But I beseech you, that I may not be bold when I am present with that confidence, though I think to be bold against some, who think of us as if we walked according to the flesh.
All Commentaries on 2 Corinthians 10:2 Go To 2 Corinthians 10
Cornelius a Lapide
AD 1637
But I beseech you that I may not be bold. I beseech you to lovingly receive my admonitions, lest when I come to you and see your disobedience, rebellion, and contumacy, I use my boldness and power to inflict excommunication and other spiritual. punishment, which I am thought to have already inflicted arbitrarily (Anselm). The Latin version reads the passive, I am thought, but Theophylact takes it actively—I think, I propose to boldly punish some evil-disposed persons.
Which think of us as if we walked according to the flesh. As though we lived a carnal life, or better, as though we used carnal means, such as fleshly, human, and political Wisdom of Solomon , in doing by letter what I dare not do in person.
The Apostle says that they walk, fight, and glory according to the flesh, who, after the manner of carnal and, crafty men, walk and boast in outward gifts, such as birth, prudence, eloquence, good looks, sagacity, and by means of these seek to gain the applause of men, and so win them to their side and overthrow their enemies. That this is his meaning is evident from the contrast drawn between these arms and spiritual arms in ver4. Song of Solomon , in xi18 , he says that the false apostles boast according to the flesh, i.e, of external gifts. In v15 , 16 , again, he says that he knows no one, not even Christ, according to the flesh. In2Cor1 , he contrasts the natural and carnal wisdom of philosophers and orators with the spiritual wisdom of Christians, and especially of Apostles. Cf. also Galatians 3:3.
