ACC ~ 2 Corinthians 1 v17

GOOD REASONS FOR CHANGING HIS MIND. AMBROSIASTER: Paul dismisses the charge that he cannot be trusted by telling the Corinthians that he did not change his mind lightly. He had good reasons for not doing what he had originally planned. When a spiritually minded person does not do what he intends to, it is because he has in mind something more providential for the salvation of someone’s soul. The apostle did not carry out his original plan in order that the Corinthians might become better men and women. He delayed his coming specifically because there were some among them who had not purified themselves, and he was waiting for that to happen first. This is spiritual thinking. Carnal thinking, by contrast, makes changes of plan in order to suit personal desires, not in order to do what is beneficial. COMMENTARY ON PAUL’S EPISTLES.

LED BY THE SPIRIT. CHRYSOSTOM: The carnal man, who is riveted to the present world and completely caught up in it, is outside the sphere of the Spirit’s influence and has the power to go everywhere, doing whatever he likes. But the servant of the Spirit is led by the Spirit. He cannot just do what he likes. He is dependent on the Spirit’s authority. Paul was not able to come to Corinth because it was not the Spirit’s will for him to go there. HOMILIES ON THE EPISTLES OF PAUL TO THE CORINTHIANS 3.3.

2 Cor