Commentary on the Epistles to the Corinthians John Calvin
Commentary on the Corinthians place we must observe, that all that have not the Holy Spirit as a witness, so as to return their Amen to God, when calling them to an assured hope of salvation, do on false grounds assume the name of Christians.
2 Corinthians 1:23-2:2
2 Corinthians 1:23-24 23. Moreover I call God for a record upon my soul, that to spare you I came not as yet unto Corinth.
23. Ego autem testem invoco Deum in animam meam, quod parcens vobis nondum venerim Corinthum.
24. Not for that we have dominion over your faith, but are helpers of your joy: for by faith ye stand.
24. Non quod dominemur fidei vestrae, sed adiutores sumus 1195 gaudii vestri: fide enim statis.
2 Corinthians 2:1-2 1. But I determined this with myself, that I would not come again to you in heaviness.
1. Decreveram autem hoc in me ipso, non amplius venire in tristitia ad vos. 1196
2. For if I make you sorry, who is he then that maketh me glad, but the same which is made sorry by me?
2. Si enim ego contristo vos: et quis est qui me exhilaret, nisi is qui erit tristitia affectus ex me?
23. I call God for a witness. He now begins to assign a reason for his change of purpose; for hitherto he has merely repelled calumny. When, however, he says that he spared them, he indirectly throws back the blame upon them, and thus shows them that it would be unfair if he were put to grief through their fault, but that it would be much more unfair if they should permit this; but most of all unfair if they should give their assent to so base a calumny, as in that case they would be substituting in their place an innocent person, as if he had been guilty of their sin. Now he spared them in this respect, that if he had come he would have been constrained to reprove them more severely, while he wished rather that they should of their own accord repent previously to his arrival, that there might be no occasion for a harsher remedy, 1197 which is a signal evidence of more than paternal lenity. For how much forbearance there was in shunning this necessity, when he had just ground of provocation!
He makes use, also, of an oath, that he may not seem to have contrived something to serve a particular purpose. For the matter in itself was of no 1195"Nous sommes adiuteurs de vostre ioye; ou, nous aidons a;" — "We are helpers of your joy, or, we aid."
1196"De ne venir à vous derechef auec tristesse, ou, pour vous apporter fascherie;" — "Not to come again to you in sorrow, or, to cause you distress."
1197"Remede plus aspre et rigoureux;" — "A harsher and more rigorous remedy."