At this point Paul switches from “capturing” people in general for Christ to a discussion of the Corinthian Christians being captured for Christ. Once they are captured and become obedient to Christ, strict measures must be followed to discipline anyone who reverts to a life of disobedience and disloyalty.

Being ready is an expression used of military troops standing ready for battle. Anchor Bible says “We stand at the ready.”

Every disobedience, that is, of those in Corinth who continue to disobey. It is not actually the disobedience that is punished. What is meant here is that “we will be ready to punish any person who acts disobediently” or “we will be prepared to exercise discipline whenever someone is insubordinate.”

The object of obedience is probably Christ (see verse 5). So it may be advisable in some languages to translate “when we see that you are obeying Christ completely.”

Good News Translation changes the order of the two main statements of this verse in order to place the thought in chronological order. This will be a good model for many other languages as well.

Quoted with permission from Omanson, Roger L. and Ellingworth, Paul. A Handbook on Paul’s Second Letter to the Corinthians. (UBS Handbook Series). New York: UBS, 1993. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .