1 Corinthians 4:18

Now some are puffed up, as though I would not come to you See note below, ch. 1 Corinthians 5:2. As the whole of the Second Epistle to the Corinthians shews (see for instance, ch. 1 Corinthians 10:2), there were those at Corinth who depreciated St Paul's authority. Such persons persuaded themselves that they had so undermined his reputation that he would not dare to come again to Corinth, and they grew more self-asserting in consequence. But though St Paul submitted to contempt and insult from without, he demands the respect due to his office from those within. He bore the reproach of the infidel and scoffer: among his own people he acts upon the precept, -Let no man despise thee." Paley remarks on the undesigned coincidence between this passage and 2 Corinthians 1:15-17; 2 Corinthians 2:1. It appears that there had been some uncertainty about the Apostle's visit. It was this which had led some of his opponents to assert that he would never shew his face at Corinth again.