1But I determined this for myself, that I would not come to you again in sorrow. 2For if I make you grieve, then who will make me glad but he who is made to grieve by me? 3And I wrote this very thing to you, so that when I came, I wouldn’t have sorrow from them of whom I ought to rejoice; having confidence in you all that my joy would be shared by all of you. 4For out of much affliction and anguish of heart I wrote to you with many tears, not that you should be made to grieve, but that you might know the love that I have so abundantly for you.
5But if any has caused sorrow, he has caused sorrow not to me, but in part (that I not press too heavily) to you all. 6This punishment which was inflicted by the many is sufficient for such a one; 7so that, on the contrary, you should rather forgive him and comfort him, lest by any means such a one should be swallowed up with his excessive sorrow. 8Therefore I beg you to confirm your love toward him. 9For to this end I also wrote, that I might know the proof of you, whether you are obedient in all things. 10Now I also forgive whomever you forgive anything. For if indeed I have forgiven anything, I have forgiven that one for your sakes in the presence of Christ, 11that no advantage may be gained over us by Satan, for we are not ignorant of his schemes.
12Now when I came to Troas for the Good News of Christ, and when a door was opened to me in the Lord, 13I had no relief for my spirit, because I didn’t find Titus my brother, but taking my leave of them, I went out into Macedonia.
14Now thanks be to God who always leads us in triumph in Christ, and reveals through us the sweet aroma of his knowledge in every place. 15For we are a sweet aroma of Christ to God in those who are saved and in those who perish: 16to the one a stench from death to death, to the other a sweet aroma from life to life. Who is sufficient for these things? 17For we are not as so many, peddling the word of God. But as of sincerity, but as of God, in the sight of God, we speak in Christ.
The apostle introduces himself in this letter to the Corinthians by stating his authority to write to the church, and then includes Sosthenes, a fellow worker with him. Paul, then, speaks of his addressees as being sanctified (see 1 Cor. 1:5-8), along with believers everywhere (1:10-17). Later in the letter he supports his greeting by reference to his authority as an apostle (1 Cor 9:1-27), that his readers are set apart in Christ (1:5-8). In spite of these positive words to the believers at Corinth, they are probably given as a corrective of their hubris in rejecting Paul's authority (1 Cor 1:12; 9:1, 2) and exalting human wisdom above God's wisdom (1 Cor 1:20-31)
Although the Corinthian church has many problems that the apostle must correct, he gives several positive features of the Corinthian church, such as their enrichment and that they lack no gift (1 Cor 1:7). This body of believers at Corinth have much potential but are falling behind in the exercise of this potential (1 Cor 1:10) but their disunity and abuse of spiritual gifts.