10:1 Now I, Paul, appeal to you 1 personally 2 by the meekness and gentleness 3 of Christ (I who am meek 4 when present among 5 you, but am full of courage 6 toward you when away!) – 10:2 now I ask that when I am present I may not have to be bold with the confidence that (I expect) I will dare to use against some who consider us to be behaving 7 according to human standards. 8 10:3 For though we live 9 as human beings, 10 we do not wage war according to human standards, 11 10:4 for the weapons of our warfare are not human weapons, 12 but are made powerful by God 13 for tearing down strongholds. 14 We tear down arguments 15 10:5 and every arrogant obstacle 16 that is raised up against the knowledge of God, and we take every thought captive to make it obey 17 Christ. 10:6 We are also ready to punish every act of disobedience, 18 whenever your obedience is complete. 10:7 You are looking at outward appearances. 19 If anyone is confident that he belongs to Christ, he should reflect on this again: Just as he himself belongs to Christ, so too do we.
1 tn The Greek pronoun (“you”) is plural.
2 tn The word “personally” is supplied to reflect the force of the Greek intensive pronoun αὐτός (autos) at the beginning of the verse.
3 tn Or “leniency and clemency.” D. Walker, “Paul’s Offer of Leniency of Christ (2 Corinthians 10:1): Populist Ideology and Rhetoric in a Pauline Letter Fragment (2 Cor 10:1-13:10)” (Ph.D. diss., University of Chicago, 1998), argues for this alternative translation for three main reasons: (1) When the two Greek nouns πραΰτης and ἐπιείκεια (prauth" and ejpieikeia) are used together, 90% of the time the nuance is “leniency and clemency.” (2) “Leniency and clemency” has a military connotation, which is precisely what appears in the following verses. (3) 2 Cor 10-13 speaks of Paul’s sparing use of his authority, which points to the nuance of “leniency and clemency.”
4 tn Or “who lack confidence.”
5 tn Or “when face to face with.”
6 tn Or “but bold.”
7 tn Grk “consider us as walking.”
8 tn Grk “according to the flesh.”
9 tn Grk “we walk.”
10 tn Grk “in the flesh.”
11 tn Grk “according to the flesh.”
12 tn Grk “are not fleshly [weapons].” The repetition of the word “warfare” does not occur in the Greek text, but is supplied for clarity.
13 tn Or “but (are) divinely powerful,” “but they have divine power,” or “but are powerful for God’s [service]”; Grk “but are powerful to God.”
14 sn Ultimately Paul is referring here to the false arguments of his opponents, calling them figuratively “strongholds.” This Greek word (ὀχύρωμα, ocurwma) is used only here in the NT.
15 tn Or “speculations.”
16 tn The phrase “every arrogant obstacle” could be translated simply “all arrogance” (so L&N 88.207).
17 tn Grk “to the obedience of Christ”; but since Χριστοῦ (Cristou) is clearly an objective genitive here, it is better to translate “to make it obey Christ.”
18 tn Or “punish all disobedience.”
19 tn The phrase is close to a recognized idiom for judging based on outward appearances (L&N 30.120). Some translators see a distinction, however, and translate 2 Cor 10:7a as “Look at what is in front of your eyes,” that is, the obvious facts of the case (so NRSV).