For we are glad, when we are weak, and ye are strong: and this also we wish, even your perfection.

For we rejoice that we are weak, and you are strong. This also we pray for, your perfection.

For we rejoice when we may be weak and ye may be powerful. But this also we pray for, your perfecting.

for we rejoice when we may be infirm, and ye may be powerful; and this also we pray for, your perfection!

and it is a joy to us when we are powerless, but you are strong. This we also pray for - the perfecting of your characters.

For we are glad when we are feeble and you are strong: and this is our prayer, even that you may be made complete.

For we rejoice that we are weak, while you are strong. This is also what we pray for: your perfection.

We are glad when we are weak, if you are strong. And what we pray for is that you may become perfect.

For, we rejoice. Either the causal particle gar, (for,) must be taken as meaning -- therefore; or it is a second reason, why he does not refuse to be regarded as a reprobate -- for their sake, and with a view to their advantage. Let the reader select whichever he may choose, for it is of no consequence. [1] When he says, Provided you are strong, I shall willingly submit to be reckoned weak, there is an antithesis in the words -- not in the meaning; for weakness means here, as formerly, (2-Corinthians 13:4,) contempt. On the other hand, he means that the Corinthians will be strong, if they are full of the power and grace of God. And this also, He now again repeats, what he had already stated several times, that he was from necessity -- not from his own inclination, more severe than they would have wished; and farther, that by this means, too, [2] he spared them, that he might not be constrained to resort to severer measures, when he was present with them. The perfection, of which he speaks, consists in a fit proportion, and sound condition, of all the members. Now [3] he alludes to good physicians, who cure particular diseases in such a way as not in any part to mutilate the body; [4] and, as he is concerned to secure a perfection of this nature, he says, that, for that reason, he provides against the necessity of having recourse to severer measures. [5] For we see, that those, who at first shrink back from the slight pain, or uneasy feeling of a plaster, are at length constrained to endure the torture of burning, or amputating, and that, too, where the issue is extremely doubtful. [6]

Footnotes

1 - "Car c'est tout vn;" -- "For it is all one."

2 - "Mesme en ce faisant;" -- "Even in doing this."

3 - "Or en parlant ainsi;" -- "Now in speaking thus."

4 - The same view, in substance, is taken by Beza, of the meaning of the term katartisin, which he renders -- integram concinnationem (complete adjustment.) "Varia enim est et multiplex verbi, katartizein significatio. Mihi veto proximum versiculum cure isto comparanti videtur Apostolus nilhil aliud hoc nomine significare, quam suum hoc csse consilium ut Corinthiacae Ecolesiae membris, quae luxata fuerant, rursus in locum suum veluti repositis, totum illud corpus mutuo connexis membris instauretur, Galatians 6, 1. Itaque licebat etiam reconcinnationem interpretari;" -- "For the meaning of the word katartizein is various and manifold. On comparing, however, this verse with a subsequent one, I am of opinion that Paul by this term simply means, that it was his design, that those members of the Corinthian Church which had been dislocated, as it were, having been restored to their proper place, the entire body should be renovated by the members being mutually connected together, (as in Galatians 6:1.) Hence we might even render the term -- readjustment." See Calvin on the Corinthians, [72]vol. 1, p. 63, n. 2. -- Ed.

5 - "Plus facheux et aspres;" -- "More irksome and: severe."

6 - "Voire sans asseurance de guarir pour cela;" -- "Even where there is no confidence as to effecting a cure by that means."

