The Purpose of Paul's Visit and Correction

Having shown his disposition concerning them, he says that in order that we also might reign with you, it is evident that they consider their own achievements as their own good. He does not read 'you have reigned and become rich' merely as a question, so that what was spoken might be in character for those who have already been disciplined.

For as I see, if you have become rich and have reigned without us, we have become the very last and most abominable, enduring all things. To men, he says, as they see our evils, but to angels, as they marvel at our standing The same applies to these things. Those teaching you in contempt and in poverty, as being considered fools by the world, yet you, the taught ones, desire to be in the wealth and honors of Christ. He says these things to show that in spiritual gifts there is no student superior to the teacher.

We endure all things through Christ, and until now we humble ourselves. And how is it possible for you, living in the flesh, to be preferred by God over those who are laboring, being persecuted, being reviled, and being struck? He instructs through all these things how the Christian must be and how he must humble himself. Instead of the scraps, as if having been taken as refuse and filth from a house having been cleaned, we have become being despised by all, and we are the refuse of all, having set ourselves before all men through Christ. The 'wiping' is said to be the cloth which wipes the sweat of the laborer and removes the sickness lying upon him. Having strongly cleansed through the first things, he exhorts through these to win the power of salvation through the astringents and the sweet things.

By calling himself father, and those others pedagogues from whom they were called, he shows that he has a more genuine disposition toward them than the others, and that as being admonished by a father, they ought not to be indignant. In not being arrogant toward anyone and in becoming imitators of me, and in not being called by anyone but by Christ. See that those things said to him—we the weak, you the strong, and all the other things—were said toward the purpose of some being puffed up.

I will come to you quickly, if the Lord wills, and I will know not the words of those naturally gifted, but the power. Through this power he says he also reproves strongly, and he himself testifies to the suitability for restoration by threatening his own presence. For as if they were appearing humbled, he promises his presence, being corrected by the word before the presence. But he added 'if the Lord wills'; because of indignation he was driven to say that he would come, but because of reverence he was reminded to add the most beautiful addition, 'if the Lord wills'. And here he reveals what he previously had veiled so as not to reprove too harshly. For the kingdom of God is not in word, as is evident to the well-trained; for the apostles did not teach and preach without word. It is also evident from these things that what was said regarding some being naturally gifted was that we are weak and you are strong.

He promises his presence so that, if we arrive, we may correct ourselves. Therefore, because of indignation he was compelled to say 'I will come', but because of reverence he added 'if the Lord wills'. It became clearer from these things also that he is indignant toward those boasting in the wisdom of this world; for he does not intend to reproach the common man with words. He proclaimed this to all of them.

Since the restoration is twofold—one way through exhortation to the persuadable, and another way through force and necessity to the hard-hearted—he has acted philanthropically toward this faction of them, so that, repenting, they might correct themselves. He spoke of a rod, the necessary power of the Spirit, which Paul used according to Elymas and against Paul himself. It was not because he had the manner of speaking of a woman, but because he was respectable; and they did not grieve because he had a father's woman, but they were indignant because he was well-trained. For their grief either separated the fornicator from remaining, or it cut off the impropriety of the matter and brought him back. He did not simply work but had worked; for he did not fall having been seized, but used the work of evil. And he says to be present in spirit, agreeing and judging with him—but the spirit is...