But I will come to you shortly, if the Lord is willing. And I will know, not the word of those who are puffed up, but the power.
Parallel Translations
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But I will come to you shortly, if the Lord is willing. And I will know, not the word of those who are puffed up, but the power.
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But I will come to you shortely yf God will: and will knowe not the wordes of the which swell but the power:
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But I will come to you shortly, if the Lord will, and will knowe, not the wordes of them which are puffed vp, but the power.
Cross-references (15)
Passages linked to 1 Corinthians 4:19 in the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge, ordered by reader-vote popularity; verse text shown in World English Bible.
- 2 Corinthians 13:1-4 This is the third time I am coming to you. “At the mouth of two or three witnesses shall every word be established.” I have said beforehand, and I do say beforehand, as when I was present the second time, so now, being absent, I write to those who have sinned before now, and to all the rest, that, if I come again, I will not spare; seeing that you seek a proof of Christ who speaks in me; who toward you is not weak, but is powerful in you. For he was crucified through weakness, yet he lives through the power of God. For we also are weak in him, but we will live with him through the power of God toward you.
- Acts 18:21 but taking his leave of them, he said, “I must by all means keep this coming feast in Jerusalem, but I will return again to you if God wills.” Then he set sail from Ephesus.
- Acts 19:21 Now after these things had ended, Paul determined in the Spirit, when he had passed through Macedonia and Achaia, to go to Jerusalem, saying, “After I have been there, I must also see Rome.”
- Romans 15:32 that I may come to you in joy through the will of God, and together with you, find rest.
- 1 Corinthians 2:6 We speak wisdom, however, among those who are full grown, yet a wisdom not of this world nor of the rulers of this world who are coming to nothing.
- 1 Corinthians 4:18 Now some are puffed up, as though I were not coming to you.
- 1 Corinthians 11:34 But if anyone is hungry, let him eat at home, lest your coming together be for judgment. The rest I will set in order whenever I come.
- 1 Corinthians 14:5 Now I desire to have you all speak with other languages, but rather that you would prophesy. For he is greater who prophesies than he who speaks with other languages, unless he interprets, that the assembly may be built up.
- 2 Corinthians 1:23 But I call God for a witness to my soul, that I didn’t come to Corinth to spare you.
- Hebrews 6:3 This will we do, if God permits.
- Acts 20:2 When he had gone through those parts, and had encouraged them with many words, he came into Greece.
- 1 Corinthians 16:5 But I will come to you when I have passed through Macedonia, for I am passing through Macedonia.
- 2 Corinthians 1:15-17 In this confidence, I was determined to come first to you, that you might have a second benefit, and by you to pass into Macedonia, and again from Macedonia to come to you, and to be sent forward by you on my journey to Judea. When I therefore was thus determined, did I show fickleness? Or the things that I purpose, do I purpose according to the flesh, that with me there should be the “Yes, yes” and the “No, no?”
- James 4:15 For you ought to say, “If the Lord wills, we will both live, and do this or that.”
- 2 Corinthians 2:1-2 But I determined this for myself, that I would not come to you again in sorrow. For if I make you grieve, then who will make me glad but he who is made to grieve by me?
Cross-references from openbible.info (CC BY 4.0)
Explain this verse (16 sources)
Historical commentary, presented as a primary source — not an endorsement.
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John Calvin 1540 · Public Domain 19. But I will come shortly. “They are in…
19. But I will come shortly. “They are in a mistake,” says he, “in raising their crests during my absence, as though this were to be of long duration, for they shall in a short time perceive how vain their confidence has been.” He has it not, however, so much in view to terrify them, as though he would on his arrival thunder forth against them, but rather presses and bears down upon their consciences, for, however they might disguise it, they were aware that he was furnished with divine influence.
The clause, if the Lord will, intimates, that we ought not to promise anything to others as to the future, or to determine with ourselves, without adding this limitation in so far as the Lord will permit Hence James with good reason derides the rashness of mankind (James 4:15) in planning what they are to do ten years afterwards, while they have not security for living even a single hour. We are not, it is true, bound by a constant necessity to the use of such forms of expression, but it is the better way to accustom ourselves carefully to them, that we may exercise our minds from time to time in this consideration — that all our plans must be in subjection to the will of God.
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And I will know not the speech By speech you must understand that prating in which the false apostles delighted themselves, for they excelled in a kind of dexterity and gracefulness of speech, while they were destitute of the zeal and efficacy of the Spirit. By the term power, he means that spiritual efficacy, with which those are endowed who dispense the word of the Lord with earnestness. The meaning, therefore, is: “I shall see whether they have so much occasion for being puffed up; and I shall not judge of them by their mere outward talkativeness, in which they place the sum-total of their glory, and on the ground of which they claim for themselves every honor. If they wish to have any honor from me, they must bring forward that power which distinguishes the true servants of Christ from the merely pretended: otherwise I shall despise them, with all their show. It is to no purpose, therefore, that they confide in their eloquence, for I shall reckon it nothing better than smoke.”
