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In changing his plans, was he like a fickle man of the world, saying `yes' one minute
and `no' the next?
". . . . . I wanted to come to you first, so that you might have a double pleasure (or
favour). I wanted to visit you on my way to Macedonia, and to come back to you from
Macedonia and have you send me on my way to Judea. Was I vacillating when I wanted
to do this?" (1: 15, 16, 17 R.S.V.).
The thought of fickleness in dealing with his converts was absolutely abhorrent to the
Apostle, so much so that he now makes a solemn assertion, "As God is faithful (or true),
our word toward you is not yea and nay" (18, 19 R.V.). In other words, Paul did not say
`yes' and `no' almost in the same breath. He followed consistently One Who was the
unchanging Truth. Never could the Son of God be a `yes and no' kind of person for He
always gave an unqualified `yes' to all the Father's will, whatever it cost:
"For the Son of God, Jesus Christ, Who was preached among you by us, even by me
and Silvanus and Timothy, was not yea and nay, but in Him is the yea: wherefore also
through Him is the Amen, unto the glory of God through us" (1: 19, 20 R.V.).
So, for this reason, that of His unchangeability, all the promises of God are sure, for
they are in Him, Who is the Amen or the Truth. "These things saith the Amen, the
faithful and true Witness . . . . ." (Rev. 3: 14). We remember the number of times
recorded in John's Gospel when He prefixed a solemn assertion by a double Amen,
translated `verily, verily' (literally, amen, amen). The Son of God, then, is the Amen to
all the promises and will of the Father, and Paul could say that he followed Him closely
and so, in spite of appearances, the Apostle was certainly not vacillating. He, with all
other believers at this time, had been established in Christ, anointed and sealed and been
given the earnest or foretaste of the Spirit (verses 21 and 22).
This `anointing' included the Pentecostal gifts which were a foretaste of the coming
earthly kingdom the soon returning Christ would set up. Among these was the
supernatural gift of knowledge which John refers to in his first epistle, "But ye have an
unction (`anointing' R.V.) from the Holy One, and ye know all things" (I John 2: 20).
"But the anointing which ye have received of Him abideth in you, and ye need not that
any man teach you, but as the same anointing teacheth you all things . . ." (I John 2: 27).
This `anointing' or `sealing' should lead to stability. It certainly had done so in the case
of the Apostle, so that he now states to the Corinthians in all solemnity, that it was not
lightheartedness or selfishness that caused him to change his plans. He had acted solely
for their benefit:
"But I call God to witness against me--it was to spare you that I refrained from
coming to Corinth . . . . . For I made up my mind not to make you another painful visit.
For if I cause you pain, who is there to make me glad but the one whom I have pained?
And I wrote as I did, so that when I came I might not be pained by those who should have
made me rejoice . . . . . For I wrote you out of much affliction and anguish of heart and
with many tears, not to cause you pain but to let you know the abundant love that I have
for you" (1: 23 - 2: 4 R.S.V.).
The situation lying behind Paul's statements here is not easy to ascertain for we have
not all the facts. It could either be that Paul had determined that his second visit, which