What Does 2 Corinthians 2:2 Mean?
For if I cause you pain, who is it that gladdens me, if not the one pained by me?
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
For if I make you sorry, who is he then that maketh me glad, but the same which is made sorry by me?THE KEY
The same people who carry Paul’s sorrow are also the source of his gladness.
THE MEANING
The people whose sorrow weighs on you are also bound up with what brings you gladness. Grief and joy can live inside the same relationship; neither makes the other unreal.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
It undoes the belief that when your words grieve someone you love, the relationship can no longer be a source of gladness.
THE ROOT
λυπῶ
lypō
GROWS FROM
λυπ-
lyp-
Grief, distress, or sorrow.
“cause you pain” in this verse is lypō. The Greek verb means to grieve or cause sorrow, giving “sorry” the depth of grief rather than only apology or regret. Paul names the same people as both those he grieves and those who gladden him.
ALSO GROWS
lypē: Grief or sorrow.
λύπη
This noun shares the grief-root carried by Paul’s verb.
lypoumenos: Being grieved or made sorrowful.
λυπούμενος
This form appears later in the verse: the people who make Paul glad are themselves grieved by him.
εὐφραίνων
euphrainōn
GROWS FROM
εὐ + φρήν (eu + phrēn)
Well or good + mind, inward thought.
“gladdens me” in this verse is euphrainōn. The verb carries the sense of bringing someone into gladness, built from “well” and “mind.” Paul’s joy is tied to the very people whose sorrow reaches him.
ALSO GROWS
phrēn: Mind, understanding, or inward thought.
φρήν
This root element places gladness in an inward response, not simply an outward show.
euphrosynē: Gladness or cheer.
εὐφροσύνη
This related word makes explicit the gladness held in the verb Paul uses.
THE PATTERN
Sorrow and gladness can belong to the same story, with grief becoming a passage into joy.
Those who sow in tears reap in a ringing cry.We were bound to be glad and rejoice, for this brother of yours was dead, and is living again; he had lost his way, and is found."Truly, truly, I say to you, that you will weep and wail, but the world will rejoice; you will be pained, but your pain will become joy.THE THREAD
Now I rejoice, not that you were pained, but that you were pained into turning. For you were pained according to God, so that in nothing you might be harmed through us.The Greek verb for being made sorrowful returns here alongside Paul’s “I rejoice.” His gladness is not in their pain; it is joined to what their sorrow opens.
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