III.

(1) Do we begin again to commend ourselves?--The MSS. present various readings: "Do we begin again to commend ourselves [Nay, not so], unless we desire [which we do not] letters of commendation;" but the Received text is sufficiently supported, and gives a clearer and simpler meaning. Here, again, we have to read between the lines. Titus has told St. Paul what has been said of him at Corinth. Referring, probably, to what he had said in his First Epistle as to the "wisdom" which he preached (1Corinthians 2:6), his having "laid the foundation" (1Corinthians 3:10), his dwelling on his sufferings (1Corinthians 4:11), his preaching without payment (1Corinthians 9:15) as a thing he gloried in, they had sneered at him as always "commending himself." They had added that it was no wonder that he did so when he had no authoritative letters of commendation from other churches, such as were brought by other teachers. As soon as the words "We are not as the many" had passed his lips, the thought occurs that the same will be said again. He hears it said, as it were, and makes his answer.

Need we, as some others, epistles of commendation to you?--We are left to conjecture who are thus referred to. Possibly some of the Apollos party had contrasted the letters which he had brought from Ephesus (Acts 18:27) with St. Paul's want of them. Possibly the Judaising teachers who meet us in 2Corinthians 11:13 had come with credentials of this nature from the Church of Jerusalem. The indignant tone in which St. Paul speaks indicates the latter view as the more probable. The "letters of commendation" deserve notice as an important element in the organisation of the early Church. A Christian travelling with such a letter from any Church was certain to find a welcome in any other. They guaranteed at once his soundness in the faith and his personal character, and served to give a reality to the belief in the "communion" of saints, as the necessary sequel to the recognition of a Catholic or universal Church. It is significant of the part they had played in the social victory of the Christian Church that Julian tried to introduce them into the decaying system which he sought to galvanise into an imitative life (Sozomen. Hist. v. 16). . . .

Verses 1-11. - St. Paul's ministry is his sufficient letter of commendation. Verse 1. - Do we begin again to commend ourselves? The last verse of the last chapter might be seized upon by St. Paul's opponents to renew their charge - that he was always praising himself. He anticipates the malignant and meaning smiles with which they would hear such words. The word "again" implies that this charge had already been brought against him, perhaps in consequence of such passages as 1 Corinthians 2:16; 1 Corinthians 3:10; 1 Corinthians 4:11-14; 1 Corinthians 9:15-23; 1 Corinthians 14:18, etc. Such passages might be called self-laudatory and egotistical, were it not that (as St. Paul here explains) they arose only from a sense of the grandeur of his office, of which he was the almost involuntary agent, used by God as it seemed best to him. Hence he says later on (2 Corinthians 7:18) that self-praise is no commendation, and that the true test of a man is God's commendation. The verb "I commend," technically used in the same sense as our "commendatory letters," occurs also in Romans 16:1. Or need we, etc.? The reading, η} μὴ, thus translated, is better supported than εἰ μὴ, unless, which would have a somewhat ironical force. The μὴ in the reading η} μὴ implies, "Can you possibly think that we need," etc.? Generally, when a stranger came to some Church to which he was not personally known, he carried with him some credentials in the form of letters from accredited authorities. St. Paul treats it as absurd to suppose that he or Timothy should need such letters, either from the Corinthians or to them. As some. He will not name them, but he refers to the Judaists, who vaunted of their credentials in order to disparage St. Paul, who was too great to need and too independent to use them. We can hardly, perhaps, realize the depth and bitterness of antagonism concealed under that word "some" in 1 Corinthians 4:18 Galatians 1:7; Galatians 2:12. It is not meant that there was anything discreditable in using such letters (for Apollos had used them, Acts 18:27), but the disgraceful thing was that St. Paul should be disparaged for not bringing them. Epistles of commendation. The phrase, ἐπιστολαὶ συστατικαί ( "introductory letters" - was familiar in later Greek. In days when there were few public hostels, and when it was both a duty and a necessity for small and persecuted communities like those of the Jews and Christians to practise hospitality (Romans 12:13; Hebrews 13:2. etc.), it was customary both for synagogues and Churches to provide their friends and emissaries with authentic testimonials. Otherwise they might have been deceived by wandering impostors, as, in fact, the Christians were deceived by the vagabond quack Peregrinus. We can easily see how the custom of using such letters might be abused by idle, restless, and intriguing persons, who have never found it very difficult to procure them. We find traces of their honest use by Phoebe, by Silas and Jude, by Apollos, by Mark, and by Zenas, in Romans 16:1; Acts 18:27; Acts 15:25; Colossians 4:10; Titus 3:13; and of their unfair use by certain Judaists, in Galatians 1:7 and Galatians 2:12. Nothing can more forcibly illustrate the necessity for St. Paul's protest against the idle vaunt of possessing such letters, than the fact that, more than a century afterwards, we find malignant innuendoes aimed at St. Paul in the pseudo-Clementines, under the name of" the enemy" and "Simon Magus" and "a deceiver." He is there spoken of as using letters from the high priest (which, indeed, St. Paul had done as Saul of Tarsus, Acts 9:1, 2); and the Churches are warned never to receive any one who cannot bring credentials from James; so deep-rooted among the Judaists was the antagonism to the independent apostolate and daring originality of the apostle of the Gentiles! Dr. Plumptre quotes Sozomen ('H.E.', 5:16) for the curious fact that the Emperor Julian tried to introduce the system of "commendatory letters" into his revived paganism. Or letters of commendation from you. The substitution of "letters" for "epistles" is an instance of the almost childish fondness for unnecessary synonyms, which is one of the defects of the Authorized Version. The true reading probably is "to you or from you" (א, A, B, C). The word "commendatory" (sustatikon) is omitted in A, B, C. Or from you. It was worse than absurd to suppose that St. Paul should need those literae formatae to a Church of which he was the thunder; and nothing but the boundless "inflation" which characterized the Corinthians could have led them to imagine that he needed letters from them to other Churches, as though, forsooth, they were the primary Church or the only church (1 Corinthians 14:36).

