2 Corinthians 12:20

For I fear, lest, when I come, I shall not find you such as I would, and that I shall be found unto you such as ye would not: lest there be debates, envyings, wraths, strifes, backbitings, whisperings, swellings, tumults:

EXPOSITORY (ENGLISH BIBLE)

Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers

(20) For I fear, lest, when I come . . .—Something of the old anxiety which had led him to postpone his visit (2Corinthians 1:23; 1Corinthians 4:21) comes back upon his spirit. He and some of those Corinthians are likely to meet under very unfavourable conditions, neither of them acceptable to the other, severity meeting with open or masked resistance.

Lest there be debates . . . .—The list that follows forms a suggestive parallelism of contrast to that in 2Corinthians 7:11, the ethical imagination of the Apostle, with its keen perception of the shades of human character, dwelling now on the manifold forms of opposition, as before it had dwelt on the manifold fruits of repentance. It will be worth while to attempt to fix the exact significance of each word somewhat more accurately than is done in the Authorised version. “Debates,” rather strifes or quarrels, had in older English a darker shade of meaning than it has now. Men spoke of a “deadly debate” between friends. Chapman’s Homer makes Achilles complain that he has cast his life into “debates past end” (Iliad, ii. 331). “Envyings” better jealousies, another Greek word being appropriated for “envy” in the strict sense. The word, like “jealousy,” is capable of a good sense, as in 2Corinthians 7:11; 2Corinthians 9:2; 2Corinthians 11:2. It is well, perhaps, to notice how closely allied are the qualities which the word expresses, how soon “zeal” (2Corinthians 7:11; Philippians 3:6) passes into “jealousy” in a good sense, and that again into “jealousy” in a bad sense. “Wrath.” The passion so described is treated by great ethical writers (Aristotle, Eth. Nicom. iii. 8) as almost inseparable from true courage. In the New Testament it is always used either of human wrath in its evil aspects (Luke 4:28; Acts 19:28; Hebrews 11:27), or—but only in the Apocalypse, where it occurs in this sense frequently—of the wrath of God (Revelation 14:10; Revelation 14:19; Revelation 15:1; Revelation 15:7; Revelation 16:1; Revelation 16:19). There is, therefore, no need to alter the English here. The three words occur in the same connection in Galatians 5:20, a nearly contemporary Epistle.

Strifes.—The Greek word (eritheia) begins with the same three letters as that for “strife,” and till a comparatively recent period was supposed to be connected with it, and so to be identical in meaning. It has, however, a very different history, not without interest, even for the English reader. The concrete form of the noun (erîthos) meets us in Homer and elsewhere as a day-labourer, as in the description of the shield of Achilles:

“And there he wrought, a meadow thick with corn,

And labourers reaping, sickles in their hand.”

—Iliad, xviii. 550.

The next step in the growth of the word, was the verb “to serve for wages,” and this was transferred to those who in matters of state compete for honours and rewards, rather than for their country’s good. Aristotle (Pol v. 2, § 6; 3, § 9) enumerates the fact which the word expresses as one of the causes of revolutions, but carefully distinguishes it from “party spirit,” or “faction” as being more directly personal. Rivalries would, perhaps, be an adequate rendering, but what are known in political life as the cabals of cliques or coteries as contrasted with open party-fights exactly correspond to the evils which the Apostle had in his thoughts.

Backbitings, whisperings.—The English reads the idea of secret calumny into both words. In the Greek, however, the first expresses “open abuse or invective,” as in James 4:11; 1Peter 2:1; 1Peter 2:12. In contrast with this we have the “whispers” of the slanderers, the innuendoes and insinuations of the man who has not the courage for the more open attack. So the “whisperer” is spoken of with special scorn in Ecclesiasticus 21:28; Ecclesiasticus 28:13. The word in its primary meaning is used for the low chirp of the swallow, which was, as it were, reproduced in the confidential whispers of the retailer of scandal. (See Note on “babbler” in Acts 17:18.)