For we are glad when we are weak - We rejoice in your welfare, and are willing to submit to self-denial and to infirmity if it may promote your spiritual strength. In the connection in which this stands it seems to mean, "I am content to appear weak, provided you do no wrong; I am willing not to have occasion to exercise my power in punishing offenders, and had rather lie under the reproach of being actually weak, than to have occasion to exercise my power by punishing you for wrongdoing; and provided you are strong in the faith and in the hope of the gospel, I am very willing, nay, I rejoice that I am under this necessity of appearing weak."
And this also we wish - I desire this in addition to your doing no evil.
Even your perfection - The word used here (κατάρτισις katartisis) occurs nowhere else in the New Testament, though the verb from which it is derived (καταρτίζω katartizō) occurs often; Matthew 4:21; Matthew 21:16; Mark 1:19; Luke 6:40; Romans 9:22; 1-Corinthians 1:10; 2-Corinthians 13:11; Galatians 6:1; 1-Thessalonians 3:10, et al.; see the note on 2-Corinthians 13:11. On the meaning of the word see Romans 9:22. The idea of restoring, putting in order, fitting, repairing, is involved in the word "always," and hence, the idea of making perfect; that is, of completely restoring anything to its proper place. Here it evidently means that Paul wished their entire reformation - so that there should be no occasion for exercising discipline. Doddridge renders it, "perfect good order." Macknight, "restoration." For this restoration of good order Paul had diligently labored in these epistles; and this was an object near to his heart.

For we are glad, when we are weak - It will give me indescribable pleasure that I should still appear to be poor, despicable, and destitute of this extraordinary power with which God has clothed me, so that you be strong in all the gifts and graces of the Holy Spirit.
And this also we wish, even your perfection - We cannot be satisfied that persons, with such eminent endowments, and who have once received the truth as it is in Jesus, should be deficient in any of the graces that constitute the mind of Christ; such as brotherly love, charity, harmony, unity, and order. I have given the above paraphrase to this verse, because of the last term καταρτισιν, which we render perfection. Καταρτισις, from κατα, intensive, andαρτιζω, to fit or adapt, signifies the reducing of a dislocated limb to its proper place; and hence, as Beza says on this passage: "The apostle's meaning is, that whereas the members of the Church were all, as it were, dislocated and out of joint, they should be joined together in love; and they should endeavor to make perfect what was amiss among them, either in faith or morals."
It is a metaphor, also, taken from a building; the several stones and timbers being all put in their proper places and situations, so that the whole building might be complete, and be a proper habitation for the owner. The same figure, though not in the same terms, the apostle uses, Ephesians 2:20-22.
The perfection or rejointing which the apostle wishes is that which refers to the state of the Church in its fellowship, unity, order, etc. And perfection in the soul is the same, in reference to it, as perfection in the Church is to its order and unity. The perfection or rejointing of the soul implies its purification, and placing every faculty, passion, and appetite in its proper place; so that the original order, harmony, unity, and purity of the soul may be restored; and the whole builded up to be a habitation of God through the Spirit, Ephesians 2:22.

For we are glad, when we are weak, and ye are strong: and this also we wish, [even] your (d) perfection.
(d) That all things may be in good order among you, and the members of the church restored into their place, which have been shaken and are out of place.

For we are glad when we are weak,.... Appear to be so, look like persons disarmed of all power and authority; the apostles rejoiced when they had no occasion of exerting themselves, and of exercising that high office, and extraordinary commission they had received of Christ Jesus:
and ye are strong; stand fast in the doctrine of faith, and are lively and active in the exercise of the grace of faith; are strong in Christ, and in his grace, and in the power of his might, to withstand every temptation of Satan, every corruption of their own hearts, and to perform every duty aright.
And this also we wish, even your perfection; or restoration, or jointing in again; a metaphor taken from the setting of bones that are dislocated and out of joint; for the church at Corinth was like a disjointed body, and the apostle's wish was, that their animosities might cease, their divisions be healed, their disorders rectified, and each member be in its proper place, behaving as became the Gospel of Christ; see 1-Corinthians 1:10.

are glad--Greek, "rejoice."
when we are weak--having no occasion for displaying our power; and so seeming "weak," as being compassed with "infirmities" (2-Corinthians 10:10; 2-Corinthians 11:29-30).
ye . . . strong--"mighty" in faith and the fruits of the Spirit.
and--not in the oldest manuscripts.
we wish--Greek, "pray for."
your perfection--literally, "perfect restoration"; literally, that of a dislocated limb. Compare 2-Corinthians 13:11, "Be perfect," the same Greek word; also in 1-Corinthians 1:10, "perfectly joined together"; Ephesians 4:12, "the perfecting of the saints."

For we rejoice when we are weak - When we appear so, having no occasion to show our apostolic power. And this we wish, even your perfection - In the faith that worketh by love.