Discovery Box2 Corinthians 3:7
Context3:7 But if the ministry that produced death – carved in letters on stone tablets 1 – came with glory, so that the Israelites 2 could not keep their eyes fixed on the face of Moses because of the glory of his face 3 (a glory 4 which was made ineffective), 5
2 Corinthians 10:1
Context10:1 Now I, Paul, appeal to you 6 personally 7 by the meekness and gentleness 8 of Christ (I who am meek 9 when present among 10 you, but am full of courage 11 toward you when away!) –
[3:7] 1 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] 2 tn Grk “so that the sons of Israel.”
[3:7] 3 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] 4 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] 5 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.
[10:1] 6 tn The Greek pronoun (“you”) is plural.
[10:1] 7 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] 8 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] 9 tn Or “who lack confidence.”
