2 Corinthians 1:1

Salutation

1:1 From Paul, ¹  an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God, and Timothy our brother, to the church of God that is in Corinth, ²  with all the saints who are in all Achaia. ³ 

2 Corinthians 3:7

The Greater Glory of the Spirit’s Ministry

3:7 But if the ministry that produced death – carved in letters on stone tablets ⁴  – came with glory, so that the Israelites ⁵  could not keep their eyes fixed on the face of Moses because of the glory of his face ⁶  (a glory ⁷  which was made ineffective), ⁸ 

2 Corinthians 4:2

4:2 But we have rejected ⁹  shameful hidden deeds, ¹⁰  not behaving ¹¹  with deceptiveness ¹²  or distorting the word of God, but by open proclamation of the truth we commend ourselves to everyone’s conscience before God.

2 Corinthians 11:3

11:3 But I am afraid that ¹³  just as the serpent ¹⁴  deceived Eve by his treachery, ¹⁵  your minds may be led astray ¹⁶  from a sincere and pure ¹⁷  devotion to Christ.

[1:1]  ¹ tn Grk “Paul.” The word “from” is not in the Greek text, but has been supplied to indicate the sender of the letter.

[1:1]  ² map For location see JP1 C2; JP2 C2; JP3 C2; JP4 C2.

[1:1]  ³ tn Or “are throughout Achaia.”

[3:7]  ⁴ tn Grk “on stones”; but since this is clearly an allusion to the tablets of the Decalogue (see 2 Cor 3:3) the word “tablets” was supplied in the translation to make the connection clear.

[3:7]  ⁵ tn Grk “so that the sons of Israel.”

[3:7]  ⁶ sn The glory of his face. When Moses came down from Mt. Sinai with the tablets of the Decalogue, the people were afraid to approach him because his face was so radiant (Exod 34:29-30).

[3:7]  ⁷ tn The words “a glory” are not in the Greek text, but the reference to “glory” has been repeated from the previous clause for clarity.

[3:7]  ⁸ tn Or “which was transitory.” Traditionally this phrase is translated as “which was fading away.” The verb καταργέω in the corpus Paulinum uniformly has the meaning “to render inoperative, ineffective”; the same nuance is appropriate here. The glory of Moses’ face was rendered ineffective by the veil Moses wore. For discussion of the meaning of this verb in this context, see S. J. Hafemann, Paul, Moses, and the History of Israel (WUNT 81), 301-13. A similar translation has been adopted in the two other occurrences of the verb in this paragraph in vv. 11 and 13.

[4:2]  ⁷ tn L&N 13.156; the word can also mean “to assert opposition to,” thus here “we have denounced” (L&N 33.220).

[4:2]  ⁸ tn Grk “the hidden things [deeds] of shame”; here αἰσχύνης (aiscunh") has been translated as an attributive genitive.

[4:2]  ⁹ tn Or “not conducting ourselves”; Grk “not walking” (a common NT idiom for conduct, way of life, or behavior).

[4:2]  ¹⁰ tn Or “craftiness.”

[11:3]  ¹⁰ tn Grk “I fear lest somehow.”

[11:3]  ¹¹ tn Or “the snake.”

[11:3]  ¹² tn Or “craftiness.”

[11:3]  ¹³ tn Or “corrupted,” “seduced.”

[11:3]  ¹⁴ tc Although most mss (א² H Ψ 0121 0243 1739 1881 Ï) lack “and pure” (καὶ τῆς ἁγνότητος, kai th" Jagnothto"; Grk “and purity”) several important and early witnesses (Ì⁴⁶ א* B D^[2] F G 33 81 104 pc ar r co) retain these words. Their presence in such mss across such a wide geographical distribution argues for their authenticity. The omission from the majority of mss can be explained by haplography, since the -τητος ending of ἁγνότητος is identical to the ending of ἁπλότητος (Japlothto", “sincerity”) three words back (ἁπλότητος καὶ τῆς ἁγνότητος); further, since the meanings of “sincerity” and “purity” are similar they might seem redundant. A copyist would scarcely notice the omission because Paul’s statement still makes sense without “and from purity.”