cephas. He had already taken his stand with Paul in the Jerusalem Conference (Acts 15:7-11; Galatians 2:7-10). Paul had to rebuke him at Antioch for his timidity because of the Judaizers (Galatians 2:11-14), but, in spite of Baur‘s theory, there is no evidence of a schism in doctrine between Paul and Peter. If 2 Peter 3:15. be accepted as genuine, as I do, there is proof of cordial relations between them and 1 Corinthians 9:5 points in the same direction. But there is no evidence that Peter himself visited Corinth. Judaizers came and pitted Peter against Paul to the Corinthian Church on the basis of Paul‘s rebuke of Peter in Antioch. These Judaizers made bitter personal attacks on Paul in return for their defeat at the Jerusalem Conference. So a third faction was formed by the use of Peter‘s name as the really orthodox wing of the church, the gospel of the circumcision. [source]
Locative case with ιδιωτης idiōtēs for which word see note on Acts 4:13; note on 1 Corinthians 14:16, note on 1 Corinthians 14:23, and 1 Corinthians 14:24. The Greeks regarded a man as ιδιωτης idiōtēs who just attended to his own affairs (τα ιδια ta idia) and took no part in public life. Paul admits that he is not a professional orator (cf. 2 Corinthians 10:10), but denies that he is unskilled in knowledge (αλλ ου τηι γνωσει all' ou tēi gnōsei). [source]
See note on Matthew 11:29. Literally, low on the ground in old sense (Ezekiel 17:24). Low in condition as here; James 1:9. In 2 Corinthians 10:1 regarded as abject. In this sense in papyri. “Humility as a sovereign grace is the creation of Christianity” (Gladstone, Life, iii, p. 466). By the coming (en tēi parousiāi). Same use of parousia as in 1 Corinthians 16:7 which see. See also 2 Corinthians 7:7; 2 Corinthians 10:10. [source]
Same use of parousia as in 1 Corinthians 16:7 which see. See also 2 Corinthians 7:7; 2 Corinthians 10:10. [source]
Commonly explained by making both verbs govern your temptation. Thus the meaning would be: “You were tempted to treat my preaching contemptuously because of my bodily infirmity; but you did not despise nor reject that which was a temptation to you.” This is extremely far fetched, awkward, and quite without parallel in Paul's writings or elsewhere. It does not suit the following but received me, etc. It lays the stress on the Galatians' resistance of a temptation to despise Paul; whereas the idea of a temptation is incidental. On this construction we should rather expect Paul to say: “Ye did despise and repudiate this temptation.” Better, make your temptation, etc., dependent on ye know (Galatians 4:13); place a colon after flesh, and make both verbs govern me in the following clause. Rend. “Ye know how through infirmity of the flesh I preached the gospel to you the first time, and (ye know) your temptation which was in my flesh: ye did not despise nor reject me, but received me.” The last clause thus forms one of a series of short and detached clauses beginning with Galatians 4:10. Ὁυκ ἐξουθενήσατε yedid not set at nought, from οὐδέν nothingThe form οὐθέν occurs Luke 22:35; Luke 23:14; Acts 19:27; Acts 26:26; 1 Corinthians 13:2; 2 Corinthians 11:8. For the compound here, comp. Luke 18:9; Luke 23:11; Acts 4:11; 2 Corinthians 10:10. oClass. Ἑξεπτύσατε spurnedN.T.oLit. spat out. A strong metaphor, adding the idea of contempt to that of setting at nought. Comp. Hom. Od. v. 322; Aristoph. Wasps, 792. The two verbs express contemptuous indifference. Ἑμέσαι tovomit, as a figure of contemptuous rejection, is found in Revelation 3:16. The simple πτύειν tospit only in the literal sense in N.T. Mark 7:33; Mark 8:23; John 9:6, and no other compound occurs. [source]
Lit. being able to be in weight. The phrase ἐν βάρει inweight is unique in N.T., and does not occur in lxx. The better rendering here is to be in authority. Paul means that his position as an apostle would have warranted him in asserting authority or standing on his dignity, which he did not do. Βάρος weightin the sense of influence, is found in late Greek. Paul's Epistles were called weighty ( βαρεῖαι ), 2 Corinthians 10:10: others explain as referring to the apostolic right to exact pecuniary support. [source]
This word παρουσια parousia is untechnical (just presence from παρειμι pareimi) in 2 Thessalonians 2:9; 1 Corinthians 16:17; 2 Corinthians 7:6.; 2 Corinthians 10:10; Philemon 1:26; Philemon 2:12. But here (also 1 Thessalonians 3:13; 1 Thessalonians 4:15; 1 Thessalonians 5:23; 2 Thessalonians 2:1, 2 Thessalonians 2:8; 1 Corinthians 15:23) we have the technical sense of the second coming of Christ. Deissmann (Light from the Ancient East, pp. 372ff.) notes that the word in the papyri is almost technical for the arrival of a king or ruler who expects to receive his “crown of coming.” The Thessalonians, Paul says, will be his crown, glory, joy when Jesus comes. [source]
Lit., heavy. The word occurs six times in the New Testament. Acts 20:29, violent, rapacious; “grievous wolves”: 2 Corinthians 10:10, weighty, impressive, of Paul's letters: Matthew 23:23; Acts 25:7, important, serious; the weightier matters of the law; serious charges against Paul. [source]
Lit., presence. So 2 Corinthians 10:10. Hence, the presence of one coming, and so coming, especially in the New Testament, of the future, visible return of our Lord to raise the dead, judge the world, and finally establish the kingdom of God. The word does not occur elsewhere in John, nor does he use ἐπιφάνεια , which is Paul's word for the same event. [source]
“Not heavy,” the adjective in Matthew 23:4 with πορτια phortia (burdens), with λυποι lupoi (wolves) in Acts 20:29, of Paul‘s letters in 2 Corinthians 10:10, of the charges against Paul in Acts 25:7. Love for God lightens his commands. [source]