3:1 Are we beginning to commend ourselves again? We don’t need letters of recommendation to you or from you as some other people do, do we? 11
6:1 Now because we are fellow workers, we also urge you not to receive the grace of God in vain. 16
13:1 This is the third time I am coming to visit 25 you. By the testimony 26 of two or three witnesses every matter will be established. 27
1 tn Because of the length and complexity of the Greek sentence, the relative clause “who delivered us…” was made a separate sentence in the translation.
2 tn Grk “deliver us, on whom we have set our hope.”
3 tc Several important witnesses, especially Alexandrian (Ì46 B D* 0121 0243 1739 1881 pc Did), lack ὅτι ({oti, “that”) here, while others, most notably Western (D1 F G 104 630 1505 pc ar b syh Or Ambst), lack ἔτι (eti, “yet”). Most
4 tn Grk “come again.”
7 tn Or “first installment,” “pledge,” “deposit.”
10 tn Or “to cheer me up.” L&N 25.131 translates this “For if I were to make you sad, who would be left to cheer me up?”
13 tn Or “(not to say too much)”; Grk “(not to burden you [with words]).”
16 tn Grk “so that on the other hand.”
17 tn The word “him” is not in the Greek text but is supplied. Direct objects in Greek were often omitted and must be supplied from the context.
18 tn Grk “comfort him, lest somehow such a person be swallowed up by excessive grief,” an idiom for a person being so overcome with grief as to despair or give up completely (L&N 25.285). In this context of excessive grief or regret for past sins, “overwhelmed” is a good translation since contemporary English idiom speaks of someone “overwhelmed by grief.” Because of the length of the Greek sentence and the difficulty of expressing a negative purpose/result clause in English, a new sentence was started here in the translation.
19 tn The Greek construction anticipates a negative reply (“No, we do not”) which is indicated in the translation by the ‘tag’ at the end, “do we?”
22 tn Grk “speak, because.” A new sentence was started here in the translation, with the words “We do so” supplied to preserve the connection with the preceding statement.
23 tc ‡ Several important witnesses (א C D F G Ψ 1881), as well as the Byzantine text, add κύριον (kurion) here, changing the reading to “the Lord Jesus.” Although the external evidence in favor of the shorter reading is slim, the witnesses are important, early, and diverse (Ì46 B [0243 33] 629 [630] 1175* [1739] pc r sa). Very likely scribes with pietistic motives added the word κύριον, as they were prone to do, thus compounding this title for the Lord.
25 tn Grk “for this very thing.”
26 tn Or “first installment,” “pledge,” “deposit” (see the note on the phrase “down payment” in 1:22).
28 tn Or “receive the grace of God uselessly.”
31 tn Or “comforts,” “consoles.”
32 tn Or “comforted,” “consoled.”
34 tn “This” refers to sending the brother mentioned in 2 Cor 8:18 to Corinth along with Titus. The words “We did this” have no equivalent in the Greek text, but are necessary to maintain the thought flow in English. The Greek participle that begins v. 20 continues the sentence begun in v. 18 which concerns the sending of the other brother mentioned there.
37 tn Grk “If concerning Titus” (εἴτε ὑπὲρ Τίτου, eite Juper Titou); the Greek sentence opens with an ellipsis which must be supplied: If [there is any question] about Titus.”
38 tn Grk “apostles.”
40 tn Grk “the extraordinary grace of God to you”; the point is that God has given or shown grace to the Corinthians.
43 sn Unskilled in speaking means not professionally trained as a rhetorician.
46 tn Grk “souls.”
49 tn The word “visit” is not in the Greek text, but is implied.
50 tn Grk “By the mouth.”
51 sn A quotation from Deut 19:15 (also quoted in Matt 18:16; 1 Tim 5:19).