But I will come to you when I shall have gone through Macedonia; for I do go through Macedonia.
Paul has finished his directions to the church at Corinth. Now he turns to his own travel plans. Behind this short note about Macedonia lie a changed route, a delayed visit, and a reason he held back until his second letter.
The letter itself shows where Paul was when he wrote. One commentator draws out the place, the force of his words, and what he hoped for:
It is clear from verse 8 that the apostle was in Ephesus when he wrote this first letter to Corinth. The false note added at the end of the common text says "from Philippi," but he really wrote from Ephesus... His purpose was to pass through Macedonia. That is the force of the Greek: a journey ahead of him as a settled thing, but not yet under way. He declined to see them then, hoping to stay some time with them, with the Lord's permission, instead of merely passing through.
This was not Paul's first plan. What he heard from Corinth changed it:
He maps out the round of work he planned, with his expected visit to them as the main thing in view. His original purpose was to see them before going on into Macedonia. But the news he had received from Chloe's household led him to send a letter rather than pay a passing visit... The Lord should first speak with them through his written word... by this means he works to bring their souls back to God first. Then, when he came, he could be among them as a comforter and not as one who rebukes... And we have reason to bless God for his change of mind.
Paul gives the new plan here without a reason. The reason comes later:
He had intended to visit them on the way to Macedonia, and a second time on the way back. He does not say here why he did not go there on his way to Macedonia. And he speaks with uncertainty about his stay at Corinth when he arrives there on his return... The second epistle will explain all this. In the state they were in, his heart would not allow him to visit them. But he treats them tenderly all the same, as still beloved Christians.
Some at Corinth took the delay as proof that Paul was unreliable. The real reason was the opposite:
He tells them that it was to spare them that he had not come to Corinth. This ought to have been a reproof, and he gives it in the most gentle way. It was the sweet result of divine love in his heart. He preferred to stay away or go elsewhere, instead of visiting the Corinthians in their present condition. Had he come at all, he must have come with a rod, and this he could not bear... He loved the Corinthians deeply, despite all their faults. They hinted unfairly that he had a fickle mind, because he did not visit them at once. He would rather bear that than come to blame them in their evil and proud state. He wished to give them time, so that he might come with joy.
Two verses later Paul adds a condition over the whole journey: "if the Lord permits." One writer takes that as the pattern for all Christian planning:
Paul mentions the important principle of all biblical planning: "if the Lord permits." Some at Corinth criticised him for not coming as planned, and in 2 Corinthians he had to explain why... We all have to make plans — in our daily lives as well as in the service of the Lord. The apostle also had plans and ideas about what he wanted to do. But we can learn a vital lesson from him: he was always dependent on the guidance of his Lord. He was sensitive to see when the Lord clearly wanted to change his plans and guide him in another direction.
But the condition has to be the right one. One writer shows how easy it is to pick the wrong one:
Suppose I say, "If the Lord delays His coming, I mean to go to London next week." I have made my trip to London depend on His delay. But He may delay, and still it may not be His will that I go at all. So I ought to place all my movements, all my actions, all my plans, under the commanding influence of my Lord's will.
- Place. Paul wrote from Ephesus. The journey through Macedonia was settled, but not yet begun.
- Pause. He had meant to visit Corinth first. News of their condition made him send a letter instead — and we have reason to bless God for the change.
- Purpose. The delay was love, not fickleness. A visit then would have meant a rod, so he gave them time and could come with joy.
- Postponed reason. He keeps his reason to himself here. The second letter explains it. This one still treats them as beloved Christians.
- Permission. "If the Lord permits" is the governing clause. Put every plan, in daily life and in service, under the commanding influence of the Lord's will.
But perhaps I will stay with you, or even winter with you, that *ye* may set me forward wheresoever I may go.
Paul closes a long letter of correction with his travel plans. He hopes to stay at Corinth, maybe the whole winter, and then be sent on his way. Two questions sit inside that plain-sounding schedule. Why was he not coming sooner? And what was he asking them to do for him?
Where was Paul when he wrote? And what did he hope for at Corinth? One commentator reads both out of the closing verses.
It is clear from verse 8 that the apostle was in Ephesus when he wrote this first letter to Corinth… He might perhaps then stay with them, or even spend the winter. He adds a word of loving confidence that they might send him on wherever he might go. He declined to see them at that time, for reasons explained in 2 Corinthians 1. He hoped instead to remain with them for a while, if the Lord allowed it, rather than just passing through.
The delay was deliberate. One writer traces the change of plan and the reason behind it.
