But I will come to you shortly, if the Lord wills, and will know, not the speech of them who are puffed up, but the power.
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Ambrosiaster
AD 400
Paul couches his promise to come in the will of God, because God knows more than man. If there was some advantage in Paul’s going to Corinth, God would make it known, and if he did not turn up, the Corinthians would know that the Lord had not wanted him to. Commentary on Paul’s Epistles.
"In rebuke of those who are wise in appearance, and think themselves wise, but are not in reality wise, he writes: "For the kingdom of God is not in word.".
"It teaches the magnificence of the wisdom implanted in her children by instruction. Now the apostle says, "I will know not the speech of those that are puffed up, but the power; "
And I will know, not the word of them which are puffed up, but the power. For not from any excellencies of their own but from their teacher's absence, this self-will arose. Which again itself was a mark of a scornful mind towards him. And this is why, having said, I have sent Timothy, he did not at once add, I will come; but waited until he had brought his charge against them of being puffed up: after that he says, I will come. Since, had he put it before the charge, it would rather have been an apology for himself as not having been deficient, instead of a threat; nor even so (οὕτως so the King's ms. οὖτος the rec. text.) would the statement have been convincing. But as it is, placing it after the accusation, he rendered himself such as they would both believe and fear.
Mark also how solid and secure he makes his ground: for he says not simply, I will come: but, If the Lord will: and he appoints no set time. For since he might perhaps be tardy in coming, by that uncertainty he woul...
Paul promises to come, so that the Corinthians can prepare themselves for correction. On the one hand he was forced by his irritation to say “I shall come,” but on the other hand he added “if the Lord wills,” because of his sense of dependence on God. .
