Charles Ellicott Commentary 2 Corinthians 1:17

"When I therefore was thus minded, did I show fickleness? or the things that I purpose, do I purpose according to the flesh, that with me there should be the yea yea and the nay nay?" — 2 Corinthians 1:17 (ASV)

Did I use lightness?—This, then, was the charge he was anxious to refute. The question arises, however: When had the Corinthians heard of the plan detailed in this way? It had already been abandoned, as we have seen, before the first Epistle was sent. Had it been communicated in a lost letter (see Note on 1 Corinthians 5:9)? Or was this what Timotheus, who started before the first letter was written (1 Corinthians 4:17), had been authorized to announce? Either alternative is possible, and there is no evidence to help us decide which is most probable.

Do I purpose according to the flesh . . .?—The construction is somewhat involved. He may mean:

1. “Do I form my purposes according to the flesh” (i.e., from worldly motives), “so as to gain the praise of consistency from those who harp on the rule that ‘Yes should be yes, and No, no’?”
2. “Am I weak and worldly in my purpose, changing my plans, and saying ‘Yes’ and ‘No’ in almost the same breath?”

On the whole, the second option seems to provide the better sense.

It is obvious that the words on which he dwells had been used about him by others. Some teacher of the party of the circumcision had, apparently, quoted the rule of the Sermon on the Mount (Matthew 5:37) and of St. James (James 5:12), and had asked, with a sneer, when the First Epistle came and showed that the original plan had been abandoned, whether this was the way in which St. Paul acted on it? The passage accordingly has the interest of being an indirect reference to our Lord’s teaching, showing, like Acts 20:35, that the words of the Lord Jesus were habitually cited as rules of life.