His original purpose was to see them before he passed into Macedonia. But the report that reached him from Chloe's household led him to prefer a letter to a passing visit. Left to himself, that news might have made him hurry the visit rather than delay it. Under the sure guidance of the Spirit, though, he deals more wisely with their state. The Lord should first speak with them through his written word. He knew that what he wrote carried the weight and authority of a divine command. So he works by this means to bring their souls back to God first. Then, when he came, he might be among them not as a reprover but as a comforter. In the fellowship of the gospel they should strengthen him also, and help him on his way. But he puts off his visit, so that the effect of his letter may be seen first. And we have reason to bless God for his change of mind.
Staying away was not the same as giving up on them.
He speaks with uncertainty about his stay at Corinth when he would arrive there on his return from Macedonia. If the Lord permitted, he would stay a while with them. In their present state his heart would not allow him to visit them. But he treats them tenderly all the same, as still beloved Christians, giving them directions suited to the circumstances of the moment.
The phrase is not a polite farewell. Other letters use it too, and one writer shows what it cost.
It is right to support those who have gone out for "His Name's sake" and to help them on their way. Paul expressed his confidence in the believers at Rome that they would bring him on his way to Spain (Rom. 15:24. See also 1 Cor. 16:6; 2 Cor. 1:16 and Titus 3:13). The phrase "bring forward on their journey" suggests that the saints would meet the financial needs of the Lord's servants.
So Corinth, for all its problems, is still asked to send a servant on to the next place.
Paul names the visit but not where he goes next. One writer shows how a plan can sound godly and still rest on the wrong condition.
Suppose I say, "If the Lord delays, I mean to go to London next week." That makes my going to London depend on the Lord's delay. But He may delay, and it may still not be His will for me to go at all. So I ought to place all my movements, all my actions, all my plans, under the commanding influence of my Lord's will.
Did the winter at Corinth happen? One writer points to the record in Acts.
Acts 20:1-3 records the fulfilment of verses 5 and 6. The three months he remained in Greece were evidently the winter. From there he returned by way of Macedonia on the road to Jerusalem… He did not promise to come to Corinth soon. But when he did come, he wanted to stay for a time.
- Plan — Paul wrote from Ephesus. He meant to reach Corinth through Macedonia and stay, maybe the whole winter, instead of passing through.
- Pause — He held back on purpose. The letter would do its work first, so he could arrive as a comforter, not a reprover.
- Purpose — "Help me on my journey" makes a local church a partner in work beyond its own city. It receives a servant, then sends him on.
- Provision — Elsewhere in the New Testament the same phrase costs money. It means meeting the needs of those who go out for the Name.
- Permission — The destination stays open: "wherever I go." Every plan waits on the Lord's will. And the winter at Corinth did come, as Acts 20 records.
For I will not see you now in passing, for I hope to remain a certain time with you, if the Lord permit.
Paul drops his plan for a quick stop at Corinth and hopes for a longer stay instead, if the Lord permits. That short sentence holds a change of route, a reason he kept back, and a rule for making plans.
Paul had first meant to call at Corinth on his way to Macedonia. Here he cancels that, and later has to defend himself for it:
Paul says it was not lightness, and it was not uncertainty. It was to spare them that he had not yet come to Corinth. He wrote to them instead of going. He says, "not yes and no," not changing, not the lightness of a foolish human mind. In 1 Corinthians 16:5 he says, "I will come to you when I pass through Macedonia." In verse 7 he adds, "For I do not want to see you now just in passing." But he did not tell them why just then. He had intended to go by Corinth into Macedonia, and come back again by them, but he says, I will not do that now.
He gives them the fact of the delay without the explanation. That silence was deliberate:
When he wrote about the collection, the Apostle had spoken of visiting the Corinthian assembly. He now refers again to this proposed visit, and tells them that for the present he was postponing it. With great grace and wisdom he does not tell them the reason. In the second chapter of his second letter, he has seen the effect of this first letter in their repentance. Then he is free to tell them in detail why he could not come to them.
He could have gone at once. Instead his letter goes first, so that his arrival can be a different kind of visit:
Left to himself, he might have hurried his visit for this reason instead of delaying it. But the sure guidance of the Spirit leads him to handle their state more wisely. The Lord should first speak with them through his written word. He knew that what he wrote carried the weight and authority of a divine command. He uses it to bring their souls back to God first. Then, when he came, he could be among them as one who comforts, not one who rebukes... And we have reason to bless God for his change of mind.
He wanted more than a stop on the way:
He might then stay with them, or even spend the winter there. He adds a loving word of confidence that they would send him on his way wherever he went. He chose not to see them at that time, for reasons he explains in 2 Corinthians 1. He hoped to stay with them for a while, if the Lord allowed it, instead of just passing through.
