2nd Corinthians Chapter 2 verse 13 Holy Bible

Pulpit Commentary

Pulpit CommentaryVerse 13. - I had; literally, I have had. The perfect vividly realizes the scene through which he had passed. I had no rest. St. Paul had evidently told Titus to come from his mission to Corinth and meet him at Troas. But either St. Paul reached the town earlier than he intended, or Titus had been delayed. Now, the apostle was so intensely eager to know how his rebukes had been received - the name of "Corinth" was so deeply engraven on his heart - he could so ill endure the thought of being on angry terms with converts which he so deeply loved, that the non-appearance of Titus filled him with devouring anxiety and rendered him incapable of any other work. In my spirit; rather, to my spirit. It was the loftiest part of St. Paul's nature - his spirit - which was utterly incapacitated from effort by the restlessness of his miserable uncertainty about the Corinthian Church. The disclosure of such feelings ought to have had a powerful influence on the Corinthians. We see from 1 Thessalonians 3:5, 9 that St. Paul yearned for tidings of his converts with an intensity which can hardly be realized by less fervent and self-devoted natures. I found not Titus my brother. Not only "the brother," but "my brother;" the man whom in matters of this kind I most trusted as an affectionate and able fellow worker (2 Corinthians 7:6; 2 Corinthians 8:6; 2 Corinthians 12:18). Titus, though not mentioned in the Acts, is the most prominent person in this Epistle, and it is evident that St. Paul felt for him a warm affection and respect (2 Corinthians 7:13, 15; 2 Corinthians 8:16, 17; 2 Timothy 4:10). Taking my leave of them; i.e. of the Christians in Troas. The word for "taking leave" is also found in Mark 6:46. Into Macedonia. As he had intended to do (1 Corinthians 16:5; Acts 20:1). He had doubtless told Titus to look out for him at Philippi, and expected to meet him there on his way to Troas.

Ellicott's Commentary

Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers(13) I had no rest in my spirit.--Instead of coming himself straight from Ephesus, as he had at first intended, and had intimated probably in the lost letter of 1Corinthians 5:9, or by Timotheus (1Corinthians 4:17), or pressing on through Macedonia, as he purposed when he wrote the First Epistle (1Corinthians 16:5), he had sent on Titus (himself possibly connected with Corinth: see Note on Acts 18:7) to ascertain what had been the effects of that Epistle on the Corinthian Church. Titus was to return to him at Troas. Not meeting him there, St. Paul, in his eager anxiety to hear something more than Timotheus had been able to tell him, left Troas, in spite of the opening which it presented for his work as a preacher of the gospel, and hastened on into Macedonia. Taking the route that he had taken before, he would probably go to Philippi, where he would find St. Luke; and we may conjecture, without much risk of error, that it was there that he and Titus met.