2 Corinthians 10:6
in 2 Corinthians 10And we will be ready to punish every act of disobedience, as soon as your obedience is complete.
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
and being in readiness to avenge all disobedience, when your obedience shall be made full.
KJV
And having in a readiness to revenge all disobedience, when your obedience is fulfilled.
⋯
This verse in 2 Corinthians 10
Commentary
13 notes on this verseHere he also frightens the Corinthians. We are waiting for you, he says, so that when you have been corrected by our instructions and have ceased your fellowship with the slanderers, we may subject to punishment only those who are incurably afflicted. Punishment is ready …
This site's exposition
casting down imaginations
on 2 Corinthians 10:5-6
Casting down imaginations, and every high thing that exalteth itself against the knowledge of God, and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ: logismoi, reasonings, and hupsoma, a raised barrier, name the target of the warfare as proud arguments set against the true knowledge of God, and the bench across the eras reads this as the classic text for the mind's submission to Christ, every thought taken captive rather than left to run against him. Having in a readiness to revenge all disobedience, when your obedience is fulfilled: Paul reserves discipline until the church's own obedience is first secured, and the commentators note the order, the majority's compliance coming before any confrontation with the minority still resisting.
The record, by era
The Church Fathers3 voices
"And being in readiness to avenge all disobedience, when your obedience shall be fulfilled." Here he alarmed these also, not those alone: 'for,' says he, 'we were waiting for you, that when by our exhortations and threatenings we have reformed you, and purged and separated you from their fellowship; then, when those only are left who are incurably diseased, we may visit with punishment, after we see that you have really separated from them. For even now indeed ye obey, but not perfectly. 'And yet if thou hadst done it now,' saith one, 'thou wouldest have wrought greater gain.' 'By no means, for if I had done it now, I should have involved you also in the punishment. Howbeit it behoved to punish them, indeed, but to spare you. Yet if I spared, I should have seemed to do it out of favor: now this I do not desire, but first to amend you, and then to proceed against them.' What can be tenderer than the heart of the Apostle? who because he saw his own mixed up with aliens, desires indeed to inflict the blow, but forbears, and restrains his indignation until these shall have withdrawn, that he may smite these alone; yea rather, not these even. For he therefore threatens this, and says he is desirous to separate unto punishment them alone, that they also being amended by the fear may change, and he let loose his anger against no one.
Paul avenges disobedience when he condemns it through obedience, destroying it at the same time as he leads those who resist to the faith, in order that unbelief may be condemned by those who used to defend it.
A commentator
Theodoret of CyrusCOMMENTARY ON THE SECOND EPISTLE TO THE CORINTHIANS 338 · Written before 458.
proposed
Paul explains why he is being patient. He wants to try to persuade as many as possible to amend their ways. He will punish only those who continue to resist his exhortations.
The Medieval Church1 voice
The third effect is the correction of sinners; as to this he says, being ready to punish every disobedience, i.e., having the readiness and free will to punish all disobedience: "And two-edged swords in their hands" (Ps. 149:6). This will occur when your obedience is …
The Puritans and the Awakening1 voice
Being in readiness to avenge all disobedience - Not only by spiritual censure, but miraculous punishments. When your obedience is fulfilled - When the sound part of you has given proof of your obedience, so that I am in no danger of punishing the innocent with the guilty.
6 more voices on this verse
The Puritans and the Awakening4 voices
The Apostle's Spiritual Authority. 7 Do ye look on things after the outward appearance? If any man trust to himself that he is Christ's, let him of himself think this again, that, as he is Christ's, even so are we Christ's.
quarantine:scripture (2026-07-29) — scripture-overlap:93%@v7-8
He then proceeds to reason the case with the Corinthians, asserting his relation to Christ, and his authority as an apostle of Christ (
quarantine:debris (2026-07-29) — unbalanced-parens
), and now he tells them that he might speak of it again, and that with some sort of boasting, seeing it was a truth, that the Lord had given it to him, and it was more than his adversaries could justly pretend to. It was certainly what he should not be ashamed of,
quarantine:debris (2026-07-29) — leading-punctuation+unbalanced-parens
And having in a readiness to revenge all disobedience,....
The Nineteenth Century2 voices
And having in a readiness to revenge all disobedience - I am ready, through this mighty armor of God, to punish those opposers of the doctrine of Christ, and the disobedience which has been produced by them. When your obedience is fulfilled - When you have in the fullest manner, discountenanced those men, and separated yourselves from their communion. The apostle was not in haste to pull up the tares, lest he should pull up the wheat also. All the terms in these two verses are military.
