For: the UBS Greek New Testament follows those Greek manuscripts that begin this verse with the word For. Some manuscripts have the word “But” (followed by King James Version). The reading For seems to be the best reading, since 2.1 gives the reason for Paul’s delay in making a trip to Corinth (1.23-24). This may be translated “So” as in Good News Translation, Revised English Bible, and others. Translator’s New Testament renders it more dynamically by beginning the verse “This is why….”

I made up my mind: this English idiom translates a single Greek verb meaning “judge,” followed by a form of the reflexive pronoun meaning “in myself.” In many languages the literal “judge in myself” may be rendered by a verb meaning “I decided,” or in some cases “I determined in my heart.” In one language the meaning of this verb combined with the negative not to … that follows resulted in the translation “I refused [to return to you]….”

Not to make you another painful visit: literally “not to come to you again in sorrow.” Though Acts does not mention this visit, apparently Paul had already made one visit to Corinth that turned out to be a painful visit (this visit may have occurred between the writing of 1 Corinthians and 2 Corinthians; see 2 Cor 13.2). According to Good News Translation, the persons who experienced the pain from the painful visit were the Corinthians, not Paul: “to make you sad.” Though verse 2 indicates that the Corinthians were the ones who experienced pain, verse 3 seems to include Paul also. It may therefore be better to avoid stating explicitly who would be made sad by such a visit. The painfulness would certainly be felt by both parties.

The “pain” or sadness to which Paul refers in verses 1-5 is emotional pain and not physical pain. Some languages may need to speak of “sorrow” or “pain in the heart” to make it clear that physical pain is not intended.

The Good News Translation translation “to make you sad,” if followed, should not be understood to mean that Paul’s purpose in coming was to cause them sorrow. Rather the result of his visit was that they were made sad.

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 .