let us cleanse ourselves. The verb katharizein (“to cleanse”) occurs nowhere else in the unquestioned
Pauline letters, and nowhere else in the NT does it refer to believers’
cleansing themselves (see Eph 5:26; Tit 2:14; Heb 9:14, 22, 23; 10:2). But see
1QS iii.8–9 (cited by Gnilka 1968a:59), where the Qumran sectary is described:
“And when his flesh is sprinkled with purifying water and sanctified by
cleansing water, it shall be made clean by the humble submission of his soul to
all the precepts of God” (Vermes 1975:75). Paul uses the cognate adjective
(which is frequent in the Pastoral Epistles) only in Rom 14:20 (“Everything is
indeed clean” [RSV]).
from every defilement. The noun molysmos, defilement, occurs only here in the NT, although Paul
uses the cognate verb in 1 Cor 8:7 (elsewhere in the NT, Rev 3:4; 14:4). The
two instances in which the noun is used in the LXX (1 Esdr 8:80[83]; 2 Mac
5:27; the verb is frequent) show how closely it could be associated with the
pollution of pagan idolatries; see also Ep Arist 166. The noun could also be
translated “uncleanness” or “impurity,” and is thus virtually synonymous with akatharsia, a word that does appear
elsewhere in Paul’s letters, principally in vice lists (12:21; Rom 1:24; 6:19;
Gal 5:19), but not only there (1 Thess 2:3; 4:7). Note the adjective “unclean”
in the quotation from Isa in this passage (v. 17), and in 1 Cor 7:14.
of flesh and spirit. These two (sarx and pneuma) are not
set over against each other—as, e.g., in Gal 5:16ff., where pneuma is a reference to the Holy Spirit
and where sarx stands for everything
which opposes the will of God. Here spirit
is used anthropologically, and the combination flesh and spirit refers
either to the totality of human existence or to its outward and inward aspects.
In anthropological references (1 Cor 7:34; 1 Thess 5:23) Paul links “spirit,”
respectively, with “body” (sōma) and
with “soul” (psychē) and “body” (sōma). The apostle refers nowhere else
to the defilement of either the flesh
or the spirit, only to the subjection of the flesh to sin (e.g., Rom 7:25; 8:3;
13:14), to the “works” of the flesh (Gal 5:19–21), etc. See, however, 1QM
vii.4–6, where it is said that no man “afflicted with a lasting bodily blemish,
or smitten with a bodily impurity” can be enlisted for the war against the
forces of darkness, but only those who are “perfect in spirit and body” (Vermes
1975:132–33). Marcion’s reading, “flesh and blood,” makes the text compatible
with the dualistic anthropology of Gnosticism.
making holiness perfect. Apart from this verse, the noun holiness (hagiōsynē) occurs in Paul’s
letters only in Rom 1:4 (in what is generally regarded as a pre-Pauline
formulation) and 1 Thess 3:13 (in a prayer that “the Lord” will establish the
hearts of the Thessalonians “unblamable in holiness” before God). The verb epitelein (here as a present participle,
perhaps “advance constantly in holiness” [Hughes, 258]) is used by Paul in six
other places, usually with its common meaning: “to complete” or “fulfill” an
obligation—notably, the collection of a fund for the believers in Jerusalem
(8:6, 11 [twice]; Rom 15:28). Neither this usage, nor that in Gal 3:3 (“Having
begun with the Spirit, are you now ending with the flesh?” [RSV]), nor that in Phil 1:6 (a reference
to God’s bringing his work to completion) accords with the usage in the present
verse. However, Philo’s reference to those who “fulfil the laws by their deeds
[tous nomous ergois epitelountōn]” (On Rewards and Punishments 126) is
comparable (cited by Windisch, 219), and the notion of “perfect holiness” was
in vogue among the sectarians of Qumran (1QS viii.20; CD vii.5, cited by Gnilka
1968a:59).
the fear of God. Cf. “the fear of the Lord” (5:11, with
note). The variant “in the love of God” is attested by P46 (Héring,
52 n. 3: a Marcionite reading?), but by no other witnesses, though Ker (1961)
is tempted to adopt it. (Victor Paul Furnish, II Corinthians: Translated with
Introduction, Notes, and Commentary [AYB 32A; New Haven: Yale University
Press, 2008], 365-66)
