Thomas Aquinas Commentary 2 Corinthians 1:15-24

"And in this confidence I was minded to come first unto you, that ye might have a second benefit; and by you to pass into Macedonia, and again from Macedonia to come unto you, and of you to be set forward on my journey unto Judaea. 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? But as God is faithful, our word toward you is not yea and nay. For the Son of God, Jesus Christ, who was preached among you by us, [even] by me and Silvanus and Timothy, was not yea and nay, but in him is yea. For how many soever be the promises of God, in him is the yea: wherefore also through him is the Amen, unto the glory of God through us. Now he that establisheth us with you in Christ, and anointed us, is God; who also sealed us, and gave [us] the earnest of the Spirit in our hearts. But I call God for a witness upon my soul, that to spare you I forbare to come unto Corinth. Not that we have lordship over your faith, but are helpers of your joy: for in faith ye stand fast." — 2 Corinthians 1:15-24 (ASV)

After winning the goodwill of the Corinthians, the Apostle adds his excuse. In this regard, he does three things:

1. He mentions what he intended.
2. In the form of a question, he answers an accusation they made against him (2 Corinthians 1:17).
3. He excuses himself.

Regarding the first point, it should be noted that in a previous letter (which we do not have) that the Apostle had sent to the Corinthians by a messenger, he had promised to visit them before going to Macedonia. He also promised to return again to Achaia, where Corinth is, and then travel from Achaia to Judea. Then, in a second letter (which we call his first), he wrote to them that he would first go to Macedonia and then later to Corinth.

Because this seemed to contradict his first promise, the Apostle now excuses himself by first mentioning the promise he originally made. Hence, he says, Because I was sure of this. It is as if to say: “You know my honesty and sincerity, and you are my witnesses and my glory. Therefore, because I was sure of this—that is, relying on this, because we hope to be glorified by you—I wanted to come to you first, so that you might have a second grace.” A second visit that strengthens faith is called a “second grace” in relation to the time they were first converted by his ministry and teaching.

Paul’s original plan was: I wanted to visit you on my way to Macedonia, and to come back to you from Macedonia, and have you send me on my way to Judea. This is the sequence of the first promise, but the sequence in the letter we call 1 Corinthians is contrary to this, as was mentioned.

Next, he frames the accusation for this change, for which the Corinthians criticized him, as a question: Was I vacillating when I wanted to do this? They charged him with two things on account of this: first, fickleness, because he changed his mind (The fool changes like the moon, Sirach 27:11); and second, worldly affection, because it seemed to them that he had acted out of some fleshly and human motive.

Hence, he touches on two points. First, regarding fickleness, he asks, Was I vacillating, if I failed to do what I once wanted to do? God forbid! As it is written, Neither must you think, if we command different things, that it comes from the fickleness of our mind (Esther 16:9, Vulgate), and In the mighty throng I will praise you (Psalms 35:18). Second, he touches on worldly affection when he says, Do I make my plans like a worldly man, that is, according to worldly affection, ready to say Yes and No at once? This means to affirm and deny simultaneously, as in Some suspect us of acting in worldly fashion (2 Corinthians 10:2) and A double-minded man is unstable in all his ways (James 1:7–8).

Having laid out their accusation, he excuses himself, saying, As surely as God is faithful, our word to you has not been Yes and No. In this regard, he does two things:

1. He declares that he did not lie.
2. He shows how he did not lie (2 Corinthians 1:21).

He shows that he had not lied in two ways: from his character and from the reason he did not lie. From his character, because we should not suppose that a person would easily lie if he has never been found to be a liar. According to this explanation, the phrase As surely as God is faithful is spoken with the force of an oath. It is as if to say: “God is my witness that my word—that is, my preaching—to you has not been Yes and No; there is no falsehood in it.” As it is written, A faithful God, without deceit, just and upright is he (Deuteronomy 32:4).

Alternatively, if God is faithful is taken to mean the truth of the divine promise, then the sense is this: God is faithful, meaning He keeps His promises, and He had promised to send you preachers of the truth: I will give you shepherds after my own heart (Jeremiah 3:15). Therefore, since I was sent by Him, our word to you has not been Yes and No.

Regarding the reason, he excuses himself on two grounds: the motive and the efficient cause. His motive for not lying is that a person who assumes an office is naturally moved to do what suits that office, not what is contrary to it. It is obvious that the Apostle’s office is to preach the truth. Therefore, he is not moved to do the contrary of the truth, which is to lie. In this regard, he does three things:

1. He proves the truth of his word by the word of Christ.
2. He proves the truth of Christ by the word of God.
3. He concludes with his intended point (2 Corinthians 1:20b).

Therefore, he says that his words should be regarded as true—and true they are—because he has preached Christ, in whom there is no falsehood. This is what he means when he says, For the Son of God, Jesus Christ, whom we preached among you... He was preached by Paul principally, and by Silvanus secondarily (who is the Silas of Acts 18:5), and by Timothy, who was mentioned above. For those two were with the Apostle when he first converted the Corinthians.

He, namely the Son of God, was not Yes and No—that is, there was no falsehood, for He did nothing improper—but in him it is always Yes. This “Yes” is the truth, for truth and being are convertible. As Christ says, I am the way and the truth and the life (John 14:6).

