2Cor 1:15-16, 13:1-2 | JFB | STEP | 15. in this confidence —of my character for sincerity being "acknowledged" by you ( ). was minded —I was intending. before —"to come unto you before" visiting Macedonia (where he now was). Compare Note, see on ; also see on , which, combined with the words here, implies that the insinuation of some at Corinth, that he would not come at all, rested on the fact of his having thus disappointed them. His change of intention, and ultimate resolution of going through Macedonia first, took place before his sending Timothy from Ephesus into Macedonia, and therefore ( ) before his writing the first Epistle. Compare (the order there is "Macedonia and Achaia," not Achaia, Macedonia ); . that ye might have a second benefit —one in going to, the other in returning from, Macedonia. The "benefit" of his visits consisted in the grace and spiritual gifts which he was the means of imparting ( ).

2 Corinthians 1:15-16

15. in this confidence—of my character for sincerity being "acknowledged" by you (2Co 1:12-14).

was minded—I was intending.

before—"to come unto you before" visiting Macedonia (where he now was). Compare Note, see on 1Co 16:5; also see on 1Co 4:18, which, combined with the words here, implies that the insinuation of some at Corinth, that he would not come at all, rested on the fact of his having thus disappointed them. His change of intention, and ultimate resolution of going through Macedonia first, took place before his sending Timothy from Ephesus into Macedonia, and therefore (1Co 4:17) before his writing the first Epistle. Compare Ac 19:21, 22 (the order there is "Macedonia and Achaia," not Achaia, Macedonia); Ac 20:1, 2.

that ye might have a second benefit—one in going to, the other in returning from, Macedonia. The "benefit" of his visits consisted in the grace and spiritual gifts which he was the means of imparting (Ro 1:11, 12).

16. This intention of visiting them on the way to Macedonia, as well as after having passed through it, must have reached the ears of the Corinthians in some way or other—perhaps in the lost Epistle (1Co 4:18; 5:9). The sense comes out more clearly in the Greek order, "By you to pass into Macedonia, and from Macedonia to come again unto you."

2 Corinthians 13:1-2

1. This is the third time I am coming to you—not merely preparing to come to you. This proves an intermediate visit between the two recorded in Ac 18:1; 20:2.

In the mouth of two or three witnesses shall every word be established—Quoted from De 19:15, Septuagint. "I will judge not without examination, nor will I abstain from punishing upon due evidence" [CONYBEARE and HOWSON]. I will no longer be among you "in all patience" towards offenders (2Co 12:12). The apostle in this case, where ordinary testimony was to be had, does not look for an immediate revelation, nor does he order the culprits to be cast out of the church before his arrival. Others understand the "two or three witnesses" to mean his two or three visits as establishing either (1) the truth of the facts alleged against the offenders, or (2) the reality of his threats. I prefer the first explanation to either of the two latter.

2. Rather, "I have already said (at my second visit), and tell you (now) beforehand, AS (I did) WHEN I WAS PRESENT THE SECOND TIME, SO also NOW in my absence (the oldest manuscripts omit the 'I write,' which here wrongly follows in English Version Greek text) to them which heretofore have sinned (namely, before my second visit, 2Co 12:21), and to all others (who have sinned since my second visit, or are in danger of sinning)." The English Version, "as if I were present the second time," namely, this next time, is quite inconsistent with 2Co 13:1, "this is the third time I am coming to you," as Paul could not have called the same journey at once "the second" and "the third time" of his coming. The antithesis between "the second time" and "now" is palpable.

if I come again, &c.—that is, whensoever I come again (Ac 20:2). These were probably the very words of his former threat which he now repeats again.