2 Corinthians 9:4

Lest by any means, if there come with me any of Macedonia and find you unprepared, we (that we say not ye) should be put to shame in this confidence.

Lest by any means ... does not have any meaning of uncertainty. "It is not hypothetical, but = `when,' as in 2 Corinthians 13:2."[11]

We should be put to shame ... This is a marvelous example of Paul's use of "we" in order more fully to identify himself with his readers for the purpose of making a more delicate and forceful appeal. All commentators are compelled to recognize the device here, where Paul spelled it out; and it is a shame that so many have failed to recognize exactly the same use of it in Hebrews 2:3. In this place, there could have been no shame whatever upon Paul through any default of the Corinthians. It was not his own face which Paul sought to save by this admonition, but the reputation of the Corinthians.