Because there might be some doubt about his statement that there was no falsehood in Christ, he immediately proves it, saying, For all the promises of God find their Yes in him. He proves this in the following way: it is obvious that there can be no falsehood in that which is the manifestation of divine truth. But the Son of God came to manifest the divine truth in the promises God made to be fulfilled through Him. Therefore, there is no falsehood in Him.

And that is what he says: there is not Yes and No in the Son of God, because all the promises of God made to humanity find their Yes in him. That is, they are verified and fulfilled in Christ, as it is written: I tell you that Christ became a servant to the circumcised to show God’s truthfulness, in order to confirm the promises given to the patriarchs (Romans 15:8).

From this, the Apostle concludes that his own words are true, because he preaches the Son of God, in whom is the truth. That is why through him—that is, through Christ—we utter our Amen, which means “that which is true.” As it is written, The words of the Amen, the faithful and true witness (Revelation 3:14), and, He who blesses himself in the land shall bless himself by the God of truth, amen (Isaiah 65:16). We speak this truth to God—that is, for the honor of God—manifesting His truth for His glory and for our glory, because our glory is to show and preach the word of God.

Then, when he says, but it is God who establishes us with you in Christ, and has anointed us, the Apostle proves that he has not lied by appealing to the efficient cause. Although a person by free will can use their tongue for speaking truth or falsehood, God can establish a person so firmly in the truth that they would speak nothing but the truth. Therefore, if God established someone in the truth, it is obvious that they could not say anything false. Since God establishes us in the truth, Paul says, it is God who establishes us with you in Christ—that is, in the true preaching of Christ.

It is as if to say: “If Christ were outside us, we could lie, but because He is with us and we are in Christ, we do not lie.” As the Psalm says, It is I who keep steady its pillars (Psalms 75:3). We are in Christ in two ways: by grace and by glory. We are in Him by grace, in that we have been anointed with the grace of the Holy Spirit and made members of Christ and joined to Him. By this same grace, Christ as a man was also anointed: God, your God, has anointed you with the oil of gladness above your fellows (Psalms 45:7).

From the fullness of that anointing, grace has overflowed to all of us, like the precious oil on the head, that is, of Christ, which has flowed down on the beard, the beard of Aaron (Psalms 133:2). Therefore, he says that God has anointed us. He anointed us, I say, as kings and priests: You made them a kingdom and priests to our God (Revelation 5:10), and You are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation (1 Peter 2:9).

However, the union that is according to glory we do not yet have in reality, but only in sure hope, in that we have a firm hope of attaining this union. We have a twofold certainty for this hope: one is by a sign, the other by a pledge. The first is by an evident sign, which is of faith. Hence Paul says God has put his seal upon us with the sign of Christian faith: Put a mark on their foreheads (Ezekiel 9:4)—that is, the sign of the cross—and Till we have sealed the servants of our God upon their foreheads (Revelation 7:3).

This sealing is done through the Holy Spirit: Anyone who does not have the Spirit of Christ does not belong to him (Romans 8:9). Therefore, the special and certain sign of obtaining eternal life is our configuration to Christ: Set me as a seal upon your heart (Song of Solomon 8:6). The second certainty is by the greatest pledge, that is, of the Holy Spirit. And so Paul says God has given us his Spirit in our hearts as a guarantee, and we are certain that no one can take Him from us.

Note that two things are to be considered in a pledge: first, that it produces a hope of obtaining the reality, and second, that it is as valuable as the reality itself, or even more so. Both of these are true of the Holy Spirit. If we consider the substance of the Holy Spirit, He is as valuable as eternal life (which is God), because He is equal to the three persons. But if we consider the manner in which He is possessed, then He produces the hope but not yet the possession of eternal life, because we do not yet have Him perfectly in this life. Therefore, we are not perfectly happy until we possess Him perfectly in heaven: You were sealed with the promised Holy Spirit (Ephesians 1:13).

Then, when he says, but I call God to witness, he gives his excuse for not coming, and he does so by a very strong oath. In this regard, he does three things:

1. He states his excuse.
2. He answers a tacit question (2 Corinthians 1:24a).
3. He explains what he says (2 Corinthians 1:24b).

He excuses himself with a double oath: one of attestation, when he says, I call God to witness, and the other of execration, when he says, against me—that is, against my soul: For God is my witness (Romans 1:9). As a witness, Paul says, he calls upon God that he refrained from coming—that is, after the first time or after he departed from them—and that he did this to spare you. He did this because he knew they were incorrigible. Hence, if he had gone then, he would have had to either punish them (and they might have left the faith altogether) or not punish them (which would have given them an occasion to sin more).

But because someone might ask, “Why do you say you ‘spare’ us? Are you our lord?” he removes this objection, saying, not that we lord it over your faith; we work with you for your joy. It is as if to say: “I do not say this as a lord, but as a helper,” as in Not as domineering over those in your charge, but being examples to the flock (1 Peter 5:3). A helper, he says, for your joy and your improvement. He then explains why he mentions their faith, saying, for you stand firm in your faith—that is, you stand in the grace of Christ by faith.