Paul defends about his delay in visiting Corinthians: (1:12-14):
Paul must have been facing the accusation that he is fickle and unreliable. He does not keep to time. But here he opens up his conscience before them and God and expects that Corinthian Christians will understand.
The Corinthian Christians may had seen some ministers who were manipulative, so they thought Paul must be one like that. But Paul clearly says that he had no hidden agenda or no hidden motives etc. Paul wanted Corinthians to learn about the importance of transparency and keeping ones conscious clean and bare. He hopes that the Corinthians would be able to appreciate Paul and Paul in turn appreciates the believers of Corinth church.
Paul’s change of plans: (1:15-20):
We need to understand the background why there was a change in Paul’s itinerary.
- Paul initially planned to visit Corinth after his trip to Macedonia (1 Cor.16:5-7).
- He changed his plans to visit them first and again on his return too (1:15).
- So he visited first Corinth on the way to Macedonia but it was very painful to him (2:1) because of confrontation. After some time Paul faced open opposition from some enemy groups. So Paul did not visit them on his return from Macedonia.
- Paul sent the third letter (2 Cor. 2:3-9) through Titus. Titus was also collecting contribution for the poor believers of Jerusalem. Corinthians also lacked in giving. Later Paul went to Ephesus as there was a good Gospel harvest.
- Later Paul went to Macedonia and heard through Titus that the problems in Corinthians are solved. So he writes the fourth letter which is actually the2-Corinthains written in 56 AD.
- Paul says that God changed his planned trip, because it would have made things worse had he visited them as per his plan. Instead of sailing from Ephesus to Corinth, he had travelled to Troas and Philippi, and thus had given the church more time to straighten things out. A visit at that time would have been painful, but, now that matters had been attended had been taken care of well (2:6-11), so he could visit them in joy and not in grief.
By understanding the background, we can follow Paul’s thinking. But the Corinthians were reluctant. So Paul assures them that his letters were honest and trustworthy.
It was Paul’s confidence in their love and understanding that led him to change his plans. Perhaps we must remember Paul’s (1Cor.13) “love never doubts or questions about motives”. Paul was not like the men of the world who say “Yes” when they mean “No.” The Word of God is trustworthy, and all the promises of God find their “Yes” in Jesus Christ. This means all the promises of God find their yes in Christ, and through Him we say Amen. In other words, the promises of God are true in Christ and we can claim them.
We must be grateful to God as He fulfils our promises in Christ. Many times
we make plans, but sometimes God overrules them because we ask them with ill motives. We make promises and are not always able to keep them. But in Christ, all the promises of God’s Word find their fulfilment, and in Him we have the power to claim these promises for ourselves in every situation.
God anoints us with the Holy Spirit: (1:21-24)
In this paraphrase, Paul describes 3-amazing things that the Holy Spirit gives to believers. Having established in Christ by the Holy Spirit, Paul says that we are anointed by the Spirit, Sealed by the Spirit and made a deposit (down-payment) by the Spirit. Paul can never be insincere when the Holy Spirit was working in his life.
- Anointed: Anointed means that we share something with the prophets, priests, and kings of the Old Testament, who were also anointed ones.
- Sealed: In the ancient world, a seal was used to identify and to protect. If something was sealed, everyone knew who it belonged to (the seal had a special place), and the seal prevented anyone else from tampering with the item. In the same way The Holy Spirit seals us to identify us and to protect us.
- A deposit: It means a down payment or earnest money. We have been given the Holy Spirit as a down payment for the fullness of what God will do. The “earnest” refers to the blessings of the Spirit in our lives today which is but a down payment of the eternal blessings we will enjoy in glory. The Holy Spirit is just a pledge of greater things to come. As Christians, God has purchased us on the lay-away plan, and has given us an impressive down payment. He won’t walk away from the final payment, because He has so much invested already!
Reasons for delay: (1:23 – 24):
Paul refers to his previous letter to the believers in Corinth:
Apostle Paul says, that he has changed the plans because it was necessary for the Corinthian church, otherwise if he had come as per his original plan, he may have been upset with the kind of testimony the church had and he was not willing to face such awkward situation by rebuking them and being stern with them. Instead of sailing from Ephesus to Corinth, he had travelled to Troas and Philippi, and thus had given the church more time to straighten things out. Yes, a visit at that time would have been painful, but, now that matters had been settled (2:6-11), he could visit them in joy and not in grief.