2 Corinthians 7:3

I speak not. Paul seems to have had some misapprehension over the statement of verse 2. He fears that the Corinthians will interpret the implication that they have not received him, and his denial of the charges made against him, as finding fault with, and condemning, them. He denies any such intention. They had treated him shamefully and with base ingratitude, suspicion, and false charges. Yet he neither scolds nor condemns.

I have said before. The declaration of verse 2 is altogether in harmony with his previous protestations of love for them (chapters 1:6; 2:4; 3:2; 6:11-13). The tense of the verb in the Greek implies the consistency of what he had previously said with what he was now saying. Neither his mind nor his feelings on the matter had changed. Paul was never one to feel sorry for himself because of ill treatment he had received. His reaction was always characterized by love (2 Corinthians 4:10-15; Ephesians 3:13; Philippians 1:7).

Die and live. Paul is ready to die with and for them. He loves them so deeply that he cannot live without them and without their reciprocal affection. Compare the attitude and plea of Moses for Israel (Exodus 32:30-32). The record of the Corinthian church, with its problems and vices, hardly reveals a lovable and desirable church. Naturally speaking, they were not worthy of the love and devotion Paul lavished upon them. Other churches were far more deserving than they, but he loved them nevertheless (chapter 12:15). The sequence of words — “die” before “live” — may imply a reference to the death all believers die when they come to Christ and to the new life in which they rise to walk with Him (2 Corinthians 4:11; 6-9). This experience should be sufficient to unite their hearts and lives in eternal devotion to one another (see on Matthew 5:43, 44).