2 Corinthians 2:4

For out of much affliction and anguish of heart I wrote unto you with many tears; not that ye should be grieved, but that ye might know the love which I have more abundantly unto you.

EXPOSITORY (ENGLISH BIBLE)

Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers

(4) Out of much affliction and anguish.—Men might think that it had cost him little to write sharp words like those which he has in his mind. He remembers well what he felt as he dictated them—the intensity of his feelings, pain that such words should be needed, anxiety as to their issue, the very tears which then, as at other times (Acts 20:19; Acts 20:31; 2Timothy 1:4), were the outflow of strong emotion. Those who were indignant at his stern words should remember, or at least learn to believe this, and so to see in them the strongest proof of his abounding love for them. The heart of St. Paul was in this matter as the heart of Him who said, “As many as I love, I rebuke and chasten” (Revelation 3:19). The motive in such a case is not to give pain, but to lead those whom we reprove to feel how much we love them. On the word for “anguish,” see Note on Luke 21:25. Looking to the fact that it is used only by St. Luke and St. Paul in the New Testament, we may, perhaps, see in it another example of medical terminology. The anguish was like that of a tight pressure or constriction of the heart.

Benson Commentary

2 Corinthians 2:4-5. For out of much affliction and anguish of heart — The word συνοχης, here rendered anguish, “denotes the pain which a person feels, who is pressed on every side, without any possibility of disengaging himself, Luke 21:25. I wrote unto you with many tears — So it seems he frequently did: see Php 3:18. Not so much that ye should be grieved — I did not design, in writing, to cause you to grieve more than was necessary in order to your repentance and reformation; but that ye might know — By one of the most genuine tokens which it was possible for me to give, namely, by my faithful admonitions and reproofs, my abundant love toward you. But if any — Or if a certain person, have caused grief — To me and others; he hath not grieved me but in part — Who still rejoice over the greater part of you. That I may not overcharge you all — That I may not lay a load of accusation on you all indiscriminately, as having encouraged him in his crime, or having taken part with such an offender in afflicting me. In this and the following verses, the apostle gave a remarkable proof of that love which, in 2 Corinthians 2:4, he had expressed toward the Corinthians. 1st, Making a distinction between the guilty and the innocent; 2d, Forgiving the incestuous person, who, it appears, had repented of his crimes; 2 Corinthians 2:6; and, 3d, Ordering the church likewise to forgive him, and confirm their love to him, that he might not be swallowed up by excessive grief.

Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary

2:1-4 The apostle desired to have a cheerful meeting with them; and he had written in confidence of their doing what was to their benefit and his comfort; and that therefore they would be glad to remove every cause of disquiet from him. We should always give pain unwillingly, even when duty requires that it must be given.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

For out of much affliction - Possibly Paul's enemies had charged him with being harsh and overbearing. They may have said that there was much needless severity in his letter. He here meets that, and says, that it was with much pain and many tears that he was constrained to write as he did. He was pained at their conduct, and at the necessity which existed for such an epistle. This is an eminently beautiful instance of Paul's kindness of heart, and his susceptibility to tender impressions. The evil conduct of others gives pain to a good man; and the necessity of administering reproof and discipline is often as painful to him who does it, as it is to those who are the subjects of it.

And anguish of heart - The word rendered "anguish" (συνοχὴ sunochē) means, properly, "a holding together or shutting up"; and then, "pressure, distress, anguish" - an affliction of the heart by which one feels tightened or constrained; such a pressure as great grief causes at the heart.

I wrote unto you with many tears - With much weeping and grief that I was constrained to write such a letter. This was an instance of Paul's great tenderness of heart - a trait of character which, he uniformly evinced. With all his strength of mind, and all His courage and readiness to face danger, Paul was not ashamed to weep; and especially if he had any occasion of censuring his Christian brethren, or administering discipline; compare Philippians 3:18; Acts 20:31. This is also a specimen of the manner in which Paul met the faults of his Christian brethren. It was not with bitter denunciation. It was not with sarcasm and ridicule. It was not by emblazoning those faults abroad to others. It was not with the spirit of rejoicing that they had committed errors, and had been guilty of sin. It was not as if he was glad of the opportunity of administering rebuke, and took pleasure in denunciation and in the language of reproof. All this is often done by others; but Paul pursued a different course. He sent an affectionate letter to the offenders themselves; and he did it with many tears. it was done weeping. Admonition would always be done right if it was done with tears. Discipline would always be right, and would be effectual, if it were administered with tears. Any man will receive an admonition kindly, if he who administers it does it weeping; and the heart of an offender will be melted, if he who attempts to reprove him comes to him with tears. How happy would it be if all who attempt to reprove should do it with Paul's spirit. How happy, if all discipline should be administered in the church in his manner. But, we may add, how seldom is this done! How few are there who feel themselves called on to reprove an offending brother, or to charge a brother with heresy or crime, that do it with tears!

