What Does 2 Corinthians 1:23 Mean?
But I call God as witness upon my living soul, that in holding back from you I came no more to Corinth.
Key words are shown with the Hebrew or Greek and what each word meant.
Selah Decoded Version The Selah Decoded Version renders what the Hebrew and Greek words meant to the people who first heard them.
King James wording
King James Version
Moreover I call God for a record upon my soul, that to spare you I came not as yet unto Corinth.THE KEY
The root behind “spare” turns the delayed visit into a deliberate act of restraint for their sake.
THE MEANING
Care can take the form of a delayed arrival: the speaker holds back his presence to spare those he addresses. He places his own living self under God’s witness, giving the explanation the weight of a sworn claim.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
A delayed arrival always means rejection or indifference; this verse names sparing as the reason for staying away.
THE ROOT
φειδόμενος
pheidomenos
GROWS FROM
φειδ-
pheid-
To spare, hold back, or use sparingly.
“in holding back from you” in this verse is pheidomenos. The verb makes his absence an act of sparing: he holds back his arrival for their sake. This root can also name unsparing treatment, so the verse turns on whether something is restrained or pressed upon another.
ALSO GROWS
epheisato: Spared; withheld from harming or taking.
ἐφείσατο
The same verb root appears in Romans 8:32, where God “spared not” his Son; the shared seed makes the contrast in restraint visible.
apheidia: Severity or unsparing treatment.
ἀφειδία
This form names the absence of sparing, revealing the root’s other edge: restraint can be withheld.
pheidōlos: Sparing or frugal.
φειδωλός
It carries the root into measured use, where sparing means holding something back.
μάρτυρα
martyra
GROWS FROM
μαρτυρ-
martyr-
To witness or bear testimony.
The Greek word names a witness, so calling God “for a record” is an appeal for testimony. The speaker’s claim is placed under God’s witness, giving his stated motive the weight of an oath.
ALSO GROWS
martys: A witness.
μάρτυς
It names the one who sees or testifies, the role invoked in this verse.
martyria: Testimony or witness.
μαρτυρία
It names the testimony itself, making clear that the appeal is about the truth of his reason for staying away.
ψυχήν
psychēn
GROWS FROM
ψυχ-
psych-
The living self or life.
“living soul” in this verse is psychēn. Here “soul” is the speaker’s living self, brought into the oath rather than treated as a detached inner object. The word’s compounds keep that link to living existence in view.
ALSO GROWS
empsychos: Living or animate.
ἔμψυχος
The compound describes something alive, keeping ψυχή connected with the living self.
apsychos: Lifeless or inanimate.
ἄψυχος
The privative form marks the absence of life, showing the root’s close connection to living existence.
THE PATTERN
Care may take the form of withholding a presence or word that would burden another.
The one who holds back his words perceives knowledge, and the man of understanding has a discerning breath.I still have many things to say to you, but you cannot carry them now.For I decided this within myself, that I would not come again to you in pain.THE THREAD
He who did not spare his own Son, but handed him over for us all, how will he not also favor us with all things along with him?The Greek verb translated “spare” comes from the same root as “spared” here. In Corinth, restraint means holding back a visit for their sake; Romans uses the root for what is not held back.
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