Acts 19:21

διελθὼν, see on the force of the word Ramsay, Expositor, May, 1895, and above on Acts 13:6. Ramsay regards this as perhaps the most conclusive of the ten cases he cites of the use of the verb as denoting missionary travel. There is no reason to suppose that Paul paid a visit to Corinth during his stay at Ephesus; Acts 19:9-10 intimate that he resided at Ephesus through the whole period. Wendt thinks that the notice of this second visit to Corinth was omitted by Luke because it did not fit in with his representation of the ideal development of the Church. But is there any real argument to be found for it in the Epistles? The passages usually quoted are 2 Corinthians 2:1; 2Co 12:14; 2 Corinthians 13:1. But τρίτον τοῦτο ἔρχομαι may well express “I am meaning to come,” so that Paul would mean that this was the third time he had purposed to come to them, not that he had come for the third time; and this rendering is borne out by the Apostle's own words, 2 Corinthians 12:14, Paley, Horæ Paulinæ, iv., 11, whilst with regard to 2 Corinthians 2:1 the words may simply mean that he resolves that his new, i.e., his second visit, πάλιν ἐλθεῖν, should not be ἐν λύπῃ, for we are not shut up to the conclusion that πάλιν must be connected with ἐν λύπῃ as if he had already paid one visit in grief; and this interpretation is at all events in harmony with 2 Corinthians 13:2, R.V. margin, and with Acts 1:23, R.V., see especially “II. Cor.” (Dr. A. Robertson) Hastings' B.D., p. 494, and compare “Corinth” (Ramsay), ibid., p. 483; see also Farrar, Messages of the Books, pp. 211, 216; St. Paul, ii. 101, 118; Felten, note, p. 364; Renan, Saint Paul, p. 450, note; and in favour of the second visit to Corinth, McGiffert, p. 310, following Alford, Neander, Weizsäcker (so too in early days St. Chrysostom). In 1 Corinthians 16:5-9 Paul speaks of his intention to go through Macedonia to Corinth, but previously, 2 Corinthians 1:16, he had intended to sail from Ephesus to Corinth, then to go to Macedonia, and afterwards to return to Corinth. Why had he changed his plans? Owing to the bad news from Corinth, 2 Corinthians 1:23. But although he did not go to Corinth in person, he determined to write to reprove the Corinthians, and this he did in 1 Cor. It is possible that the Apostle's determination to see Rome the first notice of the desire so long cherished, Romans 1:13; Romans 15:23 may be closely connected with his friendship with Aquila and Priscilla (Ramsay, St. Paul, p. 255, and Plumptre, in loco, Hort, Rom. and Ephes., p. 11).