What Does 2 Corinthians 10:1 Mean?
Now I, Paul myself, urge you through the gentleness and yielding of the Anointed One, I who am low face to face among you, but when absent am bold toward you.
Key words are shown with the Hebrew or Greek and what each word meant.
Selah Decoded Version The Selah Decoded Version renders what the Hebrew and Greek words meant to the people who first heard them.
King James wording
King James Version
Now I Paul myself beseech you by the meekness and gentleness of Christ, who in presence am base among you, but being absent am bold toward you:THE KEY
Meekness and boldness are not competing natures here: one appeal carries both.
THE MEANING
Christ’s meekness and considerate gentleness shape an appeal that still carries confidence. The speaker is lowly in your presence and bold from a distance; the verse holds these different bearings inside one appeal reaching you now.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
It dissolves the belief that a gentle appeal must be powerless, or that confident speech must abandon gentleness.
THE ROOT
πραΰτητος
prautētos
GROWS FROM
πραΰς
praus
Meek, mild, gentle in disposition.
“meekness” in this verse is prautētos. The word names a quality associated with Christ, not an absence of force. Paul grounds his appeal in that quality while also speaking of boldness, holding gentleness and confidence together.
ALSO GROWS
praus: Meek, gentle.
πραΰς
This adjective names the quality expressed by the noun translated “meekness.”
prautēs: Meekness, gentleness.
πραΰτης
This noun form is the quality Paul invokes as the character of Christ.
ταπεινὸς
tapeinos
GROWS FROM
ταπειν-
tapein-
Low, humble, or of low status.
“low” in this verse is tapeinos. The word translated “base” belongs to the same word family as “lowly” in Jesus’ description of himself. Paul’s lowly presence and his boldness at a distance are different bearings; the verse does not present them as different sources of character.
ALSO GROWS
tapeinos: Lowly, humble.
ταπεινός
This is the adjective used for Paul’s bearing in the verse and for Jesus’ lowliness in Matthew 11:29.
tapeinoō: To humble or lower.
ταπεινόω
This verb shows the family’s connection to being brought low.
ἐπιεικείας
epieikeias
GROWS FROM
ἐπιεικής
epieikēs
Equitable, considerate, fitting in how one treats another.
The word translated “gentleness” carries the shade of fair-minded consideration. Beside meekness, it gives the appeal a quality of restraint and regard for the person receiving it.
ALSO GROWS
epieikēs: Gentle, equitable, considerate.
ἐπιεικής
This related adjective expresses the quality named by the noun in the verse.
epieikeia: Gentleness, fairness, consideration.
ἐπιείκεια
This noun names the considerate quality through which the appeal is made.
THE PATTERN
A gentle manner can carry a clear answer or appeal without losing its confidence.
A soft answer turns away the burning, but words of pain stir up the nostrils.But the wisdom that is from above is first set apart, then whole, gentle, and easy to yield to, full of faithful love and good fruits, undivided, and without a mask.But set apart the Lord God in your hearts, and always be ready to give a defense to everyone who asks you for a word about the hope within you, with gentleness and fear.THE THREAD
Lift my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and low in heart, and you will find rest for your living souls.Jesus describes himself with the same word family behind Paul’s “meekness,” and with the word translated “lowly,” related to Paul’s “base.” The qualities Paul invokes and the bearing he describes echo Jesus’ own words about his heart.
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