The third time: see 12.14 and 13.2. The first visit was when Paul founded the church in Corinth (see Acts 18.1-18), and the second was the painful visit mentioned in 2.1.
I am coming to you: the verb tense may have to be altered in some languages. In order to show that the visit is yet in the future at the time of writing, several English versions have “this will be my third visit” or something similar.
The English words charge, sustained, evidence, and witnesses all evoke the image of a civil law court. But Paul is thinking more in terms of the religious requirements of the Old Testament, where civil and religious affairs were less distinct than in most cultures today. The statement that Any charge must be sustained by the evidence of two or three witnesses indicates that Paul intends to follow the teachings of Deut 19.15. Though Paul does not state that he is referring to the teaching of the Old Testament, it is clear that he is; some translations such as Good News Translation and New American Bible place quotation marks around these words. Good News Translation and Revised English Bible further add the words “as the scripture says.” God’s New Covenant adds the words “so we read” and uses bold type to highlight the quotation from the Old Testament, but God’s New Covenant does not indicate where this is read.
As in 10.17, some translations use italics to indicate that Paul is quoting from the Old Testament, and they put the source of the quotation in a note (Nueva Biblia Española, Parola Del Signore: La Bibbia in Lingua Corrente, New Jerusalem Bible). New Revised Standard Version places quotation marks around the citation, as in 10.17, but does not directly indicate, as Good News Translation does, that these words are from the Scriptures.
The passive construction be sustained will require some restructuring in many languages. Two possible models are “it takes at least two or three witnesses to support any accusation” or “only if two or more witnesses swear that they saw something does that matter show itself to be true.”
To avoid the misunderstanding that only two or three witnesses, and no more, were allowed to present evidence, Good News Translation says “two or more witnesses.”
Why does Paul quote this rule from Deuteronomy? It is not likely that he means that he will take the Corinthian Christians to court or that he will apply the biblical way of settling a dispute when he comes to the church in Corinth. Rather, Paul compares the number of his visits to Corinth (This is the third time I am coming to you) to the number of witnesses required to convict someone. Paul is telling them that they have had the necessary warnings which the Scriptures require. While it may not be desirable to include this idea in the translation, some translators may wish to include a footnote, as the Revised English Bible Oxford Study Bible does: “The three witnesses (Deut 19.15) may be the three visits.”
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 .