Translation commentary on 2 Corinthians 1:1 – 1:2

At the time when Paul wrote, Greek letters began with the form “A to B, greetings.” The first half of verse 1 corresponds to “A,” telling who sent the letter and something about the person or persons sending the letter. The second half of the verse corresponds to “B” and gives information about who is to receive the letter. The second verse is a Christian expansion of the greeting in a normal Greek letter. In some languages it may be necessary to supply certain implied information and break down this formula into two separate sentences. The first part may read something like “This letter is from me, Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus” or “… from me, Paul, the one whom Christ Jesus commissioned to be his messenger.”

An apostle of Christ Jesus: the word apostle is related to a Greek verb meaning “send” and often means “someone sent as a messenger.”

Christ Jesus: some older translations such as the King James Version (King James Version), which were based on the Textus Receptus (see Glossary), read “Jesus Christ.” More recently the Living Bible (Living Bible) also follows this order, but most scholars today consider the order “Christ Jesus” to be original, though there may be no difference in meaning. While the word “Christ” is sometimes a title elsewhere in the New Testament, it appears to be used as a name in this case. This order of the names occurs ninety times in the New Testament and is actually more frequent in the epistles than “Jesus Christ.” Except for Acts 24.24, all occurrences of “Christ Jesus” are in the epistles. A note in TOB on this verse indicates that, when Paul uses the order “Christ Jesus,” he has Jewish readers in mind. If, however, the reader is likely to think that Christ Jesus refers to a different person from Jesus Christ, then it may be necessary to use the more common order here. But where possible it is good to maintain the distinction made by Paul.

By the will of God: it was God’s will that Paul be an apostle. In some cases this type of clause has to be translated by a verbal expression such as “It was because God wanted it so that [I became an apostle].”

Timothy our brother: the Greek says literally “Timothy the brother,” with only the definite article where the possessive pronoun appears in English. The same is true for Sosthenes in 1 Corinthians. Bible de Jérusalem avoids the pronoun with “one of the brothers,” but the New Jerusalem Bible (New Jerusalem Bible) reverts to “our brother.” In some languages kinship terms such as brother require that a possessive pronoun be used with them. In other languages, such as English, “the brother” may sound unnatural. Though most translations say our brother, perhaps Paul was thinking of Timothy more in his relationship to the Corinthians: “Timothy, your brother” (so the God’s New Covenant). If translators follow the example of Revised Standard Version and Good News Translation, the word our should be inclusive, that is, it includes the readers of the letter. In some languages there is no general word for brother, only specific words for “younger brother” or “older brother.” Timothy was probably younger than Paul (1 Tim 4.12).

Timothy is mentioned along with Paul as a sender of this letter. Translators may wish to follow the model of Barclay (Barclay): “This is a letter from Paul … and from Timothy” (so also Phillips [Phillips]). Even though Timothy was a co-sender of this letter, parts of the letter are written in the first person singular, and Paul alone is clearly the writer (1.15–2.13, for example). Timothy apparently is mentioned not as a co-writer but rather as one who agrees with the contents of this letter and gives his support to what Paul has written.

When verbs and pronouns in the first person plural occur in this letter, it is not always clear whether these are plural in meaning (Paul and Timothy) or whether Paul is using the epistolary plural, that is, speaking of himself in the plural form. Therefore some translators may have to say “my brother” here, and “I” or “me” elsewhere, where “we” or “us” occur (see discussion of epistolary plural and following).

To the church of God: in the New Testament the word church may refer either to a local congregation, as in this verse, or to all Christians everywhere. Translators should avoid a word for church that means only the building where Christians meet for worship. The expression the church of God occurs first in Paul’s farewell speech to the elders at Ephesus (Acts 20.28) and frequently in the first Corinthian letter (1.2; 10.32; 11.22; 15.9). The root meaning of the word is “assembly,” “gathering,” or “meeting.” The term appears nine times in this letter. In almost every case (except 11.28) it seems to refer to the local congregation.

