For, when we were come into Macedonia, our flesh had no rest, but we were troubled on every side; without were fightings, within were fears. When we were come into Macedonia - St. Paul, having left Ephesus, came to Troas, where he stopped some time; afterwards he came to Macedonia, whence he wrote this epistle,
Our flesh had no rest - So exceedingly anxious was he to know the success of his first epistle to them.
Without were fightings - The oppositions of pagans, Jews, and false brethren.
Within were fears - Uncertain conjectures relative to the success of his epistle; fears lest the severity of it should alienate their affections utterly from him; fears lest the party of the incestuous person should have prevailed; fears lest the teaching of the false apostle should have perverted their minds from the simplicity of the truth; all was uncertainty, all apprehension; and the Spirit of God did not think proper to remove the causes of these apprehensions in any extraordinary way.