2 Corinthians 10:1-7

Paul’s Authority from the Lord

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.

[10:1]  ¹ tn The Greek pronoun (“you”) is plural.

[10:1]  ² tn The word “personally” is supplied to reflect the force of the Greek intensive pronoun αὐτός (autos) at the beginning of the verse.

[10:1]  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.”

[10:1]  ⁴ tn Or “who lack confidence.”

[10:1]  ⁵ tn Or “when face to face with.”

[10:1]  ⁶ tn Or “but bold.”

[10:2]  ⁷ tn Grk “consider us as walking.”

[10:2]  ⁸ tn Grk “according to the flesh.”

[10:3]  ⁹ tn Grk “we walk.”

[10:3]  ¹⁰ tn Grk “in the flesh.”

[10:3]  ¹¹ tn Grk “according to the flesh.”

[10:4]  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.

[10:4]  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.”

[10:4]  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.

[10:4]  ¹⁵ tn Or “speculations.”

[10:5]  ¹⁶ tn The phrase “every arrogant obstacle” could be translated simply “all arrogance” (so L&N 88.207).

[10:5]  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.”

[10:6]  ¹⁸ tn Or “punish all disobedience.”

[10:7]  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).