2 Corinthians 5:11

The Message of Reconciliation

5:11 Therefore, because we know the fear of the Lord, ¹  we try to persuade ²  people, ³  but we are well known ⁴  to God, and I hope we are well known to your consciences too.

2 Corinthians 1:12

Paul Defends His Changed Plans

1:12 For our reason for confidence ⁵  is this: the testimony of our conscience, that with pure motives ⁶  and sincerity which are from God ⁷  – not by human wisdom ⁸  but by the grace of God – we conducted ourselves in the world, and all the more ⁹  toward you.

2 Corinthians 4:2

4:2 But we have rejected ¹⁰  shameful hidden deeds, ¹¹  not behaving ¹²  with deceptiveness ¹³  or distorting the word of God, but by open proclamation of the truth we commend ourselves to everyone’s conscience before God.

¹ tn Or “because we know what it means to fear the Lord.”

² tn The present tense of πείθομεν (peiqomen) has been translated as a conative present.

³ tn Grk “men”; but ἄνθρωπος (anqrwpo") is generic here since clearly both men and women are in view (Paul did not attempt to win only men to the gospel he preached).

⁴ tn Or “clearly evident.” BDAG 1048 s.v. φανερόω 2.b.β has “θεῷ πεφανερώμεθα we are well known to God 2 Cor 5:11a, cp. 11b; 11:6 v.l.”

⁵ tn Or “for boasting.”

⁶ tc Two viable variants exist at this place in the text: ἁγιότητι (Jagiothti, “holiness”) vs. ἁπλότητι (Japlothti, “pure motives”). A confusion of letters could well have produced the variant (TCGNT 507): In uncial script the words would have been written agiothti and aplothti. This, however, does not explain which reading created the other. Overall ἁπλότητι, though largely a Western-Byzantine reading (א² D F G Ï lat sy), is better suited to the context; it is also a Pauline word while ἁγιότης (Jagioth") is not. It also best explains the rise of the other variants, πραότητι (praothti, “gentleness”) and {σπλάγχνοις} (splancnoi", “compassion”). On the other hand, the external evidence in favor of ἁγιότητι is extremely strong (Ì⁴⁶ א* A B C K P Ψ 0121 0243 33 81 1739 1881 al co). This diversity of mss provides excellent evidence for authenticity, but because of the internal evidence listed above, ἁπλότητι is to be preferred, albeit only slightly.

⁷ tn Grk “pure motives and sincerity of God.”

⁸ tn Or “not by worldly wisdom.”

⁹ tn Or “and especially.”

⁹ tn L&N 13.156; the word can also mean “to assert opposition to,” thus here “we have denounced” (L&N 33.220).

¹⁰ tn Grk “the hidden things [deeds] of shame”; here αἰσχύνης (aiscunh") has been translated as an attributive genitive.

¹¹ tn Or “not conducting ourselves”; Grk “not walking” (a common NT idiom for conduct, way of life, or behavior).

¹² tn Or “craftiness.”