Worldly and fleshly people say they will do something, then change their mind. They back out. But the people of God keep their commitments and do the things they say they will do. So then why did Paul change his mind about coming to the Corinthians?
Paul had every intention to come to them. He was not vacillating. But he did decide to make a course correction:
“Because I was sure of this, I wanted to come to you first, so that you might have a second experience of grace. I wanted to visit you on my way to Macedonia, and to come back to you from Macedonia and have you send me on my way to Judea. Was I vacillating when I wanted to do this? Do I make my plans according to the flesh, ready to say “Yes, yes” and “No, no” at the same time? As surely as God is faithful, our word to you has not been Yes and No” (2 Cor 1:15-18).
Paul did plan to come. And he did change his purposes. It wasn’t out of fickleness, it was out of concern for their hearts. He had written them, and it was a strongly worded letter. Also he had been there and had been a truth time. His intent was not to hurt them, but to help them grow in the Lord. To spare them, he decided to give them a chance to recover from his previous visit.
“But I call God to witness against me—it was to spare you that I refrained from coming again to Corinth” (2 Cor 1:23).
“For I made up my mind not to make another painful visit to you. For if I cause you pain, who is there to make me glad but the one whom I have pained?” (2 Cor 2:1-2).
Paul wanted to make clear that it was out of love that he changed his mind, not out of fickleness of mind or unreliability. He wasn’t like the world. He was like God whose ‘Yes’ is ‘yes’ and whose ‘no’ is ‘no.’ He is going to expand on this, but he wanted them to know why he changed his mind.
It’s important for us Christians that we keep our commitments. If we say ‘yes,’ that it actually means yes, and we will be there. We represent God in this.
Does it mean we can never change our minds? Not at all. We see this here. But it does mean we do our best to be consistent in the things we say and do.