But I determined this with myself, that I would not come again to you in heaviness.
Parallel translations
- WEB But I determined this for myself, that I would not come to you again in sorrow.
- BSB So I made up my mind not to make another painful visit to you.
- NKJV But I determined this within myself, that I would not come again to you in sorrow.
- NASB But I decided this for my own sake, that I would not come to you in sorrow again.
- NLT So I decided that I would not bring you grief with another painful visit.
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Scripture quotations taken from the (NASB®) New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995, 2020 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. lockman.org
Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
Quick answer
Paul resolved not to make another sorrowful visit to Corinth. He wanted his next coming to bring joy, not grief.
Overview
Following a painful earlier visit, Paul decided to delay returning so as not to repeat that sorrow. This explains his change of plans as deliberate love rather than fickleness. His desire to spare both himself and the church further pain shows the heart of a shepherd who seeks restored joy over confrontation.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 13
- 2 Cor 13:10Therefore I write these things being absent, lest being present I should use sharpness, according to the power which the Lord hath given me to edification, and not to destruction.
- 2 Cor 1:23Moreover I call God for a record upon my soul, that to spare you I came not as yet unto Corinth.
- 2 Cor 12:20–21For I fear, lest, when I come, I shall not find you such as I would, and that I shall be found unto you such as ye would not: lest there be debates, envyings, wraths, strifes, backbitings, whisperings, swellings, tumults:
- 2 Cor 2:4For out of much affliction and anguish of heart I wrote unto you with many tears; not that ye should be grieved, but that ye might know the love which I have more abundantly unto you.
- 1 Cor 4:21What will ye? shall I come unto you with a rod, or in love, and in the spirit of meekness?
- 1 Cor 5:3For I verily, as absent in body, but present in spirit, have judged already, as though I were present, concerning him that hath so done this deed,
- Acts 11:29Then the disciples, every man according to his ability, determined to send relief unto the brethren which dwelt in Judaea:
- 1 Cor 2:2For I determined not to know any thing among you, save Jesus Christ, and him crucified.
- Titus 3:12When I shall send Artemas unto thee, or Tychicus, be diligent to come unto me to Nicopolis: for I have determined there to winter.
- 2 Cor 1:15–17And in this confidence I was minded to come unto you before, that ye might have a second benefit;
- Acts 15:2When therefore Paul and Barnabas had no small dissension and disputation with them, they determined that Paul and Barnabas, and certain other of them, should go up to Jerusalem unto the apostles and elders about this question.
- 2 Cor 7:5–8For, when we were come into Macedonia, our flesh had no rest, but we were troubled on every side; without were fightings, within were fears.
- Acts 15:37And Barnabas determined to take with them John, whose surname was Mark.
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Christ at the center
In Christ all God's promises are 'Yes and Amen'; though rich, he became poor to make us rich, and in him God reconciles the world, making us new creations.
How 2 Corinthians 2:1 points to him is part of the one story that runs through all Scripture — meet Jesus at the heart of the web, or follow a trail that traces him from Genesis to Revelation.
Original language
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