2 Corinthians 7:2

Open your hearts to us: we wronged no man, we corrupted no man, we took advantage of no man. I say it not to condemn you: for I have said it before, that ye are in our hearts to die together and to live together. Great is my boldness of speech toward you, great is my glorying on your behalf: I am filled with comfort, I overflow with great joy in all our affliction.

Open your hearts to us ... "This means literally, `make room for us.'"[2] Paul's immediate mention of wronging, corrupting and taking advantage of "no man" is best understood not as a defense of himself against such charges, but as a contrast between himself and those false teachers at Corinth who were doing those very things. There is an infinite pathos here. Paul was saying, "You find a place in your affections for those who do such things, can you not find also a place for me,"[3] who preached the gospel to you and by whose preaching you were saved?

In our hearts to die together and to live together ... This was an affirmation of Paul's love in the idiom known to all times and peoples. Ruth the Moabitess spoke her love to her mother-in-law, "Where thou lodgest, I will lodge .... Where thou diest, will I die, and there will I be buried" (Ruth 1:16,17). In the Odes 3:9, of Horace (65-69 B.C.), strong and loving affection was expressed thus:

With thee I fain would live;

With thee I fain would die.[4]

But there is a very significant variation in Paul's use of that ancient idiom, for in Paul's words here, death is mentioned first and life later. Broomall was probably correct in his explanation that for the Christian "death must precede eternal life in glory."[5]

Glorying, comfort and joy ... In 2 Corinthians 7:4, these words indicate that "There rushed upon Paul's memory the recollection of the good news that Titus had brought";[6] therefore, he poured out these moving words of appreciation, personal thanksgiving and joy.

[2] Frank G. Carver, Beacon Bible Commentary (Kansas City, Missouri: Beacon Hill Press, 1968), p. 567.

[3] E. H. Plumptre, Ellicott's Commentary (Grand Rapids, Michigan: Zondervan Publishing House, 1959), Vol. VII, p. 388.

[4] E. H. Plumptre, op. cit., p. 388.

[5] Wick Broomall, Wycliffe Bible Commentary (Chicago: Moody Press, 1972), p. 673.

[6] E. H. Plumptre, op. cit., p. 388.