2 Corinthians 2:3

2 Corinthians 2:3. And I wrote this very thing unto you (my peremptory demand for so severe a sentence), lest, when I came, I should have sorrow from them of whom I ought to rejoice. The strength of the step itself, the sharpness with which he had characterized the guilty act itself and indicated the procedure it demanded, the fact that such a case was unheard of before, and that excommunication, at least in so solemn a way as he had directed, had in no case probably been required before all these things combined would keep him in restless anxiety to know whether they had done as demanded of them, and if so, with what effect on the offender and the church itself. It was to give time to shew this that he had resolved to defer his promised visit till his return from Macedonia; and how glad he was that he had done this, he cannot refrain from telling them, after learning the blessed fruit that his severity had produced, and the joy with which he now looked forward to his next visit to them, having confidence in you all that our meeting will be one of mutual joy. Intensely strong must have been the feelings that wrung from such a man what he here writes, ‘with eyes dimmed by tears' (as Stanley puts it), not that ye should be made sorry, but that ye might know the love which I have more abundantly unto you. Here follows an interesting digression as to how they should deal with the now penitent member after which the explanation, broken off here, is resumed (at 2 Corinthians 2:12).