2-corinthians 7:3

I speak not this to condemn you - I do not speak to reproach but to correct you. I wish you to open your eyes and see how you are corrupted, spoiled, and impoverished by those whom ye have incautiously preferred to the true apostles of Jesus Christ.

I have said before, that ye are in our hearts - He has in effect and substance said this, 2 Corinthians 1:6-8 (note); 2 Corinthians 2:4 (note), 2 Corinthians 2:12 (note); 2 Corinthians 3:2 (note), and 2 Corinthians 3:13 (note); where see the passages at length, and the notes.

To die and live with you - An expression which points out the strongest affection, as in cases where love blinds us to the faults of those whom we love, and causes us to prefer them to all others; like that in Horace: -

Quanquam sidere pulchrior

llle est, tu levior cortice, et improbo

Iracundior Adria.

Tecum vivere amem, tecum obeam tibens.

Odar. lib. iii. Od. ix. ver. 21.

"Though he exceed in beauty far

The rising lustre of a star;

Though light as cork thy fancy strays,

Thy passions wild as angry seas

When vex'd with storms; yet gladly I

With thee would live, with thee would die."

continued...

I speak not this to condemn you - I do not speak this with any desire to reproach you. I do not complain of you for the purpose of condemning, or because I have a desire to find fault, though I am compelled to speak in some respect of your lack of affection and liberality toward me. It is not because I have no love for you, and wish to have occasion to use words implying complaint and condemnation.

For I have said before - 2 Corinthians 7:11-12.

That ye are in our hearts - That is, we are so much attached to you; or you have such a place in our affections.

To die and live with you - If it were the will of God, we would be glad to spend our lives among you, and to die with you; an expression denoting most tender attachment. A similar well-known expression occurs in Horace:

Tecum vivere amem. tecum obeam libens.

Odes, B. III. IX. 24.

With the world I live, with the world Idie.

This was an expression of the tenderest attachment. It was true that the Corinthians had not shown themselves remarkably worthy of the affections of Paul, but from the beginning he had felt toward them the tenderest attachment. And if it had been the will of God that he should cease to travel, and to expose himself to perils by sea and land to spread the knowledge of the Saviour, he would gladly have confined his labors to them, and there have ended his days.

7:3 I speak not to condemn you - Not as if I accused you of laying this to my charge. I am so far from thinking so unkindly of you, that ye are in our hearts, to live and die with you - That is, I could rejoice to spend all my days with you.