Paul now begins the body of his letter as a defense of his personal behavior (1:12-22). He first explains that his conscience is clear in how he treated the Corinthians, especially concerning his travel plans (1:12-17). He moves onto a theological aside, explaining that his word to the Corinthians can be trusted because it is based upon the faithfulness of God’s word (1:18-22). 

Translation

12 For my proud confidence is this: the testimony of our consciences. Let me explain: We have conducted ourselves in the world with earnestness and godly sincerity. We have not conducted ourselves with fleshly wisdom but by the grace of God, especially towards you. 13 For we write nothing to you but what you read and what you understand. But I hope that 14 just as you knew us partially, so also you will come to know us completely because we are your boasting, just as you also are our boasting on the day of Christ Jesus. 15 And, in this confidence, I desired to come to you at first so that you would receive a second grace. 16 And I desired to pass through through you into Macedonia. And I desired to come again from Macedonia to you. And desired to be sent by you into Judea. 17 Therefore, when I was intending to do this, I wasn’t doing this lightly, was I? Or do I desire what I desire according to the flesh, so that there will with me the “yes yes” and the “no no”?

18 But God is faithful: our word, which came to you, was not yes and no! 19 For the Son of God, Jesus Christ, who preached among you through us—through me and Silvanus and Timothy—was not yes and no but has become yes in Him. 20 For as many as are the promises of God, they are yes in Him. Therefore, our Amen is through Christ to God’s glory. 21 God is the One who establishes us with you in Christ and anointed us. 22 God also sealed us and gave the down-payment of the Spirit in our hearts. 

Commentary

Paul defends himself four ways in this passage. He asserts his own integrity (1:12-17). He bases his own faithfulness upon the faithfulness of God (1:18-22). He explains that his change of travel plans was actually a mercy for the Corinthians (1:23-2:3). He demonstrates that the Corinthians’ own response to his “Severe Letter” validates his integrity and ministry (2:4-11).

12 For my proud confidence is this: the testimony of our consciences. Let me explain: We have conducted ourselves in the world with earnestness and godly sincerity. We have not conducted ourselves with fleshly wisdom but by the grace of God, especially towards you. 

As Paul begins the body of his letter, he explains where his “proud confidence” lies: he has a clear conscience based upon how he and his co-laborers conducted themselves. The way that Paul and his co-laborers have lived is with “earnestness” and “godly sincerity.”  They were single-minded, full of integrity, and stayed focused on the important things: the gospel of Christ. They did not live as the world lives. They didn’t use the tactics of the world: fleshly wisdom. Instead, they ministered solely by the grace of God, especially as they ministered to the Corinthians. Paul relied completely on God’s grace to accomplish the work that God had given him to do.  

13 For we write nothing to you but what you read and what you understand. 

The Corinthians seemed to have regularly misunderstood Paul (cf. 1 Cor. 5:9-10). But Paul’s words were not hard to understand. Paul is only writing to them what can be understood. Whether the Corinthians would accept it and implement it is another question entirely. But Paul was not writing in code or trying to trick the Corinthians. 

But I hope that 14 just as you knew us partially, so also you will come to know us completely because we are your boasting, just as you also are our boasting on the day of Christ Jesus.

Paul wants the Corinthians to not only understand his letters but also him as a person! Paul again subtly connects himself to the Corinthians, reminding them that they cannot separate themselves from him. He is their “boast”! In Scripture, boasting has two meanings: one positive and one negative. The negative aspects is of “bragging” or living arrogantly (1 Cor. 5:6). On the other hand, Scripture regularly reframes boasting as something that is appropriate if it is directed towards God and the confidence believers have in him alone (Gal. 6:4; Phil. 1:26; 2:16; Heb. 3:6). Paul zooms forward to the end of history when he speaks of the “day of Christ Jesus.” The Corinthians will be the “evidence” of Paul’s faithful ministry when he is vindicated on the last day. And Paul will be the one whom the Corinthians “boast” in because he faithfully ministered to the gospel to them so that they might enter into the eternal kingdom on the last day. 

 15 And, in this confidence, I desired to come to you at first so that you would receive a second grace. 

Paul genuinely desired to come to the Corinthians. He especially wanted to come because he knew of the good it would do. He had “confidence” that his visit would prove useful and provide an opportunity for him to minister even more grace to them. Paul begins defending his travel plans to the Corinthians specifically. He had intended to come to them, but his plans were disrupted. 

16 And I desired to pass through through you into Macedonia. And I desired to come again from Macedonia to you. And desired to be sent by you into Judea. 

Specifically, Paul wanted to use Corinth as a base of operations for his ministry. He wanted to visit Corinth on his way to Macedonia. In essence, he would “fuel up” in Corinth and be sent out to Macedonia. Then, he wanted to do it again. This time, he would be sent out from Corinth to Judea. In no way could Paul have been accused of wanting to avoid the Corinthians. In fact, he saw them as a strategic sending partner! 

17 Therefore, when I was intending to do this, I wasn’t doing this lightly, was I? Or do I desire what I desire according to the flesh, so that there will be with me the “yes yes” and the “no no”?

The Corinthians were accusing Paul of making his plans “lightly” and being duplicitious. They thought that Paul was just changing his travel plans on a whim. At one moment, he intended to come to them, but then something better comes along and he drops them and pursues that new course. They also believed Paul was engaging in double-talk, saying “Yes, of course, I’ll come” when in reality he meant, “No, no, I’m not coming.” To them, Paul was unreliable and should not be trusted. But Paul answers the charge of the Corinthians more specifically by using two rhetorical questions which must be answered with “No!” Paul reaffirms his integrity. He wasn’t making his plans without thought. Instead, he was attempting to follow God’s will in all things, even if his plans had to change. 