The closing clause is not a throwaway phrase. It marks the line Paul drew between what he was sure of and what he was not:
The apostle does not always feel free to speak with certainty about his plans. In those cases he says, "I hope," or "If the Lord will," or something similar. (1 Cor. 16:7; Phil. 2:19; Philemon 22.)
Making that clause our own means more than adding words to a sentence. It hands over the whole schedule:
Suppose I say, "If the Lord delays His coming, I mean to go to London next week." Then my going to London depends on the Lord's delay. But He may delay, and it may still not be His will that I should go at all. So I ought to place all my movements, all my actions, all my plans, under the commanding influence of my Lord's will.
- Plan. Paul made real plans and named real places. The problem was never planning, but planning as if the outcome were his to guarantee.
- Pause. He dropped the passing visit and held back his reason, telling them only later, once his letter had done its work.
- Letter. His letter went first, so that his coming could comfort them rather than rebuke them.
- Time. He wanted a stay with real time in it, even a winter, not a call made on the way to somewhere else.
- Permission. Where he could not speak with certainty, he said "if the Lord will." Every movement, action and plan of ours belongs under that same clause.
But I remain in Ephesus until Pentecost.
Paul ends this letter with his travel plans, and this one line tells us where he was as he wrote: Ephesus. It raises a question — why stay there when Corinth was waiting, and why "until Pentecost"?
Some older printed Bibles carry a note at the end of this letter saying it was written from Philippi. This verse settles the matter otherwise, and the greetings later in the chapter agree.
It is clear from verse 8 that the apostle was in Ephesus when he wrote this first letter to Corinth. The false note at the end of the usual printed text, which the Authorised Version follows, says "from Philippi." But the letter really came from Ephesus, as the Vatican manuscript and some other copies show. That is also why the greetings come from "the assemblies of Asia."
Pentecost fell fifty days after Passover, so naming it dates the letter as well as placing it.
The statement at the close of the letter, printed in some editions of the Bible as "written from Philippi," is incorrect. In chapter 16:8 we read the writer's statement, "But I will stay in Ephesus until Pentecost." The apostle Paul was therefore in Ephesus and intended to leave about Pentecost. The book of Acts shows that he left that city about the time of Pentecost in the year 57.
The reason he gives for staying is the open door — not the absence of trouble. Both facts sat side by side, and only one of them decided his movements.
He tells them why he stayed at Ephesus, the city from which he is writing; for there a great door was opened to him that was effective in blessing, and there were many adversaries. If the Lord opens a door, the devil will surely stir up many adversaries; the apostle's movements were not governed by the adversaries, but by the Lord who kept the door open.
Many people read hostility as a sign that they are in the wrong place. This verse teaches the opposite reading, and the difference is worth learning before the pressure comes.
We have in verse 8 an important principle about work. There are many adversaries, but a great and effective door is opened to me, and so I will stay. It is a very different thing to have the door closed and to have many adversaries. We shall soon find out when the door is closed. I think it needs patience; and you may find amazing opposition. At one place everything was against me. I remember only two people coming, for eight weeks. But at the end of that time forty or fifty came in, and several were converted. At another place, where all was for me, even the clergyman, it all came to nothing.
Ephesus was famous for the temple of the goddess Diana, and the weeks before Pentecost were her festival season, when crowds poured into the city from across the province.
"About the time of the Passover," writes Lewin, "began the Artemisius, or the month of Diana, so called from the yearly festival of the goddess held at that time throughout Greece and Asia." … This month of games and feasting may help explain the apostle's words to the Corinthians, "I will stay in Ephesus until Pentecost; for a wide door for effective work has opened to me, and there are many adversaries." Was he expecting special opportunities for the gospel throughout that festival month, the end of which would not be long before the time of the feast of Pentecost?
Stuart raises this as a question, not a settled fact.
He stayed in one city, but the effect did not stay there. Others carried the word out from Ephesus into places he never visited.
He speaks of a great door opened to him, effective in the blessing of many souls. Acts 19:10-20 gives the history of it: the word of God grew mightily and prevailed. Paul himself stayed in Ephesus. Yet from there the word went through all Asia Minor (Acts 19:10), no doubt carried by others. Colossae and Laodicea were not far from Ephesus. Yet the believers there had never seen Paul's face.
- Door — He stayed because a door for real work stood open. The door decided, not the conditions.
- Adversaries — Trouble comes because the door is open. A shut door and a hard fight are not the same thing.
- Patience — Weeks with almost no one may come before real fruit. An easy welcome can come to nothing.
- Timing — "Until Pentecost" fixes the letter to one season and place. It may also mark a rare opening during the festival month.
- Reach — He stayed in one city, and the word travelled across Asia Minor. It reached believers who never saw his face.