Why does Paul back into the Corinthians' situation instead of confronting them directly?
Paul approaches the Corinthians indirectly because he is too kind to condemn them outright and does not want to flare their anger or make them unable to be dealt with. He refuses to commend their problems, since the church at Corinth was exceptionally carnal and fleshly minded.
Les explains that I Corinthians was occasioned by the Corinthians' own questions—'the things whereof you wrote unto me'—as they listed a whole ton of problems and asked Paul what about this and what about this. Paul deals with problems he does not commend them for. He is too kind to just out and out condemn them, but neither does he commend them or brag on them. So he backs into the situation so he does not flare up their anger and put them into a place where he cannot deal with them. Yet he will not agree with all their problems, because they are still so carnal. Of all the churches Paul dealt with, none were as carnal and fleshly minded as the church at Corinth, and the content makes that immediately evident.
More Questions
Why does Paul approach the Corinthians' problems so indirectly?
Paul backs into the situation rather than attacking directly, so that he does not flare up the Corinthians' anger and put them in a place where he cannot deal with them, while still refusing to agree with all of their problems.