Verse 9
For to this end also did I write, that I might know the proof of you, whether ye are obedient in all things.
The "painful visit" and "severe letter" theorists have misread this verse.
To this end also did I write ... refers to the clauses following and not to the request of forgiveness, that is, the proof of obedience, which should be referred to his order of discipline for the incestuous man. Of course, if "to this end" is made to refer to a request for forgiveness for the offender, it would demand the postulation of an intermediate letter, there being no request of forgiveness for the offender in 1Corinthians, as there had been no repentance at the time 1Corinthians was written. Thus, another supposed "proof" of the intervening "severe letter" is nothing but an improper reading of this verse.
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