2 Corinthians 7:12

So although I wrote unto you, I wrote not for his cause, that did the wrong, nor for his cause that suffered the wrong, but that your earnest care for us might be manifest unto you in the sight of God.

Paul's avoidance of specifics in this verse was for the very purpose of not focusing attention upon any individual, either wronged or a wrongdoer; and this left the way open for destructive critics, intent on destroying the credibility of the entire epistle, to move in and supply the specifics Paul purposely avoided. Such conduct is not merely reprehensible, but devilish. They assert, for example, that by the words "his cause that suffered the wrong" Paul was referring to himself! The following comment is an example of this type of presumption:

When Paul had visited Corinth there had been a ringleader to the opposition. The short, unhappy visit had been poisoned by the activity of one man. This man had clearly personally insulted Paul![14]

While true enough that there was a second, and probably "painful" visit, little is known of it. It is extremely doubtful that there was any single ring-leader in Corinth, for there were many factions. The ring-leader is merely a postulation by speculative critics and never really existed. "This man's" insulting Paul is nonsense. Two verses later in this very paragraph, Paul declared, "I was not put to shame!" (2 Corinthians 7:14). That, of course, gives the lie to the speculations; so they went to work on that, telling us how broadminded Paul was, how he never held anything against anybody, and that "he did not take the matter personally at all!"[15] Such interpretations of the word of God are sheer foolishness; and we have invented a word for all such speculations. They are pure "fembu"!

Wronged ... wrong-doer ... These words actually applied to many at Corinth, not just a few persons, and absolutely not just one person. There were many who had gone to law against brethren before pagan judges, to mention only one thing; and Paul here purposely resorted to impersonal terms for reasons of tact, his great purpose being, not to open old wounds, but to arouse them to compliance with their duty, which compliance would manifest their "earnest care for Paul in the sight of God."

[14] William Barclay, op. cit., p. 201.

[15] Ibid., p. 202.