2 Corinthians 1:15

15. For χάριν (אACD) we should perhaps read χαράν (א3BLP), and we should read σχῆτε (אBC) rather than ἔχητε (AD).

15. ταύτῃ τῇ πεποιθήσει. Stronger than ἐλπίζω (2 Corinthians 1:13). The word is of late origin (Hatch, Biblical Greek, p. 13) and is exclusively Pauline in the N.T. (2 Corinthians 3:4; 2 Corinthians 8:22; 2 Corinthians 10:2; Ephesians 3:12; Philippians 3:4). Comp. 2 Corinthians 1:9; 2 Corinthians 2:3; 2 Corinthians 10:7.

ἐβουλόμην. I was wishing (Acts 25:22; Acts 28:18; Philemon 1:13). He does not say, ‘I promised.’ It is possible to take πρότερον with ἐβουλόμην: ‘I was formerly desirous.’ But it goes better with what follows: to come first unto you, viz. before going to Macedonia, where he is when he writes this letter. To this ‘first’ (πρότερον) the δευτέραν χαράν refers: that ye might have a second joy; the first on his way to Macedonia, the second on his way back. The reading χάριν may be correct; the two words being sometimes confused in MSS., as in 3 John 1:4. An Apostle’s visit would bring grace (Romans 1:11; Romans 15:29) and produce joy (Philippians 1:25). In explaining δεντέραν we must not count the first long visit, during which S. Paul founded the Corinthian Church, or the second short visit, in which ἐν λύπῃ (2 Corinthians 2:1) he spoke sharply about some of the disorders. This second visit may be regarded as certain (Lightfoot, Biblical Essays, p. 274); but it is not alluded to here. The language here is simple and intelligible, if we interpret it of the Apostle’s intended double visit to Corinth, before and after the visit to Macedonia. For other instances in which he tells his readers of intended visits, which he has not been able to carry out, comp. 1 Thessalonians 2:18; Romans 1:13; Romans 15:22. See also Acts 16:6. Atto of Vercelli understands the first grace of the Apostle’s letter, the second of his visit, Epistola ejus imago fuit; praesentia corporis, veritas.