Swellings, tumults.—The first word is found here only in the New Testament, but is formed regularly from the verb “to be puffed up,” which is prominent in 1Corinthians 4:6; 1Corinthians 4:18-19; 1Corinthians 5:2; 1Corinthians 8:1; 1Corinthians 13:4. It was clearly, in St. Paul’s mind, the besetting sin of the Corinthians. As far as we know, the word may have been coined by him, but as connected with the medical idea of flatus and inflation, it may not improbably have been one of the technical terms, used figuratively, which he borrowed from St. Luke’s vocabulary. It is almost necessary to coin an English word to express it. “Inflated egotisms” is an adequate paraphrase: “puffed-upnesses” would be, perhaps, too bold a coinage. The word for “tumult” has met us before. (See Notes on 2Corinthians 6:5; Luke 21:9; 1Corinthians 14:33.) Disorders, confusions, what figuratively we call the “chaos,” into which a public meeting sometimes falls, are what the word expresses, rather than the more open outbreak indicated by “tumult.”

Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary

12:11-21 We owe it to good men, to stand up in the defence of their reputation; and we are under special obligations to those from whom we have received benefit, especially spiritual benefit, to own them as instruments in God's hand of good to us. Here is an account of the apostle's behaviour and kind intentions; in which see the character of a faithful minister of the gospel. This was his great aim and design, to do good. Here are noticed several sins commonly found among professors of religion. Falls and misdeeds are humbling to a minister; and God sometimes takes this way to humble those who might be tempted to be lifted up. These vast verses show to what excesses the false teachers had drawn aside their deluded followers. How grievous it is that such evils should be found among professors of the gospel! Yet thus it is, and has been too often, and it was so even in the days of the apostles.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

For I fear, lest, when I come - see 2 Corinthians 12:14.

I shall not find you such as I would - That is, walking in the truth and order of the gospel. He had feared that the disorders would not be removed, and that they would not have corrected the errors which prevailed, and for which he had rebuked them. It was on this account that he had said so much to them. His desire was that all these disorders might be removed, and that he might be saved from the necessity of exercising severe discipline when he should come among them.

And that I shall be found unto you such as ye would not - That is, that I shall be compelled to administer discipline, and that my visit may not be as pleasant to you as you would desire. For this reason he wished all disorder corrected, and all offences removed; that everything might be pleasant when he should come; see 1 Corinthians 4:21; compare note on 2 Corinthians 10:2.

Lest there be debates - I fear that there may be existing there debates, etc., which will require the interposition of the authority of an apostle. On the meaning of the word "debate," see the note on Romans 1:29.

Envyings - see the note on 1 Corinthians 3:3.

Wraths - Anger or animosities between contending factions, the usual effect of forming parties.

Strifes - Between contending factions; see note on 1 Corinthians 3:3.

Backbitings - see the note on Romans 1:30.

Whisperings - see the note on Romans 1:29.

Swellings - Undue elation; being puffed up (see the notes on 2 Corinthians 8:1; 1 Corinthians 4:6, note; 1 Corinthians 4:18-19, note; 1 Corinthians 5:2, note) - such as would be produced by vain self-confidence.

Tumults - Disorder and confusion arising from this existence of parties. Paul, deeply sensible of the evil of all this, had endeavored in this correspondence to suppress it, that all things might be pleasant when he should come among them.

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary

20. For—Assigning cause why they needed to be thus spoken to "for their edification"; namely, his fear that at his coming he should find them "not such as he would," and so he should be found by them "such as they would not" like, namely, severe in punishing misconduct.

debates—Greek, "strifes," "contentions."

envyings—The oldest manuscripts read "envying," singular.

strifes—"factions," "intrigues," "factious schemes" [Wahl]. Ambitious self-seeking; from a Greek root, "to work for hire."

backbitings, whisperings—open "slanderings," and "whispering backbitings" (Ga 5:20).

swellings—arrogant elation; puffing up of yourselves. Jude 16, "great swelling words" (2Pe 2:18).

