2Cor 10:2, 1Th 2:6-7 | JFB | STEP | 2. I beseech you —Intimating that, as he can beseech in letters, so he can be severe in their presence. that I may not be —that I may not have to be bold, &c. with that confidence — that authoritative sternness. I think —I am minded to be. as if we walked according to the flesh —His Corinthian detractors judged of him by themselves, as if he were influenced by fleshly motives, the desire of favor or fear of giving offense, so as not to exercise his authority when present.

2 Corinthians 10:2

2. I beseech you—Intimating that, as he can beseech in letters, so he can be severe in their presence.

that I may not be—that I may not have to be bold, &c.

with that confidence—that authoritative sternness.

I think—I am minded to be.

as if we walked according to the flesh—His Corinthian detractors judged of him by themselves, as if he were influenced by fleshly motives, the desire of favor or fear of giving offense, so as not to exercise his authority when present.

1 Thessalonians 2:6-7

6. Literally, "Nor of men (have we been found, 1Th 2:5) seeking glory." The "of" here represents a different Greek word from "of" in the clause "of you . . . of others." ALFORD makes the former (Greek, "ex") express the abstract ground of the glory; the latter (apo) the concrete object from which it was to come. The former means "originating from"; the latter means "on the part of." Many teach heretical novelties, though not for fain, yet for "glory." Paul and his associates were free even from this motive [GROTIUS], (Joh 5:44).

we might have been burdensome—that is, by claiming maintenance (1Th 2:9; 2Co 11:9; 12:16; 2Th 3:8). As, however, "glory" precedes, as well as "covetousness," the reference cannot be restricted to the latter, though I think it is not excluded. Translate, "when we might have borne heavily upon you," by pressing you with the weight of self-glorifying authority, and with the burden of our sustenance. Thus the antithesis is appropriate in the words following, "But we were gentle (the opposite of pressing weightily) among you" (1Th 2:7). On weight being connected with authority, compare Note, see on 2Co 10:10, "His letters are weighty" (1Co 4:21). ALFORD'S translation, which excludes reference to his right of claiming maintenance ("when we might have stood on our dignity"), seems to me disproved by 1Th 2:9, which uses the same Greek word unequivocally for "chargeable." Twice he received supplies from Philippi while at Thessalonica (Php 4:16).

as the apostles—that is, as being apostles.

7. we were—Greek, "we were made" by God's grace.

gentle—Greek, "mild in bearing with the faults of others" [TITTMANN]; one, too, who is gentle (though firm) in reproving the erroneous opinions of others (2Ti 2:24). Some of the oldest manuscripts read, "we became little children" (compare Mt 18:3, 4). Others support the English Version reading, which forms a better antithesis to 1Th 2:6, 7, and harmonizes better with what follows; for he would hardly, in the same sentence, compare himself both to the "infants" or "little children," and to "a nurse," or rather, "suckling mother." Gentleness is the fitting characteristic of a nurse.

among you—Greek, "in the midst of you," that is, in our intercourse with you being as one of yourselves.

nurse—a suckling mother.

her—Greek, "her own children" (compare 1Th 2:11). So Ga 4:19.