For I fear lest when I come,.... This fear arose from his fatherly affection for them, and care of them:
I shall not find you such as I would; truly penitent for former sins, thoroughly reformed in life and manners, zealous for God, Christ, and the Gospel, and hearty lovers of one another:
and that I shall be found unto you such as ye would not; sharp in his reproofs and admonitions, severe in his corrections and censures, and lawfully using the authority he had from Christ, to punish incorrigible offenders:
lest there be debates; or "strifes", or contentions among them, about words to no profit, or about their ministers, as before; one being for Paul, and another for Apollos, and another for Cephas:
envyings: at each other's gifts, or "jealousies" of one another, and evil surmisings:
wraths; breaking out into words and actions, which discover hatred of mind, a malignant spirit, quite contrary to that of the Gospel:
strifes: law suits before heathen magistrates; contentions in the church who shall be greatest; or about lesser matters of religion, or things indifferent, vain, and trifling, and kept up merely for the sake of victory:
backbitings; speaking evil of one another, detracting from, hurting, or taking away each other's character and good name:
whisperings; secretly sowing discords among friends, and privately suggesting evil things of each other:
swellings; with pride and conceit of themselves, because of their riches, learning, and eloquence, and looking with disdain upon others:
tumults; at church meetings, interrupting one another, going into parties, and making rents and schisms.