Matthew Poole's Commentary

For I fear, lest, when I come, I shall not find you such as I would; a good man, especially a faithful minister of the gospel, will be concerned at the sins of others, and as to their spiritual welfare. A profane person either rejoiceth in the sins of others, or at least is unconcerned for them; but a good man cannot be so, as knowing the sins of others reflect dishonour upon God.

And that I shall be found unto you such as ye would not; he also cannot delight in the punishments of others, or doing any thing which may be ungrateful to them. Paul feareth lest the miscarriages of this church should enforce from him some acts of severity. He instanceth in some particular disorders in the members of this church, which he feared that he should find amongst them not amended; all the effects of pride and passion.

Debates, or contentions, such as he had taxed them for, 1 Corinthians 1:11 3:3.

Envyings, or heats of passion; envying of one another for their gifts, &c. The other things which he mentioneth, are all sins against that brotherly love which ought to be found amongst Christians, and tending to ruptures amongst them; and teach us how contrary these are to the duty of Christians, who are one body.

Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible

For I fear lest when I come,.... This fear arose from his fatherly affection for them, and care of them:

I shall not find you such as I would; truly penitent for former sins, thoroughly reformed in life and manners, zealous for God, Christ, and the Gospel, and hearty lovers of one another:

and that I shall be found unto you such as ye would not; sharp in his reproofs and admonitions, severe in his corrections and censures, and lawfully using the authority he had from Christ, to punish incorrigible offenders:

lest there be debates; or "strifes", or contentions among them, about words to no profit, or about their ministers, as before; one being for Paul, and another for Apollos, and another for Cephas:

envyings: at each other's gifts, or "jealousies" of one another, and evil surmisings:

wraths; breaking out into words and actions, which discover hatred of mind, a malignant spirit, quite contrary to that of the Gospel:

strifes: law suits before heathen magistrates; contentions in the church who shall be greatest; or about lesser matters of religion, or things indifferent, vain, and trifling, and kept up merely for the sake of victory:

backbitings; speaking evil of one another, detracting from, hurting, or taking away each other's character and good name:

whisperings; secretly sowing discords among friends, and privately suggesting evil things of each other:

swellings; with pride and conceit of themselves, because of their riches, learning, and eloquence, and looking with disdain upon others:

tumults; at church meetings, interrupting one another, going into parties, and making rents and schisms.

Geneva Study Bible

{8} For I fear, lest, when I come, I shall not find you such as I would, and that I shall be found unto you such as ye would not: lest there be debates, envyings, wraths, strifes, backbitings, whisperings, swellings, tumults:

(8) Having confirmed his authority to them, he rebukes them sharply, and threatens them also like an apostle, showing that he will not spare them from now on, unless they repent, seeing that this is the third time that he has warned them.

EXEGETICAL (ORIGINAL LANGUAGES)

Meyer's NT Commentary

2 Corinthians 12:20 f.[385] Subjective justification of what was just said, ὑπὲρ τῆς ὑμῶν οἰκοδομῆς. For I fear to find you on my arrival such as have very great need of ΟἸΚΟΔΟΜΉ.

The sharp lesson which he now gives his readers down to 2 Corinthians 13:10, although introducing it not without tenderness to their feelings (ΦΟΒΟῦΜΑΙ, and then the negative form of expression), could not but wholly cancel the thought: ἩΜῖΝ ἈΠΟΛΟΓΕῖΤΑΙ, and make them feel his apostolic position afresh in all its ascendancy. It is in this way that the victor speaks who has reconquered his domain, and this language at the end of the letter completes the mastery shown in its well-calculated arrangemen.

κἀγὼ εὑρεθῶ ὑμῖν κ.τ.λ.] and that I shall be found such an one as you do not wish, namely, as τιμωρὸς καὶ κολαστῆς, Theophylact; 1 Corinthians 4:21. The negation attaches itself to ΟἽΟΥς in the first clause, but in this second to ΘΈΛΕΤΕ, by which there is produced a climax in the expressio.