John Calvin's Commentaries (1540-1563) — public domain. Text from the Calvin Translation Society English edition (1840s-50s) via the Christian Classics Ethereal Library (ccel.org). Calvin's coverage is partial (roughly two-thirds of the Bible); uncommented books and verses are honest gaps, never fabricated. The 19th-century editor's footnotes and remarks are omitted so the notes are faithfully Calvin's own voice.
Geneva Bible translators 1599 · Public Domain By words, he meaneth their painted and colored kind…
By words, he meaneth their painted and colored kind of eloquence, against which he setteth the virtue of the Spirit.
Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain.
John Trapp 1656 · Public Domain 19 But I will come to you shortly, if…
19 But I will come to you shortly, if the Lord will, and will know, not the speech of them which are puffed up, but the power.
Ver. 19. Not the speech of them which are puffed up] Dicta factis deficientibus, erubescunt. Malo autem miserandum quam erubescendum, saith Tertullian, either add practice, or leave profession for shame.
John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Matthew Poole 1685 · Public Domain But I will come to you shortly: Paul intended…
But I will come to you shortly: Paul intended in his journey to Rome to pass through Macedonia and Achaia, but he knew that God could hinder him, and therefore he adds, if the Lord will: neither did Paul go to them so soon as he intended, but had time before he went to write another Epistle, as we shall afterwards find. All Christians are bound, when they promise or resolve upon any journeys, to understand, if God will, and to have in their thoughts the power of God to hinder them, and to speak with submission to his pleasure, who counteth their steps and telleth their wanderings, and ordereth their steps; though they be not strictly bound at all times to use this form of speech.
And will know, not the speech of them which are puffed up, but the power: and when I come, then I shall understand these teachers of yours, who so vilify me; I shall not regard so much their fine words and philosophical reasonings, as what there is of spiritual life and power in them; either in their doctrine or life, how conducive it is to the ends of the gospel, and how consonant to the truth of the gospel, what good they do amongst you, what manner of lives they live: these are the things that my eyes shall be upon, and which I shall regard.
Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
John Gill 1763 · Public Domain But I will come to you shortly,.... This he…
But I will come to you shortly,.... This he said as threatening them, but not by way of prophecy; for it is not certain that he ever did come to them after this; but by way of promise, as it was then the real intention, inclination, and resolution of his mind, though with this condition,
if the Lord will; which is rightly put, and what the apostle had a continual regard unto, in all things he was concerned; see Rom 1:10 and though it is not absolutely necessary that this should be expressed by us always in so many words; though should it, as the sentence is short and full, there would be no impropriety in it; yet this should always be the sense of our minds and conduct in all the affairs of life; see Jam 4:13
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and will know not the speech of them that are puffed up, but the power; meaning chiefly the false teachers; and that his concern would be, not so much to observe their masterly language, the eloquence of their speech, the quaintness of their expressions, the cadency of their words, how nicely they were put together, and how fitly pronounced; but what life there was in their ministry, what power went forth with their words, and how effectual their preaching was to the, conversion of sinners, and the edifying of the church of God.
John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
John Wesley 1765 · Public Domain I will know - He here shows his fatherly…
I will know - He here shows his fatherly authority Not the big, empty speech of these vain boasters, but how much of the power of God attends them.
John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.
Adam Clarke 1810 · Public Domain Verse 19. But I will come to you shortly]…
Verse 19. But I will come to you shortly] God being my helper, I fully purpose to visit you; and then I shall put those proud men to the proof, not of their speech - eloquence, or pretensions to great knowledge and influence, but of their power - the authority they profess to have from God, and the evidences of that authority in the works they have performed. See the Introduction, sect. xi.
Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Albert Barnes 1834 · Public Domain But I will come - It is from no…
But I will come - It is from no fear of them that I am kept away; and to convince them of this I will come to them speedily.
If the Lord will - If the Lord permit; if by his providence he allows me to go. Paul regarded the entering on a journey as dependent on the will of God; and felt that God had all in his hand. No purpose should be formed without a reference to his will; no plan without feeling that he can easily frustrate it and disappoint us; see Jam 4:15.
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And will know - I will examine; I will put to the test; I will fully understand,
Not the speech ... - Not their vain and empty boasting; not their confident assertions, and their self-complacent views.
But the power - Their real power. I will put their power to the proof: I will see whether they are able to effect what they affirm; whether they have more real power than I have. I will enter fully into the work of discipline, and will ascertain whether they have such authority in the church, such a power of party and of combination, that they can resist me, and oppose my administration of the discipline which the church needs. “A passage,” says Bloomfield, “which cannot, in nerve and rigor, or dignity and composed confidence, be easily paralleled, even in Demosthenes himself.”
Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Robert Jamieson, A. R. Fausset & David Brown 1871 · Public Domain ALFORD translates, "But come I will"; an emphatical negation…
ALFORD translates, "But come I will"; an emphatical negation of their supposition (Co1 4:18).
shortly--after Pentecost (Co1 16:8).
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if the Lord will--a wise proviso (Jam 4:15). He does not seem to have been able to go as soon as he intended.
and will know--take cognizance of.
but the power--I care not for their high-sounding "speech," "but" what I desire to know is "their power," whether they be really powerful in the Spirit, or not. The predominant feature of Grecian character, a love for power of discourse, rather than that of godliness, showed itself at Corinth.
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown — Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
Daniel D. Whedon 1874 · Public Domain 19. I will come—Emphatic will, if not defiant.
19. I will come—Emphatic will, if not defiant.
Lord will—A reverent proviso qualifying the defiance. See Jas_4:15.
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Will know—By direct issue and full experiment.
Not the speech of them—Which is all we have thus far had.
Power—Their efficiency in refuting my gospel and impeaching my apostolic authority to preach it.
Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges 1878 · Public Domain 19. if the Lord will] See Jas_4:13-15, who “justly…
19. if the Lord will] See Jas_4:13-15, who “justly derides that rashness among men, in that they plan what they shall do ten years hence, when they are not certain that they shall live another hour.” Calvin in loc. The Roman Catholic commentator, Estius, makes a similar observation.
not the speech of them which are puffed up, but the power] The power that is derived from Christ, which He Himself possessed to influence the heart of man. Such seems to be the more usual meaning of the word δύναμις in St Paul’s Epistles. Cf. Rom_1:16; 1Co_2:4, &c. It includes, no doubt, the power of working miracles, for with one or two exceptions, the miracles of the gospel were manifestations of Christ’s power to deliver humanity from the dominion of evil and its consequences.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Pulpit Commentary 1880 · Public Domain I will come to you shortly. (Php_2:24; 2Ti_4:9 He…
I will come to you shortly. (Php_2:24; 2Ti_4:9 He came soon after writing the Second Epistle. At this time he was preparing to leave Ephesus; (1Co_16:8) his actual departure was precipitated by the tumult. (Act_20:1, Act_20:2) If the Lord will. The apostolic use of the phrase was something more than a mere form. (Rom_15:32; Heb_6:3; Jam_4:15) it expressed a real and humble spirit of dependence. Not the speech of them which are puffed up, but the power. He will use his gift of spiritual discernment to discover whether the haughty self assertion and sounding phraseology of these inflated partisans would not collapse when confronted with real authority. The "speech" was there in abundance; but was there anything genuine, any real spiritual force, behind it?
The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
B. W. Johnson 1891 · Public Domain 19. I will come to you shortly. If God…
19. I will come to you shortly. If God permitted, he would soon follow (1 Cor. 16:7, 8), and would put to the test those puffed up. Not the speech, … but the power. He will confront these vain boasters, and see what power is behind their swelling words.
B. W. Johnson's The People's New Testament with Notes (1889–1891) — public domain. Electronic text from the Christian Classics Ethereal Library (CCEL) ThML edition.
William B. Godbey 1900 · Public Domain 19. “I will come unto you quickly, if the…
19. “I will come unto you quickly, if the Lord will, and I will not know the word of those who are puffed up, but the dynamite:
William B. Godbey, Commentary on the New Testament (1896–1900) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
J. W. McGarvey 1914 · Public Domain But I will come to you shortly [as he…
But I will come to you shortly [as he did], if the Lord will [ Jam_4:15 ]; and I will know, not the word of them that are puffed up, but the power . [I will test not their rhetorical ability, but their power, whether they can stand against that which I possess as an apostle.]
J. W. McGarvey (with Philip Y. Pendleton), Commentaries on the New Testament (The Fourfold Gospel, 1914; Acts; and the epistles) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
unfoldingWord translationNotes 2017 · CC BY-SA 4.0 I will come to you
I will come to you
"I will visit you"
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What do you want?
Paul was making a last appeal to the Corinthians, as he has been rebuking them for the errors they had made. AT: "Tell me what you want to happen now" (See: Rhetorical Question)
Shall I come to you with a rod or with love and in a spirit of gentleness
Paul is offering the Corinthians two opposing attitudes he could use when approaching them. AT: "If you want, I can come to punish you, or I can come to show you how much I love you by being gentle with you" (See: Rhetorical Question)
of gentleness
"of kindness" or "of tenderness"
translationWords
will of God
arrogant
power
kingdom of God
rod
love
spirit
unfoldingWord translationNotes — © Distant Shores Media and the Door43 World Missions Community, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Source: git.door43.org/Door43/en_tn.