2 Corinthians 3:1

Do we begin again to commend ourselves? or need we, as some others, epistles of commendation to you, or letters of commendation from you?

EXPOSITORY (ENGLISH BIBLE)

Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers

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).

Benson Commentary

2 Corinthians 3:1-2. Do we begin again — While we thus speak and avow our integrity; to commend — Or recommend; ourselves — As some insinuate we do? Is it needful to do so? have we nothing but our own word to recommend us? St. Paul chiefly here intends himself, though not excluding Timothy, Titus, and Silvanus: or need we, as some others — Namely, the factious and false teachers, referred to 2 Corinthians 11:22-23; epistles of commendation — Recommendatory letters; to you — From other churches; or recommendatory letters from you — To others? As if he had said, Do I indeed want such recommendation? Nay, ye are our epistle — Our recommendatory letter, more convincing than any bare words could be, as being a testimonial from God himself. He means that the change which had been produced in their hearts and lives, in their dispositions, words, and actions, by his ministry, and that of his fellow-labourers, a change which could not have been effected except by the power of God, was a demonstration that God had sent them, and was present with them, giving efficacy to the word of his grace, a letter written in our hearts — Deeply engraven there, so that we never can forget it; known and read of all men — Who knew what immoral persons you once were, and observe what you are now. By speaking as the apostle does in this and the preceding verse, he intimates that his apostleship did not depend on the testimony of men, and that he could go to no church where he was not known to be an apostle of Christ, and to have been instrumental in converting many to the faith, and making them new creatures in Christ.

Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary

3:1-11 Even the appearance of self-praise and courting human applause, is painful to the humble and spiritual mind. Nothing is more delightful to faithful ministers, or more to their praise, than the success of their ministry, as shown in the spirits and lives of those among whom they labour. The law of Christ was written in their hearts, and the love of Christ shed abroad there. Nor was it written in tables of stone, as the law of God given to Moses, but on the fleshy (not fleshly, as fleshliness denotes sensuality) tables of the heart, Eze 36:26. Their hearts were humbled and softened to receive this impression, by the new-creating power of the Holy Spirit. He ascribes all the glory to God. And remember, as our whole dependence is upon the Lord, so the whole glory belongs to him alone. The letter killeth: the letter of the law is the ministration of death; and if we rest only in the letter of the gospel, we shall not be the better for so doing: but the Holy Spirit gives life spiritual, and life eternal. The Old Testament dispensation was the ministration of death, but the New Testament of life. The law made known sin, and the wrath and curse of God; it showed us a God above us, and a God against us; but the gospel makes known grace, and Emmanuel, God with us. Therein the righteousness of God by faith is revealed; and this shows us that the just shall live by his faith; this makes known the grace and mercy of God through Jesus Christ, for obtaining the forgiveness of sins and eternal life. The gospel so much exceeds the law in glory, that it eclipses the glory of the legal dispensation. But even the New Testament will be a killing letter, if shown as a mere system or form, and without dependence on God the Holy Spirit, to give it a quickening power.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

Do we begin again - This is designed evidently to meet an objection. He had been speaking of his triumph in the ministry 2 Corinthians 2:14, and of his sincerity and honesty, as contrasted with the conduct of many who corrupted the Word of God, 2 Corinthians 2:17. It might be objected that he was magnifying himself in these statements, and designed to commend himself in this manner to the Corinthians. To this he replies in the following verses.

To commend ourselves? - To recommend ourselves; do we speak this in our own praise, in order to obtain your favor.

Or need we, as some others - Probably some who had brought letters of recommendation to them from Judea. The false teachers at Corinth had been originally introduced there by commendatory letters from abroad. These were letters of introduction, and were common among the Greeks, the Romans, and the Jews, as they are now. They were usually given to persons who were about to travel, as there were no inns. and as travelers were dependent on the hospitality of those among whom they traveled.

Of commendation from you - To other congregations. It is implied here by Paul, that he sought no such letter; that he traveled without them; and that he depended on his zeal, and self-denial, and success to make him known, and to give him the affections of those to whom he ministered - a much better recommendation than mere introductory letters. Such letters were, however, sometimes given by Christians, and are by no means improper, Acts 18:27. Yet, they do not appear to have been sought or used by the apostles generally. They depended on their miraculous endowments, and on the attending grace of God to make them known.

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary

CHAPTER 3

2Co 3:1-18. The Sole Commendation He Needs to Prove God's Sanction of His Ministry He Has in His Corinthian Converts: His Ministry Excels the Mosaic, as the Gospel of Life and Liberty Excels the Law of Condemnation.

