1:23 God to witness against me. Paul uses a solemn oath to persuade the Corinthians of his truthfulness. He says in effect, “If I am not telling the truth, I ask God to take my life.”

to spare you. Paul would come with the Lord’s authority and power on his next visit (10:3, 4; 13:2–4, 10), and he wanted to give them a chance to repent. This was the reason he changed his plans and did not come back to Corinth before going to Macedonia. It was not worldly vacillation or cowardice, as some were saying.