What this danger was from which Paul had just escaped cannot be determined. It is as much a puzzle as the fighting with beasts at Ephesus, which Paul mentions in I Cor. 15:32. Neither one nor the other can very well be identified with the trouble caused by Demetrius the silversmith, Acts 19:23-41, for there Paul does not seem to have been in deadly danger. Some suppose that the fighting with beasts is literally meant; that Paul was actually exposed to the wild beasts in the arena and escaped only in some remarkable way. It should be observed that Paul does not say, with regard to the danger mentioned in Second Corinthians, that it occurred in Ephesus, but only that it occurred in Asia. The expression, "weighed down," in II Cor. 1:8 perhaps points to some form of illness rather than to persecution.
2. THE APOSTLE AND THE MINISTRY OF RECONCILIATION. II Cor. 1:12 to 7:16
Immediately after the thanksgiving for his escape from death, Paul begins the defense of his ministry. After the suspense of the previous days, he feels the need of reviewing the methods and motives of his labor among the Corinthians, in order that the last vestige of suspicion may be removed. This he does in an unrestrained, cordial sort of way, which reveals the deepest secrets of his heart, and culminates here and there in grand expositions of the very essence of the gospel.
First, in just a passing word, ch. 1:13,14, he defends his letters against that charge of obscurity or concealment which is hinted at elsewhere in the epistle. Compare ch. 4:1-4; 11:6.
Next, he defends himself against the charge of fickleness in his journey plans. At some time, probably during or after the unsuccessful visit alluded to in ch. 2:1, Paul had formed the plan of returning to Corinth by the direct route. This plan he had not carried out, and his abandonment of it apparently confirmed the impression of weakness which had been left by the unsuccessful visit. "He is very bold in letters," said his opponents, "but when he is here he is weak, and now he is afraid to return." It was a petty criticism, and a lesser man might have answered it in a petty way. But Paul was able to lift the whole discussion to a loftier plane. His answer to the criticism was very simple--the reason why he had not returned to Corinth at once was that he did not want to return again in grief and in severity; for the sake of the Corinthians themselves he wanted to give them time to repent, before the final and fatal issue should be raised. Characteristically, however, Paul does not content himself with this simple answer; indeed he does not even begin with it. A specific explanation of the change in his plans would have refuted the criticism immediately under consideration, but Paul felt the need of doing far more than that. What he desired to do was to make not only this criticism, but all similar criticisms, impossible. This he does by the fine reference to the positive character of his gospel. "You say that I am uncertain in my plans, that I say yes and no in one breath. Well, the gospel that I preached, at any rate, was no such uncertain thing as that. My gospel was a great 'Yes' to all the promises of God." Such a method of refutation lifts the reader far above all petty criticisms to the great things of Paul's gospel.