²³But I call God as witness to my soul, that to spare you I did not come again to Corinth. ²⁴Not that we lord it over your faith, but are workers with you for your joy; for in your faith you are standing firm. ¹But I determined this for my own sake, that I would not come to you in sorrow again.

Three times Paul calls on God as witness to his sincerity. In Romans 1:9 he asserts his commitment to praying for the Roman believers, and in 1 Thessalonians 2:4–5 he explains his refusal to manipulate people for his own selfish reasons. In this second letter to the Corinthians, he stresses his sincere motives for changing his travel plans. His passionate response indicates that his change of plans must have been a big deal to the Corinthians.

Paul’s concern with coming earlier was to “spare” them sorrow. Make no mistake about it, he genuinely cared for the Corinthians. He calculated the effect of the timing of his return to Corinth, and evidently decided that waiting would be better than to drop everything and fly off there to deal with the situation. Better to send a letter now and then visit them later.

Notice that Paul had apparently had two visits to Corinth. In 2 Cor. 2:1 he writes, “But I determined this for my own sake, that I would not come to you in sorrow again” (emphasis added). The first visit could not be characterized as being in sorrow, for that was when he initially evangelized them on his second missions tour (Acts 18:1). Evidently there was another visit between the writing of his first and second canonical letters to them (see notes on 1 Cor. 5:9 for an outline of Paul’s four letters and three visits to the Corinthians).

Paul had considerable interactions with the believers in that city, almost like a doting father. He had just as much concern for their spiritual growth and welfare as he did in bringing them to salvation. They were spiritual children to him (1 Cor. 4:14, 2 Cor. 6:13). And while he introduced himself in this letter as “an apostle of Christ Jesus” he sees them as co-workers. His letter should be taken not as commanding and authoritative, but as an exhortation from one co-worker to another. It’s an interesting duality that this biblical text contains human wisdom and insight from a seasoned worker in the Lord’s service, while at the same time it is inspired by the Holy Spirit.

Notice Paul is not on a power trip but genuinely desires them to experience the joy of living for Christ (God is his witness). His attitude is not judgmental, and he does not want them to be overwhelmed with sorrow. Therefore, he calculates the effects of timing his interactions for the maximum benefit to them.

Lord, I commit to carefully determining the right time and place for confronting my fellow servants of Christ.