Some in Corinth were "puffed up, as though I would not come to you" (1 Corinthians 4:18). Barnes says they were "puffed up with vain confidence." Paul answers with a choice. His first question, "What will ye?", puts the decision in their hands. Barnes explains it simply: "It depends on yourselves how I shall come." His second question names the two ways he could arrive. Matthew Henry says Paul let them know "it was in their own option" whether he came with a rod or in a different spirit. Paul is not threatening for its own sake. He is a father giving his children time to change.

The letter records no reply from the Corinthians. Instead, Paul turns at once to a case that needed correcting: a man living with "his father's wife," while the church was "puffed up" and had not "rather mourned" (1 Corinthians 5:1-2). Paul shows he has already "judged" the matter in spirit (1 Corinthians 5:3). In a later letter he explains that "to spare you I came not as yet unto Corinth" (2 Corinthians 1:23), and that he wrote "with many tears" so they would know his love (2 Corinthians 2:4).

A rod was the familiar tool of correction for a child or a pupil, and Paul has just called himself the Corinthians' father, not merely one of their "ten thousand instructors" (1 Corinthians 4:15). The Greek word is rhabdos, rod or staff. Gill offers two readings: the rod of a schoolmaster or of a father, "or rather" an apostle's power to punish offenders, which he prefers, pointing to examples such as Ananias and Sapphira. "Meekness" translates prautes, gentleness. Barnes explains the rod as coming "to correct and punish," and the spirit of meekness as "comforting and commending, instead of chastising."

Paul's question shows the heart of godly authority. He has real power to correct (1 Corinthians 4:19-20), but he would much rather come in love. Gill describes that second way as coming "with the affection of a father, with a pleasant countenance, and a meek spirit." Both the rod and the love come from the same father. Correction is not the opposite of love; it is what love does when warnings are ignored.

Paul's words just before this question show his aim: "I write not these things to shame you, but as my beloved sons I warn you" (1 Corinthians 4:14). Matthew Henry draws the lesson that it is "a happy temper in a minister to have the spirit of love and meekness predominant, and yet to maintain his just authority." The question leaves the door open. The Corinthians could still choose the gentler visit by dealing with their pride before he arrived.