2 Corinthians 2:9

For to this end also did I write St Paul here gives a third reason for writing the first Epistle. Not only was he anxious for the restoration of the offender, for a visit to Corinth which should have nothing of a painful character about it, but he wished to test the readiness of the Corinthians to submit to his authority (cf. ch. 2 Corinthians 7:15; 2 Corinthians 10:6), a point on which (1 Corinthians 9:2 Corinthians 10-12) at that moment there was considerable doubt. See also note on 2 Corinthians 2:6. Some commentators, however, contend that the word ἔγραψα, though an aorist, is, as what is called the Epistolary aorist, to be translated "I write" (as in 1 John 2:14), and that it refers to the presentletter, and that the test of obedience St Paul desired was the display of forgiveness. But this seems hardly consistent with 1 Corinthians 5:2. See also Philippians 2:12, and 2 Corinthians 2:3 of this chapter.

the proof That which has been tested and has borne the test. The word is variously translated in our version. In Romans 5:4 it is translated experience, in ch. 2 Corinthians 8:2 of this Epistle, trial, in 2 Corinthians 9:13, experiment, in 2 Corinthians 13:3 and in Philippians 2:22, proof.