Corinth was the capital city of the province of Achaia. Paul’s reference to Achaia in 9.2 includes the Corinthian Christians. Depending on the structure of the receptor language, it may be more natural to begin a new sentence here, and it may also be necessary to add the classifier term “city” with the geographical name Corinth; for example, “the city Corinth” or “the city of Corinth.”

With all the saints who are in the whole of Achaia: this indicates a larger group of recipients in addition to the church in Corinth. Paul apparently expected that this letter, like 1 Corinthians, would be read by Christians not only in the city of Corinth but also in other cities and towns of the Roman province of Achaia. Achaia included the Isthmus of Corinth and all the land south of it, including the cities of Athens and Cenchreae. Some translations have rendered Achaia as “southern Greece,” but it would be misleading to say simply “Greece” as in Living Bible and early versions of Good News Translation and Bible en français courant.

The word saints expresses the idea that Christians belong to God and are set apart to serve his purposes alone. In some languages “saint” has come to mean a person who is exceptionally moral or ethical in conduct. Such a translation should be avoided. In many languages this term is translated simply “God’s people” (as in Good News Translation) or something similar that will indicate their belonging to God. In those languages that break down the introductory formula into separate sentences, this second part may read “We are [or, I am] sending this letter to the assembly of God’s people who are in the city of Corinth and to all of God’s people in the region of Achaia.”

Verse 2 is identical with Rom 1.7b; 1 Cor 1.3; Eph 1.2; Phil 1.2; 2 Thes 1.2; and Philemon 3, and should be rendered the same in each case, unless there are good contextual reasons for making a difference. Translators should consult the Handbooks on these other letters.

Grace to you and peace: in the original word order the personal pronoun goes with the first word, but Paul is clearly wishing both qualities to the readers of his letter. The term for Grace (charis) is related to the word for “greeting” (chairein) that was normally used at the beginning of letters written in Greek. Since Grace is not a standard greeting-word in either Greek or Jewish letters, perhaps Paul was playing with words when he replaced the word chairein with the word charis. The wish of Grace is a wish for God’s love and favor to those who do not deserve it. In languages where a suitable single word does not exist, a translation such as “May God be kind and generous toward you” or “May God show his goodness to you” may be used. Peace was commonly used in Jewish letters. As in the Old Testament, the word peace means more than an absence of war or peaceful feeling that a person may have. It refers to a total state of well-being that God gives to a person or a community.

Our Father: the pronoun our includes the readers.

In languages that require a possessive pronoun with the word Lord, the inclusive pronoun “our” should be used.

This whole verse is an expression of Paul’s desire for the Church at Corinth; it is a kind of prayer for the well-being of these Christians. So in many languages it will be most natural to use a structure like that of Good News Translation, beginning with “May God…,” or the Contemporary English Version (Contemporary English Version), which reads “I pray that God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ will be kind to you and bless you with peace.”

Quoted with permission from Omanson, Roger L. and Ellingworth, Paul. A Handbook on Paul’s Second Letter to the Corinthians. (UBS Handbook Series). New York: UBS, 1993. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .

Translation commentary on 2 Corinthians 2:11

This verse is a continuation of the sentence begun in verse 10 and states the purpose of the forgiveness. In some languages it may be better to begin a new sentence here, saying something like “I do this in order to prevent Satan from being able to trick us.” Revised Standard Version gaining the advantage actually implies treachery and cunning deception.

Many translators will simply transliterate the name Satan. Satan is the transliteration of a Hebrew word which means “accuser” or “adversary.” By the last two centuries before the birth of Jesus, Judaism had come to think of him as a leader of the forces of evil. Satan was one of the names given to this spiritual being.

The pronouns us and we probably include the readers.

For we are not ignorant of his designs is an example of litotes, that is, of understatement for the sake of emphasis. We are not ignorant of means “we know only too well” (New Jerusalem Bible) or “we know well enough” (Knox). In many languages it will be advisable to translate in this more direct manner, “we know very well.”

His designs: that is, the evil purposes and intentions that Satan has for seducing those who seek to follow the will of God. In many languages it will be both natural and faithful to use a word that has negative connotations, such as “schemes” (New International Version), “intrigues,” “conspiracy,” or “plots.”

