2 Corinthians 7 — Clausal Layout (English)

independentparticipialrelativepurposecausecomparativecontentconditionalphrase modifierdashed = verbless / suspended

Flush-left = a main (independent) clause. Each dependent line begins directly beneath the word it attaches to in the line above — the anchor word is dotted-underlined, and lights up when you hover its dependent clause; each tag also names the attachment. A dashed border marks verbless, elliptical, or suspended lines. Where a long sentence's staircase runs wider than the page, the diagram scrolls sideways. (In print, or without JavaScript, lines fall back to stepped indent columns.)

The appeal completed — cleanse yourselves 7:1

Having therefore these promises, beloved,participial — sentence-opening causal participle — the promises of 6:16–18 in hand; leans on the exhortation below

let us cleanse ourselves from every defilement of flesh and spirit,independent — hortatory subjunctive — Paul includes himself; the climax of the temple appeal

perfecting holiness in the fear of God.participial — participle of means/result — holiness carried through to its goal

Make room for us — the open heart 7:2–4

Make room for us;independent — the renewed appeal — asyndeton; the counterpart to 'be enlarged' (6:13)

we wronged no one,independent — the triple denial begins — anaphoric fronted οὐδένα

we corrupted no one,independent — the denial doubled — no one ruined or led astray

we took advantage of no one.independent — the denial sealed — no one defrauded (cf. 12:17)

I do not say this to condemn you;independent — the disclaimer — defense, not sentence (cf. 3:9)

for I have said beforecause — the ground — a prior declaration still in force (perfect; cf. 6:11–12)

that you are in our heartscontent — the content — lodged in Paul's affections

to die together and to live together.purpose — εἰς τό + infinitives — the bond unto shared death and shared life

Great is my boldness toward you,independent — verbless exclamation — fronted πολλή

great is my boasting on your behalf;independent — the exclamation doubled — καύχησις, the letter's motif

I have been filled with comfort,independent — intensive perfect — brim-full and remaining so

I overflow with joy amid all our affliction.independent — the overflow — joy in the very midst of θλῖψις (anticipating v. 5)

Relief in Macedonia — the coming of Titus 7:5–7

v. 5 — arrival in Macedonia: affliction on every side

For indeed, when we came into Macedonia,participial — genitive absolute — the travel narrative of 2:13 resumed; leans on the clause below

our flesh had no rest,independent — the vivid perfect — restlessness stamped on memory

but afflicted at every turn —participial — anacoluthic participle — the suppressed 'we' takes over

without, conflicts;phrase modifier — the outer front — verbless

within, fears.phrase modifier — the inner front — dread over Corinth's answer

vv. 6–7 — the Comforter of the downcast, and the report that multiplied joy

But God, who comforts the downcast, comforted us by the coming of Titus —independent — the turn — the Comforter comforted (Isa 49:13); Titus merely the means

and not only by his coming,phrase modifier — the means restated — first limb of οὐ μόνον … ἀλλὰ καί

but also by the comfortphrase modifier — the greater means — comfort passed on

with which he was comforted over you,relative — cognate relative — Titus himself comforted at Corinth

as he reported to usparticipial — participle of means — the report that carried the comfort

your longing,content — the report's triad begins — fronted ὑμῶν throughout

your mourning,content — grief over the offence (cf. v. 10)

your zeal for me,content — the climactic item — partisanship for Paul (cf. v. 11)

so that I rejoiced still more.purpose — ὥστε + infinitive — actual result: joy upon the joy of the arrival

Godly grief and its harvest 7:8–13a

vv. 8–9 — the letter regretted, then not: grief unto repentance

For though I grieved you by the letter,conditional — ὅτι grounds the joy of v. 7; the concessive protasis (εἰ καί) leans on the denial below

I do not regret it —independent — the apodosis — μεταμέλομαι (remorse), soon played against μετάνοια

though I did regret it;conditional — backward-leaning parenthetic concession — the imperfect, a passing anxiety

for I seecause — why the regret is dropped — reading βλέπω γάρ with the printed text (some witnesses have βλέπων)

that that letter —content — the content clause suspends — its predicate never comes; v. 9 resumes afresh

even if it grieved you for an hour —conditional — embedded concession — real grief, but momentary (πρὸς ὥραν)

now I rejoice,independent — the resolution — the suspended sentence lands; the grounds-chain below hangs from this joy

not that you were grieved,cause — the corrective οὐχ … ἀλλά — the grief itself no cause of joy

but that you were grieved into repentance;cause — the true cause — the grief's direction (εἰς μετάνοιαν)

for you were grieved according to God,cause — the deeper ground — κατὰ θεόν names godly grief

so that you suffered loss in nothing from us.purpose — ἵνα of design/result — God's aim in the grief: no loss through Paul's severity

vv. 10–11 — the two griefs, and the harvest of the godly one

For godly grief works a repentance unto salvation without regret;cause — gnomic maxim beneath the joy — ἀμεταμέλητον plays on μεταμέλομαι (v. 8), read with μετάνοιαν

but the grief of the world works death.cause — the antithesis, coordinate with the maxim — the intensified κατεργάζεται drives all the way to death

For behold, this very thing — being grieved according to God — what earnestness it worked in you,cause — the proof from their own case — ἰδού summons the evidence; exclamatory πόσην

yes — what defense,phrase modifier — the ἀλλά-column begins — ascensive, not adversative: 'yes, and what …'

what indignation,phrase modifier — righteous outrage at the wrong (NT hapax)

what fear,phrase modifier — reverent alarm — before God and the apostle

what longing,phrase modifier — the word of v. 7 — yearning for Paul restored

what zeal,phrase modifier — again echoing Titus' report (v. 7)

what punishment!phrase modifier — the climactic item — justice done on the wrongdoer (cf. 2:6)

