2 Corinthians 4:7

An Eternal Weight of Glory

4:7 But we have this treasure in clay jars, so that the extraordinary power ¹  belongs to God and does not come from us.

2 Corinthians 4:15

4:15 For all these things are for your sake, so that the grace that is including ²  more and more people may cause thanksgiving to increase ³  to the glory of God.

2 Corinthians 5:1

Living by Faith, Not by Sight

5:1 For we know that if our earthly house, the tent we live in, ⁴  is dismantled, ⁵  we have a building from God, a house not built by human hands, that is eternal in the heavens.

2 Corinthians 5:18

5:18 And all these things are from God who reconciled us to himself through Christ, and who has given us the ministry of reconciliation.

2 Corinthians 7:1

Self-Purification

7:1 Therefore, since we have these promises, dear friends, let us cleanse ourselves ⁶  from everything that could defile the body ⁷  and the spirit, and thus accomplish ⁸  holiness out of reverence for God. ⁹ 

2 Corinthians 10:5

10:5 and every arrogant obstacle ¹⁰  that is raised up against the knowledge of God, and we take every thought captive to make it obey ¹¹  Christ.

2 Corinthians 12:19

12:19 Have you been thinking all this time ¹²  that we have been defending ourselves to you? We are speaking in Christ before God, and everything we do, dear friends, is to build you up. ¹³ 

2 Corinthians 13:14

13:14 [[EMPTY]] ¹⁴ 

¹ tn Grk “the surpassingness of the power”; δυνάμεως (dunamew") has been translated as an attributed genitive (“extraordinary power”).

² tn Or “that is abounding to.”

³ tn Or “to abound.”

³ sn The expression the tent we live in refers to “our earthly house, our body.” Paul uses the metaphor of the physical body as a house or tent, the residence of the immaterial part of a person.

⁴ tn Or “destroyed.”

⁴ tn Or “purify ourselves.”

⁵ tn Grk “from every defilement of the flesh.”

⁶ tn Grk “accomplishing.” The participle has been translated as a finite verb due to considerations of contemporary English style, and “thus” has been supplied to indicate that it represents a result of the previous cleansing.

⁷ tn Grk “in the fear of God.”

⁵ tn The phrase “every arrogant obstacle” could be translated simply “all arrogance” (so L&N 88.207).

⁶ 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.”

⁶ tc The reading “all this time” (πάλαι, palai) is found in several early and important Alexandrian and Western witnesses including א* A B F G 0243 6 33 81 365 1175 1739 1881 lat; the reading πάλιν (palin, “again”) is read by א² D Ψ 0278 Ï sy bo; the reading οὐ πάλαι (ou palai) is read by Ì⁴⁶, making the question even more emphatic. The reading of Ì⁴⁶ could only have arisen from πάλαι. The reading πάλιν is significantly easier (“are you once again thinking that we are defending ourselves?”), for it softens Paul’s tone considerably. It thus seems to be a motivated reading and cannot easily explain the rise of πάλαι. Further, πάλαι has considerable support in the Alexandrian and Western witnesses, rendering it virtually certain as the original wording here.

⁷ tn Or “for your strengthening”; Grk “for your edification.”

⁷ tc Most witnesses, especially later ones (א² D Ψ Ï lat sy bo), conclude this letter with ἀμήν (amhn, “amen”), while several early and important mss (Ì⁴⁶ א* A B F G 0243 6 33 630 1175 1739 1881 pc sa) lack the particle. Such a conclusion is routinely added by scribes to NT books because a few of these books originally had such an ending (cf. Rom 16:27; Gal 6:18; Jude 25). A majority of Greek witnesses have the concluding ἀμήν in every NT book except Acts, James, and 3 John (and even in these books, ἀμήν is found in some witnesses). It is thus a predictable variant. That so many diverse witnesses lacked the word here is strong testimony to its absence for the original text of 2 Corinthians.