A Costly Ministry
A COSTLY MINISTRY
2 CORINTHIANS 1:23–2:4
Paul explains his real reason why he did not come to Corinth.
The real reason for Paul’s change of travel arrangements and non-appearance at Corinth is told in 1:23. He comes clean, even by uttering a mild oath in the spirit of Ruth 1:17; 1 Samuel 14:44; 2 Samuel 3:35; 1 Kings 2:23. He would not inflict upon them “another painful visit” (2:1). The plain sense of this text is that Paul had already paid a visit to Corinth which did cause him pain. This visit is not recorded in Acts, and is known only by inference.
Moreover, on the previous occasion to which he now looks back with sorrow, there was one person who was the ringleader of the opposition and who personally resisted him and made things very unhappy (2:2). We shall learn more about this man (now truly sorry for his misdemeanor) in 2:5-11.
Besides a painful visit which the apostle had paid, there was also a tearful letter he had written (2:3-4). Once more we are in the realm of conjecture and inference. Three possibilities are open to us as we try to locate the identity of this letter.
It may refer to the former letter, known as our 1 Corinthians, but this is unlikely, as that letter hardly fits the vivid description which Paul gives. A second possibility, which most modern critics hold, is that a portion of this “tearful letter” has been preserved in 2 Corinthians chapters 10–13. There are objections to this suggestion, not least that the character of the hypothetical fragment is more warmly indignant and polemical than sorrowful. The most probable possibility is that the letter in question has not survived.
The letter whose tenor and tone we can guess from the descriptiveness of 2:4 had caused pain to the writer, but was intended for the Corinthians’ good. This deeply moving passage shows the vital qualification of Christian ministers, “a heart pledged to his brethren in the love of Christ” (Denney).