Quoted with permission from Omanson, Roger L. and Ellingworth, Paul. A Handbook on Paul’s Second Letter to the Corinthians. (UBS Handbook Series). New York: UBS, 1993. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .

Translation commentary on 2 Corinthians 4:8

We: this pronoun refers to Paul and possibly to others with him, but it does not include the Corinthians. In keeping with their usual practice, Moffatt and An American Translation take it as an epistolary “we” and translate using first person singular pronouns; but this is less probable and is not recommended here.

As indicated in the New Jerusalem Bible note, the images of the four sentences in verses 8 and 9 are taken from the contests of gladiators in the ancient Greek world. There are four sets of participles in which the second of each set is preceded by a negation. There are many passive ideas in these four sentences that will have to be rendered actively in many languages. Frequently the best way to do this is to use an indefinite third person plural form, such as “They [habitually] afflict us…” for We are afflicted, for example.

The position of in every way in the Greek sentence gives emphasis to these words. In every way indicates the extent of the suffering: “We are afflicted with all kinds of hardships.” Good News Translation inserts the words “often” and “sometimes” in order to indicate that such troubles are not always present everywhere. The word “always” in verse 10 refers to the continuance of the afflictions in one form or another.

On afflicted see 1.6, where the same Greek word occurs.

But not crushed: the term so translated has the idea of restriction or narrow confinement. It has been rendered “never cornered” (Revised English Bible and similarly Translator’s New Testament), while Moffatt has “not hemmed in.” Knox has “yet still have room to breathe,” and Barclay has “never without a way out.”

The words perplexed and driven to despair come from the same root word in Greek, with the second participle in Greek having a form that indicates “intensely perplexed.” The root verb means “to be uncertain of how to act.” Contemporary English Version says “Even when we don’t know what to do, we never give up.” In an attempt to preserve the relationship between the two verbs, one may possibly translate something like Traduction œcuménique de la Bible, “sometimes at an impasse, but we manage to pass,” or “despairing, but not utterly desperate” (Anchor Bible), or possibly even “sometimes feeling lost, but never completely lost.”

Quoted with permission from Omanson, Roger L. and Ellingworth, Paul. A Handbook on Paul’s Second Letter to the Corinthians. (UBS Handbook Series). New York: UBS, 1993. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .

Translation commentary on 2 Corinthians 6:1

In the verses that follow, the first person plural pronouns do not include the readers. Possibly these pronouns are examples of the “epistolary plural” (so Moffatt, An American Translation, and Parola Del Signore: La Bibbia in Lingua Corrente, who use the first person singular in this section).

Although many versions begin a new paragraph at this point, some more recent translations do not make a paragraph break here. See, for example, Anchor Bible, Revised English Bible, and New Revised Standard Version (similarly Moffatt). The connecting word then, as well as some of the vocabulary used, ties the content of this verse closely to that of the previous section.

Working together with has no object in the Greek. Revised Standard Version supplies the pronoun object him, but the precise reference of this pronoun is unclear. Though several objects are possible—Christ, the Corinthians (New American Bible), Paul’s fellow workers—the most probable object is “God” (Good News Translation, New International Version, and Revised English Bible), as the pronoun him suggests in Revised Standard Version. This is based on the fact that 5.20 speaks explicitly of God making his appeal through Paul (and others).

We entreat you: the verb used here is the same as the one translated “making his appeal” in 5.20. The connection between the two verses is obscured in both Revised Standard Version and Good News Translation, which use different verbs for the two occurrences. Anchor Bible attempts to show the relationship between them by translating here “we are also appealing to you….”

The infinitive translated as not to accept can refer to the present time (Revised Standard Version, New Revised Standard Version) or to past time (Good News Translation, Revised English Bible). Probably the sense is that they have already accepted or received God’s grace, and now they should respond to what God has done. The words in vain mean “without result” or “without living the way that Christians should live.” It is possible to translate the sense here with a positive rather than a negative appeal. Contemporary English Version has “we beg you to make good use of God’s kindness to you.” Or one may use two separate sentences as Barclay does: “You have received the grace of God. We therefore urge you not to let it all go for nothing.”

