Tim Fox: 2 Cor 1:12-2:11

Chapter and verse numbers were added centuries after these letters were
written, and sometimes they were added badly. This is one of those places.
The passage runs straight across the break between chapters 1 and 2,
because the argument does.
And the argument is awkward. Paul planted this church, promised to return,
then did not. Instead he sent a letter severe enough that the Corinthians
are still smarting from it. Now he writes again, defending a change of
plan, defending the tone of what he wrote, and defending himself against
people using both against him.
It is among the most situation-specific passages in the New Testament: a
first-century conflict between a founder and a congregation, with details
we only half know. Which is what makes the turn in it remarkable.
Mid-defense, Paul stops and says that all the promises of God find their
Yes in him. The man accused of saying yes and no in the same breath answers
by pointing at the one who never has.
Tim Fox wrote his doctoral thesis on repentance and restoration in this
letter, and it shows in how carefully he handles it.
Paul's plans changed. That was never the thing under threat.