¹⁹ But I will come to you soon, if the Lord wills, and I will find out not the talk of these arrogant people but their power.^(A)

²¹ but on taking leave of them he said, “I^[a] will return to you, if God wills.” Then he set sail from Ephesus.^(A)

Further Warning

13 This is the third time I am coming to you. “Any charge must be sustained by the evidence of two or three witnesses.”^{(A) 2} I warned those who sinned previously and all the others, and I warn them now while absent, as I did when present on my second visit, that if I come again I will not be lenient— ³ since you desire proof that Christ is speaking in me. He is not weak in dealing with you but is powerful in you.^{(B) 4} For he was crucified in weakness but lives by the power of God. For we are weak in him,^[a] but in dealing with you we will live with him by the power of God.^(C)

The Riot in Ephesus

²¹ Now after these things had been accomplished, Paul resolved in the Spirit to go through Macedonia and Achaia and then to go on to Jerusalem. He said, “After I have gone there, I must also see Rome.”^(A)

¹⁵ Instead you ought to say, “If the Lord wishes, we will live and do this or that.”^(A)

³ And we will do^[a] this, if God permits.

¹⁸ But some of you, thinking that I am not coming to you, have become arrogant.

2 ¹ So I made up my mind not to make another visit that causes you grief.^{(A) 2} For if I cause you grief, who is there to make me glad but the one whom I have grieved?

²³ But I call on God as witness against me: it was to spare you that I did not come again to Corinth.^(A)

¹⁵ Since I was sure of this, I wanted to come to you first, so that you might have a double favor;^{[a](A) 16} I wanted to visit you on my way to Macedonia and to come back to you from Macedonia and have you send me on to Judea.^{(B) 17} Was I vacillating when I wanted to do this? Do I make my plans according to ordinary human standards,^[b] ready to say “Yes, yes” and “No, no” at the same time?