In everything you proved yourselves to be pure in the matter.independent — the verdict — accusative + infinitive after συνίστημι; cleared in the whole affair

vv. 12–13a — why the letter was written

So then, although I wrote to you,conditional — inferential ἄρα with a concessive protasis — leans on the elliptical apodosis below

it was not for the sake of the one who did the wrong,independent — elliptical apodosis — supply 'I wrote'; the offender of 2:5–11

nor for the sake of the one wronged,independent — the second cleared aim — the injured party

but that your earnestness on our behalf might be made manifest to you in the sight of God.independent — the true aim — ἕνεκεν + articular infinitive; πρὸς ὑμᾶς with φανερωθῆναι, coram Deo

Therefore we have been comforted.independent — the section's seal — an abiding comfort (perfect); vv. 8–12 summed up

The joy of Titus — confidence confirmed 7:13b–16

vv. 13b–14 — joy at Titus' joy; the boast proved true

And besides our own comfort, we rejoiced still more abundantly at the joy of Titus,independent — joy over comfort — the doubled comparative (περισσοτέρως μᾶλλον)

because his spirit has been refreshed by you all;cause — the ground — a settled refreshment (perfect), ἀπὸ πάντων ὑμῶν

For if I have boasted to him at all on your behalf,conditional — ὅτι grounds Titus' joy; the real condition leans on the apodosis below

I was not put to shame,independent — the apodosis — the boast not exposed as false

but as we spoke all things to you in truth,comparative — fronted comparative — leans on the οὕτως clause below

so also our boasting before Titus proved to be truth.independent — the vindication — ἀλήθεια ἐγενήθη, the boast 'became truth'

vv. 15–16 — Titus' affection, Paul's confidence

And his affection is all the more abundant toward you,independent — σπλάγχνα — the seat of feeling (cf. 6:12); Titus' heart enlarged

as he remembers the obedience of you all,participial — genitive participle agreeing with αὐτοῦ (not a full absolute) — temporal-causal

how with fear and trembling you received him.content — ὡς — the memory's content: the reverent welcome (μετὰ φόβου καὶ τρόμου, cf. Phil 2:12)

I rejoiceindependent — the closing asyndeton — the section's keyword returns (vv. 7, 9, 13)

that in everything I have confidence in you.content — the content of the joy — total confidence; the hinge into the collection appeal of chs. 8–9

Analysis. 2 Corinthians 7 is the letter's emotional hinge, and the shape shows a chapter carried by joy giving reasons for itself. Verse 1 opens with a forward-leaning participle (Ταύτας οὖν ἔχοντες) above the hortatory καθαρίσωμεν — the temple-promises of ch. 6 cashed out in one exhortation. Verses 2–4 are flush-left appeal: the triple asyndetic denial (οὐδένα … οὐδένα … οὐδένα) and the paired verbless exclamations πολλή μοι … πολλή μοι, with the πρὸς κατάκρισιν disclaimer dropping through γάρ to the die-together-live-together pledge. The narrative resumes at v. 5 under a genitive absolute; the flesh's restlessness breaks off into an anacoluthic participle (θλιβόμενοι) with the verbless pair ἔξωθεν μάχαι, ἔσωθεν φόβοι hanging beneath it, until ἀλλά turns to God's comfort in Titus' coming (vv. 6–7), where the report-triad — longing, mourning, zeal — hangs from ἀναγγέλλων and issues in ὥστε … χαρῆναι. The heart of the chapter is the λύπη-argument (vv. 8–13a): concessive protases (εἰ καί three times in v. 8, again in v. 12) leaning forward over terse apodoses, the suspended βλέπω-ὅτι clause resolving in νῦν χαίρω (v. 9), from which the whole grounds-chain hangs — not the grief but its direction (εἰς μετάνοιαν), the κατὰ θεόν ground with its ἵνα of design, the gnomic maxim of the two griefs (v. 10), and the ἰδοὺ γάρ proof (v. 11) with its ἀλλά-column of six verbless fruits stacked under κατειργάσατο — before the ἄρα conclusion clears away two false aims of the letter for the real one. Verses 13b–16 mirror the opening: comfort topped by joy at Titus' joy, the vindicated boast framed as protasis plus ὡς/οὕτως comparison, Titus' remembered welcome, and the terse close χαίρω ὅτι … θαρρῶ. Cruxes the layout takes a side on: in v. 8 εἰ καὶ μετεμελόμην is read as a backward-leaning parenthetic concession and βλέπω γάρ (not the variant βλέπων) as opening a content clause that genuinely suspends — ἡ ἐπιστολὴ ἐκείνη never receives its predicate, and v. 9 starts afresh; vv. 10–11 are hung as coordinate γάρ-grounds beneath νῦν χαίρω, so the joy visibly carries the whole argument; in v. 12 πρὸς ὑμᾶς is taken with φανερωθῆναι ('made manifest to you'), reading τὴν σπουδὴν ὑμῶν τὴν ὑπὲρ ἡμῶν with the printed text against the swapped-pronoun variants; v. 13 is divided mid-verse, διὰ τοῦτο παρακεκλήμεθα sealing the letter-defense rather than opening the Titus movement; and in v. 15 ἀναμιμνῃσκομένου is read as a genitive participle agreeing with αὐτοῦ rather than a true genitive absolute.