2 Corinthians 13:1

There are at least four possibilities about what Paul meant by the two or three witnesses that would confirm his credibility and his critics’ guilt. First, he may simply have been saying that the church would pass judgment and, on the testimony of the witnesses that Jesus Christ prescribed, should decide who was right (Matthew 18:15-20; 1 Corinthians 5:3-5). Second, Paul may have viewed his three visits to Corinth as three witnesses to his innocence. Third, he may have been referring to his warnings that he would not spare the Corinthians. These may be the one in 1 Corinthians 4:21, possibly a warning given during the painful visit, and the one in 2 Corinthians 13:2 b. Fourth, Paul may have meant the witness of his fellow workers when he returned to Corinth. He may have meant Titus and the brethren who accompanied him (cf. 2 Corinthians 8:23) and or Paul’s fellow travelers. I tend to favor the first possibility because it views the witnesses as people, which is the normal meaning of witnesses in the passage quoted (Deuteronomy 19:15). The fourth view seems weak to me since Paul’s friends would have appeared biased to his critics.