‘This is the third time I am coming to you. “At the mouth of two witnesses or three shall every word established”.'
He was now coming on his third visit. The first visit was when he founded the church. It had been a time of joy, of sowing and reaping, of love between the brethren and sisterhood, amidst much outside opposition. It had given all the promise of a solid future. It had been a witness to their credit. The second had been short and brief, a painful visit, one which had caused him much hurt, and which he had cut short in order to prevent breaking up the church. It stood as a witness against them. Now it will be his third visit and he asks which type of visit this is to be, is it to be one of joy or one of sorrow?
‘At the mouth of two witnesses or three shall every word established.' This is a quotation from Deuteronomy 19:15, and refers to the evidence required in a public court in order to find guilty or not guilty. He wants them to see his coming visit as the final witness in their trial. For in view of the mention of a ‘third' visit the reference must surely have some connection with that. The second visit had not established their position, it had left all in disarray. The witness was divided. It had left them open to a verdict of ‘guilty'. He wants this third visit to establish the word among them, to establish the truth about himself and about their response. His longing is that it might find them ‘not guilty'.
Alternately he may be saying that he is bringing witnesses with him, men from Macedonia, who will be witnesses to the true position. He will let them be the judges of the situation. But this seems less likely.