2 Corinthians 1:17

When I planned this, did I do it carelessly? Or do I make my plans by human standards, so as to say “Yes, yes” and also “No, no”?

Berean Standard Bible

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Study note

Setting — Paul addresses the Corinthian church while defending his revised travel itinerary against accusations of inconsistency.

The words — ἐλαφρίᾳ (elaphria) = levity and ἐχρησάμην (echrēsamēn) = did I use. The text explicitly asks whether Paul applied carelessness or human standards to his decisions.

The thread — The text’s concern with consistent speech runs through Matthew 5:37 and James 5:12, while 2 Corinthians 10:2 contrasts Paul’s expected boldness with the presumption of his critics.

Why it lands — The verse requires readers to verify whether their commitments originate from deliberate conviction or from shifting external pressures, demanding strict alignment between declared intentions and actual conduct.

Drafted by a language model from the text, its original words and its cross-references, then checked against them. It can still be wrong: open the verse in the app to report it.

The Greek words

King James Version

When I therefore was thus minded, did I use lightness? or the things that I purpose, do I purpose according to the flesh, that with me there should be yea yea, and nay nay?

Cross-references

Matthew 5:37 Simply let your ‘Yes’ be ‘Yes,’ and your ‘No,’ ‘No.’ Anything more comes from the evil one.
James 5:12 Above all, my brothers, do not swear, not by heaven or earth or by any other oath. Simply let your “Yes” be yes, and your “No,” no, so that you will not fall under judgment.
2 Corinthians 10:2 I beg you that when I come I may not need to be as bold as I expect toward those who presume that we live according to the flesh.
John 8:15 You judge according to the flesh; I judge no one.
2 Corinthians 1:18 But as surely as God is faithful, our message to you is not “Yes” and “No.”
Jeremiah 23:32 “Indeed,” declares the LORD, “I am against those who prophesy false dreams and retell them to lead My people astray with their reckless lies. It was not I who sent them or commanded them, and they are of no benefit at all to these people,” declares the LORD.
Judges 9:4 So they gave him seventy shekels of silver from the temple of Baal-berith, with which Abimelech hired some worthless and reckless men to follow him.
Zephaniah 3:4 Her prophets are reckless, faithless men. Her priests profane the sanctuary; they do violence to the law.
2 Corinthians 1:12 For this is our boast: Our conscience testifies that we have conducted ourselves in the world, and especially in relation to you, in the holiness and sincerity that are from God—not in worldly wisdom, but in the grace of God.
1 Thessalonians 2:18 For we wanted to come to you—indeed I, Paul, tried again and again—but Satan obstructed us.