10 Therefore I write these things being absent, lest being present I should use sharpness, according to the power which the Lord hath given me to edification, and not to destruction.
For though I should boast somewhat more of our authority, which the Lord hath given us for edification, and not for your destruction, I should not be ashamed:
And I wrote this same unto you, lest, when I came, I should have sorrow from them of whom I ought to rejoice; having confidence in you all, that my joy is the joy of you all.
What will ye? shall I come unto you with a rod, or in love, and in the spirit of meekness?
But I beseech you, that I may not be bold when I am present with that confidence, wherewith I think to be bold against some, which think of us as if we walked according to the flesh.
For I fear, lest, when I come, I shall not find you such as I would, and that I shall be found unto you such as ye would not: lest there be debates, envyings, wraths, strifes, backbitings, whisperings, swellings, tumults: And lest, when I come again, my God will humble me among you, and that I shall bewail many which have sinned already, and have not repented of the uncleanness and fornication and lasciviousness which they have committed.
I told you before, and foretell you, as if I were present, the second time; and being absent now I write to them which heretofore have sinned, and to all other, that, if I come again, I will not spare:
Worthy.Bible » Commentaries » Matthew Henry Commentary » Commentary on 2 Corinthians 13
Commentary on 2 Corinthians 13 Matthew Henry Commentary
Chapter 13
In this chapter the apostle threatens to be severe against obstinate sinners, and assigns the reason thereof (v. 1-6); then he makes a suitable prayer to God on the behalf of the Corinthians, with the reasons inducing him thereto (v. 7-10), and concludes his epistle with a valediction and a benediction (v. 11-14).
2Cr 13:1-6
In these verses observe,
2Cr 13:7-10
Here we have,
2Cr 13:11-14
Thus the apostle concludes this epistle with,