2 Corinthians 2:1

Again. It is not clear from the Greek whether this word should be coupled with the noun “heaviness” or with the verb “come.” The last part of v. 1 reads, literally, “not again in heaviness to you to come.” If “again” goes with “heaviness,” the meaning is, “I would not pay you a second painful visit.” According to this interpretation Paul had already paid the Corinthian church one painful visit since the original visit of Acts 18:1–18. If “again” goes with “come,” the meaning is, “I would not have my second visit to you be a painful one.” According to this interpretation Paul had not been to Corinth since his original visit.

In favor of the view of two previous visits, the second of which was presumably made “in heaviness,” 2 Cor. 12:14; 13:1 are usually cited. However, the Greek construction of these passages is not conclusive (see comment there). In favor of but one previous visit it may be noted that neither Luke nor Paul either mentions or makes a clear allusion to a second previous visit. There was nothing painful—in the sense here intended—about the visit of Acts 18:1–18; and chs. 19:8, 10; 20:31 strongly imply that there was no interruption in the Ephesian ministry—the only time during which a second visit could have been made—for a journey to Corinth. Had there been such a visit it would seem logical to expect at least a brief, unambiguous mention of it in Acts or Corinthians. In 2 Cor. 1:19 Paul speaks of his first visit to Corinth as if he had not been there since that time. In v. 15 he speaks of a visit he had since been “minded” to make—but seems to have postponed—as “a second benefit.”

In ch. 2:1–4 Paul continues the explanation of his decision not to go directly from Ephesus to Corinth, begun in ch. 1:15. The Corinthians may have imagined that Paul sought to lord it over them (see on ch. 1:24), while all the time he was grieving over their sins and their coldness toward him. His only thought was for the well-being of the Corinthians as individuals and as a church.

Heaviness. Gr. lupē, “sorrow,” “pain,” “grief.”