1. Are we beginning again to recommend ourselves (2Co 5:12) (as some of them might say he had done in his first Epistle; or, a reproof to "some" who had begun doing so)!

commendation—recommendation. (Compare 2Co 10:18). The "some" refers to particular persons of the "many" (2Co 2:17) teachers who opposed him, and who came to Corinth with letters of recommendation from other churches; and when leaving that city obtained similar letters from the Corinthians to other churches. The thirteenth canon of the Council of Chalcedon (A.D. 451) ordained that "clergymen coming to a city where they were unknown, should not be allowed to officiate without letters commendatory from their own bishop." The history (Ac 18:27) confirms the existence of the custom here alluded to in the Epistle: "When Apollos was disposed to pass into Achaia [Corinth], the brethren [of Ephesus] wrote, exhorting the disciples to receive him." This was about two years before the Epistle,and is probably one of the instances to which Paul refers, as many at Corinth boasted of their being followers of Apollos (1Co 1:12).2 Corinthians 3:1-3 To obviate the imputation of vain glory, Paul showeth

that the gifts and graces of the Corinthians were a

sufficient commendation of his ministry,

2 Corinthians 3:4,5 the efficacy of which he ascribeth entirely to God.

2 Corinthians 3:6-11 He proveth the superior excellency of the gospel

ministry to that of the law,

2 Corinthians 3:12-18 and thereupon justifieth his plain speaking, as under

a dispensation of greater light and liberty than that

of Moses.

The apostle, in the former Epistle, had spoken much in the vindication of himself and of his office; he seeth reason to return again to something of the like discourse, being provoked by the many imputations which the false apostles and teachers, in this church, had laid upon him: therefore he saith:

Do we begin again? Or else these words may have a special reference to the last verse of the former chapter; where he had commended himself, as being none of those who corrupted the word of God, but had preached as of God, and in the sight of God. No, (saith the apostle), though some others stand in need of commendatory letters, and are very careful to procure them, (by which others he very probably means the false apostles and teachers, which were Paul’s great enemies), yet I trust I need not any letters commendatory to recommend me to you, any more than letters of recommendation from you to commend me unto any other churches of Christ.

Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible

Do we begin again to commend ourselves?.... The apostle having asserted that he and his fellow ministers always triumphed in Christ, and made manifest the savour of his knowledge in every place; were a sweet savour of Christ to God, did not corrupt the word of God, as some did, but sincerely and faithfully preached Christ; some might insinuate from hence, that he was guilty of arrogance and vain glory; wherefore to remove such a charge, or prevent its being brought, he asks, "do we begin again to commend ourselves?" we do not; what we say, we say honestly, sincerely, in the simplicity of our hearts, without any view to our own glory and applause among men, or for any worldly profit and advantage, or to ingratiate ourselves into your affections; we have no such views: some read these words without an interrogation, "we do begin again to commend ourselves"; as we have done already, in this and the former epistles; and as it is but just and right that we should vindicate our characters, support our good name and reputation, and secure and maintain our credit, which some would maliciously deprive us of:

though we have no need, as some others, of epistles of commendation to you, or letters of commendation from you; our persons, characters, and usefulness are too well known, to require commendatory letters front others to you, or from you to others. The false apostles are here struck at, whose practice it was to get letters of commendation from place to place; which they carried about and made use of for their temporal advantage, having nothing truly good and excellent in them to recommend them to others. The apostle does not hereby condemn letters of recommendation, which in proper cases may be very lawfully given, and a good use be made of them; only that he and other Gospel ministers were so well known, as to stand in no need of them.

Geneva Study Bible

Do we begin again to commend ourselves? or need we, as some others, epistles of commendation to you, or letters of commendation from you?

EXEGETICAL (ORIGINAL LANGUAGES)

Meyer's NT Commentary

2 Corinthians 3:1. Ἀρχόμεθα] namely, through what was said in 2 Corinthians 2:17, regarding which Paul foresaw that his opponents would describe it as the beginning of another recommendation of himself. It is interrogative, not to be taken, with Hofmann, who then reads ἢ μή, as an affirmation, in which case a logical relation to the question that follows could only be brought out by importing something.[155]

πάλιν] belongs to ἙΑΥΤ. ΣΥΝΙΣΤ., and refers to experiences, through which Paul must have passed already before, certainly also in respect to his last Epistle (1 Corinthians 1-4; 5; 1 Corinthians 9; 1 Corinthians 14:17, al.), when the charge was made: ἑαυτὸν ΣΥΝΙΣΤΆΝΕΙ! As to the reason why he regards the ἑαυτὸν συνιστάνειν to be such a reproach, see 2 Corinthians 10:18.

In the plural he in this chapter includes also Timothy, as is clear from expressions such as immediately occur in 2 Corinthians 3:2, ἐν ταῖς καρδίαις ἡμ., and 2 Corinthians 3:6, ἩΜᾶς ΔΙΑΚΌΝΟΥς.

ΣΥΝΙΣΤΆΝΕΙΝ] as at Romans 16:1. Hence ἘΠΙΣΤΟΛΑῚ ΣΥΣΤΑΤΙΚΑΊ or ΓΡΆΜΜΑΤΑ ΣΥΣΤΑΤΙΚΆ (Arrian. Epict. ii. 3. 1; Diog. L. v. 18, viii. 87), letters of recommendation. Regarding their use in the ancient Christian church, see Suicer, Thes. II. p. 1194; Dought. Anal. II. p. 120.

εἰ μὴ κ.τ.λ.] nisi, i.e. unless it possibly be, that, etc. Only if this exigency takes place with us, can that ἄρχονται πάλιν ἑαυτοὺς συνιστάνειν be asserted of us. Such epistolary recommendations, indeed, we should not have, and hence we should have to resort to self-praise! The expression is ironical in character, and contains an answer to that question, which reveals its absurdity. Comp. Xen. Mem. i. 2. 8. Hence εἰ is not to be taken, with Reiche, as siquidem or quia, and μή as negativing the ΧΡῄΖΟΜΕΝ (as if it were ΕἸ Οὐ ΧΡῇΖ.).

Ὥς ΤΙΝΕς] as some people (comp. 1 Corinthians 4:18; 1 Corinthians 15:12; Galatians 1:7), certainly a side-glance at anti-Pauline teachers, who had brought to the Corinthians letters of recommendation, either from teachers of repute, or from churches,[156] and had obtained similar letters from Corinth at their departure thenc.

πρὸς ὑμᾶς, ἢ ἐξ ὑμῶν] In the former case, it might be thought that we wished to supply this need by recommendation of ourselves; in the latter case (ἢ ἐξ ὑμῶν), that we, by our self-recommendation, wished to corrupt your judgment, and to induce you to recommend us to others. Both would be absurd, but this is just in keeping with the irony.

[155] The question that follows with ἢ μή would mean: “or do we not withal need?” etc., which does not fit in with ἀρχόμεθα when taken as an affirmation. Hofmann, however, imports the thoughts: whoever is offended al this, that Paul has no scruple in recommending himself, to him he offers to answer on his part the question, whether he and his official associates have any need of letters of recommendation.

[156] According to Galatians 2:7-9, but hardly from the original apostles or from the church of Jerusalem under their guidance as such. This, however, does not exclude the possibility that individual members of the mother-church may have given such letters. We do not know anything more precise on the point: even from τινὲς ἀπὸ Ἰακώβου, Galatians 2:12 ff., nothing is to be inferred.

Expositor's Greek Testament

2 Corinthians 3:1-3. THE CORINTHIANS ARE ST. PAUL’S “EPISTLE OF COMMENDATION”.

Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

Ch. 2 Corinthians 3:1-6. St Paul’s Ministry no self-assumed task, but the communication of the Spirit

1. Do we begin again to commend ourselves?] A charge had been apparently brought against St Paul that he had before (probably in 1 Corinthians 2:16; 1 Corinthians 3:10; 1 Corinthians 4:11-14; 1 Corinthians 9:20-27; 1 Corinthians 14:18) indulged in unseemly self-laudation. He supposes that the same charge will be brought against him for his language in ch. 2 Corinthians 2:14-17.

as some others] The opponents of St Paul had no doubt come armed with letters of commendation from some Apostle (as the Judaizers in Galatians 2:12) or Church, and some of them had received similar letters from the Corinthian Churches on their departure, with a view to their reception by some other Church. St Paul appeals to the nature of his work among them as rendering such a proceeding on his part not only unnecessary but absurd.

epistles of commendation] Tyndale and Cranmer, better, letters of recommendation, the word from its derivation signifying rather introduction than what we now understand by commendation, i.e. praise, though it would seem to have come to this meaning in New Testament Greek. See last note but one. Instances of such letters commendatory are to be found in Acts 15:25-27; Acts 18:27; Romans 16:1; Colossians 4:10. They became a common, almost a necessary, feature in the life of the early Church, and were known as literae formatae.

Bengel's Gnomen

2 Corinthians 3:1. Ἀρχόμεθα, do we begin?) A just reproof to some of those who had so begun.—πάλιν, again) as was formerly done in the first epistle; so, again, ch. 2 Corinthians 5:12.—συνιστάνειν, to commend) after the manner of men; 2 Corinthians 12:19, by mentioning transactions that took place elsewhere.—εἰ μὴ) unless. A particle expressive of conciliation [morata]. Is it thus and thus only that we are equal to the task of commending ourselves [i.e., by mentioning transactions that took place elsewhere], if we do not need [without needing] also letters? Some read ἤ.[15]—τινές, some) of many, 2 Corinthians 2:17. In this respect also, he shows that he utterly differs from the false apostles. They did need letters of recommendation.—ἐξ ὑμῶν, from you) to others. This then was the practice at Corinth.

[15] So CD(Λ)Gfg Vulg. (“aut numquid”). But AB (judging from silence acc. to Tisch: But Lachm. quotes B for ἤ) read εἰ μὴ as Rec. Text.—ED.

Pulpit Commentary

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). 2 Corinthians 3:1

Vincent's Word Studies

Do we begin again

Rev., are we beginning. As if anticipating, the taunt so often repeated, that he had no commendatory letters, and therefore was forced to commend himself by self-laudation and by dishonest means. See 2 Corinthians 4:2; 2 Corinthians 10:12. You will say, "You are beginning again the old strain of self-commendation as in the first epistle." See 1 Corinthians 1 Corinthians 9:15-21.

To commend (συνιστάναι)

See on Romans 3:5. Some others. Others is superfluous. The reference is to certain false teachers accredited by churches or by other well-known teachers.