2 Corinthians 7:8

For though I made you sorry with my epistle, I do not regret it: though I did regret it (for I see that that epistle made you sorry, though but for a season).

I did regret it ... Some critics cite this as proof that Paul could not possibly have made such a remark about 1Corinthians; but the alleged proof is not here. It was most natural that Paul should have had many tearful regrets about sending a letter which laid bare the immorality and lovelessness of a whole church. It is a safe assumption that none of the scholars who are so dogmatic about this place, denying that it could refer to 1Corinthians - that not one of them ever engaged in such a spiritual effort as that which burdened Paul's heart when he undertook the discipline of the Corinthians. As any man who ever did such a thing must testify, it is a burden of great anguish and sorrow; it is a time of flowing tears and sorrow and heartbreak; it is a time of deep soul-searching and of bewildering wonderment whether this or that should have been said, should have been written, or should have been done. Any man who has been through it knows exactly what Paul meant by this; and that 1Corinthians is just such a letter as to have provided the grounds of deep misgivings on the part of the apostle who wrote it is a stark fact that cannot be denied.