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2 Corinthians 7:3

in 2 Corinthians 7

I do not say this to condemn you. I have said before that you so occupy our hearts that we live and die together with you.

BSB

The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾

ASV

I say it not to condemn you: for I have said before, that ye are in our hearts to die together and live together.

KJV

I speak not this to condemn you: for I have said before, that ye are in our hearts to die and live with you.

This verse in 2 Corinthians 7

Commentary

10 notes on this verse
I speak not this to condemn you - I do not speak this with any desire to reproach you. I do not complain of you for the purpose of condemning, or because I have a desire to find fault, though I am compelled to speak in some respect of your lack of affection and liberality toward me. It is not because I have no love for you, and wish to have occasion to use words implying complaint and condemnation. For I have said before - 2Co 7:11-

This site's exposition

Make room for us in your hearts

on 2 Corinthians 7:2-4

Make room for us in your hearts renews the appeal of 6:11 through 13. Three denials answer charges his rivals had evidently pressed: we have wronged no one, we have corrupted no one, we have exploited no one.

This site's exposition

we live and die together with you

Adam Clarke reads the verse as correction without reproach, and finds the word Paul recalls at 1:6 to 8, 2:4 and 3:2. Chrysostom calls it the greatest affection, a choice to live and die with people who had treated him with contempt. Some love and still shun danger, he adds.

The record, by era

The Church Fathers2 voices

A commentator

Ambrosiaster

COMMENTARY ON PAUL'S EPISTLES · Written before 384.

proposed

Paul wants them to realize in what frame of mind he is speaking to them. He is certainly not rejecting people whom he wants to have as sharers with him, but he is exhorting them to make themselves worthy of this sharing.

A commentator

John Chrysostom

Homily 14 on 2 Corinthians · Written before 407.

proposed

"I say it not to condemn you." How is this evident? "For I have said before," he adds, "that ye are in our hearts to die and live with you." This is the greatest affection, when even though treated with contempt, he chooseth both to die and live with them. 'For neither are ye merely in our hearts,' he says, 'but in such sort as I said. For it is possible both to love and to shun dangers, but we do not thus.' And behold here also wisdom unspeakable. For he spake not of what had been done for them, that he might not seem to be again reproaching them, but he promiseth for the future. 'For should it chance,' saith he, 'that danger should invade, for your sakes I am ready to suffer every thing; and neither death nor life seemeth aught to me in itself, but in whichever ye be, that is to me more desirable, both death than life and life than death.' Howbeit, dying indeed is manifestly a proof of love; but living, who is there that would not choose, even of those who are not friends? Why then does the Apostle mention it as something great? Because it is even exceeding great. For numbers indeed sympathize with their friends when they are in misfortune, but when they are in honor rejoice not with, but envy, them. 'But not so we; but whether ye be in calamity, we are not afraid to share your ill fortune; or whether ye be prosperous, we are not wounded with envy.'

The Medieval Church2 voices

A commentator

Thomas Aquinas

Commentary on 2 Corinthians · Written before 1274.

proposed

Then when he says, I do not say this to condemn you, he discloses his intention. As if to say: I do not say this to condemn you, but to correct you. For past evils are wont to be recalled sometimes for condemnation, when there …

A commentator

Theophylact of Ohrid

Commentary on 2 Corinthians · Written before 1107.

proposed

I say this not to condemn you. How is this evident? From love; for you are in our hearts. But since someone might love yet not wish to expose himself to dangers, he says: "to die together." And since there are many who do not …

The Puritans and the Awakening1 voice

I speak not this to condemn you,....
2 more voices on this verse

The Nineteenth Century2 voices

A commentator

Jamieson, Fausset & Brown

1802–1910

Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)

In excusing myself, I do not accuse you, as though you suspected me of such things [MENOCHIUS], or as though you were guilty of such things; for I speak only of the false apostles [ESTIUS and Greek commentators]. Rather, "as though you were ungrateful and treacherous" [BEZA].

A commentator

Adam Clarke

1762–1832

Commentary on the Bible · Written before 1832.

proposed

I speak not this to condemn you - I do not speak to reproach but to correct you. I wish you to open your eyes and see how you are corrupted, spoiled, and impoverished by those whom ye have incautiously preferred to the true apostles of Jesus Christ. I have said before, that ye are in our hearts - He has in effect and substance said this, 2Co 1:6-8 (note); 2Co 2:4 (note), 2Co 2:12 (note); 2Co 3:2 (note), and 2Co 3:13 (note); where see the passages at length, and the notes. To die and live with you - An expression which points out the strongest affection, as in cases where love blinds us to the faults of those whom we love, and causes us to prefer them to all others; like that in Horace: - Quanquam sidere pulchrior llle est, tu levior cortice, et improbo Iracundior Adria. Tecum vivere amem, tecum obeam tibens. Odar. lib. iii. Od. ix. ver. 21. “Though he exceed in beauty far The rising lustre of a star; Though light as cork thy fancy strays, Thy passions wild as angry seas When vex’d with storms; yet gladly I With thee would live, with thee would die.” Francis. From all appearance there never was a Church less worthy of an apostle’s affections than this Church was at this time; and yet no one ever more beloved. The above quotation applies to this case in full force.

The words behind it

17 Greek words

Every 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.

A shaded row is a word that stands 400 times or fewer in the Bible.

The walk

8 stops

Each 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 12:15

    And for the sake of your souls, I will most gladly spend my money and myself. If I love you more, will you love me less?

    it leads to

    • Philippians 2:17

      But even if I am being poured out like a drink offering on the sacrifice and service of your faith, I am glad and rejoice with all of you.

      Reached by 2 separate paths from here.

    • 1 Thessalonians 2:8

      We cared so deeply that we were delighted to share with you not only the gospel of God, but our own lives as well. That is how beloved you have become to us.

    • 2 Corinthians 1:6

      If we are afflicted, it is for your comfort and salvation; if we are comforted, it is for your comfort, which accomplishes in you patient endurance of the same sufferings we experience.

    • Colossians 1:24

      Now I rejoice in my sufferings for you, and I fill up in my flesh what is lacking in regard to Christ’s afflictions for the sake of His body, which is the church.

    • 2 Timothy 2:10

      For this reason I endure all things for the sake of the elect, so that they too may obtain the salvation that is in Christ Jesus, with eternal glory.

  • Through

    1 Thessalonians 2:8

    We cared so deeply that we were delighted to share with you not only the gospel of God, but our own lives as well. That is how beloved you have become to us.

    it leads to

    • 1 John 3:16

      By this we know what love is: Jesus laid down His life for us, and we ought to lay down our lives for our brothers.

    • 2 Corinthians 12:15

      And for the sake of your souls, I will most gladly spend my money and myself. If I love you more, will you love me less?

    • Romans 1:11–12

      For I long to see you so that I may impart to you some spiritual gift to strengthen you,

Where this verse is studied

About 2 Corinthians

The Apostle Paul in Prison, Rembrandt, 1627. Public domain.
The Apostle Paul in Prison, Rembrandt, 1627. Public domain.
This page draws on 10 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); Albert Barnes, Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Second Epistle to the Corinthians; Ambrosiaster, COMMENTARY ON PAUL'S EPISTLES; Frederic Godet, Commentary on the Epistles to the Corinthians; Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible; John Chrysostom, Homily 14 on 2 Corinthians; John Gill, Exposition of the New Testament (1746-1748); Theophylact of Ohrid, Commentary on 2 Corinthians and Thomas Aquinas, Commentary on 2 Corinthians.