The expression grace of God occurs also in 1.12; 8.1; 9.14. On the translation of this phrase, see comments at 1.2, 12.

Some editions of the Greek text have a dash at the end of verse 1 and again at the end of verse 2, suggesting that the material in verse 2 is somehow parenthetical. Most versions, however, rightly ignore these marks, and the fourth revised edition of the UBS Greek New Testament also omits them.

Quoted with permission from Omanson, Roger L. and Ellingworth, Paul. A Handbook on Paul’s Second Letter to the Corinthians. (UBS Handbook Series). New York: UBS, 1993. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .

Translation commentary on 2 Corinthians 7:15

Heart translates the Greek word “bowels” (see comments on 6.12). Even King James Version, which is normally quite literal, here translates “inward affection.” The whole expression his heart goes out … to you is more literally “his bowels are abundantly toward you.” This simply means that his love for the Christians at Corinth has grown stronger. New American Bible reads “His heart embraces you with an expanding love.” And Contemporary English Version conveys the same idea with the common language equivalent “Titus loves all of you very much.”

The word obedience is a noun in Greek. Some languages may need to use a verb and make explicit who obeyed whom, as does Good News Translation (Revised English Bible: “how ready you all were to do what he asked”).

Paul uses the words fear and trembling in 1 Cor 2.3; Eph 6.5; and Phil 2.12. Pointing to passages such as Exo 15.16 and Psa 2.11, where human beings respond with “fear and trembling” in awareness of God’s presence, some interpreters think Paul means here with “fear and trembling in the sight of God” (see 7.1, 12). More likely Titus was the object of their fear and trembling.

In some languages it may be more natural to restructure the ideas of this verse along the following lines: “Therefore, when he thinks of the way all of you obeyed him and how you received him with great respect, his love for you increases.”

Quoted with permission from Omanson, Roger L. and Ellingworth, Paul. A Handbook on Paul’s Second Letter to the Corinthians. (UBS Handbook Series). New York: UBS, 1993. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .

Translation commentary on 2 Corinthians 9:8

As noted at 9.1, the pronoun you is plural here, as throughout chapter 9.

God is able: this may also be rendered “God has the power” (Anchor Bible) or “God can…” (Barclay and Contemporary English Version).

Every blessing is literally “every grace.” New American Bible says “God is able to make every grace abundant for you” (so also New International Version). Here “grace” does not refer to God’s saving grace but rather to the benefits that he freely gives to the Corinthians.

The second half of this verse states that the givers will have enough for their own needs (enough of everything) and enough to give to the needs of others also (provide in abundance). The word translated enough is found elsewhere only in 1 Tim 6.6, where it is translated “contentment.” It carries the idea of self-sufficiency.

For every good work: note that Good News Translation, like Barclay and Phillips, speaks of “every good cause.” Some languages may have to say something like “[to help] all those who are in need.”

Here Paul seems to be intentionally piling up words indicating totality, completeness, and abundance. In this short verse the Greek word for “all [or, every]” occurs four times, “always” once, and the verb “to be abundant” appears twice. The cumulative effect is to emphasize the fact that God takes complete care of all his people at all times. But a literal rendering may sound heavy or unnatural in some languages.

Quoted with permission from Omanson, Roger L. and Ellingworth, Paul. A Handbook on Paul’s Second Letter to the Corinthians. (UBS Handbook Series). New York: UBS, 1993. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .

Translation commentary on 2 Corinthians 11:7

Verse 7 is a rhetorical question that expects the answer “No.” In some languages the sense will be clearer if this is rendered as in Good News Translation, as a clear negative statement followed by the question “Was that the wrong thing to do?” The answer will then be obvious. Or in other cases the most natural rendering will include the explicit answer “No!” after the question has been asked.

In abasing myself: Paul “humbled” himself (Good News Translation, New Revised Standard Version). The verb used here is related to the noun “humble” in 10.1. One language has translated “I became like a common laborer.” Another speaks of “lowering myself [in order to lift you up].”

