2 Corinthians 7:6-7

7:6 But God, who encourages ¹  the downhearted, encouraged ²  us by the arrival of Titus. 7:7 We were encouraged ³  not only by his arrival, but also by the encouragement ⁴  you gave ⁵  him, as he reported to us your longing, your mourning, ⁶  your deep concern ⁷  for me, so that I rejoiced more than ever.

2 Corinthians 7:1

Self-Purification

7:1 Therefore, since we have these promises, dear friends, let us cleanse ourselves ⁸  from everything that could defile the body ⁹  and the spirit, and thus accomplish ¹⁰  holiness out of reverence for God. ¹¹ 

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 ¹²  – came with glory, so that the Israelites ¹³  could not keep their eyes fixed on the face of Moses because of the glory of his face ¹⁴  (a glory ¹⁵  which was made ineffective), ¹⁶ 

[7:6]  ¹ tn Or “comforts,” “consoles.”

[7:6]  ² tn Or “comforted,” “consoled.”

[7:7]  ³ tn Because of the length and complexity of this Greek sentence, a new sentence was started here in the translation by supplying the phrase “We were encouraged.”

[7:7]  ⁴ tn Or “comfort,” “consolation.”

[7:7]  ⁵ tn Grk “by the encouragement with which he was encouraged by you.” The passive construction was translated as an active one in keeping with contemporary English style, and the repeated word “encouraged” was replaced in the translation by “gave” to avoid redundancy in the translation.

[7:7]  ⁶ tn Or “your grieving,” “your deep sorrow.”

[7:7]  ⁷ tn Or “your zeal.”

[7:1]  ⁸ tn Or “purify ourselves.”

[7:1]  ⁹ tn Grk “from every defilement of the flesh.”

[7:1]  ¹⁰ 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.

[7:1]  ¹¹ tn Grk “in the fear of God.”

[3:7]  ¹² 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]  ¹³ tn Grk “so that the sons of Israel.”

[3:7]  ¹⁴ 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]  ¹⁵ 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]  ¹⁶ 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.