Not that ye should be grieved - It was not my object to give you pain.

But that ye might know the love ... - This was one of the best evidences of his great love to them which he could possibly give. It is proof of genuine friendship for another, when we faithfully and affectionately admonish him of the error of his course; it is the highest proof of affection when we do it with tears. It is cruelty to suffer a brother to remain in sin unadmonished; it is cruel to admonish him of it in a harsh, severe, and authoritative tone; but it is proof of tender attachment when we go to him with tears, and entreat him to repent and reform. No one gives higher proof of attachment to another than he who affectionately admonishes him of his sin and danger.

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary

4. So far from my change of purpose being due to "lightness" (2Co 1:17), I wrote my letter to you (2Co 2:3) "out of much affliction (Greek, 'trouble') and anguish of heart, and with many tears."

not that ye should be grieved—Translate, "be made sorry," to accord with the translation, 2Co 2:2. My ultimate and main object was, "not that ye might be made sorry," but that through sorrow you might be led to repentance, and so to joy, redounding both to you and me (2Co 2:2, 3). I made you sorry before going to you, that when I went it might not be necessary. He is easily made sorry, who is admonished by a friend himself weeping [Bengel].

that ye might know the love—of which it is a proof to rebuke sins openly and in season [Estius], (Ps 141:5; Pr 27:6). "Love" is the source from which sincere reproof springs; that the Corinthians might ultimately recognize this as his motive, was the apostle's aim.

which I have more abundantly unto you—who have been particularly committed to me by God (Ac 18:10; 1Co 4:15; 9:2).

Matthew Poole's Commentary

Every man that deriveth from God, is in this made partaker of the Divine nature, that like as God doth not grieve willingly, nor willingly afflict the children of men, so neither will he; but if, by reason of his office or trust reposed in him, he be under an obligation sometimes to speak smartly, or to chastise and punish others for their errors, yet he will so do it as one that hath no pleasure and delight in it. Thus the good judge weepeth, or at least showeth sorrow and compassion, when he giveth sentence against malefactors. So, this great apostle, to whom God had committed a care over all the Christian churches, saw a necessity of reproving this church that was at Corinth, for enduring the incestuous person in their communion, and not casting him out; for their errors about the resurrection, for their divisions, schisms, and contentions, &c.: but he professeth that he did this

with many tears; and those not shed in hypocrisy, but forced from the anguish and affliction of his heart; that he had nothing less in his design, than to put them to any excessive grief or trouble, but what he wrote was out of a principle of love and good will, both to the welfare of their whole church, and to the good of the particular souls of those that were the members of that church. Ministers or others do no good by their censures or reproofs, if they do not so dispense them, as people may see that what they do, or say, is out of their abundant love to their souls.

Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible

For out of much affliction and anguish of heart,.... Being greatly pressed in his spirit, and grieved at his heart, for the abominable iniquities among them, which they seemed to take no notice of, and to be unconcerned about, yea, rather to be puffed up with:

I wrote to you with many tears; as signs and expressions of, and by which were vented, the inward anguish and distress of his soul; and the letter he sent to them in some measure bore witness to it: which was written,

not that you should be grieved; that is, not merely for the sake of grieving of them, in which he took no pleasure; not but that the apostle designed and desired to affect their minds with a holy grief and godly sorrow for sin, and hereby their amendment; but his chief view was, next to their spiritual good, and God's glory, to express the greatness of his love to them: as he says,

that ye might know the love which I have more abundantly unto you; as his love was very vehement towards them, he was desirous they should know it, and how exceeding abundant it was; and that it was even greater towards them, than to others; and he thought he could not give a greater proof and evidence of it, than by reproving them faithfully, and that sharply too, as the necessity of the case required.

