2 Corinthians 7:13

Therefore we have been comforted: and in our comfort we joyed the more exceedingly for the joy of Titus, because his spirit hath been refreshed by you all.

Paul's words here signal a total victory in Corinth. As Filson said:

"By you all" (in this 2 Corinthians 7:13), combined with "everything" (2 Corinthians 7:14), "all" (2 Corinthians 7:15) and "in all things" (2 Corinthians 7:16), indicates that the entire church responded to Titus' appeal and is now loyal to Paul.[16]

These expressions by Paul, however, are hyperbole. As will be seen in 2 Corinthians 10, there were still pockets of resistance and much wrong-doing still remaining at Corinth. All the sacred writers used this figure of speech, exaggerating for the sake of emphasis.

The first thing that any commentator must learn if he would have any hope of true interpretation is that the sacred writings abound in figures of speech. One cannot progress any further than the third chapter of Matthew (Matthew 3:6) without confronting hyperbole. There it was stated that "Jerusalem, all Judea, and all the region around Jordan; and they were baptized in Jordan." This, despite the repeated "all," is hyperbole; because Luke categorically stated, "Howbeit the Pharisees and lawyers rejected the counsel of God against themselves, being not baptized"! (Luke 7:30). We are making a point of this, because Filson, and other challengers of the unity of 2Corinthians, blindly ignore the obvious hyperbole in these verses, construing "all" as inclusive of absolutely everyone in the Corinthian church. And why do they do this? The answer is in Filson's comment, as follows:

This fact argues that 2 Corinthians 10-13 do not belong to this letter, but were more likely part of the earlier "stern letter"; the rebuke of those chapters could hardly be addressed to a church whose entire membership is now as loyal as 2 Corinthians 7:14-16 says it is![17]

What Filson here called "this fact" is not a fact at all but a misinterpretation of Paul's hyperbole; and one may only be amazed at the lengths to which scholars will go in their efforts to deny the unity and integrity of this and other sacred writings. There is utterly no reason for a crass literal construction of Paul's words here. Such commentators decry the "literalists" and "fundamentalists" for their interpretations of New Testament truth; but, in this case, they themselves are the "literalists" and "fundamentalists," incapable of recognizing a simple figure of speech. If one gave a party, and "everybody" came, could it then be intelligently stated that nobody went to the football game the same night, because "everybody" went to the party? This is the exact parallel of Filson's so-called argument in the above quotation. It is this type of FEMBU which discredits much of the exegesis encountered today.

[16] Floyd V. Filson, The Interpreter's Bible (Nashville: Abingdon Press, 1953), Vol. X, p. 362.

[17] Ibid.