Biblion Bible Commentary
Read the introduction to 2 Corinthians · About this commentary
Was I Vacillating?
2 Corinthians 1:15-18
15 In this confidence, I was determined to come first to you, that you might have a second benefit, · WEB
A changed travel plan is treated as a charge about character, and Paul accepts that framing rather than dismissing it.
Verses 15 and 16 lay out the itinerary he had announced: come to Corinth first, that you might have a second benefit, then on into Macedonia, then back through Corinth again, and be sent forward from there on my journey to Judea.
Two visits, with Macedonia between them. He did not do it, and the change is what verse 17 answers.
The question he puts in his own mouth is the accusation as it was being made: when I therefore planned this, did I show fickleness? Then, sharper: the things that I plan, do I plan according to the flesh, that with me there should be the "Yes, yes" and the "No, no?"
That is a picture of a man saying both at once — agreeing to a plan while keeping the option of dropping it, so that nothing he says commits him to anything.
What is striking is that Paul does not brush the complaint off as trivial. An altered route is a small thing, and he treats it as a question about whether his word means anything. He grants the premise: if he plans according to the flesh, then his yes is worth nothing.
And he grants it because of where the argument has to end up. The man whose travel plans are unreliable is the man who preached the message, and the readers had no way to test the message except through him. The charge is small; its implication is not, which is why he refuses the easy defense of pointing out how minor the matter is.
Verse 18 answers with an oath rather than an explanation: as God is faithful, our word toward you was not "Yes and no." The reason his speech is single is placed outside himself — it is God's faithfulness that is invoked, not Paul's consistency.
The actual reason for the change is held back for five verses, and when it comes it is a kindness: to spare you, I didn't come to Corinth 2 Corinthians 1:23.
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