2 Corinthians 2:1

2 COR. 2

The apostle Paul wrote much like some people talk; one thing led to another; and he often digressed from a line of thought, coming back to it only after a parenthetical discussion of something else. This trip through 2Corinthians is as exciting as a drive down Oak Creek canyon, with one sensational view following another. Paul concluded his explanation of the change in his plans (2 Corinthians 2:1-4), recommended leniency to the Corinthians in a disciplinary problem (2 Corinthians 2:5-11), touched on his waiting for Titus at Troas (2 Corinthians 2:12-13), and penned a masterpiece regarding the nature of gospel influence, drawing a rather rough analogy from the spectacle of a Roman triumph.

But I determined this for myself, that I would not come again to you with sorrow. (2 Corinthians 2:1)

Regardless of how little we know of any sorrowful visit Paul had paid the Corinthians, the plain meaning of several passages in this letter demands the conclusion that it was made and that it cannot be identified with the original visit which led to the founding of the church. Paul wrote: "This is the third time I am ready to come to you (2 Corinthians 12:14); and he repeated it, "This is the third time I am coming to you" (2 Corinthians 13:1). Even the verse before us contributes to the certainty that Paul had already made two visits to Corinth when 2Corinthians was written; because it is very difficult to imagine that Paul here referred to his original visit to Corinth, which had resulted in one of the most successful preaching experiences of his whole life and the gathering of a mighty congregation of believers. No; there had to have been another visit, a sorrowful visit.

Come again to you with sorrow ... But, cannot this have the meaning of, "My second visit to you should not be a sad one," rather than "I would not pay you a second sad visit"? Theodoret, Farrar and other learned commentators say that it can, and that "The notion of three visits to Corinth, one unrecorded, is a needless and mistaken inference."[1] Despite this, Paul's double mention of his proposed visit as the "third" one (cited above) declares the certainty of a second one already made. The thing that upsets the commentators is that no one knows anything about that second visit, except as indicated here, that it was a sad one. We admire the frank honesty of David Lipscomb who said, "But this (2 Corinthians 13:1) with 2 Corinthians 12:14, makes it clear that he made a visit of which we have no record."[2] Extreme caution should be used, however, in accepting the wild and irresponsible assertions of some recent exegetes with regard to "what happened" at that unrecorded visit. It is the ridiculous postulations of some on what took place at that visit that have made it impossible for some scholars to admit that it took place; and, as regards the KIND OF VISIT alleged and in which Paul "was insulted,"[3] etc., etc. That VISIT did not occur, being nothing but the fruit of a fertile imagination!

The silence of Luke in Acts with regard to that "second visit" "should not be taken as being in conflict with the natural interpretation of what Paul said here; many things are omitted by Luke."[4]

Regarding the question of when that other visit (the second) took place, this too is a disputed problem. Hughes, Alford, Denney, Lightfoot, Zahn, Sanday and many others regard it as having occurred before 1Corinthians was written, rejecting out of hand the proposition that it took place in the interval between the two Corinthian letters of the New Testament. After reading all of the material available on the question, this writer simply does not know when it took place, but finds no fault with placing it between the letters, IF at the same time we reject totally the speculative allegations of imaginative critics whose arrogant assertions of what took place at that meeting are pure nonsense. How could any responsible scholar tell what happened at a meeting which might have happened before either of the Corinthians was written, and of which not one authentic syllable is anywhere recorded, either in the New Testament or anywhere else? Reluctant as arrogant scholarship may be to confess that it does not know, the certain fact of total ignorance on this point must be respected by all who regard the truth.

[1] F. W. Farrar, The Pulpit Commentary (Grand Rapids, Michigan: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 1950), Vol. 8,2Cor., p. 36.

[2] David Lipscomb, Second Corinthians (Nashville: Gospel Advocate Company, 1936), p. 169.

[3] William Barclay, The Letters to the Corinthians (Philadelphia: Westminster Press, 1954), p. 201.

[4] Philip E. Hughes, Paul's Second Epistle to the Corinthians (Grand Rapids, Michigan: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 1962), p. 52.