Geneva Study Bible

For out of much affliction and anguish of heart I wrote unto you with many tears; not that ye should be grieved, but that ye might know the love which I have more abundantly unto you.

EXEGETICAL (ORIGINAL LANGUAGES)

Meyer's NT Commentary

2 Corinthians 2:4. Reason assigned for the πεποιθὼς κ.τ.λ … For if I in writing the Epistle had not had that confidence, the Epistle would not have caused me so much grief and so many tears. In the very contrast of this confidence with the necessity of having to write in such a manner lay the great pai.

ἐκ and διά vividly represent the origin of the letter as a going forth and a pressing through: out of much affliction and anxiety of heart I wrote to you through many tears. And this Paul might say, even if he had not himself held the pe.

θλίψις and συνοχή (anxiety, Luke 21:25 : not so among the Greeks, but see Schleusner, Thes. V. p. 212) do not refer to outward, but to inward suffering, as both are defined by καρδίας. Rückert concludes from the calm tone of the first Epistle that Paul “had from prudent consideration known how to impose such restraint on his state of feeling, that the Epistle might not reflect any faithful picture of it.” But this would have been cunning dissimulation, not in keeping with the apostle’s character. No; it was just his specially tender care for the Corinthians which on the one hand increased his pain that he needed to write such rebukes, and on the other hand did not allow his vehement emotion to emerge in that Epistle; hence we must not say that the quiet character of our first Epistle is not psychologically in keeping with the utterance of this passage. In particular, 5 might have caused the apostle anxiety and tears enough, without our needing to suppose an intermediate letter (see on 2 Corinthians 2:3).

δακρύων] Comp. Acts 20:19; Acts 20:31. Calvin aptly says: “mollitiem testantur, sed magis heroicam, quam fuerit illa ferrea Stoicorum durities.”

οὐχ ἵνα λυπηθῆτε, ἀλλὰ κ.τ.λ.] This added explanation regarding the purpose of his letter, to him so painful, is intended also to corroborate the πεποιθὼς κ.τ.λ., of which he has given assuranc.

τὴν ἀγάπην] placed first for emphasi.

περισσοτ.] ἢ (εἰς) τοὺς ἄλλους μαθητάς, Theophylact, who, following Chrysostom, also directs attention to the winning tenderness of the words (καταγλυκαίνει δὲ τὸν λόγον βουλόμενος ἐπισπάσασθαι αὐτούς). Comp. 2 Corinthians 1:12. The love of the apostle for his churches has along with its universality its various degrees, just as the love of a father for his children. The Philippians also were specially dear to him.

Expositor's Greek Testament

2 Corinthians 2:4. ἐκ γὰρ πολλῆς θλίψεως κ.τ.λ.: for out of much affliction and anguish of heart I wrote to you with many tears. This describes the state of mind in which he wrote 1 Cor., if the view of the situation which has been adopted in this commentary be correct (see Introd., p. 13).—διὰ πολλῶν δακρύων: we have διά used, somewhat similarly, with the genitive of the attendant circumstances, in Romans 2:27; Romans 4:11; Romans 8:25; Romans 14:20, chap. 2 Corinthians 5:7, Hebrews 12:1, Revelation 21:24, etc.—οὐχ ἵνα λυπηθῆτε κ.τ.λ.: not that ye should be made sorry, but that ye should know the love which I have so abundantly to you. ἀγάπη, as a grace especially to be exhibited in Christian intercourse, is repeatedly dwelt on by St. Paul. The word has been described as “ecclesiastical” and as having been first introduced to literature in the LXX. But it has been recently found in papyri of the Ptolemaic period (Deissmann, Bibel-studien, p. 81), and it thus appears that the LXX only took over a word already current in the speech of Greek Egypt. Here the position of ἀγάπην before ἵνα gives it special emphasis; cf., for a like order, Acts 19:4, Romans 11:31. περισσοτέρως may mean “more abundantly,” sc., than to other Churches; but it is quite legitimate to take it as used without any special comparative force (cf. 2 Corinthians 10:8).

Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

4. For out of much affliction and anguish of heart] The word here translated anguish denotes a drawing or holding together, as we say, a spasm. It is only found here and in Luke 21:25. It was from no proud consciousness of superiority that St Paul wrote the rebukes of his former Epistle. He was no Pharisee who ‘thanked God that he was not as other men are.’ Neither did he take pleasure in grieving them, except so far as it tended to their profit. Therefore he wrote out of (i.e. they were the source from which his Epistle proceeded) much affliction and anguish of heart, not to distress them, but in order to shew his love, which took the shape of an anxious desire for their perfection. “It is the truest mark of affection,” says Estius, “not to cloke the sins of those who are entrusted to your care, to rebuke them openly and plainly, even at the risk of causing considerable distress.”

with many tears] “Which,” says Calvin, “in the case of a brave and high-spirited man, are a token of intense grief.”

not that you should be grieved] Cf. ch. 2 Corinthians 7:12.

Bengel's Gnomen

2 Corinthians 2:4. Ἐκ γὰρ, for out of) I wished to stir you up before I went to you, that afterwards it might not be necessary. Anguish of heart produced tears, much anguish produced many tears. The Corinthians might have seen the marks of tears on his letter, if he himself wrote it—a proof of anguish.—οὐ ἵνα), not so much that, etc. The fruit of sorrow is not sorrow, but the fruit of love is love.—λυπηθῆτε, you should be grieved) He is easily made sorry, who is admonished by a friend himself weeping.—τὴν ἀγάπην, love) The source of sincere reproof and of joy derived from it.—γνῶτε, you might know) according to my faithful admonition.—περισσοτέρως εἰς ὑμᾶς, more abundantly to you) who have been particularly commended to me by God, Acts 18:10.

Pulpit Commentary

Verse 4. - For. He proceeds to assign the anguish which his First Epistle had caused him as a proof of his confidence that, as a body, they loved him as he loved them. If they had regarded each other with indifference, his letter would not have been written to them, as it were. in his heart's blood. Out of much affliction and anguish of heart. The word for "anguish" means "contraction," "pressure," "spasm" (Luke 21:25). The expression may seem far too strong to be accounted for by the tone of the first letter. Hence some have supposed that he is referring to some other letter now last; and others that ch. 10-13. of this letter, where the whole tone of affection and tenderness suddenly changes into one of impassioned irony and indignation, really belonged to this intermediate letter. There is no need, however, for these hypotheses. In 1 Corinthians 5:1-6:11 he had spoken of the errors of the Church with strong reprobation, and the anguish with which he wrote the letter may have been all the more deeply felt because, in expressing it, he put on his feelings a strong restraint. With many tears. I wrote "out of" anguish, and that anguish showed itself through the tears which bathed my cheeks as I wrote. Such tears, says Calvin, "show weakness, but a weakness more heroic than would have been the iron apathy of a Stoic." It must, however, be remembered that, in ancient times, and in Southern and Eastern lands, men yielded to tears more readily than among Northern nations, who take pride in suppressing as far as possible all outward signs of emotion. In Homer the bravest heroes do not blush to weep in public, and the nervous, afflicted temperament of St. Paul seems to have been often overwhelmed with weeping (Acts 20:19, 31; 2 Timothy 1:4). Not that ye should be grieved. The "not," by a common Hebrew idiom, means "not only," "not exclusively." His object in inflicting pain was not the pain itself, but the results of godly repentance which it produced (2 Corinthians 7:11). The love. In the Greek this word is placed very emphatically at the beginning of the clause. More abundantly. I loved you more than I loved other converts, and the abundance of my love will give you a measure of the pain I felt. The Philippians were St. Paul's best-beloved converts; but next to them he seems to have felt more personal tenderness for the members of this inflated, wayward, erring Church than for any other community, just as a father sometimes loves best his least-deserving son. There was something in the brightness and keenness of the Greek nature which won over St. Paul, in spite of its many faults. 2 Corinthians 2:4

Vincent's Word Studies

Anguish (συνοχῆς)

Only here and Luke 21:25. Lit., a holding together, constraining, or compressing. See on taken, Luke 4:38. So anguish, from the Latin, angere to choke: anger, which, in earlier English, means affiction, mental torture: anxious: the Latin anguis a snake, marking the serpent by his throttling. In Sanscrit, anhas, from the same root, was the name for sin, the throttler. It reappears obscurely in our medical term quinsy, which was originally quinancy, Greek κυνάγκη dog-throttling, med., cynanche.