6. And it may be that I will abide, yea, and winter with you, that ye may bring me on my journey whither- soever I go.
' I pass through Macedonia, but I will abide mth you.' His visit to the former was to be transient, to the latter pro- longed. In the second Epistle he speaks of himself as in Mace- donia, and in Acts 20, 2. 3, we find that he left Ephesus after the uproar in that city and went to Macedonia, and thence to Greece, where he abode three months. The plan here sketched was therefore executed. He would remain with them for the winter, he says, in order that they might help him forward on his journey, i. e. attend him on his way, which was the cus- tomary mark of respect. Paul wished to receive this courtesy from the Corinthians rather than from others, as his affection for them, notwithstanding the trouble and anxiety they occa- sioned him was, as is evident from his second Epistle, pecu- liarly strong.
7. For I will not see you now by the way ; but I trust to tarry a while with you, if the Lord permit.
By some apn, now^ is connected with ^cAw, Iioill. 'I do not now wish, as I formerly intended.' Its natural connec- tion is with tScti/, to see. ' I do not wish to see you now in passing.' " But I hope ; " instead of 8e, hut^ the older MSS. read yap ; '•'-for I hope to tarry with you." It seems that the intelHgence which Paul received in Ephesus concerning the disorders in Corinth, determined him to write them this let- ter, instead of making them a passing visit, and to defer his visit for some months in order that his letter might have time to produce its effect. The same reason determined him, when he did go to Corinth, to remain there some time, that he might correct the abuses which had sprung up in his absence. The second Epistle shows how anxious he was about the effect of this letter, and how overjoyed he was when Titus brought him the intelligence that it had brought the people to repentance. If the Lordpermit^ {kTrirpkinj), or, ' If the Lord shall have permit- ted' {kiriTpixlrri). The latter reading is adopted by the later editors. The Lord is Christ, whom Paul recognized as order- ing all events, and whose guidance he sought and always sub- mitted to.