ὙΜῖΝ] Reference of ΕὙΡΕΘῶ: for you, to your judgment based on experience. Comp. Romans 7:10; 2 Peter 3:14. This is more delicate and expressive than the meaning of the common interpretation: by you (dative with the passive), Romans 10:20.

What follows is not, with Rückert, to be regarded as if μήπως down to ἈΚΑΤΑΣΤΑΣΊΑΙ were a more precise explanation regarding the condition of the Corinthians (consequently regarding that μήπως ἐλθὼν οὐχ οἵους θέλω εὕρω ὑμᾶς), and, 2 Corinthians 12:21, a more precise explanation regarding the apostle’s duty to punish (consequently regarding that κἀγὼ … θέλετε)). Against this it may be decisively urged that 2 Corinthians 12:21 brings forward quite a different category of sinful states from 2 Corinthians 12:20, and that 2 Corinthians 12:21, rightly understood, does not yet express any threat of punishment. No; the arrangement of the passage is this: After Paul has said that he is afraid of not finding them such as he wishes them, and of being found by them such as they would not wish him, he now gives the more precise explanation of that first apprehension (μήπως … εὕρω ὑμᾶς), by adducing two kinds of sins, which he fears to find among them, namely, (1) the mischiefs occasioned by partisan feeling; and (2) the sins of impurity, which would bow him down and make him sad. The further explanation regarding the second apprehension expressed, κἀγὼ εὑρεθῶ ὑμῖν οἷον οὐ θέλετε, thereupon follows only at 2 Corinthians 13:1 ff.

ΜΉΠΩς ἜΡΕΙς Κ.Τ.Λ.] sc εὑρεθῶσιν ἐν ὑμῖν.

ἔρεις, ζῆλος] contentions,[386] jealousy. See 1 Corinthians 1:11; 1 Corinthians 3:3.

θυμοί] irae, excitements of anger. See on Romans 2:8; Galatians 5:20.

ἐριθεῖαι] party-intrigues. See on Romans 2:8, and the excursus of Fritzsche, I. p. 143 ff.[387]

καταλαλίαι, ψιθυρισμοί] slanders, whisperings. See on Romans 1:30.

φυσιώσεις] Manifestations of conceited inflation; elsewhere only in the Fathers. ἀκαταστασίαι] disorderly relations, confusions, comp. 1 Corinthians 14:33.

[385] On ver. 20–13:2, see the thorough discussion by Lücke (Whitsun Programm of 1837); Conjectan. Exeg. Part I. p. 14 ff.

[386] Regarding the plural form ἔρεις, see Lobeck, ad Phryn. p. 326; Gregor. Cor., ed. Schaef. p. 476; also Buttmann in the Stud. u. Krit. 1862, p. 172.

[387] Fritzsche (following Ilgen) is probably right in deriving ἔριθος from ἔρι, valde (see Buttmann, Lexilog. I. p. 146 f.). Comp. the many forms compounded with ἔρι in Homer. For the second part of the word no proper derivation has yet been found. This second half is not simply the ending θος, but ιθος, since in ἔρι the iota is short, whereas in ἔριθος it is long. See Homer, Il. xviii 550: Ἐν δʼ ἐτίθει τέμἑνος βαθυλήϊον ἔνθα δʼ ἔριθοι. See regarding the various derivations, Lobeck, Pathol, p. 365.

Expositor's Greek Testament

2 Corinthians 12:20. φοβοῦμαι γὰρ κ.τ.λ.: for I fear lest by any means, when I come, I should find you not such as I would, and should myself be found of you such as ye would not, i.e., indignant to severity at their backsliding (cf. 2 Corinthians 10:2), lest by any means there should be strife (cf. 1 Corinthians 1:11; 1 Corinthians 3:3), jealousy, ragings (this seems to be the force of the plur. θυμοί; cf. Wis 7:20), factions (ἐριθεῖα is derived from ἔρῑθος, a hired labourer, and signifies a mercenary cabal), backbitings, whisperings (i.e., open and secret defamation of character), swellings, i.e., insolences, tumults (see on 2 Corinthians 6:5). Cf. Jam 3:16, ὅπου γὰρ ζῆλος καὶ ἐριθεία, ἐκεῖ ἀκαταστασία.

Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

20. For] The connection of thought is, ‘I do this for your edification, of which there is much need, for there are many disorders among you.’

such as ye would not] “He here completely and finally throws off the apologist and puts on the Apostle.” Alford. He will rule by love rather than by fear, if possible. But if it be not possible, in the last resource he must use his Apostolic power. See notes on ch. 2 Corinthians 10:8; 2 Corinthians 10:11.

debates] Rather, strifes. The word debate, however, derived from the French débattre, had, like the French débat, a stronger meaning than it has now. So Shakespeare, K. Hen. IV. Pt II. Act iv. Scene iv.:

“Now, lords, if Heaven doth give successful end

To this debate that bleedeth at our doors.”

envyings] See note on ch. 2 Corinthians 7:7.

strifes] Our translators have been misled by an apparent similarity between this word and that rendered debates above. It is derived from a word signifying a hired labourer, and may either mean (1) party spirit, (2) personal aims in public life, in which sense Aristotle seems to have used the word in his Politics, and hence (3) self-seeking in general, and (4) faction. The word occurs in Romans 2:8; Galatians 5:20; Php 1:16; Php 2:3; James 3:14; James 3:16.

backbitings, whisperings] “Open slanders, secret revilings.” Alford. Wiclif renders detracciouns, privie spechis of discord. He is followed by the Rhemish in the rendering detractions. Tyndale, Cranmer and the Geneva render as A. V. See 1 Peter 2:1 for the first word, which is there rendered evil speakings. Its literal meaning is speakings against, but no idea of secrecy is implied, as in our version, but rather the contrary. Whisperings, on the other hand, imply secrecy as a matter of course.

swellings] Rather, puffings up (Wiclif, well, bolnyngis in pride). See 1 Corinthians 4:6; 1 Corinthians 4:18-19. The word and its cognates occur only in these two Epistles and in Colossians 2:18.

tumults] See ch. 2 Corinthians 6:5.

Bengel's Gnomen

2 Corinthians 12:20. Οὐχ οἱους, you not such as I would) This is treated of to the end of the chapter. Then, the clause, such as ye would not, is treated of from ch. 2 Corinthians 13:1 and onwards. Such as is the hearer, so is the pastor to him.—ἔρεις, ζῆλοι, θυμοὶ, ἐριθεῖαι) Galatians 5:20.

Pulpit Commentary

Verse 20. - Such as ye would not (see 1 Corinthians 4:21). Debates. "Discords," "quarrels." Strifes. "Party intrigues," "factious and emulous rivalries" (Romans 2:8). Backbiting. Detractions, talkings against one another. Swellings. Inflated conceit pompous egotism (1 Corinthians 4:6, 18, 19; Colossians 2:18). Tumults. Disorderly excitement (2 Corinthians 6:5; 1 Corinthians 14:33; comp. 1 Corinthians 13:2, 10). 2 Corinthians 12:20

Vincent's Word Studies

Strifes (ἐριθεῖαι)

Rev., better, factions. See on James 3:14.

Wraths (θυμοί)

For the plural, compare deaths, 2 Corinthians 11:33; drunkennesses, Galatians 5:21; bloods, John 1:13 (see note); the willings of the flesh, Ephesians 2:3; mercies, Philippians 2:1. Excitements or outbursts of wrath.

Whisperings (ψιθυρισμοί)

Psithurismoi, the sound adapted to the sense. Only here in the New Testament. Secret slanders. In Sept., Ecclesiastes 10:11, it is used of the murmuring of a snake-charmer. Ψιθυριστής whisperer, occurs Romans 1:29.

Swellings (φυσιώσεις)

Only here in the New Testament. Conceited inflation. For the kindred verb φυσιάω to puff up, see on 1 Corinthians 4:6.

Tumults (ἀκαταστασίαι)

See on 2 Corinthians 6:5.