Moreover I call God for a witness upon my soul, that to spare you I came not as yet unto Corinth.
All Commentaries on 2 Corinthians 1:23 Go To 2 Corinthians 1
Cornelius a Lapide
AD 1637
Moreover, I call God for a record upon my soul. From this it is lawful for a Christian to take an oath, says S. Augustine (qu5 , inter83); for the Apostle here takes an oath, and that one of execration. If I lie, he says, may God be my judge and condemn my soul.
That to spare you I came not as yet unto Corinth. Lest I should be forced to exert my apostolic authority against the vices of the offenders among you: it was to spare you from being grieved by my coming to correct you. So Anselm. Cf. also chap. ii1. S. Paul here gives the real reason why he had not kept his promise, or his purpose of visiting Corinth, which was that the Corinthians had not yet given up the vices of which he had admonished them in his First Epistle, and deserved therefore to be rebuked still more sharply and punished. But he deals gently with them, and by his absence he wished tacitly, and by his Epistle openly to remind them once more of their duty, and so correct them with gentleness.
Let prelates learn from this not to be ever chiding and rebuking those under them for their faults, lest they make them hard and callous. And more than this, the faults of some people, especially those that are more high-minded and sensitive, are more effectually corrected if they are pointed out patiently and indirectly than if they are rebuked openly, or actually visited with punishment. Cf. S. Gregory (Pastor. pt, iii. c8,9).
As yet. That Isaiah , after his first visit, or after the First Epistle.
