A.T. Robertson Commentary 1 Corinthians 2:3

"And I was with you in weakness, and in fear, and in much trembling." — 1 Corinthians 2:3 (ASV)

I was with you (εγενομην προς υμας). Rather, "I came to you" (not ην, was). "I not only eschewed all affectation of cleverness or grandiloquence, but I went to the opposite extreme of diffidence and nervous self-effacement" (Robertson and Plummer). Paul had been in prison in Philippi, driven out of Thessalonica and Beroea, politely bowed out of Athens. It is a human touch to see this shrinking as he faced the hard conditions in Corinth. It is a common feeling of the most effective preachers. Cool complacency is not the mood of the finest preaching. See φοβος (fear) and τρομος (trembling) combined in 2 Corinthians 7:15; Php 2:12; Ephesians 6:5.