but I will come quickly to you, if the Lord will; and I will know, not the word of those that are puffed up, but the power.
Paul had heard that some in Corinth were talking loudly on the assumption that he would never show up. His reply is short. He plans to come, but only if the Lord wills. And when he arrives, he will not be measuring their talk.
The ESV calls them arrogant; older translations say "puffed up," and that is the wording the commentators use. Their boldness had a calculation behind it: distance felt safe.
He knew that in Corinth some were puffed up in the vanity and pride of the flesh. He does not single them out, but holds the assembly as such responsible for the condition. They thought to have things their own way, counting on no intervention by Paul. But he would come, he says, if the Lord will, and would show up what was merely speech, and what was true power.
The words "if the Lord wills" are not filler. One writer sees them as the opposite of the boldness Paul is facing. Where that dependence is missing, he says, something is wrong in the soul.
Let us first note the saving condition he attaches to his decision to return. Some people have no habit of depending on the will of God. That absence usually comes paired with the opposite habit, a self-confident boldness. Together they are one of the surest signs of a low and fleshly state of soul. It was the lack of this restraint that loosed the tongues of those who were "puffed up," so that they talked with such pride while Paul was away. But Paul had learned another and better way, and he would teach it to anyone willing to learn.
The phrase is not only for an apostle's travel plans. One writer says it belongs in everything we do.
Here the Spirit of God gives us the right words for all our acts and ways. We can find nothing better than what He graciously chooses to give. "If the Lord wills" covers everything that should guide our movements, whether the Lord delays or not.
Some read Paul's delay as fear, and "if the Lord wills" can sound like hesitation too. It is neither.
Some had concluded, from the apostle not going to Corinth and sending Timothy instead, that he shrank from visiting the assembly there. The false apostles had hinted the same, in their pride, to belittle him. But he was indeed coming, and for this he depended on the Lord's will. Yet subjection to the Lord in no way weakens the conduct of His servants. So when he comes, the apostle tells them, he will know what is real — "the power" — not pretentious talk. Power is the essential mark of "the kingdom of God." It stands in contrast with "the word," which Greek ears were always used to, and sadly the Jews for the most part.
Paul plans to "find out" where their claims come from, not what they sound like. Anyone can talk.
He would find out the origin and quality of this thing that was raising its head. He would hardly bother to ask what these self-promoting teachers said, but he would sift their work carefully. Their claim to authority would be measured against his. Human self-will can easily make big claims, but power comes from God.
The same test falls on us. It weighs life, not fluency.
The real test of spirituality is not in the speech, but in the power of life. As for speech, the Apostle warns us a little later that we can speak like an angel and still be nothing. We may well ask, how would he come to the Christian world today; how would he come to us?
"Puffed up" is not a one-off insult here. It runs through the letter, and the letter also names its cure.
Four times the apostle speaks of the Corinthian believers as "puffed up." In 1 Corinthians 4:6 they are "puffed up for one against another." In verses 18 and 19 of the same chapter they are puffed up in their speech, seemingly against the apostle himself. And in 1 Corinthians 5:2 he has to reproach them for being puffed up when they should have mourned over the conditions among them. Is it not a blessing to notice that, as we move in the "more excellent way" of love, this feature will be absent? "Love... is not puffed up" (1 Corinthians 13:4).
- Absence — some grew bold because they assumed Paul would never come. He held the whole assembly responsible.
- Condition — "if the Lord wills" is the habit of dependence. Without it, self-confident boldness marks a low state of soul.
- Scope — that phrase is meant to regulate all our movements and plans, not only large decisions.
- Strength — submitting to the Lord's will does not weaken a servant; Paul is both dependent and certain he is coming.
- Test — he will weigh where the talk comes from, not the talk itself. The real measure is power of life, and the letter's cure for being puffed up is love.
For the kingdom of God [is] not in word, but in power.
Paul had been away from Corinth, and some men there had grown loud, sure he would never return. He answers that he is coming, and that he will test them by power, not by talk — the mark of God's kingdom.
Paul tells them he is coming. He names what he will look at when he arrives, and what authority he carries. Older translations read the verse as "not in word, but in power."
He was indeed coming, and that depended on the Lord's will. But being subject to the Lord in no way weakens how His servants act. So the apostle tells them that when he comes he will take account of reality — "the power" — not pretentious talk. That is the essential mark of "the kingdom of God." It stands in contrast to "the word," which Greek ears had always been used to, and sadly the Jews for the most part too. He had power and authority from God, however slow he might be to use it.
Everything in the verse turns on what "the kingdom of God" means.
The subject of this short discourse is "the kingdom of God." That expression points to an order of things in which God brings in divine power. As the apostle says, "The kingdom of God is not in word, but in power." I judge it to be, as someone else has said, "the exercise or display of the ruling power of God under any circumstances."
Paul uses the phrase elsewhere too, and there it describes present character rather than a period of time.
The apostle Paul often speaks of the kingdom of God, not as a period of God's dealings but as a moral display. He says that "the kingdom of God is not a matter of eating and drinking but of righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit." (Rom. 14:17.) He says, too, that "the kingdom of God is not in word, but in power." (1 Cor. 4:20.)
It is easy to assume that this power must be impressive to watch.
The apostle spoke of coming to them, and of knowing "not the speech of those who were puffed up, but the power." Let us note the fact most carefully: "the kingdom of God is not in word, but in power." What marks that kingdom is not speech, but power. That is so at all times, though the power may not be the kind that dazzles nature, or wins merely human applause.
Anyone can produce words with nothing real behind them. So speech is a poor test of where a person stands.
Sadly, then as now "some are puffed up" and entirely indifferent to the inspired teaching of the Apostle. To such people the Apostle shows that the real test of spirituality is not in the speech, but in the power of life. As far as speech is concerned, the Apostle has to warn us a little later that we can speak like an angel and yet be nothing. The kingdom of God is not set forth by our words merely, but in what we are as shown by spiritual power.
If the kingdom is characterised by power rather than talk, then belonging to it is not something a person can talk his way into either.
Later on the kingdom was established, when the Holy Spirit bore witness to Christ risen and glorified at God's right hand. From 1 Corinthians 4:20 we learn that it "is not in word, but in power"... This deeply blessed character of the kingdom of God has a result. Even when Christ was here, and every lovely feature of it appeared in perfection in His Person, a person still had to be born wholly anew to see it. Still more must he be born anew to enter it once established. We only enter it in reality when the Spirit applies the word to our souls in power, and so we share a life and nature suited to such a kingdom.
- Power, not talk. Paul will not weigh what the loud men at Corinth said. He will look for what is real, because reality is the essential mark of God's kingdom.
- Power defined. "Kingdom of God" means the ruling power of God in exercise, under any circumstances.
- Power now. Paul uses the phrase for a moral display now. He also describes the kingdom as righteousness, peace and joy in the Holy Spirit.
- Power unseen. This power may not impress anyone. It may win no applause and dazzle nobody, and it still marks the kingdom.
- Power tested. Anyone can speak like an angel and be nothing. The true test is the power of life. And that life is only ours when the Spirit applies the word and gives us a nature suited to the kingdom.