As if I would not come to you, so some are puffed up.

And as if I were not coming unto you certain were puffed up;

But some of you have been puffed up through getting the idea that I am not coming to Corinth.

Now some are full of pride, as if I was not coming to you.

Certain persons have become inflated in thinking that I would not return to you.

Some, I hear, are puffed up with pride, thinking that I am not coming to you.

As though I would not come to you This is the custom of the false apostles -- to take advantage of the absence of the good, that they may triumph and vaunt without any hindrance. Paul, accordingly, with the view of reproving their ill-regulated conscience, and repressing their insolence, tells them, that they cannot endure his presence. It happens sometimes, it is true, that wicked men, on finding opportunity of insulting, rise up openly with an iron front against the servants of Christ, but never do they come forward ingenuously to an equal combat, [1] but on the contrary, by sinister artifices they discover their want of confidence.

Footnotes

1 - "Si est-ce que jamais ils ne vienent a combatre franchement, et s' ils ne voyent leur auantage: mats plustot en vsant de ruses et circuits obliques, ils monstrent leur deffiance, et comment ils sont mal asseurez;" -- "So it is, that they never come forward frankly to a combat, and unless they have a view to their own advantage; but on the contrary, by making use of tricks and indirect windings, they show their want of confidence, and how distrustful they are."

Now some are puffed up - They are puffed up with a vain confidence; they say that I would not dare to come; that I would be afraid to appear among them, to administer discipline, to rebuke them, or to supersede their authority. Probably he had been detained by the demand on his services in other places, and by various providential hinderances from going there, until they supposed that he stayed away from fear. And possibly he might apprehend that they would think he had sent Timothy because he was afraid to come himself. Their conduct was an instance of the haughtiness and arrogance which people will assume when they suppose they are in no danger of reproof or punishment.

Some are puffed up - Some of your teachers act with great haughtiness, imagining themselves to be safe, because they suppose that I shall not revisit Corinth.

(11) Now some are puffed up, as though I would not come to you.
(11) Last of all he descends also to apostolic threatenings, but yet chiding them as a father, lest by their disorder he was forced to come to punish some among them.

Now some are puffed up,.... Some with their gifts, learning, and eloquence, and with the high station they were in, in the church; believing they should continue therein undisturbed, thinking them selves safe and secure through the absence of the apostle, and which they flattered themselves would always be the case:
as though I would not come to you; and others that were for Apollos and Cephas against Paul, were puffed up against their fellow members on the same account; hoping they should never see him more, to put them in any other situation than what they were in, by demolishing their factions and parties; and others, as the incestuous person, and those that took encouragement to sin by his example, were also puffed up upon this score, and mourned not over, nor repented of their iniquities, but remained secure and hardened; believing the apostle would never more come among them, to call them to an account for their malpractices.

some . . . as though I would not come--He guards against some misconstruing (as by the Spirit he foresees they will, when his letter shall have arrived) his sending Timothy, "as though" he "would not come" (or, "were not coming") himself. A puffed-up spirit was the besetting sin of the Corinthians (compare 1-Corinthians 1:11; 1-Corinthians 5:2).

Now some are puffed up. Some of those who were factious thought, as Paul was sending Timothy, he would not come himself, and this encouraged them to continue their factious conduct.
I will come to you shortly. If God permitted, he would soon follow (1-Corinthians 16:7-8), and would put to the test those puffed up.
Not the speech, . . . but the power. He will confront these vain boasters, and see what power is behind their swelling words.
For the kingdom of God. For in the kingdom of God it is not words or professions which avail, but the power of God in the heart.
What will ye? When he comes, how shall he come? Will it be necessary to rebuke and exert his apostolic authority, or will the condition of the church be such that only love and gentleness will be called for?

Now some are puffed up - St. Paul saw, by a divine light, the thoughts which would arise in their hearts. As if I would not come - Because I send Timothy.