Knowing the Fear of the Lord
The fear of the Lord has a familiar, weakened sense, in which it means little more than piety (e.g. Job 28:28; Prov. 9:10); the context forbids this weakened sense here. So far as we are to be judged by our deeds we may well be afraid of what is to come. It is in this fear that we persuade (conative, perhaps: we try to persuade) men. Compare Gal. 1:10, Are we now persuading men or God? This verse suggests that Paul may have been accused of persuading men in a bad sense, that is, of winning them over to his side in an unscrupulous way that would bear examination neither before God nor at the bar of the human conscience.
Barrett, C. K. The Second Epistle to the Corinthians. London: Continuum, 1973. Print. Black’s New Testament Commentary.
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