A commentator
Albert Barnes1798–1870
Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869)
proposed
And having in a readiness ... - I am ready to punish all disobedience, notwithstanding all that is said to the contrary; see the notes on 2Co 10:1-2. Clothed as I am with this power; aiming to subdue all things to Christ, though the weapons of my warfare are not carnal, and though I am modest or timid 2Co 10:1 when I am with you, I am prepared to take any measures of severity required by my apostolic office, in order that I may inflict deserved punishment on those who have violated the laws of Christ. The design of this is, to meet the objection of his enemies, that he would not dare to execute his threatenings. When your obedience is fulfilled - Doddridge renders this: “now your obedience is fulfilled, and the sounder part of your church restored to due order and submission.” The idea seems to be, that Paul was ready to inflict discipline when the church had showed a readiness to obey his laws, and to do its own duty - delicately intimating that the reason why it was not done was the lack of entire promptness in the church itself, and that it could not be done on any offender as long as the church itself was not prepared to sustain him. The church was to discountenance the enemies of the Redeemer; to show an entire readiness to sustain the apostle, and to unite with him in the effort to maintain the discipline of Christ’s house.
The words behind it
12 Greek wordsEvery Greek word of this verse in the order it stands, with what it means and the door to its own study. The last column counts the times a word stands in the whole Bible: the rarer the word, the more the places it appears belong together.
| Greek | Sound | Meaning | Word study | In the Bible |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| καὶ | kai | and | G2532 → | 9120 times |
| ἐν | en | in | G1722 → | 2738 times |
| ἑτοίμῳ | hetoimo | readiness | G2092 → | 17 times |
| ἔχοντες | echontes | having | G2192 → | 707 times |
| ἐκδικῆσαι | ekdikesai | to avenge | G1556 → | |
| πᾶσαν | pasan | all | G3956 → | 1235 times |
| παρακοήν, | parakoen | disobedience, | G3876 → | |
| ὅταν | hotan | when | G3752 → | 123 times |
| πληρωθῇ | plerothea | may have been fulfilled | G4137 → | |
| ὑμῶν | humon | your | G4771 → | 2973 times |
| ἡ | he | <the> | G3588 → | 19766 times |
| ὑπακοή.¶ | hupakoe | obedience. | G5218 → | 14 times |
καὶand
kaiG2532 →9120 times
ἐνin
enG1722 →2738 times
ἑτοίμῳreadiness
hetoimoG2092 →17 times
ἔχοντεςhaving
echontesG2192 →707 times
ἐκδικῆσαιto avenge
ekdikesaiG1556 →
πᾶσανall
pasanG3956 →1235 times
παρακοήν,disobedience,
parakoenG3876 →
ὅτανwhen
hotanG3752 →123 times
πληρωθῇmay have been fulfilled
plerotheaG4137 →
ὑμῶνyour
humonG4771 →2973 times
ἡ<the>
heG3588 →19766 times
ὑπακοή.¶obedience.
hupakoeG5218 →14 times
A shaded row is a word that stands 400 times or fewer in the Bible.
The walk
8 stopsEach card is a verse this one points to, and under it the verses that one points to in turn. Where several paths arrive at the same place, that place is listed first: the text keeps returning to it.
Through
2 Corinthians 7:15And his affection for you is even greater when he remembers that you were all obedient as you welcomed him with fear and trembling.
it leads to
- Philippians 2:12
Therefore, my beloved, just as you have always obeyed, not only in my presence, but now even more in my absence, continue to work out your salvation with fear and trembling.
- 2 Corinthians 2:9
My purpose in writing you was to see if you would stand the test and be obedient in everything.
- 1 John 3:17
If anyone with earthly possessions sees his brother in need, but withholds his compassion from him, how can the love of God abide in him?
- Psalms 119:120
My flesh trembles in awe of You; I stand in fear of Your judgments.
- Isaiah 66:2
Has not My hand made all these things? And so they came into being,” declares the LORD. “This is the one I will esteem: he who is humble and contrite in spirit, who trembles…
- Philippians 2:12
Through
2 Corinthians 13:2I already warned you the second time I was with you. So now in my absence I warn those who sinned earlier and everyone else: If I return, I will not spare anyone,
it leads to
- 2 Corinthians 1:23
I call God as my witness that it was in order to spare you that I did not return to Corinth.
- 2 Corinthians 10:8–11
For even if I boast somewhat excessively about the authority the Lord gave us for building you up rather than tearing you down, I will not be ashamed.
- 2 Corinthians 1:23
Through
2 Corinthians 2:9My purpose in writing you was to see if you would stand the test and be obedient in everything.
it leads to
- Philemon 1:21
Confident of your obedience, I write to you, knowing that you will do even more than I ask.
- Philemon 1:21
Where this verse is studied
On this page
Studies1
About 2 Corinthians
This page draws on 11 works. Open the list of works
This page draws on Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Bible; Albert Barnes, Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869); Ambrosiaster, COMMENTARY ON PAUL'S EPISTLES; Frederic Godet, Commentary on the Epistles to the Corinthians; John Chrysostom, Homily 21 on 2 Corinthians; John Gill, Exposition of the New Testament (1746-1748); John Wesley, Explanatory Notes upon the New Testament; Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible; Theodoret of Cyrus, COMMENTARY ON THE SECOND EPISTLE TO THE CORINTHIANS 338; Theophylact of Ohrid, Commentary on 2 Corinthians and Thomas Aquinas, Commentary on 2 Corinthians.