That you might be exalted: exaltation, or lifting up, is a common theme in both the Old and the New Testaments and in some cases refers to ultimate exaltation to heavenly glory. However, in this case it is simply the opposite of humiliation. Paul endures humiliation in order to show respect for the Corinthian Christians. The passive may be avoided by following the model of Contemporary English Version, “honor you.”

Paul identifies his gospel as God’s gospel. Unlike the superapostles who preached a “different gospel” (11.4), Paul’s gospel comes from God.

Without cost to you means that Paul did not ask for any remuneration from the Corinthian church. Note that Good News Translation transposes this to the beginning of the verse. Some other possible models of this clause are “I did not make you pay me for the Good News that I preached to you” or “I did not ask for money when I told you the Good News.”

Quoted with permission from Omanson, Roger L. and Ellingworth, Paul. A Handbook on Paul’s Second Letter to the Corinthians. (UBS Handbook Series). New York: UBS, 1993. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .

Translation commentary on 2 Corinthians 12:7

By the abundance of revelations: these words may connect with the end of verse 6 and indicate why others would think highly of Paul (so New Jerusalem Bible; see comments on 12.6), or they may indicate the reason that Paul might be tempted to be puffed up with pride (so Revised Standard Version, Good News Translation, Revised English Bible). The Greek syntax at the beginning of verse 7 is extremely difficult; either scribes copied incorrectly or else Paul wrote garbled Greek here. The general sense, however, seems clear, depending on whether one begins a new sentence at the beginning of verse 7 or after the first five Greek words in verse 7, as in New Revised Standard Version, New Jerusalem Bible, and the other translations and Greek texts mentioned in verse 6.

A thorn was given me in the flesh: most interpreters agree that the implicit agent of the verb was given is probably God. Whether God or Satan is understood as the agent, Paul at least believes that God permitted it, as in the case of Job in the Old Testament. Good News Translation translates this as “I was given a painful physical ailment.” Indeed, scholars have proposed all sorts of physical ailments on the slightest of biblical evidence: some kind of eye disease, malaria, epilepsy, severe headaches, defective speech, and so forth. Yet the word flesh does not necessarily refer here to the physical body. It may be a synonym for “physical existence in general.” Understanding flesh in this way, other interpreters have suggested that the thorn referred to Paul’s opponents. See Num 33.55 in the Septuagint, where Israel’s enemies are described as “thorns” in the eyes of the Israelites. Because of the uncertainty regarding the identity of Paul’s thorn in the flesh, translators who choose to be as specific as Good News Translation may wish to have a note such as the following:
• The Greek is literally “a thorn in the flesh was given me.” While many scholars think this refers to a physical problem, Paul may have been referring to persecutions and opposition from his opponents.

A messenger of Satan: on Satan see 2.11 and 11.14. The word translated messenger may also be rendered “angel” (Anchor Bible, New American Bible, Knox, and Contemporary English Version). In 11.15 Paul speaks of Satan’s “ministers.”

To harass is literally “to strike with a closed fist.” But the verb is obviously used more figuratively here. So it may legitimately be translated “abuse” or “torment.” Some scholars feel that the persistence indicated by the present tense should be made evident in translation by saying something to show continuous action; for example, “to torment me continually” or “to keep on harassing me.”

Some manuscripts omit the words to keep me from being too elated at the end of this verse (see New International Version). The editors of the UBS Greek New Testament think it likely that a scribe omitted these words as an unnecessary repetition from the beginning of the verse, and so it is better to retain them.

Because of the complexities of this verse, it will probably require considerable restructuring in the receptor language. Here is a possible model:

• But I must not become too proud about the wonderful things that God has shown me. That is why he gave me a very difficult problem to deal with. It was as if a person with a message from Satan intended to beat me and keep me from being too proud.

Quoted with permission from Omanson, Roger L. and Ellingworth, Paul. A Handbook on Paul’s Second Letter to the Corinthians. (UBS Handbook Series). New York: UBS, 1993. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .