The Salutation, vs. 1. 2. Thanksgiving to God for the deliverance and cou- olation which the writer had experienced, vs. 3-11. Defence of himself gainst the charge of inconstancy and inconsistency, vs. 12-24.
PauVs gratitude for the deliverance and consolation irJiich he had experienced. Vs. 1-11.
After the apostle had written his former letter to the Cor- inthians, and had sent Titus, either as the bearer of the letter or immediately after its having been sent by other hands, to ascertain the effect which it produced, he seems to have been in a state of unusual depression and anxiety. The persecu- tions to which he had been exposed in Asia placed him in continued danger of death, 1, 8; and his solicitude about the church in Corinth allowed him no inward peace, 7, 5. After leaving Ephesus he went to Troas ; but although the most promising prospects of usefulness there presented themselves, he could not rest, but passed over into Macedonia in hopes of meeting Titus and obtaining from him intelligence from Cor- inth, 2, 12. 23. This letter is the outpouring of his heart oc- casioned by the information which he received. More than any other of Paul's epistles, it bears the impress of the strong feelings under the influence of which it was written. That the Corinthians had received his former letter with a proper spirit, that it brought them to repentance, led them to ex- communicate the incestuous person, and called forth, on the