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 CORINTHIANS -
not by human wisdom but by the grace of God. 13For we write you
nothing but what you can read and understand, and I hope that you
will understand completely, 14as you have come to understand us
partially, that we are your boast as you also are ours, on the day of
[our] Lord Jesus.
15With this con dence I formerly intended to come* to you so
that you might receive a double favor, 16namely, to go by way of you to Macedonia, and then to come to you again on my return from Macedonia, and have you send me on my way to Judea.i 17So when I intended this, did I act lightly?* Or do I make my plans according to human considerations, so that with me it is “yes, yes” and “no, no”?j 18As God is faithful,* our word to you is not “yes” and “no.” 19For the Son of God, Jesus Christ, who was proclaimed to you by us, Silvanus and Timothyandme,wasnot“yes”and“no,”but“yes”hasbeeninhim.k 20For however many are the promises of God, their Yes is in him; therefore, the Amen from us also goes through him to God for glory.l 21* But the one who gives us security with you in Christ and who anointed us is God;m 22he has also put his seal upon us and given the Spirit in our hearts as a rst installment.n
Paul’s Change of Plan. 23o But I call upon God as witness, on my life, that it is to spare you that I have not yet gone to Corinth.* 24Not that we lord it over your faith; rather, we work together for your joy, for you stand rm in the faith.
2
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1For I decided not to come to you again in painful circumstances. 2
For if I in ict pain upon you, then who is there to cheer me except the one pained by me? 3And I wrote as I did* so that when I came I might not be pained by those in whom I should have rejoiced, con dent about all of you that my joy is that of all of you. 4For out of much a iction and anguish of heart I wrote to you with many tears, not that you might be pained but that you might know the abundant love I have for you.
1:8
Paul sounds an autobiographical note as he speaks of his su erings, almost to death, in Asia. He wants the Corinthians to know that his change of plan was not arbitrary.
1:19
This is a wonderful and unusual image of Christ:
he is the “yes” to all the promises of God, and we are the “Amen.” Since Christ is “yes,” Paul assures his readers that he is also “yes.”
CHAPTER 1
h. [1:14] Phil 2:16; 1 Thes 2:19–20.
i. [1:16] 1 Cor 16:5–9; Acts 19:21.
j. [1:17] Mt 5:37; Jas 5:12.
k. [1:19] Acts 16:1–3; 1 Thes 1:1; 2 Thes 1:1.
l. [1:20] 1 Cor 14:16; Rev 3:14.
m. [1:21] 1 Jn 2:20, 27.
n. [1:22] Eph 1:13–14; 4:30 / 2 Cor 5:5;
Rom 5:5; 8:16, 23.
o. [1:23] 13:2.
the letter, especially in 2 Cor 10–13; the term is used in a positive
sense here (cf. note on 1 Cor 1:29–31).
* [1:15] I formerly intended to come: this plan reads like a revision
of the one mentioned in 1 Cor 16:5. Not until 2 Cor 1:23–2:1 will Paul tell us something his original readers already knew, that he has canceled one or the other of these projected visits.
* [1:17] Did I act lightly?: the subsequent change of plans casts suspicion on the original intention, creating the impression that Paul is vacillating and inconsistent or that human considerations keep dictating shifts in his goals and projects (cf. the counterclaim of 2 Cor 1:12). “Yes, yes” and “no, no”: stating something and denying it in the same or the next breath; being of two minds at once, or from one moment to the next.
* [1:18–22] As God is faithful: unable to deny the change in plans, Paul nonetheless asserts the rmness of the original plan and claims a profound constancy in his life and work. He grounds his defense in God himself, who is rm and reliable; this quality can also be predicated in various ways of those who are associated with him. Christ, Paul, and the Corinthians all participate in analogous ways in the constancy of God. A number of the terms here, which appear related only conceptually in Greek or English, would be variations of the same root, ’mn, in a Semitic language, and thus naturally associated in a Semitic mind, such as Paul’s. These include the words yes (2 Cor 1:17–20), faithful (2 Cor 1:18), Amen (2 Cor 1:20), gives us security (2 Cor 1:21), faith, stand rm (2 Cor 1:24).
* [1:21–22] The commercial terms gives us security, seal, rst installment are here used analogously to refer to the process of initiation into the Christian life, perhaps speci cally to
baptism. The passage is clearly trinitarian. The Spirit is the rst installment or “down payment” of the full messianic bene ts that God guarantees to Christians. Cf. Eph 1:13–14.
* [1:23–24] I have not yet gone to Corinth: some suppose that Paul received word of some a air in Corinth, which he decided to regulate by letter even before the rst of his projected visits (cf. 2 Cor 1:16). Others conjecture that he did pay the rst visit, was o ended there (cf. 2 Cor 2:5), returned to Ephesus, and sent a letter (2 Cor 2:3–9) in place of the second visit. The expressions to spare you (2 Cor 1:23) and work together for your joy (2 Cor 1:24) introduce the major themes of the next two paragraphs, which are remarkable for insistent repetition of key words and ideas. These form two clusters of terms in the English translation: (1) cheer, rejoice, encourage, joy; (2) pain, a iction, anguish. These clusters reappear when Paul resumes treatment of this subject in 2 Cor 7:5–16.
* [2:3–4] I wrote as I did: we learn for the rst time about the sending of a letter in place of the proposed visit. Paul mentions the letter in passing, but emphasizes his motivation in sending it: to avoid being saddened by them (cf. 1 Cor 2:1), and to help them realize the depth of his love. Another motive will be added in 2 Cor 7:12—to bring to light their own concern for him. With many tears: it has been suggested that we may have all or part of this “tearful letter” somewhere in the Corinthian correspondence, either in 1 Cor 5 (the case of the incestuous man), or in 1 Corinthians as a whole, or in 2 Cor 2:10–13. None of these hypotheses is entirely convincing. See note on 2 Cor 13:1.
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