Parallel Commentaries ...


Are we beginning
Ἀρχόμεθα (Archometha)
Verb - Present Indicative Middle - 1st Person Plural
Strong's 756: To begin. Middle voice of archo; to commence.

to commend
συνιστάνειν (synistanein)
Verb - Present Infinitive Active
Strong's 4921: To place together, commend, prove, exhibit; instrans: I stand with; To be composed of, cohere.

ourselves
ἑαυτοὺς (heautous)
Reflexive Pronoun - Accusative Masculine 3rd Person Plural
Strong's 1438: Himself, herself, itself.

again?
πάλιν (palin)
Adverb
Strong's 3825: Probably from the same as pale; anew, i.e. back, once more, or furthermore or on the other hand.

Or
ἢ (ē)
Conjunction
Strong's 2228: Or, than. A primary particle of distinction between two connected terms; disjunctive, or; comparative, than.

do we need,
χρῄζομεν (chrēzomen)
Verb - Present Indicative Active - 1st Person Plural
Strong's 5535: To need, have need of, want, desire. From chreia; to make necessity, i.e. Be in want of.

like
ὥς (hōs)
Adverb
Strong's 5613: Probably adverb of comparative from hos; which how, i.e. In that manner.

some [people],
τινες (tines)
Interrogative / Indefinite Pronoun - Nominative Masculine Plural
Strong's 5100: Any one, some one, a certain one or thing. An enclitic indefinite pronoun; some or any person or object.

letters
ἐπιστολῶν (epistolōn)
Noun - Genitive Feminine Plural
Strong's 1992: A letter, dispatch, epistle, message. From epistello; a written message.

of recommendation
συστατικῶν (systatikōn)
Adjective - Genitive Feminine Plural
Strong's 4956: Commendatory, introductory. From a derivative of sunistao; introductory, i.e. Recommendatory.

to
πρὸς (pros)
Preposition
Strong's 4314: To, towards, with. A strengthened form of pro; a preposition of direction; forward to, i.e. Toward.

you
ὑμᾶς (hymas)
Personal / Possessive Pronoun - Accusative 2nd Person Plural
Strong's 4771: You. The person pronoun of the second person singular; thou.

or
ἢ (ē)
Conjunction
Strong's 2228: Or, than. A primary particle of distinction between two connected terms; disjunctive, or; comparative, than.

from
ἐξ (ex)
Preposition
Strong's 1537: From out, out from among, from, suggesting from the interior outwards. A primary preposition denoting origin, from, out.

you?
ὑμῶν (hymōn)
Personal / Possessive Pronoun - Genitive 2nd Person Plural
Strong's 4771: You. The person pronoun of the second person singular; thou.


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NT Letters: 2 Corinthians 3:1 Are we beginning again to commend ourselves? (2 Cor. 2C iiC 2Cor ii cor iicor)