I call God for a record. — Better, I call upon God as a witness against my soul. The thought seems to come across St. Paul’s mind that the Corinthians will require a more specific explanation of his change of plan, and he finds this in what had been in part suggested in 1 Corinthians 4:21. Had he carried out his first purpose, he would have come to punish or chastise. He had been, on this account, reluctant to come. His not coming was an act of leniency.
I came not as yet. — Better, I came no more — i.e., not a second time after his first visit. The Greek adverb cannot possibly mean “not yet.”