Why couldn't Paul force the Corinthians to obey everything he said?
Paul could not force the Corinthians to obey everything he said because he was not the founder or grand guru of a religion who could hold a whip over them. Rather, believers in the age of grace possess Christian liberty; even carnal Corinthians were not made obedient by coercion.
Les explains that if Paul had been the progenitor of a religion and its grand guru, then he could have stood over the Corinthians, held the whip over them, and made them adhere to everything he said, but that is not the case. Paul tells these Corinthians, carnal as they were with all their problems, that they are not where they are because he forced them there, and they are not what they are because he is standing over them with a heavy whip. Even the Corinthians in their carnality were still enjoying Christian liberty. Les notes that many so-called Christians today have no concept of the liberty in the Gospel of Grace. Paul appeals to the Galatian believers much like he does to the Corinthians, not to let the Judaizers destroy their faith, saying in Galatians 5:1, “Stand fast therefore in the liberty wherewith Christ hath made us free, and be not entangled again with the yoke of bondage.”