1st Corinthians Chapter 2 verse 3 Holy Bible
And I was with you in weakness, and in fear, and in much trembling.
read chapter 2 in ASV
And I was with you without strength, in fear and in doubt.
read chapter 2 in BBE
And *I* was with you in weakness and in fear and in much trembling;
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And I was with you in weakness, and in fear, and in much trembling.
read chapter 2 in KJV
read chapter 2 in WBT
I was with you in weakness, in fear, and in much trembling.
read chapter 2 in WEB
and I, in weakness, and in fear, and in much trembling, was with you;
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Pulpit Commentary
Pulpit CommentaryVerse 3. - I was with you; literally, I became or proved myself, towards you, as in 1 Corinthians 16:10. In weakness. St. Paul was physically weak and liable also to nervous weakness and depression (1 Corinthians 4:7-12; Galatians 4:13; 2 Corinthians 10:1, 10; 2 Corinthians 12:7, 10). He shows an occasional self distrust rising from the consciousness of personal infirmities. This enhances our sense of his heroic courage and endurance. Doubtless this physical weakness and nervous depression were connected with his "stake in the flesh," which seems to have been an acute and distressing form of ophthalmia, accompanied with cerebral disturbance (see my 'Life of St. Paul,' 1:215-221). In fear, and in much trembling. Probably the words are even literally true, though they are a common phrase (2 Corinthians 7:15; Philippians 2:12, 13; Ephesians 6:5). It must be remembered that in his first visit to Corinth St. Paul had gone through stormy and troubled days (Acts 18:1-12).
Ellicott's Commentary
Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers(3) And I was with you.--To show that the real force of his teaching lay in its subject-matter, and not in any power with which he may have proclaimed the gospel, the Apostle now dwells upon his own physical weakness. The "weakness and fear and trembling" of which St. Paul speaks here had in it probably a large element of that self-distrust which so noble and sensitive a nature would feel in the fulfilment of such an exalted mission as the preaching of the Cross. I cannot think, however, the allusion is only to that. There is, I believe, a reference also to what we may call a physical apprehension of danger. The bravest are not those who do not experience any sensation of fear, but rather those who keenly appreciate danger, who have an instinctive shrinking from it, and yet eventually by their moral might conquer this dread. There are traces of this element in St. Paul's character to be found in several places, as, for example, in Acts 18:9, when the Lord encourages him when labouring at Corinth with the hopeful words, "Be not afraid;" again in Acts 23:11, when the terrible scene before Ananias had depressed him, the Lord is with him to strengthen him, "Be of good cheer, Paul;" and in Acts 27:24, when the angel of the Lord appears to him amid the storm and shipwreck, "Fear not, Paul."
