2nd Corinthians Chapter 5 verse 13 Holy Bible
For whether we are beside ourselves, it is unto God; or whether we are of sober mind, it is unto you.
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For if we are foolish, it is to God; or if we are serious, it is for you.
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For whether we are beside ourselves, [it is] to God; or are sober, [it is] for you.
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For whether we be beside ourselves, it is to God: or whether we be sober, it is for your cause.
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read chapter 5 in WBT
For if we are beside ourselves, it is for God. Or if we are of sober mind, it is for you.
read chapter 5 in WEB
for whether we were beside ourselves, `it was' to God; whether we be of sound mind -- `it is' to you,
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Pulpit Commentary
Pulpit CommentaryVerse 13. - For whether we be beside ourselves; rather, for whether we were mad. Evidently some person or some faction had said of St. Paul, "He is beside himself," just as Festus said afterwards, "Paul, thou art mad," and as the Jews said of Paul's Lord and Master (John 10:20). The fervour of the apostle, his absorption in his work, his visions and ecstasies, his "speaking with tongues more than they all," his indifference to externals, his bursts of emotion, might all have given colour to this charge, which he here ironically accepts. "Mad or self controlled -all was for your sakes." It is to God; rather for God. My "enthusiasm," "exaltation," or, if you will, my "madness," was but a phase of my work for him. We be sober. The word "sober" (sophron) is derived from two words which mean" to save the mind." It indicates wise self control, such as was represented also by the many-sided Latin word frugi. It is the exact antithesis to madness (Acts 26:25). What you call my "madness" belongs to the relation between my own soul and God; my practical sense and tact are for you. For your sakes; literally, for you.
Ellicott's Commentary
Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers(13) For whether we be beside ourselves.--The recollection of one sneer leads on to another. This also had been said of him, and the intense sensitiveness of his nature made him wince under it. Some there were at Corinth who spoke of his visions and revelations, his speaking with tongues as in ecstasy, his prophecies of future judgment, as so many signs of madness. "He was beside himself." (Comp. Agrippa's words in Acts 26:24, and Note there.) Others, or, perhaps, the same persons, pointed to his tact, becoming all things to all men, perhaps even insinuated that he was making money by his work (2Corinthians 9:12; 2Corinthians 12:10): "he was shrewd enough when it served his turn." He answers accordingly both the taunts. What people called his "madness"--the ecstasy of adoration, the speaking with tongues (1Corinthians 14:18-23)--that lay between himself and God, and a stranger might not intermeddle with it. What people called his "sober-mindedness"--his shrewd common sense, his sagacity--that he practised not for himself, but for his disciples, to win them to Christ, remove difficulties, strengthen them in the faith.