18 But God is faithful: our word, which came to you, was not yes and no! 

To defend himself, Paul appeals to his clear conscience in how he lived towards the Corinthians (1:12-14). Paul’s change of plans, then, did not come from a place of malice or double-talk, but change of circumstances (1:15-17). Paul moves his defense along by anchoring his ministry to God’s faithfulness (1:18-22). Since God is faithful, and Paul desires to follow God’s will, the Corinthians can trust that Paul’s word is faithful too. According to Paul, if God is faithful and unchanging in Christ, then his ministry, which was established by the same God, is also sincere and trustworthy, even if his plans had to change (1:12–17). Paul spoke straightforwardly to Corinthians, never vacillating or being “yes and no.”

19 For the Son of God, Jesus Christ, who preached among you through us—through me and Silvanus and Timothy—was not yes and no but has become yes in Him. 

Paul’s trustworthy ministry was anchored in Christ. Jesus Christ, the Son of God, was not some plan B on God’s part but was “God’s unambiguous and unretracted ‘Yes’” (Barnett, 105). Christians are used to thinking that Jesus as the “Son of God” means he is fully God. And, of course, that is true. But the phrase “Son of God” also refers back to Davidic kingship in the Old Testament (2 Sam. 7:14; Ps. 2:7; 89:26-27). Jesus has come on the true Davidic king bringing all of God’s promises to fulfilness. Paul reminds the Corinthians that the gospel he preached was also preached by others as well, such as Silvanus and Timothy. To reject Paul is not merely to reject one person, but a whole movement of faithful ministry. Jesus was not “yes and no” in God’s plan. God was not vacillating back and forth sending Christ or not; Christ was always the point. Christ “has become” yes through God’s actions. The perfect tense of the verb might describe a completed action with continuing results. In other words, Christ was God’s “yes” when he was sent through the incarnation and the “yes” will never change. As the NIV translates the verb: Christ “has always been yes.” 

20 For as many as are the promises of God, they are yes in Him. Therefore, our Amen is through Christ to God’s glory. 

Paul further highlights God’s faithfulness by showing all the promises of God might find their fulfillment in Christ. God had promised at the very beginning that the “seed of the woman” would crush the serpent’s heed (Gen. 3:15). That’s Jesus. God had promised Abraham that “all the families of the world” would be blessed through his “seed” (Gen 12:3; 22:18). That’s Jesus. God had promised that one day, David’s son would establish an eternal kingdom which would reign over all the earth (2 Sam. 7:15). That’s Jesus. God had promised a new covenant which would provide the forgiveness of sins through a suffering servant (Jer. 31:31-34; Isa. 53:6). That’s Jesus. 

In response to everything God has done through Christ, the church responds with “Amen!” In the Old Testament, the word “Amen” was used in three ways. In Deuteronomy 27:15-26, Moses reads the responsibilities of the covenant and their curses if not upheld and the people respond with “Amen.” It speaks to taking on responsibilities and pledging oneself to a task. It was an expression of prayer and praise (Ps. 41:14; Neh. 8:6). And it also spoke of agreement (Jer. 28:6). It developed in the synagogue in Second Temple Judaism as a way of responding to benedictions (but actually not to prayers, Barnett, 109). For Christians, Jesus is our Amen. He is the confirmation of all God’s promises. And we praise God the Father through God the Son to his glory. Everything in the Christian life is to be done for the glory of God. 

21 God is the One who establishes us with you in Christ, having anointed us 22 and sealed us and gave the down-payment of the Spirit in our hearts. 

Paul describes four of God’s actions on behalf of believers: he establishes, anoints, seals, and provides a down-payment. God builds up and strengthens believers in their faith. Paul again subtly connects himself to the Corinthians: God established “us with you.” But God doesn’t strengthen their faith in any other way except “in Christ.” The result of being established in Christ is that the church has now been anointed, sealed, and given a down-payment. In the Old Testament, three figures were anointed: prophets (1 Kgs. 19:16), priests (Exod. 28:41; Lev. 8:12), and kings (1 Sam. 10:1; 16:13). Anointing someone consecrated for a special role as God’s servant, often with the Spirit as the agent to empower them for their service. The prophets picked up the idea of anointing and applied it to the coming Messiah, the “Anointed One” who would renew and restore God’s people (Isa. 61:1; Dan. 9:25-26). 

It shouldn’t surprise us, then, that the four out of the five uses of the word “anointed” in the New Testament concerning Jesus being “anointed” as God’s chosen Messiah (Luke 4:18; Acts 4:27; 10:38; Heb. 1:9). And what is true of the Messiah is now true of the Messiah’s people, church, by virtue of their union with him (cf. 1 John 2:20, 27). The church has now been anointed with the Holy Spirit who has empowered her to fulfill the mission of Christ in the world. 

Not only are believers “anointed” but also “sealed” with the Holy Spirit. In the ancient world, rolled up documents were secured by dripping melted wax on the seam and imprinting the “seal” of the king or other figure in the wax. Seals were marks of ownership, indicating who the document belonged to and was coming from. The church, then, is “sealed” with the Holy Spirit (Eph. 1:13; 4:30). The presence of the Spirit in the community indicates that the church belongs to God. We are his special possession. The possession of the Spirit also serves as a “down-payment” for the full inheritance to come (Eph. 1:14). Believers can have full assurance of their participation in the kingdom of God in the future because they have Spirit now.