Paul had changed his travel plans, and his questions suggest that some at Corinth took it as proof that his word could not be trusted. Matthew Henry says, "He was not to be accused of levity and inconstancy." Barnes thinks the charge had probably been that Paul made the promise "without any due consideration, or without any real purpose of performing it."

The first question asks whether he planned carelessly. The second asks whether he planned "according to the flesh," for his own ends. Gill paraphrases it: "Do I consult myself? my own interest and advantage?" Both questions also ask whether Paul's "yea" and "nay" meant nothing. Barnes says the meaning "seems to be" such inconstancy "that no one could depend on me."

Paul answers by pointing to God's faithfulness: "But as God is true, our word toward you was not yea and nay" (2 Corinthians 1:18). The Jesus they preached "was not yea and nay, but in him was yea" (2 Corinthians 1:19), and "all the promises of God in him are yea, and in him Amen" (2 Corinthians 1:20). Then he gives the real reason he stayed away: "to spare you I came not as yet unto Corinth" (2 Corinthians 1:23), because "I would not come again to you in heaviness" (2 Corinthians 2:1).

In his first letter, Paul had written, "I will come unto you, when I shall pass through Macedonia," adding, "if the Lord permit" (1 Corinthians 16:5-7). The Greek word behind "lightness" is elaphria. Barnes says it means properly lightness in weight, here used of the mind: "lightness of temper or conduct; inconstancy, changeableness, or fickleness." Paul had first preached to them together with "Silvanus and Timotheus" (2 Corinthians 1:19).

Paul ties his own reliability to God's. His message cannot be "yea and nay" because the God behind it is not. Matthew Henry writes, "The promises of God in Christ are not yea and nay, but yea and amen." Every promise God has made finds its "yea" in Jesus (2 Corinthians 1:20).

A change of plans is not the same as a broken word. Paul's plans changed, but his purpose did not: he stayed away "to spare you" (2 Corinthians 1:23). He adds that he and his co-workers do not rule over their faith but "are helpers of your joy" (2 Corinthians 1:24).