Now I will come unto you, when I shall pass through Macedonia: for I do pass through Macedonia.
His first intention had been (2 Corinthians 1:15-16) to pass through Corinth to Macedonia, and again return to them from Macedonia, and so to Judea; this he had announced in the lost letter (1 Corinthians 5:9); now having laid aside his intention (for which he was charged with levity, 2 Corinthians 1:17, etc., whereas it was through lenity, 2 Corinthians 1:23; 2 Corinthians 2:1), he announces his second plan of 'not seeing them now by the way,' but 'passing through Macedonia' first on his way to them, and then 'tarrying a while,' even 'abiding and wintering with them.'
For I do pass. 'This is what I at last resolve upon' (not as the erroneous subscription represents, as if he was THEN at Philippi, on his way through Macedonia): implying that there had been previous communication upon the subject of the journey, and that there had been some indecisiveness in the apostle's plan (Paley). In accordance with his second plan, we find him in Macedonia when 2 Corinthians was written (2 Corinthians 2:13; 2 Corinthians 8:1; 2 Corinthians 9:2; 2 Corinthians 9:4), and on his way to Corinth (2 Corinthians 12:14; 2 Corinthians 13:1: cf. Acts 20:1-2). "Pass through" is opposed to "abide" (1 Corinthians 16:6). He was not yet in Macedonia (as 1 Corinthians 16:8 shows), but at Ephesus; but he was thinking of passing through it (not abiding, as he proposed to do at Corinth).
Verse 6. He did 'abide, and even winter,' for the three WINTER months in Greece (Corinth) (Acts 20:3; Acts 20:6). Paul probably left Corinth about a month before the "days of unleavened bread," the Passover (to allow time to touch at Thessalonica and Berea, from which cities two of his companions were; as we read he did at Philippi); thus the three months at Corinth would be December, January, and February.
Ye - emphatic.
Whithersoever I go. He purposed to go to Judea (2 Corinthians 1:16) from Corinth, but his plans were not positively fixed as yet (note, 1 Corinthians 16:4: cf. Acts 19:21).
Verse 7. I will not see you now by the way - literally, 'I do not wish to see you this time in passing;' i:e., to pay you now what would have to be a merely passing visit, as in the second visit (2 Corinthians 12:14). In contrast to "awhile;" i:e., some time, as the Greek.
But. 'Aleph (') A B C Delta G f g, Vulgate, read "for."