I · personal pronoun — 1st person nominative singular
call
ἐπικαλοῦμαιepikaloumai
G1941
to entitle · verb — present middle indicative, 1st person singular
God
θεὸνtheon
G2316
figuratively · noun — accusative singular masculine, a title
record
μάρτυραmartura
G3144
a witness (literally (judicially) or figuratively (geni… · noun — accusative singular masculine
upon
ἐπὶepi
G1909
properly · preposition
my
ἐμόςemós
G1699
my
soul
ψυχὴνpsuchēn
G5590
breath · noun — accusative singular feminine
that
ὅτιhoti
G3754
demonstrative · conjunction
spare
φειδόμενοςpheidomenos
G5339
to be chary of · verb — present middle or passive deponent participle, nominative singular masculine
you
ὑμῶνhymōn
G5216
of (from or concerning) you
came
ἦλθονēlthon
G2064
to come or go (in a great variety of applications · verb — second aorist active indicative, 1st person singular
yet
οὐκέτιoukéti
G3765
not yet
unto
εἰςeis
G1519
to or into (indicating the point reached or entered) · preposition
Corinth
Κόρινθον·Korinthon
G2882
Corinthus · noun — accusative singular feminine, a place
Strong's Exhaustive Concordance (James Strong, 1890/1894), public domain; digitized by Open Scriptures (CC BY-SA). KJV word tagging: eBible.org (public domain). Original-language text, parsing and brief lexicon: STEPBible.org data from Tyndale House, Cambridge (CC BY 4.0).
Cross-references
Galatians 1:20 Now the things which I write unto you, behold, before God, I lie not.
1 Corinthians 4:21 What will ye? shall I come unto you with a rod, or in love, and in the spirit of meekness?
Romans 1:9 For God is my witness, whom I serve with my spirit in the gospel of his Son, that without ceasing I make mention of you always in my prayers…
2 Corinthians 13:2 I told you before, and foretell you, as if I were present, the second time; and being absent now I write to them which heretofore have sinne…
2 Corinthians 13:10 Therefore I write these things being absent, lest being present I should use sharpness, according to the power which the Lord hath given me…
2 Corinthians 10:6-11 And having in a readiness to revenge all disobedience, when your obedience is fulfilled.
2 Corinthians 12:20 For 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…
Philippians 1:8 For God is my record, how greatly I long after you all in the bowels of Jesus Christ.
Cross-references from OpenBible.info (CC BY), in the lineage of the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge (public domain).
Commentary
Matthew Henry on 2 Corinthians 1:15–end
The apostle here vindicates himself from the imputation of levity and inconstancy, in that he did not hold his purpose of coming to them at Corinth. His adversaries there sought all occasions to blemish his character, and reflect upon his conduct; and, it seemed, they took hold of this handle to reproach his person and discredit his ministry. Now, for his justification,
I. He avers the sincerity of his intention (Co2 1:15-17), and he does this in confidence of their good opinion of him, and that they would believe him, when he assured them he was minded, or did really intend, to come to them, and that with the design, not that he might receive, but that they might receive a second benefit, t…
Moreover I--Greek, "But I (for my part)," in contrast to GOD who hath assured us of His promises being hereafter fulfilled certainly (Co2 1:20-22).
call God--the all-knowing One, who avenges wilful unfaithfulness to promises.
for a record upon my soul--As a witness as to the secret purposes of my soul, and a witness against it, if I lie (Mal 3:5).
to spare you--in order not to come in a rebuking spirit, as I should have had to come to you, if I had come then.
I came not as yet--Greek, "no longer"; that is, I gave up my purpose of then visiting Corinth. He wished to give them time for repentance, that he might not have to use severity towards them. Hence he sent Titus before him. Comp…
I call God for a record upon my soul - The apostle here resumes the subject which he left Co2 1:16, and in the most solemn manner calls God to witness, and consequently to punish, if he asserted any thing false, that it was through tenderness to them that he did not visit Corinth at the time proposed. As there were so many scandals among them, the apostle had reason to believe that he should be obliged to use the severe and authoritative part of his function in the excommunication of those who had sinned, and delivering them over to Satan for the destruction of the flesh, etc.; but to give them space to amend, and to see what effect his epistle might produce, (not having heard as yet from th…
The Church Fathers
Here Paul is addressing people who apparently wanted to reform but were not making much of an effort in that direction. It was to spare them until they pulled themselves together that he went elsewhere for the time being. Paul did not want them to think that he despised them as unworthy. Once they realized that, they would mend their ways, and then the apostle would come to visit them.
"But I call God for a witness upon my soul, that to spare you I forbare to come unto Corinth." What sayest thou, O blessed Paul? To spare them thou camest not to Corinth? Surely thou presentest us with something of a contradiction. For a little above thou saidst that thou therefore camest not, because thou purposest not according to the flesh nor art thine own master, but art led about every where by the authority of the Spirit, and didst set forth thine afflictions. But here thou sayest it was thine own act that thou camest not, and not from the authority of the Spirit; for he saith, "To spare you I forbare to come to Corinth." What then is one to say? either, that this too was itself of the Spirit, and that he himself wished to come but the Spirit suggested to him not to do so, urging the motive of sparing them; or else, that he is speaking of some other coming, and would signify that before he wrote the former Epistle he was minded to come, and for love's sake restrained himself lest he should find them yet unamended. What is the expression, "to spare you?" I heard, he saith, that some among you had committed fornication; I would not therefore come and make you sorry: for had I come, I must needs have enquired into the matter, and prosecuted and punished, and exacted justice from many. I judged it then better to be away and to give opportunity for repentance, than to be with you and to prosecute, and be still more incensed.
The Church Fathers: public-domain translations (Ante-Nicene and Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers), verse-indexed by SermonIndex (CC BY 4.0).
Dictionary and topics
Corinthians, Second Epistle to the — Shortly after writing his first letter to the Corinthians, Paul left Ephesus, where intense excitement had been aroused against him, the evidence of his great success, and proceeded to Macedonia.…
Excommunication — (expulsion from communion).
Oaths · Expressions used as: I call God for a record — Expressions used as: I call God for a record
Dictionary: Easton's (1897) and Smith's (1863), public domain. Topics: Nave's Topical Bible (1896) and Torrey's Topical Textbook (1897), public domain. Both as parsed by NEUU (CC BY 4.0).
Moreover, I call God for a record upon my soul,.... The apostle having asserted his stability, both as a minister and a Christian, which, with others, he had from God, appeals to him in the most solemn manner, in full form of an oath, for the truth of what he was about to say; and is all one as if he had said, I swear by the living God, the searcher of all hearts; I call upon him to attest what I say, and bear witness to my soul, that it is true,
that to spare you, I came not as yet unto Corinth; however fickle, unstable, and inconstant, it may be insinuated to you I am, or you may take me to be, I do assure you in the name and presence of God, that the true reason of my not coming to you h…
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 [301] 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. [302]
2. For if I make you sorry, who is he then that maketh me glad, but the same which is…
Tyndale Open Study Notes on 2 Corinthians 1:23–end
God as my witness: This mild oath indicates that he is telling the truth (see 1 Sam 12:5; 20:12; Job 16:19; cp. Ruth 1:17; 1 Sam 14:44; 2 Sam 3:35; 1 Kgs 2:23; Jer 42:5). The real reason for Paul’s change of travel plans was to spare them from a severe rebuke (2 Cor 1:23) and not inflict another painful visit on them (2:1).
